Mini indoor, revised

Hi,
 
Some may recall the first ever kind of successful indoor grow I made (the glog is on this forum). It was less succesful because chinense like humidity and it took some time before I understood that. With two 10l "hempy buckets" they had too much room to grow and my 80*80*160cm grow tent with a vertical HPS turned into a jungle. Some fruits were however produced.
--
 
In this edition I'm running the same 80*80*160cm tent, plus a 60*60*140cm tent.
The larger tent has two 5l buckets (vermiculite and perlite) and two baccatums: Aji mango and aji pineapple;
the smaller tent has a clay pot with soil and a yellow rocoto plant. There is no HPS light to start with, instead there's a 50w Growking LED and a supplemental G4 (2,6W 6000k and E27 (10W 6000K) in the larger tent and an Airam mostly white LED E27 (10W 4000k) and a 7W blue and red E14 light in the smaller tent.
The inline fans are on top of the tents now, not inside, for more plant space.
 
 
The ajis initially grew much faster (in soil in a sunny window) than the Rocoto but were catacked at an early stage and lost about 50% of their leaves. They did recover but by then the rocoto had gained steam.
 
The rocoto gets ph-adjusted water and the ajis a mixture of about equal amounts of Floramicro and Floramato.
 
Today:
As it stands the ajis have been their tent for a month now and they are looking a little weird (They were straighter and with less four/two-pair leaf nodes that look a little like heads). Had to get support for them to try and grow straight as they were turning into hunchbacks.
 
The rocoto plant is looking pretty healthy so far.
 
--
 
As the indoor humidity drops with the onset of later autumn and winter I will run a humidifier in the room where the tents are (my bedroom - small apartment). If they get to the fruiting stage I shall introduce the 250W HPS into the larger tent with the ajis.
 
 
 

 

[Fryphax]

So much room for activities!

 

[chelicerae]

So much room for activities!

 

There must be hardly any place for a bed in the bedroom or what do you mean?
 
In terms of tent vs plant-sizes I've better chances than last year I think but the Rocoto at least can easily outgrow its tent if given the chance to develop more roots. For "this season" the aim is to get the ajis to produce, the Rocoto will be "next season" since there are statements that they usually take a year extra to become producers. One might wonder what physical size Rocoto plants need to have in order to produce at least a little; will see how large it grows in the current pot.

 

[Fryphax]

I was merely commenting on how much room your plants have to grow. 
 

 

[chelicerae]

Sunday update- 6th of October, 2018.
 
-The rocoto plant is looking to produce its first flowers it seems and is striving to construct a canopy. Whether there is enough room in the tent or in the pot for fruit perhaps only time can tell..? I keep its inline fan off and the small inside fan on during the day and night, with the tent flap open and the cats kept out of the room, makes a .5C difference, cheers for that piece of advice.
 
-The Aji Pineapple plant is looking like a small shrubbery, or possibly a vampire ape, in rather stark contrast to its cousin the Aji Mango, which is growing upwards. Some of the Pineapple leaves are curling inwards. There's no sign of pests, and mild discoloration on just a few leaves. The Mango has the same slight discoloration (brown, yellow spots) on two or so leaves and its leaves do not curl. They are fed the same nutrient mix in the same kind of substrate and exposed to mostly the same light. (The bottom photo is of the shrubbery, crouching low, the other one is of the mango which is climbing up up)
 
 
-So far things appear to be progressing slightly slower than last time, when the plants grew under a 250W HPS light (which I'm not running this time for growing (will be for fruiting) because it made a significant bump on the energy bill curve).
 
Stay safe and in the groove : )
 
Additionally I lowered the 55w main LED over the baccatums, see the last photo.

 

[chelicerae]

2018-10-23:
 
The Rocoto plant has produced arbout 15 flowers, no pollen, no fruit, flowers falling. Can't say whether normal as no prior experience with pubescens.  
 
RH ~50%, temp: 22C. When my chinense were dropping flowers without pollen the rh was lower and nowhere have I read so far that pubescens are more tropical than chinense. People like to say Rocotos aren't big producers until their second year..maybe this is what they mean.
--
 
The aji plants are still looking rather different. The mango has produced around 15 flowers too and they are full of pollen. The first fruit has started forming. 
The pineapple is looking like an ornamental shrubbery still.
 
