Super Late Superhots

Ok, here's the deal with this Glog, I have been growing peppers for years, but not very successfully.  I often have not had as much space as I would like for peppers and this year is no different.  Also, as the title says, I am starting super late (04/18/2019), I would normally germinate in December and have moved them outdoors by now.
 
So with too little space, not enough free time, and no irrigation set up, let me introduce my
 
2019 Grow List (Seed Source - Year Harvested)
 
Carolina Reaper (Sonoran Spice - 2019)
Fatalii (Seed Saver's Exchange - 2017)
Scotch Bonnet - Foodarama Red (White Hot Peppers - 2017)
Scotch Bonnet - TFM (White Hot Peppers - 2017)
Jay's Peach Scorpion (White Hot Peppers - 2017)
7 Pot - White (White Hot Peppers - 2017)
7 Pot Brain Strain - Red (White Hot Peppers - 2017)
Big Black Mama (White Hot Peppers - 2017)
Paper Lantern (mlittle74 2017)
Thai - Prik Kee Noo (Spork 2017)
Golden Habanero (Spork 2017)
 
Most of the seeds are 2017... this is because despite starting ~70 seedlings last year, I did not succeed in getting them in the ground. I brought them outdoors to harden off and promptly forgot about them during some very warm weather.
One thing I did last year was experiment with cuttings and the results were fantastic. This is something I may still look into for this year.
 
To get started, I did 12 hours in the refrigerator followed by a 12 hour chamomile tea soak, then planted them out in a 6x12 seed starter dome with a heat mat set at 85*F.
It seems like my heater is really lax on temperature, or there is a huge amount of hysteresis caused by the volume of water vs the power rating of the heater. Either way setting it to 85 means that sometimes it will climb above 87. In my experience this is not dangerous for pepper seeds.

 
 

 

[Spork]

It has been a while since my last post, but believe me when I tell you that I haven't given up on my garden this year.
 
As you know from previous posts, I had a space issue. So the first need was to create more space, I did that using 6.6 gallon buckets (that I will call 7 gallon from here on out, because it is easier).
 
 
Step 1. Get 30 buckets:

 
Step 2. Drill drain holes (1/4") and a hole for PVC pipe (1.25") in 15 of them:
Note: Measure the OD of your PVC pipe before you drill!

 
Step3. Take the same 15 buckets and drill a 3" center hole for the 3" net pots you already have on hand

 
Step 4. Place the drilled buckets inside the un-drilled buckets, add a net pot and PVC pipe.
I think my pipe was 23" long because that is what I had on hand.

 
Step 5. Drill 1/4" holes in the outer bucket on either side of the PVC pipe, and zip-tie the PVC pipe in place
Step 6. Drill a 1/4" hole in the outer bucket on the same side as the PVC pipe, but being sure not to drill through the PVC pipe. You wan this to be drilled at the same height as the bottom of the inner bucket. I set a flashlight inside the outer bucket so I could see the drill line easily. 
(Sorry, no photos of these)

 

[Spork]

Once you have your buckets, you can mix up a boatload of soil. I used the same potting mix from my previous post.
 
Day 38 (May 26th)

 
 
Day 60 (June 17th)

 
 
Day 77 (July 4th)

 
 
Day 85 (July 12th)

 
 
Day 87 (July 14th)

 
 
Day 93 (July 20th)

 
 
 
Edit: Fix dates.

 

[Spork]

Meanwhile, I still had the planters I built a few years back to tend to.
 
I have three planters,
The first was largely unplanted and became the "lettuce planter" because I had 20+ heads of lettuce come up in it this year. All volunteers. 
The second has been rotated between herbs and vegetables, but I pulled those out to start fresh this year.
The third is the "pepper planter" still has 5 plants from previous years was pretty full, so I put some lettuce in it, then added butternut squash at the same time I started my pepper seeds this year.
 
 
 
So the second planter this year is 4 Juliette tomato plants and some squarefoot spaced peppers:

 
Day 39 (May 27th)

 
 
Day 58 (June 15th)

 
 
Day 93 (July 20th)

 
 
 
And a couple weeks later I planted out some more:

 
Day 66 (June 23rd)

 
 
Day 93 (July 20th)

 

[Mr.joe]

Late start or not your doing great. I also live in cali, but different areas for sure because I definitely get frost here. I think you are in great shape for a solid harvest

 

[Spork]

Yeah, So Cal is pretty big, lots of climates here. When I say frost: Sure, we get below 32 a few nights a year, but it has not been long enough to kill my peppers. 5 of my plants from March 2017 are still going, including a very prolific Not Choc Scorp.