The Fluorescent Grow Challange...

[BakersPeppers]

Ok..So heres what I decided to grow...All seeds from you guys here on the site! I will be growing a total of 12 plants and a total of 3 varieties for this challenge Up first im going to do 4 Orange Manzano I got from OneFowl1 (Thanks buddy!). Up second im going to do 4 Trinidad Scorpion Red I got from Chad S (Thanks to you as well!). And the third set of 4 im going to do are Yellow 7 Pot that my buddy in the chat room sent me on a whim...lol from PexPeppers (Thanks to you too man!) I want everyone to know that I am truly doing another "challenge" on my own so to speak...I couldnt grow a single seed from EVERYONE for this challenge who has given to us down here at Baker's Peppers, and I didnt want anyone to feel left out! It kind of went with my tribute to all the THP members I am doing in another thread. Its my grow area im using to grow EVERY seed I have been given or paid for from the generous members on here I just so happen to be doing all Fluro's in the grow area so I was like hey lemme just get in here too Anyway...I mentioned 3 of the more than 50 generous members in this entry, but I want everyone to know, they can follow their seeds they sent me in that other grow thread as well! Thanks to everyone here on THP.com and I will keep everthing as up to date as possible. Thanks to SS and to Onefowl1 for this great challenge too!! Heres what im going to set aside in the grow area for this challenge 4 of each

 

[onefowl1]

Really? I thought the point was to compare results? Can we just delay the start for those who have yet to receive the Challenge Seeds? I mean...i dont see ANYONE'S post with pics of their starts, and I haven't put mine into the germ tray yet soooo.... Im down for a day or two delay....

Pepper-Guru at first I said no to the idea of diff types but SS did keep saying that besides doing this for fun it was to help show those new to this what is possible under florescent lights. SS had also okay'ed Ann to use other seeds if she did not get hers in time. This all being said it only made sense to grow other types to show what works and does not work over a wider range of pepper types with those who did not have seed of the strain mailed out. If you wanted to grow another type as well to the ones sent you go for it. The ten who originally signed up can still grow and be judged on the ones sent to them and we can have other types displayed on here for the benefit of all at the same time. If it was for more then fun I would agree about being stricter and I have been working on such a contest down the road just working out a few things first.

 

[onefowl1]

Here we go!! Just set my seeds in the jiffy pot so hope to have sprouts in a few days.

Here's the jiffy pot

Here's my germination booth. The contesting seeds went into the white container along with a few chinense varieties.

Here's where I am going to be growing my contesting plant. For reference that thermometer is about 7 inches.

And here's proof that I am using fluorescent lights. I am using 150 actual watts in there.

Looks good you just forgot one thing the proof by having a quarter in the pics unless I missed it.lol...

 

[pepperfever]

I know, without pics it never happened..batteries are slowly charging today. I plan to grow on bare minimum set up because I have seen a lot of growers get confused and think they needed everything under the sun to grow some peppers. I have a container that holds peat pellets but you could put them in any container and put plastic wrap on top, mine just happens to have a clear lid. No heat mat. A wire shelf in the living room to set on until it's time for the lights. No fancy grow chamber, just use what you have. You do NOT need lights until you have sprouts. You do NOT need to transplant to a larger container until the plants have a minimum of two sets of leaves, I usually wait for 3-4 sets. This may get boring for those of you who have grown peppers and know how to do it. I just thought someone should show the newbies how much fancy stuff you can get by without.

 

[gitguymertin]

Oops! Forgot the quarter! Ill snap a pic tonight after work and get it up here

 

[BakersPeppers]

Gitguymertin...lookin good good luck with your grow....

 

[Pepper-Guru]

Here we go!! Just set my seeds in the jiffy pot so hope to have sprouts in a few days.

Here's the jiffy pot

Here's my germination booth. The contesting seeds went into the white container along with a few chinense varieties.

Here's where I am going to be growing my contesting plant. For reference that thermometer is about 7 inches.

And here's proof that I am using fluorescent lights. I am using 150 actual watts in there.

