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Newbie Wisconsin Grower needs help!!!

Newski1775

Newski1775

So this is my first post on this website and I have so many questions that need answers, and I cant seem to find them, this website is the most help I've gotten so far though, I love it. Anyway my name is Brandon, Marine Veteran, and lover of all things HOT! I got my first foot in the heat game when I was stationed in San Diego, they have this store called Hot Licks, and me and my buddy wanted to know what the hottest sauce they had was, and she directed me to a small casket box, with yellow caution tape around it, none other than the 2011 limited edition of Dave's Insanity Sauce, and after that I was hooked! Up until recently I have never even thought about growing, but the other day I was at walmart with my girl and she was getting some seeds for growing season, and I noticed that Burpee had the Habanero seeds, and I was like what the heck I'll get a pack and see what happens. Well then I fell in love right away, and I had a crazy idea to create a small little grow operation in my basement, especially after I bought some Carolina Reaper seeds that will be here in about a week. The only problem is that as I'm sure most basements are, not as warm as the rest of the house, and that with Wisconsins all ready outrageous weather pattern I dont think it works well.
 
So far what I have is my general idea of what I wanted it to look like, mixed with about 3 hours of searching for everything indoor pepper growing. I have 2 2 bulb 48" fluorescent shop lights with Verilux full spectrum sunlight bulbs, which cost $11 a piece, but I figured It'd be worth it running 65000K and 2700 Lumens, I figured that 2" above the surface of my jiffy 36 seed biodegradable starter it would be enough heat to keep it warm, but there is no heat coming off the lights at all! I grabbed them and it was barely even warm, and then looked at the box and it said something about running at 0 degrees or something but I thought for some reason it was talking that it would run if it were that cold. I have the lights hanging from the cross beams on ceiling hooks with a small chain connected to the lights so I'm able to adjust height as the grow, and today I'm planning on making a reflective box with cardboard and aluminum foil for the light to intensify a bit, and hopefully to keep it heated in there as well. I was reading on heating mats, but what about when they started getting larger and I was planning on transplanting to 10" pots. I know it's awhile off and I will have them outside anyway, but I'm think about doing year round growing, or trying to at least, so the information would be helpful for future use and just general knowledge. Does this sound like a good start? Plan? So far I have used some plant food recommended on here, and use epsom an water once and they are planted in miracle gro. Again any help would be so much appreciated, my girlfriend was complaining because I spent about $120 between lights and everything, but I told her I spent more on dumber stuff, and this is now a hobby of mine, i'm taking a lot of pride in it, and I find a great amount of satisfaction in it as well.
 
:welcome: to THP! 
     It sounds like you're off to a good start. I would invest in a heat mat. Peppers love warm soil and without it, no amount of light or nutes will make them grow. The lights you have should get your seedlings ready for out planting, but to keep them fruiting in the off season, you'll definitely need more.
     How many plants do you plan on growing this summer?
 
I have 36 Habenaros, and 50 Jalapenos, and this was before I did my research on how much space they will need, and then I bought 40 reaper seeds, but do not know if I'm doing them all, I want to but my girlfriend is saying all these will take up too much space. What would you say would be better? container growing or getting them in the ground when the conditions are right? I think the ground would be the cheapest option, but how far apart should the be spaced to get the best results? If I do the ground option I think I still may put about 10 Reapers in pots and see how they differ, because then I could move them if say it started raining for hours or whatever may happen.
 
     It'll be expensive to put that number of plants in containers. I wouldn't go smaller than a 5 gallon bucket for each plant and when you add the price of soil and ferts, that's going to be a steep bill for a first time grow. 
     If you put them in the ground, plan on a foot and a half to two feet between plants - not counting alleys for access to plants. I'm planting mostly in 4' x 8' raised beds this year, and I'm planning on between 8 and 18 plants per bed - depending on the age and size of the plant.
     I would definitely put some plants in containers, it makes it way easier to overwinter them. Something you might want to look into, since you're growing way up on the Frozen Tundra!
 
Welcome, Newski!
Dash is right, in-ground is cheaper and easier usually. I'd go at least two feet between and 3' rows if possible for the Habs and Reapers. 18" on the Jalas
 
If possible I'd find some good compost -cheapest or free if possible- even a pile of old wood chips (from the center of the pile) along the road or wherever they dump them in your area and cover my whole growing area 3-6" or at least mound up 2' circles where you'll actually set the plants. Sprinkle liberally with dolomite from a farm store where it's cheap.
 
When the snow is gone and ground thawed, you can start digging/mixing (not too much of the newer, hard chips though) that into the holes, say mid-April, with other amendments, like especially earthworm casting, and give them a chance to cook into the soil, so your plants will be ready to rock n roll late May or early June.
 
