• Blog your pepper progress. The first image in your first post will be used to represent your Glog.

Stetto's First Winter Grow ('16-'17)

Well, here we gro, October 14 and the setup has begun.
 
14681754_179490489166911_3328693517186987941_n.jpg

 
My heat mat is unregulated, no thermostat, but measures (without sunlight) @ 87.5F. As can be seen, the 20+ inch deep mat is folded up at the window sill, which should help in deflecting any winter chill getting through the glass. This window will one day be a garden window extending around 9 inches out from the house, to facilitate all manner of horticultural misdeeds...But that's another story...
 
The lil' ziplock box in the photo is the start of my winter experiment, some Trinidad Moruga Scorpion seed obtained through the good graces of Jeff Contonio. My other seed is in transit from Australia:
 
Aji Amarillo
 
Jalapeno Tormenta
 
Bert the Chilli
 
I've been trying to grow Aji Amarillo for some years but have never been able to get seed to germinate. I've blamed the seed (innocuous Amazon purchases) up till now, but I have a lot more faith this time around since finding a reputable vendor. Note that only one superhot is being planted----For now.
 
After germination I intend on sowing into Solo cups (I've heard a wive's tale that you use the red ones for more than just the song), and eventually into 1.5 gallon pots. Even though I brag about the growing strength of the local soil (primordial ooze), I think I'll either hybrid it with non-soil potting mix or not use dirt from the garden at all.
 
I expect to do quite a bit of pruning, hopefully to encourage bushyness and to promote production in smaller accomodations. I'm sure I can find plety of input on that subject in these pages...
 
This is my first inside grow, let's see what happens. Any advice/pointers/warnings/pokes/prods/words of encouragement are welcome....But ya doesn't has to call me Johnson....
 
Click to expand...
Hey...  If there are any other baccatum you're looking for, just holler.  I've got several dozen varieties.
 
(And you can NEVER have too many baccatum!  :D )
 
Geonerd said:
Hey...  If there are any other baccatum you're looking for, just holler.  I've got several dozen varieties.
 
(And you can NEVER have too many baccatum!)
Click to expand...
Heh, let me get through this first amarillo grow (not to mention the lemon drop throwdown) and we'll chat. The baccatums seem the most flavorful and aromatic to me, they're what turned me on to the hotter tropicals in the first place.

Then again, this season is hardly just begun, *wink-wink*....
 
stettoman said:
Heh, let me get through this first amarillo grow (not to mention the lemon drop throwdown) and we'll chat. The baccatums seem the most flavorful and aromatic to me, they're what turned me on to the hotter tropicals in the first place.

Then again, this season is hardly just begun, *wink-wink*....
Click to expand...
 
 
Well, it's a given that this "winter seed planting" thing ALWAYS seems to get out of hand...  :rolleyes:
 
Another half dozen PaulG aji Amarillo hooks are showing today. If I can keep these little guys alive till May I might get a bumper crop,
 
I picked up an Apollo Horticulture 300 watt LED panel and am learning how not to use it fair quickly. For the last 3 days it hung approx. 3-4" above the canopy. No, didn't lose any, nor did I scorch that I can see. The panel now hangs about 16" above. Understanding leaf curl is an important tool....The grow room will incorporate both the panel and 4' LED tubes, but I can already see how the plants favor those red and blue lamps....
 
This could get out of hand. Even MORE PaulG aji amarillos.
 
15727359_228708637578429_6440451253696483557_n.jpg

 
Being new to the "rarer" varieties of hot peppers, I'm a bit confounded. These Moruga Scorpions aren't that much younger than the ajis. Are the true leaves really that much smaller or am I stunting them with environment? Temp is a constant 70 degrees, humidity @ 36%, though I've been misting them often and they look really healthy...
 
15727268_228708604245099_5516612529919614448_n.jpg

 
15822654_228708594245100_4449467108977267560_n.jpg
 
For better or worse, I moved to an interior room of the house, warmer, higher humidity, NO natural light. I'm using both the 300 watt Apollo Hort. LED and the 5000K Hyperkiron T8 LED tubes. My grow room is going to have to wait till Spring to facilitate junk removal.
 
This is my studio, recording gear and amplifiers and such at the other end of the room.
 
I hope hot peppers like live classic rock and blues.... :whistle:  :metal:
 
15826486_230182047431088_4520752724642257100_n.jpg
 
The grow is going far beyond my expectations, especially considering the first dozen posts in this thread.
 
