My Indoor Garden Glog

Hello, 
I love the term 'glog', I'd never heard of it before.
Here is my ongoing misc. pepper glog.
Thank you

 
Cayenne and Jalapeno
 

 

[Big Perm]

I've already been inspired by this site to start a couple more. Thank you.

I grow in hydroponics, and this is how I germinate seeds (if it seems odd).

 

[Walchit]

Nice grow! I've got a friend who does his seeds like that

 

[Big Perm]

Nice grow! I've got a friend who does his seeds like that

Thank you!
Does your friend do hydroponics also?

 

[Walchit]

No. Soil

 

[Big Perm]

Defoliated a bit.

 

[chelicerae]

Looking good. Please elaborate a bit on defoliating to a novice : )
 
Is the substrate in the cyan container perlite and..? What are you feeding them with? Is everything in a grow tent?
 
Many questions; I'm on my second season indoors(and ever) and striving to learn.

 

[Big Perm]

Looking good. Please elaborate a bit on defoliating to a novice : )
 
Is the substrate in the cyan container perlite and..? What are you feeding them with? Is everything in a grow tent?
 
Many questions; I'm on my second season indoors(and ever) and striving to learn.

Thank you.
 Defoliation is a technique used mostly indoors. The technique varies from person to person, but I trim the leaves off of the bottom 1/3 of the plant. The theory behind it is that indoor lights aren't going to do any good down there in the shadows anyway, so you can free up that plant energy by putting the plant's focus on the top 2/3. I've always had great results.
 Next time I do it I'll do a before and after for you.
The substrate is a mix of perlite and coco. My mix is 40/60. Coco is a sterile and inert growing media that contains nothing, just like the perlite. Coco holds water, perlite makes air space. Coco will only hold so much water, so it is almost impossible to over water because excess will drain off quickly. Growing this way is technically considered hydroponics by definition. You have to add all nutrients from day one because the substrate contains no nutritional value.
 I have a few grow tents, For nutrients I use Dyna-Gro.

In future posts I intend on going over the nutrients as well as the methods and techniques I use in my garden. I am going to have to do some major LST on the tomatoes and peppers. LST is Low Stress Training. I'll explain and show how I do that when it comes time for me to do it.
Here are a few pics of my DIY RDWC system. It holds 50 gallons, recirculates (hence the R), and has top feed. I'm able to get away with running this without air stones because of the waterfalls. I don't mind answering questions. I'd love to help anyone build their own system and help them learn to use it.
This is going to be a fun winter for growing!

 

 

[Big Perm]

Soaking for a day so far, they are starting to pop. Along with the peppers are watermelon and cucumber.

 

 

[chelicerae]

Wow, that looks slightly spacestation-y, rather elaborate and very nice layout!
 
I see regarding cutting some lower leaves, it makes a certain sense. Before+after shots would be appreciated.
 
Will be interesting to follow your glog.
 
 

 

[Big Perm]

I see regarding cutting some lower leaves, it makes a certain sense. Before+after shots would be appreciated.

It will be most easiest to show on the roma tomatoes I have going in. I try to run a flat canopy, so it will be obvious what I have done on those. That way it will be more of a before and after in progress.
I will also do it to the pepper plants, though. I'm not sure if people are ok with me posting pics of my whole garden, or just peppers.

 

[internationalfish]

I will also do it to the pepper plants, though. I'm not sure if people are ok with me posting pics of my whole garden, or just peppers.

 
The non-pepper section points you here for non-pepper glogs, so I'd expect it'll be just fine.

 

[Big Perm]

 
The non-pepper section points you here for non-pepper glogs, so I'd expect it'll be just fine.

 
Awesome, thanks!
I'm going to flood this thread with pics of everything then.

 

[Big Perm]

Here is a rescue plant from elsewhere in the house. It's been neglected (completely forgotten about), so it's been recruited into the Dyna-Gro program.
I can use this as an example for defoliating so that we don't have to wait a month for everything else to get to that point.

 
I cut everything off that isn't going to get very much light anyway. 

 

 
Up top there is a lot going on.

 
 
It's a technique I use in my indoor gardens. 

 
This gives a general idea. I'll do it on plants I'm going to let get bigger, like the romas, and it will be a lot more obvious.
This topic creates absolute knock down drag out arguments on forums elsewhere. You'd be surprised. LED lighting is another bombshell of a topic. I want to stay away from that on here, as this is more about my garden in general.
 
 
 

 

[Big Perm]

While doing the defoliation, I clipped off something that would make a great trial, so I'm trying to root it using the Dyna-Gro rooting gel.

(I didn't just dip it in there. I cleaned my scissors with alcohol for the cut, then just dipped the scissors in the gel and dabbed it on the stem.)

 
This isn't really a test, just seeing how well it will work because I had this clipping in my hand at the time.
Later I will do a test on the Dyna-Gro rooting material along with some others. Probably on the tomatoes, I'll take them all from the same plant to try to level the playing field as much as I can.

 

[HydroPepper]

Looks good
 
This stuff interests me so I will be following for sure!

 

[internationalfish]

Very cool. I rooted two mint clippings recently, which is pretty much the Duplo of rooting... found out I can get rooting compound pretty easily here, which was surprising, so I'm looking forward to trying that out when the pepper plants grow up.

 

[Big Perm]

Day 4
Radishes and lettuce

 

 

[Big Perm]

Day 5
It's time to transplant the tomatoes. Finally the fun gets to start.
 

 
I used coco to sprout them. After the tap root is about 1" long I'transplant them. When the plants get established, this hydroton is small, but at this stage, they are boulders. The small roots need to be touching the hydroton or they will dry out. I sort them out and try to just use the small ones for this part. These are 2" netpots.
 

 
I mixed up a week 1 solution at 150ppm pH 6.0 and soaked the hydroton for a few hours so that they can absorb the solution.
 

 
I then sat the plant in the hydroton and filled in around it. I put the net pots in a tray and filled it up about 1" with the week 1 solution.
 

 
The hydroton will wick this water up and feed the plants, so all I have to do is keep water in the tray. They aren't drinking much right now, so I shouldn't have to do anything to them for a few days.
 
The roots aren't in the water, they are above it. They are feeding though capillary action from the hydroton.
 

 
This is a stage. the next stage is when the roots start to show. I will then move them to 6" net pots. That will be their last pot, and after some growth they will go into the RDWC.
 
So now we just watch for roots.
Everything else is coming on strong.

 
Still feeding week 1 at 1/3 strength.

 

 

[PaulG]

Very pro-looking hydro set-up and nice grow log. 
Liking your informative explanations.