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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.
 
capsidadburn said:
You college folks sure get my envy! Love the data collection, tracking info, looking for trends and pertinent data is the juice for me. The search for answers! How can we grow if we don't know?

Keep up the great work!

Mike
 
Just got to stick to it. Hoping to have some insights for 2015. Also still trying to get that second plot for more peppers!
 
HabaneroHead said:
Great work on tracking the season! You are a great Spreadsheet Warrior! :P
I love the bonchi project!
 
Balázs
 
Thanks Balázs! I'll do a new round of bonchi pics soon, once I see how stretch reacts to the pruning. I can tell the little scotch bonnet is going to need a bit more light... not sure when I can hook it up though. May just rotate everyone though.
 
Wow, now I feel old, my kids have been out of college for 7 and 10 years..
 
Take advantage of the technology, cool stuff out there. I never thought 10 years ago my servers would have 40 cores and 128 gigs of ram tied into 10tb arrays running all those VM's. AND it's just getting better and faster!
 
maximumcapsicum said:
Great news. They are allocating another 12'x8' for me. This will change my layout a bit. Going to add cilantro, basil, garlic, and possibly another row of tomatoes. Most importantly, going to massively increase the number of annuums I'll be growing. Who ever has enough jalapenos?
 
Excellent. That should really help. 
 
maximumcapsicum said:
Very nice and thoughtful gift.  I used a similar flat last season and it was very hard to deal with roots that had grown through the drainage holes, damaging the little seedlings. Also it took forever to get true leaves on the sprouts, nearly a month, but I think the room I was growing in was too cold. I was leaning toward using jiffy pellets this year instead, since I can pop the seedlings into solo cups as soon as they germ. Still, I see beautiful shots you guys post of ~4" tall seedings thriving in these kinds of flats, and the bottom watering may help prevent damping off. What do you guys think? Any luck with one these guys? 
 
Thanks THP!
 
I've never used a wicking seedling tray like that Adam, so I'd be interested to see what your take is on it. Take lots of pics...
 
 
maximumcapsicum said:
Great news. They are allocating another 12'x8' for me. This will change my layout a bit. Going to add cilantro, basil, garlic, and possibly another row of tomatoes. Most importantly, going to massively increase the number of annuums I'll be growing. Who ever has enough jalapenos?
 
Excellent news! That's another 6 "square foot garden" blocks if you decide to go that route. Cheers!
 
Going to have to revise my original post soon. The grow list is going to have to go through some... er.... adjustments. All for great reasons. First, the community garden is allocated another plot to me. Means twice the fee but also twice the space. Given that I made the fee back on kale alone this Fall, I'm pretty sure my salsa habit will pay for the pepper plots this year. Just have to work out a fertilizer regimen.
 
Had an awesome Saturday with Jason aka GA Growhead. He adopted a couple of the Roxa branches that did not get to become bonsais, but rooted and were putting on flowers nonetheless, and left me with an incredible array of nifty seeds to try. He also showed me around local hydro shop that stocks alot of products I only thought were available online. Very helpful... THP is full of great people. He also threw in some superhot powder that fills the air within 10 feet of it with a delicious, hot aroma you have to experience to believe. Gonna give it a try in this week's salsa batch...
 
IjwcKVn.jpg

 
That's right... 18 new varieties! Choices are coming. I'm going to completely revise the grow list and garden plan this week. Probably going to do one of most chinenses in order to try the variety, and grow a bunch of annuums (mostly jalapenos) to fill out the salsa pots. Next weekend I am going to start the first wave of chinenses. On that note, I also decided to get a grow chamber up and running...
 
NrVcZm4.jpg

 
Alright, so the grow chamber(s) are the bottom two shelves. One is prepped and ready, the other I will set up when the time comes. The top of the unit is for bonchis and bonsais that I am overwintering (that was the set-up's original purpose). It is just over three feed long and just over a foot deep. My original vision was to screw hooks into the wood and use chains to hang lights, but the lumen-per-dollar ratio on CFL's kept winning out, so I used clamp lights above.
 
cPtSXVo.jpg

 
The business chamber. There will also be a grow mat, and if I can figure out how to plug it in, a computer fan (Rick, how do you plug a computer fan in? Do you have to solder a plug on it?). If not, a 6" clamp fan will suffice. 
 
