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Unk's Grow

Hello THP  
 
This site came up in a stumble last year and growers here caught my eye.  Organics, hydroponics, indoor, outdoor, hugelkultur, personal gardens, professional gardens - it was a pleasure exploring this forum.  Since THP is often in my browser history anyway, how about some participation this year?
 
Seeds from PepperJoe came in about three weeks ago. 
Naga Viper
Carolina Reaper
Charleston
Jalapeno Giant/Black/Early
+ freebies
 
Some of these and Ghost seeds from last year were soaked overnight and planted today in a light soil mix.
 
Seedlings_zpsffa9d9c1.jpg

 
 
 
 
The overwinters (Scorpion left, Caribbean Red Hab right) are hangin in there.  This winter in the mitten is a cold one - hopefully theyll make it.
 
 
Overwinters_zps5607c1e4.jpg

 
 
 
 
 
It's a modest grow compared to most of you guys on here.  Suggestions, questions, and comments welcome.
 
Cheers,
Unk
 
Click to expand...
Brain Strain Pepper Head said:
:welcome:  I used to live in Ann Arbor too cold for me....But your grow is nice....No such thing as a grow too little.... Peppers is Peppers
Click to expand...
 
Ann Arbor's a cool town but go green ;). Thanks for the welcome.
 
JoynersHotPeppers said:
Best of luck!
Click to expand...
 
Thank you
 
3/18/14  Update
 
 
After a couple weeks the chilies germinated and sprouted, clear winners were selected.  Since this is my first pepper grow from seed, all of this is new to me - do these germination rates seem in line with what everyone else is getting?
 
Variety - Germ./Total
Naga Viper - 2/10
Giant Jalapeno - 2/10 
Black Jalapeno - 7/10 
Ghost - 10/12 
Reaper - 10/12 
 
At any rate, that's what we got to work with and I'm stoked to get the ones we did.  The weaker seedlings were culled and fed to the worms.  All others were potted up to 3.5" squares and had roots reaching to bottom of the starter trays.  There's plenty of seeds and limited space so the Ghost peppers remain in the trays for the time being.  Overwinters are doing about the same.
 
I used last years organic soil mix, heavy on the worm castings, was used to start these seeds.  For fear of fungus and mold, it was cut with perlite and vermiculite and tended to fall apart during transplant.  Maybe cut too much?
 
As you can see with the Ghost peppers in the middle, they were starting to get leggy in the starting flats.  I ordered another T5 fixture from Fluorogrow but still no sign of it after two weeks.  Two more CFL bulbs were added in the meantime.
 
Some air movement seemed in order after adding the extra bulbs so I tied up a desktop USB fan and wired up some old PC fans for exhaust/intake.  Blue collar ventilation.  
 

 
 
 
 
As of now the seedling mat is still plugged in.  Any recommendations on this?  
 
Cheers,
Unk
 
 
Looking good man. How long is their light cycle?
 
(you should keep this going man, glog it. It'd be fun to compare and contrast)
 
As for the seedling mat I turned it off once the seedlings started working on the 1st leaves.
I figured it'd be in their best interest since the heat mat is drying the water at the bottom. By turning it off and letting them dry on their own it would encourage the roots to grow downward for water.
 
7potquezada said:
Looking good man. How long is their light cycle?
 
(you should keep this going man, glog it. It'd be fun to compare and contrast)
 
As for the seedling mat I turned it off once the seedlings started working on the 1st leaves.
I figured it'd be in their best interest since the heat mat is drying the water at the bottom. By turning it off and letting them dry on their own it would encourage the roots to grow downward for water.
Click to expand...
 
 
Good idea and thanks for the tip - once things warm up around here I'm gonna remove it.  They get 18hrs of light and 6hrs of dark.  
 
Speaking of lights, the T5 fixture from fluorogrow finally arrived. It's a 2ft 8 bulb unit with two circuits for to use 4 bulbs or all 8.  There's an outlet on it to daisy chain other T5s if more light is needed.  Cool product.  Popped the aquarium bulbs in there and moved the 4 bulb T5 over to the small tent.
 
One Month Report
 
Hi everyone, tomorrow marks the first month of this grow.  Everything is still living and we're finally getting some warmer weather here in the mitten.
 
So far the best performers of the seedlings are the Black Jalapenos.  They are growing quickly and the leaves have some neat variegation.  The Giant Jalapenos seem weaker and there's some light yellow discoloration on the cotys.  The Reapers are all doing about the same, given some variation in growth speed.  All appear green and healthy and have similar growth patterns.  I kept 6 ghost seedlings and each has some dark discoloration on the early true leaves but seem healthy otherwise.  The lone Viper is stunted for some reason.
 
