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Next to My Chair

Been thinking about it.. pretty sure I'm growing peppers because I'm bored.  Like, deeply, existentially bored.  Plus, a little harmless pain never hurt anybody, right?  Hell, it's probably even good for you.  We'll see if those are good enough reasons, I guess.  I bought me some "Scotch Bonnet Orange" seeds from Amazon before I found you fine folk, lurked around here for a while, then planted them anyway along with other, infinitely less suspect seeds I ordered from far flung places around the globe(!) as recommended by the very venerable Vendor Vault.  I've got them growing here by my chair.  I sit here and read. (The wall to my right as I took this picture is lined with bookshelves I'm slowing filling as I try to forget the world each afternoon.  Mostly scifi the last few years.)  It would be distracting to have a big boxy tent looming over me, so I've just got them sitting there on a cardboard box.  I hope to replace the box with a little table here soon.
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My rig consists of something like a quarter of the full Amazon Indoor Garden of Tomorrow-orrow-orrow-orrow ®.  This LED light I got is something else, man.  It's REALLY bright!  Paper towel germination, used a few Jiffy pellets, stuck some seeds straight in some old Miracle Grow I had, kept them in the Jiffy box there until they sprouted.  I'm glad to be rid of that Jiffy dome now; it was a pain in the ass.  Ahh.. let's see.. I'm mixing CNS17 Grow into RO/DI water, testing and adjusting up with GH pH kit, pouring it over my little darlings there in about 3:1 coco:perlite.  Just culled and potted up today to 3.5 inches.  All seems to be going well except for some slight canoeing of leaves, which I'm ready to blame on the 24% humidity (We wake up half mummified in the winter.  I know - grow tent.) and a few early spills on my rug.  Trying to keep it simple and not drive myself crazier futzing with dozens of parameters here, so I'm not going to sweat it unless things turn worse.  I'm not!  Worry verges on religion with me, so this will either be therapeutic or turn out to have been a bad idea.. 
Any and all comments or criticisms are very welcome and I thank you all most warmly for having me and schooling me and reading my noodlings! 
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Uncle_Eccoli said:
I'm concerned about the large plant next to my chair.  I replaced its nutrients the other day and found the root ball has grown to fill the reservoir.  It wasn't easy to retrieve the air stone from the cylinder of root mass.  The obvious thing to do would be replace the 5-gallon bucket with a larger container, but I'm not sure that's smart.  The thing is already gigantic.  I'd hate to hack it back, though..  Thoughts?  Advice? 
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Garbage can!
 
CaneDog said:
That's a great looking plant.  I'd like to see it reach its full potential over the next 4 months, even if it meant upsizing outside and having a new plant take up residence next to your chair.  
 
That's assuming, of course, that an indoor garbage can grow next to your chair is probably not going to fly...
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I've got the lights for it, but I expect the plant would get too tall if I moved it up to a DWC garbage can.  I'd have to move it to the center of the room, too..  It really would be the plant's room at that point.  I've got a Purple UFO that's never been outside I could move to the DWC bucket next to my chair.. but I'd eventually be looking at the same problem, no?
 
How would this FO react if I moved it from DWC indoors to Kratky outdoors, do you think?  It wouldn't be supercharged with aeration anymore..  Would it be set back, or just not grow so fast going forward?  I'm not sure how I'd go about hardening this thing off..
 
I always wanted a hot pepper house plant but never got around to it. They always wind up outside for some reason ort another. Mostly because of the supplemental light I'd have to provide. I still have plans with a few mutant candlelight seeds. If I can get one of those to start, I already have a very pretty blue ceramic pot I can use in the phototron chamber.
 
Oh hey, I just remembered what happened to this year's indoor pepper plant project. I was gonna put a sharpei in a fabric bag and keep it in the chamber. My dumbass thought I could use a 5 gallon bag and squeeze it in and out of the chamber as needed. No way in hell. The sharpei is an outside plant now.
 
 
 
Uncle_Eccoli said:
 
I've got the lights for it, but I expect the plant would get too tall if I moved it up to a DWC garbage can.  I'd have to move it to the center of the room, too..  It really would be the plant's room at that point.  I've got a Purple UFO that's never been outside I could move to the DWC bucket next to my chair.. but I'd eventually be looking at the same problem, no?
 
