Spankyscolts 2012 GLOG

Well here it is against my better judgement my first ever grow log. I have no green thumb genius, no botany brilliance, and am doing this solely for your amusement. This is not a treatise on pepper perfection but rather, in all likelyhood a pretty detailed journal of what not to do. There will be mishaps, things that defy good sense, and sadly even deaths. In the end however irregardless of your pepper growing skill level, if you check in on my glog from time to time you will undoubtedly go away with a much higher view of your own growing ability. So with the proper expectations set let's get started just remember under no circumstances should you try anything you see here at home.

First off our selection started off with all the super and extremely hots 36 varities from multiple venders including some good folks here at THP. Will have another couple of trays of the medium hots and the other things required for my salsa in about 4 weeks., which will give me an additional 5-6 varities.

Then the equipment a couple of 2 tray mats with thermostat, 4 72 cell trays with domes, a whole grip of rapid rooter style plugs and the table my blue eyed wife put together

First thing was to soak the seeds in a germination solution I got from the Chilli Seed Co in the UK and distilled water for 12 plus hours in Dixie cups

Then the work began after soaking the plugs in distilled water I seeded the plugs and filled the trays. I have a corresponding sheet for each tray to identfy what is what in the cells. I assigned each variety a number for ease of identification throughout the grow. When the same variety had multiple venders I added the letter A, B etc., depending on my supply of seeds some plugs got 2 seeds while others only 1. Those with 2 in the plugs where marked with an x on the sheet. I figured this gave me the greatest chance of ending up with what I wanted to have in the end.

In the end there is 4 72 cell trays filled for a grand total of 288 starts. They were placed on the heat mats with the temp set at 86 degrees. At this point I have decided not to fill the tray underneath with water, that may change. I am misting the plugs with a spray bottle of distilled water.

Well there you have it, the start of my first season. Thanks to all who provided seeds and offered your input not to mention put up with all my questions .. lol

 

[Spankyscolts]

Wow those roots are crazy! With roots like that im guess they take off like shots from a cannon after the transplant! Good luck!

Man that's the hope! I would love nothing better than to see them take off. Hoping that their own pot and fresh soil is just what the Doctor ordered! Thank for stopping by.

 

[Spankyscolts]

My partner and I spent the day potting up 250 + plants. As I mentioned earlier we used a 50/50 mix of Happy Frog and Ocean Forest with an added 10% big chunk perlite and approx.1 tbsp
Oyster Shell meal per pot. The seedlings didn't look the greatest but had good roots so I'm confident they'll take off once they settle in. After we got finished we realized that we're gonna need another light. Here's a couple pics of the root balls

It took us about 4 hours or so to pot em all up and man can I feel it in my back lol. Each tray was set in a tub of Vita-start B1 w/ root hormone mixture to wick up their fill from underneath then allowed to drain. When it was all done we had 14 - 18 pot trays for a total of 252 peppers. Heres the fruit of our labors

My partner had put the finishing touches on the grow room and he did a wonderful job, the only problem is we need more light. We may have to rearrange things to better fit everything in but for today we just wanted to get everything in there. The Edenpure heater we purchased works awesome! .. Stays at 80 degrees. Anybody know what the ideal day and night temps are? Heres a pic of their final resting place

We may have to figure out a way to vent the room and we stil need to get a fan but everything is shaping up nicely.

 

[PaulG]

Great work on the pot-up, Robin! You had your work cut out for you!
I bet the plants will really thrive in their new pots and in the grow room!
Good job all around, buddy - Hope your plants just produce like crazy for you!

 

[Spankyscolts]

Great work on the pot-up, Robin! You had your work cut out for you!
I bet the plants will really thrive in their new pots and in the grow room!
Good job all around, buddy - Hope your plants just produce like crazy for you!

Thanks Paul!! Man if my partner hadn't been off today your phone might of been ringing lol! Thanks for your kind words man my back is sore but it's nice to have it done.

While we were potting up our seedlings today we let our older plants get a little sun. They are looking good overall but our older Butch T had dropped some leaves and and looked like it had some possible mite damage. Some of the Infinitys had dropped some lower leaves as well not sure why. We experimented with a soil called White Lightening but quickly decided it was to heavy as it had topsoil in it well it is very compact and heavy. We may need to pot them out of it .. just don't like it. We sprayed each plant watered them gave em a little sun and lastly snapped a few pics to share with you guys.We will start with our 3 head Habie

Here's some of the others

After a little sun we moved em into the new grow room with the seedlings only all the lights were in use so I'll get to work on rounding up another light but for now here they sit ; )

Well that's it for now thanks for stopping by, remember we welcome all comments, smart ass remarks or donations lol. Seriously though if anyone has any input would love to hear it and if anybody has any idea what the ideal temps are for peppers day and night please let me know. Twas enough work for one day, after a good nights rest I'll start preparing for the next leg of this project.

