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Texas Indoor Grow (First Time Growing)

Hey guys.
 
I'm brand new to the field of pepper growing. My brother and I live together and we're both big pepper guys and love hot, spicy food. The idea just sort of came to me one day to grow our own peppers, and it all just sort of stuck. 
 
In all honestly I've been looking for a hobby after my recent divorce and this one just sort of stuck with me. I've grown some basil in the past but wasn't very knowledgeable about growing plants (hurr durr, just water it and it grows). I did my research this time, looked up advice from indoor growers, and started my search for all the right stuff I'd need.
 
I love tending to my plants, but I gotta be honest guys, they don't look too hot (pun not intended). I'll give you the rundown on when I started up and the specifics of my peppers.
 
I ordered these varieties from TomatoGrowers.com, which some other pepper growers used. 
 
  • Rocotillo
  • Bhut Jolokia
  • Red Thick Cayenne
  • Caribbean Red
  • Cajun Belle
Here are others I got from the generosity of my fellow pepper heads:
  • Gold Cayenne
  • Orange Thai
  • Fresno
  • Jamaican Hot Chocolate
  • Chocolate Scotch Bonnet
  • PDN x Bhut
  • Red Savina
  • Tepin x Lemon Drop
  • Yellow Fatali
  • Chocolate Habanero
  • Sweet Rocoto
  • Chocolate Brain Strain
The company also threw in some free tomato seeds for a purchase over $20, so I got some Red Rose Tomatoes growing as well. I live in an apartment, and we have no way to keep plants outside. Thankfully we have a large sun room that gets both east and southern sun through large windows, and for a time it was my main spot for the peppers before the cloudy days set in. This is what the setup looks like at the present moment.
 
Let's talk soil composition - I have one part potting soil mix, one part coco peat, and almost a part vermiculite. Threw out the old mixture for various reasons. Right now I am rolling with an organic seed starting mix instead.
 
Fertilizer - I use a mixture of two parts bone meal, one part potash, and one part urea (though I've only fertilized today, the 27th).
 
Lighting - I have two 85W fluorescent bulbs lighting them from 6AM to 10PM, but after being advised this might not be enough light I ordered two 105W fluorescent bulbs. In the future I am thinking of experimenting with LEDs, namely the 10W dual ones I can find for a reasonable price on Amazon. 400W HPS bulb, purchased from our very own PexPeppers.
 
Here are the peppers in question:
 
Rocotillo
Bhut Jolokia
Red Thick Cayenne
Caribbean Red
Cajun Belle
Red Rose Tomato
 
When I first planted I put two seeds in each cup, but then after a week or so I decided to add a third cup with a single seed in the middle. I've been tracking germination processes and the like, and placed it all on this handy Google Docs spreadsheet anyone can view. As you can see, for the majority I planted them on October 7 and the first germinated and sprouted on the 13th.
 
So, let's look at our problem plants shall we? Here are some closeups of the offenders:
 
Rocotillo Closeup: This is the saddest of them all, the leaves small and curled up, very dark green / almost brown.
Bhut Jolokia Closeup: Small leaves, brown spots on them as you can tell.
Cayenne Closeup: Some variety in shape here - one droops down and the other springs up. The stunted one I had to shed some kind of cap off.
Caribbean Red Closeup: Not much going on here, they look pretty healthy to me although small for being the first ones to sprout.
Cajun Belle Closeup: Again, some browning on the edges of the leaves like the Bhut Jolokia.
Tomato Closeup: Stems are long, but have stunted, and the leaves not as full as before.
 
So far this has been my routine with watering the plants: water once every two or three days, checking for soil dampness as needed (sometimes I can go three days before they need water, other times only two). 
 
If you guys have any tips or advice for getting these sad puppies off the ground I would be very thankful - I am not super knowledgeable even though I feel as though I have done my homework. There is a ton, and I mean a ton, of conflicting information about growing peppers (indoors or outdoors), but I know everyone has their own successes and failures and know what works best for them. Ray from the Praxxus channel on YouTube has been a huge inspiration in getting starting with growing because of his friendly Mr. Rogers attitude and great advice. 
 
Let me know what you guys think, and I hope to keep cataloging this experience for a long, long time. If you'd like to see the entire album here it is!
 
Click to expand...
On a positive note, here is one of Juanitos chocolate brain strains producing some nice pods:
 
ukQcdGu.jpg
 
Well here we are again, this time we got more rain though not a stinking ton of it. My plot still isn't dry - even after five days of sunshine and 80 degree weather, it was still muddy or damp. This is the state of the right side of the garden:
 
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These peppers look pretty much done for. I'm just waiting to see what happens to them over time. Meanwhile on the left side...
 
