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Stankar season 8

Hello to everyone in the new season  :hi:
Finally I made myself a time to create my first glog on THP so to contribute to this awesome community.
I'm growing chilli for 8th season now and I've learnt so much till now, but I'm still making a newbie mistakes unfortunately.
 
After my last season failure I'm heading halfway back to the basics, and halfway to the new experiments and challenges.
 
From my overwintered plants not many live plants left, and from my long lasting plants (5 years) only Dorset Naga cross plant is alive but seems to be dying as well.
Since I've had the seeds for this season already prepared, I let them germinate somewhere in October/November 2018, and that I would be adding more so to have more than a minimum I need for this season just in case I would screw up.
Last year I used Black Friday sales from WHP, RFC, PL, Fatalii at maximum so I have a new seeds for season 2020/2021 and maybe even 2022 :D
 
Strategy and plan for this season:
Try new germination techniques for better success rate. Till now it is about 50%.
Fertilize less but more regularly. Till now it was a regular fertilizing once a month or two.
Every watering with controlled Ph - about 6.00
Using worm castings and worm tea + Azomite for boosting the soil and adding trace elements.
Hydroponics - Kratky system/Wick system. Already started something and plants are surviving but not really growing at a window.
Reduce preventive nimb oil foliar spray. Full application when pests spotted for the first time.
For the maximum yield leave the plants producing till winter.
 
Used fertilizers and supplements:
EKOVERMES Vermesfluid 5L - local worm tea for vegetables and fruits
Azomite od Terralba - trace elements
Hoštice liquid fertilizer for tomatoes and peppers 1L - grow fertilizer
Plagron PK13/14 1L - bloom fertilizer, leftover from past seasons
CANNA Calcium 1L - when needed
BIO-NOVA Magnesium MgO-10 - when needed
 
Pest control:
100% Neem Oil 1L
AgroBio MOSPILAN 20 SP - against aphids
Agro Pirimor 50 WG - against aphids
AgroBio Vertimec 1,8EC - against mites, tested this season already :)
Agrobacterias Spider Plant - regeneration after pest damage and active pest control
 
Chilli grow list 2019:
1x 7 Pot BBG RFC
2x Aji Mango Fatalii
2x Aji Norteno Fatalii
1x Andy's King BOC WHP
2x Atomic Starfish
2x Bahamian Goat RFC
1x Bhut Jolokia Yellow gandalf/PL
1x Big Black Mama WHP
1x BOC WHP
1x BOC x JPGS WHP
2x Brazilian Starfish Orange Fatalii/WHP
1x Dorset Naga PL
2x Fatalii Gourmet Jigsaw WHP
1x Habanero Chocolate Zrzek
1x Habanero Red
1x Habanero Yellow
1x JPGS RFC
1x JPGS WHP
2x MOA Scotch Bonnet RFC
1x MOA Scotch Bonnet WHP
1x MOA Scotch Bonnet WHP WHP
1x Monster Naga PS.eu
1x Nagabrain Chocolate WHP
1x Naganero Triple Zrzek
1x Naganero Zrzek
1x Peach Bhut Jolokia RFC
1x Pink Tiger x Peach Bhut WHP
1x Scotch Brains WHP
1x Trinidad Scorpion Moruga
 
Finally some photos taken quickly on Jan 6th 2019:

 
Have a great growing season to all  :party:  :cool:
 
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stankar said:
Thanks, but it's a "stankar", which means a street peddler in Czech (without diacritics) ;)
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That's what I love about the spell check function   :rofl: 
 
Sorry, brother. I'll be more careful to check the checker
in the future!
 
This morning I took some pictures of my plants and seedlings. They are looking good, especially the plants I germinated in October 2018.
I have re-potted all plants which needed a bigger 0.5L cup, and yes, so far I'm still keeping them in a cups because I ran out of space already in my apartment :D After re-potting I had to re-arrange them a bit so all plants have more space between each other and they have enough light.
I'm happy about all my Naganero plants from seeds of a local grower, they are all nicely forked and starting to bloom already. This year I won't cut the flower buds because the young plants will drop them off anyways.
Since Friday I'm on the one month vacation so I won't be able to provide further updates till I'm back, but I hope they will continue to grow nicely as of now.
 
