Megamoo's 2011/2012 Grow Log

Trippa · Sep 4, 2011

megamoo said:
On 31/8 I soaked about 70 seeds in hydrogen peroxide solution for five minutes then for 24 hours in chamomile tea.

Trinidad Scorpion Butch T
7 Pot Brain Strain
Douglah
Nagabon
Bahamian Goat Pepper
Orange Lantern
Peruvian White Habanero
Antillais Caribbean
Scotch Bonnet TFM
Jamaica Scotch Bonnet
Congo Brown
Aribibi Gusano
Limon

Then put them into jiffy pellets with a heat mat underneath and a thermostat set to 30C.

Each pellet has three or four seeds and if I get a few sprouting from one I will try to separate them and pot them up before they get too big.

No hooks yet but its only been three days.

The weather is turning so these will probably be the last ones I will have to bring on under lights. I still have another lot of seeds to start for this season but they are mainly annums and we have a long season so I'm sure there will be enough time.

Good luck with the germination Mega I hope they all come up in good time...

megamoo · Sep 5, 2011

Thanks Trippa

Pablo_h said:
Is this the first time you've used jiffies?
I notice you haven't used them before.
I bought a pack of jiffies only to use when I ran out of 50mm x 50mm x 75mm seedling pots, so haven't used them yet.
I'm interested in the results you get with them compared to your pots and potting mix.
edit: I chuck 2 seeds into each pot, and separating them in the case of 100% germination is the main reason why I use pots instead of jiffies. Most of the time I've only got 10 seeds of each type to play with, so I don't want to cull any viable seedlings.

I've not used them for a serious chilli grow before. They are helpful if you are going to do a lot so can quickly pot up by dumping the plug in a hole. Although I said that I would separate them if I get a lot to germinate it all depends on the time I have, and if i can't be bothered I'll just snip the stems of the weaker ones and keep one. Any comparison to soil and pots won't really be accurate because I've used all different heat and moisture set ups as well.

Here are some updated photos of the potted up ones. I can't tell if they are getting bigger yet, but at least they aren't going down yet. The ones in the buckets are probably sending out roots and getting over the shock of the quick and rough hardening off I did. I needed the greenhouse for the next lot so they had to deal with outside eariler than planned. Luckily the weather hasn't been horrible to them.

These are the lastest ones to graduate to the greenhouse.

I sadly trashed about 15 of the seedlings from the grow shelf because they were looking really ill. I think I underwatered them after overwatering them.

In addition to causing them stress in numerous other ways. After having lots of free time to mess around with the growing setup I am now suddenly busy with everything else in life and the chillies will have to deal with less interaction from me... which is probably better for them!

megamoo · Sep 5, 2011

Some other things going on in my garden.

This is a dorset naga I planted way too late last year and then over fertilized. Rinsed the roots and repotted it and it grew back, then it got aphids bad. So I just stripped all the leaves off and it grew back again. Left it outside all winter, barely watered it thinking it would die but its still here. What a trooper.

Similar situation with this fresno. Planted too late and left it outside on its own and now its popped out a winter pod.

One of the recent pot ups. Not sure if the purpling is an infection or nutrient problem, or something else... OR I have mixed up the seeds and its a purple tiger, or some accidental cross.

Not chillies... broad beans. Probably too much nitrogen going on here, they are upto my chin. The parsley down the front started out as only one sixth of the herb garden but it has completely taken over and I can't see anything else in there anymore.

rudeboy2010 · Sep 6, 2011

Hey are the pellets jiffy 7 peat free pellets ? Thinking of using these for the first time and wondered are they any good ?

megamoo · Sep 7, 2011

rudeboy2010 said:
Hey are the pellets jiffy 7 peat free pellets ? Thinking of using these for the first time and wondered are they any good ?

I bought them on ebay and they came in a clear plastic bag, this is the listing I got them from
http://www.ebay.com....=item4aac329c1c
It says coir which is coconut husk. I have seen coir-peat blended products for sale so it is possible, ebay is hit and miss for many things including accurate information.

I have bought the Jiffy 7 pellets locally before and they work great with tomatoes and herbs.

As for chillies... well after 7 days I have hooks

Second from top left. Butch T

There are a few protohooks visible from Butch Ts and some Orange Lanterns. Hard to see but they are definitely there.

I consistently get my first hooks at 7/8 days. I read a lot about people waiting two weeks for the first sprout so this is awesome. :dance:

edit: camera really didn't do well but trust me they aren't just white specks on your screen. :rofl:

Mclovin · Sep 7, 2011

megamoo said:
On 31/8 I soaked about 70 seeds in hydrogen peroxide solution for five minutes then for 24 hours in chamomile tea.

