Norwegian Kratky Grow 2022

Hi Everybody, and welcome to this growlog! I'm always looking for input and feedback!

I grow in Kratky hydro for the first time, so this should be a steep learning curve! So far I have about 70+ varieties in this grow tent (3x2m) but some plants will move to new locations as we move along.

My biggest concern isn't really that I have WAY too many plants for my limited space, my concern is all the fantastic seeds and varieties I haven't started yet
If I don't start them soon it's so late for this season. Would love to grow some more rocotos etc

The outdoor season in Norway is short and cold, so growing peppers here you have to be an optimistic idiot like me, and be prepared to use a lot of time and energy for every fruit you harvest.

I'm mostly after the tropical Caribbean chinense flavors. Habs and Scotch Bonnets (and close relatives) make up about half of my plants! Some of you may already know me from Instagram and Facebook, but I'm looking forward to getting to know all of you others!

Sugar Rush Peach (bigger pods version from Chris Fowler)

Carboruga Yellow

Judging me hard for my stupid decision on growing 70+ plants in the basement

My girlfriend in this awsome Pepper Guru tshirt

Rootporn (SFW)

 

[ahayastani]

The outdoor season in Norway is short and cold

I'm mostly after the tropical Caribbean chinense flavors

Something tells me you have somewhat masochistic tendencies

 

[MarcV]

I see a lot of small spaces between your plants that can be filled with more plants!
Love the expression on your dog's face

 

[Uncle Eckley]

Love your grow! Excellent tent. Plants all look very healthy and vigorous.

Tell us about your lighting?

What are your plans for so many plants when they've grown? I'm imagining you either picking your way to the back on your toes or moving them all the time as it is. Some of those squatty chinenses are going to be on a mission to reach into and lock up their neighbors.

Also, what's the volume of those buckets? When the plants are twice as big as that (or sooner) they're going to get thirsty.

The sea of green is awesome. Something about all that vibrant life in an indoor space is inspiring and hopeful no matter how bleak or cold or short the season of the outside world. Makes me think of getting off this rock and saving our collective skin. Makes me think of wretched generations surviving deep in the earth with only the dream of better times to light the dark. Makes me think of having to check my levels in my reservoirs this morning.

Can't wait to see more.

 

[PaulG]

Wow, are all those plants in Kratky containers?

Good thing you have a cool terrier and girlfriend to
help out!

I'll be watching this one closely!

 

[Sulsa]

Looking good! Always impressive how healthy plants look in hydro, controlling nutrients is key i guess. Do you keep all those plants in the house or are you gonna move them to your greenhouse later on?

 

[Anders]

Something tells me you have somewhat masochistic tendencies

Haha I don't make it easy on myself. But luckily a lot of chinense varieties seems to do ok in my harsh climate. It also makes it even more rewarding to hunt for the right ones. The habs and bonnets do it a lot better than some of the superhots luckily, so I'm crossing my fingers this year

 

[Anders]

I see a lot of small spaces between your plants that can be filled with more plants!
Love the expression on your dog's face

Haha I already have about 10 plants in small beer-can containers in between the other ones, and a few more are on the way. Its just so many I have to taste and experience

 

[Anders]

Love your grow! Excellent tent. Plants all look very healthy and vigorous.

Tell us about your lighting?

What are your plans for so many plants when they've grown? I'm imagining you either picking your way to the back on your toes or moving them all the time as it is. Some of those squatty chinenses are going to be on a mission to reach into and lock up their neighbors.

Also, what's the volume of those buckets? When the plants are twice as big as that (or sooner) they're going to get thirsty.

The sea of green is awesome. Something about all that vibrant life in an indoor space is inspiring and hopeful no matter how bleak or cold or short the season of the outside world. Makes me think of getting off this rock and saving our collective skin. Makes me think of wretched generations surviving deep in the earth with only the dream of better times to light the dark. Makes me think of having to check my levels in my reservoirs this morning.

Can't wait to see more.

Hi Uncle Eckley! I can't really tell you much about the lights in here. I bought them used from a professional gardener, and I don't think there's even a logo or name on it. But it seems to do the job.

The plan is to move them into bigger buckets (these are 5L / 1.32 gallons) and put them outside / in my greenhouse and try to convince my girlfriend into having some in our kitchen etc But I will have to move a lot of them into other grow tents and locations before that. I use them to make different chili products, (and I eat a lot myself). I'm trying to find the best ones (for my taste and climate) for doing bigger grows when I move to a farm.

 

[Anders]

Wow, are all those plants in Kratky containers?

Good thing you have a cool terrier and girlfriend to
help out!

I'll be watching this one closely!

Thank you! They are all in Kratky this season. So far it's been a real joy to grow in buckets. So much cleaner indoors

 

[Anders]

Looking good! Always impressive how healthy plants look in hydro, controlling nutrients is key i guess. Do you keep all those plants in the house or are you gonna move them to your greenhouse later on?

