Shoontok 2011 Pepper Grow

[Shoontok]

Howdy All
Im gonna use this forum to document my 2011 pepper grow season. Hope you all enjoy.

So far im planning on growing 12 different types of peppers, but this number may increase as spring/summer approach. So far the list is....

Tabasco
Hot Cherry
Aji Yellow
Thai Chili
Pepperoncini
Serrano
Habanero
Cayennne
Carribean Red
Bell
Hungarian Wax
Jalapeno

So far i have 144 seeds germinating, sprouting, and growing in germination boxes, light areas, etc.

Im using the top of my fishtank to germinate some seeds since its nice and warm up there

I made a makeshift germination box to germinate a flat. I used an old electric heated reptile basking stone from when i used to own a ravenous tegu lizard. I then placed that in the bottom of a large rubbermaid type storage container and put some heat resistant kitchen pads on top of that followed by a piece of spare composite decking material i had left over to give support for a flat.

The heat stone has adjustable temp and i can monitor the temp inside the box with a digital thermometer that i stole from my ex-girlfriend. The temp says 66 in the pic, but thats before i got the box heated up.

I bought some cheap 10 dollar shop lights at home depot and made them counter stand lights instead of ceiling chain mount. I cut some of those composite deck boards down and fastened them into the sides of the lights with metal tapping screws.

I lined the area around the lights with some aluminum foil to help out reflectivity. So far i got 12 pepper seedlings of various kinds
1 Hot Cherry
3 Aji Yellow
1 Thai Chile
1 Pepperoncini
1 Serrano
2 Habanero
1 Cayenne
2 Carribean Red

Forgot to say and you can probably see anyway that i use egg cartons to start out seeds as well as some flats and 4 pack cells and whatever else i can get for little or no expense. Im using an mg organic potting soil in my starter trays 3/4 the way up, then i place seed in there and top with 3/8 inch of jiffy seed starter. Seems to be working ok so far.

Jim

 

[wayright]

I think eventually you will have to raise/lower those lights to accommodate the plants.
But that is a great looking setup, I cant wait to see how your grow goes this year!

Kevin

 

[Shoontok]

Yep, ill have to raise em up when i pot em up. Ill just use blocks of wood under the legs to raise em up as needed.

 

[buddy]

very nice. good luck on your 2011 season.

 

[RedtailForester]

Nice looking set up man. Keep it simple!

 

[Shoontok]

Yeah im hoping it will be a fun and succesful season. Last year was my first year doing my own garden and i really enjoyed it. And i got lots of nice fresh peppers to eat and cook with

A pic from my last year final harvest. I hope to have a bigger and more diverse harvest this year

Gotta keep my eyes on the prize.

All them peppers are long since eaten except for a few Habs in the freezer and a couple more ounces of Hab sauce in the fridge.

Jim

 

[Skydiver]

The egg cartons you are using, are they cardboard or styrofoam?
Cardboard ones, you really have to watch out for the roots when you're transplanting them. The Momster does most of her stuff in cardboard egg cartons, and I've found that soaking the everloving crap out of them to the point where the carton almost falls apart is the only way to get the roots out without doing too much damage to them.

 

[Shoontok]

The egg cartons you are using, are they cardboard or styrofoam?
Cardboard ones, you really have to watch out for the roots when you're transplanting them. The Momster does most of her stuff in cardboard egg cartons, and I've found that soaking the everloving crap out of them to the point where the carton almost falls apart is the only way to get the roots out without doing too much damage to them.

These are styro egg cartons. Actually i just transplanted the first seedling of the class of 2011 into a solo cup. I used a spoon to scoop up the seedling along with the soil under it, it worked pretty good. I then potted it in a mix of some mg organic potting soil mixed with some pine mulch. Also i sprinkled some egg shell crushings on there cause i forgot to mix in. And it gave it a weak dose of some mg liquid soluble stuff, that was diluted down to about 1/4 strength. I even had the lil bugger in the sunny windowsill for a few hours this afternoon and ya can see its one leaf raised up toward the sunny window

A Thai Chili, Its back under a flourescent for now above my aquarium.

Had some more sprouts pop up today too.
So far i got

Tabasco 0/14
Hot Cherry 2/14
Aji Yellow 3/10
Thai Chile 4/10
Pepperoncini 2/14
Serrano 5/10
Habanero 2/10
Cayenne 4/10
Carribean Red 3/10
Bell 1/14
Hungarian Wax 0/14
Jalapeno 0/14
Total 26/144

Wow as i was writing this i went to count the Cayenne cause i forgot to list them and i see a new hook, popping up its in the earliest of the sowings in the tray from 1/24/11. I guess there is still hope for those guys in that tray

Some are sprouting better then others. Also there is hope for alot of them to still come up. The sowings have been staggered and have anywhere from 21 days to 6 days of time in the starter trays. Ive been doin sowings little by little as i have the time and energy for it. I guess sowing them in stages is more fun for me then just blasting it all out it one day, And also i dont have crazy amounts of space and lighting resources at the moment either as well as huge areas and heating resources to accomodate mass germination all at once.

Its all good!

Happy peppering
Jim

 

[wayright]

Beautiful little baby you got there Jim!
I do the same thing spacing out the planting.
It kinda keeps me sane during the winter months

Kevin

 

[Shoontok]

Beautiful little baby you got there Jim!
I do the same thing spacing out the planting.
It kinda keeps me sane during the winter months

Kevin

lol, yep!