 

[stc3248]

80 is pretty good! You could get by a little cooler, but I wouldn't worry about it. Big Cedar (Brandon) ran out of room for his starts under the lights too. He rotates the flats under the lights 12/12 might be easier to move the light or table back and forth. He has it set up where they're getting indirect light when not under the lights. Might give that a try until you get another light. As for your pot up...watch this video of a master in action. Jeff is set to grow 8k plants this season and is a freaking machine!

Thanks guys!

Trying to get at least 100+ done every night after work, days need to be longer.

I've learned a ton from scrolling through all his posts, and not just about peppers. Hope quoting that worked???

Your roots looked fantastic! That premium soil and bigger shoes to boot will have them exploding over the next few weeks. Gonna be real fun to watch!

Shane

 

[PIC 1]

Wow,
Robin where have you been hiding those "Monsters".........I'll have to start asking you for advice!
You should start to see some pods forming soon, The new growth on the outdoor shots looks robust, those will be some huge plants by the end of the season.
Good luck with the rest of your indoor grow.

Greg

 

[PaulG]

Very impressive Robin; those plants are huge! When did you germinate those?
The seedling trays look great! I have to get over and see your operation one of these days!

 

[Spankyscolts]

80 is pretty good! You could get by a little cooler, but I wouldn't worry about it. Big Cedar (Brandon) ran out of room for his starts under the lights too. He rotates the flats under the lights 12/12 might be easier to move the light or table back and forth. He has it set up where they're getting indirect light when not under the lights. Might give that a try until you get another light. As for your pot up...watch this video of a master in action. Jeff is set to grow 8k plants this season and is a freaking machine!

I've learned a ton from scrolling through all his posts, and not just about peppers. Hope quoting that worked???

Your roots looked fantastic! That premium soil and bigger shoes to boot will have them exploding over the next few weeks. Gonna be real fun to watch!

Shane

Rotation hummm that's a great idea , I should check out his Glog and catch up. The video didn't work maybe you can refer me to the blog. So far we have everything under lights except for the bigger plants and they are getting indirect light. Would like to see that video as I have another 100 to pot up pretty soon that is if my back allows. Thanks for stoping by.

Wow,
Robin where have you been hiding those "Monsters".........I'll have to start asking you for advice!
You should start to see some pods forming soon, The new growth on the outdoor shots looks robust, those will be some huge plants by the end of the season.
Good luck with the rest of your indoor grow.

Greg

Thanks they were some plants I started as experiments as a prologue to the big grow. They started on 12/10/11 kind of thought they would have some pods by now? I'm a little worried about them as they have been dropping some lower leaves and flowers. I saw what could of been some mite damage so I sprayed em and watered them as they were a little dry. I had transplanted a few into a soil that I could buy bulk as they are experimental plants and I hate the soil it's heavy compact and just not good. Think I'm gonna have to pot em up into 7 gallon containers with some HF or OF. When should they put up pods. BTW I learned all this by watching you .. lol.

Very impressive Robin; those plants are huge! When did you germinate those?
The seedling trays look great! I have to get over and see your operation one of these days!

Thanks Paul I promise you after yesterday even if my partner helps, when we pot into 5-7 gallon pots I'll will definately use your help if you're game. We may also need some help when we put up the greenhouse sounds like you might have some experience there. Gotta get over and check out your grow.

 

[stc3248]

Hmmmm, works 4 me??? Here is his glog...all his content is fun to follow.
http://www.thehotpepper.com/topic/27357-spicy-chickens-mmxii-grow-log-the-hot-spot-pepper-shack/page__fromsearch__1

 

[PaulG]

Thanks Paul I promise you after yesterday even if my partner helps, when we pot into 5-7 gallon pots I'll will definately use your help if you're game. We may also need some help when we put up the greenhouse sounds like you might have some experience there. Gotta get over and check out your grow.

I'm game for either or both, just give me a couple of days notice.

 

[Spankyscolts]

Hello everyone just getting around to updating the Glog. At the last update we had just potted up some 250+ plants and got them into our growroom. Most weren't looking the greatest at that point. That was about 9 days ago. Here's a pic of the growroom afterwards.

