Zokambaa's growlog.... of sorts...

[Zokambaa]

I had a bunch of seeds I kept from the scotch bonnet and orange habanero peppers I bought over the winter... and a couple black naggas bought as well... and now I am just seeing how well they take off in my condo with just whatever sun they get from my south by south west windows and a regular fluorescent light

I put a bunch into a container and they started to sprout.. then I added a couple of the black naggas I bought... I think they split the seeds first though... I just split the bunch into 2 containers.. with the best being in one and the weaker ones now going into another..

I have no idea what is what anymore since I put them in the same pot.. but I'd imagine it is easy enough to tell a black nagga from a scotch bonnet or orang hab...


my climate sucks anus here so there is no way they will go outside till late july or so..... so these will mostly be indoor plants....

here is a pic I just took... the small ones are now in a ton of water... since the others seemed to respond well to that

I have no idea what the hell I am doing so it is more or less just an experiment at this point.... I do for some reason seem to be able to propagate and keep all my indoor plants growing quite well so perhaps it is just an instinct... so I am curious as to how these will turn out.

I have little space too so I am growing them in bunches in single containers

I know I am probably doing this in a way off base unorthodox method.. but what the hell... that is part of the fun... here is a pic today after I pulled out some of the weaker (4 or 5) plants from the bigger clump... and split them... I'll move them into another pot as needed

This was all done with no heating pads and no special lighting other than what a regular fluorescent bulb puts out so it is taking a little longer... but perhaps they will be a little more used to the colder climate here too...

so.. any tips??? I only killed one or two so far that didn't want to come out of the seed and probably would have died anyway (the sprout was 2 inches tall but a seed was stuck at the end...the rest emerged correctly though

 

[Nova]

My tip would be to give yourself a pat on the back and enjoy a beer or fifty. Looks like you can overcome obstacles like a gymnist!

 

[Datil]

You dont need fancy setup to grow some decent plants but take a good read on the forum for some rough directions.
I suggest:

1) Only one plant per pot
2) DONT overwater, peppers dont like to have wet feet so wait until the soil is dry before watering

Good luck

Datil

 

[SuperHot]

You can find a lot of info on the "THP" forum about growing indoors.

Depending on how long you're planning on keeping them at some point they're going to need much larger pots…one plant in a 5 gallon pot. They grow really fast so it will come quite quickly!

Good luck!!

 

[Justaguy]

You dont need fancy setup to grow some decent plants but take a good read on the forum for some rough directions.
I suggest:

1) Only one plant per pot
2) DONT overwater, peppers dont like to have wet feet so wait until the soil is dry before watering

Good luck

Datil

As he said experimentation.

Keep us updated with the clumping Zok. The Aussies love to clump and I am sure it will work for you too, just maybe to keep them warm.

 

[Zokambaa]

Yeah the little one in the tray of water under it is actually self contained, the water around it is more for humidity... the other larger ones are decently watered and not overly wet.

The air is pretty dry here so I usually like to set a tray of water with some rocks in it under plant pots so they get some more humidity without risking root rot.

I'll be separating them out a bit more into other pots as I go... the roots weren't even close to tangling yet... but I was thinking of doing that clumping thing... I'll have to read up on it

I haven't had much luck with my house plants when I put them into too large of a pot too soon, hoping they will grow into it so now I just step up a bit each time... I'm going to have to pick up some good clay pots and stuff this week though.. I think the larger plants will be ready for their own next weekend.

The temp by them so far has been about 75-80F but my condo gets real warm when the rain finally goes away and the sun comes out full strength.


The funny thing is somehow I manage to get my house plants to thrive doing things in somewhat unorthodox ways... following the book to the letter doesn't always work for me

The only thing I've not been able to grow in my condo is those bushy palm plants... they never seem to do well and then the bugs find them and finish them off... so now I don't bother.

As he said experimentation.

Keep us updated with the clumping Zok. The Aussies love to clump and I am sure it will work for you too, just maybe to keep them warm.