Hey Megamoo

What percentage strength was the peroxide you used and what was the ratio to water and how much chamomile tea bags did you use?

Just for interest. Soaked some seeds today in plain tap water and would like to see the difference it makes.

You have some nice looking plants there btw. :dance:

Happy growing!!!

megamoo · Sep 11, 2011

Mclovin said:
Hey Megamoo

What percentage strength was the peroxide you used and what was the ratio to water and how much chamomile tea bags did you use?

Just for interest. Soaked some seeds today in plain tap water and would like to see the difference it makes.

You have some nice looking plants there btw.

Happy growing!!!

Thanks

I soaked them for five minutes and that method I read called for 3% hydrogen peroxide for 5 minutes.
But by accident I used a different mixing chart and further diluted the 3% peroxide by using one and a half teaspoons to 1 cup of water. This would have reduced the effect but its still better than nothing in my experience. I used to have terrible germination rates with no soaking.

So if you want to do it then 3% peroxide for five minutes then straight into the tea.

Because I needed enough to fill a large ice cube tray I made a double sized cup of chamomile tea with two tea bags, let it cool and then diluted it with 50% water. So the rate I used is a regular cup diluted half with water, soaked for 24 hrs.

11 days after the soaking I have 75% of the jiffy pellets germinating. :woohoo:

This is the container that has been moved under the lights.

Nothing yet from Antillais Caribbean, Aribibi Gusano and the two jiffy pellets with Peruvian White Habanero seeds

I had one seedling of this germinated before but managed to kill it. Everything else is doing well.
I've used all my Butch T stock and they have not disappointed. :onfire:

S.S.Tupperware · Sep 11, 2011

Looks like your on your way...

Trippa · Sep 11, 2011

megamoo said:
Thanks

I soaked them for five minutes and that method I read called for 3% hydrogen peroxide for 5 minutes.
But by accident I used a different mixing chart and further diluted the 3% peroxide by using one and a half teaspoons to 1 cup of water. This would have reduced the effect but its still better than nothing in my experience. I used to have terrible germination rates with no soaking.

So if you want to do it then 3% peroxide for five minutes then straight into the tea.

Because I needed enough to fill a large ice cube tray I made a double sized cup of chamomile tea with two tea bags, let it cool and then diluted it with 50% water. So the rate I used is a regular cup diluted half with water, soaked for 24 hrs.

11 days after the soaking I have 75% of the jiffy pellets germinating.

This is the container that has been moved under the lights.

Nothing yet from Antillais Caribbean, Aribibi Gusano and the two jiffy pellets with Peruvian White Habanero seeds I had one seedling of this germinated before but managed to kill it. Everything else is doing well.
I've used all my Butch T stock and they have not disappointed.

nice work on the germ rates and speed mega. Sweet work :beer:

Mclovin · Sep 12, 2011

Thanks for the Info

Going to try this over the weekend for sure.

Its rugby worldcup and has been hard getting the attention....uhm.... to my girlfriend (because shes sitting next to me =), always "1st priority", and the gardening).

megamoo · Sep 13, 2011

I'm so busy at the moment I barely have the time to look after my plants, let alone watch rugby. Wish I still had foxtel so I could record some world cup games and watch it when at home. When these chilli plants go outside they are definitely going to need the automatic reticulation set up cos I won't have time to hand water them every day.

An updated photo today with three more jiffy pellets showing hooks and added to the lit bucket. 3 others out of 24 with nothing yet.

They seem to be loving their environment right now. Getting bigger and nice and green. Don't want to change anything.

Just after starting my last lot of seeds I got some more seeds in the mail. So although I thought I had started all my chinenses, I was wrong.

Yesterday I managed to find the time to sow the last big lot for the season. I have to do it at night and I was too tired to stuff around with mixing the hydrogen peroxide soak so I just put them straight into the chamomile tea.
Here are the seeds after 24hrs soaking and the jiffy pellets expanding.

I chopped the top bit of jiffy netting off, as others on the forum have done so I can easily separate seedlings if I want to. This sort of defeats the purpose of using the pellets, `convenience`, but now I have the choice and can separate them or just thin them out and pot up easily.
Here they are sown, tagged and ready for the heat mat.

The varieties are
Long Red Cayenne
Hot Cherry
Pusa Jwala
Explosive Ember
Numex Twilight
Hungarian Black
Rocoto Peru Bitumi
Jimmy Nardello
Trinidad Perfume
Pimenta De Neyde
Habanero Big Sun
Naga Jolokia Purple
Wild Tepin
Bolivian Rainbow
Manzano Amarillo
Asian Birdseye
Hungarian Hot Wax
Guampinha De Veado
Aji Amarillo
Thai Orange
Bishop's Crown
Anaheim
Hungarian Yellow Wax Hot
Poblano
Purple Tiger
Black Prince
Mystery Pepper

Had zero germination rates with first packet of Hot Cherry and I had to give them another go so got some more. For the second time I found some Asian Birdseye seeds when I thought I was out. Still trying to get one of these to pod so here's hoping.

