Grow Updates – 2016

Long overdue, indoor grow update. I've long neglected my indoor setup, and getting it back on track. I originally had my CMH light hanging within the shelving rack the plants were sitting on, but there wasn't enough clearance between the light and the plants. Also I haven't been changing out the solution like a should. I rearranged everything so the plants are directly under the light with proper clearance. Also changed to a double bucket setup. The internal bucket is self contained wit the air diffuser and has holes in the bottom and sides. This will make it easy to change out the solution by simply moving the internal bucket from the old solution to a new bucket with fresh solution, without disturbing the roots. I also setup a personal calendar to remind me to change the nutrients every other week. I think with these changes, everything should start looking better soon. Also shown is my Thai Dragon in the 2 gallon self-watering container I made. So far that is doing well. I can make a video on how I built that if anyone is interested. Also rearranged the rack so it's a better use of space. I plan on setting up some hydro kratky lettuce there soon and running a comparison grow between that and lettuce in my AeroGarden.

One of the last updates of the 2016 growing season. We'll get our first frost any day now so I've been picking and processing as fast as I can. In the pics I forgot to include the Kraken Scorpion and Super Hot Beast I pulled the day before.

Update on my porch peppers and poly bag container plants.

Update on my peppers after coming back from vacation. There was a lot of rain while I was gone, and a few plants had fallen over. Overall though, they looked fine. I'm getting a lot turning ripe all at once, so will be juggling what to do with them in the short term.

Update on my poly bag and hydro porch peppers. Starting to get some questions about my irrigation/drip system that I use on my container peppers. I purchased a kit from drip depot (container kit for 80 containers) They have many other kit configurations, and they can be customized. This is the best way to get everything you need to start out. Also, their support has been excellent, very responsive and knowledgeable staff. My questions have usually been answered within an hour or less. They stand behind their products. Full disclosure, this is an link to drip depot. Doesn't cost you any extra to use it, but purchases help support my channel. https://goo.gl/oyPhxl

Update on my peppers. I didn't show the hydroponic basement peppers this video, they are about the same as last time. I'm getting a lot of new growth and poddage on my poly bag container plants, as well as those in the Kratky setups. Starting to get some questions about my irrigation/drip system that I use on my container peppers. I purchased a kit from drip depot (container kit for 80 containers) They have many other kit configurations, and they can be customized. This is the best way to get everything you need to start out. Also, their support has been excellent, very responsive and knowledgeable staff. My questions have usually been answered within an hour or less. They stand behind their products. Full disclosure, this is an link to drip depot. Doesn't cost you any extra to use it, but purchases help support my channel. https://goo.gl/oyPhxl

This pepper grow update covers my poly bag container plants, indoor hydro and porch hydro peppers. So far things seem to be going well. Starting to get some ripe fruit and emerging pods on others. Starting to get some questions about my irrigation/drip system that I use on my container peppers. I purchased a kit from drip depot (container kit for 80 containers) They have many other kit configurations, and they can be customized. This is the best way to get everything you need to start out. Also, their support has been excellent, very responsive and knowledgeable staff. My questions have usually been answered within an hour or less. They stand behind their products. Full disclosure, this is an link to drip depot. Doesn't cost you any extra to use it, but purchases help support my channel. https://goo.gl/oyPhxl

Update on my grow. I moved the Carbonero to a larger Kratky setup. The Jay's Ghost Peach in the 32 gallon Kratky container is doing well. My plants in the poly grow bags are looking a lot better. I didn't show my indoor hydro plants, but they are fine. I'll post an update on them next week. Starting to get some questions about my irrigation/drip system that I use on my container peppers. I purchased a kit from drip depot (container kit for 80 containers) They have many other kit configurations, and they can be customized. This is the best way to get everything you need to start out. Also, their support has been excellent, very responsive and knowledgeable staff. My questions have usually been answered within an hour or less. They stand behind their products. Full disclosure, this is an link to drip depot. Doesn't cost you any extra to use it, but purchases help support my channel. https://goo.gl/oyPhxl

