Trent's 2014 Grow Log - COLD COLD COLD

Figure I'll keep track 2014 on here. At least then all my data will be in one place instead of scattered around on slips of paper.
 
First; PSA.
 
I'll *never* use the Jiffy starting pods / soil again.
 
I lost 95% of the plants in these two trays:
 

 
The roots wouldn't form. They couldn't get any nutrients out of the soil, whatsoever, and tried to suck what they could from the layers of paper. 
 
Burpee trays with compressed peat were planted 3 weeks later and within 3 weeks were quadruple in size.
 
Finished transplanting all sprouts on Saturday (4-5-2014).
 

 

 
I might lose a couple transplants but here's the current count (all in 3" paper cups)
 
7 pod Barrackpore - qty 6
7 pod Brain Strain, Yellow - qty 5 
7 pod Brain Strain, Red - qty 11
7 pod Chaguanas - qty 7
7-pod Jonah - qty 4
7-pod Long - qty 11
7-pod Original Red - qty 7
7-pod Primo - Qty 3
 
Bhut Jolokia (brown) - Qty 2
Bhut Jolokia (indian carbon) - qty 6
Bhut Jolokia (red) - qty 9
Bhut Jolokia (yellow) - qty 7
Bhut Jolokia (white) - qty 6
 
Brown Moruga - qty 6
 
Carolina reaper - qty 23
 
Cayenne (Sweet) - qty 3
Cayenne (large) - qty 6
Chili de Abrol - qty 10
 
True Cumari - qty 1
 
Datil - qty 3
 
Dedo De Moca - qty 3
 
Dorset Naga - qty 3
 
Fatali, Yellow - qty 4
 
Giant mexican Rocoto - qty 4
 
Goats weed - qty 3
 
Habanero (big sun) - qty 8
Habanero (chocolate) - all died / no sprouts
Habanero (orange) - qty 4
 
Jalapeno (black) - qty 8 
Jalapeno (early) - qty 14
Jalapeno (giant) - qty 15
 
Mako Akokosrade - qty 3
 
Naga Morich (orig) - qty 6
Naga Morich (monster naga) - qty 3
Naga morich (bombay morich) - qty 6
 
Pimenta de Neyde - qty 3
 
Tobago (seasoning) - all died
 
Tobago Scotch Bonnet (red) - qty 3
Tobago Scotch Bonnet (yellow) - qty 5
 
Trinidad Scorpion (butch T) - qty 8
Trinidad Scorpion (Cardi) - qty 4
Trinidad scorpion (douglah) - qty 3
Trinidad scorpion Moruga - qty 7
Trinidad scorpion (orig) - qty 3
Trinidad scorpion (PI 281317) - qty 3
Trinidad Scorpion (smooth) - qty 1
Trinidad Scorpion (yellow) - qty 4
 
PI 281429 - qty 1
 
surviving overwinters in large pots:
 
7-Pod (orig) - qty 1
Bhut Jolokia (red) - qty 2
Bhut Jolokia (giant) - qty 1
Yellow Bhut jolokia - qty 2
Carolina Reaper - qty 4
Cayenne - qty 1
habanero (golden) - qty 3
habanero (tazmanian) - qty 3
Naga morich - qty 1
naga Viper - qty 2
Trinidad Scorpion - qty 1
Butch-T Trinidad - qty 2
Trinidad scorpion moruga - qty 3
Yatsufusa - qty 1
Scotch Bonnet (red) - qty 1 (sole 2012 survivor)
 
Total 3" pot transplants: 264
Total overwinters surviving: 28
 
 

 

[TrentL]

Hmm. Thunderstorms today. Trying to figure out what to do with my overwinters... don't want the pots to get flooded since I'm fighting root crud on a few. Finally starting to get those three dried out....
 
Wish I had a greenhouse.
4/21/2014 grow updates (pics)
 
Giant Jalapeno living up to it's name. Tallest pepper plant in my arsenal at the moment. I had to pick some buds off of the annums today; and many are forking.

 
7-Pot Long/Large, also living up to it's name...

