Lots of leave on bottom of Bhut Jolokia plants?

[JesterJoker]

I have recently been introduced to growing peppers, and I'm hooked. I got a 4 pack of Bhut Jolokia, from Hirt's on ebay, and the 1st thing I'm noticing is the plants have tons of lower leaves. It seems like there are more then there should be?

The clusters of leaves are very thick, I'm wondering if these are getting to much blue light? I have an indoor grow lamp that is blue tinted, and its under them for about 15 hours a day, after I had transplanted these until I could harden them to out outside, (I'm in Maine)

here are the pics.

Is this growth normal for these Bhut Jolokia, and how many inches tall should the be before I put into there permanent pots? 7-8 inches?

 

[SRBII]

Is this growth normal for these Bhut Jolokia, and how many inches tall should the be before I put into there permanent pots? 7-8 inches?

yes its normal those will be shoots eventually that grow as tall as the main stems

you might want to put something around those the roots are light sensitive

you can pot up anytime i would now do to those are showing signs of bieng to wet/poor drainage(the yellowing stems and upper leaves)

Best of luck to you and to the obsession!

 

[robbyjoe01]

Look normal to me too. They look ready to pot in bigger pots with better drainage.

 

[JesterJoker]

O BTW how often should these be watered.


One of them is fairly large the other 3 are a bit smaller. I'm sure putting them into larger pots now is ok, and putting outside.


I had questions about watering these? I have had them inside under lights, and didn't know the rule of thumb for watering?

do I go by upper layer being moist? I just didn't want my 1st super hot peppers to die, but I might be over watering them.


thanks...

Mark.

 

[tonyscoots84]

you would see it in the leaves if you where overwatering them. You gotta stick your finger in the soil and feel it. i usually just water when the top soil gets a lil dry and my plants like it.

 

[Avon Barksdale]

Hate to be a Debbie Downer but if you got those plants from Hirt's there's probably a very high likelihood that they aren't real bhut jolokias and are red habaneros or caribbean reds or something similar.

http://www.amazon.com/Bhut-Jolokia-Chile-Pepper-Plant/product-reviews/B0018DVUZM/ref=cm_cr_pr_btm_link_1?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=0

Check out the reviews, they've been selling fake bhut jolokias for years. As of 2010 they were still selling fake bhut jolokias. It's possible that they finally started selling legit bhut jolokias this year but I kind of doubt it.

And if you scroll down to the last post on the first page there is a guy from here that also got scammed by Hirt's last year:

http://www.thehotpepper.com/topic/21416-i-got-pepper-scammed/

It's hard to say this early but those leaves on those look a little off for a bhut jolokia imo. Bhut jolokias have some frutescens genes and the leaves tend to be a little more narrow and jagged on the edges from my experience. I wouldn't buy anything from Hirt's, they are notorious for plants/seeds that don't grow true, horrible germination rates, nonexistent customer service, and stealing other people's pictures without permission among other things. They've been told numerous times that the bhut jolokias they've been selling aren't legit, but they just continue to sell them and claim that they are legit when it's blatantly obvious that they aren't.

Here's their Dave's Garden page: http://davesgarden.com/products/gwd/c/554/

99 positives
26 neutrals
88 negatives

Someone from the company even posed as a customer to leave positive feedback on page 2 and was caught. They are scam artists with no integrity.

 

[JesterJoker]

Hate to be a Debbie Downer but if you got those plants from Hirt's there's probably a very high likelihood that they aren't real bhut jolokias and are red habaneros or caribbean reds or something similar.

http://www.amazon.com/Bhut-Jolokia-Chile-Pepper-Plant/product-reviews/B0018DVUZM/ref=cm_cr_pr_btm_link_1?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=0

Check out the reviews, they've been selling fake bhut jolokias for years. As of 2010 they were still selling fake bhut jolokias. It's possible that they finally started selling legit bhut jolokias this year but I kind of doubt it.

