I've just finished planting seeds for my first "season" growing chillis. I'm not terribly experienced at growing things, so it'll be a great learning experience. This is going to be an over-winter indoor growing experiment from me, I'm not sure what to expect, but hey if they fail then I'll just plant some more in the new year, all I'll have wasted is time :) My goal is not big yields, just pretty house plants that give some handy pods.

The plan is to supplement sunlight from our south-facing windows with LED lighting. I'll be ordering them soon, hopefully arriving just in time for the babies to germinate. I live in Finland, so the winter will soon be here with its accompanying very short days.

Heres the list of varieties I planted tonight - two of each, hoping for one good healthy plant of each:

• Aji Cristal


• Naga Morich - to scare visitors with, and also I have in mind making an evil Naga Vindaloo!


• Peito de Moca - I'm really excited about these ones, the pictures look great


• Luiza Yellow Pumpkin - another pretty looking one


• Bird's Eye Baby


• Black Scorpion Tongue - for looks


• Short Yellow Tabasco

Most of these have been chosen based on small fruit, easy growing, and good looks.
Fingers crossed! Any advice to help take luck out of the equation is most welcome ;)

Very good set of varieties!

I'm sure you will succeed at least with some of them as they might differ a lot from each other.

Don't be afraid to use scissors to keep them from growing huge !!

Thanks - I would have had a hard time choosing varieties before I was pointed towards your site! I also seem to dislike many annuums like you, and loved the taste of Naga, so it was useful to read opinions from someone with similar taste :)

I just tried some of your Devil Dust by the way - very tasty! With the name I was expecting more heat but it seemed to fade away quite fast, a nice "hey I'm here" burn at the start and lingering heat after, not too overpowering. I'll find that very useful, I think - I scare my workmates by up-ending jars of commercial powders over my lunch until its all evenly coated with red to get enough heat ;)

Your site should have an article "What to do to pass the time while you wait for seeds to germinate", by the way ;)

Hmm.. I love the article idea!!

If devil dust isn't hot enough for you, then naga powder is!

One Luiza and one Peito have germinated already! The Peito actually appeared yesterday. Thats seriously fast, I wasn't expecting to see anything for many days yet :) I'll wait for a few more to appear out of the soil and then move the mini greenhouse to a sunny spot on the windowsill - they're living in a nice warm cupboard in the entrance hall at the moment.

Edit: now with pictures! You can clearly see the seed in these here. Did I plant these too shallow?

[ylläpito on poistanut liitteen]

Heyy! I'll try to catch up with you soon :)

Update: One of the Nagas is pushing up out of the soil :) Both Peito de Mocas have sprouted, and the Luiza Yellow Pumpkin is growing very strongly - its now about 3cm tall and some green bits are unfurling.

I'm intrigued that the only ones to sprout so far are all chinenses - I thought they were meant to be very slow to germinate?

I moved them to the windowsill this morning now that green bits are visible - hopefully our cat doesn't decide to do some "gardening" while I'm at work today!

It really is amazing how fast these guys grow. This is my first attempt at growing anything except cat grass from seed, so I'm continually excited :)
The Naga is nicely visible, the Luiza looks amazingly big and strong, and the second Peito de Moca to sprout is about half the size of the Luiza with some baby leaves showing too.

Heres a picture the Luiza as it stands right now!


[ylläpito on poistanut liitteen]

I decided on my lighting - I'm going to start with only white LEDs, and see how far I get with those. I might end up lacking in the red spectrum - if so then I'll build lights for those too. I've ordered 30 Cree XR-E R2 emitters, which I'll be assembling into a number of small lights - probably four or five emitters each. I'd like to dedicate one assembly to each of the 7 plants I intend to end up with. The specs of these LEDs are most impressive - a max output of 240 lumens each at 4W power usage, and reaching an efficiency of 100lm/W if you don't push them quite as much! Should be an interesting experiment :)

Growth update: All 6 chinense seedlings are now upright and looking good, and one Short Yellow Tabasco appears to have germinated :)

It seems like the babies have been really enjoying all this great sunny weather we've had lately, plenty are up and looking great!

Naga is getting big fat leaves, wider than the other varieties:


[ylläpito on poistanut liitteen]

Luiza is towering over everything else and has a nice third leaf appearing (forgive me, I am but a newbie - is this its first proper leaf?)


