Pimental 2020 Glog

This is my first attempt at a glog, so yell at me if I do something wrong...
 
In an earlier thread, I said I'd start a glog if I was successful at getting any seeds to sprout - and indeed I was!
 
http://thehotpepper.com/topic/73008-first-from-the-seed-year-some-questions/
 

 
Because this was a mix of seeds, some of which I thought I'd killed, I technically don't know what they are. But since they all came up at the same time, my guess is that they're the fresh seeds of Aji Pineapple I'd added to the mix of probably fried ones.
 
Some themes for the season:

• I won't have a lot of money to spend on stuff until summer time. So I'm going to be "cheap", and you probably won't like it, but if I can get at least a few unique plants to grow this season, I'll be satisfied.
• Everything will be grown in pots.

The peppers I plan on attempting to grow are:

• Trinidad Scorpion (2019 seeds from a plant from a local nursery)
• Orange Habanero (seeds from a 2019 Bonnie plant)
• Cayenne (seeds from a 2019 Bonnie plant)
• Super Chili (2019 seeds from a plant from a friend)
• Aji Pineapple (WHP)
• Scotch Bonnet WHP Red
• Fogon (WHP)
• Orange Blob (WHP)
• Trinidad Perfume (WHP)
• WHP 028
• WHP 005

I'm aware of the probable problems with attempting to grow from Bonnie and hybrid plants. I do want to try anyways. But I'm open to any suggestions.
 
I'll probably try to get some more seeds started here soon.
 
Thanks, and good luck in your own pepper-grows.
 
-Pimental

 

[PaulG]

Your seeds and plants should be fine. If you grow
out several of those, you can have a good chance
of getting a true variation. Don't shy away from hybrids.
Very interesting things can come from them. You can
always isolate some flowers for seed, as well.
 
check out this thread for 'cheap' ideas for your grow.

 

[Pimental]

Well, it's been a little while, and I have quite a few more sprouts growing! First off, some of the old seeds (that I thought were toasted) in the initial tray I started along with new seeds of Aji Pineapple and Trinidad Perfume must have started, because I was getting multiple sprouts per cell. I ended up opting to get rid of the smallest sprouts, so now I have one six-tray of pretty much unknown peppers. Not too big of a problem, though.
 
I started a second tray of six, of:

• WHP 028
• WHP 005
• Orange Blob
• Fogon
• Scotch Bonnet Red
• Scorpion

putting three of each seed type in a cell of the tray. In general I'll only let one seed per cell grow, but I saved an extra Fogon sprout and put it in my third tray because it looked a little different (and regardless, WHP says they grow well in pots and I'm happy to have two of them).
 
In the third tray I started three cells (of two seeds each) of super chilis, one of orange habaneros, and one of scorpions.
 
Things are looking good - many seeds have sprouted, I switched to just putting trays under my desk lamp in a little dish. I'll post photos in a little while.
 
Pimental

 

[Pimental]

Hi all,
I've had some nice growth over the past three or so weeks. My first tray (the one I don't exactly know the contents of) all have nice true leaves, and the second tray (the bullet points in my last post) all have sprouted except the scorpion. And all of those have at least one true leaf. I have an extra (three leaved?) cotyledon for the fogon growing in a third tray with 3 cells of super chili, one of cayenne, and one of habanero. Unfortunately, it's been a bit, and of that tray, besides the fogon I transplanted there, I have only one seed that's sprouted, a cayenne.
 
Funny enough, the only seeds that I've had trouble with are the ones I collected myself, hmm...looks like I need to take better care of the seeds I collect! I might just add more seeds to each cell.
 
Edit: Oh yeah, I put the largest seedling in a cup (technically two), you can see the corner of it in the photo.
 

 

[Pimental]

I now have a sprout for each variety I have attempted to grow! Hilariously, my difficult-to-germinate, self-collected Scorpion seeds all (3) germinated at the same time - somewhere between 2 and 3 weeks after being sown. I'm tempted to attempt to grow all three...

 

[PaulG]

Glad those seeds are coming around for you,
Pimental!

 

[Pimental]

Glad those seeds are coming around for you,
Pimental!

Thanks! I've decided to keep possibly all three scorpions, along with two cayennes, and two orange habs (instead of the one of each). There's some variation between them already, so I'm hoping that one of the plants I grow from my seed came from some sort of cross - it'd be interesting at least. I probably wont keep the second fogon I have - it had three cotyledon leaves instead of two, but they weren't symmetric, and it seems like other than that its growing like a normal fogon, with just two true leaves growing in at a time.