I think the zero degrees has something to do with no warm up delay upon turning the light on in the cold. horticulture source.com sells 2 x 4 foot heat mats, i have one works well. Welcome and sounds like you'll be fine.
 
Newski1775 said:
blah
Click to expand...
 
tried to organize my response so you can understand it best and gave my opinions on your plan.
containers
You can keep them in 3-4 inch  (pots, solo cups) until you transplant them into your final container(5gal+) or in ground. This eliminates some of the space concerns (100 10" pots is alot of room) and cost. 5 gallon grow bags are cheaper then permanent containers.
 
You can fit 18 3.5 inch pots or solo cups per tray, 4 trays per 2 light fixtures can work. So you should have enough light to grow 72~ plants in a 4x2x2 area. note this is not enough light to grow mature plants, or not very many. If you want to grow mature plants you should probably get an HID (metal halide or high pressure sodium) lamp.

environment
An oscillating fan is a great investment as it helps prevent mold, fungus caused my too much humidity / over watering. It also simulates wind so plants will grow stronger stems and not just fall over when you eventually move them outside.
 
Now you need to keep up heat, so you need an area thats kinda insulated from cold and something to keep it warm. Heating mat + heat from lights is a possibility. Small space heater is another. You can make a "grow box" pretty easy, just need a couple 2x4x8's (8$) 8x4 sheet of plywood (9$) and some reflective insulation(15$ lots of extra) then stick it in your garage, or shed whatever. This is a more expensive permanent than just cardboard and alum foil, so may want to make sure your serious about it first.
 
Media
If you want to make your own soilmix 5-1-1 is good for peppers. If you want to buy something promix bales are good. Miracle grow can be ok, but gets expensive and compacts a lot over the season.
 
Ferts 
If you want to be organic than you have to use organic ferts like seaweed, fish emulsion, bone meal, manure, compost. If you want to be synthetic (me) you can just get a bottle of dyangro pro foliage as it has all the micro nutrients you need. You only need to fertilize like every other week, and don't use full strength fertilizers on young plants, use half strength or less.
 
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Newski1775 said:
I have 36 Habenaros, and 50 Jalapenos, and this was before I did my research on how much space they will need, and then I bought 40 reaper seeds, but do not know if I'm doing them all, I want to but my girlfriend is saying all these will take up too much space. What would you say would be better? container growing or getting them in the ground when the conditions are right? I think the ground would be the cheapest option, but how far apart should the be spaced to get the best results? If I do the ground option I think I still may put about 10 Reapers in pots and see how they differ, because then I could move them if say it started raining for hours or whatever may happen.
Click to expand...
 
 
So 126 plants, you will want 3-4 square feet per plant. 126 x 4 = 504 square feet. but you have to remember to leave yourself room to walk in between plants, which does eat up a lot of space. You need 1-2 ft walkways, and you will need a few walkways probably, because you are going to be reaching from the walkway to pick peppers and care for plants, so the rows/groups should be no more deep than what you can comfortably reach. So we are talking about a lot more than 500 sq ft. If you have the space go for it!
 
You could also consider splitting up how you grow them. I would grow 2-3 plants of each variety in pots and the rest in the ground. That way you have the ability to move them around if you get really bad rain/wind storm, or if you get some nasty bugs in your in ground plants you can move the pots to the other side of the yard/inside until you work out the problem. Plus you will be able to easily over winter them/grow indoors(with proper lights) during winter if you feel like it, and dont mind buying a bit more expensive light and a few more dozen bucks a month on electricity.
 
This is all great advice, and I know that I'm starting a little late into the season, but I will have about 5 months to play around with until it starts getting colder again, but still warmer than now lol. I think that I am going to do about 15 Reaper, and start them off in a damp paper towel, and ziplock till they start sprouting from the seed, and put them in solo's after that. Sadley after reading all this about space I may have to cut back on the Jalapenos and a few of the Habaneros because my girl friend would have a fit if I took up the whole back yard for my peppers lol. I'll take the strongest growers from those and put most in the ground, I'm thinking about doing 5 Reapers and 5 Habs in containers for now and the rest in the ground. As for the Fertilizer, I will be starting work in a commercial fertilizer plant that supplies all the big farms through Wisconsin, and I'm sure I can get some of the good stuff there lol.
JJJessee said:
Welcome, Newski!
Dash is right, in-ground is cheaper and easier usually. I'd go at least two feet between and 3' rows if possible for the Habs and Reapers. 18" on the Jalas
 
If possible I'd find some good compost -cheapest or free if possible- even a pile of old wood chips (from the center of the pile) along the road or wherever they dump them in your area and cover my whole growing area 3-6" or at least mound up 2' circles where you'll actually set the plants. Sprinkle liberally with dolomite from a farm store where it's cheap.
 
