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.

 

[stickman]

My 2 cents. Plant 2 basil plants on the end of both rows by your toms. Use them as companion plants not for harvest.

 
If you're gonna plant basil next to the tomatoes, it's a great idea for 2 reasons... both plants will grow bigger and taste better, and tomato hornworms don't like the smell of the basil. http://www.tomatodirt.com/companion-plants.html

 

[maximumcapsicum]

It's that time! On Thursday I dropped most of my chinense and baccatum seeds in distilled water and let them soak over night. I placed them in clean ice cube trays using masking tape to label each cell.
 

 
Never done that before. Definitely seemed to help. The water was on the warm side of room temperature. I placed them on top of my grow shelf, which is warmed by the bonchis' lamps.
 
Within about 22 hours, a couple seeds had already put out radicles. Here is a fuzzy pic:
 

 
Charle's seeds arrived just before I was getting started, so I decided to go ahead and plant them without the soak period. Thanks again Spicegiest! Can't wait to see them sprout!
 
Followed Jason's procedure with the Jiffy pellets. Soaked the pellets with very hot water, then let them stand overnight. I fluffed them by rolling and smushing them before planting seeds. Three seeds per pellet, buried about a quarter to a half inch down. Placed the seeds horizontal using a plastic fork tine, then sprinkled loose media on top of them, patting them very gently and spraying them.
 

 
I accidentally prepped more pellets than I needed, so I doubled up on a couple varieties as an insurance policy. Been talking to fellow community gardeners and there are plenty of takes if a few stray plants need a home, so that's a good way to control my creeping crowding issues... Still had a couple of empty pellets but I may transplant particularly vigorous seedlings into the empty pellets later on.
 
Took a temp reading from the grow chamber, hovering around 75°- 80° F just from the lights. This means that with the heat mat, soil temperatures should be between 85° - 90°. I am hoping this is ideal.
 

 
Got a fan in the mail yesterday. Not quite sure how I'm going to rig it up yet... may suspend it from the top with hooks.
 
Here are the final stats:
 

 
Thanks for stopping by! And thanks to all the THPers how have given me advice, feedback, and seeds! 
 
Happy growing!

 

[Jeff H]

Looks good and very organized. Good luck. 
 
On a side note, I hope those were dedicated ice cube trays. They will tend to get a little spicy after soaking the seeds. If they actually get used for ice, make sure to wash them well. A couple of times. 

 

[stickman]

What Jeff said...   Definitely a neat and organized grow you got there Adam. Good luck!

 

[JJJessee]

Looking good, MaxC!

 

[Montmorillonite]

I see I'm not the only one who likes to make this tables with all information about each plant, statistics, etc.!

 

[GA Growhead]

 

[maximumcapsicum]

Looks good and very organized. Good luck. 
 
On a side note, I hope those were dedicated ice cube trays. They will tend to get a little spicy after soaking the seeds. If they actually get used for ice, make sure to wash them well. A couple of times. 

 
Thanks Jeff! They are indeed pepper ice cube trays. Was picking up ice cube trays to make baby food and thought they'd make great pepper-seed soakers as well so I grabbed a couple of extra. They're packed away in the gardening supplies shed now with sharpie labels on 'em to make sure they don't go into general circulation.
 

What Jeff said...   Definitely a neat and organized grow you got there Adam. Good luck!

 
Thanks Rick! Just following the lead of the master chileheads of THP!
 

Looking good, MaxC!

 
Thanks JJJ!
 

I see I'm not the only one who likes to make this tables with all information about each plant, statistics, etc.!

 
Yeah, love to follow the life history of individual plants, and keep track of what works and what doesn't. Also tables look sharp.
 

 
You know it! Now the waiting game.
 
I poked my head in the grow chamber... it's quite warm in there. The thermometer says 82°, the heat mat pushes that up to probably 92° inside the germination tray. Think I should take the top off? It definitely feels warm in there, but not warmer than a hot patch of mud on a summers day. Don't want to cook the seeds though. I'll take the top off when I see a hook either way.
 
