maxcaps 2014 grow: avoiding the freeze!

Hello All,
 
New here, but feeling right at home. I figured I'd go ahead and get my glog started, though I may wait a few weeks yet before starting anything.
 
I'm pretty new, not totally new. I had a small grow last year, mostly in containers, bringing up plants that I hoped would make cool overwinter bonsai's (bonchi's). I ordered a handful of different varieties from http://fataliiseeds.net, all  95% of which sprouted nicely, though something must have gone wrong because many never grew true leaves. I think my house was too cold... I've moved now and now have an excellent heating system. I also kept the seeds by a window that I think got too drafty. 
 
I did have a handful of chinenses survive, including a wonderful Red Habanero from fataliiseeds, and some chiero roxa plants that produced a handful of tasty purple pods. I purchased some local Scotch Bonnett starts from a small scale nursery, and grew jalapeños and serrano starts from a local nursery. It's safe to say I am now addicted, as all these fire worked its way into my family's weekly diet. I have a 12'X8' plot begging for plants, and I may do some extra in containers...
 
Enough background. Here's the plan. As jalapeños (salsa, roasted, and canned) are not a staple, I want to grow a handful of varieties. The chinenses have amazing flavors, so I'm going to branch out with two or three new varieties (though sadly I did not save any scotch bonnet seeds from the last season... what is wrong with me?). Last year I tried some super hot varieties... none lived. I am going to try again! I actually ordered most of these seeds before stumbling upon this wonderful community. In any event, here is the lineup:
 
Chinenses:
 
Red Habanero (seeds kept and OW bonchi (thanks fatalii)
Chiero Roxa (seeds kept, may use OW bonchi, haven't decided)
Scotch Bonnett (forgot to keep seeds, but I can replant OW bonchi)
White Habanero (seeds from Pepper Joe, should arrive soon...)
Chocolate Habanero (seeds from Pepper Joe, should also arrive soon)
Fatali (from pepperlover.com)
Big Sun Habernero (from pepperlover)
 
Superhot Chinenses:
 
Carolina Reaper (seeds from PuckerButt)
Naga Morich (seeds from PuckerButt)
Bhut Jolokia (seeds from PuckerButt)
Dorset Naga (seeds from PuckerButt)
7 pod (from pepperlover.com)
 
Other Superhot:
 
Tiepin (seeds from PuckerButt)
 
Annuums:
 
Poblanos (from Pepper Joe... growing to Acho's to use as powder base)
Giant Jalapeño (from Pepper Joe)
Early Jalapeño (from Pepper Joe)
Black Jalapeño (from Pepper Joe)
Purple Jalapeño (from Pepper Joe)
Fresno Pepper (from Pepper Joe)
 
Wish I had found you guys sooner, I'd have added some douglah's to the list. I am also on the fence about adding a couple more chinense varieties. 
 
Also growing some companions. Planning on putting in a couple tomato plants, garlic, cilantro, and carrots (had a lot of luck with tasty fat purple carrots... atomic purple I think they were called)
 
Will post some picks of my OW bonchi's tomorrow, and start going into techniques. On the fence about coffee-filter germination versus sowing in a tray.

 

[PIC 1]

Plants look great and nice documentaion to look back on next season.

 

[Jeff H]

Very nice Adam. Do you have a balcony or south facing window where you could keep a few that don't fit in the garden plots?

 

[maximumcapsicum]

Very nice updates! I been trying read everyone's glog but I'm running most of the time. Lol I need to catch up pronto!

That Tepin X 7 pot, looks like other 4 I have. Seems quite odd or either something happened with pollination or I just got an odd ball. Only one of them looks chinense and all the rest look like tepins but with shiny leaves like a chinense and they're growing fast as heck!

I'll get some pics up later.

-Walt

 
I know man this place moves fast! Updates make me hungry too... eat more heat.
 
Yeah the cross is taking off... definitely got those annuum genes going. That's fine, just don't want it to get too leggy reaching for those lights! Rotating everything to try and prevent that.
 

  babies look superbliscious Adam !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 
Thanks romy! That's the goal!
 

Plants look great and nice documentaion to look back on next season.

 
Yeah, I analyze data for a living, so thinking up collection parameters helps keep me sharp, especially as I haven't been in the field for a couple of years. Writing writing...
 
I am going to do some ratings for each of the strains I am growing... ease of germination, ease of growth, productivity, taste, etc, and then share them here as a resource for folks. Thinking about setting up a wiki so other people can contribute their infos as well.
 

Very nice Adam. Do you have a balcony or south facing window where you could keep a few that don't fit in the garden plots?