They will be put outside and in different greenhouses. But the last frost date here can be as late as mid-May, so it's 4 more months inside... It will be a challenge

 

[Anders]

This is the tent before all the madness.

This is a Scotch Bonnet. I think it's a foodorama or freeport orange.

My local habanero, this is a text I copied from my Instagram:
While all my other seeds are bought and traded from breeders and growers around the world, these seeds came out of a fresh yellow habanero I bought at my local Oliven Mat here in Løvstakken.

They had a shipment of some exceptionally tasty and aromatic yellow ones that blew my mind. If I remember correctly there were some nice tropical, passion fruit/mango aromas that filled the whole kitchen when these were sliced open. I saved some seeds of the best one, and here we are!

It grows and develops faster than most of the other plants in there! The main stem split into a Y formation so early that I chose not to «top» this plant. Now It’s already full of flowers! Even some small fruits. I just hope it tastes anything as I remember...

I feel Habaneros are somewhat underrated, and I don’t see many people growing them? It might be because it's one of the few varieties that you can easily buy in the store?

Personally, I find them to be some of the best tasting chili fruits out there and have always been very productive and hardy here in my northern climate. Last season the Oxkutzcabian Orange Habanero was probably in my top 3 list, both in terms of flavor and production.

 

[PaulG]

That grow space is big enough to be a bedroom!

Your a habanero fan? Have you sampled/grown
Jamaican Red Habanero? Pretty much at the apex
of the habanero heat profiles. Pretty typical habanero
taste, really not myfavorite. I ate a whole big one
once. Okay, that smarts

 

[MarcV]

Can't go wrong with scotch bonnets, I've fallen in love with them myself. Good taste and manageable heat. I'm personally not a fan of habaneros though...

 

[Anders]

That grow space is big enough to be a bedroom!

Your a habanero fan? Have you sampled/grown
Jamaican Red Habanero? Pretty much at the apex
of the habanero heat profiles. Pretty typical habanero
taste, really not myfavorite. I ate a whole big one
once. Okay, that smarts

Hi PaulG, I have never tried the Jamaican Red! The habaneros usually have a perfect heat/flavor profile for me

 

[Anders]

Can't go wrong with scotch bonnets, I've fallen in love with them myself. Good taste and manageable heat. I'm personally not a fan of habaneros though...

I have only grown a few different Bonnets varieties up until this season. I crushed hard on them last season, and now I'm probably growing around 10 different bonnet varieties So good!

 

[PaulG]

Hi PaulG, I have never tried the Jamaican Red! The habaneros usually have a perfect heat/flavor profile for me

If you ever feel the need to grow a JA Red Habanero,
hit me up for some seeds. This strain was brought back
from Jamaica by a former forum member, @WalkGood.

 

[Anders]

If you ever feel the need to grow a JA Red Habanero,
hit me up for some seeds. This strain was brought back
from Jamaica by a former forum member, @WalkGood.

That's so cool, thank you very much! Straight from the source Maybe we can trade some seeds after the season?

 

[HeatMiser]

Holy Kratky!

70+ varieties in Kratky?! How are you replacing the nutrients and how long does it take for you to do that? In my experience, after about 2 months they will need frequent nutrient changes.

 

[Anders]

Holy Kratky!

70+ varieties in Kratky?! How are you replacing the nutrients and how long does it take for you to do that? In my experience, after about 2 months they will need frequent nutrient changes.

Hi HeatMiser

This is my first time growing this way, so I'm learning as we go along. In the beginning, I used a lot of time dialing in the PH, and nutrients. But after a while, I understood that they are far less sensitive than I first thought. Now I never bother to check the PH and I'm not too concerned with how much nutrients they get either. It seems like the chinenses can deal with an almost double dose of recommended nutrients. While the baccatums seem to be more sensitive to high doses. It's too early to tell for sure, but I'm not sure that I will grow baccatums in Kratky again, they actually seem to like soil better. And so far they don't respond the way I would like to "topping" / pruning etc.

How often I have to refill seems to have some correlation with how big the plant is above the reservoir. Older plants that have a big root system but have been "topped" and kept small, can wait for a few weeks without drinking up all the water.

I have a few plants that are overwintered and a few that haven't been topped or trimmed. I just let them do their thing. They need refill every 7 days right now. But each refill they seem to drink faster, so I hope to move them to bigger reservoirs at a new location as soon as possible!

When a new seedling is put in the tent I don't change or fill the nutrients for over a month. Then maybe like every 3 weeks, then every other week etc, so it's not a lot of work with small plants. I think this way of growing has a lot of potential if I had started all the plants on the same day, and maybe 3 months before these were going into bigger reservoirs. The way I do it will be stressful as we are getting closer to May for sure!

I fill a larger reservoir, either 30L or 200L, and mix all the nutrients in there. Then I bring each plant into the bathroom where I refill. It can be done in under an hour, but this is a nice opportunity to check each plant individually, and clean the tent etc, so I tend to use a few hours...