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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...
Plot is all done. They're going to till it once it dries, and then I can get started shaping the damn thing to my specifications.
 
Coup said:
Plot is all done. They're going to till it once it dries, and then I can get started shaping the damn thing to my specifications.
Click to expand...
I know you were growing a ton of plants, and had even more on the way.  
 
After looking at your plot, and the surrounding vegetation it looks like you will have a rough time with weeds. 
 
My suggestion would be to till over the soil, and then wait a couple days, and re-till.   Any weeds that survived the first round will use the reserve energy to put down more roots into the tilled soil.    The second tilling should kill them outright.  
 
If you cannot put weed mat down, you can ask them about organic wood chips. 
 
Go get hardwood, non-dyed.  This would probably run about 40 bucks or more depending on your prices.  
 
 
That or you can simply crowd the plot, having canopy overlap to keep weeds from growing.  
 
 
 
So what are the terms of your plot?  Shared produce? or did you just rent it? 
 
Vicious Vex said:
I know you were growing a ton of plants, and had even more on the way.  
 
After looking at your plot, and the surrounding vegetation it looks like you will have a rough time with weeds. 
 
My suggestion would be to till over the soil, and then wait a couple days, and re-till.   Any weeds that survived the first round will use the reserve energy to put down more roots into the tilled soil.    The second tilling should kill them outright.  
 
If you cannot put weed mat down, you can ask them about organic wood chips. 
 
Go get hardwood, non-dyed.  This would probably run about 40 bucks or more depending on your prices.  
 
 
That or you can simply crowd the plot, having canopy overlap to keep weeds from growing.  
 
 
 
So what are the terms of your plot?  Shared produce? or did you just rent it? 
Click to expand...
 
I'll see what happens when it all goes down. Need to get to the tilling first.
 
The terms are just "don't be a dick" and help out in the church garden for an hour a month are how we do things. The plot is free and the tools are provided by the guy running it. Pretty sweet deal, honestly.
 
Coup said:
 
I'll see what happens when it all goes down. Need to get to the tilling first.
 
The terms are just "don't be a dick" and help out in the church garden for an hour a month are how we do things. The plot is free and the tools are provided by the guy running it. Pretty sweet deal, honestly.
Click to expand...
Sounds like a pretty good set up tbh.  I'm a little jealous.  My backyard sunlight diminishes significantly heading into fall.   Cuts out on 30% of my production. 
 
Here's the status of the indoor grow guys. This Red Hab has curled leaves at the edges and I'm not sure why - any ideas?
 
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Tepin x Lemon Drop looks great:
 
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Everything else coming along nicely.
 
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And finally, it looks like the bees got ahold of some of my plants when they were outside. Now they're producing some pods, and here is my first one that I didn't even notice; a fresno.
 
ylElUld.jpg
 
Got my seedlings potted up except for my SB7J's - the fifth one just sprouted. I like this system best - good soil on the bottom of the tray (Fox Farm) and coco coir topping to help the seedlings sprout. Works best.
 
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Some of my smaller plants not looking so hot. They need to be potted up but I can't do that.
 
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it looks like you have some symptoms of over watering going on a couple of your plants (yellowing leaves).  difficult to manage sometimes. 
 
 
The curled leaves could easily be over fertilizing the plants.  It could also be wind damage, but this being an indoor grow unless you recently moved the fan next to that particular plant, and it was far away from the fan before, really wouldn't be an issue.  
 
I'm going to go with over fertilizing as the plants also seem to have some leaf bubble, and edge curl on multiple plants.  
 
What type of ferts are you using?  I made this mistake a couple years ago and didn't dilute the solution enough and the peppers seemed to be extra sensitive.  
 
Also,  Pests?  Do you notice white flies or aphids?  Those can cause leaf curl as well in large quantities.  
 
 
You could always top your plants if you want to prevent them from potting up,  it will cause them to put more energy into leaf production rather than roots and fruit.  
 
Vicious Vex said:
it looks like you have some symptoms of over watering going on a couple of your plants (yellowing leaves).  difficult to manage sometimes. 
 
 
The curled leaves could easily be over fertilizing the plants.  It could also be wind damage, but this being an indoor grow unless you recently moved the fan next to that particular plant, and it was far away from the fan before, really wouldn't be an issue.  
 
I'm going to go with over fertilizing as the plants also seem to have some leaf bubble, and edge curl on multiple plants.  
 
What type of ferts are you using?  I made this mistake a couple years ago and didn't dilute the solution enough and the peppers seemed to be extra sensitive.  
 
Also,  Pests?  Do you notice white flies or aphids?  Those can cause leaf curl as well in large quantities.  
 
 
You could always top your plants if you want to prevent them from potting up,  it will cause them to put more energy into leaf production rather than roots and fruit.  
Click to expand...
 
I fertilized them with MaxiBloom on Saturday, which recommends once a week. Haven't since.
 
The plants I took pictures of were dry and needing water, so I watered them last night (hadn't been watered since Saturday).
 
No pests, thankfully.
 
I suppose I could try topping them - might be a good idea!
 
Coup said:
 
I fertilized them with MaxiBloom on Saturday, which recommends once a week. Haven't since.
 
The plants I took pictures of were dry and needing water, so I watered them last night (hadn't been watered since Saturday).
 
No pests, thankfully.
 
I suppose I could try topping them - might be a good idea!
Click to expand...
 
The only thing left then would be a virus,  I the only virus I know of that causes leaf bubble would be a form of fungus that attacks the plants leaves.   I know it has been really damp there recently.   Maybe try treating with a Hydrogen peroxide spray?  Just mix a couple caps of HO with water in a windex bottle and spray the foliage and/or try watering with HO/water.   
 
Vicious Vex said:
 
The only thing left then would be a virus,  I the only virus I know of that causes leaf bubble would be a form of fungus that attacks the plants leaves.   I know it has been really damp there recently.   Maybe try treating with a Hydrogen peroxide spray?  Just mix a couple caps of HO with water in a windex bottle and spray the foliage and/or try watering with HO/water.   
Click to expand...
 
I'll give it a whirl and see what happens. I am going to stretch my growing capacity a bit and pot up about 10 or so plants that really need it. If we shotgun it, we should be alright. I'll also do a soil test for pH levels, but nothing has changed about my watering schedule so they theoretically should be the same. I'll report back to you guys on my progress.
 
i mean you could start putting a couple outside if you needed room, weather seems decent enough. just bring inside if u get any freezefrost warning
 
Hey Coup, have you used those type of fabric pots before? I bought 10 of them to try out this year but haven't had a chance to transplant up to them yet.

The rest of my pots will be the black plastic nursery pots but the fabric type caught my eye. Figured I'd give them a shot.
 
Maligator said:
Hey Coup, have you used those type of fabric pots before? I bought 10 of them to try out this year but haven't had a chance to transplant up to them yet.

The rest of my pots will be the black plastic nursery pots but the fabric type caught my eye. Figured I'd give them a shot.
Click to expand...
 
GIP actually recommended them to me, so this is my first time using them! I can only attest to their use thus far, and I can say if you are using them indoors to make sure you get a tray for them that is much wider than the pots themselves - the water has a tendency to leak out the sides of the bag. Otherwise they're just fine.
 
I liked them because it'll be easier for my mother to move them around if she needs to.
 
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