[ylläpito on poistanut liitteen]

One birds eye baby is up and definitely in scale with the seed - its a tiny little guy, but seems to be doing well:

(testing pictures linked from Facebook here, apologies if they don't work)
(http://photos-a.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs228.snc1/7532_155232919993_650839993_3572960_6470851_n.jpg)

One black scorpion tongue is up and is working on shedding its seed-hat:
(http://photos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs228.snc1/7532_155232929993_650839993_3572961_6951741_n.jpg)

Both yellow tabascos have sprouted, though one of them has a bit of yellowing at the tip of one of its leaves. What might this mean? Any advice?

(http://photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs228.snc1/7532_155235384993_650839993_3572989_4986832_n.jpg)

So all have now sprouted except for one Bird's Eye Baby, one Aji Crysal, and one Black Scorpion Tongue. And I just realized I have Lemon Drop seeds that I forgot to plant the first time around.

Its going to be hard choosing which plants to pinch off...

And now for some more pictures:

First a group shot. I could find any name tags for them anywhere I went (Plantagen were all out and couldn't even find the spot on the shelves anywhere else) so I gave up and cut up a few plastic knives instead :D Totally ghetto, but hey it works..

(http://photos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs228.snc1/7532_157120974993_650839993_3597801_305076_n.jpg)

Here you can see how strongly the Luiza Yellow Pumpkins are growing - these guys are amazing, totally thrashing everyone else:

(http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs228.snc1/7532_157120984993_650839993_3597802_4057533_n.jpg)

Another shot of Luiza, definitely got some proper leaves happening now:

(http://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs228.snc1/7532_157120989993_650839993_3597803_825745_n.jpg)

Same guy, neck to Naga. Nagas are doing brilliantly too :)

(http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs208.snc1/7532_157120999993_650839993_3597804_5259414_n.jpg)

Our cat has to inspect them every time I pull them off the windowsill for some photos:

(http://photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs208.snc1/7532_157121004993_650839993_3597805_5962858_n.jpg)

Question time:

• Do you think I should I rotate the box around so they get light from both sides?


• How much longer until I should think about repotting into individual pots?

You can turn the box around once in a while, not too often.

You can repot them soon to individual pots, just be vary careful with the seedlings.
Unnecessary handling of the seedlings can easily affect the future growth of the plant.

Getting some really big fat juicy leaves on some of them now, they're doing great :) Luiza Yellow Pumpkin and Naga Morich are definitely the fast growers of this batch. Is that a normal thing, Fatalii, or would it be more to do with the luck of the draw? How good the seeds were etc etc?
I realized I forgot to plant Lemon Drop, so I dropped a few seeds for that guy into some of the cells that didn't germinate.

I bought a stack of pots from Plantagen ready to start repotting as soon as they get big enough, but my next worry: the cat! I'm sure older plants can handle a nibble here or there but I imagine it'd be a disaster if it eats all their leaves as soon as they get out from under the greenhouse. I'm thinking of cutting a few plastic bottles to use them over the pots like greenhouses to protect them. Any other ideas?

Sounds like a good idea.

Otherwise, looking at your plants, you worry way too much, they look just fine so far! :)

Carry on!

Hehe - not so much worried Fatalii as curious :)

Repotted the two biggest ones:

Luiza Yellow Pumpkin looks great:
(http://photos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs228.snc1/7532_162720829993_650839993_3663649_5746791_n.jpg)

Closer view, showing off its third real leaf:
(http://photos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs208.snc1/7532_162723974993_650839993_3663734_1800368_n.jpg)

And Naga Morich is looking good, too:
(http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs208.snc1/7532_162720834993_650839993_3663650_6562149_n.jpg)

The cat doesn't seem interested in them with their protective soda bottle covers, so it seems to be working :)

Looks good and they are definitely safe!

Good that you took care of the ventilation too!

Yep - handy that the Plantagen near my apartment has those pots for sale at 1€ each right now and they're just the perfect size for the cheapest soda bottle to fit snugly inside :D

Next time I grow seedlings I'll look for some rockwool, or I'll make sure they're in individual plastic cups at least. The 6-cell trays that came with the mini-greenhouse are a pain, its quite hard to get each seedling out without risk of damaging its neighbours.

