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Nee's first pepper season. (Australia) Pics, vids & banter.. yey! \\(^o^)//

Hi all! Although i've been into hot sauces / chillies for a long time, a Google regarding "growing chillies in Australia" led me to this site......and onto amazing people here in Australia, who have inspired me to grow my own!
There's not a lot to report as of yet, but here's my story so far! Please feel free to give advice to a newbie, as i really want this human vs chilli relationship to work out!

The story so far....

Pre-soaking my chilli seeds. I have 14 or more varieties to sow: From top left to bottom right....

Habanero Chocolate
Scotch Bonnet TFM
Bhut Jolokia
Macedonian
Pimenta da Neyde
Magnum Habanero
7 Pod Jonah

Habanero White Giant
Hot Fish
Cili Goronong
7 Pod Red crossed Yellow
Manzano
Fatalii
Habanero White JellyBean

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Cutting the seeds from a Yellow 7 Pod....this time with GLOVES!! lol I have a load of extra seeds saved...just in case the winter grow doesn't work out, and i need to replant in the spring.
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Week 1....seeds are in a propagator, kept at a constant 25 degree's thanks to the cable modem it's sat on! I don't expect any change for 4 weeks or so....fingers crossed!
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Mezo said:
And im leaving them in there jiffy's, just bunging the whole thing in a cup & let the roots grow through in to the seed raising mix.
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Hi Mezo! Yeah, that's what i'm doing too....but i think there might have been an issue with the old potting mix i was using, as what i think was happening is that once the roots grew through the jiffy and into the potting mix, the plants started going downhill. (seemed to be around the 3 - 4 week mark)
I was just using some potting mix we had here that my wife bought a few years ago, but it was 'bargain' type stuff....whereas now i'm using something a lot better (can't remember the name of it at the mo) so i'm hoping the plants like it better!
 
Hi all!

As a few of you may have noticed in the 'growing hot peppers' section of the forum, although things started well for me with my grow, i've not been doing too well as of late!
I've been battling leaf curl / yellowing of leaves / dropping of leaves, and it seemed that every solution offered i tried, but to no avail...
Added nutes / reduced watering / tried a bit of calcium / epsom salts / lowered the lights / tried bottom watering / raised the lights / left the lights on longer....and at different heights...with less water / ditched bottom watering for top watering.....aaaaaaAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH......MY BRAAAAAAIN IS MELTING!!!!!! lol (You get the picture!!!)

Yet NOTHING was helping these plants out, and they kept dropping more leaves, although somehow managing to stay alive.

Basically all of my plants were looking a lot like this Hot Fish below..

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About 3 weeks ago i had a thought about the possibility of it being my potting mix. It was a bag of cheapo brand that my wife bought a year or 2 ago, so it deffo had to be a suspect in all of this...plus the time frame from my plants looking good, to looking like death seemed to be at their 3rd or 4th week of growth......which in my mind tied up with the roots breaking free from the Jiffy pellets and becoming reliant on the potting mix.

So i went out and bought a bag of Osmocote Premium, germinated a few more seedlings, and when i transplanted them into the new mix things seem to be looking up!
I know it's still early days, but these just seem a whole lot 'greener' than anything i've managed to get this far.

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I have been told that the following isn't a good idea, as it can really shock the plant, but as my plants were all at deaths door anyway i thought 'what the hell' and gave it a go anyway.

I took one of my existing Hot Fish plants out of the pot and washed all of the existing potting mix from the soil, so i was just left with the plant and the roots.....and then repotted it in the new Osmocote potting mix. I didn't think it would do anything other than kill the plant, but within 2 days of repotting this lifeless plant i have noticed new growth from where all of the leaves dropped off!

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This pic below shows the newly transplanted Hot Fish on the left, and one of the existing ones in the crap-tastic soil on the right.
See how much greener the one on the left is now...

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I'm not counting on it being too healthy after the transplant, but i just wanted to try it before binning it.....and at least it's given me a bit of proof that it looks like it was the potting mix all along :)

So i have now sown some more to join the others i planted a couple of weeks ago... I have chucked out all of my existing plants, bar the Hot Fish, and a couple of Fatalii's that looked good enough to try and transplant over to the new potting mix too. The others just weren't worth saving imo :( RIP

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....and fingers crossed that they will all flourish in the better mix :)

After purchasing, i did read on here that some don't like the Osmocote it as it holds more moisture....but i'm really careful on the watering side of things now, so i think i can keep that side of things under control.

Overall, things are working out good though, in the sense that i wanted to start my grow mega-early in the year, so that if i came across problems, i could solve them in good enough time for when our 'proper' growing season hits here in Australia. So none of it thus far has been a waste of time......still learning each day...and still fascinated with them!!

Will keep you updated! Thanks for listening guys :)
 
Looks much healthier Neil, id would still recommend "seed raising mix" to start them off though, but hey as long as its working thats the main thing.

Imagine if you would have told us all you was using two year old "el cheapo" potting mix in the beginning, oh well its a learning curve for all of us growing stuff.

