Toronto 2013 Results/2014 Grow

After a short season here in Toronto I can safely say I have learned a whole lot this season about growing a subtropical plant in Canada. With our shorter growing season I noticed a lot of my super hot varieties, Carolina Reaper, Naga Viper etc. did not have time to fully mature. I started germination for 2013 on Jan 27th. I also learned the hard way about hardening off my plants. I threw them out from my nice comfy downtown condo, under their ever so fancy 5 cfl ott light to the harsh winds and cold of Lake Wilcox in Richmond Hill, to discover they sun burnt and struggled to recover *all survived (somehow.) This year was definitely harsh compared to 2012. My tomatoes, zucchini and peppers were no where near the size this year compared to last. All was well though, and with my 28 plants and 20 varsities I whipped up a decent yield and a bunch of awesome sauces. The feedback I have received from those who were brave enough to dabble into my concoctions has led me to want to go even bigger for 2014. New House, New Indoor Setup, New Garden.
 
[img]http://i.imgur.com/vmk9xI3.jpg[/img]
Germination
 

Mid Season Harvest
 
[img]http://i.imgur.com/JWVMHOI.jpg[/img]
Last Harvest (Frost & Too Much Green)
 

My Varieties 
 

What Is Left Of My Sauces
 

Winston vs Santa Fe Grande
 

My Collection
 
Last year I had a few good harvests, with the occasional friend plucking some ripe fruit to bet his mates and feel the burn. First batch weighed in at about 12lbs, second close to 30lbs of peppers. I diced and sliced them mostly to create my new found love of sauce making. 2013 was just child's play compared to my intentions for this year. I have given over 5l of sauce in small spice jars to my friends all for them wanting more, and I still have a ton of sauce left. 
 
2014 sure will bring on it's challenges. New germination/seedling setup, multiple properties 100+ plants... Let's just see how this plays out.
 

Seed Soaking 23 Varieties 
 

New Grow Closet 4'x2' Mylar Lined 4' 4 Bulb Hydrofarm t5 High Output Designer Series FLP44
 

Overwintering mother plants (Aphids are a b*****)... Reaper, Viper, Scorpion, Red Ghost, Hab, Doughlah, Fatali, Yellow Ghost

 

[Penny]

Well done...looks great!

 

[Penny]

Just looking back at your last batch of pics, have you started to move them to bigger pots yet? And hows Winston?

 

[zantrax]

I'll be moving up to bigger pots this week. I finally have the shelf space for it, the roots are getting pretty tight in the solo cups!
 
I just got the Canadian Seed Train package today so it looks like it will be a busy week for gardening 
 
Winston is a champ! He loves peppers!

 

[Penny]

Glad it got there for you...enjoy

Glad to hear that little man Winstons doing great too.

 

[Teurf]

Hey Zantrax, do you also have a grow log? You should transfer this thread to the grow log section.
 
You will notice explosion when moving to bigger pots. Mine were stalling and since I moved to 1 gals, they exploded and forked like mad.
 
It seems we have a few Canadians growers, thats kewwwl!
Teurf

 

[zantrax]

Man I had no idea that under growing hot peppers it had two subforums lol I'm one of those people that doesn't read things thoroughly. 
 
How can I move threads man?

 

[Penny]

Man I had no idea that under growing hot peppers it had two subforums lol I'm one of those people that doesn't read things thoroughly. 
 
How can I move threads man?

You'd probably have to get one of the Mods to do it for you, Pm them and just ask.

 

[zantrax]

This may sound dumb but who on here is a mod?

 

[Penny]

Go to the bottom of the main page, and in the bottom right, its says "top posters" and in there is who are the Mods on here.

 

[zantrax]

Just noticed I had some peppers growing already, this guy was tucked in the back, must have started just after the last watering a few days ago.
 
Also noticed about 10 aphids on one of my peppers, I crushed them and inspected all my other peppers and didn't find any more. I have had such bad luck with aphids, if I have an outbreak I don't know what I am going to do.
 

 

[zantrax]

The growing this year is going great. All my seeds that I started from the Canadian Seed Train and last purchase from refiningfirechles.com and Ocho Cinco have started to germinate. The seedlings that I started late which were given to me by members on THP are growing really well.
 

 

 
I have a ton of pods being produced. The peter pepper, firecracker chile, pasilla bajio, sapporo, and santa fe grande are all producing. The firecracker chilies already have pods that are starting to ripen. 
 

 

 
I ended up potting up some of my larger plants that weren't loving the solo cups. Going on a tip from one of my fellow growers I purchased 60 1 gallon plastic pots from the Bradford Farmers Co-Op for just under $20.00, the guys there are great and I am happy to have a supplier close to home. Sure beats the prices over at the box stores and online by a mile. I wish I would have known that I would have needed pots earlier this year because being a landscape contractor I had many jobs where I could have kept the pots and had more than enough but instead I ended up returning them to the garden center and now I'm spending money for new ones. 
 
I finally got around to adding a 3rd bracket for the wire shelving because it was starting to sag in the middle from all the weight and a second fan for my top shelf. It was getting pretty toasty on the upper level.
 
Also I was able to get my aphid problem under control with lady bugs that I purchased online from natural-insect-control.com
 
I am now contemplating if I should get another set of lights for the floor level for my new set. I have a guy that wants to buy 10 of my larger plants from me which may free up some space, but I know I will end up throwing a third tier in the future anyways.

 

[Penny]

Looks great!!

 

[Teurf]

This is a hell of nice little jungle you got going in there!

 

[zantrax]

Just an update on the progress so far. I put my larger plants on grow trays a while ago and while peering around under the canopy I discovered a few surprises. I am tempted to get another set of lights going for the seedlings and have 3 tiers of plants, the only thing holding me back is that spring is coming soon so it may not be worth the purchase for this season. I also scored a bunch of large grow domes and trays off a friend which is really tempting me starting germination on another batch.
 
Found a scorpion lingering in the bush.
 

 
Things are growing rather large in my jungle.
 

 
My peter peppers did some interesting cross breeding last year, they came out looking really fat or really thin, I think they crossed with the firecracker chiles I had growing
 

 
My Pasilla Bajio just hanging out.
 

 
More peppers on the way!
 

 
Ornamentals doing well
 

 

 
Santa Fe Grandes starting to ripen already.