I guess I should start thinking about fertilizers in the next few weeks - I see you like BioBizz ones Fatalii. What do you recommend for the vegetative stage, and when would you start? I've seen some people recommend using diluted nitrogen-rich tomato fertilizer.

LEDs have arrived, will post pictures later :)

with plants! Now and later! :)

Hold your horses! A mans gotta work sometimes to earn money to pay for those lights ;)

I'm lucky enough to work somewhere with a lot of computer geeks, so I'm scrounging free heatsinks in the form of old CPU heatsinks. The plan is to glue clusters of the LEDs to each heatsink and end up with multiple light modules that each take 12V or so, to run from conventional laptop power supplies (or similar). We've been getting lots of great sunlight lately though (what a nice autumn so far!) so I haven't been rushing it.

Here you are, 30 super high power LEDs and my first scavenged heatsink:

(http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs208.snc1/7532_166828994993_650839993_3703786_6452957_n.jpg)

This is roughly what I'm planning:

(http://photos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs208.snc1/7532_166828984993_650839993_3703785_7370347_n.jpg)

Will have to head to a PC store for some thermal adhesive and start soldering!

Two Lemon Drops are up, and a straggler Birds Eye Baby popped up this evening - just over a month after planting! I'm lining up homes for my surplus plants, seems like a few people from work are very keen on starting a new hobby, too ;)

Tinke is getting my surplus Naga, Fatalii :)

Any advice about fertilising, btw?

Well, for soil growing there's only one series I highly recommend: BioBizz!

Some results here:
http://fatalii.net/chile/?u=g&c=search&word=biobizz&p=1

They look excellent - what sort of schedule would you recommend for young plants like mine? Some combination of Bio-Grow and Root Juice?

Hmm... biogro and alg-a-mic is good at that point, root juice is also good separately, I use it after repotting.

When you start flowering, alg-a-mic, bioloom and topmax will do the job!

Thanks for the tips, guess I'll place an order with Viherpeukku ;)

By the way, how have your plants been enjoying these sunny autumn days? I bought a cheap ornamental annuum from Plantagen a while back, and its loaded with new flowers at the moment!

Yeah! This season has been great for so long now... even it would rain iceballs today, it still would be the best season.

Too bad it's getting very cold outdoors.

:D

I just had the thought - if theres any truth to the story that tortured plants produce the hottest pods, I think I'll have some seriously hot pods in the future. My cat will be busy nibbling the leaves regularly ;)

Well, I can assure you there is... I drove a screw thru the stem of my caribbean red hab years ago and tasted the pods couple days after and couple days before... it was horrible.
The type of the heat seemed to change also to much more to "goats weedish" which means horrible.

The plant expressed you its hatred that way.

New pictures! Check out how huge Luiza Yellow Pumpkin is, so far its my favourite of this batch:
(http://photos-a.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs208.snc1/7532_172198834993_650839993_3749880_4842096_n.jpg)
Its about 13cm across and 15cm tall, with 8 leaves now!

The Short Yellow Tabascos are going strong and need to be potted out ASAP. They have a really weird growing habit compared to the rest, smaller leaves with longer stems:
(http://photos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs228.snc1/7532_172198819993_650839993_3749878_4462273_n.jpg)

This is whats left in the seedling tray, all except the little straggler seedlings need to be potted out:
(http://photos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs228.snc1/7532_172198824993_650839993_3749879_3659878_n.jpg)

And the whole family together - you can see here how much bigger the Luiza Yellow Pumpkin is than the rest, its really thriving:
(http://photos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs208.snc1/7532_172198839993_650839993_3749881_6455556_n.jpg)

I was down at Bauhaus today and noticed how cheap perspex sheets are, so I'm thinking I might build an enclosure to go around the window shelf to help keep the cat out. Might be a good way to set up the lights, too.

And now you will see the difference in growth speed with the seedlings that are growing in those small trays and the ones on the pots. :)

At least Naga Morich and Luiza Yellow Pumpkin have been growing much faster since I potted them out - I need to hurry up and drink some more soda so I can pot out the rest, too ;)

Weekly progress update! Had some stellar growth in the past week. I potted out all but the Lemon Drop, which was planted much later than the others.