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Doing alright - some are already producing quite a few pods, namely the fresnos.
 
If you look to my left, you'll see our neighborhood biology and chemistry professor's four plots of super freaking awesomesauce:
 
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Also this White Fatalii has had leaf curl since as far as I can remember. What's the deal here? Hit her with CalMag and even some fertilizer - healthy stem and big plant, but curly leaves.
 
wvWk5H4.jpg
 
Wee woo wee woo pepper hospital, accepting patients! Raised bed garden with great drainage to help these poor overwatered saps recover.
 
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Meanwhile at the resort, the rest of the peppers are doing just fine.
 
O2EnDO3.jpg
 
N8thaniel said:
could the curl be light stress?
Click to expand...
 
GIP informed me this is just the way this particular bunch of White Fataliis looked, so I'll take him at his word. Apparently they are pretty productive.
 
We've been moving pretty much all of last week and finally moved all the heavy stuff on the weekend. Plants did not like the move nor being without light for too long, but I finally got it all set up.
 
fdSphe9.jpg

 
The plants in the middle there are going to start being hardened off to go out to the garden. My seedlings are going to probably be planted here at the new house.
 
Coup said:
 
GIP informed me this is just the way this particular bunch of White Fataliis looked, so I'll take him at his word. Apparently they are pretty productive.
 
We've been moving pretty much all of last week and finally moved all the heavy stuff on the weekend. Plants did not like the move nor being without light for too long, but I finally got it all set up.
 
fdSphe9.jpg

 
The plants in the middle there are going to start being hardened off to go out to the garden. My seedlings are going to probably be planted here at the new house.
Click to expand...
 
What was the source of your white fatalii seeds?
 
I'm growing about 50 plants and 2 of them are white fatalii using seeds from buckeye pepper.  The 2 white fataliis exhibit the same upward leaf curl as yours and they're in the same soil/environment and feeding/watering schedule as the other ~48ish plants that do not curl at all so I concluded it must be something genetic.
 
Time for an update!
 
Take a look at the pepper garden guys, but this time I need some diagnostics:
 
[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wB68r53kEpI[/media]
 
 
dubG said:
 
What was the source of your white fatalii seeds?
 
I'm growing about 50 plants and 2 of them are white fatalii using seeds from buckeye pepper.  The 2 white fataliis exhibit the same upward leaf curl as yours and they're in the same soil/environment and feeding/watering schedule as the other ~48ish plants that do not curl at all so I concluded it must be something genetic.
Click to expand...
 
I got mine from one of our folks here, GIP. I think he got them from Pepper Lover, can't remember - he showed me pictures of them last grow season and they were very productive.
 
I also took some shots of the leaf crinkle at my folks' house with the peppers I gave them. Vex says it's likely water stress:
 
3nIRR2u.jpg

 
izU6ofD.jpg

 
Fi5OwIp.jpg
 
i'd say since you have multiple plants / varieties all leaf curling there is a problem.
 
seems pretty indicative of calcium / magnesium issue or ph, but since this is soil we won't worry about the ph.
a one time fert with calmag water will not do very much as it will just get leached away.
i'd advise you just get some slow release supplement like lime.
 
Limed the garden in all the right places, which seems to have diminished leaf curl on all but the most serious ones afflicted (looking at you, Satan's Kiss). I got new blood in the garden, freshly hardened off to the outdoors - the main characteristic always being the enormous leaves compared to their younger counterparts.
 
3KmYBSW.jpg

 
geaxiNA.jpg

 
I also emptied out the pepper hospital with a 50% survival rate - half were toast, and the other half were doing great but the garden was overrun with weeds. I had to clear them out, and decided I would take them home instead. I have plans for my home garden, so we'll see how she does.
 
If you want to see the peppers up close, check out the video update:
 
[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbuoxebnFCE[/media]
 
And finally, I ordered five more varieties of tomato to grow in my backyard, mostly for my dad - he loves juicy, acidic tomatoes, and I want to enjoy them myself quite a lot. I figure I will give these more TLC than I gave my original ones, which I stunted in their small pots for too long.
 
5b6LQa4.png
 
Here are my hospital patients - six survivors. I kept one of the SB7Js and the smaller Peach Bhut here. I'll plant them here at my home garden.
 
PeVIkwY.jpg

 
And here is the indoor garden...
 
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Been harvesting quite a few from this one for a while:
 
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