Peter's 2014 Grow Log

I planted these seeds last night.  I soaked them in a diluted tea solution for a few hours.
 
7-pot Brainstrain - Red x 4
7-Pot Primo x 2
Brown Congo x 2
Jalepeno x 3
Naga Morich x 4
Peter Pepper x 2
Reaper x 4
Red Bhut x 4
Serrano x 3
Trinidad 7-pod Brainstrain - Yellow x 2
White Yucatan Habanero x 2
Yellow Jellybean x 4
 
Should be 36 plants total, but I planted 3 seeds for each one, will clip the smaller ones. One of the Serrano's bounced into the Peter Pepper tray. I think I got the right one back out, but they looked almost identical. So there might be a surprise later. 
 

 

 
I converted an old turtle tank for keeping the seeds warm. There is a heat pad underneath the tray. The light is an aquarium light used for growing aquatic plants. It's 2 t-5s, 6700K. I have it on now to generate more heat, and for the seedlings when they sprout. I have a 2ft, 4 bulb t-5 fixture that I'm going to setup next to this tank for when they get bigger.
 

 
The shot glass is a Naga Morich I'm growing for a facebook contest. 
 
This is my first year growing from seed. I grew a few pepper plants last year that I got from Lowes, as starters. 
 
I'm a little nervous hoping everything goes right. I know I'll check these constantly.

 

[Peter S]

Does anyone know what this is on the leaves?

 
It's one of my reapers. It was fine last night. I bottom watered everything. This morning it had some brown discoloration on the one set of true leaves. I'm hoping it's not bls. I sprayed a little h2o2 on it before leaving this morning. Looked the same after work. All the others are fine. I know they all probably need nutrients. I ordered some GH Maxibloom, which should be here by Monday or Tuesday. I read that others have good success using this for their plants from sprout to maturity. Overall growth has been very slow, so I'm hoping it'll help. 

 

[Peter S]

The Reaper seems okay I guess. The leaves have darkened a little overall. There is another fresh set coming through. I potted it, as well several others into cups tonight. Some of my second batch have sprouted too.
 
Here's a pic of the reaper. The pic is not that great. iPhone kept wanting to focus on the soil instead of the leaves.

 
 
I forfeited the shotglass contest and potted up this Naga Morich. Maybe it would have been okay, but I was worried it'd get messed up before the contest was over. 

 
 
Here's a pic of everything I have sprouted so far. I'll pot some more of these soon.

 
 
Here's one of my Hot Banana peppers

 
 
Here are 2 Indian P-C1. They are growing like mad.

 
 
One of my potted Peter Peppers

 
 
And 2 Red Fatali

 
 
Oh, and I got my order of GH Maxibloom and started feeding my peppers. I'm using 1/4 tsp/gallon for the smaller sprouts and 1/2 tsp/gallon for any that have sprouted true leaves.

 

[JJJessee]

Looks good, Peter. If you start to notice any, up-curl or yellow tipping on the leaves, your feeding program may be too rich. Unless your soil is nutrient neutral, you probably wouldn't need extra nutes for 6-8 weeks in that size cup. 

 

[capsidadburn]

The leaf discoloration is from the plants Anthocyanin's reacting to the light source. Just the plant's way of protecting itself from the lights radiation. Like tanning skin. Nothing to worry about!

Setup and plants look great!

Mike

 

[Peter S]

The leaf discoloration is from the plants Anthocyanin's reacting to the light source. Just the plant's way of protecting itself from the lights radiation. Like tanning skin. Nothing to worry about!

Setup and plants look great!

Mike

Thanks Mike. Here's a pic of it now. I'll post some of the others soon.
 

 
 

Looks good, Peter. If you start to notice any, up-curl or yellow tipping on the leaves, your feeding program may be too rich. Unless your soil is nutrient neutral, you probably wouldn't need extra nutes for 6-8 weeks in that size cup. 

Thanks JJJ. I think it's nutrient neutral, it's Dr. Earth Root Zone starter mix. I will definitely keep an eye for the signs you mentioned. I ran out of that mix the other day, and made some of my own. It's 5 parts peat, 1 part perlite and 1 part vermiculite. I sprinkled in some Myco Max too. That's what I'm using for any new seeds or pot-ups now. Hopefully it'll work out ok.

 

[Peter S]

I took a bunch of pics tonight of the progress so far.
 

 
Naga Morich

 
Hot Banana

 
Mako akokɔsrade

 
Bull's Heart

 
Red Bhut

I guess there's a limit on what I can upload. I'll try to post more later.

For the time being, here's a link to my album on Imgur http://imgur.com/a/ynnxE#0

 

[JJJessee]

bump
now you can up loaded more
10 is the limit until someone else posts
looks good!
 
How many plants are you hoping to plant out?

 

[Peter S]

bump
now you can up loaded more
10 is the limit until someone else posts
looks good!
 
How many plants are you hoping to plant out?

Thanks JJJ. My original plan was 28 plants but somehow I have 66 now. I'd like to keep 45 to 50, and give some away at work. I have a tilled area in my front yard from last year, that I never planted in, that is 15x20. How many do you think I could get in that and 2 4x8 raised beds (which I haven't built yet)? I also have a couple flower beds that I want to use. The are about 3 feet deep. One is 6 feet long and the other is maybe 8 or 10. I also have 8 5-gallon buckets I'm going to use too.
 
Here are some more pics...
 
Red Fatali (These came up the same time at were the same size until about a week ago. The one on the right looks weird.

 
White Yucatan Habanero

 
Cracked Jalepeno

 
Large Thick Cayenne

 
Brown Congo (These have been the slowest growers, one still doesn't have any true leaves yet)

 
Reapers

 
Yellow Brain Strain

 
7-Pot Primo. Since last night, another one has popped up beside it.