 

[Zokambaa]

Well... things kind of got a little out of hand... I think I may have had a few too many umm.. beverages when I was seeding the starting container... I tossed a bunch in way too deep I think... and since they were supermarket habs and scotch bonnets that I dried before planting I figured what the hell... put in a bunch and maybe a few might take..... I know after 2 weeks I had not really seen anything so added a few more shallow ones, a couple of seed company seeds too... and those shallow ones all started to grow well as seen in my first picture...plus a few of the deeper ones finally came up...

Well today I decided I'd split them up into their own pots... mostly... I had not really been looking at them closely and thought it was just lower growth off the plants already doing well.... but to my surprise I have a sh!tload of seedlings now... I am pretty sure 90% of the seeds I tossed in deep took root... I ended up tossing out a bunch of the really tiny ones...


I split the bigger, good ones into their own pots, one pot I left 5 in for my see what happens clumping experiment... and.... now I'm going to try taking clumping to the extreme.... hahah... I had even more decent size seedlings that I would just thrown away so I thought.. what the hell I have a small spare pot... I'll keep them all in a nice big bunch... just to see what happens...

Here's how they are tonight after dividing them up (all but about 4 smaller ones were in the middle front square pot before I moved them).... I wonder where the hell I am going to put them all if they all live... I live in an apartment condo.. hahaha

ah well... maybe I'll inadvertently kill a few along the way... If not... I'll have at least 11 plants... plus whatever happens with the insanity bunching... I'll probably give one or two away... habs, scotch bonnets and a couple black nagas all in same mix... hehe I knew I should have kept the nagas separate... ah well I'll be able to tell which they are when they start to produce

Oh... and they seem to be staying at about 75-80F or so.... I have a kitchen scale with a thermometer sitting by them and it doesn't drop much below 75f.. maybe a degree or two
at night and then between 75 and 80 during the day.... unless the sun comes out and then who knows how warm the condo gets it's still only been about 60F outside this past month.... my condo is south and south-west facing so I get sun most of the day... and it gets real warm in the summer (if we get one this year...)


.

 

[xxzombiepepperxx]

Looking good bro I dig that square pot.... the more floro's the better...

 

[Zokambaa]

Yeah it is not bad.. when it is cleaned up... my sister gave me a bunch of weird asian plant pots... the other side has some symbols on it... not sure which.. but something like prosperity or good luck or whatever...I used it because it was all I had at the time... hahah.. but it seemed to work out ok...

I've noticed all my plants do better in clay, ceramic, or cement pots... they don't tend to do as well in plastic

I'm curious as to how things will work out with that hoard of seedlings crammed into that one pot in the back... hahah....In a few weeks I'll have to get them out of that pot as it curves in at the top so it makes re-potting a real pain in the anus..... the rest though are nice and easy.

Some people say pot in whatever end size you want after they finish the seedling stage.. others say keep up-sizing the pots as you go... I've had better results with house plants stepping up 1 size at a time rather than going to a huge pot too soon... so I guess I'll see what happens... if worse comes to worse.. they will spend all their time indoors... up here in canuckland we have pretty crap summers

Looking good bro I dig that square pot.... the more floro's the better...

 

[xxzombiepepperxx]

From my experience...clumping indoors , the plants stay real small. Out doors clumping works real good in high temp situations.

 

[Zokambaa]

Yeah.. that makes sense.. since the other plants shade the others... and probably give some support or wind protection....

I guess as long as each one gets enough light and has enough space it should be fine... small indoors is fine by me as long as they start to give fruit... with the number of plants I have so far.. I might have to dehydrate some.. but who knows.. I am less than a novice growing peppers.... then again I somehow managed to grow some decent tomatoes out doors with little attention to them...before the frost tried to kill them

From my experience...clumping indoors , the plants stay real small. Out doors clumping works real good in high temp situations.

 

[Zokambaa]

Well I had a bit of a setback but things seem to be coming along now... here is a separate thread on the Schultz's insecticide soap spray issue
http://www.thehotpep...ping-my-plants/

But now things are looking up... The plants seem to be bouncing back... I think it slowed the growth for a little while... but they seem to be doing better now.

I'll be re-potting the smaller plants soon, I checked one and it isn't root bound but it could easily go into a medium pot now... I did a bit of a shift and moved a few into larger containers... most were not quire ready for it, but the small clay ones will do better in a bigger container.... doing the fan thing for a few hours a day now too and am considering moving the larger ones outside on my balcony... but since the temps still fluctuate from 10c in the morning to 25c in the afternoon with almost full south/south-west exposure all day it may be tricky to go from plain kitchen fluorescent lights to natural sun right away.

