Mildfruits 2020 hydroponic

Hi all! 
 
This is my second grow blog. You can find the first one here. 
I bought a lot of new equipment enough to warrant a new grow blog. 
Quick intro: Due to lack of outdoor growing space I've had to get creative with indoor growing without soil. 
 
I grow mainly with grodan blocks with automatic watering, from a nutrient tank using masterblend. 
 
Things that have changed from my last glog: 
I have bought another tent and light. 
I have started growing tomatoes indoor. 
New seeds! 
Also not mentioned in my last glog, but my lights and fans are controlled by a device called Shelly. Useful in everyday home automation, controllable from your phone with timers and monitoring. 
 
Lets get started with some pictures! 

Heres my new tomato light a quantum board from HLG called 100V2. A little brother to my pepper light (quantum board HLG 260W)

And here's my tomato tent with the light installed. 

Heres my two tomatoes, Sugar lump and Muddy waters. Both are indeterminate, meaning they grow forever, so pruning will be necessary.
 
And now to the interesting part! 
A quick before and after of my pepper tent: 

Seeds: 
This year I have been so lucky to receive some wilds from CaneDog! Lots of cool varieties, more than I can grow unfortunately, but maybe some day! 
 
I also participated in a european seed exchange witch included some seeds from the US, so I also got seeds from Yekanfam Farms also a THP member. 
 
Seeds started: 
De Arbol (Fatalliseeds)
Aci Dolma (CaneDog)
Tepin Cappuccino (CaneDog)
C. Flexuosum (CaneDog)
Aji Amarillo (Fatalliseeds) 
Pimientos De Gernika (Fatalliseeds)
Rocoto Costa Rica (Fatalliseeds)
Rocoto San Pedro, Orange (Fatalliseeds)
Lemon Starrburst (Yekanfam Farms)
C. Galapagoense
 
This years theme is challenge. Previously I failed growing Aji Amarillo and C. pubescens varieties, this year I hope to change that! 
My list needs to be cut down to 6 so this is not my final list. 
 
I wish everyone a happy grow in 2020! 

 

[PaulG]

Pepper plants looking just great! Flowers soon!
 
That shot of thereof veins is really amazing.
Looks like a really complicated housing tract!
 

 

[Mildfruit]

The dutch chille seems to be first out of the gate with a pod forming. I cant even remember the parent pods color, but I guess time will tell 

De gernika with its big flowers. 
 

Biquinho yellow. The plant is around 9cm tall (3.54 freedom units) so quite small, but besides that it seems to be thriving 
 

Bahamian goat have been transferred into its own tent, with a different light. Quite a bit bigger than the biquinho. 
 

This is beyond me. I cant comprehend why this plant keeps producing plants in November. I guess nobody told it 

I took this photo this morning, its from the town I live in. This is peak fall feeling   Hope you all are safe out there. 

 

[Mildfruit]

So the autopots are wonderful, they absolutely work. I do think I have to tinker a bit with the calmag in the new coco nutrients as I see some new leafs  with symptoms for calcium deficiency, but a bit of calmag should fix this right away. 
 
First up is Bahamian goat, growing with some massive leafs! 

 
Next up is the yellow Biquinho, with its first open flower!

 
The dutch chilie have already started 6-7 pods with lots of flowers starting to form pods as well. This plant really benefit from the autopot system vs my old system that was based on timing. Because this plant drink relatively more than the other plants in my autopot system, and the system can easily accommodate that. I know I sound like an auto pot sales man, im just amazed by the simplicity 
Anyway back to the pictures! Here is a picture of the biggest pod so far. 

 
Next is De gernika starting to form pods as well. 

 

Starfish yellow into a bigger container. Im already a little unsure about this one. Supposedly this grow very large, and im starting to think how to manage that. 
 

Murupi and to the left is the Stripey SPR. 
 

Lastly is my poblano, growing very uniformed and in the center, first flower is about open! I have high hopes for this variety, everyone talks about the dried Ancho poblano version. 
 

 

[PaulG]

Full speed ahead, MF!
 
Nice triple fork on the Bahamian Goat!

 

[Mildfruit]

Full speed ahead, MF!
 
Nice triple fork on the Bahamian Goat!

 
Ha i didn't even notice but you're right! Thanks for the support Paul! 

 

[Mildfruit]

Overview of main tent:

 

The dutch chili keeps setting out pods, I think there's at least 20 pods growing right now! 
 

My padron type pepper De Gernika is also getting along fine with pods. 
 

Biquinho Yellow is flowering like crazy. 
 

My first Poblano pepper! 
 