--
The ajis were experiencing a couple of older leaves with yellow between the veins, I took that to mean an Mg-deficiency and attempted to correct it via a one time addition to their normal feed. More leaves haven't turned yellow at any rate (in a week since the Mg).
--
 
(The small one in the Rocoto's tent is a jwala plant for my father)

 

[CaneDog]

Hey! The plants look good and great to see peppers forming! 
 
I wouldn't think RH is the problem either from my experience.  Unfortunately, Rocotos often seem more finicky about setting fruit than Chinense and not to produce and release pollen and self-pollinate as efficiently. I have had great production in the first season of growth, but I've also had some that didn't produce well too.
 
Sometimes, especially earlier in the season, I've taken a very small paint brush and rotated through the flowers on a Rocoto plant brushing one then the other and the back through again to increase the likelihood of fruit setting and I believe that has helped (I think this is a very good thing to try especially indoors where no natural pollinators exist).  I know some people use an electric toothbrush to simulate the vibrations of pollinating insects that cause certain flowers to drop pollen. I've tried this and had the odd flower do a big pollen dump when I hit it, but I just tried it more out of curiosity and I'm not yet convinced it's any/much better than just a brush.
 
Glad things are moving along for you and hope it kicks into high gear soon!

 

[chelicerae]

Hi, thanks for your comment and suggestion.
I did some tentative paint-brushing after the first flower dropped and had a couple of additional ones drop by doing so but I'll try it on newer flowers while being more careful. Hadn't heard of using an electric toothbrush before, sounds like cool idea : )
 
 

 

[chelicerae]

2018-11-03:
 
-Cats ate most of the jwala, I think it's a lost cause, time will shortly tell.
 
-Have installed a t and hw monitoring system via a raspberry pi, quite a lot of rj12 cable and two onewire sensors packages. A python script residing on the pi runs four times a day. It also collects the current relative humidity and temp from my city via openweathermap. Here's a table (in Celcius and percent)
 