The hydroponic peppers look great. The Bhut Assam in the aeroponics setup is looking better. The Moruga Scorpion in the self-watering container is putting out a lot of new growth. I treated the other container plants with micronized sulfur, and before that trimmed the affected leaves. The following associate links are for items I have purchased though , and were used or mentioned in this video. Purchases made through these links help support my channel. Bonide 142 Sulphur Dust Fungicide, 4-Pound https://goo.gl/tS6NGK Chapin G362 Professional All Purpose Hose End Sprayer with Metering Dial https://goo.gl/nUAujN Starting to get some questions about my irrigation/drip system that I use on my container peppers. I purchased a kit from drip depot (container kit for 80 containers) They have many other kit configurations, and they can be customized. This is the best way to get everything you need to start out. Also, their support has been excellent, very responsive and knowledgeable staff. My questions have usually been answered within an hour or less. They stand behind their products. Full disclosure, this is an link to drip depot. Doesn't cost you any extra to use it, but purchases help support my channel. https://goo.gl/oyPhxl

Yesterday I noticed several of my pepper plants have this issue. The veins are deformed, squiggly, zigzag shaped. This is occurring on new growth which is often curled. I've been researching as much as I can, and have found four possible causes. 1. broadmites 2. herbicide poisoning 3. mosaic virus 4. nutrient imbalance I have a neighbor who recently sprayed a ton of herbicide next to my home a couple weeks ago. I also saw a post on thehotpepper recently showing this exact problem and someone there said definitely broadmites. Research online turns up possibility of one of the mosaic viruses, but there are no other symptoms yet, besides the deformities. But, I've had aphids recently and I know they are a common vector. There's also the question of nutrient imbalance, too little or too much? I've been careful with my fertilizer but am using something different this year. I can try using a soil pH meter, to see there's an imbalance there. I don't know. As of now I plan to treat for broadmites using a spray which has sulfur and pyrythrin. That should kill both mites and aphids. If neighbor doesn't agent orange my yard again any time soon and plants improve, then I can deduce it was either the herbicide or pests. In the meantime I'll check the soil mix pH. But if that's okay, and plants continue to degrade, then it's probably a disease, which will probably kill most of my peppers, as I'm seeing that stuff almost all of them. Please post comments below if you've seen this or have any ideas what it might be. Update: I narrowed it down to mites or nutrient imbalance, and treated for both. For mites I applied 3 to 4 heavy rounds of micronized wettable sulfur, sprayed through a water hose attachment, over the course of two weeks. Regarding nutrients, I think it could have been getting too much Nitrogen, so when I applied sulfur I also flushed the poly bags to get rid of some of the excess N. The plants are doing much much better now, and are growing well. Here is what I used for sulfur and spray attachment: Bonide 142 Sulphur Dust Fungicide, 4-Pound https://goo.gl/tS6NGK Chapin G362 Professional All Purpose Hose End Sprayer with Metering Dial https://goo.gl/nUAujN Starting to get some questions about my irrigation/drip system that I use on my container peppers. I purchased a kit from drip depot (container kit for 80 containers) They have many other kit configurations, and they can be customized. This is the best way to get everything you need to start out. Also, their support has been excellent, very responsive and knowledgeable staff. My questions have usually been answered within an hour or less. They stand behind their products. Full disclosure, this is an link to drip depot. Doesn't cost you any extra to use it, but purchases help support my channel. https://goo.gl/oyPhxl

Update on my grow. The hydro plants look good, except for some concerns with the Bhut Assam leaves. The outdoor plants are growing well and I got the drip system hooked up and working. Starting to get some questions about my irrigation/drip system that I use on my container peppers. I purchased a kit from drip depot (container kit for 80 containers) They have many other kit configurations, and they can be customized. This is the best way to get everything you need to start out. Also, their support has been excellent, very responsive and knowledgeable staff. My questions have usually been answered within an hour or less. They stand behind their products. Full disclosure, this is an link to drip depot. Doesn't cost you any extra to use it, but purchases help support my channel. https://goo.gl/oyPhxl