 
Large Cayenne - forked and budding

 
Another large Cayenne - you can see the forks well formed at this point;

 
7-pot (original)

 
Early Jalapeno

 
Tobago Scotch bonnet (red)

 
Habanero, Big Sun

 
Dedo de Moca

 
Carolina Reaper

 
Need a bump please!
Also really wishing I'd remembered to clean the lens of my cell phone camera before taking these.. they're hazy.
 
But tracking growth is important.. professional grade photos is not lol.

 

[Pagonis]

bump!

 

[TrentL]

Gracias!
 
Yellow Brain Strain 

 
Pimento De Neyde (mine don't have dark leaves.. but they have purplish stalks)

 
Monster Naga

 
PI281429 (This is looking REAL healthy!)

 
Another 7-pot long - every one of these has grown enormous compared to other 7-pots

 
7-Pot Barrackpore

 
Goats Weed

 
Datil & Brown Moruga

 
Giant Mexican Rocoto

 
Tray full of Carolina Reapers I'll need to up-pot soon...

 
One more bump please!

 

[Nulle]

bump

 

[TrentL]

Sweet! Thank you!

Tray full of various "Nagas" (Dorset Naga, naga morich, monster naga, etc)
 
These will need a repotting soon too... going to run out of room quick in a week or two. Don't think I can hold them in these small paper / peat cups until plant out, that's still 3-4 weeks out.

 
Trinidad Moruga Scorpions

 
Chili de Abrol (Planning at least half a row of these as a base for pizza flake)

 
Black Jalapenos (these were HOT... the parent died this winter, but I had two pure self-pollinated pods so these should run true)

 
"overflow tray" - various scorpions and bhuts / etc. You can tell the ones I started out in the Jiffy starting soil; they were runted.(Lost about 80% of those...)

 
 
Tray of various Annums; giant and early jalapeno, large & sweet cayenne

 
Habaneros and Scotch Bonnets. (Question on this later...)

 
Another couple of overflow trays:

 

 
Tray of 7-pots:

 
One last bump please! Then I have a question about "yellow" and "white" varieties...

 

[Nulle]

bump

 

[TrentL]

Thank you! 
 
Trinidad Tray:
 

 
Bhut Jolokia tray;

 
some more overflow and a few flowers I'm growing for my daughters;

 
If the peppers don't consume the grow room soon, these tomatoes sure as heck will. They need up-potted to #2 or #3...

 
And finally that H2O2 experiment. This is the scotch bonnet that was dying of root-rot, which I flushed with a full gallon of 3% hydrogen peroxide a week ago. Showing signs of life finally!

 
 
Now for that question on yellow/white varieties...
 
The yellow / white varieties of plants are showing VERY pale leaves on new growth. Whitish / yellowish mixed with the green. (You can see some of this in the photos above).
 
Is this normal or are they suffering from some sort of nute deficiency???
 
(Also, the red brain strains are ALSO showing this striking yellowing on new growth.. concerns me.)

 

[TrentL]

Also (so I can keep track of it!) I hit them with 50% 12-4-8 last night - some are already podding up which isn't want I want right now. Will do 50% again in a week (april 28) if they seem to be OK, then 100% two weeks later (May 12). Before final plant out late may (looking at may 24th and/or 25th as dirt day) I'll dose 'em again with 12-8-8.

 

[Jeff H]

Looking good Trent.

 

[TrentL]

Close up of the white/yellow plants - still trying to find out if the yellow / mottled leaves are normal for that variety or if this is is a nutrient issue. (Find it hard to believe it would ONLY happen to those since they are all cared for equally.. but won't rule it out..)
 

 
Red bhut on left, yellow bhut on right:

 
Close up of leaf discoloration:

 
 
Also the results of another experiment.
 

 
Bottom two were planted 2-8-2014 in Jiffy starting mix. They were stunted and stalled out. On transplant I knocked as much of that crap mix off as I could and went to miracle grow potting soil.
 
Top left and right (6" pot) was planted 2-28-2014 (20 days later) in burpee peat pods. They were transplanted the same day as the others using miracle grow soil. The right one really took off fast and was moved to a 6" pot  in shults potting soil.
 
Starting another experiement - two brown morugas of identical size. One got moved to a 6" pot today in Shults soil (still had the miracle grow 3" cup soil, but peat pot was removed). The other will stay in the peat pot. Will track their growth; I suspect the transplanted one will take off rapidly in the larger pot while the other will stall out.
 