I've changed thing a little more last night.. but here is a group shot that I have on the computer so far...

Things are working out not too badly for essentially winging it...

 

[Zokambaa]

It'll be interesting when the peppers actually start to produce... since the majority are a mix of seeds from yellow and orange habs and scotch bonnet peppers from the supermarket but I did add a couple black naga seeds too... but I didn't bother labeling them as I didn't really expect much to happen from them and I more or less like the surprise... my next go around next year or whenever.. will be a bit more serious with the labeling and a bit more of the known good process as I am finding on this site

 

[Justaguy]

Looking good

 

[Zokambaa]

Yeah.. I might try popping some of them out on my balcony this weekend when I can monitor them more or less as the sun moves across my balcony.... we get some good flash hail storms this time of year too so it can go from hot to hail in an hour... and there is no cover

I've also noticed since I am on the top/4th floor of my condo I have few insects up there... not that there are none.. but much less... so maybe it'll be a bonus too... definitely no slugs or hornworms etc... although... aphids are still a possibility

So how cold can it get before I should worry about bringing them in? I don't think it has gone below 50F (10c) here in a month now so at least there is no frost anymore.. but it still can easily happen

Looking good

 

[Justaguy]

Hot to Hail?!?!?! That has to be hell just being outside let alone for the plants.

 

[Zokambaa]

One year we even had snow in July.... FREAKING JULY!!!

Trust me... hail especially sucks when you are out riding a motorcycle out on a great day and then all of a sudden a storm comes through... with HAIL!!

that hurts at highway speed....

But yeah.. July usually has a few good thunderstorms and/or hail storms.... usually when it was hot and then a cold front comes though....

They don't call it the cold white north for nothing.... I think we get 9 months of winter and 1 each of spring, summer, and fall....


Which reminds me... when am I going to move to Roatan again??? I'm sure I could grow some pretty d a m n good chili peppers down there.....

Hot to Hail?!?!?! That has to be hell just being outside let alone for the plants.

 

[Zokambaa]

Holy CRAP!!.... my plants sure don't like real sun... less than 30 minutes out on my deck with a nice breeze (about as strong as my fan on them does) and they went looking great to total wilt (couple wilted leaves got ruined because of the wind)

I figured I could put them out for a few hours but in about 20-30 mins they went totally wilted like I sprayed herbicide on them or something...


and it is only 27 degrees right now (or about 81F) on my deck it is about 10 degrees hotter at around 90F

I immediately brought them in and spritzed the hell out of them with cool distilled water (well room temp at about 22C) and they seem to have sprung back again.... but wow.. talk about heart attack... I thought they were gone for sure... they didn't even look close to as bad when I used that bug spray on them... they much worse... and were limp like lettuce left in the fridge a week past expiration... with more wind they would have been shredded... because when they wilted they went from firm to almost slimy in less than 30 mins...

Yikes... I dunno how I am going to be able to put them outside if they freak out like that in less than half an hour... I guess I can try them in some shaded areas on the deck... but the shade is short lived as the sun moves across...

oddly enough the only plant that was still ok was the one that had 4 plants in 1 container.... no wonder the Aussies like clumping... those plants were hardly touched yet the strongest single plants were almost toast

soooo... I dunno how I am going to acclimatize them to my full sun almost all day exposure... and it isn't even all that hot here yet....


Here is a Before shot... I was too busy trying to bring them back from the dead that I didn't get a picture of the crazy wilt after about 20-30 mins... but they were almost mush..