 
I have a balcony... a great balcony actually, but its shaded. It faces a courtyard, and gets maybe an hour of direct sunlight a day. I don't think its sufficient for pepper growing, but I am debating sticking a couple out there just to see what happens. I mean, if people are getting winter pods from flouros, even weak sun should get me something right? I know the ficus bonsai's like it fine, though their growth isn't as compact as I'd like.
 
Also debating putting some pots in a neighbor's yard. Not sure if I'd be able to get down there regularly enough to make it worth while... once a week would probably be the best I could do. Need more space...
 
Got a care package in the mail from Jamison yesterday...
 

 
Sent some of his favorites and some isolated MoA seeds as well. So I'll be starting a couple more chineses after all. Also gonna start another 10 or so jalapenos. Can't wait to give the powders a try! They smell deliciously smokey... thinking I may season some taco meat with 'em. Goat's weed is begging for some pasta or pizza.
 
That should actually bring me to capacity (over actually). I think I'll be able to find homes for excess plants either way, and again, going for a full, varied pepper garden this year, so I will plant a new variety for each duplicate I have on hand. 
 
Not peppers, but the tomatoes have popped:
 

 
Only going for four or five plants, mostly granaderos, but growing an extra of each for my mom. She has a fence she likes to stick tomatoes in front of. Won't eat peppers though.
 
Got a four-coty JA Hab!
 

 
That's all for now! Happy growing!

 

[HillBilly Jeff]

Love the double coty.  Since the coty is what feeds a young plant, I wonder if they will grow/do better than a normal coty'd plant.
 
Great looking care package!!!

 

[Devv]

Nice score from Jamison! Can't beat the people here, 95% of my grow is THP based.
 
Liking that 4 coty baby! You will love those peppers, here we use them as seasoning peppers.
 
Spring is getting closer! Corn, and a bunch else hit the dirt in 4 weeks if the weather behaves...although this year????

 

[maximumcapsicum]

Love the double coty.  Since the coty is what feeds a young plant, I wonder if they will grow/do better than a normal coty'd plant.
 
Great looking care package!!!

 
 

Nice score from Jamison! Can't beat the people here, 95% of my grow is THP based.
 
Liking that 4 coty baby! You will love those peppers, here we use them as seasoning peppers.
 
Spring is getting closer! Corn, and a bunch else hit the dirt in 4 weeks if the weather behaves...although this year????

 
I know! It is amazing... Jamison set me up great. Gonna get a bunch of his seeds in the soak tomorrow and the dirt by Friday. 
 
Got an eye on the 4 coty. Interested to see if it grows faster than the standard issue 2 coty's. Can't wait to try 'em Scott!

 

[GA Growhead]

lucky four leaf!

Your porch sounds perfect for hardening, the first stage for sure! If you get enough indirect light you could keep a plant or two there. Should try it with an extra, you might be surprised.
Yep, Jamison is the coolest! Hooked you up good!

 

[Jamison]

Glad it got there safely.  4 cots on a JA HAB!!!  woo hoo,  lucky plant!

 

[maximumcapsicum]

Glad it got there safely.  4 cots on a JA HAB!!!  woo hoo,  lucky plant!

 
Yay! Let's hope its luck for the whole grow!
 

lucky four leaf!

Your porch sounds perfect for hardening, the first stage for sure! If you get enough indirect light you could keep a plant or two there. Should try it with an extra, you might be surprised.
Yep, Jamison is the coolest! Hooked you up good!

 
Yeah I was going to stick someone out there just to see what happens. I mean its enough light for my tropicals, so maybe its enough to get a pepper to do something? Just got to figure out which pepper buddy I want to risk.
 
Don't worry Jason, my grow is still like 80% Growhead =P.

 

[GA Growhead]

lol. Keeping it GA!
I have numerous Jamison seeds popped already myself. TN represent!

 

[Sawyer]

The oxygen level in that grow chamber is about to go way up.

 

[maximumcapsicum]

Rearranged the apartment yesterday to give my wife a little more workspace. We both do about half our work from home, and she needed a bigger desk. So I shifted the grow shelf to the other side of the apartment, in front of a dimly lit window, but I figure some extra supplemental sunlight never hurt a plant right?
 
Unfortunately I was watching my actual baby while moving the pepper babies, and in a moment of chaos, five of the solo cups took a tumble and hit the floor. Both Carolina Reapers, a white hab, giant white hab, and bahamian goat fell over. The plants for the most part stayed in place, but a bunch of dirt fell from the top of the cups. I scooped the dirt back up, hopefully they'll be fine. Careful with that multi-taskin.
 