The Moruga Scorpions are a whole inch and a half tall, but boy do they look happy!
 
The two aji amarillos I separated are alive, but totally non-productive. Shock sucks.
 
This is the healthiest aji Amarillo, from a Hippy Seed packet.
 
I expect great things from the PaulG Peruvians, and the local grocery store has shown an interest in what I'm doing.
 
15871925_231005480682078_8155304900076844787_n.jpg
 
Malarky said:
so how many amarillos germ'd for you? are you going to cull any?
Click to expand...
 
 
Yeah, overplanted and the whole lot popped. Don'tcha just hate that? There are a few runts that don't seem to be very happy here, they'll go first. This cold weather has driven the humidity way down (21%), even in my sealed and insulated music studio where the Grow continues. I mist as often as possible, working out of the house really helps in that.
 
I may need to buy a humidifier, my guitars don't like it below 50% rh either.
 
Plants look really good!
 
Question.. do you have your LED directly above the T8, or is it an optical illusion?
 
PS.. how did you get the local grocery store interested?! Do you have certificates and such?
 
Brocoli said:
Plants look really good!
 
Question.. do you have your LED directly above the T8, or is it an optical illusion?
 
PS.. how did you get the local grocery store interested?! Do you have certificates and such?
Click to expand...
 
No, it's an optical contusion. The LED panel is above and in front of T8, which is also LED. The plants seem to not care which is which at this point, at least they aren't leaning one way or the other. Bright and cheery, as it should be...
 
I chatted with the produce manager after noticing a scant selection of hot peppers. He told me he'd buy my overstock if I grew something he thought he could make a buck on. I don't know nuffin' from certification, was never brought up. But they buy/sell local fruit/veggies a lot around here. If legalities get to be a hassle I'll just open a roadside stand. There are dozens of them in the area every year...
 
Had to again raise the lights. Before long I'll be putting plants on the floor. They're growing a lot faster than I gave them credit for, and I've been gardening quite a few years...Just not inside.
 
 
15894776_231890450593581_6318943893461741213_n.jpg

 
 
15894817_231890617260231_7329004852019094808_n.jpg

 
It's surprising how they don't seem to miss the sun they were getting, actually appear to thrive in this LED environment. Moruga Scorps being a total new thing to me, I'm really amazed at the tight, compact canopy.
 
 
stettoman said:
 
The two aji amarillos I separated are alive, but totally non-productive. Shock sucks.
Click to expand...
 
They're effectively on a starvation diet.  Give them a little extra water and maybe a dash of dilute nutes.  Re-growing roots will take a while, so be patient. 
 
Geonerd said:
 
They're effectively on a starvation diet.  Give them a little extra water and maybe a dash of dilute nutes.  Re-growing roots will take a while, so be patient. 
Click to expand...
 
 
Yeah Geo, they've been stirring a bit the last day or two, though half the size of those I didn't diddle with. They still look healthy and I bet by fruit-setting day I won't know the difference...You can see them in the far right in pic #1...
 
I noticed last year that growing under an LED created very compact plants, looking like your scorps. Maybe the difference between your scorps and other peppers are the scorps just started when you added the LED and all the other peps were already going under the T8? Maybe because of the light intensity between the two lights?
 
Very cool that they offered to scoop your excess. I thought that grocery stores would have a ton of red tape to deal with when purchasing from personal operations and not company operations. Selling plants, peppers, pods, and seeds would be fun as a hobby if you dont have to pay for permits and certs.
 
Your grow makes me excited for my seeds to start popping! Planted up a 72cell boy on 1/1.
 
Brocoli, I'm in what we call Farm Filthy Rural. The dirt here is so fertile that farmers will buy their neighbors' house just to bulldoze and plant where it used to be. Naturally these people have acres like my eighth acre where they grow farmers market fare. I grow my own sweet corn, but around here you can get a dozen fresh picked ears for a couple bucks, some days even less. Veggie stands are everywhere, to where everyone who really wants to make a buck on it (mostly farmers' wives and kids) will grow a "specialty" crop, like 20 varieties of onion or carrot or kohlrabi. ALL these people take their overstock to the groceries. The price isn't as good as selling direct to the passersby, but little goes to waste.
 
I'm wondering what kind of local market there might be for exotic peppers. There are "some" here, but no one focuses on them. The wife and I actually discussed a low tunnel for this or next year. We certainly have the room. I just don't want to create more work for myself than I have passion for...
 
My grow is making me excited too. I have a dozen or so more kinds of peppers to start.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top