I will update when something else happens.

Pablo_h · Sep 15, 2011

How did you get rid of the fungus gnats mega?
I'm having all the same problems as you (wilting, fungus gnats, yellowing, browning, purpling etc)

megamoo · Sep 15, 2011

Pablo_h said:
How did you get rid of the fungus gnats mega?
I'm having all the same problems as you (wilting, fungus gnats, yellowing, browning, purpling etc)

I didn't.

I just beat them back. I hung a sticky paper trap above the plants but although lots of them got caught, enough were free and still breeding so they never went away. I got good results from spraying the tops of the soil with hydrogen peroxide solution which apparently kills their larvae and the fungus on which they feed. They all but disappeared but when I stopped using it they have come back.

Whats worse is that the plants in buckets outside are crawling with them. I sprayed them with some neem, mainly because my broadbeans were getting full of whitefly, a week ago but that was a mistake because nature will probably bring in a control to predate on them if I wait it out.

In the pictures below you can see I have used a clingwrap lid over the first growing chamber to stop them getting in but it won't last. As soon as the jiffys are potted up I'll use the H2O2 again, I think it also helps with available oxygen to the roots or something like that.

The dilution rate is add 4ml of 50% peroxide to 1 litre of water and spray the leaves and soil top.

I got a hook from a Peruvian White Habanero :dance:

So this is now 22 out of 24 jiffys sprouting something after two weeks. It is not every seed because many of the pellets only have one seed germinated out of 3 or 5 but I'm happy with that.

These ones don't get much if any direct sun in the current position of the greenhouse.

So this first lot weren't properly hardened off before they went out at night. That would explain why there has been very little growth.

Most of them are looking alright though. I'm sure they will grow.

harry · Sep 15, 2011

megamoo said:
I didn't. I just beat them back. I hung a sticky paper trap above the plants but although lots of them got caught, enough were free and still breeding so they never went away. I got good results from spraying the tops of the soil with hydrogen peroxide solution which apparently kills their larvae and the fungus on which they feed. They all but disappeared but when I stopped using it they have come back.

Whats worse is that the plants in buckets outside are crawling with them. I sprayed them with some neem, mainly because my broadbeans were getting full of whitefly, a week ago but that was a mistake because nature will probably bring in a control to predate on them if I wait it out.

I recommend trying to find Bacillus thuringienis israelensis (BTi). I've had success submerging plants in a weak solution of Malathion too.

Pablo_h · Sep 15, 2011

You sure have transplanted into some large pots for seedlings, what's in the mix, just the coles potting mix and coir? Or have you put any perlite or anything else in there?

I see your fatalii is tiny, same as mine. I found that really hard to germinate and when it did, the seedling had tiny cotyledons.

I went out earlier today and sprayed h2o2. I lost a red 7 pot seedling today. First serious loss as before I only lost hungarian hot wax, jalapeno or basil to fungus or fungus gnat larvae.
I only have 3% h2o2, so didn't know how much to use, used 5ml in 500ml and sprayed everything, hope that doesn't kill everything. But I'm sick of the gnats.
My seedlings spend all day outside under shade, and are only brought in at night. I stuck a bowl of water with lemon scented dishwashing liquid amongst the plants to see if I can kill them by them landing in it and drowning.
Found my old bug zapper light and put that inside where the seedlings stay and maybe that will kill some gnats too. But I really want to wipe the larvae out that is possibly doing the damage to the seedlings

Harry, I was reading about the gnats today before, doing a lot of searching here. Bti was mentioned a lot, where's the best place to get it? Online or is there a national chain store that is likely to have it?

megamoo · Sep 15, 2011

Pablo_h said:
You sure have transplanted into some large pots for seedlings, what's in the mix, just the coles potting mix and coir? Or have you put any perlite or anything else in there?

I see your fatalii is tiny, same as mine. I found that really hard to germinate and when it did, the seedling had tiny cotyledons.

