Turbo 2015 Pepper Growing: Keeping It Simple (Stupid)

I've been procrastinating a bit this year, and just got around to starting my seed germination.  Last year, I picked just a few varieties and grew 4-6 plants of each variety.  I realized that if a plant does well, one plant would give me more than enough peppers, so this year I decided to go the other way.  I'm growing 17 varieties, but only 1-2 plants per variety, with the exception of Maule's Cayenne which I'm growing 6 plants (I never have enough cayennes).

My final grow list for 2015:

• Aji Lemon (2) - seeds from plants given to me by BPWilly
• Aji Pinapple  (1) - seeds from pods I got from Jusplayn
• Aji Cito (1) - http://pepperlover.c...aji-cito-detail
• Aji Peruvian (1) - http://pepperlover.c...peruvian-detail
• Aji Panca (1) - http://pepperlover.c...í-Panca-detail
• Aji Verde (1) - http://pepperlover.c...i-290983-detail
• Brazilian Starfish (1) - seeds from pods I got from Jusplayn
• Yellow Fatalii (2) - seeds from plants given to me by BPWilly
• White Fatalii (1) - http://pepperlover.c...talii-pl-detail
• Trinidad Scotch Bonnet (2) - seeds from plants given to me by BPWilly
• MOA (1) - seeds from plants given to me by BPWilly
• Congo Trinidad (1) - seeds from plants grown from seeds I got from kentishman
• Morouga Red Habanero (2) - http://pepperlover.c...epper-sr-detail
• Cheiro Roxa (1) - http://pepperlover.c...iro-roxa-detail
• Caribbean Red Habanero (1) -
• Yellow Scotch Bonnet (1) -
• Maule's Cayenne (6) - my seeds

I'm also taking a different approach to growing this year.  KISS, or keeping it simple (stupid).  Last year I played around with a lot of "stuff": germinate seeds in coffee filters vs paper towels, mixed my own soil for each transplant, topping, trimming leaves, cutting early buds off, different kinds of pots once the plants are outside, etc.  This year I'm gonna try and make the process as simple as possible.  I'm just soaking the seeds over night in water then putting them in peat pods for germination.  I'm using Fox Farm's products for soil.  No topping, trimming, or pinching.  And all peppers are going in raised beds.  We'll see how the simple method works for me.
 
All my seeds soaking over night.  I have a germination heat pad, with a towel on top of it, and the seed tray on the towel so the seeds don't get too warm

 
Here is the germination pod try I'm going to try this year

 
I know I said I was going to try and keep things simple, but I couldn't help myself when I saw this.  Its a thermometer / humidity reader for the germination tray.  Hopefully this will allow me to keep better humidity control of the seedling environment.  Besides, I'm a data geek

 

[turbo]

dayum, impressive roots dawg...

 
Yea, I was really surprised by how thick and dense the roots were.  But now I'm a bit worried because I have another month before plant out and not a lot of room to transplant into bigger pots.  I guess its time for another culling

 

[Hybrid Mode 01]

     Good looking plants! All those huge roots are going to force a lot of new growth once they're planted out. 
 

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
     I love the way some chinenses look like little mounds of green before they start to stretch. For some reason, a lot of 7 pots seem to have that appearance.

 

[bpwilly]

Turbo,
Nice roots, time to get them plants in the ground!
 
Love the color of your Chero plants.  Mine did not make it this year, but there is always next year. 
 
I did scale back this year to less than half of last years.  112 pepper plants ready for the garden this year, so i was actually able to cut back, no matter how hard it was!
Bill

 

[turbo]

Turbo,
Nice roots, time to get them plants in the ground!
 
Love the color of your Chero plants.  Mine did not make it this year, but there is always next year. 
 
I did scale back this year to less than half of last years.  112 pepper plants ready for the garden this year, so i was actually able to cut back, no matter how hard it was!
Bill

 
Hey Bill,
I have one extra Chero plant if you want it.  Its one of those that have been relegated to the outside about a week ago because I ran out of room, but its really healthy.

 

[bpwilly]

I will take you up on that.  I really want to keep the count down, but love the look of that plant and have heard some good reviews about the pepper itself.
 