Heres the family photo:
(http://photos-a.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs217.snc1/8429_177406199993_650839993_3802393_1399135_n.jpg)

Naga has doubled in size:
(http://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs237.snc1/8429_177406214993_650839993_3802394_622043_n.jpg)

Peito de moca is strong:
(http://photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs237.snc1/8429_177406219993_650839993_3802395_1483670_n.jpg)

Aji Cristal is really happy to be into a bigger pot:
(http://photos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs237.snc1/8429_177406224993_650839993_3802396_7308776_n.jpg)

Bird's Eye Baby is still the baby of the family, but looks strong to me:
(http://photos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs237.snc1/8429_177406229993_650839993_3802397_7899850_n.jpg)

Short Yellow Tabasco is thriving, too:
(http://photos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs217.snc1/8429_177406239993_650839993_3802399_1220018_n.jpg)

And best for last - Luiza Yellow Pumpkin has doubled in size in the past week too, its awesome to watch it grow:
(http://photos-a.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs217.snc1/8429_177406234993_650839993_3802398_7672524_n.jpg)

They look healthy and well, nice! :)

Not much has changed since the last set of pictures - its been dark and gloomy for the last few weeks, so not much growth has been put on. I'm keeping them alive with the fluoros above the window for now. I have finally had time to order the last few parts I needed to start building my LED lights (transformers etc), so hopefully I'll have a prototype done soon!

I'm seeing some slight yellowing on the lower leaves - what might this be?

Lainaus käyttäjältä: Trizza - marraskuu 19, 2009, 21:47:13 ip
Not much has changed since the last set of pictures - its been dark and gloomy for the last few weeks, so not much growth has been put on. I'm keeping them alive with the fluoros above the window for now. I have finally had time to order the last few parts I needed to start building my LED lights (transformers etc), so hopefully I'll have a prototype done soon!

I'm seeing some slight yellowing on the lower leaves - what might this be?

Yellowing lower leaves is probably caused by lack of light reaching those leaves. This is quite normal if the lighting comes (near) directly from above from what I gather. If it is just the lower leaves yellowing and dropping off, you should have nothing to worry about if nothing more sinister appears.

Tonight I set out to build my prototype LED lamp!
The power supplies I'm using are replacement power adapters for ASUS Eee PC laptops - 36W, 12VDC@3A, sourced from ebay for about £7 each. The plan is to use one per lamp, and 6 LEDs per lamp. I couldn't find the right socket locally so I went down to Yleiselektroniikka and bought new plugs and sockets to replace the normal ones. I glued the LEDs to the heatsink using Arctic Silver thermal epoxy, also sourced from ebay, and connected them up into two strings of 3 LEDs each using some thick solid core copper wire.
It all went really well until I realized that I forgot to buy the resistors I needed - d'oh! So I hunted around and found 10*100R 2W resistors, wired them all up in parallel for one 20W, 10R resistor. Just enough for me to run one string at 330mAh with a 3.3V forward voltage - so just over 1W each. I'll be running them at around 3W when I get the right resistors.

Heres the first string hooked up with the ghetto limiting "resistor":
(http://photos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs100.snc3/16731_205291419993_650839993_4077389_1451667_n.jpg)

Here it is with the power flowing!
(http://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs120.snc3/16731_205291429993_650839993_4077390_1351476_n.jpg)

Holy CRAP this thing is bright. I just about shat my pants when I turned it on - I was careful to not look at it yet I'm still seeing stars. And this is only at about 1/3rd of its full rated output :O :O For context - in that picture I'm at the dining table, next to the windowsill which has two long fluoro tubes above it, and with a big halogen lighting the table for soldering work. The LEDs dwarf all that.

Next I plucked Aji Cristal off the windowsill and held the lamp about 40-50cm away:
(http://photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs120.snc3/16731_205291444993_650839993_4077391_5835496_n.jpg)

As you can see, it puts out a tonne of light. It easily outdoes the fluoros above the windowsill.

I'll have to find somewhere to get the right value resistors tomorrow so that I can finish the prototype and try it out at full power :D

On a side note: Aji Cristal actually has put on some growth since those last pictures, four or 5 new leaves. It has been slow though.