Today was the first time I had made it back over since then. The plants had been in my buddy's care. Today we topped up the pots with OF and bottom watered by filling trays with an extremely dilute nute formula and sitting the carrying trays into them so the pots could wick up their fill. We added 1 big shot glass each of Calmag, Pro Grow Maxicrop Seaweed, and Alaska Fish 5-1-1 per gallon of water. We gave each pot a labeled marker and got a master count. We rearranged
the growroom to give ourselves a little more room to work, you can see the change here.

The plants are looking much better than they did 8 days ago and are starting to find their legs. A couple of trays were pretty dry and had some wilting but we caught em in time. The tray of Naga Vipers had what might be mite damage on several of the plants so to be safe we sprayed them with a natural Mite spray letting it dry completely before putting them back under the lights. Here are some pics

I am thrilled with how much better they look this week compared to last week and can't wait to see how they look next week. This room is a 8 x 8 area sectioned off in a garage and I have been very impressed by how well the little Edenpure heater we bought has keep the temps steady at about 82 during the day and 76 at night. Here are some more pics.

First some Bhut Jolokias

Then some Butch T's

Some assorted 7 Pots

And just a couple of top shots

Well there's the update, couldn't be more happy with the progress can't wait til next weekend to see them once they get good and settled into their new shoes. Thanks for stopping by and I'd love to hear any comments or suggestions. Though the newbees are looking good our older plants have taken a turn for the worse but I'll share about that in another post because apparently you can only post do many pics in a topic. Thanks again.

 

[stc3248]

Dayum Schpanky! You really got them cookin' right along! You getting any leaf drop on the overwinters with the indirect setup? They look pretty happy through the camera's eye! I really can't wait to see your plant out!

Hope the results this week are as good or better than the last!
Shane

 

[Spankyscolts]

I also wanted to highlight a few plants that were grown from seeds sent me by folks on this site. I will try to post a few each update.Heres a couple the one on the left is called Tuca or Tuca Hot Chocolate named after the sender I have 3 growing and the one on the right is a cross that fasinates me from Justaguy it's a Fatali - Red- Savina cross, we have 4 of them growing.

And here is my lone SB7J I think I water logged the others lol. It was sent to me by Patrick.

Dayum Schpanky! You really got them cookin' right along! You getting any leaf drop on the overwinters with the indirect setup? They look pretty happy through the camera's eye! I really can't wait to see your plant out!

Hope the results this week are as good or better than the last!
Shane

Thanks Shane .. those aren't overwinters but rather some experimental plants I started to get the process down an I am having some problems with them which I was just about to post about in my Glog. You can check it out there. Thanks for stopping by!! How goes the fight with the critters?


I posted about this in the growers section but wanted to share it in my Glog as well as that's what a Glog is for right? When we potted up our plants last week we took our older experimental plants out for some sun, we noticed what appeared to be mite damage on a couple and decided to spray them to be safe, well they got to much sun and burnt in spots. After the pot up we realized that we didn't have enough light for the fresh pot ups and the older plants so the baby's got priority and the older ones only get indirect light. Well just the combination of the burning the spraying and the poor light has taken its toll on them. They are dropping a few leaves and others look crinkled. I suppose it could be a Cal deficency but it came on them overnight almost. Here are a few pics first a group shot

Then some top shots

Some single plant pics notice the crinkling also some of the leaves are dry around the edges and brittle

And another group pic sorry for the quality

Any ideas guys? One of the Infinitys that got the blunt of the sun damage is on its last leg it's one of the few that we're potted into some soil I was trying but decided I didn't like it. It is too heavy just a bad mix I was trying it because it was available in bulk cheap. So our plan is to repot the ones in that soil and amend them with some Oyster Shell and water the others with Calmag. I'm gonna prune them of bad leaves and I hope to
get another light this weekend so that they can have their own. If anyone has any ideas or suggestions I'm all ears. Well thanks again for stopping by see you all next week.

 

[stc3248]

Thanks for stopping by!! How goes the fight with the critters?

Wouldn't miss it!
As far as the critters go, we're at a stalemate...but the ladybug population is on the rise so I am hoping to have the upper hand soon. Moving them out of the greenhouse and into the cold nights should slow them down a bit too. Right now they're just making my plants a little ugly, but they're growing just fine.

