Stevedesertpepper 17/18 grow log

Hello, all. I decided to start a small indoor garden 2'x3'. So I
could grow a few hot peppers. I also have a second small area for
germinating seeds. Once all my little ones that I have are 6 inchs
or more. I will go to a 12/12 light cycle to double the number of
plants I can grow if need be. I can also put some outside when it
warms up. I plan on having six plants (or 12 with 12/12) each in 
a 5 gallon bucket. 3 pairs of 2 will fit this area just perfectly.
I will try to keep them contained. I use coir and add perlite.
I use Pure blend pro grow and bloom and ph to 6.0. My first six
will be 2 Yellow Moruga, 1 Carolina Reaper, 1 Chocolate Reaper,
1 Jay's Peach Ghost Scorpion and 1 Trinidad Chocolate Scorpion.
I have never used led before but so far so good. I use a single
Mars hydro 300 and will add another to this area when needed.
Any plants leftover will go to family, friends or possibly you
if your close enough. I have also started my 2018 crop. I will
sell these simply with a sign in the front yard more for fun
than profit.
 
I planted 01/17/18:
 
9 JAY'S PEACH GHOST SCORPION
9 Bhut Jolokia Red
9 Bhut Jolokia Chocolate
27 Habanero Peach
27 Habanero Chocolate
 

 

[Stevedesertpepper]

Down to four plants. Light cycle is now 12/12 for all four pants. I put my chocolate reaper into a 6" dwc. I removed the coir and put it bare root into the net cup. It has been about 5 days and has about a dozen roots protruding from the cup. The net cup is submerged aprox. 1 1/2 inch for now. It has no stone or pump.

 

[Stevedesertpepper]

I transplanted my jay's peach ghost scorpion. It is under a 100w led, the others are under a 300w led. It is not as compact as the others but still a nice plant.

 

[Stevedesertpepper]

I also transplanted my carolina reaper. It has reached maturity and is growing its first bloom at the split.

 

[Stevedesertpepper]

My yellow moruga has many buds but no open flowers yet. Most of the buds are growing down
with long stems. One of the older buds is starting to point up.

 

[Trident chilli]

Great photography... healthy plants

 

[Stevedesertpepper]

My yellow moruga is dropping blooms. So far all of them.  It's my fault for not cutting back on the nut. I have changed from grow to bloom. Which leads me to a question I will soon ask on the forum. What do you guys do, cut back on grow or go to bloom? I would presume most of you go to bloom to maximize the quality of the pepper. Which is what I will do. I was using 15ml./gal. of pure blend pro grow. It is the minimum recommended amount for starting veg, 7ml. for seedlings. I stayed with 15ml. through out veg, didn't see a need for more. I also believe that as the plant gets bigger it would set fruit anyway, by simply outgrowing 15ml. of grow. This happened to my about 5 years ago growing bangkok f1 peppers. Anyway I have switched to 15ml./gal of bloom for now, plus side of this is my ph is 6.0 without ph down. I will keep a ph of 6.0 throughout the grow for coir, or until someone advises me differently. 

 

[Stevedesertpepper]

My carolina reaper will probably drop blooms too. The nut change not being quick enough. One upside is that the plant will be bigger and will be able to set more fruit. Kind of sounds like the "fox and the grapes" to me.

 

[Stevedesertpepper]

I hope the nut change will work for my jay's peach ghost scorpion, it won't be long before it matures.

 

[Stevedesertpepper]

My chocolate reaper dwc is doing great. Lots of roots now. It has perked up and looks good. I will add a air stone at the end of the week. Up till now I just stir it up once a day. I changed the reservoir to 15ml./gal pure blend pro bloom about 3-4 days ago. If there's one plant I have that might not drop blooms right off, its this one.

 

[Stevedesertpepper]

My yellow moruga isn't dropping blooms now. The anthers won't release pollen, so I guess I'm getting closer to setting fruit.

 

[Stevedesertpepper]

The carolina reaper has no open flowers yet.

 

[Stevedesertpepper]

I transplanted my jay's peach ghost scorpion, all plants in 5gal. containers. No open flowers yet.

 

[Stevedesertpepper]

My chocolate reaper dwc is doing very well. I added an airstone. It reached maturity at 4.5" , false leaves were above the clay pebbles when inserted into dwc.

 

[Devv]

Plants are looking great!
 
I wouldn't worry about the first flowers dropping, They will set when they're happy.

 

[Stevedesertpepper]

 
Thanks, Trident chilli and Devv. If my dwc works out well, I'll switch and just use coir for potted plants going outside. The only concern I have is the temp of the reservoir.  So far my dwc is my healthiest plant. No worries about too little or too much water, definitely better control. 

 

[Stevedesertpepper]

My yellow moruga front center and my carolina reaper rear left have a little leaf crinkle, due to overwatering I believe. But the good news is that both have set fruit. The yellow moruga has three pods and my carolina reaper has one so far, I think. I don't understand how, I have seen no evidence of pollen. Except once I though I saw a spay of pollen as I went flower to flower pollenating at noon each day. I check my finger with a magnifying glass after each flower and so far I'm at a loss. My chocolate reaper dwc is doing very well, a few leaves cover my hand completely. No open flowers yet but it has five flower buds at the first split. 

 

[Stevedesertpepper]

My jay's peach ghost scorpion is slightly overwatered but doing fine. Dropping blooms for now.

 

[Stevedesertpepper]

My yellow moruga is doing much better now. I transplanted it into a dwc, on the 19th. It didn't droop or show any signs of stress. The very next morning it showed remarkable improvement. The leaves were no longer drooping and most of the leaf crinkle was gone. I'd say inside of two weeks it will green up and be a healthy plant again. None of the six pods were lost in the process. When I removed the plant from the pot, I knocked off all the coir I could. At the time I didn't know how I was going to proceed untill I saw the roots. The roots were aprox. 16"  long, and didn't thin out as they reached the root ball. I gathered the roots together to form a 1-1/2 straight rope and twisted them slightly for better control. I took my net pot and cut a 1-1/2 hole out of the center. I put the roots through the hole, I held the rootball were I wanted and filled the net cup with clay balls. I will change the res once a week until I get rid of the coir that I couldn't knock off.

 

[Stevedesertpepper]

My carolina reaper has some leaf crinkle, but I believe the coir will dry out before it becomes an issue. So far it has only one pod.

 

[Stevedesertpepper]

My jay's peach ghost scorpion needs more light but will have to wait for the spring sun. It and the reaper will go outside in the spring. No pods yet, dropping blooms.