The prototype is now wired up with all 6 LEDs running through 3.3 ohm resistors - by my calculations that should place it around 700-800mAh, a good operating point for a crapload of light and long life. Its throwing out some amazing light. I'm currently running them in for an extended period of time with a temperature meter attached to see how hot it gets. So far its stabilized at 85 degrees after about 30 minutes. The maximum temperature is 150 degrees so its still well within limits, but a fan is probably a good idea still.

After the test I'll let it cool down and hold it over a couple of plants for a photo shoot!

As for the light quality - it has a definite blue tinge, which should be good for vegetating I guess, and it has a good wide angle range so they should provide great coverage over a few plants. Looking forward to getting it rigged up over some plants:) I'm yet to figure out how to mount them, though..

Heres a picture taken during the test run. These are super-bright!

(http://photos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs100.snc3/16731_206445304993_650839993_4085741_3214251_n.jpg)

Naga Morich with the new light held about 30cm away - again, all the other lights in the room were at maximum brightness and this just dwarfs them all:
(http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs100.snc3/16731_206772184993_650839993_4088910_3608195_n.jpg)

Here's my chilli growing windowsill, with the fluorescent lights above it turned on and the LED lamp about 50cm above the greenery - lots of coverage, and I still have to make four more!

(http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs100.snc3/16731_206772199993_650839993_4088911_4258218_n.jpg)

Interesting to see more results of that.. 3w leds should so some nice job. :)

Any thoughts on how to mount them? It seems a shame to waste the light coming in the window, otherwise I'd move the plants to some shelves and just bolt the lights on.

Hmmm don't have better idea than that.... what ever you think, just post it here to give other people nice ideas. :)

Ok, took me a couple of weeks to get around to finding a way to mount it!

So, I went down to IKEA and buy one of these for 15€: http://www.ikea.com/fi/fi/catalog/products/10106280 (http://www.ikea.com/fi/fi/catalog/products/10106280)
3€ worth of aluminium bar from Bauhaus, some drilling, and a few M4 screws later and we have this:

(http://photos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs120.snc3/16731_220842034993_650839993_4206063_6396769_n.jpg)

It clamps right on to the edge of the windowsill, taking up next to no space and solid as a rock :) I had to add the vertical aluminium bar support because the light would sag down under the extra weight of the heatsink. Better safe than sorry - it has multiple holes for adjusting the height.

Shot of the greenery (once again, this is lit overhead by big fluoros and has a halogen pointing at it too):
(http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs100.snc3/16731_220842044993_650839993_4206064_3619508_n.jpg)

Closeup of how I mounted the head. You'll note that I added a fan to the heatsink - with the fan on as slow as it can go, it doesn't even get warm:
(http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs100.snc3/16731_220842049993_650839993_4206065_719569_n.jpg)

Closeup of the vertical bar:
(http://photos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs100.snc3/16731_220842054993_650839993_4206066_4331834_n.jpg)

So thats the rough prototype done! Hopefully in a few weeks I'll have time to start the rest of them :)

Nice... it would be good idea to get rid of the halogen tho, produces way too much heat compared to light which quality is bad for your plants.

The halogen is just the work lamp I use when soldering, its rarely on or pointing at the plants ;)

Ahhh, okay! :)

A lovely project! I've had a bunch of those LED's lying around for quite a while now. Maybe I should start soldering before next season ;-)
Just a little question... Are you using a 12V power supply? And then 3 LED's in series along with the resistors? How come you don't just use a 3V power supply?
Damn. I wish I had more time...

Yeah, I'm using a 12V power supply with two strings of 3 LEDs with a single resistor per string. I used a 12V power supply because they're readily available on ebay as surplus laptop power supplies - 3V (or actually 3.7V for white Crees) power supplies that would be able to push the amps needed are pretty hard to come by. eg this same rig would need a 3.7V*~6A power supply, without factoring in any safety factor.

A workmate of mine wants me to do a step-by-step guide on building this lighting rig, so once I've got more heatsinks I guess I'll make a how-to thread on building them :)

I'm definitely seeing accelerated growth! They had almost stopped growing since winter hit, and after 3 days of running the light the Aji Cristal seen on the far right of the group shot has reached the top of its stake, and all the other plants under that light have got a few new leaves.

Fatalii - what sort of day/night cycle do you suggest? I've currently got them on a 12h on 12h off cycle.