And if you scroll down to the last post on the first page there is a guy from here that also got scammed by Hirt's last year:

http://www.thehotpepper.com/topic/21416-i-got-pepper-scammed/

It's hard to say this early but those leaves on those look a little off for a bhut jolokia imo. Bhut jolokias have some frutescens genes and the leaves tend to be a little more narrow and jagged on the edges from my experience. I wouldn't buy anything from Hirt's, they are notorious for plants/seeds that don't grow true, nonexistent customer service, and stealing other people's pictures without permission. They've been told numerous times that the bhut jolokias they've been selling aren't legit, but they just continue to sell them and claim that they are legit when it's blatantly obvious that they aren't.

I was kinda questioning whether or not these were actually Bhut Jolokia, from the pictures the leaf pattern and stuff looked right, I have some bulk "GOOD" dorset naga seeds coming so I will be able to tell I hope after I germinate some of those and see them this size whether or not the 2 plants even look close enough to be a cultivar or version "like it"

I have heard that the dorset naga has smaller peppers, about 1/2 the size of bhut jolokia I will measure all pods from them and see what my findings are.

I will definitely look into this, this is not the 1st time I heard bad things about these from hirt's.

thank you 200% for the heads up.

I will post pictures once this thing has pods / and see if its a true or close to true plant.

 

[Avon Barksdale]

I was kinda questioning whether or not these were actually Bhut Jolokia, from the pictures the leaf pattern and stuff looked right, I have some bulk "GOOD" dorset naga seeds coming so I will be able to tell I hope after I germinate some of those and see them this size whether or not the 2 plants even look close enough to be a cultivar or version "like it"

I have heard that the dorset naga has smaller peppers, about 1/2 the size of bhut jolokia I will measure all pods from them and see what my findings are.

I will definitely look into this, this is not the 1st time I heard bad things about these from hirt's.

thank you 200% for the heads up.

I will post pictures once this thing has pods / and see if its a true or close to true plant.

No problem, I just didn't want you to get your hopes up and then be disappointed. I bought a plant from my local nursery labeled "bhut jolokia" that I had suspicions of this year...turned out to be a red habanero like I suspected. There are a lot of fakes out there, whether they're knowingly selling fakes or not. I already had bhut jolokias and just bought it so I could see if it was real, so I wasn't very disappointed, but if I hadn't already had some I probably would have been pissed!

It's really late for bhut/dorset naga seeds in Maine, so I wouldn't expect to get any fruit from those seeds, but you could overwinter them for next year and have a nice head start. If you need any bhut jolokia seeds for next year I'll have plenty in a month or so, just let me know and I'll send you some.

 

[JesterJoker]

No problem, I just didn't want you to get your hopes up and then be disappointed. I bought a plant from my local nursery labeled "bhut jolokia" that I had suspicions of this year...turned out to be a red habanero like I suspected. There are a lot of fakes out there, whether they're knowingly selling fakes or not. I already had bhut jolokias and just bought it so I could see if it was real, so I wasn't very disappointed, but if I hadn't already had some I probably would have been pissed!

It's really late for bhut/dorset naga seeds in Maine, so I wouldn't expect to get any fruit from those seeds, but you could overwinter them for next year and have a nice head start. If you need any bhut jolokia seeds for next year I'll have plenty in a month or so, just let me know and I'll send you some.

I have some seeds coming (dorset naga) but I would take some bhut jolokia, I will plant a few and test out to see. Does anyone know of a good plant resource? with pictures of stages of life for chilis? maybe I'm asking to much. I'm trying to search now with no luck to find out if this is a habanero
If anything I will start a site with the pictures, and people can contribute pics to it, i'm sure more then a few people would want to contribute pictures to it, for credit.

I was actually planning on bringing them inside and putting them under lights. Do you think they will grow ok under flourescents in the basement, or incandescent grow lamps? if I section off the warm corner of the basement, and put lights / heat to it? how cold is to cold to get peppers?