 

[Devv]

Nice looking plants Trent! My question is where are you going to put all of them?
 
I see a jungle in the making for sure.
 
I noticed the whites and yellows don't grow as green, and are more sensitive to light. But I did run into a batch of later planted plants that seems really slow and yellow. After I transplanted them they took off, I'm guessing a bad batch of MG potting soil. Pretty much that's all I can get my hands on around here. Could be too much water, but the weight of the pots compared to others would tell that story.

 

[TrentL]

No, same weight, same bag of potting soil... same amount of moisture in the soil. I've had them mixed in trays with others and it's just those specific varieties acting up - across the board. ALL of the whites and yellows are doing it (plus the red brain strains).
 
I *do* have the CFL lights a couple inches off the plants. Doesn't seem to be bothering any of the other ones... but maybe those white/yellow varieties are more sensitive? I'll try moving them to a less bright area and see if they green back up. Heat isn't an issue (nice thing about CFL's!)
 
As far as where I'm going to put them all.. man I just don't know. I have room for 87 in the ground (maybe an even 100 if I pack in the annums tighter).
 
I've already *got* 28 overwinters still surviving in pots from 6" through 19". 
I *did* maintain 40 plants in 6" pots for the entire duration of last year (many of those became my overwinters). While they got horribly root bound and needed constant doctoring with nutrients they all survived until the fall when I did final selection and brought 30 in for overwinters. (had 2 additional survivors from 2012 still potted up that also came back in).
 
I have 61 varieties right now including overwinters and new sprouts... another local guy contacted me and we're going to do some horse swapping since we grew a LOT of different types... which will probably bring me north of 70 species... 
 
So man I dunno. If I plant one of each in the ground I'll have very little duplication. Maintaining 60 big pots would be a nightmare. 30 will be bad enough.
 
Kind of bit off more than I can chew this year. My wife said it's OK if I extend the garden a little - but by "a little" she means I can increase rows an additional 2 foot out.
 
Shit, I may just plant a HEDGE of annums along the driveways or something. "Jalapeno row!"
 
In all seriousness ... I had a few perennials die off due to the exceptionally hard winter we had this year, and I *might* plant some of them out strictly as ornamentals to replace them. E.g. where I used to have jacobs ladder in the rock garden, now I have Pimenta de Neyde or Black jalapenos or something.

 

[Devv]

Well you're certainly hitting them hard with nutes, so hopefully that should bring around. Mine have been yellowish in the garden, cool spring this year. I've been hitting them with half doses of 6-12-6. Finally seeing the results.

 

[TrentL]

Yeah I wasn't going to hit them with nutes yet - was going to wait another 2 weeks - but the larger ones started getting pale. So I figured what the heck.
 
I'd hit them a few weeks ago (after transplant) with 50% diluted 4-12-8 to encourage root development. Good grief did that work. The root systems are growing strong.
 
Problem is that also encouraged a lot of the annums to bloom early. I pinched those buds off. 7 weeks old and blooming already .. couldn't believe it. Last year they didn't form their first buds until week 10/11 - when I started hardening them off. 
 
I'm using a LOT more light this year than I did last year though, they're growing much faster!

 

[TrentL]

Took a short video of the room. Easier to see set up this way than through static pictures.
 
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=737287442968855&l=4225124485979904351

 

[TrentL]

Crap, went two pages without a gun pic.
 
SCAR17S. 
 

 
Staying with the FN theme... PS90
 

 
My UK Vz. 59

 
And going back further in history my Swiss K31

 

[cypresshill1973]

Beautiful arms ... You should spend your paycheck on ammunition ... These animals want food!

 

[TrentL]

And a family pic.
 
Teaching my daughter Zen to fish.
 

 

[Penny]

Great pics and updates Trent.....those plants all look amazing!!

 

[TrentL]

Comparing how they did last year:
 

 
To this year:
 

 
They're looking MUCH better than they did last April!!!!

Last spring they got all long, and lanky, and just weren't particularly healthy looking.
 
I'm using double the light.. plus I enclosed the area and kept an enclosed oil heater running - heat varied from 80-95F in the room for the entire grow. I also added the oscillating fan.