I went out earlier today and sprayed h2o2. I lost a red 7 pot seedling today. First serious loss as before I only lost hungarian hot wax, jalapeno or basil to fungus or fungus gnat larvae.
I only have 3% h2o2, so didn't know how much to use, used 5ml in 500ml and sprayed everything, hope that doesn't kill everything. But I'm sick of the gnats.
My seedlings spend all day outside under shade, and are only brought in at night. I stuck a bowl of water with lemon scented dishwashing liquid amongst the plants to see if I can kill them by them landing in it and drowning.
Found my old bug zapper light and put that inside where the seedlings stay and maybe that will kill some gnats too. But I really want to wipe the larvae out that is possibly doing the damage to the seedlings

Harry, I was reading about the gnats today before, doing a lot of searching here. Bti was mentioned a lot, where's the best place to get it? Online or is there a national chain store that is likely to have it?

I used the chart on here when I had 3% to mix.
http://www.using-hydrogen-peroxide.com/gardening-with-hydrogen-peroxide.html
Once I sprayed with undiluted 3% by mistake. Killed two of the very smallest seedlings but the rest survived and only dropped some leaves. So if you dilute 3% at all it won't be too much.
In the buckets is a mix of different composts and some coir-peat and some potting mix and some rooster booster fertilizer. In hindsight I might have made the mix a bit rich and it could do with some perlite but it was an experiment.
Don't know where to get Bti.
My purpling problem is strange. It is almost like an infection because I have a "naga morich" seedling that is really purple and I thought it was a green variety. I might have mixed the seeds up somehow. I'm fighting it by using H2O2 on the infected plants and sterilizing everything for the next lot and really trying to keep it all clean.

harry · Sep 15, 2011

Pablo_h said:
Harry, I was reading about the gnats today before, doing a lot of searching here. Bti was mentioned a lot, where's the best place to get it? Online or is there a national chain store that is likely to have it?

I forgot that I had Bacillus thuringiensis (BT) and not Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis (BTi). I bought Yates Nature's Way Caterpillar Killer (BT) from Bunnings. I'm having a look now to try and find a supplier of BTi. The information in http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/341558/Fungus-gnat-management-in-greenhouse-crops.pdf appears to be helpful.

I'm not fond of using an oxidising agent such as H2O2. I'll check and get back to you on the use of Malathion. It stopped the fungus gnat grubs dead.

Mclovin · Sep 16, 2011

The only other place i have ever heard of using peroxide was with coloring your hair white(or peroxide your hair). That's why I was so interested when i read you can soak your seeds in it. So after Mega's post I did some reading on H202 and got a better understanding of it, even filled my spray bottle last night with 4.5ml H202/100 ml H20 and sprayed my seedlings with it. I was a little nervous this morning waking up tbh, but everything was fine.

So be it, I had to dye my girlfriend hair last night as well,and after reading about the cleaning properties of H202, I got some dye on my hands and used the same mix I used on my seedlings only minutes ago, and it removed the stains of the dye!!! So i was a bit worried this morning but its all good and happy.

megamoo · Sep 18, 2011

Mclovin said:
filled my spray bottle last night with 4.5ml H202/100 ml H20 and sprayed my seedlings with it.

What concentration of peroxide is that? I use 4ml of 50% H2O2 to I litre water. Or 66ml of 3% H2O2 to 940ml water. I'm guessing you used 3% H2O2.

You probably read this but you have to be careful of some brands because they put other chemcals in it, stabilizers they are called which aren't necessarily good for plants.

If you are going to use it regularly then I'd advise getting some from a hyrdo shop. After buying the expensive 3% stuff in the supermarket this is what I did and it is much cheaper. I got a 50% concentration bottle which is used for putting into hydro tanks so its safe for plants. You have to be careful using it because it burns skin. It blisters all white but goes away after a while so not a big problem. I always get some on my fingers so I just measure and pour into the sprayer what I need then wash my hands straight away and no problems.

megamoo · Sep 19, 2011

I realised my bucketed plants were sitting on the ground and their drainage holes were probably embedded into the dirt. We've had some rain this week so to stop them drowning I stuck them on some old chipboard. Not the best material as it will swell with the rain but better than the sodden ground. They are not doing well, probably too wet and fungus gnats are multiplying on the soil top.

Need to elevate them on an airy platform, extinguish the fungus gnats, and I reallllly don't want to but I might have to repot them with an airy mix including perlite.

Have to be next weekend at the earliest, I'll take a picture before then.

Plants in jiffys are growing well.

Closeup of the biggest one, Scotch Bonnet TFM

This Orange Lantern couldn't get his helmet off, and I roughly chopped it with some scissors. Didn't go well, his future is bleak.

I'm not concerned though because I have another jiffy with two orange lanterns doing well.

All the Fataliis I have grown are tiny as seedlings. This one has its cotyledons curled right over, hope thats not a bad sign.

No hooks from the seeds sown six days ago. I skipped the hydrogen peroxide soak with them so the germination rates will be an interesting comparsion to the last lot.