Thanks
 
PM send

 

[AJ Drew]

Another super neat, super clean, not one bit of medium spilled on the tray, hospital clean looking grower.  How do you people do this?

 

[turbo]

Another super neat, super clean, not one bit of medium spilled on the tray, hospital clean looking grower.  How do you people do this?

 
I think its because the fan just blows all the spilled dirt onto the floor

 

[bpwilly]

Another super neat, super clean, not one bit of medium spilled on the tray, hospital clean looking grower.  How do you people do this?

 
 
I this it is called photoshop'd.  I spill plenty, which is why the potting up is done outside or in the greenhouse where when things spill on the floor, I don't worry to much.
 
LOL

 

[turbo]

Transplant Day!
 
Today I culled another 5 plants from my indoor grow and transplanted the remaining 27 from 4" rounds into 1/2 gallon pots.  They were all root bound and I had to spend about 5 minutes per plant loosening the roots up before I could transplant them.  Now they should have plenty of room to stretch their feet.
 

 

 

 

 

[Comptine]

 
 
 

 
 
 
 

 
 
Hhahaha, why does one have a tonne of perlite compared to tho others?

 

[turbo]

 
 
Hhahaha, why does one have a tonne of perlite compared to tho others?

 
Oh, thats an experiment.  Covering the top of the soil with perlite to keep the surface area dry helps keep gnats away.  But I wasnt sure if my fan would just blow all the perlite away.  So I figured its easier to clean up one pot's worth of perlite off the flow vs 27 pots

 

[Comptine]

Now that makes a lot of sense. Has it been a successful experiment? I thought most people used sand to keep gnats away.

 

[turbo]

I'm in the middle of building a second raised bed.  When its all finished it'll be18" x 8' x 3', and will hold 12 plants.  Obviously I'm going to dig out the ground on the uphill side so the bed will sit level, flush just under the siding of the house.  Its a south facing wall, and the house should radiate heat nicely for the bed.
 
I'm not looking forward to filling it
 

 

[turbo]

Finished putting the raised bed together.  Now I just have to mount PVC hangers for a hoop house, and it'll be ready to move into place.
 

 

[turbo]

Now that makes a lot of sense. Has it been a successful experiment? I thought most people used sand to keep gnats away.

 
It was.  The very fine perlite particles blew away when the fan hit them, but not very much.  I still haven't gone back and topped the rest with perlite.  I've been too busy getting the raised beds ready for planting

 

[Ozzy2001]

That's some hand-made quality sh!t to quote Ben Stiller. Nice boxes. They should hold up great.

 

[turbo]

That's some hand-made quality sh!t to quote Ben Stiller. Nice boxes. They should hold up great.

 
Thanks!  I hope so.  I'm in Seattle and well, it rains a sh!t ton.  There really isn't a way to protect against that (that I know of).  But it should last a good 10 years before I have to tear it down are rebuild a new one...I hope  

 

[Ozzy2001]

Yeah looks like you used galvanized parts that will help for sure.

 

[turbo]

Plant Update: more good growth since they got transplanted into 1/2 gallon pots.  Some of them are really starting to flower like crazy. 
 

 
My Cheiro Roxa keep blowing me away with how beautiful they are.  If they keep the leaf color all season I may end up growing a lot more next year.  Imagine what your garden would look like if every other plant had black leaves and pink peppers. 
 

 
The Aji Verde has the largest flower so far.  Can't wait to see it fully open
 

 
My crazy curled up White Fatalii has a ton of flower buds.  Look at the upper right branch has 8 buds coming out of the joint
 

 
The Congo Trinidad really has beautiful flowers too.  Love the striking black center
 

 
This year, a lot of my taller plants have grown a fairly dense set of branches coming out of their base.  Last year, non of my plants started growing lower branches until they were in the ground.
 
This is a 12 inch tall Aji Pinapple, with over a dozen branches coming out of the first 3 inches.
 

 
Look at the branching on my Aji Peruvian
 

 
Brazilian Starfish
 

 
My Aji Panca is super fuzzy
 

 

[turbo]

Got the bed in place and leveled.  Added a gradient so water flows down and away from the house, and put a layer of gravel in to help with drainage. 
 
Next up: landscaping cloth on top of the gravel, then start filling it in