Sweet! Way to go on posting one of the first setups~! Mine is coming tonight I promise before midnight! Going out to dinner in a few and grabbing a few supplies, then its on

Ok..So heres what I decided to grow...All seeds from you guys here on the site! I will be growing a total of 12 plants and a total of 3 varieties for this challenge Up first im going to do 4 Orange Manzano I got from OneFowl1 (Thanks buddy!). Up second im going to do 4 Trinidad Scorpion Red I got from Chad S (Thanks to you as well!). And the third set of 4 im going to do are Yellow 7 Pot that my buddy in the chat room sent me on a whim...lol from PexPeppers (Thanks to you too man!) I want everyone to know that I am truly doing another "challenge" on my own so to speak...I couldnt grow a single seed from EVERYONE for this challenge who has given to us down here at Baker's Peppers, and I didnt want anyone to feel left out! It kind of went with my tribute to all the THP members I am doing in another thread. Its my grow area im using to grow EVERY seed I have been given or paid for from the generous members on here I just so happen to be doing all Fluro's in the grow area so I was like hey lemme just get in here too Anyway...I mentioned 3 of the more than 50 generous members in this entry, but I want everyone to know, they can follow their seeds they sent me in that other grow thread as well! Thanks to everyone here on THP.com and I will keep everthing as up to date as possible. Thanks to SS and to Onefowl1 for this great challenge too!! Heres what im going to set aside in the grow area for this challenge 4 of each

Good stuff you're growing out! Let the indoor fun begin

Pepper-Guru at first I said no to the idea of diff types but SS did keep saying that besides doing this for fun it was to help show those new to this what is possible under florescent lights. SS had also okay'ed Ann to use other seeds if she did not get hers in time. This all being said it only made sense to grow other types to show what works and does not work over a wider range of pepper types with those who did not have seed of the strain mailed out. If you wanted to grow another type as well to the ones sent you go for it. The ten who originally signed up can still grow and be judged on the ones sent to them and we can have other types displayed on here for the benefit of all at the same time. If it was for more then fun I would agree about being stricter and I have been working on such a contest down the road just working out a few things first.

Ok. Gotcha! Just wondering. Its alllllll goooood. This is gonna be a great thread.

I know, without pics it never happened..batteries are slowly charging today. I plan to grow on bare minimum set up because I have seen a lot of growers get confused and think they needed everything under the sun to grow some peppers. I have a container that holds peat pellets but you could put them in any container and put plastic wrap on top, mine just happens to have a clear lid. No heat mat. A wire shelf in the living room to set on until it's time for the lights. No fancy grow chamber, just use what you have. You do NOT need lights until you have sprouts. You do NOT need to transplant to a larger container until the plants have a minimum of two sets of leaves, I usually wait for 3-4 sets. This may get boring for those of you who have grown peppers and know how to do it. I just thought someone should show the newbies how much fancy stuff you can get by without.

Don't worry I haven't posted yet either. But since this is more of a fun thing to show new growers how to pop seed with ease, Im sure the guys won't mind us being casually late

 

[S.S.Tupperware]

Ok... I'm back, laid tile, put up hurricane shutters and did a lil metal detecting on the beach. That said. I put my seed in at 6AM this morn. i was going to do it at 12:01, but had too many barley pops...

I soaked in warm water for a couple hours to help hydrate them, i don't know why, but I do. They seem to rehydrate just fine by themselves. I usually start all my seeds in either a zip lock, or 2 oz solo containers. I prefer to use a coffee filter so the roots don't get caught up in it. But only had napkins at the condo, so that is what I used.

I wait til I see the seed crack til i put it in either soil, or a horticube... this way I know the seed was viable before putting it in any medium. I hate planting straight in soil, and not have a good seed and wait and wait. Although I hardly every have one not germinate. Once I do get them planted up, and they sprout up to get light, i run my magic box 18/6... I know some people run 24 straight, but I believe plants need some time to rest, and get ready for the next day. I have just a small fan in there, but it stays around 80-82 or so. The box has a 1x6 top, that is where I pot up, so plenty of ventilation. But when it starts to get cooler, i will probably throw a blanket over it... put a piece of foam insulation on the bottom, and place a few stepping stones with a waterbed heater to help retain warmth. I also built another box, sealed and gasketed, so it runs 8 degs. above ambient. This one is inside, so temp won't be an issue. For those of ya who didn't get their seed, grow what ya got, but pick a fast growing variety.Onefoul1 I did find ya some red mangrove seeds washed up on the beach, their kinda past their prime, so I have them trying to recover a lil before I send them out.

 

[onefowl1]

Well I have put them in their rockwool cubes and on the heat to kick them into starting. I did not have a quarter myself after my boy cleaned me out of my change so used a penny roll or 2 quarters hehehe.
rockwool in ph neutralizer

seeding process and I have never used rockwool before this for growing.

set into the starting spot at 84 degrees f.