 
        time         |    day     | outside_temp | outside_rh | rocoto_tent_temp | aji_tent_temp | rocoto_tent_rh | aji_tent_rh | reading_nr 
--------------------+------------+-------------+-----------+-------------------+-------------------+-----------------+-----------------+------------
 21:00:05.226463+01 | 2018-10-28 |        -1.4 |      86.0 |              20.6 |              20.8 |            44.4 |            43.1 |         19
 07:28:30.811097+01 | 2018-10-29 |         0.1 |      80.0 |              21.9 |              21.8 |            48.1 |            47.8 |         20
 09:00:06.807724+01 | 2018-10-29 |        -0.4 |      80.0 |              22.1 |              22.1 |            49.5 |            44.8 |         21
 15:00:05.779073+01 | 2018-10-29 |         3.1 |      74.0 |              22.3 |              22.3 |            46.5 |            42.2 |         22
 21:00:12.477713+01 | 2018-10-29 |         3.1 |      74.0 |              20.4 |              20.6 |            43.0 |            42.1 |         23
 02:00:05.329995+01 | 2018-10-30 |         3.6 |      74.0 |              20.9 |              20.7 |            51.4 |            45.1 |         24
 09:00:11.076195+01 | 2018-10-30 |         4.1 |      93.0 |              22.4 |              22.2 |            49.6 |            45.9 |         25
 15:00:08.971377+01 | 2018-10-30 |         7.0 |      93.0 |              22.6 |              22.4 |            49.2 |            45.5 |         26
 21:39:18.824758+01 | 2018-10-30 |         9.6 |      93.0 |              20.8 |              21.1 |            51.7 |            50.8 |         27
 02:00:06.813137+01 | 2018-10-31 |        10.4 |      87.0 |              21.2 |              20.9 |            56.6 |            54.3 |         28
 09:00:06.632579+01 | 2018-10-31 |         8.4 |      76.0 |              22.4 |              22.3 |            51.9 |            49.8 |         29
 17:01:56.647304+01 | 2018-10-31 |         9.1 |      81.0 |              22.7 |              22.7 |            50.9 |            49.2 |         30
 21:23:20.098011+01 | 2018-10-31 |         7.3 |      70.0 |              21.1 |              21.8 |            50.4 |            48.4 |         31
 02:00:07.889988+01 | 2018-11-01 |         5.9 |      75.0 |              21.4 |              21.2 |            53.1 |            52.5 |         32
 09:00:05.607807+01 | 2018-11-01 |         4.6 |      93.0 |              22.1 |              22.8 |            53.2 |            51.3 |         33
 15:00:07.289302+01 | 2018-11-01 |         9.0 |      76.0 |              22.2 |              22.9 |            48.8 |            47.0 |         34
 21:00:06.924458+01 | 2018-11-01 |         8.1 |      81.0 |              22.0 |              22.9 |            49.8 |            47.2 |         35
 07:48:39.555142+01 | 2018-11-02 |         9.4 |      93.0 |              22.3 |              22.9 |            59.4 |            56.9 |         36
 09:00:10.126413+01 | 2018-11-02 |         9.4 |      93.0 |              23.0 |              23.2 |            58.2 |            54.6 |         37
 12:15:44.242813+01 | 2018-11-02 |         9.4 |      93.0 |              23.1 |              23.2 |            57.6 |            53.6 |         38
 15:00:30.631013+01 | 2018-11-02 |        10.0 |      87.0 |              23.1 |              23.3 |            57.3 |            53.3 |         39
 21:00:12.129226+01 | 2018-11-02 |         8.4 |      87.0 |              23.6 |              23.4 |            61.9 |            55.6 |         40
 02:00:09.164347+01 | 2018-11-03 |        10.0 |      81.0 |              21.2 |              20.7 |            61.1 |            55.0 |         41
 08:41:04.361626+01 | 2018-11-03 |         8.6 |      75.0 |              21.0 |              20.5 |            69.9 |            58.9 |         42
 09:00:10.853532+01 | 2018-11-03 |         8.6 |      75.0 |              21.0 |              20.6 |            70.4 |            58.0 |         43
 11:00:05.554969+01 | 2018-11-03 |         8.6 |      75.0 |              23.0 |              26.7 |            57.9 |            45.8 |         44
 15:00:05.595269+01 | 2018-11-03 |         8.1 |      75.0 |              24.0 |              27.5 |            54.7 |            43.9 |         45
 
The aji mango had started producing around 10 fruits yesterday morning and the pineapple was showing more flowers. Since the rocoto was looking fine but still dropping flowers I decided to Power Up:
 
-The Rocoto has acquired the 55W LED as well as three additional smaller LEDs.
-The Ajis (and the likely dying jwala) has been given the 250W HPS.
 
Attached are two photos taken this morning right after the new lighting setup turned on. It did so at 0900, so those numbers above show what a HPS will do to a grow tent..it was expected, though I've seen zero things written about Aji relative humidity requirements.
 
Thanks for looking.
 
 
Edit. Lighting is now a 12/12 cycle (from 15/9) for economy reasons. Electricity is dear here.
 

 

[CaneDog]

That 250 does warm things up, doesn't it?  I used to run 2 of the 250's on alternate overlapping light cycles in a 6m+ tall 120cm x 60cm tent in a cold garage over winter and it kept the peppers plenty warm and toasty even with the upper corner unzipped!
 
Cool to see the Aji's are doing what they're supposed to.  The rocoto is looking good too.  Hopefully it starts producing now with those extra lumens.

 

[chelicerae]

Cool, that's a tall tent : ) Yep, it's an appealing option when the ambient temps reliable and not too warm.
 
In regards to the ajis... they are really looking like they are digging it but I took this elongated morning with light (light cycle changed so that the lighting turns on at 0900) to examine my ajis closely. And..new thread and exorcism I'm thinking. 

 

[CaneDog]

Cool, that's a tall tent : )

 

Gotta give 'em room if you want 'em to grow!  Haha.  Would you believe 2m / 6 feet instead?

