The Pacific Northwest GLOG 2015

organic pepper · Feb 13, 2015

Update pics of 1st batch and second batch. The majority of the first batch has been topped so I can get more branching going on. I'm shooting for bushier plants this season.

17 plants topped from first batch.

Topped Pementa Da Neyde. Really like the coloration this one has.

Orange Bhut. This is 1 of several mother plants I'm going to keep.

Red Fatalii (Another Future Mother)

Star of Turkey (going to have to decide which one to eventually keep as a mother)

Some of the second batch.

Chocolate Hab. 3 wks

Moruga Scorpion at 4 wks

I'm getting ready to start a brew of EWC for 1st batch. Probably do that come Sunday. Iv'e been holding off on folar spraying calcium at the moment. Kinda waiting for steady warmer weather. My space is going to get maxed real quick and once I start the 3rd batch well, I'm going to have get even more selective in culling. I have culled over 40 so far. Just real slow growers and overall weak structures thruout the stems compared to others of that same type and age.

Cheers all!
Aaron

blorvak · Feb 13, 2015

organic pepper said:
I'm getting ready to start a brew of EWC for 1st batch. Probably do that come Sunday. Iv'e been holding off on folar spraying calcium at the moment. Kinda waiting for steady warmer weather. My space is going to get maxed real quick and once I start the 3rd batch well, I'm going to have get even more selective in culling. I have culled over 40 so far. Just real slow growers and overall weak structures thruout the stems compared to others of that same type and age.

Cheers all!
Aaron

Looking nice! How far off is dirt day in Tacoma?

Roguejim · Feb 13, 2015

Still not ferting, Aaron? Stepped up to the 600watt HPS?

organic pepper · Feb 14, 2015

blorvak said:
Looking nice! How far off is dirt day in Tacoma?

This year its been kinda weird as for temps. It's been running between 58 to 68 degrees the last week. I usually dont plant out until Mother's Day. Thats still a ways off. I'm going to probably hold off a month for the 3rd batch due to space. Space is going to be at premium once I start my companion plants for the peppers plus the wife's flowers. I'm just going to keep that date open for the time being.

Roguejim said:
Still not ferting, Aaron? Stepped up to the 600watt HPS?

Hey Jim, This will be the first for it this year. I lost a week from topping and wanted to pull them thru from that first. They just started perking back from that but need a boost. They are under the 600's MH for the last week but I'm only running them at 50% on 2 ballast which still amounts to 600 total watts. I'm bringing out on warm days over 65 deg to help them acclimate and harden off as much as I can. The roots are really starting to fill in faster than I anticipated. Hoping I dont have to pot up just yet which is why I'm going to start feeding them.
The Pic really dose not show how tight the root ball feels. Its getting pretty solid. These are in 6" trade pots.

Roguejim · Feb 14, 2015

organic pepper said:
This year its been kinda weird as for temps. It's been running between 58 to 68 degrees the last week. I usually dont plant out until Mother's Day. Thats still a ways off. I'm going to probably hold off a month for the 3rd batch due to space. Space is going to be at premium once I start my companion plants for the peppers plus the wife's flowers. I'm just going to keep that date open for the time being.

Hey Jim, This will be the first for it this year. I lost a week from topping and wanted to pull them thru from that first. They just started perking back from that but need a boost. They are under the 600's MH for the last week but I'm only running them at 50% on 2 ballast which still amounts to 600 total watts. I'm bringing out on warm days over 65 deg to help them acclimate and harden off as much as I can. The roots are really starting to fill in faster than I anticipated. Hoping I dont have to pot up just yet which is why I'm going to start feeding them.
The Pic really dose not show how tight the root ball feels. Its getting pretty solid. These are in 6" trade pots.

20150213_2045491.jpg

Tell me something Aaron, I'm running into a "room" problem, i.e., indoors. I'm covering a 4x4 area with a single 400 watt HPS. Do you think I could expand to 4x5, or even 5x5?

KevinH · Feb 14, 2015

5 days and I have tap roots starting to poke thru.. Pics later today.

organic pepper · Feb 14, 2015

Roguejim said:
Tell me something Aaron, I'm running into a "room" problem, i.e., indoors. I'm covering a 4x4 area with a single 400 watt HPS. Do you think I could expand to 4x5, or even 5x5?

The 400 watt HPS usually covers a 4x4 area. You can push that though if need be while the plant are small. You may have to rotate plants. Once the plants gets bigger and bushier though you may have a different issue with light penetration into the canopy. Another option can be to add supplemental light on the edges. I bought these at walmart for around $5. They clip on or you can hang them.

Roguejim · Feb 14, 2015

organic pepper said:
The 400 watt HPS usually covers a 4x4 area. You can push that though if need be while the plant are small. You may have to rotate plants. Once the plants gets bigger and bushier though you may have a different issue with light penetration into the canopy. Another option can be to add supplemental light on the edges. I bought these at walmart for around $5. They clip on or you can hang them.

