overwintering Massive Pepper Plants in the winter

Northpole69

Northpole69

So I potted up 2 plants, the dorset naga and the douglah, into 7-gallon smart pots today.  I got my 8 bulb t5 setup in as you can see.  I am waiting for the hardware store to get the compost i ordered and I am waiting for my bags of Earthworm castings to come in the mail ($50 shipping!) and then I will do 7 other 7-gallon smart pots, one for each brown tile/mat under that light.  The rest I will pot up to 2-gallon buckets like the ones in the picture and keep under my other light setup, the 4 bulb t5 setup.  
 
How big will these plants get if they never go out side and just stay under the lights the way they are?  height please ie: feet/inches.  
 
THANKS!
 
http://s428.photobucket.com/user/Kurt_Easton/media/Mobile%20Uploads/1453574683797-1048267268_zpsdyvaquen.jpg.html?o=2
 
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Impossible to tell. It's just as impossible to tell how big they'll get in the wild, as it depends on the exact time between waterings. These could stay short or they could get to seven feet. I've had one that did that in the past indoors.
 
cruzzfish said:
Impossible to tell. It's just as impossible to tell how big they'll get in the wild, as it depends on the exact time between waterings. These could stay short or they could get to seven feet. I've had one that did that in the past indoors.
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Exactly, way too many variables too begin to confirm something like that.
 
Northpole69 said:
come on, something!!!!
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Sorry, there a lot more to it than that. But I can blow pink smoke like the best of em.
                    v
pink smoke  I
                    V 
(Hell Yeah, with that setup you should have 7.5 footers by June and probably 800- 1000 pods per plant minimum.
And when June comes around and you dont, you must have done something wrong.)
 
Were just being honest based on the info you provide. And then, that still will never be sufficient enough to answer that question with any certainty.
 
Your t5s are great for starting and maintaining your grow till plant out, but may not be enough to throw enough light past a well developed canopy of a 5-6 foot plant to the lower branch structure. They will need nutrients for that kind of growth and you have stated nothing of that subject. Compost from the hardware store is very vague in the growing media subject and worm castings though great are not enough by themselves to make up for a pour growing sub-strait. I dont know how many plants total you intend to keep inside, but they will need room. How much do you have allocated for that? And then, what light you were using will not be enough by then. Get ready to buy a new HPS system or two?
 
Info and specifications in detail help immensely in getting great answers, but they are in the end, just best guesses on the possibilities.
 
CAPCOM said:
Sorry, there a lot more to it than that. But I can blow pink smoke like the best of em.
                    v
pink smoke  I
                    V 
(Hell Yeah, with that setup you should have 7.5 footers by June and probably 800- 1000 pods per plant minimum.
And when June comes around and you dont, you must have done something wrong.)
 
Were just being honest based on the info you provide. And then, that still will never be sufficient enough to answer that question with any certainty.
 
Your t5s are great for starting and maintaining your grow till plant out, but may not be enough to throw enough light past a well developed canopy of a 5-6 foot plant to the lower branch structure. They will need nutrients for that kind of growth and you have stated nothing of that subject. Compost from the hardware store is very vague in the growing media subject and worm castings though great are not enough by themselves to make up for a pour growing sub-strait. I dont know how many plants total you intend to keep inside, but they will need room. How much do you have allocated for that? And then, what light you were using will not be enough by then. Get ready to buy a new HPS system or two?
 
Info and specifications in detail help immensely in getting great answers, but they are in the end, just best guesses on the possibilities.
Click to expand...
mexican, jamaican, indo bat and seabird guano, tablespoon of each, tablespoon of azomite, tablespoon of pure worm castings, 1 tablespoon bloodmeal, 2 tables spoons liquid seaweed, 2 tablespoons liquid ecovie, 2 tablespoons meta-k, 2 tablespoons pure fish emulsion, 2 tablesppons cal-mag per plant
 
2 tablespoon bone meal bottom of container and 1 tablespoon pure sulphur.  1 tablespoon myco on roots of plants
 
 
miracle grow - natures way or something compost, rest is what you see
 
my reason for asking all this is not for a quick pat on the back, but to realize if there is more i need to get done to make this all happen
 
Understood.
 