Visited the plot today and pulled most of the rest of my carrots... mostly "atomic purples." The POLAR VORTEX fried their tops so instead of pruning them down I just decided to pull 'em. Left one or two in place just to see how they do.
 

 
They taste great. Gonna be through 'em in a week though. Hard to grow enough of anything.

 

[Devv]

Aight Adam!
 
Here we go!
 
Keep the pics rolling

 

[Scarecrw]

I like the table. I still use a black and white composition book and a wall calendar. Do the carrots taste better than the standard orange ones.

 

[maximumcapsicum]

I like the table. I still use a black and white composition book and a wall calendar. Do the carrots taste better than the standard orange ones.

 
They're sweeter for sure, though I think this is also an effect of the freezing temperatures. Made the carrots more purple. Definitely made the kale and broccoli turn purple.

 

[stickman]

I'm also curious where you got your seeds for the purple carrots. I've seen them in the Kitazawa seed catalog but haven't grown them so far.

 

[Montmorillonite]

Yeah, give us more details about the purple carrots! I'm also curious about them. Do they have longer growing season than ordinary ones? I've never seen them before.

 

[maximumcapsicum]

I'm also curious where you got your seeds for the purple carrots. I've seen them in the Kitazawa seed catalog but haven't grown them so far.

 
 

Yeah, give us more details about the purple carrots! I'm also curious about them. Do they have longer growing season than ordinary ones? I've never seen them before.

 
 The purple carrots are from the community garden's stock, so I'm not sure where they came from originally. Best guess is this:
 
http://www.johnnyseeds.com/p-6777-purple-haze-f1.aspx
 
Mine grew thicker than the ones pictured, but the striping is about right. They are indeed sweeter than standard orange carrots... too bad the timing is no good because I bet they'd make an excellent hab sauce. The purple coloring fades when you cook them, and they are orange on the inside.
 
I also planted orange organic carrot seeds I got at a local gardening shop. The purples matured faster for sure. I planted the purples in the last week of August and have been harvesting them since November. So about 90 days, but they definitely kept getting bigger. The ones pictured are the last row which was in the ground the longest with the most space. Flavor is good but crispness suffered due to the POLAR VORTEX. I am told I could snip the greens and leave them in the ground, but I decided to go ahead and eat them instead.
 
Too bad I need the space for peppers next season or I'd grow them again. Will probably plant them toward the end of summer either way.

 

[HabaneroHead]

Hi Adam,
 
Nice and organized grow log, excellent work! Definitely worth for watching!
 
Balázs

 

[Vegas_Chili]

Meticulous grow log! Everything looks awesome, especially those benches.

I love how you have everything on a spreadsheet. I used to be a computer geek back in the XP days... I hope to start studying this new technology before I get old LOL.

Hope you have an awesome season!

-Walt

 

[maximumcapsicum]

Hi Adam,
 
Nice and organized grow log, excellent work! Definitely worth for watching!
 
Balázs

 
 

Meticulous grow log! Everything looks awesome, especially those benches.

I love how you have everything on a spreadsheet. I used to be a computer geek back in the XP days... I hope to start studying this new technology before I get old LOL.

Hope you have an awesome season!

-Walt

 
Thanks guys! Can't wait for some hooks to start popping. I'm a little worried it's too warm... toying with the idea of removing the humidity cap (will do that when I see something pop anyway, as there's a little poof of heat when I take it off. Worried it's getting over 100° in there, not that that would necessarily be a bad thing, just don't want to cook the little guys. Thermometer still reading ~82° in the main chamber.

 

[GA Growhead]

You can put a towel between the heat mat and the germ tray to keep any hot spots in direct contact from burning. 82°F is awesome. Sounds like your set up is working out perfect.

 

[HillBilly Jeff]

82 sounds pretty dialed in to me.  You should be seeing hooks soon.

 

[maximumcapsicum]

Thanks guys. 82 is the main chamber... The soil chamber is in the 90's at least, possibly just over 100. Hard to get an accurate reading. Feels warm to the touch but not hot.

Once a hook appears I'll remove the dome, stabilizing the temp withe the mat around 90. Once everyone is established I'll bring everything to around 85.