 

[PaulG]

Thanks! I've decided to keep possibly all three scorpions, along with two cayennes, and two orange habs (instead of the one of each). There's some variation between them already, so I'm hoping that one of the plants I grow from my seed came from some sort of cross - it'd be interesting at least. I probably wont keep the second fogon I have - it had three cotyledon leaves instead of two, but they weren't symmetric, and it seems like other than that its growing like a normal fogon, with just two true leaves growing in at a time.

 
I have had a number of tri-coty plants over the seasons,
and usually, it doesn't seem to make a big difference. My
JA Red Habaneros are especially prone to that.

 

[Pimental]

I bought a smallish plant light from American Science and Surplus, with a deal I'd gotten from them. I got it in the mail, and set it up, today (photo below). It's a wooden 2x4 with the light attached via screws, and supported by three computer PSUs on either side. I've got too many of them, but no-one is buying PSUs on Craigslist these days...lol. All my plants are especially green today, which is nice!
 

(Obviously the light is off in the photo)

 

[Pimental]

Things over all are going well, I've bumped up the light an inch now to accommodate one quickly-growing plant, and, moved up the seedlings still in the trays, to be closer to the light.
 
I do have a question though - I know this is hard to do without pictures, but two of my plants are turning yellow at the leaves, and I'm trying to figure out why.
 
One plant is very close to the light - my tallest plant. It has about 1in. clearance, and the leaves are this beautiful emerald color - quite dark green. But the top (4 out of the 6 plant-total) true leaves are turning (or are growing) a lightish yellow. Perhaps this is just the normal growth process, and they will darken up - but could this be because they are too close to the (T8 plant) light? The discoloration does mostly correlate with distance to the light. It is possible some parts are more like 0.75in. away from the light. Perhaps I'm just being too anxious for my plants - it's my first year trying to grow from seed.
 
The other plant is about as short as the other plants I have. The leaves in general match typical leaf color (not quite as emerald as the tall one). However the newest leaves (its second pair of true leaves) are coming out almost blanched-looking - that is, they're a light greenish-but-mostly-yellow. This doesn't seem normal. Otherwise there are no deformities, it should be fairly well watered (though it's getting watered from the bottom, a la double cup method), should have nutrients (I put some pelletized Miracle Grow on the surface of the dirt around the plant, and mist that to get it to go into the soil every so often). The only thing I can think of is too much nutrients or that I need to deep-water the plants - which is something I've kinda forgotten about for a few weeks.
 
Thanks for any help,
Nathan

 

[PaulG]

When my plants look a bit yellow in the leaves, I
add some Cal-Mag or Epsom Salts to the fertilizing
routine. If you are only misting the surface of your soil,
there may not be many nutrients actually getting down
to the roots. Don’t know if this helps. Sometimes these
problems can be difficult to figure out. Good luck getting
a handle on it.

 

[Pimental]

When my plants look a bit yellow in the leaves, I
add some Cal-Mag or Epsom Salts to the fertilizing
routine. If you are only misting the surface of your soil,
there may not be many nutrients actually getting down
to the roots. Don’t know if this helps. Sometimes these
problems can be difficult to figure out. Good luck getting
a handle on it.

Good to know, thanks. Its funny, they seemed to get a little less light-colored after today. I had all my solo cup'd plants up in a window to catch some breeze and real sunshine for the first time today - it was quite nice here.
 
You might be right about the nutes. I was afraid to put them in the base with the water since I knew the urea pellets (or ammonia or whatever the N source is) would all dissolve and be really concentrated with the little bit of water in the reservoir. Thankfully, having been a hobby chemist, I have a ready supply of epsom salts and lime. So I'll probably put a teeny bit of each in the water source, or just be sure to dump some water through the cups to get those nutrients down.

 

[PaulG]

Good to know, thanks. Its funny, they seemed to get a little less light-colored after today. I had all my solo cup'd plants up in a window to catch some breeze and real sunshine for the first time today - it was quite nice here.
 
You might be right about the nutes. I was afraid to put them in the base with the water since I knew the urea pellets (or ammonia or whatever the N source is) would all dissolve and be really concentrated with the little bit of water in the reservoir. Thankfully, having been a hobby chemist, I have a ready supply of epsom salts and lime. So I'll probably put a teeny bit of each in the water source, or just be sure to dump some water through the cups to get those nutrients down.

 
Sounds like a good plan, Nathan.
Be sure to let us know how it goes.

 

[Pimental]

Early yesterday I treated with Ca, Mg, Cu and Fe, just in case it was one of those. But in reading other places in the forum I saw how the best idea is just to use a general fertilizer and trust that that should do the trick. So I Put a good but of water down them from the top, over the fertilizer I'd had in there. Made sure to get all the extra water out of the reservoirs so they wouldn't be sitting in water.
 
