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seanw first glog (2013) - Racing the End of the Season...

Hello and greetings :) My first post here, and I'm prepping for my first major season growing. I've done a few small pepper plants here or there, and two summers ago I tried for some variety of ghost chili or other (the pop top cans you can get from thinkgeek), which turned out to look like ghost chilis, but were super mild (may have also been the fact that they were getting almost no sun in the apartment we lived in at the time, and by the time we got the house, they got outdoors just in time for the frost to hit).

I've got a heat mat and a 50 hole rapid rooter en route, and I'll be grabbing some cheapo work lights to give me some light. I also need to rig some sort of container to keep in the heat, they'll be going in my insulated-but-unheated garage until I move them into the garden, thinking either a styrofoam cooler or just putting that silver bubblewrap insulation stuff on a box.

In addition to some herbs and other garden veggies, here's my pepper list for the year:

HP22B
Yatsufusa
Tabasco
Paprika
Firecracker
Early Jalapeno
Moruga Trinidad Scorpion
NuMex Suave Orange Habanero
Chiltepin
Orange Hab
Bhut Jolokia
Red Savina Hab
Hot Cherry Pepper
Butch T Trinidad
Scotch Bonnet

I may have gone a bit gonzo on ordering. We haven't built our garden yet. This will be the second garden, the first is dedicated to berries, and got mauled by rabbits and chipmunks, even with fencing. The vegetable garden is going to be 6'x30', in three sections. Gonna stick peppers and some tomatos in one of the 10x6 section, the other two will be for the other veggies. I'm gonna have to break out some pots for the rest of the peppers. We'll see what happens once we get the garden together, though :) My current plan is to build a frame around the garden and cover it with 1" or 2" fencing, big enough for the bugs, too small for the critters.

Here's hoping all goes well!
 
The lights were stone cold after running for a couple hours. I'm not sure how warm it was, I do know the water was cold to the touch when I stuck my finger in the hole.

I have a space blanket somewhere, I'll throw that on there. Thanks for the tip.
That's a step in the right direction!
 
Threw a shipping blanket over the rig - still pretty cold. I'm going to have to go to the store and grab some low wattage incandescent bulbs to give this thing some heat. It's even inside my house...

ETA: Just measured the temperature, about 72 degrees, which is about 10 degrees over ambient.
 
Alright, with a pair of 20W incandescent bulbs, I think I've got it. I had to bump the front end of the seed tray up, apparently it was leaning forward a smidge and the water wasn't reaching the back seed pods. I may need to move it back out into my garage, so I may switch to a 60W bulb, we'll see. At least we're not so cold, anymore!
 
Couple things for today...

For one..first hooks! One each of an orange hab and a scotch bonnet have popped. Now we're cooking with gas ;)

I also went and swapped out the 2x 25 watters I had with 1x 60W incandescents and 2x 100W CFLs, and covered the tray with saran wrap. I wanted the bluer light for the new babies, and parts of the tray kept getting dry, even with regular watering. This should help.

I owe you all pictures...they are coming...eventually

edit: Oh, yeah...also had what looked like a small amount of white mold growing on a couple cells, so I sprinkled a smidgen of epsom salts on the tray, hopefully that handles it.
 
I owe you all pictures, so let's see if I can figure this out.

My rapid rooters - sorry for the dark shot
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My germinator/indoor growing area - has since moved indoors, and is covered in a shipping blanket as well as the plastic.
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And my first hooks! Bonnet on left, hab on right
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As a non-photo update, I ordered even MORE seeds. We'll see if I cut some from the original batch or not. I need to get some more rapid rooters and a second tray and heat mat.

New order was from the Chili Pepper Institute, aji limon, poblano, numex jalmundo, and a red rocoto. A little nervous about the rocoto, it may be above me at the moment, but I'll take a stab at it.

Realized that I wanted the larger peppers for stuffing/poppers, and I needed to make $20 for an order.
 
Looking good, man. I tried the Rooters for the first time this season and loved them. Good luck! Looks like you are on your way.
 
One of my Reaper's has popped!

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Got an email from Beth at PepperMania, my seeds are en route, so I'll be able to fill this tray out. I also have a second tray and heat mat inbound, so I'll be able to get the aji and rocoto going pretty much when they get here.
 