 

[S.S.Tupperware]

I've never tried to start in Rockwool. I like the horticubes, but they are slower than ones i pop in dirt... They tend to catch up, but defiantly start slower... Thats cool of seeing different methods, we'll see what works out in the end... Kirk Out...

 

[salsalady]

The Ingredients...

OOPS! I MEAN------ The items I'll be using~~

fiber pots from the thrift store
just bought planting mix
non-adjustable hot plate (this may get swapped out for an adjustable temp hot plate)

I put the seeds in a little dish of water, lightly covered in plastic wrap to prevent too much evaporation and stuck them infront of the heater in the basement.

I'll monitor the temp of the hot plate to see where it moderates and if necessary, swap it out for one I have that has an adjustable temp.

another pic of the lights-

PoL??? REALLY? Did I miss that? Someone tell me quick!

 

[BakersPeppers]

Ok....I managed to get my seeds in some dirt tonight on time!! Only had a couple hour warm soak before going in the soil. First I put the dry soil mix into the 6 cell mini tray....

Second I soak the soil down a bit to give it a good level of moisture....

Third I place the pre-soaked seeds on top of the layer of soil I have prepared...

Next I cover the seeds up so they are no more than a 1/2" below the surface..this is important from what I have learned And insert ID tags in each cell with a date of planting on them

The next 2 pictures are of these seeds place in the grow area...

Placed under these lights (which I just got for $50!! YAY me!!) Another T5 8 bulb 432W fixture equippied with grow tubes...18 on 6 off

So theres Day One!! Thanks to everyone for allowing me to take part in this fun challenge with all of you! Beginning to feel like part of the community just a little Are we supposed to updat daily? Or weekly (every 7 days)? Or bi-weekly (14 days)?

 

[salsalady]

updates every 5 days from what I read. And CHA for you to score that 8-lamper! Since this is to be an educational grow log as well, if you know the K of the lamps, that might be good to know. I have to update my info to include that, also.


Glad you're feeling part of the community. There's always room for more crazy chileheads~

 

[BakersPeppers]

I know right?!?! lol...what a great deal...well it cost me $50 cash and another $25 in Numex Twilight plants Your setup look really good too Salsalady! Cant wait to se how this all turns out Happy Growing!

 

[salsalady]

Happy Growing to you, too, Bakers


My set up is a total hodge-podge. And I don't even know what the proper fert ratio is when the pods are setting. We've only grown plants for 2 years and pretty much do the shot-gun scenario. Blast a bunch out, and hope something hits the mark.

I was fortunate enough to have a bunch of PVC pipe sitting around a while back when I needed to make a light support stand. Hence, the PVC with timer screwed to the post stand.

Now, I have the lights and timer, gonna spend a little to up-grade the lamps. Other than that, it's what you see.

Let's get down and dirty!

edit-
just checked temp on the hot plate and it was around 138F. Not good for seedlings etc, so tomorrow I'll drag out the other hot plate and see what kind of temps I can get.





Funny thing- in any other forum that comment would be misconstrued. But here, Y'all are gonna jump on in and say, "Oh Yea!".
I'm off to check the temps-

 

[Pepper-Guru]

Here's my germ start. Just got done dropping em in the cells and into the tray.

All ready to go...vibing next to the last harvest before the cutback on the mothers today.

This is where they will stay until they pop. Then they go in the basement under a light fixture I made. Its just a waiting game now...

 

[S.S.Tupperware]

Looks good everyone, yeah it's just a waiting game now... update all ya want, but every 5 days would be good. Quarter is not POL just for scale...

 

[Pepper-Guru]

Here's a little bit about my lighting. I had four 2x4ft bulb units in the basement, so I just threw together a pvc hanging frame and mounted them on it. This way I can move it around and raise/lower it at will to follow the sunlight around the basement throughout the winter.

I'll add some cfl's to this unit as well. Excited to see baby sprouts pop

 

[S.S.Tupperware]

Right on.... I saw your link to dirt, how true... I keep my beds filled with alage and hydrilla, the worms will eat 2 5 gallon buckets a week when it's hot. But this time of year with the shorter days, the hydrilla, lets go of the bottom, and a N NE wind will pile hundreds of pounds of it on shore, I rake out to keep the swimmin area clear, but trailer up to the beds. Seeds are happy and warm, won't be long now...

 

[Scovie]

If I may...

How many of you WON Science fairs in school?
I never did, and I could guarantee back then that this would not fascinate me, well here I am... fascinated.

Just wanted to point out a little irony in my world.

....Carry on...