20150214_0836411.jpg

What type/watt bulb would you put in that?

organic pepper · Feb 15, 2015

Roguejim said:
What type/watt bulb would you put in that?

I just use some 13 watt flourescent bulbs in the past, but you can get them at higher watts if need be. I bought some higher watt bulbs from a grow shop once, I think it was a 100 watt flourescent bulb or something like that but the cost was like $35 per bulb. It work ok but in my opinion was not worth it for cost verse output. Its just supplemental lighting should you need it. I think they got those new outdoor flourenscent type spot lights but I really have not look at them to see what type of lighting they produce and such. Might not be a bad idea to take a look see if you are around a hardware store or homedepo and such. I understand they all carry them these days,

KevinH · Feb 15, 2015

Is anyone besides me in Salem, Oregon??

Roguejim · Feb 15, 2015

Group shot of the basement grow. 38 plants. Small center plants in Solo cups will be either given away, or dumped. 29 more seeded for Round #2. Bottom line: I was unable to reduce the total number of plants from last season. By the time I buy a few plants from the Grange, I'll be right back where I started. On a surprise note, I received permission to purchase an additional 400 watt HPS, or halide light. I'm going to attempt to sell a few plants next season, locally.

FGpepperguy · Feb 16, 2015

Coming along.... slowly.

organic pepper · Feb 16, 2015

Roguejim said:
Group shot of the basement grow. 38 plants. Small center plants in Solo cups will be either given away, or dumped. 29 more seeded for Round #2. Bottom line: I was unable to reduce the total number of plants from last season. By the time I buy a few plants from the Grange, I'll be right back where I started. On a surprise note, I received permission to purchase an additional 400 watt HPS, or halide light. I'm going to attempt to sell a few plants next season, locally.

Looking awesome Jim! Having that extra 400 watt light will be rightous.

FGpepperguy said:
Coming along.... slowly.

20150216_154409746_iOS.jpg

Alright Goat, I see you have culled some. Looking good brother.

Roguejim · Feb 16, 2015

FGpepperguy said:
Coming along.... slowly.

20150216_154409746_iOS.jpg

How long ago did you plant? Looks like about 70 plants?

organic pepper said:
Looking awesome Jim! Having that extra 400 watt light will be rightous.

Alright Goat, I see you have culled some. Looking good brother.

Aaron, I'm going to reconsider the added 400 watt HPS for this season, and try something else.

On hand, I have 3-dual bulb T-8 fluoro ballasts. How large of an area will this cover? If I want to cover another 4x4 area, will they suffice, or, would you recommend additional lighting? What type of additional lighting (not LED), if necessary? I will be posting this in the Grow Tech forum, too. Thanks. Maybe, we should continue it there, if you don't mind.

EDIT: http://thehotpepper.com/topic/53170-lighting-options-for-covering-a-4x4-area-led-t8-replacement-bulbs/?p=1119032

FGpepperguy · Feb 16, 2015

54 plants. Another 7 are in 4 inch pots. I planted in early Jan, but then I want to Israel and some didn't make it. Had to restart. The annuum and baccatum will be planted in a few weeks.

organic pepper · Feb 16, 2015

Roguejim said:
Aaron, I'm going to reconsider the added 400 watt HPS for this season, and try something else.

On hand, I have 3-dual bulb T-8 fluoro ballasts. How large of an area will this cover? If I want to cover another 4x4 area, will they suffice, or, would you recommend additional lighting? What type of additional lighting (not LED), if necessary? I will be posting this in the Grow Tech forum, too. Thanks. Maybe, we should continue it there, if you don't mind.

EDIT: http://thehotpepper.com/topic/53170-lighting-options-for-covering-a-4x4-area-led-t8-replacement-bulbs/?p=1119032

The 3 dual bulb T-8 Flouro's should work just fine. Continuing it here works as well.

Roguejim · Feb 16, 2015

organic pepper said:
The 3 dual bulb T-8 Flouro's should work just fine. Continuing it here works as well.

I wonder how much growth I will get compared with the 400-watt HPS? Will the plants end up 1/2 the size...?

The bottom line is: Can I get comparable growth to a 400-watt HPS from another type of light, for less $$ on my electric bill? I'm betting, no.

organic pepper · Feb 16, 2015

Roguejim said:
I wonder how much growth I will get compared with the 400-watt HPS? Will the plants end up 1/2 the size...?

The bottom line is: Can I get comparable growth to a 400-watt HPS from another type of light, for less $$ on my electric bill? I'm betting, no.

The 400 watt HPS will definately give you better growth. It's the lumen's and intensity thats hitting your plant that gives you that vigorous growth. Floro's come nowhere near that. They are great for starting seedlings and small plants and use as supplemental lighting but hands down HID lights are the way to go. There are lighting calculators online to help figure out cost for running HID lights. It was spot on for me. I'm running MH bulbs which is not as cost effective as the HPS bulbs. I dont think you can get what your looking for less $$ on you electric bill without putting out big $$ for more expensive equipment. Hope the info below helps.

