Siv's 2019 first time glog

I have never grown anything intentionally before but I wanted to try. Last year I bought some seeds from a local supplier here and tried to germinate them and failed. Not a single sprout. I kinda gave up. But around May I saw a sorry looking ghost pepper plant (at least that's what it was labeled as) sitting at Lowes so I bought it and put it in a small pot. Despite my neglect (and being away for a month during summer), the thing grew and put out a good set of pods. So this year, I'm highly motivated to give some serious pepper growing a go.
 
Determined to succeed this time, I educated myself and learned about the need for heat mats etc. I also watched a ton of Peter Stanley and Kangstar's videos which were hugely helpful.
 
I started with the leftover seeds from last year and here's the status:

• Kraken - 10 started, 6 sprouted
• Douglah - 10 started, 2 sprouted
• Chocolate Moruga - 10 started, 0 sprouted

Then I placed an order with Sandia seeds on 4th Feb:

• Ring of Fire - 10 started
• Aji Limo - 10 started
• White Ghost - 10 started
• Fatalii - 10 started
• Rocoto - 10 started

Of this lot, most of the seeds have sprouted so I have transplanted around four of each into wicking cups (half in soil and half in hydroton) to see what happens:

 
Then Sandia seeds sent a coupon for 25% off and I'm a sucker for a sale so my second order was placed on 19th Feb:

• Bhut Jolokia Yellow - 10 started
• Bulgarian Carrot - 10 started
• Devil's Tongue - 10 started
• Yellow Jalapeño Lemon Spice - 10 started
• Mulato Isleño Chile - Chocolate Poblano - 10 started
• Bell Purple Beauty Sweet - 20+ started

The yellow jalapeno and bulgarian carrot have already sprung up, as well as lots of the purple bell. The first yellow ghost just popped up this morning:

 

I probably shouldn't have done this but after seeing the love for these varieties, I made a third seed order yesterday:

• Bahamian Goat
• Sugar Rush Peach

So my first lesson learned: Now that I know the importance of heat, humidity and light, I don't need to put so many seeds in. I have way too many seedlings now! I'm only gonna attempt 2 or 3 of the new seeds this time!


 
Now I'm debating how to grow these on. I have plenty of room in my garden so I'm thinking about a whole bunch of 5 gal buckets with one lot as self watering in compost and another as a drip watered hydro. I may do dutch bucket or I may try a venturi style nute injection, not sure.
 
Anyway, I look forward to seeing what happens to all these plants over this year!

 

[Siv]

Other than the rocotos, these were the last peppers hanging on to the hydros plus a neglected thai chilli that was in a pot:

 
This is the way:

 

 

[PaulG]

Nice pods.
 
Awesome label!

 

[Devv]

Nice late haul Siv
 
No real freezes here yet, just some frost that hurt a few I've left neglected in the dirt
 
Have you started new seeds yet?

 

[Siv]

Nice late haul Siv
 
No real freezes here yet, just some frost that hurt a few I've left neglected in the dirt
 
Have you started new seeds yet?

 
We had some below freezing temps in December which killed all my soil plants. The hydros seem to have survived since they're in the courtyard surrounded by brick so the thermal mass may have kept them a tad warmer.
 
I haven't started anything seriously for 2020 yet - some seeds for my tent experiment (which were failures). Peppers seem to grow pretty quickly outside once it starts to warm up in March so I'll likely only start in February. I haven't cleaned all last year's out either so that's another job to do!