MeatHead 2014

MeatHead1313 · Feb 17, 2014

After correcting my under watering issue on the sprouts, they're really starting to put on the growth now. Have a few in miracle gro seed starting mix that are lagging behind those in the light warrior, so probably going to change them out of the MG and into either LW (if I have enough left), ocean forest, though I'm worried about that being a bit too hot for them at this stage, or into my own mix. Decisions decisions lol.
Updated pics of the seedlings in cups-

I have a feeling they should be bigger than they are due to the watering issues. If so, another rookie lesson learned.

blorvak · Feb 17, 2014

MeatHead1313 said:
I have a feeling they should be bigger than they are due to the watering issues. If so, another rookie lesson learned.

I've been experiencing the same problem with my grow. My guys are 6 weeks old and about the same size as yours. Going to up the watering schedule on a select few and see what happens.

Also started feeding the ones that dropped their cotyledons, and that seems to have perked them up.

MeatHead1313 · Feb 18, 2014

blorvak said:
I've been experiencing the same problem with my grow. My guys are 6 weeks old and about the same size as yours. Going to up the watering schedule on a select few and see what happens.

Also started feeding the ones that dropped their cotyledons, and that seems to have perked them up.

I gave mine a light dose of seaweed extract on their last watering. Seemed to help a little as well. Might try a light dose of fish emulsion in a couple of waterings time.

beerbreath81 · Feb 18, 2014

nice work on the DIY soil, looks great. How is the Jamacian Yellow doing. Are you still waiting on more additions before transplanting the rest??

MeatHead1313 · Feb 18, 2014

beerbreath81 said:
nice work on the DIY soil, looks great. How is the Jamacian Yellow doing. Are you still waiting on more additions before transplanting the rest??

Thanks BB. So far so good on the test yellow mushroom, though it's only been 2 days so time will tell. I'm going to transplant as each plant needs it. The chinense's are growing a lot slower than the others, so they'll more than likely be transplanted last.
While at a local nursery on Saturday I picked up an already setup sfrb for soil tests from LSU. Going to send off a sample of my homemade mix to see how it stands, and a sample of the soil at my wife's church so I can see what needs to be added before planting.

Devv · Feb 18, 2014

Everything looking good Chris!

I'm not one to water heavily until I can put them outside.

And you did right not chunking those babies in the weather unless you're around to watch them. I should have been more clear, my older plants go outside, not the solo cup gals.

MeatHead1313 · Feb 18, 2014

Devv said:
Everything looking good Chris!

I'm not one to water heavily until I can put them outside.

And you did right not chunking those babies in the weather unless you're around to watch them. I should have been more clear, my older plants go outside, not the solo cup gals.

Thanks Scott. I was going roughly a week at a time between waterings on the solo cups, mainly due to worries about over watering which was a problem I had on the plants in the greenhouse when they were in cups last year. Ended up going the opposite direction lol. Just another lesson for me to learn from, and I can easily say if it wasn't for all the advice available on here I probably would've killed everything and given up on starting from seed and just bought already started plants. Thankfully I can either get advice or research on here and correct any mistakes I make. And hopefully I can have a good enough season that I'll end up with more peppers than I'll need and be able to share the love on here. :dance:

Devv · Feb 18, 2014

We're always learning. Mine in the solos are under lights with a box fan. The smallest get a tiny sip everyday, I tend to be on the shy side when it comes to water. Once in the dirt, in the sun and wind I keep them moist.

Keep it green!

HillBilly Jeff · Feb 18, 2014

The plants are looking good.

thirdcoasttx · Feb 18, 2014

Seedlings look good! Looks like you'll have your hands full in no time.

MeatHead1313 · Feb 18, 2014

Devv said:
We're always learning. Mine in the solos are under lights with a box fan. The smallest get a tiny sip everyday, I tend to be on the shy side when it comes to water. Once in the dirt, in the sun and wind I keep them moist.

Keep it green!

Thanks Scott. A small drink every day sounds like a good plan to keep the soil moist but not too wet. At the height of the problem when I watered them the water was instantly running out the bottom of the cups due to it being far too dry. A good soak fixed that problem thankfully.

HillBilly Jeff said:
The plants are looking good.

Thanks Jeff. It was your advice that helped me fix the under watering issue. Appreciate the info!

thirdcoasttx said:
Seedlings look good! Looks like you'll have your hands full in no time.