When the snow is gone and ground thawed, you can start digging/mixing (not too much of the newer, hard chips though) that into the holes, say mid-April, with other amendments, like especially earthworm casting, and give them a chance to cook into the soil, so your plants will be ready to rock n roll late May or early June.
Click to expand...
So if I get some compost I'd want to put it out there before the snow is gone? or after? and I'll be tilling it in with everything when I go to prepare my garden? What is earthworm casting too? and how would I do that? I'm guessing buy the worms, and put them in the garden so they get the ground nice and fertile?
Here is a link to the pics of my grow operation
 
http://imgur.com/a/c08XY
 
one side is empty and that's why I had the light elevated up so I can get in there when I need to, that's where my Reapers will be going.

It took about 4 hours worth of work to get it all done, but I'm proud of it, especially since it was only a thought yesterday afternoon, and now it's a reality
 
Looking good there.  I am a first year grower as well, and have learned a LOT about all this stuff.  I too will be buying a light set-up for the next spring.  I will also have to redo my set-up.  Anyways, good luck there.
 
Newski1775 said:
This is all great advice, and I know that I'm starting a little late into the season, but I will have about 5 months to play around with until it starts getting colder again, but still warmer than now lol. I think that I am going to do about 15 Reaper, and start them off in a damp paper towel, and ziplock till they start sprouting from the seed, and put them in solo's after that. Sadley after reading all this about space I may have to cut back on the Jalapenos and a few of the Habaneros because my girl friend would have a fit if I took up the whole back yard for my peppers lol. I'll take the strongest growers from those and put most in the ground, I'm thinking about doing 5 Reapers and 5 Habs in containers for now and the rest in the ground. As for the Fertilizer, I will be starting work in a commercial fertilizer plant that supplies all the big farms through Wisconsin, and I'm sure I can get some of the good stuff there lol.

So if I get some compost I'd want to put it out there before the snow is gone? or after? and I'll be tilling it in with everything when I go to prepare my garden? What is earthworm casting too? and how would I do that? I'm guessing buy the worms, and put them in the garden so they get the ground nice and fertile?

Here is a link to the pics of my grow operation
 
http://imgur.com/a/c08XY
 
one side is empty and that's why I had the light elevated up so I can get in there when I need to, that's where my Reapers will be going.

It took about 4 hours worth of work to get it all done, but I'm proud of it, especially since it was only a thought yesterday afternoon, and now it's a reality
Click to expand...
Sorry, you may reconsider my directives if you are using commercial, non-organics. It may be fine, or overkill, or, unnecessary; especially the worm casting (you can get them online, if not available locally).  Others will give you better advice on non-organic or hybrid grows.
 
So I got a temporary small heat mat from Walmart, but it has hourly auto shut off so It's annoying, but I ordered a seeding mat from Home Depot today and should be here in the next week, anyway, I bout a small thermometer to try and see the temp it is, I tried putting it on the heat mat but it stayed around 70, and I placed it between my jiffy 36 and heat mat and it was reading like 100, and I'm almost certain that is not the acutal temp, I think the thermometer was reading that because where it was placed, and the pad is warm, not even hot, but how would I get the most accurate reading till I can get my seeding mat?
 
What type of thermometer is it? If its one for humans they tend to not do too well in just air, much better for soil. Check the temp of the soil and you want it around 85*!
 
I had an one you'd put outside, but I wont have to worry too much longer, I have my seeding mat coming in the mail in the next week. Today I took and dug up my seeds, because they were not growing, and I think I packed the soil to hard, so I went and loosened it up and put the seeds closer to the top, because I did plant them too low last time, but now I should be good to rock!
 
Hi Newski,
 
I live in Crivitz, not a far jont from you so I know a little bit about growing up here in the north. Folks here could give some additional advice if you posted some pics of your seedling area. Plus you should start a glog to show your progress. :)
 
Like most have said it needs to be warm, especially with such a late start in the season. You will need every bit of growth possible for decent size plants on plant out.
 
If you are going to plant in the ground, it would not be a bad idea to cover that area with black plastic, that will help with heating the soil much quicker and key to early plant development. 
 
One of the biggest obstacles with planting in the ground is keeping the soil from compacting, the looser the soil the easier the roots will grow and the faster the plant will develop. Like me you only have about 90 to 100 days once in the ground and some of the peps you are growing are not meant for cold climates but  under the right conditions are doable. To keep your soil from compacting, like many have mentioned.....compost..but well decade, green compost will rob nitrogen from your soil as it breaks down, not good. You may even want to consider hilling your plants to keep the soil from compacting, if you plant on level ground every time you walk around them you will be compacting that soil as it pushes in towards the roots, plus every time it rains the saturated soil will compact as well. Just a thought. ;-)
 
If you run into problems with getting your Reapers  up to speed before plant out and want to make a sunday drive, I will give you 6 or 8 for free, the gas is enough expense.
 
Good luck......Cheers - Jeff
 
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