Rob's First Grow 2019

This is my first grow of any plant ever. I have never had a reason to grow any and usually not enough space to as well. Now I have space and can't find super hot peppers in my area.
 
-The Plan
>Soak in tea
>Germinate stored in tuperware with damp paper towels in the over with the light on
   >I am doing this so that they stay warm. This is how I normally proof bread
>Plant germinated seeds in double dixie cups
   >Might trying crossing here
>Plant in ~3gal pots(3gals still in question might go 2 or 3.5gal)
> Keep roughly 10 plants inside, give ~5-10 plants to freinds, and put the rest outside
>Keep as many alive as I can
>Make food spicy
 
 So far I soaked the seeds in black tea for 24hrs and just put them in the oven to germinate. Now I have some time to get the inside area ready. Probably gonna start the them on a coffee table and line the ground with cardboard since it will be in a carpeted room.

 

[dragonsfire]

Looking good, Good Luck !

 

[Raze]

Update: No germination what so ever.Last week, I added some fresh seed from store bought habanaros and serranos. I do not think the oven light was not transferring enough heat into the tupperware. Last night, I put everything on a heating mat set to 78F. Hopefully, I'll be planting soon.

 

[Mitzi]

The seeds don't need light to germinate, only warmth.  Hopefully you will have more success on your heat mat.  They only need light once they have popped.

 

[CDNmatt]

Think he may of kept the light on just to help keep it warm? that is what I got out of it anyways I could be wrong though

 

[Raze]

The light was on 24/7 in the oven for warmth because it is how I normally proof bread. After the oven light burned out and there was still no germination, I got the mat.  I may use my germination pad to proof bread now as well.

 

[Raze]

Alright I have totally forgot to update this. I dried out the seeds in the oven besides 3 freeport scotch bonnets soo that did not work. I got a heating pad and a controller set to 80F. Now I have some seedlings. I am using a HLG 100 3000K and watering every 2ish days.  I listed the seeds that actually germinated besides my . I am still waiting on some yellow moruga scorpions and more fatalii x yellow brain strain seeds. 

 

[PaulG]

to TheHotPepper, Rob! Great to see
another PNW  grower in the mix!
 
Nice recovery, looks like your grow is going
to go forward after the oven 'debacle'!  The
heating mats for germinating are just about
essential lacking a controlled temp. space.
 
I think you are doing pretty well for a
first-time-for-anything grower! Looks like you
have done your research!

 

[Raze]

Thanks Paul. Temp control from the oven or central heating was not going to work out well. I am using a spare bedroom and the central heating just fluctuates too much....Also, I don't really want the whole house to be 80F. I have started hardening some plants  when it s not too cold or rainy out. I am hoping to move the majority of the plant outside end of this month or early May. Do you think that timing would work?
 
Also, I have noticed my SB WHP 2 seedlings are the most interesting bunch yet. I am not sure why one seedling's cotyledon curled up but I figured it had to do something with moisture/temperature so I moved to to the edge of my lighting space where the temperature would be slightly lower. Another has three cotylendon. The only other odd looking plant was one yellow reaper who has fused cotyledon which made the leaves grow interestingly. 

 

[PaulG]

 I have started hardening some plants  when it s not too cold or rainy out. I am hoping to move the majority of the plant outside end of this month or early May. Do you think that timing would work?

Depends on where you live, Rob. Here in the SW
Tualatin Valley I hope to plant out by mid-May. One
of the buggers the past few seasons has been beautiful
May weather followed by June cold and rainy funk, essen-
tially stopping things from happening grow-wise. 
 
Our 10% Spring Freeze Date is May 19th. If you have a
sort of sheltered South facing area, and can bring them
when the weather gets bad, late April or Early May would
be okay.

 

[Raze]

I am in Salem with a south facing cover so I think I am going to move them to 2-3gallon pots and place them on the out there on the patio table early/mid May. My plan is to keep 1 of every plant inside to do some crossing and have peppers year round. I may have to skip a couple becasue I am not sure I have enough space for 10-12 plants. I am hoping for 8-9 inside but that may require some light upgrades and hanging hardware.
 
O and I have learned these paper cups do not work well. Red solo cups looks to work much better and probably get less moldy.

 

[Raze]

Since it's a nice Friday afternoon, I am hardening off a few of the plants to be planted outside next month. I am also trying to plan how I will plant them outside to keep them away from this plant munching & trampling monster. I am thinking about raised beds with a fence or on legs with a few in pots on this table. Homedepot has these https://www.homedepot.com/p/Greenes-Fence-48-in-L-x-24-in-W-x-31-in-H-Elevated-Garden-Bed-RCEV2448/302164470 which would work alright, but maybe I can build them cheaper... If I have time. How far apart "should" plants be seperated in beds? I want to make sure I have enough surface area for roughly 15-20 plants.
 
 

 

[CaneDog]

Hey Rob. I take it that's the plant munching and trample monster in the last photo - ?  I'm here in the PNW too and chomping at the bit to get my plants outside.
 
I build my raised beds using from 2x8's to 2x12's (cedar usually, but fir if I feel cheap) and a typical size for me is a 5x10 bed made from 3 10-foot boards.  If I were trying to protect plants I'd put fencing around the beds. 
 
How close I plant in the beds depends on the type of plant. Some of the rocotos and big baccatums need a fair amount of space.  Chinense generally somewhat less and annuums often still less. I can squeeze 2-3 rows of 5-6 plants into that bed depending on the size of the peppers and how much I feel like crowding them.  I find it better to crowd less, but sometimes I just have too many plants.  I also put hoop houses of plastic over my raised beds which really helps with starting my season earlier and making it last later and would likely protect your plants from the munch monster while they're small.  Just a thought.
 
Good luck!

 

[Raze]

Alright, it has been too long. The plants are doing well, but I am going to use bigger pots and test some hydro next year/this winter.

 

[Mitzi]

Some yummy-looking pods coming now; well done!  Some of your plants have very pale / yellow leaves.  Are you under or over feeding them?  Maybe giving too much potash and not enough nitrogen?  (Having said that, I have three or four plants with yellow leaves and they've been treated just the same as others with lush green foliage so I can't work out why.)

 

[Raze]

I have been lazy with the fertilizing. Most if not all of my plants need more nitrogen so I started up the fish emulsion once a week after taking these pictures. A few are already getting back to being a darker shade of green but a few still need more.