On top of the chamber are two 6 outlet power strips with 4 daylight CFL's plugged in (5000k, 23 watt). The power strips are duct-taped to the reflectix on the roof of the chamber, and the power cords are supported by brass hooks screwed through the reflectix into the wood, helping support the whole lighting apparatus. The packages claim they put out 1600 lumens per bulb, which yields an impressive 6400 lumens. They're a little high, but I don't think that's a problem. I'm a little worried it'll get too hot, but I'll keep an eye on it the first day its up and running. The CFL's up top stay very cool, so I didn't think it would be a problem.
 
IF the lighting isn't sufficient, I can add Y connectors to the light sockets and double the number of bulbs in the chamber, but if that isn't necessary I'll use the lights on the shelf below when it is time to spread the starts out a little bit. I can already tell I am going to grow far more than I have space for.
 
The whole setup is surrounded by reflectix, which I found in the building supplies section at Home Depot. It appears to be very similar to bubble wrap surrounded by mylar. Should keep everything toasty and bright, though I am worried it'll be a little prone to hotspots (has anyone had problems with this?). Then again, the corners aren't covered so the worst areas will be free of reflective surface. 
 
The shelf fits three jiffy 36 cell greenhouses, so that's what I'll use. There will be a 20X10" heat mat beneath them running 24x7. 
 
Here it is lit up:
 
5BOye3E.jpg

 
Good way to end the holiday break. Back to work tomorrow, but everything is set for the 2014 grow!
 
So much ground still to cover. Stay tuned for a completely revised grow list and plan, and of course the first wave of soaking seeds!
 
Grow shelve looks killer! I'm thinking that will work very well.
Was cool hanging out. Not sure the Korean tacos agreed with my stomach too well, but they were really tasty! Could have been something else I ate before, but something got me by nights end.
I have some similar bubble mylar combo that works well. No issues with hot spots last year with it.
Glad I could complicate the growlist! :D
 
Nice grow station setup Adam... plan for some overflow, because if you fill one shelf with seedlings at the start, you'll need at least 5 times that by plant-out to avoid crowding your babies so closely that snapping off brittle stems becomes an issue and to allow better light penetration to the lower leaves.

Good luck with your germ!
 
Nice set up. I used an old phone charger on my pc fan. You can also put a potentiometer inline to control speed. Don't plug a pc fan directly into an outlet, it will blow up. (ask me how I now that) :rofl:
 
Scarecrw said:
Nice set up. I used an old phone charger on my pc fan. You can also put a potentiometer inline to control speed. Don't plug a pc fan directly into an outlet, it will blow up. (ask me how I now that) :rofl:
Getting back to your fan question... Listen to Jeff... don't bother with PC-type muffin fans unless you have the proper power supply. I used 3 inch AC fans I got from Radio Shack, and added a cord and plug I got when I cut off the female end off a cheap 5 foot extension cord. It was actually cheaper to go that route.
 
Now we're talkin'
Extra garden plot, more light, plenty of seed, 
you're ready to kick it into high gear
 
Good Luck on 2014!
 
I'm a shelf grower too. When my  lights are too high for baby plant, I put in a temporary shelf on risers. I had some old styro blocks about that didn't add to my shelf weight.
 
capsidadburn said:
Congratulations on the added space and the seed score from Jason!  Your grow station looks great too!
 
Have a great week!
 
Mike
 
Thanks Mike! It doesn't look half bad for the money, and it's moderately expandable.
 