250w HPS 33,000
400w HPS 55,000
600w HPS 95,000
1000w HPS 140,00 these are the lumen counts approximately for each wattage:wave: Here's some extra info on lighting.

Metal Halide – MH
Metal halide bulbs produce an abundance of light in the blue spectrum. This color of light promotes plant growth and is excellent for green leafy growth and keeping plants compact. It is the best type of light to be used as a primary light source (if no or little natural sunlight is available). The average lifespan is about 10,000 cumulative hours. The bulb will light up beyond this time but due to the gradual decline of light, it is not worth your while to wait for the bulb to finally burn out. If you compare their lumen (brightness) per unit of energy consumed, metal halides produce up to 125 lumens per watt compared to 39 lumens per watt with fluorescent lights and 18 lumens per watt for standard incandescent bulbs.

High Pressure Sodium – HPS
High pressure sodium bulbs emit an orange-red glow. This band of light triggers hormones in plants to increase flowering/budding in plants. They are the best lights available for secondary or supplemental lighting (used in conjunction with natural sunlight). This is ideal for greenhouse growing applications.
Not only is this a great flowering light, it has two features that make it a more economical choice. Their average lifespan is twice that of metal halides, but after 18,000 hours of use, they will start to draw more electricity than their rated watts while gradually producing less light. HPS bulbs are very efficient. They produce up to 140 lumens per watt. Their disadvantage is they are deficient in the blue spectrum. If a gardener were to start a young plant under a HPS bulb, she/he would see impressive vertical growth. In fact, probably too impressive. Most plants would grow up thin and lanky and in no time you will have to prune your plant back before it grows into the light fixture. The exception to this is using a HPS light in a greenhouse. Sunlight is high in the blue spectrum which would offset any stretching caused by HPS bulbs.
HID Light Efficiency

One 1000 watt HPS bulb puts out as much light as 111 incandescent 100 watt bulbs. One 400 watt MH bulb puts out as much light as 20 fluorescent 40 watt tubes

HID Light Output

Primary Growing Area Supplemental Growing Area

100 watts 2′ x 2′ 3′ x 3′

250 watts 3′ x 3′ 4′ x 4′

400 watts 4′ x 4′ 6′ x 6′

600 watts 6′ x 6′ 8′ x 8′

1000 watts 8′ x 8′ 12′ x 12′

bpwilly · Feb 16, 2015

Jim,

Let me add my 2 cents here. A 400 watt bulb will help, but you can also accomplish the task with lower cost T8 lights and save a bundle in the process. You just need to keep the lights close to the plants and if they grow at different rates, you just need to move the plants around so you can get them lined up by height so you can arrange the lights as best as you can.

If you were going to grow the plants all summer inside, then a HPS or MH light is what you would want, but just to keep them growing until you get to plant out, you can accomplish it with Florescent bulbs.

I have started all my plants on (multiple) 4 foot 2 bulb light fixtures the past 3 years and I have a lot less invested than what I have spent on MH/HPS lights for other crops! Plus the floro bulbs do not put out the heat the MH/HPS lights will.

Just something to think about before you spend some cash. Right now I have (4) double bulb fixtures (wally world specials) covering a 4 foot by 4 foot area and they should be fine up until I plant out sometime this spring. Granted I will need more room and lights added as the plants get potted up as they grow, but for the next few months they should be all the light the plants need.

organic pepper said:
The 400 watt HPS will definately give you better growth. It's the lumen's and intensity thats hitting your plant that gives you that vigorous growth. Floro's come nowhere near that. They are great for starting seedlings and small plants and use as supplemental lighting but hands down HID lights are the way to go.

OP, Not trying to be contrary to your advice, as you have some good figures there, just trying to share my experience with starting peppers inside.

organic pepper · Feb 16, 2015

bpwilly said:
Jim,

Let me add my 2 cents here. A 400 watt bulb will help, but you can also accomplish the task with lower cost T8 lights and save a bundle in the process. You just need to keep the lights close to the plants and if they grow at different rates, you just need to move the plants around so you can get them lined up by height so you can arrange the lights as best as you can.

If you were going to grow the plants all summer inside, then a HPS or MH light is what you would want, but just to keep them growing until you get to plant out, you can accomplish it with Florescent bulbs.

I have started all my plants on (multiple) 4 foot 2 bulb light fixtures the past 3 years and I have a lot less invested than what I have spent on MH/HPS lights for other crops! Plus the floro bulbs do not put out the heat the MH/HPS lights will.

Just something to think about before you spend some cash. Right now I have (4) double bulb fixtures (wally world specials) covering a 4 foot by 4 foot area and they should be fine up until I plant out sometime this spring. Granted I will need more room and lights added as the plants get potted up as they grow, but for the next few months they should be all the light the plants need.

OP, Not trying to be contrary to your advice, as you have some good figures there, just trying to share my experience with starting peppers inside.

Hey, no problem pal, this is the best way to learn. Input from all sources who have tried other things that worked is always valuable information.