Two pictures of my Bahamian goat. The plant is still showing signs of calcium deficiency. The water for my autopots is not RO treated, so that's probably the reason. I'll try to spray with a 1% calcium nitrate solution to see if that will help. 

 

[CaneDog]

Hey, MF.  Seems like lots of good stuff is happening.  The Stripey looks to be off to a solid start.  And the poblano pod has that look like it's going to be big.  Great to see things chugging along well.  What sort of day/night temps are your tents running this time of year?

 

[PaulG]

Wow, if you get the Ca issue under control,
that B. Goat is going to be a monster. The
size of those leaves is amazing!

 

[Mildfruit]

Hey, MF.  Seems like lots of good stuff is happening.  The Stripey looks to be off to a solid start.  And the poblano pod has that look like it's going to be big.  Great to see things chugging along well.  What sort of day/night temps are your tents running this time of year?

Hey McDog! Thanks! Im really excited for the stripey, im not quite sure I believe the pheno before I see it with my own eyes 
I just took a reading last night and they are around 22-24 degree celsius (71-75 Fahrenheit) at night. 
I certainly hope for some great poblano genetics, never tried it before, but seems to be used a lot, so I figured it must be good right? ;I)
 
 

Wow, if you get the Ca issue under control,
that B. Goat is going to be a monster. The
size of those leaves is amazing!

 
I really hope you're right Paul! Been spraying daily and new leafs seem to be good, but too early to tell yet : )
 
Also my Murupi is getting sick it seems, cant risk anything so out it goes. I think I'll plant a jalapeño instead in its honor 

 

[PaulG]

 
I certainly hope for some great poblano genetics, never tried it before, but seems to be used a lot, so I figured it must be good right? ;I)
Poblanos are awesome. Nice spicy flavor without much heat.
They are even good in salads.
 
 
I really hope you're right Paul! Been spraying daily and new leafs seem to be good, but too early to tell yet : )
 
Also my Murupi is getting sick it seems, cant risk anything so out it goes. I think I'll plant a jalapeño instead in its honor 

Jalapeños are good, what kind are you thinking about?

 

[Mildfruit]

Jalapeños are good, what kind are you thinking about?

I just received a seed order, which had 3 kinds of jalapeños. I couldn't decide which to grow, so I just did it Paul style and planted them all   
This season the Zapotec received a lot of positivity from this forum so I ordered that. I also wanted to give Lemon spice another chance, last year I grew them and they had zero heat, so I tried another vendor this time. Last variety is Numex piñata Jalapeño like the Zapotec seems like a spicier jalapeño, and also its pretty 

 

[Mildfruit]

Quick update before I begin my last shift this week, im only 28 years old, but 80 hours a week makes me feel old quite quick... Luckily I got offered a phd from another university hospital starting early next year. Pepperwise that means im going to move (fingers crossed for more sun space). 
 

Heres my stripey standing infront of my 3 new jalapeños: Numex piñata, Lemon spice, and lastly Zapotec. 
 
 

My poblano is growing steady, it haven't started other pods yet, but lots of flowers. 
 

This absolute beast.. Dutch chili, fist time I had to support my pepper plants. Due to the weight from all the pods it was about to fall over to the right. Luckily I saw it in time and bound it up. 
 

I have been spraying like a maniac on my Bahamian goat. This is a close up from new leafs, showing no lack of calcium. 

Same plant, but first flower 

 

[CaneDog]

Congrat's on the PhD opportunity, MF!  I hope that goes well for you.  80 hours a week is brutal hours; really just too much IMO for any significant length of time.  And remember, most important aspect of new housing is proper southern exposure!
 
Happy to see how well things continue to go with your indoor grow.  Young Mr. Stripey has really gotten solid over the last couple picture updates.  Looks like it's going to be vigorous like the rest.  
 
I'm pondering your current experience with the Baha Goat.  I've always thought that particular type of curling was water/transpiration related rather than calcium - or at least that the non-mobile calcium wasn't sufficiently available to the growing leaves due to those reasons.  Seeing yours respond to Ca foliar spraying, I'm wondering if it was a lack of existing calcium - probably more likely to occur in your cube grow than my soil grows - or perhaps if regular spraying increased humidity ambient to the leaves and cured a transpiration or availability of existing Ca issue.  Whatever the case, glad to see it's doing better.
 
And great pics BTW - especially the detail on that poblano!

 

[Mildfruit]

Congrat's on the PhD opportunity, MF!  I hope that goes well for you.  80 hours a week is brutal hours; really just too much IMO for any significant length of time.  And remember, most important aspect of new housing is proper southern exposure!
 