I want to grow year round. my wife doesnt care, shes just glad I don't have more expensive hobbies.

I want to grow a large variety.

 

[PIC 1]

You certainly can grow under fluorencence with outstanding results!, I use numerous high-bay 6 bulb T8's (6500k) for my seedlings,clones and plants up to a ft tall, then on to mh/hps until setting outdoors in the spring, word of caution though, any of my tropicals or other plants that were brought outside in the summer I repot them with a sterile potting mix (no composted mix!)before bringing them back inside, this keeps the aphids,mealy-bugs,white flies,etc. out of the plant rooms.....good luck on the grow, you have plenty of time for a good crop!

 

[JesterJoker]

You certainly can grow under fluorencence with outstanding results!, I use numerous high-bay 6 bulb T8's (6500k) for my seedlings,clones and plants up to a ft tall, then on to mh/hps until setting outdoors in the spring, word of caution though, any of my tropicals or other plants that were brought outside in the summer I repot them with a sterile potting mix (no composted mix!)before bringing them back inside, this keeps the aphids,mealy-bugs,white flies,etc. out of the plant rooms.....good luck on the grow, you have plenty of time for a good crop!

Is there one you recommend that I can get at Walmart or home depot. I'm still a newbie... otherwize can I zap some in the oven? at a couple hundred degrees? to sterilize it?

 

[PIC 1]

Is there one you recommend that I can get at Walmart or home depot. I'm still a newbie... otherwize can I zap some in the oven? at a couple hundred degrees? to sterilize it?

Not sure what's available where your located, where I'm at besides the big box stores there's numerous nursuries and garden centers, brew and grows, things like that and I like to use a combo of Faffards Custom Mix and Baccto potting soil mixed 50/50. Sunshine,Foxfarm and Pro-Mix products are excellent for small grows but can get expensive if tou pot up to 2 gal containers. I stay away from any worm castings, Guano, or anything composted until I move the plants outdoors. Find potting without fertilizer so u can do on your own......

 

[Avon Barksdale]

I have some seeds coming (dorset naga) but I would take some bhut jolokia, I will plant a few and test out to see. Does anyone know of a good plant resource? with pictures of stages of life for chilis? maybe I'm asking to much. I'm trying to search now with no luck to find out if this is a habanero
If anything I will start a site with the pictures, and people can contribute pics to it, i'm sure more then a few people would want to contribute pictures to it, for credit.

I was actually planning on bringing them inside and putting them under lights. Do you think they will grow ok under flourescents in the basement, or incandescent grow lamps? if I section off the warm corner of the basement, and put lights / heat to it? how cold is to cold to get peppers?

I want to grow year round. my wife doesnt care, shes just glad I don't have more expensive hobbies.

I want to grow a large variety.

You can't really tell until the fruit sets. There is a lot of variation even within strains. The bhut jolokias I'm growing might be a little different than the ones someone else is growing, and there is even a fair amount of variation between seeds from the same pod. If it's not a legit bhut jolokia it's most likely a red habanero (although some only consider the orange habanero a true habanero) or caribbean red. They're both chinense and bhut jolokia is mostly chinense with a little frutescens genes, so there isn't going to be a ton of difference in the foliage. From my experience, habanero leaves are fatter/wider and bhut jolokia leaves are skinnier and have slightly jagged leaf margins, but you can't really be sure until you grow them out. I would be surprised if the plants you got from Hirt's are legit just based on their history, and they don't look quite right for bhuts to me but I could be wrong.

Fluorescents are good for growing indoors, but incandescents aren't. Metal halide and high pressure sodium are good too. Metal halide more for vegetative growth because of the blue spectrum and high pressure sodium for flowering because of the red spectrum. Most of the ballasts are switchable nowadays so you can use both bulbs with most of them. There are some good LEDs too, they're more expensive up front but they use a lot less electricity.

How cold they can get and still set fruit depends on the variety, for bhut jolokias I would say 60F is about as low as you can go.