So it is my impression that you want to grow indoors exclusively and the plants will never see the sun.
First and foremost then is to determine the size you will commit to your grow area and setup adequate lighting for that space. That space will also have to take into acct (for estimation) mature 5-6 foot plants/w pots. For that I would allow 3sq feet per plant.
If your grow room is 10x10 you have enough room for 9 plants and room to work. And at 100 sq ft x 3000 lumens psf a total of 300,000 lumen lighting system will be required. I would recommend  HID systems in both HPS and MH to get the best of both blue and red spectrum light.
As for your choice of growing media. I used miracle grow when I started growing and have at this time depleted miracle grow that I continue to use. You need to be very careful with what you add when using hot miracle grow. The tds's are very high and adding anything else can harm the plants rather than helping them. Now comes container sizes. There is as with many choices in growing, disagreements on the optimum size and construction of the growing container. For indoors, I think size will be the most important as you will not have to deal with the suns potent rays heating up the containers. And if and when you flush, you want the water to empty at the bottom and not the sides inside your house.
Size? 15-20 gal would be my affordable choice for indoor pepper trees.
 
Get a good tds and pH meter. I recommend a blue lab and take a reading of your witches brew to get an idea of how much tds you are adding to your grow media. And at the same time make a slurry and get a reading of the media before you add the nutrients.
Take a pH reading of your supply water, 6.5 - 7 is nice but can be adjusted to it if it is off from that. I get RO water from my local grow shop which is 6.7. I lower it to 6.4 and add my nutrients.
 
This just starts to nick the surface. Keep reading what others in the forum have done and continue to do.
It can be done. The best way though is by not having to upgrade constantly.
 
CAPCOM said:
Understood.
 
So it is my impression that you want to grow indoors exclusively and the plants will never see the sun.
First and foremost then is to determine the size you will commit to your grow area and setup adequate lighting for that space. That space will also have to take into acct (for estimation) mature 5-6 foot plants/w pots. For that I would allow 3sq feet per plant.
If your grow room is 10x10 you have enough room for 9 plants and room to work. And at 100 sq ft x 3000 lumens psf a total of 300,000 lumen lighting system will be required. I would recommend  HID systems in both HPS and MH to get the best of both blue and red spectrum light.
As for your choice of growing media. I used miracle grow when I started growing and have at this time depleted miracle grow that I continue to use. You need to be very careful with what you add when using hot miracle grow. The tds's are very high and adding anything else can harm the plants rather than helping them. Now comes container sizes. There is as with many choices in growing, disagreements on the optimum size and construction of the growing container. For indoors, I think size will be the most important as you will not have to deal with the suns potent rays heating up the containers. And if and when you flush, you want the water to empty at the bottom and not the sides inside your house.
Size? 15-20 gal would be my affordable choice for indoor pepper trees.
 
Get a good tds and pH meter. I recommend a blue lab and take a reading of your witches brew to get an idea of how much tds you are adding to your grow media. And at the same time make a slurry and get a reading of the media before you add the nutrients.
Take a pH reading of your supply water, 6.5 - 7 is nice but can be adjusted to it if it is off from that. I get RO water from my local grow shop which is 6.7. I lower it to 6.4 and add my nutrients.
 
This just starts to nick the surface. Keep reading what others in the forum have done and continue to do.
It can be done. The best way though is by not having to upgrade constantly.
Click to expand...
i use ph down and adjust all my water to 6.2 ph.   what is tds?
 
Also, since i am new to the lighting system, are you saying my 8 bulb t5 will not be sufficient and i will have to upgrade to an HID in order to make these things grow without going outdoors?  what is the very best light setup?  a link to buy it would be great, assuming it is something i will have to buy because my 8 bulb t5 setup will not work
and its miracle grow brand (natures way organic) compost
 
additionally, it just started getting cold here in virginia and itll be probably may before i could even put them outside.  i have a small very shady porch on my second floor apt and no where else i can take them, so either i can grow them inside or on my very shady back porch.  will a shady back porch still produce?
 