Went ahead and got the last annuums in the dirt, as well as a couple of backup chinenses:
 
 

7 Pot Yellow


Naga Morich


Giant Jalapeño (B)


MoA (B) Scotch Bonnet


Bike Billy Jalapeno


Cracked Jalapeño


Numex Jaquero Jalapeño


Brown Moruga


7 Pot Primo


Goat’s Weed

 

 
This is probably my last germination round unless something massive and catastrophic happens. Will have to keep an eye on the guys who fell over.
 
Chiletepin X Barrackpore is putting out side shoots:
 

 
Something weird is going on with this hab. Never seen a double-lead like this. Any idea what it means?
 

 
Something weird is also going on with this Reaper. One of the true leaves curled in just a little bit and the leaf kind of froze in that distorted shape. Any idea what caused it?
 

 
Finally, I noticed that I already have roots shooting out the holes at the bottom of the cups. This is way sooner than I was expecting, and could cause problems. I was expecting to keep them in the cups nearly a month longer at least, so there'll be trouble if I got to do pot ups now. When do you guys normally put them up from solo cups? Any idea why they seemed to grow straight down and not fill out the cups? Maybe the ocean forest was too good.
 
Many of the Jalapenos have hooked! Will post some pictures of them as I pot them up.
 
Happy growing!

 

[fern123]

The double lead looks cool man
Dont worry a lot they are just variations
If you are lucky your plant might be exhibiting a very rare gene
Else its just a morph , random one

 

[Jamison]

My guess is they got a little dry. Roots travel looking for water. My best guess. Them leaves come out weird once in a while, no biggie.

 

[stc3248]

The double lead looks cool man
Dont worry a lot they are just variations
If you are lucky your plant might be exhibiting a very rare gene
Else its just a morph , random one

 

My guess is they got a little dry. Roots travel looking for water. My best guess. Them leaves come out weird once in a while, no biggie.

Yeah...double leaves are cool and happen. I get several a year...if you're lucky maybe you'll get some double flowers and double pods later on too!!!

 

[maximumcapsicum]

My guess is they got a little dry. Roots travel looking for water. My best guess. Them leaves come out weird once in a while, no biggie.

 
Fan must be drying them out a bit then. Roots look healthy. Think its okay to leave them in the solos for awhile or will this be to their detriment?

 

[HillBilly Jeff]

On the water, are you bottom watering and perhaps not letting the water rise up enough before you cut off the bottom watering?
 
I wouldn't worry too much about dropping those plants.  I had a light fall and break the tops out of a few plants and they just shrugged it off and kept on growing and produced well.  I dropped on onto the ground while hardening off and bent the main stem in half.  Used pipe tape to hold the plant up and it produced so much last year that I don't have to grow it this season.  Although I might if I have an empty cell
 
Plants are looking good man.  Keep up the growing!!!

 

[maximumcapsicum]

On the water, are you bottom watering and perhaps not letting the water rise up enough before you cut off the bottom watering?
 
I wouldn't worry too much about dropping those plants.  I had a light fall and break the tops out of a few plants and they just shrugged it off and kept on growing and produced well.  I dropped on onto the ground while hardening off and bent the main stem in half.  Used pipe tape to hold the plant up and it produced so much last year that I don't have to grow it this season.  Although I might if I have an empty cell
 
Plants are looking good man.  Keep up the growing!!!

 
Thanks for the vote of confidence man! Actually I am top watering, but I generally do every other day. Been afraid of dampening off. I'll start watering every day.

 

[maximumcapsicum]

Purple peppers everywhere!
 
Just finished the bidaily watering. Everything is looking pretty good I think, though I got to say the purple Jalapenos are looking a bit odd. Coty's are a little crumpled. If they still look that way on Tuesday I'll post a pic for some diagnostics.
 
Here's the whole fam:
 

 
50 plants shown, 51 potted up so far. Not quite at capacity for the garden yet but getting very close. Pretty much at capacity for indoor space, though as long as they can sit in the solo cups for another month or so I think everything will be fine. Can probably pot up a dozen or so of them if needbe.
 
Brown Egg is a very cool looking plant. Check out the dark purple veining:
 

 
Hope that trait sticks around. Looks neat.
 
My own chiero roxa seed came up after a month. Here's the little guy:
 

 
Will be interesting to see if it crossed with any of the other peppers I had around. It is OP, so who knows. A CR/Red Hab cross would be very flavorful and interesting-looking I think.
 
Rearranged the shelves so that everything fits without risking another spill. Also put some cardboard in the bottom for extra support. Actually made space for another 10 or so plants, but going to restrain myself.
 

 
Thanks for stopping by! 

 

[GA Growhead]

Ten more Plants, Did I hear? Sweet!