Thanks thirdcoast! Definitely hope so. Really itching to start harvesting some pods!

maximumcapsicum · Feb 18, 2014

Looking good mh! The seedlings are looking strong, and kudos for making your own mix. That isn't easy.

Watering the solo cups is a fine art, but it looks like you're getting it down! Keep on growing!

MeatHead1313 · Feb 19, 2014

maximumcapsicum said:
Looking good mh! The seedlings are looking strong, and kudos for making your own mix. That isn't easy.

Watering the solo cups is a fine art, but it looks like you're getting it down! Keep on growing!

Thanks Adam. Will be interesting to see the results of the soil test when I get them back.
Watering issues have seemed to be my only major mistakes so far thankfully. Hope you're right about me getting it down lol.
Jamaican yellow mushroom seems to be liking the homemade mix so far. I didn't measure it when I planted it, but it seems to me as if it's grown a bit since it's transfer. I did put it out in the greenhouse as well, though shaded from full sun by the larger plants. So unsure if it's the mix or the natural light that's helping the most there.

Found another spare 6 inch pot this afternoon, so decided to pot up a Jimmy Nardello as well into my own mix. Buried it a little deeper than it was in the cup, so currently it's sitting right at 3 inches tall. This one was also moved out to the greenhouse and shaded behind the larger plants.

maximumcapsicum · Feb 19, 2014

Pot ups look great MH! Will be interested to see the results. I bet the plants love your mix!

Devv · Feb 19, 2014

+1 on 294!

We're always learning and moving forward. Good job with the transplants!

Keep it green!

MeatHead1313 · Feb 19, 2014

maximumcapsicum said:
Pot ups look great MH! Will be interested to see the results. I bet the plants love your mix!

Thanks Adam. I'm hoping they do too haha. It worked out a hell of a lot cheaper making my own mix rather than buying FF online, which was my only way of getting it as nowhere around here stocks it. I think Amazon has the happy frog and ocean forest at around $40 a bag now with prime, and it would've just cost far too much to order enough of that for all the plants. I think so far I've spent about $40-50 for everything for my own mix, and I'll get a lot more mix with that than I would with one bag of FF. And I found a great nursery fairly close by on the weekend that has any amendments I'll need cheap if it turns out I need any.

Devv said:
+1 on 294!

We're always learning and moving forward. Good job with the transplants!

Keep it green!

Thanks Scott!

MeatHead1313 · Feb 21, 2014

Not much to report at the moment. Waiting on some new pots so I can start transplanting. Have some 1 gallon grow bags, along with a couple 10 gallon and 1 15 gallon to try out some larger pots on a couple plants ordered. Just waiting on them to come in.
Did find another old pot laying around so potted up an MoA today into some FF Ocean Forest. Still have half a bag so need to use it up.

Sm1nts2escape · Feb 21, 2014

The Jimmy Nardello looks real nice and healthy. I am also planning on potting up with 1 gal grow bags. Interested to see how they work and think they will help combat mold.

MeatHead1313 · Feb 22, 2014

Sm1nts2escape said:
The Jimmy Nardello looks real nice and healthy. I am also planning on potting up with 1 gal grow bags. Interested to see how they work and think they will help combat mold.

I'm interested to see how they work too. So far I've generally gone from cups to plastic 6 inch pots. I have noticed with the plants I have in the dollar store eco friendly bags that they need to be watered more often than the plants in plastic pots, so I don't think mold will be an issue if the proper root pouches have similar drainage.

MeatHead1313 · Feb 23, 2014

Transplanted another couple of plants today, this time 2 of the older plants. My wife's being buying the buckets of kitty litter for our cat, and instead of just throwing the buckets away when finished, I'll drill a bunch of holes in the bottom and reuse them for the plants. Finally got finished with another bucket, so transplanted one of the greenhouse plants from the small 12 inch pot it was in into the new bucket. If I've figured it out right these buckets are roughly 5 gallons.

As I then had a free 12 inch pot, and my Brazilian starfish was looking like it was getting too big for the 6 inch pot it was in, gave it an upgrade as well.

Both were potted into the last of my Ocean Forest mix, so any future pot ups will be into my own mix, providing there's no catastrophic failure there.

Really need these last few cold fronts to hurry up and disappear so I can get the plants out of the greenhouse for good. Most of the plants are now pressing up against the edges, and I'd hate to see them get some sort of infection from it.