GA Growhead said:
Grow shelve looks killer! I'm thinking that will work very well.
Was cool hanging out. Not sure the Korean tacos agreed with my stomach too well, but they were really tasty! Could have been something else I ate before, but something got me by nights end.
I have some similar bubble mylar combo that works well. No issues with hot spots last year with it.
Glad I could complicate the growlist! :D
 
Hope so! You know it took alot of thought to move away from the T5's, but I figured if I had to seal it in anyway I should go with the CFL's. Got to monitor the temperature in there... picking up a thermometer soon... it's easily 10° higher than the surrounding room, and that's without heat mat or lights, and open.

Sorry about the tacos! At least they tasted good. Tempura avacado was new to me. Narrowing down the grow list... I think I am going to try everybody's favorites, with some reapers and at least one representative of each of the superhot families. And a ton of jalapenos.
 
Thanks again!
 
MeatHead1313 said:
Awesome score on the seeds. The generosity on here is amazing. Great grow chamber too. Agree with stickman, space under the lights gets filled up quick.
 
This is a great place. I've learned more in a month here than I learned during my first grow year, and it's been a ton of fun.
 
I am worried about space. I have the lower shelf, and in a pinch I can stick some stuff up top with the bonsai's but the light and heat won't be good up there. I may move a bonchi to my office and see how it does, but I think I'd need to give it a dedicated light. Got to get some fancy shoes first.
 
Scarecrw said:
Nice set up. I used an old phone charger on my pc fan. You can also put a potentiometer inline to control speed. Don't plug a pc fan directly into an outlet, it will blow up. (ask me how I now that) :rofl:
 
Haha, I plugged fans directly into sockets all the time in India. Lights too. Didn't have a fancy home improvement store to pick up plugs and electrical parts from. They call it jhugar. Different voltage there though...
 
Probably just going to pick up a 6" clamp fan and call it a day. Hoping to find something smaller. Still got a couple of weeks before its imperative. 
 
JJJessee said:
Now we're talkin'
Extra garden plot, more light, plenty of seed, 
you're ready to kick it into high gear
 
Good Luck on 2014!
 
I'm a shelf grower too. When my  lights are too high for baby plant, I put in a temporary shelf on risers. I had some old styro blocks about that didn't add to my shelf weight.
 
Yeah I know. Going to need a complete revamp of the plan. Now indoor space is more of a limitation!
 
Jamison said:
Jason took care of ya! He is a very generous person! Grow is looking good. Now get them seeds soakin!
 
Sure is! Seed soak is due to start this weekend. Glad to see I am on the right track... gonna actually have to break things down and rebuild the plan a little bit.
 
 
stickman said:
Nice grow station setup Adam... plan for some overflow, because if you fill one shelf with seedlings at the start, you'll need at least 5 times that by plant-out to avoid crowding your babies so closely that snapping off brittle stems becomes an issue and to allow better light penetration to the lower leaves.
 
Good luck with your germ!
 
Thanks for the advice Rick! And thanks for the info on the fan as well. Glad I didn't blow anything up. I am going to try to keep it to get ~60 plants to plant out. There should be space if I add the bottom shelf as well. The trouble is determining how many starts of each variety to shoot for. I am thinking 2 but we'll see.
 
The bonnet bonchi isn't doing so hot. The bottom branches are yellowing a bit and dropping leaves. There are three possible reasons I think... too much nutrients, too little nutrients, too little light. Given that I have been very sparing on a balanced organic fert, I think it may need another hit, and a little more light. The other bonchis are doing great, so I don't think there is anything wrong with the roots or pruning.
 

 
Will post the new grow list and grow plan soon! Got to fit as much as possible in this week. Got my work schedule ready and its going to be full gear next week.

Thanks for reading!
 
Everything is looking good.
 
PC fans use brushless motors. You need a proper controller for those types. You can't just plug them in without the controller.
 
Your bonchi: I would put too much water at the top of your list and too much nutrients at the bottom. Pull it out of the pot and see how saturated the soil at the bottom of the pot is. That is my bet. Too much nutrients will manifest itself in super dark green leaves and nute burn on the leaves.
 
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