Megamoo's 2012/2013 Glog

megamoo · Jul 28, 2012

Here is an update

I potted up the plants in the test hydro seed factory. The 144 Jalapenos are going great!

The tray is firm and so you can't pop them up from underneatth but the root ball is so so compact that you can easily pull them up from the stems. The stems were very strong with a short internodal length.

This has all been done without a working pH meter and I had to wing it. Made a few mistakes with nuites and the reservoir started to get slimy before I hit it with H2O2.

A lot of the Bhut Jolokias were too small to be translpanted and missed the cut.

Things i've learned from this test:-

- Don't germinate and grow annums and slow growing chinenses side by side where they are locked into the same time cycle and lighting heights.
- Using a seedling tray with 288 tiny cells is not convenient for more than one variety. So unless you wan't that many plants its more of a hassle than a help.

When starting the next round of chillies I am going to germinate in the blue trays that I just transplanted into so that I can keep them in the hydro system longer and get them a bit bigger before the first transplant.

TheFanMan · Jul 28, 2012

yeh those blue trays are a good size, iv been starting my seeds in them this season.

megamoo · Jul 28, 2012

TheFanMan said:
yeh those blue trays are a good size, iv been starting my seeds in them this season.

Yeah I like how they are deep.

Jamison · Jul 28, 2012

Holy Jalapenos! Plants look great man, and an incredible root ball on that thing!

megamoo · Jul 28, 2012

I'm really liking the coco fibre. It's excellent for roots because it holds moisture for a long time whilst allowing oxygen into the root zone. It's much harder to drown the roots or to let them dry out too much... something I have done a lot in the past.

DocNrock · Jul 28, 2012

Excellent. Love the root balls.

gasificada · Jul 28, 2012

Daaaamn, moo, you really ARE going all out this season! :cool:

+1 on the root balls. Are sure you are not just growing in a chunk of instant noodles? :lol:

gasificada · Jul 28, 2012

Going back over the pics of your yard, I can't wait to see this chilli kingdom you have planned! How are the beds coming along?

Trippa · Jul 28, 2012

Looking great moo. Nice and chunky roots. How do you think they will handle the switch to soil ??

PaulG · Jul 28, 2012

Hey Megamoo, isn't it fun designing your new space!
That yard has a ton of potential. Should be a showpiace
when you get it rolling.

Hope you have a great grow season!

megamoo · Jul 29, 2012

DocNrock said:
Excellent. Love the root balls.

Definitely the best root growth I've ever had

gasificada said:
Daaaamn, moo, you really ARE going all out this season!

+1 on the root balls. Are sure you are not just growing in a chunk of instant noodles?

This was just a test for the hydro system. Most of these plants are disposable.

gasificada said:
Going back over the pics of your yard, I can't wait to see this chilli kingdom you have planned! How are the beds coming along?

The already prepared beds in those photos won't get much sun until summer and so I have other vegies in there. The big one I cleared had a mess of weeds pop up, which were covred in aphids ! :O I've since pulled them all out and sprayed with pyrethrin but not much else. Still getting 2 degree mornings so its been easy to put off. Most of my chillies will be in pots.

Trippa said:
Looking great moo. Nice and chunky roots. How do you think they will handle the switch to soil ??

If it's a nice and aerated mix they should be fine. These Jalapenos will be in the ground and I don't want to hoe for hours like gas! so will just see how good my existing soil is. The next lot will be in pots so it'll be easier to control.

PaulG said:
Hey Megamoo, isn't it fun designing your new space!
That yard has a ton of potential. Should be a showpiace
when you get it rolling.

Hope you have a great grow season!

So far... the path around the house will be lined with pots on both sides. There is bore water on a retic controller already in place so I'm going to lay a pipe along the pots and drip feed. Going to have a make a soil mix with slow release ferts in it, and supplement when they need it. That part is easy.
Still not sure how the big raised bed will shape up. It will need shadecloth for the nasty part of summer.

megamoo · Aug 8, 2012

The roots have filled out their cells and pots a bit.

There are 87 good Jalapenos and 30 bhut jolokias.
They are nearly ready to be potted up into soil based outside test mixes.
Have to decide what soil mixes to use. Hopefully going to end up with more than 130 mature plants in 9 litre buckets, (from my final seed sowing not this test run), so going to need a large amount of medium and need it cheap. Looking at different combinations of cheap potting mix, coco coir, perlite, vermiculite, dynamic lifter, maybe pinebark mulch in there as well.