2016 Pepper grow update. I've planted out at least one of everything I'm growing, except for a few that aren't ready yet. This includes Peruvian Serlano, Thai Dragon and Yellow Chiltepin. They were started late and I need to get them in hydro soon. I'm using 7 and 5 gallon poly grow bags for containers this year. I'm a little concerned about the fertilizer. I was misinformed by Southern Ag that is was the same as their version of 14-14-14 slow realse Osmocote. When I opened it I realized that it's not. I emailed them and asked about it. They contacted their rep who said it's definitely not the same, and gave us the proper application rates. The first 15 or so had twice what I should have used. I mixed in some pelleted dolomite lime which might help buffer that some, as well as add calcium and magnesium. My hydroponic plants are doing well. I realized this morning, after the video was published that I have an aphid infestation on my Jamaican Hot Chocolate, which touches some other plants. I sprayed them all down with a mix of Dr. Bronners Castille soap, which I've heard works great. I'm going to prune everything, pull them out, spray, rinse, spray and clean the area really well Then spray every few days or so. Hopefully that'll get rid of them. Not sure how they got in there. Starting to get some questions about my irrigation/drip system that I use on my container peppers. I purchased a kit from drip depot (container kit for 80 containers) They have many other kit configurations, and they can be customized. This is the best way to get everything you need to start out. Also, their support has been excellent, very responsive and knowledgeable staff. My questions have usually been answered within an hour or less. They stand behind their products. Full disclosure, this is an link to drip depot. Doesn't cost you any extra to use it, but purchases help support my channel. https://goo.gl/oyPhxl

I started laying out my drip system this weekend. I'm about half way through hardening off my plants that are going outside soon. The hydroponic peppers are doing well. The diy aeroponics container is working well so far. The Bhut Jolokia Assam pepper has almost doubled it's size in a week. I'm capturing time lapse images of it now to show growth over two weeks. I'm also working on a video of how I put that system together. Starting to get some questions about my irrigation/drip system that I use on my container peppers. I purchased a kit from drip depot (container kit for 80 containers) They have many other kit configurations, and they can be customized. This is the best way to get everything you need to start out. Also, their support has been excellent, very responsive and knowledgeable staff. My questions have usually been answered within an hour or less. They stand behind their products. Full disclosure, this is an link to drip depot. Doesn't cost you any extra to use it, but purchases help support my channel. https://goo.gl/oyPhxl

2016 Pepper grow update #5. I put the 20 oz cup peppers and overwinters outside today for about 40 minutes, hoping to have them hardened off in ten days or so. I'll need to increase the strength of my Masterblend for the larger hydro plants. The BBM is sucking it down fast. Starting to get some questions about my irrigation/drip system that I use on my container peppers. I purchased a kit from drip depot (container kit for 80 containers) They have many other kit configurations, and they can be customized. This is the best way to get everything you need to start out. Also, their support has been excellent, very responsive and knowledgeable staff. My questions have usually been answered within an hour or less. They stand behind their products. Full disclosure, this is an link to drip depot. Doesn't cost you any extra to use it, but purchases help support my channel. https://goo.gl/oyPhxl

Update on my peppers. Most of them seem to be doing well. I started my new potting mix with the plants I just potted up. I think the Miracle Grow was causing some issues with the others, especially not knowing how much of what kind of ferts are in there. I'm moving my hydroponics from Maxibloom to Masterblend. I worked out a good way (I think) to mix it. I'll post another video on that soon. The root ball on my BBM is massive. The Jamaican Hot Choc., not so much but I think I found what's wrong. The air stone stem had a break. I replaced it, so hopefully it will improve. Starting to get some questions about my irrigation/drip system that I use on my container peppers. I purchased a kit from drip depot (container kit for 80 containers) They have many other kit configurations, and they can be customized. This is the best way to get everything you need to start out. Also, their support has been excellent, very responsive and knowledgeable staff. My questions have usually been answered within an hour or less. They stand behind their products. Full disclosure, this is an link to drip depot. Doesn't cost you any extra to use it, but purchases help support my channel. https://goo.gl/oyPhxl