 

[Burning Colon]

yep, we have that weird sun that just likes to melt pepper plants. next time, don't water them immediately, that too is a shock. bring them inside your place or move them to a shaded area and then let the plants adjust to the shading and this will lower the plants internal leaf temperature gradually. as the plant climatizes, it will regain composure. you can then water the surface soil. leave misting the leaf until much later.

the first time i put my prized fatalii outside, the plan was to leave it for 15 minutes then bring it inside. i looked out and thought still looks good, must have hardened off, guess i'll just leave her be. nope, another 15 minutes later and she was so wilted i thought the leaves had turned to mush. should have seen and felt the lump in my throat. i followed my own instructions above and today the little kitten has some nice flowers the plant is green and lush. now, to fight the flower dropping - last year all my fatalii had 100% flower drop, thus no fatalii pods for BC.

hey, how about that cold snap that blew in 8C. i saw that one coming and brought everything in the house.

to address your issue about all day sun. i just don't do it. they get morning sun until noon and late afternoon sun and that seems to be working. no bhuts,scorpians or 7's have flowered yet. all hab variety are flowering, the small gold bullet habs have set some fruit. hot lemons have pods. goatsweed has pods. superchili has nice size pods. wait, not completely true, 1 yellow bhut in my dwc has several small buds the size of a pinhead. i think i need a new plan next year for the super hotties, they just seem to hate our dry, arid weather. butchT really hates living here.

good luck

 

[Zokambaa]

Yeah, I still have mine under lights in the kitchen... 2 have to move soon since they are only a few inches from the lights now... but oddly enough the biggest ones start to wilt first...

I am in a condo and my 4th floor balcony patio can get windy at times... much more than a fan on high can do... so they can get pretty whipped around.... they seem to take it well enough when they are not wilting.. but as soon as the wilt begins, they shred up if I don't pull them inside...

I could try them right along the far south railing wall in the shadow of the balcony railing... so the light would be indirect... but I might have to try and do something about the wind.. a couple of the smaller ones are quite rubbery still.

Yesterday was not pleasant... I think it was about 10c most of the day but today is nice 20 degrees or so again.... I left my plants inside and instead I laid out on my patio and absorbed the sun... it was too windy to risk putting them out... but I rather enjoyed it


The problem with setting my plants out indoors.. is the cats love them.... I had just brought them in as they were starting to wilt and went into the other room for a couple minutes... and I found my cat starting to nibble on one of the leaves!!!!

Needless to say the cat got a nice full stream spray to the face from my spritzer bottle.... sadly I don't think that would stop her the next time I turn my back... cats can be very sneaky sometimes... at least I don't have to worry about her using the pots as a litter box though

Thanks for the tip on the wilting plants... funny though the leaves still look relatively fine no real signs of sunburn except possibly for one... but that is one that got more of the bug spray too so I think it is residual from that...so I don't think the sun was so much the issue, but rather the temperature the leaves got to as a result... The second time I tried it, there was a lot more wind and the temps were cooler and I didn't notice quite as much wilt.

I got some Epsom salt from Co-op grocery store today as I couldn't find it in Superstore or Rona or Canuck Tire... this is the stuff I mentioned in the other thread and is plain old epsom and comes in a 2kg milk carton type container... I'll have to try using some of that and see if it helps... and might try the aspirin trick too since the cat and the wind and the wilt kind of battered the leaves a bit the last time around...

yep, we have that weird sun that just likes to melt pepper plants. next time, don't water them immediately, that too is a shock. bring them inside your place or move them to a shaded area and then let the plants adjust to the shading and this will lower the plants internal leaf temperature gradually. as the plant climatizes, it will regain composure. you can then water the surface soil. leave misting the leaf until much later.

the first time i put my prized fatalii outside, the plan was to leave it for 15 minutes then bring it inside. i looked out and thought still looks good, must have hardened off, guess i'll just leave her be. nope, another 15 minutes later and she was so wilted i thought the leaves had turned to mush. should have seen and felt the lump in my throat. i followed my own instructions above and today the little kitten has some nice flowers the plant is green and lush. now, to fight the flower dropping - last year all my fatalii had 100% flower drop, thus no fatalii pods for BC.

hey, how about that cold snap that blew in 8C. i saw that one coming and brought everything in the house.

to address your issue about all day sun. i just don't do it. they get morning sun until noon and late afternoon sun and that seems to be working. no bhuts,scorpians or 7's have flowered yet. all hab variety are flowering, the small gold bullet habs have set some fruit. hot lemons have pods. goatsweed has pods. superchili has nice size pods. wait, not completely true, 1 yellow bhut in my dwc has several small buds the size of a pinhead. i think i need a new plan next year for the super hotties, they just seem to hate our dry, arid weather. butchT really hates living here.

good luck