How would this FO react if I moved it from DWC indoors to Kratky outdoors, do you think?  It wouldn't be supercharged with aeration anymore..  Would it be set back, or just not grow so fast going forward?  I'm not sure how I'd go about hardening this thing off..
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I was thinking/joking that if you tried to do a garbage can Kratky indoors you both might end up outdoors for the summer.  ;)
 
I haven't grown in liquid enough to have dependable ideas for you on this so I was waiting to hear what people with more experience said as well.  It seems reasonable that root rot could be a concern going to a stagnant medium, but I don't know that.  I suppose moving in a new plant might simply end up at the same place, but it would delay it and to an extend you might select a variety with more compact growth habits. Also, it's not uncommon for plants to grow to within a certain proximity of overhead lighting then spread out laterally with their canopy, or reach a maximum height and then bush out, so the height of the current plant and it reaching its full potential may not be an issue if root overgrowth isn't going to be an issue.  I suppose the main question is whether the root situation will be a problem.  And if it is, will perhaps moving to a container with more lateral room keep the plant height lower and it may be at the point of bushing more than growing for height?  Sorry man, got more questions than answers here.  Seems you might be growing too well for your own good ;)
 
Uncle_Eccoli said:
Found a few FO bonnets with long stingers.  Happens, or have I got another cross on my hands? 
 
Here's the lemon drop: 
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Your lemon drop looks a lot like my Brazilian Starfish.
 
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My Aji Limo are bushier with thinner stalks and smaller leaves which seem to be similar to the photos I can find online. Looking at Brazilian Starfish plants, they seem to look similar to the lemon drop.
 
I wonder what our plants really are?!
 
Seems the most sensible thing to do would be to provide a larger reservoir and closely monitor root growth.  Maybe I'll have to hack back the green stuff if it gets too big (whatever that means).  Would that limit root growth? 
I find myself a little daunted again. This thing is out of control. 
 
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Yeah, my thinking would be to prune back if needed mainly where it is reaching up around the lighting perimeter, but not the canopy more directly under the light which appears less to be reaching.  Hopefully someone will chime in with knowledge about the root situation.
 
Looks like it's getting ready to start laying on the pods.  That's your Freeport Orange bonnet, right?  That thing's going to look awesome as a big ole bush with the orange and dark green
 
CaneDog said:
Looks like it's getting ready to start laying on the pods.  That's your Freeport Orange bonnet, right?  That thing's going to look awesome as a big ole bush with the orange and dark green
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Yes, Freeport Orange just like the garbage can on the deck. It's got at least a dozen pods on it already. No telling how many, really - can't find them.
Some of the pods on the garbage can plant are very bonnety-looking, others are bumpy with long stingers, but they are WAY hot. Painful hot.
 
DWB said:
If you want to keep it next to your chair, why not make it a bonsai?
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I want to try bonsai sometime soon, but if I'm going to kill this plant in an experiment, I think I'd rather see what would happen if I did nothing in this situation.  Will the plant make its own accommodations?  Will the roots grow denser until the air stone is smothered?  What effect does that have?  Et cetera. 
I want this plant to live, though. I've got too many plants and I want them all to live. I've had a hard time culling plants I know full well need to go. Hell, I've even still got one of those cankerous quickie-mart bastards out on the deck. 
:doh:
 
Siv said:
I say just let it grow - it's going to stop at some point once the roots are unable to grow any more, limited by the bucket. If you increase the size of the reservoir, it's just gonna keep getting bigger and bigger!
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That's what I'm afraid of.  Isn't there a programmed limit to its size, though?  Surely a chili pepper can only grow but so big..  But how big this one?  Very tempting to chase an answer.  It's already comically large in the room; the pictures don't really do it justice.  Four feet tall and four across it is.
 
Uncle_Eccoli said:
Fucking vole ate one of my plants almost right in front of me this afternoon. 
:mad:
 
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I have a gopher issue at my place and they have been murdering my girlfriends sunflowers. Watched them pull a 2.5ft sunflower into the dirt while I was mixing up some potting mix. RIP to your plant


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