Mezo.
 
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Mezo said:
Looks much healthier Neil, id would still recommend "seed raising mix" to start them off though, but hey as long as its working thats the main thing.

Imagine if you would have told us all you was using two year old "el cheapo" potting mix in the beginning, oh well its a learning curve for all of us growing stuff.

Mezo.
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To be fair, when i originally started out i just thought potting mix was potting mix!
It's all good though, and like i say, i'm always willing to learn from mistakes!

Might grab some of that seed raising mix for the ones yet to sprout though, as a comparison.
I guess they then go from Jiffy, into Jiffy in seed raising mix...and then when they're ready to pot-up, into potting mix?
 
Hot Fish is loving the new potting mix! So many new leaves happening everywhere, and looking a lot more 'bushy' too!

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Repotted and saved a few others, including my Fatalii's.

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Before repotting, this plant looked like death!! So happy it's doing well now. And this was after washing all of the soil from the roots too, so i didn't think it would survive the shock, but proved me wrong!

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Just waiting for some more to germinate now, to replace the ones i had to throw out. Slow progress at the moment due to the weather getting down to 4 degrees at night here, which means the inside temp isn't much above 19. But i did notice one poking through the jiffy this evening, so hopefully i'll have something to see tomorrow :)
 
nee said:
Before repotting, this plant looked like death!! So happy it's doing well now. And this was after washing all of the soil from the roots too, so i didn't think it would survive the shock, but proved me wrong!
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Hi Nee
That's not something I'd have expected either. Good to know though. Reading all the comeback stories here I'm beginning to see how tough Chiles can really be. Cheers
 
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stickman said:
Reading all the comeback stories here I'm beginning to see how tough Chiles can really be. Cheers
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Yeah me too Stick.....it was worth a punt, and thankfully it has paid off. I'm learning all the time, and really enjoying the whole process!!

OK....​
No huge update really.... had a few germinate in the last day or 2, repotted and gone under the lights. Picked up a load more seeds from Grant Jungle Rain on Friday though! I've sown a few Trinidad Scorpion Sunrise / Dorset Naga / Bishops Crown...will see how they go. I've taken the seed propagator off the modem now, as it just wasn't getting warm enough down there, and instead have them in tupperware under the lights, which is giving me between 27 - 30 degrees, which is about right. The lights aren't on all the time, so the temp dips every now and then, but it still seems to be sufficient to germinate, so all is well! I haven't sealed the lids on these as obviously i want oxygen in there :) When I looked in there earlier and it appears that finally one of my Pimenta De Neydes is showing signs of sprouting, which is great as it's become a bit of a personal goal to get one of them going!

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The Hot Fish on the left is doing really well, as are the Fatalii's in the middle. I gave a bit of calcium / magnesium (really watered down though ) yesterday..i'm hoping they'll like it!
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Since adding the cal / mag the leaves seem a bit less droopy, and are perking up a bit. I don't want to overdo things fert-wise, and plan to leave as much to nature as possible..well, as much as possible under artificial growing conditions....lol​

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well your grow shelf seems to be doing its job so far bro. Starting to look good and will be well ready for the outside by spring
 
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We were having a look around Bunnings earlier today and i came across these.9 litre buckets for 72c, so i grabbed a few in preparation for planting outdoors in summer.

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Do you have any garden space for planting in to the soil Nee? the more room the roots have the bigger the plants will be.

Mezo.
 
Mezo said:
Do you have any garden space for planting in to the soil Nee? the more room the roots have the bigger the plants will be.

Mezo.
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Slightly limited for space here, and seeing as though it's my first grow i might stick with pots for the ones i have on the go right now as i'm unsure what the soil's like here, plus being a novice with how much shade they need etc it means i can move them about until i find where they're happiest. We have some room in the front garden so once i feel confident i can try some there and see how it goes...
 
I melted my buckets (with a hot glue gun actually was a long and tedieous process but didn't have a soldering iron) and they held up well for 8 months but they get extremely brittle in the sun and start falling apart when subjected to any knocks or sharp objects or pushing a stake into them within a year just so you are aware. (Not that 72c really matters I know)

By the way bunnings have specials on those buckets I got some of mine for 35c :party:
 
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Had a few more germinate today, which was a bonus! My germination 'trays' are now tupperware situated above my grow-lights! The temperatures here have dipped a lot lately and it's the only spot i can find warm enough.

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My Fatalii's are going crazy! The leaves on these are getting fairly big now :) I did notice a few purple veins....is this normal for Fatalii's?

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A few transferred into pots today, and a few new seedlings right at the back.

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Looking good née. I have never seen purple veins on my fataliis. Maybe it is due to the plants roots getting cold or over watering as that can sometimes cause purpling of the stems through a locking out of phosphorus ?? That is just a guess though.
 
Ah ok....pretty sure it's not overwatering though, as i'm pretty careful these days! Will keep an eye on them :)

Mezo said:
Ive got not purple veins on me Fatalli`s got some on me old boy though. :party:
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hahaha!!! classic! :)
 
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