Happy to see how well things continue to go with your indoor grow.  Young Mr. Stripey has really gotten solid over the last couple picture updates.  Looks like it's going to be vigorous like the rest.  
 
I'm pondering your current experience with the Baha Goat.  I've always thought that particular type of curling was water/transpiration related rather than calcium - or at least that the non-mobile calcium wasn't sufficiently available to the growing leaves due to those reasons.  Seeing yours respond to Ca foliar spraying, I'm wondering if it was a lack of existing calcium - probably more likely to occur in your cube grow than my soil grows - or perhaps if regular spraying increased humidity ambient to the leaves and cured a transpiration or availability of existing Ca issue.  Whatever the case, glad to see it's doing better.
 
And great pics BTW - especially the detail on that poblano!

 
Haha thanks a bunch for the kind words! I'll make sure the new property have some southern exposure 
I hope Stripey continues to grow, it's definitely the star in the tent pheno-wise. Really looking forward to see if it will develop those stripes as advertised. I have the yellow Starfish for the sole purpose for crossing with the stripey, so will be interesting to see how it all turns out . 
 
Im thinking the exact same regarding the calcium. One thing I considered is: The only plants showing these symptoms is the coco coir grow, which have a (47L) bigger water reserve than my cube grows. That means I haven't been using RO water due to the time it takes for my RO to make 47L of water is too much. So these plants only gets water from the tap. Where I live there's really hard water, however the calcium in the tap water is not easily accessible for the plants. Or so I've read. So the excess calcium in the tapwater actually hinders the available calcium for these plants, or so I've theorized. 
 
My cube grow so no calcium deficiency, and they get RO water, with cal-mag supply. 
But I you bring up a good point with  

increased humidity ambient to the leaves and cured a transpiration or availability of existing Ca issue

 That could also be the reason for sure. Nevertheless leafs seem better, now I just have to wait and see if my fruit will have BER. I continue to spray 

 

[Mildfruit]

One of the first flowers of the Bahamian. There seems to be some pollen, which is a first for chinense varieties for my indoor grows. Or to be entirely correct; The Biquinhos I've grown now and in the past have done more than fine under artificial lighting, but all other varieties I've tried had no luck with self polination. This time, I've changed the light to a model with lesser watts, however the kelvin is 3000 instead of 4000 as in my main tent. So it will be intersting to see if I can "crack" the code for stronger chinense varieties indoors. With sunlight I had no issues this summer. But as I usually say, time will tell. 
 

Just another leaf picture from the Bahamian goat  
 

So this "dutch chille" have more pods than I care to count. I just wanted to show this picture with the density of the nodes. I really hope this pepper is a keeper, because its sure is prolific. 
 
 

 

[PaulG]

Wow, that dutch Chili pic reminds me of the
baccatums from lespaulde I grew this season!
Insane flowering at the nodes for sure.
 
Interesting fused stems, as well. Quite a specimen,
my friend!

 

[CaneDog]

The leaves on that goat are just ridiculous!

 

[Mildfruit]

Wow, that dutch Chili pic reminds me of the
baccatums from lespaulde I grew this season!
Insane flowering at the nodes for sure.
 
Interesting fused stems, as well. Quite a specimen,
my friend!

yea there's some freaky genetics going on with this plant. I had to cut it a bit down yesterday and these fused stems look so alien. I've tried an unripe pod from it, and really like it - nothing special but big pleasent tasting annum. Stil wondering which color it will ripen to. 
 

The leaves on that goat are just ridiculous!

I've never had a plant like that before, but hopefully big leafs translate into big pods as well - or atleast I hope so   

 

[Mildfruit]

Christmas time is upon us, my fingers are crossed for a ripe pepper before the holidays begin, not that it matters much to me, I have to work everyday except new years   Anyway enough whining and more peppers! 
 

Two pictures from my Bahamian Goat plant. First picture looks promising in terms of setting fruit. If that happens that would be a first for me growing hot chinenses using LED light only. 
 

Mr. Stripey is enjoying the tent it seems. 
 

Poblano pepper is tagging along, setting more pods everyday. The plant itself is growing pretty big, had to cut it down yesterday as well the dutch chilie plant. Im trying to cross the two, figured the crazy proliferation on the dutch crossed with bigger pods, could be fun. 
 

My starfish yellow is stretching quite a bit. I've not been repotting it, due to the plant description from the vendor saying "Grows quite large". Something that's not fitting well in a compact grow tent environment   Still haven't decided if im going to keep it, but I will let it stay for now. 
 

Lemon spice and Zapotec jalapeños are both sprouted 

 

[PaulG]

All your plants look really good, MF.
Nice and healthy green.
Flowers and pods in time for Christmas!