Just a small info to my DIY grow light, it's a 2x 10W Full-spectrum LED from ebaye 1.50 USD/pc, middle one 1x 10W Cree CXA1304 9V 3.20USD/pc. These 3 LEDs are super cheap and works fine for seedlings and small plants. They do not have a super power but plants are looking very good, so I'm happy this cheap DIY setup works perfectly.
 
 
CaneDog said:
Looking good Stankar.  Hope everything continues well while you're on vacation - I assume you have a good helper while you're away - ?
 
You'll going to have a jungle waiting for you when you return!
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I hope so, the last time when I was gone in March they looked nice and bushy after my return.
I would definitely need to start selecting the keepers and sell out or give away the rest.
 
I'm back from my vacation. On my absence were lost 2 seedlings and one overwintered plant which died at the end but I was prepared for it, it wasn't just strong enough.
Older plants have overgrown the half-litre cups and I would need to re-pot them into bigger pots. All the plants are showing nutrient deficiencies, some more and others less, because I instructed my mum to only water them using a tap water only... my bad.
Now I'm back so the plants will get nutrients and will recover slowly back, and I hope they will continue to grow nicely till they produce :)
 
Some shots from today:
 
Update:
So I re-potted the plants to the bigger cups and pots, extras will be given away.
 
I bought 40L of wormcastings from a local farm, so I used it for re-potting and will be adding it on the top once a month or so.
All plants have nicely recovered from the nutrient deficiencies, so they are getting bigger, having a nice big leaves, and on some plants I'm already pinching the flower buds out. I'm fertilizing slowly by a local fertilizer for tomatoes and peppers, once a while I'm adding an epsom salt, and a bit of my leftover worm tea.
Every watering I'm regulating the Ph and the plants look nice and healthy, so I believe that is going fine.
 
Today I started to germinate some mini tomatoes, Amish Paste and a Yellow Pear, but that will be a challenge because so far I wasn't able to get a single tomato plant to produce...
Hopefully next month I will be able to move my plants to the balcony, because I ran out of space at the apartment because of the extras :D
 
 
Here is another small update.
 
I finally managed to get rid of almost all my extra seedlings, so I have much more space now, just remaining 12 seedlings are awaiting a new owner to fetch them up.
 
All my plants are looking great, but mosft of the bigger ones are heavily starting to flower, so I would need to start cutting the flowers and let the plants grow more before I place them on balcony.
 
The tomatoes I started have germinated and I'm really excited to see how they produce for me.
 
The biggest thing I was happy about was however upgrade of my DSLR from Pentax K-x to Pentax K-S2 which I planned to buy a long time ago, so I have taken some pictures of my plants, and so far I can say that both manual and auto focusing are much better with an improved viewfinder, and with a newer and improved focus peaking :)
 
 
So Ladies and Gentlemen, the sun is shining so it is a good time to provide an update and post some current pics.
I have re-potted more plants again, the extra seedlings I gave all away, and the bigger plants are already on the balcony enjoying the sunlight  :)
I've had to separate the tomato seedlings, but I didn't pay attention when I was buying the seeds and they are all indeterminate, and I don't have a space for them, so I will be trying to leave the lower 2 suckers to get 3 main stems and will be topping the plant so to do not have a tall plant which could be shading the pepper plants.
 

 
Some plants started to flower, so it is the time to start pinching them out :(

 
Because I've had a mood and a time, I checked my current seedbank and I started planning the list of peppers for the next 2020 season, will be having some new varieties again, and like every year I was fighting with the space and planning to have a 26 plants without overwintered plants... so will see how this season goes and what varieties I will keep, or will change, but the list will definitely change till then.
 
I made a test yesterday, Brazilian Starfish Orange taken from potting soil to the hydroponic Kratky system.
It is just a jar from the pickles, water with a fertilizer (mix of local grow fertilizer for peppers and tomatoes, vermesfluid (worm tea), epsom salt, hesi powerzyme), hydro cup with rockwool cubes and a ceramsite on it. The glass jar is covered by a cardboard so to do not let algae to grow.
I've had some small pepper cuttings in the Kratky system from last winter, but they weren't growing much. I believe they have enough nutrients, but it may not be balanced properly because it is growing very slowly.
 
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