Ive been unemployed since october from my regular job in a trade union. Been picking up some days here and there a week or two here and there working for a residential renovation guy, but its not steady and it aint paying the bills 100 percent!

Gotta do something to stay sane, thats for sure!

And i certainly dont got the monies to outfit my apt. for a massive grow industry, lol.

Jim

 

[Darkside]

Good looking T. buttikoferi in there. I actually float my seed trays in a spare 35 gallon aquarium when I'm germinating. Its worked out pretty well for me so far!

 

[crazy8]

Was that a Jack Dempsey I saw in the aquarium? Just curious because it looks like the one I had for about 10 years. He died just a couple years ago. i cam home and he was all curled up on the carpet from jumping out of the back of my aquarium...lol Nice plants by the way very nice and simple setup.

 

[Shoontok]

Was that a Jack Dempsey I saw in the aquarium? Just curious because it looks like the one I had for about 10 years. He died just a couple years ago. i cam home and he was all curled up on the carpet from jumping out of the back of my aquarium...lol Nice plants by the way very nice and simple setup.

All the fish in there are African cichlids as opposed to the south american types such as Jack Dempsey. The big blue guy i believe is called an electric blue, and the other big guy with the vertical striping, i forgot the name but i refer to him as Hector Lots of the orange dudes were born in that tank, its quite cool that they reproduce in the tank and notch out territories and such. I had to pull two corpses out over the past 2 days due to turf war in there, but there is plenty more youngens hiding in there to fill the ranks. I was tempted to use the corpses for fertilizer but i decided to give em burial at sea "the toilet" just in case any negative bacteria or such on there.

Yep, im starting to run out of room under my countertop lighting setup and at the moment i have them set at a good height for seedling trays. I have some old 1 gallon tile adhesive/grout buckets that i had drilled holes in the bottom to use as makeshift pots so i put them under the aquarium 4 foot flourescent work light to give a nice height for pot ups to solo cups for now. Im very frugal when it comes to spending money on something that i can substitue a crafty rig job for.

I used to have more starter cell trays on top of that light but i moved them into my germination box because i pulled some 9 cell squares from the box and put them under the countertop lights when i see first signs of sprouting in those 9 cell squares. Its definetly been a game of shuffling trays around quite a bit!, lol.

I gotta keep my eyes open for some spare building materials, scraps, demolitioned materials on the jobsites that i can get for free to build me a better system in the future. But this is good for now.

Happy Growing
Jim

 

[Shoontok]

Uh oh. I just got 6 more varieties to add to my grow list.
Numex Sunrise
Maui Purple
Peruvian Serlano
Aji Limon
Chocalate Bhut Jolokia
Bigit Locoto

A kind fellow pepper enthusiast took the time and postage cost to send these to me. And I am very grateful and will grow these hot lil buggers to the best of my ability!

I will get these in starter trays this weekend.

Yes, its gonna get a lil crazy finding room for these new plants, but ill manage. I have seen two temporary double 4 foot work lights on a sidejob im workin at and im gonna see if i can adopt them

So im up to 18 varieties now. God bless the taste buds of anyone who eats a pot of my homemade chili come harvest time.

Jim

 

[wayright]

Thats a nice addition to your list!
You are gonna be busy picking pods this year that for sure!

I grew the Birgit Locoto last year and it was wildly productive!
Good luck with the new seeds!

Kevin

 

[Paco]

Nice work plants look great

 

[mascalzone]

Good job and best wishes for the germination

 

[Shoontok]

acquired an old aquarium double 4 foot flourescent tube light from my mom's house tonight. I played musical bulbs and starters with the fixture to no avail. Its been sitting for more then 10 years and maybe rust and such has killed it. After toying with it for 15 minutes i have cut my losses at zero dollars spent and trashin it.

I will find more light!

Man o man, i used to throw out flourescent fixtures by the hundreds a few years ago when i worked for a school renovation GC. Wish i saved a few.

Jim

 

[wayright]

Hey Jim,
Those spiral bulbs work pretty good too!
and you could always play musical chairs with the trays, long enough to get to plant out!
Just a thought

 

[Shoontok]

Howdy all

I did another seedling count today and i have 80 seedlings that emerged from the 144 planted. The madness is only beginning! Im sure there might be a few more popping up too. I also planted a 4 cell starter of 6 more types last night to bring the total pepper seeds in the soil to 168.

Birgit Locoto
Choc Bhut
Peruvian Serlano
Maui Purple
Aji Limon
Numex Sunrise

Heres a list of the seeds germinated/planted

Tabasco 6/14
Hot Cherry 11/14
Aji Yellow 3/10
Thai Chile 9/10
Pepperoncini 7/14
Serrano 9/10
Habanero 7/10
Cayenne 7/10
Carribean Red 9/10
Bell 10/14
Hungarian Wax 3/14
Jalapeno 6/14


I guess ill be busy this spring potting up plants and shuffling trays around. The crazy part is that im not done planting seeds, i think i will plant alot more in the coming weeks. I have some ideas about expanding my pepper garden to a 40 by 40 foot fenced in garden at my mom's property a few towns over with the help of my brother to help maintain it.

Got the new seeds in the trays along with a 4 pack of cherokee purple maters.

A couple shots of seedlings

Potted up a few too.

Lovin it all


Happy Growing
Jim