 
Seedlings

 

 
 
Black Jalapenos and Viper

 
 
Goofy discoloration on Ghost Peppers

 
 
Reapers

 
 
On a day like today, it's time to harvest the winter worm bin.  
Left to right - new bin, working pile, finished pile.  The finished castings filled the above container.

 
 
 
 
Notes so far:
After reading about the Reaper chili and the stuff going on between PJ and PB, I decided to order some reapers and a few others from PB to support his company.  The reapers will likely be saved for next year but I plan to start the chocolate scorpions as a bumper seeds.
The small germination trays turned out to be a pain in the ass.  Seedlings quickly outgrew them without the root system for a smooth transplant.  Good old peat pots will be used next time.  
Very little fertilizer has been used so far - just molasses and Lacto B.  Does anyone have a suggestion on when to begin some mild organic ferts?
 
 
 
As always - questions, comments, suggestions are welcome.
 
Cheers,
Unk
 
Update
 
All seedlings were moved to the larger tent with the overwinters.  Everything got a substantial topdressing of the fresh EWC and was watered with tea.  
 
Bumper crop of Chocolate scorpions and Charlestons spent the week in a moist paper towel and went into cocopots today.  
 
Overwinters are hanging in there.  They picked up BLS and are finally bouncing back after heavy pruning and a couple peroxide washes.
 
 
Left to right:  Ghost + viper, Jalapenos, Reapers + Ghost
 

 
 
Charlestons and Chocolate Scorpions
 

 
 
The jalapenos appear to be growing the fastest, much quicker than the others.  Is this typical for these varieties in a cooler climate?
 
Thanks guys,
Unk
 
Update
 
It's sunny and in the high 70s here in mid-mi this week.  
 
Since the last update, a number of plants were potted up into a mix of 1/3 EWC, 1/3 perlite, 1/3 vermiculite, and Espoma BTSP.  They were placed in any available containers; some plastic, 1gal geopots, I found a couple old coco-fiber pots too.  The fiber pots are unlike any similar product as they are made entirely of the coco hairs, no chunks - pretty neat.
 
All chilies were moved to the greenhouse on thursday.
 
Ghost, Jalapeno, Reaper, Chocolate Scorpions

 
Reaper + Jalapeno

 
 
 
 
Notes:
The seed starting coco-pellets gave me germination problems with the bumper crop.  Once this problem became apparent, the seeds were transferred to RootRiot plugs.  Seedlings grew quickly once adapted to the plug, even more quickly than the home mix or Jiffy Pellet.  The end result was 0/4 Charlestons, 3/10 Chocolate Scorpions, 1/10 Mulatto Isleno.
 
 
Questions + comments welcome.
 
Cheers,
Unk
 
Update
 
Highs in the 70s, lows in the 40s and it's time to plant out.  Harvested more castings, mixed them with the left over soil from last year's grow and cut the entire thing to about a quarter with Growstones ...a recycled glass product similar to perlite.  Added some Blood, Bone, Kelp, Gypsum and BioTone.
 
Soil Mix

 

 
 
 
Peppers and some Amish Paste tomatoes

 
Other stuff

 
 
 
Here's the layout, A-frames for the tomatoes

 
 
 
With the help of my neighbor's granddaughter ...

 
 
 
... all the peppers got planted

 
 
 
 
Notes:
The soil mix is light so we topped off the holes with the native soil.
Some of the younger peppers showed signs of shock this morning, maybe too young to transplant.
All were planted with Blood, Bone, and Kelp in the bottom of the planting holes.
 
 
Cheers,
Unk
 
Alright dudes, been a minute since my last logon - summer classes, work, and a new toy.  Here's an update.
 
Here's the whole garden.  
 

 
 
 
On the left, lettuce and brocolli.
 

 
 
 
A small row of leeks and potatoes on the right.
 

 
 
 
 
Pepper shot - need to weed on the right.
 

 
 
 
Here's the overwintered carribean red habanero, finally lookin healthy.
 

 
 
 
Jalapenos Left, Ghost Right
 

 
 
 
Crappy shot of the Reapers
 

 
 
 
 
Plants from the farmers market
 

 
 
 
The lemon peppers are doing particularly well.
 

 
 
 
Just put up the nets on the a-frames for the maters.
 

 
 
 
 
 
Tossed some Green zebra tomatoes in a 20gal smartpot.
 

 
 
 
 
Rooster Spur
 

 
 
 
 
New Toy
 

 
 
 
Cheers.
 
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