Northpole69 said:
i use ph down and adjust all my water to 6.2 ph.   what is tds?
 
Also, since i am new to the lighting system, are you saying my 8 bulb t5 will not be sufficient and i will have to upgrade to an HID in order to make these things grow without going outdoors?  what is the very best light setup?  a link to buy it would be great, assuming it is something i will have to buy because my 8 bulb t5 setup will not work

and its miracle grow brand (natures way organic) compost
Click to expand...
tds is total dissolved solids usually in the form of salts used in hot growing medias and fertilizers. Too many will cause plants to burn or begin displaying all manner of ailments. And will need to be flushed to remove the excess.
What is the total output for your T5 systems? Lighting requirements change with grow area to be illuminated and canopy to be penetrated.
my lighting system is overkill for my situation but I only wanted to spend my $$$ once and not get sucked into the constant upgrading vortex.
 
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This system is a 1000w hid with an HPS bulb. I can interchange between hps and mh if desired.
Depending on the source for watts= lumens and lumens per sq ft. My 1000w eye hort bulb is supposed to put out 146.6 lumens per watt. that's 146,600 total lumens for my 110 sq ft room. the actually area that the light is supposed to benefit is 48 sq ft. I find that many of my plants do fairly well in 90% of the room. The ballast is also variable so I have the option of lowering the output to 600w and 750w.
 
The very best lighting system is limited only by your $$$. you can put together a set up rivaled only by the sun but it will cost initially and in utilities.
 
 
Northpole69 said:
you have links for that ideal 2- 600w hid setup?  how far will i get with just what i have now?
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How many plants are you growing?
Based on you pictures you should be OK for a while. The pepper plants will start telling you when they are needing more light as they will crowd and begin thinning out below the canopy.
 
CAPCOM said:
How many plants are you growing?
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9 each (individually) in a 7-gallon smartpot, one per tile under that 8 bulb setup (see pics on initial post)
 
10 each (individually) in a 2 gallon bucket under 4 bulb setup
 
Northpole69 said:
9 each (individually) in a 7-gallon smartpot, one per tile under that 8 bulb setup (see pics on initial post)
 
10 each (individually) in a 2 gallon bucket under 4 bulb setup
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Ive got 4 reapers in 7 gallon containers(4 containers) in my 3x5 grow tent with a 900w LED.  They have taken over and my seedlings in solo cups along the front wall are starting to get a bit shaded.
 
Are you saying you have 9 plants in a single 7 gallon pot?  And 10 in a single 2 gallon pot?
 
CAPCOM said:
How many plants are you growing?
Based on you pictures you should be OK for a while. The pepper plants will start telling you when they are needing more light as they will crowd and begin thinning out below the canopy.
Click to expand...
http://s428.photobucket.com/user/Kurt_Easton/media/12670848_182680995423425_26000942821742103_n_zpsjo7q0frb.jpg.html

rjacobs said:
 
Ive got 4 reapers in 7 gallon containers(4 containers) in my 3x5 grow tent with a 900w LED.  They have taken over and my seedlings in solo cups along the front wall are starting to get a bit shaded.
 
Are you saying you have 9 plants in a single 7 gallon pot?  And 10 in a single 2 gallon pot?
Click to expand...
http://s428.photobucket.com/user/Kurt_Easton/media/12670848_182680995423425_26000942821742103_n_zpsjo7q0frb.jpg.html
 
You are going to need more light eventually.
 
That light is what 4x4?  IMO that is good for about 2-4 plants as they get a lot bigger.
 
My 900w LED will cover a 4x4 area and my 4 reapers have completely engulfed that 4x4 area and are shading out everything else.
 
You are probably ok for now, but eventually you will need/want more light depending on when you are planning to move them outside.
 
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