I did this for all five of my plants in solo cups. I didn't see any improvement over ~24hrs. I'm posting a couple older and one current image of the two plants in the worst condition. The smaller one is literally white on one half of a leaf. Which is surprising b/c this is supposed to be good soil, good fert., etc... And I don't think its overwatering, although I should probably slow down on that, just because the discolored leaves are still growing just fine, they're just discolored.
 
 

 

[stettoman]

I LOVE a good seat-of-your-pants grow!! I do it the same. I'm surprised Paul didn't suggest a little Mycho application. I used it on a Fatalii and the roots are already binding up in the Solo cup. The plant itself is as compact and healthy as any I've ever grown, and D-E-E-E-P dark green! The stuff is a little pricey, but a little goes a great distance for root development and nutrient uptake...
 
You have a great grow started, mang! keep it up!

 

[Pimental]

Thanks for the comments and help!
 
So - I'm pretty sure I've found what the issue was, and solved it. I'm fairly sure I over-fertilized. I found two other people that used excess of the fertilizer I use on their young plants, and got white leaves. Unfortunately, I'd already added a mix of some micro-nutrients to the plants. I also didn't realize you could lock out a plant by having too many electrolytes in the dirt. So I bought some new dirt to put them in (indeed - dirt - unfortunately I was excited I was getting a deal, and missed that it was dirt and not potting mix. Oh well.), and cleaned off the roots and replanted them. The yellowing and whitening of the leaves has gone away on most of the plants by now, and they're happily growing in the new dirt.
 
I'll post more pics when they're in pots outside (which will be a little while, I suppose). If I have a successful season, I've got quite a few more kinds of peppers I'd like to get seeds of...!

 

[PaulG]

+1 Stettoman.
 
Glad you seem to have it under control, Pimental.
Now you can breath a little easier!

 

[Pimental]

Just a little update - no new pictures yet. But my plants are doing great - all but four are in Solo cups, and I'm planning on putting the last four in Solos tomorrow. I had to move two plants into some little 6" pots because they were sticking roots out the bottom of their inner Solo cup, a good bit. Need to do that for two other plants tomorrow, too. I'll probably start the process of getting my plants outside too. I don't have enough small pots to put them all in, so some may have to start off in bigger 10" pots once they're going outside. But all is well.
 
The Current Plant List:
 

• Aji Pineapple (already topped, doing great)
• Trinidad Perfume (doing really well as well. Somehow it already reached a Y split, even though the plant is like 3.5" tall)
• Unkn? (Probably a Red WHP SB)
• WHP028
• WHP005 (a little stunted but doing fine)
• WHP SB Red
• Orange Blob (Doing very well!)
• Tricoty Fogon
• Normal Fogon (lost some leaves early, but hanging in there)
• Cayenne 1 (Great start!)
• Cayenne 2 (Very odd looking - first true leaf was singular and not a pair)
• Super Chili (Not looking like the normal pheno for a super chili, but we'll see - I guess they're hybrids, so this will probably be much different than the parent anyways)
• TMScorpion 1
• TMScorpion 2
• TMScorpion 3 (totally different pheno from the other two - either a Super Chili Seed accidentally got in with my scorpion seeds, or this is a cross with one - because the leaves are super dark. But it's growing really slow which is too bad)
• Orange Hab 1
• Orange Hab 2

The numbered plants are from the same seed source - I'm just growing multiple. The two Cayennes are definitely different looking, as is that third Scorp. Even if I don't have any surprise crosses, it'll be a season with a lot of variety, but I'm looking forward to find out if I accidentally got a TMS x Super Chili.

 

[Pimental]

Other than getting quite burnt while hardening off, the peppers are doing great! Have the first buds now, on two cayennes, both of which having just reached their split point. I topped my aji lemon, and the Trinidad perfume had its split (Y?) point a while back. It hasn't grown as much as I expected since then, but I did burn it pretty badly, so it's taking its time recuperating. The four in the pots are Unknown, Orange Blob, Perfume, and Aji Lemon. The rest are in solo cups.
 

 
 

 

[Pimental]

Update, but without photos:
 
The Cayennes are massive, as is the Aji pineapple. The orange blob habanero is as well, but it wilts every time I set it in the sun, even after weeks of taking it outside for increased amounts of time. I'm about to put it in a bigger pot, but I'm hoping it can actually take the heat, as I am going to keep it outside once I do.
 
All the other plants are doing pretty well, but the regular orange habs and the trinidad moruga scorpions are very runt-like, and aren't taking the transition outside well. The super chili x scorpion is coming along though, definitely excited to see how it turns out!