 

[chelicerae]

2018-11-10: 
 
-Aji plants are producing flowers that are full of pollen and fruits are appearing. Added a little hydrogen peroxide 3% to their regular feed for a "perk" (about 2 teaspoons to 5l).
If bacterial spot is what it is then it is progressing very slowly.
Edema on Aji mango plant seemed on mostly on the leaves that weren't in the main focus of the turbo fan so I adjusted the turbo fan to point more towards the mango plant.
They seem to really like the 250W HPS light at this fruiting stage. (The mango obviously isn't of the rounder variety..it is to be determined how they taste =) )
 
-Rocoto is being a bit cryptic as to whether the much added lumen count has turned it into less of a cynic. I believe I see one pod, right in the target of the fan..I might actually try the electric toothbrush route instead of gently dabbing inside the flowers with a cotton top.
 
 
The last few days haven't really been winter days..haven't seen the sun in a week or so either. Working with the aji tent when the light is on is almost therapeutic.. 
                 
                                                                                          T outside            RH outside                         T in the Roc tent                T in the Aji tent              RH in the Roc tent         RH in the Aji tent

09:00:09.860076+01 | 2018-11-05 | 7.0 | 93.0 | 20.8 | 19.7 | 51.0 | 53.8 | 57
15:00:12.668539+01 | 2018-11-05 | 8.0 | 93.0 | 22.1 | 25.4 | 47.8 | 38.7 | 58
17:55:33.535631+01 | 2018-11-05 | 8.0 | 93.0 | 22.1 | 25.5 | 47.5 | 38.7 | 59
21:00:11.793492+01 | 2018-11-05 | 8.0 | 93.0 | 23.1 | 26.9 | 50.9 | 39.8 | 60
21:36:01.209386+01 | 2018-11-05 | 8.0 | 93.0 | 22.9 | 22.4 | 52.9 | 48.8 | 61
02:00:07.891232+01 | 2018-11-06 | 8.0 | 93.0 | 21.4 | 21.1 | 61.4 | 58.7 | 62
09:00:11.03123+01 | 2018-11-06 | 8.4 | 87.0 | 21.4 | 20.6 | 61.1 | 59.3 | 63
15:00:13.027706+01 | 2018-11-06 | 8.0 | 93.0 | 24.0 | 27.2 | 54.7 | 44.3 | 64
21:00:08.388915+01 | 2018-11-06 | 7.4 | 93.0 | 23.6 | 27.4 | 51.2 | 40.9 | 65
02:00:05.89445+01 | 2018-11-07 | 7.4 | 87.0 | 21.9 | 21.6 | 62.7 | 58.1 | 66
09:00:09.544343+01 | 2018-11-07 | 7.4 | 87.0 | 21.6 | 20.8 | 58.8 | 57.6 | 67
15:00:05.889277+01 | 2018-11-07 | 7.4 | 87.0 | 23.1 | 26.6 | 48.6 | 39.1 | 68
21:00:11.314475+01 | 2018-11-07 | 7.0 | 93.0 | 23.4 | 26.9 | 46.3 | 36.1 | 69
02:00:08.496039+01 | 2018-11-08 | 7.0 | 93.0 | 21.2 | 20.9 | 56.6 | 49.7 | 70
09:00:31.188171+01 | 2018-11-08 | 7.6 | 93.0 | 21.2 | 20.4 | 51.0 | 49.0 | 71
15:00:30.41796+01 | 2018-11-08 | 8.0 | 93.0 | 23.2 | 26.6 | 45.3 | 35.8 | 72
21:00:08.873247+01 | 2018-11-08 | 8.0 | 93.0 | 23.2 | 27.2 | 46.6 | 35.8 | 73
02:00:07.747821+01 | 2018-11-09 | 7.4 | 93.0 | 21.6 | 21.2 | 60.5 | 55.0 | 74
09:00:06.180772+01 | 2018-11-09 | 7.4 | 93.0 | 21.5 | 20.7 | 56.8 | 54.3 | 75
15:00:09.438586+01 | 2018-11-09 | 8.0 | 93.0 | 24.1 | 27.5 | 48.3 | 38.3 | 76
21:00:09.846909+01 | 2018-11-09 | 8.0 | 93.0 | 24.3 | 28.4 | 47.7 | 36.2 | 77
09:00:10.280282+01 | 2018-11-10 | 7.4 | 93.0 | 21.9 | 21.0 | 58.3 | 55.7 | 78
11:57:25.45014+01 | 2018-11-10 | 8.0 | 93.0 | 23.4 | 27.5 | 56.3 | 42.2 | 79
15:00:05.774475+01 | 2018-11-10 | 7.4 | 87.0 | 23.4 | 27.6 | 53.3 | 39.9 | 80

-(The jwala is a survivor!)
 