Many people seems to have good results with a bit longer light period. I'm running 14 hour light period. But it depends a lot of things. Sometimes plants request more "sleep". You notice it when the leafs turn a bit limb.

Lainaus käyttäjältä: Trizza - joulukuu 13, 2009, 12:21:36 ip
A workmate of mine wants me to do a step-by-step guide on building this lighting rig, so once I've got more heatsinks I guess I'll make a how-to thread on building them :)

A little step-by-step tutorial would be highly appreciated! I got very interested indeed, nice work :D

Hi Trizza and congratulations! I do recommend you replace those resistors with a proper constant current LED driver and make only 1 string. You'll significantly increase your efficiency and it will be practically impossible to fry your LEDs. I have some leftover 33.5W 450mA constant current drivers for 20e + shipping

Lainaus käyttäjältä: Trizza - joulukuu 13, 2009, 12:21:36 ip
Yeah, I'm using a 12V power supply with two strings of 3 LEDs with a single resistor per string. I used a 12V power supply because they're readily available on ebay as surplus laptop power supplies - 3V (or actually 3.7V for white Crees) power supplies that would be able to push the amps needed are pretty hard to come by. eg this same rig would need a 3.7V*~6A power supply, without factoring in any safety factor.

A workmate of mine wants me to do a step-by-step guide on building this lighting rig, so once I've got more heatsinks I guess I'll make a how-to thread on building them :)

I'm definitely seeing accelerated growth! They had almost stopped growing since winter hit, and after 3 days of running the light the Aji Cristal seen on the far right of the group shot has reached the top of its stake, and all the other plants under that light have got a few new leaves.

Fatalii - what sort of day/night cycle do you suggest? I've currently got them on a 12h on 12h off cycle.

Lainaus käyttäjältä: zaxxon - joulukuu 13, 2009, 17:48:35 ip
Hi Trizza and congratulations! I do recommend you replace those resistors with a proper constant current LED driver and make only 1 string. You'll significantly increase your efficiency and it will be practically impossible to fry your LEDs. I have some leftover 33.5W 450mA constant current drivers for 20e + shipping

Thanks for the offer, but I'm running at significantly higher current - these bin LEDs are rated up to 1A, I'm running around 800mA for ~3W each at the moment. I might build some drivers myself for them.

Time for an update! First up, Merry Christmas and a happy New Year to everyone :)

I've been cycling the plants around, giving them each a few days right under the lamp. They've been *loving* the light, I've seen an explosion in growth from all of them.

First, a group shot:
(http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs220.snc3/22774_261405329993_650839993_4422491_4648519_n.jpg)

We've got a new kitten here, so we've had a couple of "incidents". Three of the plants are now lacking name tags. Bird's Eye Baby was completely uprooted, losing all but maybe a centimeter of root growth. I repotted it and put it directly under the light, hoping the extra energy would help it survive. A couple of days later I got home from work and one of them ones without a name (I THINK its Black Scorpion Tongue) had been snapped in half near the base, just hanging on by a shred of green - I quickly tied it up to the stake and put it under the light, too. Heres how that break looks:

(http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/hs300.ash1/22774_261405324993_650839993_4422490_4405642_n.jpg)

So there I was thinking those two had little chance to survive, and a couple of weeks later heres what I've got:
(http://photos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs240.snc3/22774_261405299993_650839993_4422488_5381402_n.jpg)
A flower bud on "Maybe-Black Scorpion Tongue"! I can quite clearly see purple, live, but I don't yet have a macro lens so couldn't quite capture the colour.

I had been really pleased with Birds Eye Baby's progress, new leaves and shoots forming all over the plant, really going nuts putting on new vegetation. A close look today and:
(http://photos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs220.snc3/22774_261405314993_650839993_4422489_318520_n.jpg)
Four or five flower buds! Miniscule, just like everything else about this cute little plant.

Question time:
- Are chili plants masochists or something?!? The two that are the most tortured are the ones that are flowering!
- AC is just shooting straight up - is there anything I can do to encourage it to put on more leaves at the branch points and spread out a bit? Pruning, perhaps?