I will rate some different mixes on how well the plants do and use that as my main mix.

gasificada · Aug 10, 2012

Healthy lookin' little babies there, moo! :cool:

My advice? Scratch the vermiculite. Too fragile in my opinion. The stuff breaks up and is rendered useless far too easily. But then I can be pretty rough when mixing potting mixes......

Pinebark mulch? I hear you should only use well-composted pinebark in potting mix else it snaps up all the nitrogen and makes it unavailable to the plant?

Lavatung · Aug 11, 2012

Wow Andrew that's quite a grow list. Great looking babies. I scored a ph, light & moisture meter off eBay for $3! I posted some seeds for you today too

megamoo · Aug 12, 2012

gasificada said:
Healthy lookin' little babies there, moo!

My advice? Scratch the vermiculite. Too fragile in my opinion. The stuff breaks up and is rendered useless far too easily. But then I can be pretty rough when mixing potting mixes......

Pinebark mulch? I hear you should only use well-composted pinebark in potting mix else it snaps up all the nitrogen and makes it unavailable to the plant?

Thanks Gas.... and too late for advice

Just got 100 litres of vermiculite for $28. It is fragile, stuff feels all spongy. Potted up into 8 different combinations of coco coir, perlite, vermiculite, cheap coles potting mix and some dynamic lifter.

Not only did I pot everything up but I numbered every pot and weighed each one dry, and then again fully watered! It took as long as you would think

Then put all the data into a spreadsheet. Yep.... thats one pretty wild saturday night for me

I can already see a big difference in the amount of water each mix can hold. I'll weigh them again in a day or two to find out how much water each is using and retaining and how often each mix needs to be watered.

Lavatung said:
Wow Andrew that's quite a grow list. Great looking babies. I scored a ph, light & moisture meter off eBay for $3! I posted some seeds for you today too

Thanks Lavatung.

My strategy of starting seeds inside during winter has failed because despite having lots of space in the garage, it isn't insulated from the cold at all.

Plus I believe my long purple fluorescents are damaged or old because pretty much every plant I've put under them has really struggled. I'm restricted to one grow station in the laundry which I'm using to raise the youngest seedlings. Then they will have to go outside so most of that grow list in post #1 http://thehotpepper....og/#entry632094 will need warmer weather and has yet to be started.

I've sowed some more chinenses that are starting to hook up now. Just hope I haven't left it too late to get lots of pods. Except for the Jalapeno's I haven't started any annuumns yet.

Nice work on the meter, mine cost a bit more than that.

Can't wait for the seeds

Nothing better than getting seeds in the mail! Didn't post your seeds but I'll send them tomorrow, monday.

gasificada · Aug 12, 2012

Sounds like one hell of a job, moo!

megamoo said:
Thanks Gas.... and too late for advice Just got 100 litres of vermiculite for $28. It is fragile, stuff feels all spongy. Potted up into 8 different combinations of coco coir, perlite, vermiculite, cheap coles potting mix and some dynamic lifter.

As long as you were gentle with it, I can't see it causing any problems and actually looks like it would do it's job pretty well. Like I said though, I'm just too rough with mixing potting mixes for it to be any good for me. As I have a little bit left, I might experiment with a small batch and just add it as the very final ingredient and make sure I don't mix it in too well!

megamoo said:
Not only did I pot everything up but I numbered every pot and weighed each one dry, and then again fully watered! It took as long as you would think Then put all the data into a spreadsheet. Yep.... thats one pretty wild saturday night for me

I can already see a big difference in the amount of water each mix can hold. I'll weigh them again in a day or two to find out how much water each is using and retaining and how often each mix needs to be watered.

Keep me up-to-date with your findings! I can never seem to get it right.... either my mixes end up holding too much water or they spit it right out without retaining any.... :banghead:

PIC 1 · Aug 12, 2012

Looking good mega. I see you're heavy on the perlite. Bottom watering works great. Top watering tends to float alot of the lightweight material to the top of the pot.
Although,Its better to have more ver/perlite in the soil than not having any since the roots need to roam and they appreciate the oxygen....

Greg

megamoo · Aug 12, 2012

Despite what the photo looks like there isn't a lot of perlite in the mixes.

Did a bit of number crunching and read up on perlite and vermiculite. I thought they were roughly similar but they are very different.