-Final photo is of the seeds and their sources (EU, S, US).
 
 
 
 
 

 

[chelicerae]

2018-11-21: mini-update;
 
-Three fruits, within a couple of centimeters from each other, are developing on the Rocoto plant. All other flowers have dropped despite cotton topping regularly. All three are in the direct line of fire of the static fan (no other flowers are so far).
--> Am getting an electric toothbrush and a cycling fan on the double
 
-Aji plants dropped quite a lot of flowers when running on a bit of hydrogen peroxide..are still, but fewer. Hard to say why, the flowers are small and kind of wilted and come with the stem. The Mango has almost ceased prod of new flowers because it looks to carry as many fruits as its thin frame may allow. The Pineapple has quite a lot of fruits coming too.
 
--New images and stats during the weekend : )
 
 

 

[PaulG]

Hey, David, good on ya for taking on the challenge of
closet growing. Your plants look great despite dropping
flowers - that usually means too much heat here, but
probably not the case in your grow tent. 
 
The Red Rocotos I grow tend to dislike too much light.
My young Rocoto plants do much better in the garage
under fluorescent light, rather than in the grow shelf with
the T5HO lights, where they sprawl laterally to avoid
getting close to the T5HO lamps. They like fresh air and 
cooler temps as well so they go out as early as possible
in Spring. It is sometimes hard to contain them for the 4-6
month indoor grow before going outside.
 
Are you planning on starting another round, or keeping to
go outside on the balcony or something? Evidently those
are pretty good seeds!
 
Good luck going forward!

 

[chelicerae]

2018-12-01:
 
"..Progress?"
 
 
-Ajis are status quoing a bit, first pods appeared more than a month ago and are as light (mango) and dark (pineapple) green now as then. Maybe 12/12 is dragging the pod maturation time out, even when the light is a HID? The mango is stretching long thin limbs and the pineapple has started resembling a small green waterfall.
 
As you say PaulG the flower dropping might be due to the daytime temps / temp shift, or it could be due to the humidity shift. That HID is like a desert sun. Either way they seem to pod.
(Cats got into the aji tent yesterday morning as I was showering, the "lock" on the zipper wasn't secured as well as it could have been, casualties: one branch vector and four fruits. (They don't eat the fruits but they tore off that piece of the branch and ate the leaves).
 
-The rocoto..funny you should mention sprawling laterally. Mine was sprawling laterally with ~17W of light and it continues to do so with around 80W of light. It is currently producing ~6 pods and I am supposing sprawling is this specimen's thing at least : )
 
All three plants are staying in the tents, unless I give the rocoto away. Tried the balcony yesteryear and the plastic and metal frame greenhouse wasn't cat proof.
 
-The Jwala plant is getting bushy and buds are appearing, I'm somewhat worried about its posture however as it can't seem to stand up on its own. Tied it up to a support pole.
 
-The oscillating fan is ..oscillating air around the base of the rocoto.
 
Weather has been a bit cold and now shifted to plus degrees again. Indoor humidity is retained via a humidifier in the grow&bedroom.
 