 

[PIC 1]

Wow Robin,
That's a serious grow room! Wait let me go back and look that again.....................
Man your plants look healthy, especially the large buckets............How manyplants do you have?
I can hear the cash register ringing now on your future plant sales.............. cha-ching!
I see from a different post you've had the "big boys" outside for some sun. If it were mites and you sprayed you should be fine. Keep your eye out for and flying pests.
Keep posting photos three weeks from now those 3" pots will be supporting some nice size plants
Nice set-up in the garage an 8 x 8 is a good size area
Good luck with the rest of your indoor grow

Greg

 

[Spicegeist]

A sea of green, beautiful!

 

[Spankyscolts]

Wow Robin,
That's a serious grow room! Wait let me go back and look that again.....................
Man your plants look healthy, especially the large buckets............How manyplants do you have?
I can hear the cash register ringing now on your future plant sales.............. cha-ching!
I see from a different post you've had the "big boys" outside for some sun. If it were mites and you sprayed you should be fine. Keep your eye out for and flying pests.
Keep posting photos three weeks from now those 3" pots will be supporting some nice size plants
Nice set-up in the garage an 8 x 8 is a good size area
Good luck with the rest of your indoor grow

Greg

Man Greg I keep meaning to get over to your Glig and catch up but just been to busy. Thanks for your kind words I have about 252 Super Hots another dozen slow starts, another 72 med hots not quite ready for first pot up and about 2 dozen tomatoes for my salsa. Oh and about 8 older plants which are a little under the weather . Tell me Greg my older plants are about 4 months old can I prune them? Mainly of bad leaves, I mean will they grow back in? I am determined to rally them any advise old wise green thumb??



I almost forgot on the 18th of March I started a little better than 90 med hots, tomatoes, and tge sweet pepper Carmen as well as one of my mutts Casper mostly stuff I use in my yearly salsa. Here is that list updated and as of this weekend I am officially done with germination.


Early Jalapeño 15/15
Jalapeño Store Pod 5/5
Cayenne 8/7
Cayenne my seeds 4/3
Serrano 10/8
Peguis Red Chili 10/10
Carmen 17/17
Casper my seeds 3/3
Early Girl Tomatoe 12/12
Early Goliath Tomatoe 12/12

Very happy with the results actually got more than I wanted but I guess that's a good problem to have lol

A sea of green, beautiful!

Thanks got a couple of your Chocolate Bhuts up also, they are just baby's but maybe I can get some pods by the end of summer ..

 

[PIC 1]

You can prune at any time, They're perennials and unlike a lanscaping shrub , if you prune too early your plants will always flower. I cut the growing tips off a few of my larger indoor plants to force some lower growth. Its a good idea when you have at least a month before plant out tgo pinch back "certain" pepper plants.....not all

Well time to hit the nap sack!
later,
Greg

 

[Spankyscolts]

Well thought I would give a a mini mid-week update or really just share some pics. It will be 2 weeks tomorrow since we potted into 3.5 x 4.0 pots, so I wanted to stop by the grow room and take a peak and man oh man they have just exploded! Everything looks really good almost too good in fact I think we're gonna need a bigger room and more lights lol .Some plants have a little leaf curl

And although I didn't get pics a tray or two looks extra crinkly is that normal for super hots? They just seem to have a little extra pucker mainly the Butch T's and the Naga Vipers I know it's not a Cal deficency because they are in fresh soil and they were amended with extra Oyster Shell I'll try and remember to snap some pics the next time out. Here's a pic of my one and only SB7J

Gonna try and follow this little guy on his journey to Podhood

Here are some quick shots of each table

We are very pleased so far and are working on the next leg of the project which includes procuring a grip of 1, 5, & 7 gallon pots. Finding a mix thats a good quality and value to pot up the plants we're selling such as Black Gold maybe and finishing the greenhouse plans and gathering the supplies. We also need to pot up about 90 med hots and a few sweets and make room for them which means at least one more light. I potted up the tomatoes a couple of days ago and they are growing to fast memo to self next year start tomatoes 5 weeks early not 8 lol. Well thanks for stopping by, I was a little giddy after seeing the plants today and wanted to share.

 

[stc3248]

Looking freaking great! I started my tomatoes too early as well. Potted them up to gallons and they did fine all the way to plant out. They can get pretty big in gallon containers! Room is always an issue. Kinda like money if you have more, you use more. Can't wait 'till I retire. I have several barns just begging to be converted to greenhouses and 150 acres that the cattle have been amending for years! 7 lakes for irrigation. Should be pretty amazing....

I had a little more leaf curl on a few varieties. My red and chocolate habs seemed to be the most picky about things and curled the most???