Looking good, man. I tried the Rooters for the first time this season and loved them. Good luck! Looks like you are on your way.

They were pretty easy to set up, too. Just gotta watch them, since my tray isn't level and parts keep getting dry :/

Looking good Sean... good growing!

Thanks

Nifty set-up! Have you checked the temperature where the seed flats rest, just curious.

Not since I got the temperature stabilized, I need to do that. Currently there's a heat mat under the tray, and 1x 60W incandescent and 2x 100W equivalent CFLs, it's nice and toasty in there, now. When I add the second tray, I may need to do something to get a bit more light in there, we'll see. I probably should actually move it back into the garage before the wife kills me :)
 
Keep the rig where you have it. You may need to raise the flats closer to the light source.
A six bulb flouro would do wonders, the flood refectors that you're using are fine but it helps to bring the light and plants close together.
 
Keep the rig where you have it. You may need to raise the flats closer to the light source.
A six bulb flouro would do wonders, the flood refectors that you're using are fine but it helps to bring the light and plants close together.

Now that they are starting to pop, I do need to get them up. I have some boards that I can shove under them, gotta make sure the heat mat stays close, though.

Thanks for the tip on the flouros, will have to look into that for next season - this season is on the cheap :)
 
Question for those using rapid rooters - the directions say to fill it up with a quarter inch of water. Is that from the bottom of the tray, or from the bottom of the side drains? From the bottom itself seems really low and I'd run the risk of drying out.
 
Yeah, the instructions do say 1/4" of water. They mean to keep the bottom 1/4" of the RR in water. I haven't done that, though. I just top water them when they need it. You do have to check them daily to make sure they don't dry out, but they respond just fine, and the seeds pop just fine with top watering. You do have to be gentle, though. I've had a couple of seeds wash out of the holes!

Now when I move the cells out of the heated dome and put them under the lights, I have them in a baking dish that I do bottom water. But I do it every couple of days, putting about 1/4" of water in the dish.
 
Yeah, the instructions do say 1/4" of water. They mean to keep the bottom 1/4" of the RR in water. I haven't done that, though. I just top water them when they need it. You do have to check them daily to make sure they don't dry out, but they respond just fine, and the seeds pop just fine with top watering. You do have to be gentle, though. I've had a couple of seeds wash out of the holes!

Now when I move the cells out of the heated dome and put them under the lights, I have them in a baking dish that I do bottom water. But I do it every couple of days, putting about 1/4" of water in the dish.

Yeah, I washed a couple out, early on. I've been adding water pretty regularly, it is REALLY dry in my house. I'll check when I get home from work to make sure I have the requisite amount of water in there, I don't think I have quite that much. Thanks!
 
I think I lost a scotch bonnet. Bla. Had some plastic over it the other day, but I think it got too damp and died. Need to decide if I'm replacing it, or just hoping a few of the others make it.

Currently, I have 3 orange habs popped, 1 reaper, and the 1 (now late) bonnet. Two of my habs have helmet heads, I have some plastic over them to try and keep them moist, hopefully they'll escape!
 
One of the habs escaped it's helmet! The other is still trying, unsure if I want to try and manually free it. I think the other 2 habs have popped, as well, and I see another reaper and one of the moruga scorps popped, as well. There's also a handful of seeds that AAAALMOST have started.

Seed tray is now raised, and fairly close to the light. Gotta watch the heat, dried part of the tray out, again...

Fatalli and Choco habs went in yesterday. Beth from Peppermania also sent me a free pack of a mild hab type, which might go in the second tray, and a mystery pack that contains, among other things, some black seeds...those might have to get going this year, too.

I also continued my problem and ordered some 7 Pot Douglah and another Jolokia from TheGhostPepperStore.

Thinking of cutting the cherry, serrano and chiltepin for this year. We'll see.
 
Second reaper is up, as is another Bonnet, I owe you guys pictures again, but haven't snapped them. I'll get on that.

Currently, I'm 5/5 on Orange Habs, 2/5 (with one fatality) on Scotch Bonnets, 2/5 on Reapers, and 1/5 on Moruga. The other varieties are still stewing...coomeeooooon
 
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