        time         |    day     | outside_temp | outside_rh | roco_tent_temp | aji_tent_temp | roco_tent_rh | aji_tent_rhl | reading_nr
--------------------+------------+-------------+-----------+-------------------+-------------------+-----------------+-----------------+------------
 15:00:09.178353+01 | 2018-11-27 |        -3.0 |      68.0 |              21.5 |              25.1 |            47.4 |            37.3 |        152
 21:00:06.476333+01 | 2018-11-27 |        -8.9 |      85.0 |              20.9 |              19.8 |            44.7 |            46.0 |        153
 02:00:09.015618+01 | 2018-11-28 |       -10.9 |      85.0 |              18.7 |              18.0 |            65.0 |            50.3 |        154
 09:00:09.779026+01 | 2018-11-28 |       -13.6 |      84.0 |              19.1 |              23.1 |            55.2 |            38.9 |        155
 15:00:07.894133+01 | 2018-11-28 |        -4.4 |      92.0 |              20.8 |              24.4 |            46.0 |            36.3 |        156
 21:00:06.95075+01  | 2018-11-28 |        -5.9 |      85.0 |              20.6 |              19.4 |            43.3 |            44.9 |        157
 02:00:05.119596+01 | 2018-11-29 |         0.1 |      86.0 |              19.1 |              18.7 |            64.7 |            47.5 |        158
 09:00:08.01606+01  | 2018-11-29 |         1.6 |      74.0 |              19.8 |              24.3 |            56.2 |            38.6 |        159
 21:00:16.310886+01 | 2018-11-29 |         1.0 |      86.0 |              20.8 |              19.6 |            45.0 |            45.6 |        160
 02:00:05.563228+01 | 2018-11-30 |         2.0 |      94.0 |              19.4 |              18.9 |            64.8 |            53.8 |        161
 09:00:07.851441+01 | 2018-11-30 |         2.0 |      93.0 |              20.6 |              26.2 |            58.3 |            39.4 |        162
 15:00:07.348696+01 | 2018-11-30 |         2.0 |      93.0 |              22.2 |              26.7 |            48.8 |            36.1 |        163
 21:00:06.089471+01 | 2018-11-30 |         2.0 |      93.0 |              22.4 |              20.9 |            49.5 |            50.3 |        164
 02:00:06.081205+01 | 2018-12-01 |         2.0 |      93.0 |              20.1 |              19.6 |            65.0 |            52.2 |        165
 09:00:22.314045+01 | 2018-12-01 |         2.0 |      93.0 |              20.8 |              26.1 |            49.4 |            35.7 |        166
 15:00:20.521718+01 | 2018-12-01 |         2.0 |      93.0 |              21.8 |              26.9 |            49.4 |            35.4 |        167
 
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Am not sure if anyone else is employing this vertical strategy (HID is hanging vertically) but I saw this thing: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/163338847166?ViewItem=&item=163338847166 and I was wondering what people think? It could be a weasly 12W thing that doesn't raise any smiles and if E40 then what would the ballast be set to? Then again it might be a power saving alternative / enable more hours of the day on the same power envelope compared to the 250 (~270W draw) HPS.
 
Thanks for looking.
(Out of space, will need to start hosting photos somewhere else, perhaps Flickr)
 
 

 

[CaneDog]

Hey chelicerae.  Thought I'd check in and ask how things are going.  The plants were really doing well last update, with even the rocoto starting to produce for you.  Hope things are still performing well!

 

[chelicerae]

Hi, mini-update:
 
Things are moving along with a few bumps. The side of the Rocoto facing the tent flap and not in direct line of the fan isn't producing pods, quite regardless of my efforts with fingers and cotton buds, the other is, there are maybe seven or eight fruits currently.
 
The ajis now have some ripe-color fruits. I was wondering whether one should pick aji quickly after they've matured? Last time I noticed the cayenne fruits looking a bit haggard and soft after a week or so in mature color, whereas the superhots didn't.
 
The aji pineapple has started developing some smaller black/dead spots right at the base of new leaves. I switched half the Floramicro to B'Essentials just for trying to cheer them up. I note the last grow didn't have this many problems with the leaves..I had aphids then but no necrotic black spots or those seeming bacterial spots, perhaps because I left the seeds in a glass of water with camomille essential oil overnight then and this time they went straight into a wet coffee filter.
 
Did order that LED, found a ceramic e27 socket(e45 would have required me to surgically remove the ballast) with "arms" for screwing unto the ceiling and will use those for hanging in thread. Only available from China, and now Christmas, with Swedish customs..ebay is getting good at estimates, current predicted delivery date is the middle of February.
 
 
Will update the Flickr album and link from here when there's time.

 

[chelicerae]

https://imgur.com/a/KD08WA6 - the aji pineapple newest leaf problem, explained above
 
Off-season by Grynna, on Flickr

 

[PaulG]

This is a good link to some common pepper diseases.
Scroll down a tiny bit to get to the disease part:
 
https://plantvillage.psu.edu/topics/pepper-bell/infos
 
Your pic looks like some kind of bacterial or viral
leaf spot. Is it only on the new growth? What about
the older leaves?