 
Red Brain Strain

 
Yellow Jellybean

 

[JJJessee]

It'll take all that space to hold 50 super hots. Some annums to get quiet so large. 
Unless  your  soil is nutrient-free, you shouldn't need any extra at this stage. 
What is the temperature in your grow area?

 

[Peter S]

It'll take all that space to hold 50 super hots. Some annums to get quiet so large. 
Unless  your  soil is nutrient-free, you shouldn't need any extra at this stage. 
What is the temperature in your grow area?

JJJ, the grow area stays around 76 degrees when everything is covered. The ambient temperature in the basement is consistently about 60. For the larger area, I've been pulling the front off, and setting a box fan about 8 feet away for several hours a day. The smaller one doesn't get any fan air, but I'm looking for one of those tiny battery fans to set in there.
 
The soil I made up is just peat, perlite and vermiculite. The perlite is Miracle Grow brand, and all I could find at Lowes. It has some fertilizer added, but I'm not sure how much. Anything new has been going in it. The majority of them are still in the Dr. Earth root zone, with I ran out of. The ingredients in it are: Peat Moss, Perlite, Seaweed Extract, Aloe Vera, Yucca Extract, Oyster Shell & Dolomite Limes, Ecto & Endo Mycorrhizae and Beneficial Soil Microbes.
 
For outside, I have space to add more raised beds if needed. The 15x20 area is over part of our septic drainage field and is on a slope, and gets lots of sun. Grass grows like crazy around there. I'm hoping it'll be good for my peppers. I took note this year too, when it snowed, which areas thawed first, thinking they might be ideal spots for growing.
 
Here're some more pics from the other night.
 
Indian P-C1

 
Aji Chuncho for the Growdown Throwdown.

 
Serrano

 
Peter Pepper

 
Jalepeno

 
7-Pot Primo

 

[Peter S]

I'm seeing a difference of 2 plants, but not sure what's wrong. It's in one of my Red Fatalis and one Indian PC-1. I have 2 of each, and both sprouted about the same time, and have have the same conditions. 
 
Here are the Fatalis. Notice the one on the right is smaller and paler than one of left. 

 
Here are close-ups.
One of left.

 
One on right.

 
Here are the Indian PC-1 plants. In this case the one on the left is smaller, and some leaves are curled. Both have some slight blotchy discoloration.
 

 
Here's the one on the left

 
On right (Camera focused on the soil in this one, looks a little blurry)

 
I recently started using low doses of GH Maxibloom, and thought maybe that is causing the leaf curl on the one plant. Starting a few days ago, I began flushing the plants with clean water as they needed watering. The Red Fatali has looked off since before I started the nutes though. 
 
All the others are looking good. I'll post pics soon. I did take them out yesterday for about 30 minutes of sunshine. Weather was really nice, but has since turned cold and wet again.

 

[JJJessee]

Could be too much water on the yellowing. How much, how often do you water? Do you "feel the pot" before watering to ascertain overall density and where the moisture is sitting. It tends, of course, toward the bottom. Some soils accumulate bottom water while the top looks perfectly dry.
I've heard "leaf up-curl" is too much nutrient. Good call .
 
The "black dot" on the leaves looks like a nutrient imbalance, but that's just a guess. 

 

[Peter S]

I probably am over watering a bit. I'll let them go a little longer. I do feel the pot weight, but haven't been waiting till completely dry. I'm having a problem too with soil staying too damp on top with some plants. In some cases it's growing green algae or moss. It seems to mostly be on those where the soil level is an inch or more below the rim.  I'm using a box fan set a few feet away. I can see that it's moving the leaves, but I'm thinking it probably isn't hitting the soil on some. I need a small fan to clip above maybe. I have a 1/4 inch spacer in the bottom's of the cups, which the potted cups sit in to give any excess water to drain.

 

[Peter S]

I made some plans on where to put everything. I think the spacing is about right for the plants. The super hots have 4' spacing, and rest have 2-3 feet. That'll make 49 to keep, and I'll have 21 to give away.
 
This area is a corner of the house with beds in front of rock walls. The walls are about 5' tall.
 

 
This will be a raised bed, that I haven't built yet. It'll have some fencing around it.

 
This 20' x 16' area is over part of our septic drainage field, and is on a slope. Most of it was tilled up last summer, but I never used it. I'm going to use the dirt already there, but maybe mulch around the peppers after planting. Also going to make a small fence to keep the rabbits and groundhogs out.

 
These are all my container plants. Going to use 5-gallon buckets.

 
I've got lots of work to do, and materials to acquire before plant out time.

 

[JJJessee]

Yeap, a lot of materials. That's generous spacing and should make for some monster-sized plants.
Plant out will be here before we know it.

 

[Peter S]

I gave the babies some sunshine yesterday for about an hour, and potted up 11 more. I also added a 4' t8 light. 
 

 

 

 

 

[Peter S]

Are these aphids? I found them on some of my Naga Morich's and Reapers tonight. I sprayed some soapy water on the leaves. This happened after moving a bunch of plants to the basement floor, and on top of a piece of cardboard, under my new 4' t8 fixture. I pulled all the plants out and sprayed soap and wiped up around the area. There were a bunch not yet on the plants, crawling around too. I sprayed and wiped them down. 
 

 

[Peter S]

After doing some more research, I'm wondering now if maybe they are spider mites? I moved everything off the floor, and mashed any I could find crawling on cups or leaves.

 

[Peter S]

I posted a new topic asking if anyone knew what the bugs were. moosery gave this link on clover mites, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bryobia_praetiosa. I think that's what they are. I read in another article that fine powders like talc and baking soda can kill them. So I created a white powdery barrier of death around my grow area.

 

[JJJessee]

Looks  8 legged. I'd say some sort of spider mite.