Perlite is basically like small rocks and it acts as filler and does nothing but take up space. It does not compress and you can use it to replace another ingredient in a mix so you don't have to use as much. Use enough of it and its coarse shape will create drainage channels through the mix. It's pH nuetral and has zero water retention or nutrient value.

Vermiculite is very different. It contains space for oxygen and absorbs water and nutrients and holds onto them. It is delicate and over time will compact, break down and loose its oxygenating qualities. You just have to squeeze a piece in your fingers to see how soft it is. Its pH changes based on what it has absorbed or even where it was mined and how it has been processed.

Basically put perlite improves drainage, and vermiculite improves water retention.

For perlite to improve drainage you can't just sprinkle a handfull into a pot full of clay. You have to use a lot or at least have a lot of other large-particle things in there to create the drainage channels. Obviously use too much on its own and the plants will dry out or need to be watered frequently. It works fine for some hydro setups, except it does float so not all.

Based on what I've just read, and what's in the test soil mixes I think I've gone too heavy on the water retention side for most of them. Whilst they're small it shouldn't be a problem and this will save me having to water them as much but for the next pot up into much larger pots I'm going to have use a lot more perlite.

megamoo · Sep 3, 2012

Time for an update of what is currently in the seedling zone.

These have gone in after some tomatoes came and went through very quickly, tomatoes don't really need the special treatment.

There is a heat mat under the front ones. The back half started a few weeks earlier than the front. When everything here is moved on the next lot will be started all at the same time for consistency. I originally wasn't using the heat mat for many of them and the germination rates have been down accordingly.

For the earlier back half in an attempt to get more varieties I sowed only 2 seeds of some, 4 of others. The germination rates for the 4 seed varieties are 19 out of 20, and the 2 seed varieties 18 out of 44! This suggests its better to sow multiples. Why exactly? It could be something to do with the method I used for presoaking? or some hormone/chemical the seeds produce during germination? or a mystical life force numerical geomety underlying the fabric of the universe? Many other possibilities come to mind but I think I will keep an eye on the rates to see if the trend continues. Like planting by the moon, if it gets results then just go with it, don't need to understand the reason.

In the next lot I sowed 8 seeds each of 5 varieties, and 4 seeds each of 8 varieties. Too early to tell a rate, just getting hooks up now.

These are the varieties sowed:

first lot
2x seeds
Aji Panca
Bhut Jolokia x Habanero White Giant
Bhut Jolokia x Pimenta De Neyde
Congo Brown
Datil
Datil x Lemon
Douglah
Fatalii
Habanero Peach
Habanero, Magnum
Habanero, Peruvian White
Jamaica Scotch Bonnet
Naga Jolokia Purple
Naga Morich
Nagabon
Orange Lantern
Pimenta Di Bico
Trinidad 7Pot Yellow
Trinidad Perfume
Trinidad Scorpion Butch T
Wasp
Pimenta De Neyde
4x seeds
Bih Jolokia
Dorset Naga
Habanero Red
Habanero, Orange
Trinidad 7Pot Jonah

second lot
4x seeds
Aribibi Gusano
Beni Highlands
Bhut Jolokia
Habanero Big Sun
Habanero Chocolate
Limo Blanco
Mystery Ghost (perhaps Red Savina?)
Trinidad Scorpion
8x seeds
Bhut Jolokia Indian Carbon
Trinidad 7Pot Barrack Pore
Trinidad 7Pot Red Original
Trinidad Scorpion Moruga Red
Trinidad Scorpion Moruga Yellow

You may have noticed that these are all chinenses. I will have to do one more lot of chinenses before I move onto the annuums and others, and spring is here! I will possibly be putting germinated seeds straight outside into the hardening off box soon.

The tiny seedling at the bottom of the second picture is a Datil who came up late with his helmet on. I used nail clippers and tweezers to cut, squash and pull the seed coat off but took most of the cotyledons too. It seems that just enough was left for them to open and hopefully now the next set of leaves will emerge. Definitely would have died if I hadn't operated on him as the seed coat was firmly on down to his neck.

gasificada · Sep 3, 2012

Nice healthy looking little babies there, moo! How many different varieties are you growing again??

This moon business you speak of..... I planted out a few little fellas in the garden today and tonight the moon is waning gibbous (96%)........ what is that supposed to mean for the guys?? :think:

I see you are growing the Wasp. Keep me updated on that one pretty please! Curious to see how yours turns out.