indoor My Indoor Garden

[michaellustfield]

Well.... After much reading and edumacationating i self....

Where it started. I wanted to try the worlds hottest pepper, the Bhut Jolokia. I found that I could buy some a long ways away from here, then finally found where I could buy them locally. They're in the produce section, but I'd hardly call them fresh. I thought it odd that the nicest ones still had a brown inside. Well... After eating some and thinking that they were crazy hot, I discovered this thing called a Naga Viper, and from there I discovered a different one called the Trinidad Scorpion (Butch T). If the freshest Bhut Jolokia I can find around here is brown and crappy inside, guess how likely I am to find anything more hot than that.

SO! I decided I'll grow some. Ooooh, what about the children that run around outside. Meh, they'll learn... but they're not obnoxious and bratty kids. I'd feel too bad. Into the apartment we go. I'm on a "Garden Level" and you may be surprised to know that it's very much not ideal for growing things.

This, ladies and gentleman, is where my "little" project began. I'm on a tight budget, but if I'm going to do this, I'm going to do it right. At first I was going to get a small tarp and 4 big pots. Then I realized the window light wouldn't be near enough. So out to get lights. I didn't want to hang lights form the ceiling, so in came the need to build something. From the need no build something, I realized I was going to make it so it can be moved in and out of my apartment if need be. I got going on it and a week later, I think I have it...

My previously used by other stuff space...

I have three seeds that have germinated! None are the super hots though.

My setup will basically be like this...

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          04      09
      02      07      12
  01      05      10      14
      03      08      13
          06      11

01 - Rosemary
02 - Trinidad Scorpion (Butch T)
03 - Trinidad Scorpion (Butch T)
04 - Catnip
05 - Mint
06 - Mint
07 - Long Red Slim
08 - Yellow Hungarian Hot Wax
09 - Lemon Balm
10 - St Johns Wort
11 - St Johns Wort
12 - Bhut Jolokia
13 - Bhut Jolokia
14 - Rosemary

The idea here being that each super hot will have tasty herbs separating them to help avoid the cross pollination. Considering I need to grow inside, I don't think it'll be too big of a deal. Heck, I'll keep these growing year round anyway. I made sure to get herbs that would grow year round to.

It's peanuts compared to what the rest of you guys have going but, considering what I have to go on, I'm pretty darned happy.

I'm hoping that after I see how the plants grow out I'll have an id

 

[PIC 1]

Rosemary from seed is very difficult to germinate...

All your other herbs should fire up like weeds...

 

[michaellustfield]

Rosemary from seed is very difficult to germinate...

All your other herbs should fire up like weeds...

Shucks, I thought it was one of the easy ones. Any tips? I know I should probably be using a heat pad for what I'm growing but I can't find one locally and I'm waiting on a lot of internet orders already.

 

[PIC 1]

Shucks, I thought it was one of the easy ones. Any tips? I know I should probably be using a heat pad for what I'm growing but I can't find one locally and I'm waiting on a lot of internet orders already.

Give it a go...

I've had no luck as well as other folks I know

That's one herb that is usually available in the nurseries shortly after the holidays,

I usually by a large plant or two and divide it a few times, then i'll grow them under the lights until warm enough

in the spring to set out, their pretty hardy in the cold

Just a note about mint, I'd recommend keeping the mint in a pot outdoors, if planted in the ground it can become a real nuisance,

the plant sends runners out underground, it can become aggresive like a vine, you won't see this until the following year, growing herbs in

pods will contain them,

catnip is also a perinnial it will come back on its own next season, but it also reseeds itself, many times over, if you have cats they'll love

that.....

good luck with your seeds , keep us posted

 

[S.S.Tupperware]

Mint will over run ya... Plus the rows won't stop crosses.

 

[patrick]

This is a great thing you are embarking on. Be forewarned, you will be looking for outdoor garden space next spring as you discover just how addictive this pepper thing is.

Your plans look great but I'm thinking you're going to run out of space if you grow that many plants in that small of an area. Also planting herbs between the peppers isn't going to keep them from crossing. But that's fine, pepper crosses are part of the fun of growing them. Good idea to isolate a few flowers for seed though.

Are your lights on chains? You're going to need to be able to adjust the height of them as the plants grow. Depending upon the type of florescent lights you're using they may need to be just a few inches away from the top of the seedlings. You're definitely going to need more light if you're hoping for the plants to produce pods. It doesn't take a lot of light to grow pepper plants but it takes a lot to get them to produce full sized peppers.

You're going to need that heat mat you were referring to if you want the super hot seeds to germinate in less than a month. Super hot seeds do the best when the growing medium is in the mid 80's.

You've found a great place to find answers to any questions you may have. I wish you the best of luck with your new hobby and don't worry about the local kids eating your pods, they'll only do it once.

 

[LGHT]

Good start and the lights you have need to be a lot close to the plants. You have a good setup to get the plants going, but not enough light to actually produce a plant to full size and produce large amounts of fruit. You will get slow staggered growth and may end up with a pepper or 2, but I would suggest moving them outside and planting them up to a minimum of a 5 gallon pot.

 

[Avon Barksdale]

Yep those lights should be far closer. Are those T12s? T12s run cool enough that the leaves can actually be touching the light and not burn, so you can keep them really close. At the distance you have them now they won't get nearly enough light and will be leggy and weak.

Like Patrick said, you're going to need to be able to adjust the height of those lights as the plants grow, so you can keep them close and raise them as the plants grow taller.

You said you're on a budget...maybe it's too late now, and maybe those aren't T12s anyway, but T12s may be cheap upfront, but they're really inefficient compared to T8s and T5s, so they'll end up costing you more over time with the electricity bill. They were phased out last year. High output T8s and T5s are a lot better option for plant growth, they produce much more light for the same wattage/electricity cost. Realistically though, it takes a lot of light for an area that size for fruiting plants. I agree with LGHT, that's not enough light for what you're hoping to accomplish. If you want to light an area that size and grow 2'+ fruiting plants, it's not going to be cheap. It's going to bump up your electricity bill quite a bit. You can easily figure the costs of running those lights if you have your electricity cost per kw/hr, the wattage of the bulbs, and how many hours a day you're going to run them. Furthermore, bhut jolokia and Trinidad scorpion are large plants that don't really like to set pods until they a reach a fairly large size, so getting them to fruit indoors will be a bit of a challenge without a lot of light.


Also, you must put a fan on those. Without wind, plants grow weak and can't support themselves. The stems grow really flimsy and can't support the weight of the plant so they fall over, even before fruit set. Wind will also prevent issues with mold and fungus, and help the plants to pollinate (or you can hand pollinate them, or shake the stems).