Sterno's first try on chilies

[Sterno]

Here's my growing log of my first ever try of growing chilies.

Two weeks ago I sowed 12 seeds of fresh orange and yellow habaneros, which I had bought in a vegetable market. 11 out of 12 seeds started growing.

Reading this forum I realized I should get some "real" seeds, so ordered few different varieties and sowed them a week ago.

In one week now the red savina, lemon drop, jalapeno grande, ancho and de cayenne have starting growing nicely. Nothing yet on the others.

It's getting crowded under my lights at the moment.

Habanero few days ago.

Today it looks like a new pair of leaves starts coming up.

Just moved another 7 plants to their own pots and it's getting seriously crowded under those lights now. I ordered and received a 400W HPS light as well. What do you think, how early could I start moving those little plants under the HPS? I guess a good distance is needed (3-4 feet / 1 meter atleast?), but is it too early still now when those plants are just tiny?

Cheers,
Sterno

 

[FadeToBlack]

Looks good!

I can't give any advice with those lights unfortunatly because ive never used them before.

 

[peppermanbaha]

Wow nice peppers, what type of cam do you uses for the pics.

 

[buggedcom]

that last one is a fantastic closeup. very nice macro focus you have there.

 

[Pepperfreak]

Nice photos...everything is looking good.

 

[Nova]

Great pics there sterno, as for when to put under your HPS i think this thread may be useful.

http://www.thehotpepper.com/showthread.php?t=14047&highlight=Hardening

 

[Sterno]

Thanks for your comments and tips!

Wow nice peppers, what type of cam do you uses for the pics.

I use a small compact size Leica D-LUX 4 for my pics. Nice little camera with all manual settings available.

Second pair of leaves coming up nicely on all habaneros now.

Jalapeño Grande really lives up to it's reputation. It's way bigger than any of the others!

I planted 3 seeds of red savina. One came up with three cotyledons.

This is how my basement "party cellar" corner looks like now. Finally found some good use for all my Perl and MySQL books..

Funny how this hobby got out of proportion in just two weeks. All I wanted to plant is few seeds of habaneros, and now it looks like I'll be growing at least 40-50 plants of more than 15 different varieties.

Cheers,
Sterno

 

[FadeToBlack]

Funny how this hobby got out of proportion in just two weeks. All I wanted to plant is few seeds of habaneros, and now it looks like I'll be growing at least 40-50 plants of more than 15 different varieties.

Cheers,
Sterno

Thats exactly what happened with me also a few months ago
It has become quite addicting for me now, with 22 varieties and about 40 plants lol

 

[cherrybomb]

hey Sterno, the plants look great, as does the large glass of red!
... a man after my own heart...

 

[gasificada]

Funny how this hobby got out of proportion in just two weeks. All I wanted to plant is few seeds of habaneros, and now it looks like I'll be growing at least 40-50 plants of more than 15 different varieties.

Thats exactly what happened with me also a few months ago
It has become quite addicting for me now, with 22 varieties and about 40 plants lol

And is happening to me too! Originally I decided I wanted a plant or two... now it looks like I'll end up with 20-30 or more, plus I now have mini hot house, heat mat, and I'm pretty sure I'm going to buy a light tomorrow. On top of that, I just received another 4 varieties of seeds in the mail yesterday......

 

[FadeToBlack]

And is happening to me too! Originally I decided I wanted a plant or two... now it looks like I'll end up with 20-30 or more, plus I now have mini hot house, heat mat, and I'm pretty sure I'm going to buy a light tomorrow. On top of that, I just received another 4 varieties of seeds in the mail yesterday......

And the saga continues......

 

[Sterno]

A little update today. I just installed the 400W HPS light and moved a few small chilies under it.

I keep the distance at about 3 feet (90cm) in the beginning so that I won't burn the little ones.

Here are the chilies. Few habaneros, de cayenne, jalapeño grande and the ancho.

Very keen to see how this new light works out and how the plants grow compared to the ones under the fluorescent tubes.

Sterno

 

[Sterno]

Today I swapped the another bulb to the light. The pics above with the yellow tint have the Sylvania SHP-TS bulb, which is meant for the flowering phase. Now I installed the Philips HPI-T bulb, which has a nice and white daylight color. Should be better for growing phase. Who knows.

Moved quite a few more plants under this light.

The Lemon Drop looks absolutely happy under it.

Cheers,
Sterno

 

[Toleman]

Looks good. Have you thought about pushing it into the corner so your not wasting light?

Chris

 

[Noshownate]

Nice plants sterno

 

[capsidadburn]

Excellant photos sterno! Good luck to you. Let us know how your 400w light works for you.

Mike

 

[ABurningMouth]

Wow that's pretty cool. Keep up the good work!

 

[Sterno]

Looks good. Have you thought about pushing it into the corner so your not wasting light?

That's a great idea. It would need some work for moving the light, but will think about it. Now the light is hanging from chains over a water pipe, so no drilling for hooks was needed.

Minor update. Less than a month since sowing the seeds and they are growing very nicely!

The annuums are growing way faster than any others. All the bigger plants there are either cayennes, anchos or jalapeños. The other ones are coming up nicely too.

Sterno

 

[Sterno]

Time for a little update again.

I'm so amazed how fast the annuums grow. Less than a month since sowing the seeds and the Ancho looks like this.

Hight record goes to De Cayenne.

Chinense, like this Red Savina, stays low, but plenty of healthy looking leaves.

One month old Habanero isn't high either, but leaves looks healthy. Small but sturdy lil' chili...

Cheers,
Sterno

 

[NoVa Hothead]

That growth on the hab soil looks concerning to me...