Status update on those lamps: I now have everything I need ready to assemble four more lamps, so I'll be digging into that perhaps as soon as tonight :)

I was stupid enough not to order those Bio Bizz nutrients earlier, and now it seems like Viherpeukku doesn't stock Bio Grow any more. Any tips for other good places to order it from?

Flowers have opened!

The mystery plant that I think is Black Scorpion Tongue but can't be sure, anyone recognise the flower?
(http://photos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs240.snc3/22774_279716874993_650839993_4513339_2285121_n.jpg)

And birds eye baby has opened up too:
(http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs220.snc3/22774_279716884993_650839993_4513340_1928303_n.jpg)

So, what do I do now :D Should I pollinate these by hand?

Work has been crazy since my last update, didn't have a chance to start fertilizing flowers until recently, but the plants have been putting out lovely flowers at a steady rate :)

First pod a couple of days old on Black Scorpion Tongue:
(http://photos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs365.snc3/23538_407024624993_650839993_5040406_8348306_n.jpg)

How do you guys fertilize your indoor plants? I've been using a small paintbrush but i'm having a lot of difficulty getting much pollen on it.

I just usually use my finger or simply shake the plants. The lack of pollen might be a result of low light!

I don't think its for lack of light - we've had an awesome week here, lots of direct sunlight..

Lainaus käyttäjältä: Trizza - maaliskuu 28, 2010, 18:57:07 ip
I don't think its for lack of light - we've had an awesome week here, lots of direct sunlight..

Hmm.. Maybe something else then.. :)

Short update - planted 15 more varieties today for my indoor garden!

C. baccatum:
Orchid
Starfish
Criolla Sella
CGN 22871

C. annuum:
Baby Bell Pepper
Ethiopian Brown

C. chinense:
Pink Habanero
Orange Habanero
Petenero
Limon
Chocolate Fatalii
Cheiro Amarela

C. chinense x annuum: Bonnet Bell F3
C. galapagoense
C. cardenasii var. pendulum: Ulupica Large

I may have started some of the bigger ones too late, as I intend them to go on the balcony. We'll see, I guess.

When I last pruned my Aji Cristal (boy those things love to grow) I looked at the leftovers and thought "such a waste" so I trimmed one piece back to two leaves and stuck it into some soil and put it under the LED lamp. I was fully expecting it to die - but here it is a month later:
(http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/hs441.ash1/24338_415987244993_650839993_5268874_1402782_n.jpg)

And heres the whole garden (for now):
(http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/hs441.ash1/24338_415986674993_650839993_5268872_7169475_n.jpg)

The biggest plants and a few of the ones in little pots will go into nice big pots and live on the balcony as soon as it stops getting below zero overnight - hopefully I'll have a nice crop in the summer :)

Only problem now is that the windowsill for the lounge is full XD I need to install windowsill under the bedroom and kitchen windows to house my expanding collection! Also still looking for a good solution for pollinating my plants.

I think I misidentified the Black Scorpion Tongue - the pod is clearly yellow and looks very much like a Short Yellow Tabasco.

So far Limon and Bonnet Bell have "popped", with any luck there'll be plenty more soon.

As the pod matures I'm thinking this might actually be Black Scorpion Tongue after all:
(http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-sjc1/hs531.snc3/30168_418442774993_650839993_5324170_86637_n.jpg)

And it looks like my fertilizing by "stick a fingertip in and swish it around" is actually achieving something with Aji Cristal:
(http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-sjc1/hs551.snc3/30168_418443999993_650839993_5324334_5096623_n.jpg)

There are two more like it :)

Heck, why not. I will try the "ET-method" as well. I noticed that approximately 50 % of the flowers I tried to get pollens from did not have any or were unwilling to let them fly when I visited them. But I will use the finger method and use a magnifying glass to see if I even get some pollen.
If I do then I think it is easier to put that pollen on the stigma with a finger then a paintbrush. But that is just a subjective opinion. It feels like that at least. Thanks for the input.

Yeah I agree, its definitely easier to transfer pollen with a fingertip. Its a bit of a clumsy tool when it comes to smaller flowers though!

I prefer to just shake the plant from the trunk ;D Much more effective when the plant is filled with flowers! And yeah that is a definite Black Scorpion Tongue. It will mature bright red like this:

(http://jeqq.kuvat.fi/kuvat/Chili/P1090801.JPG/_small.jpg)

A few more pictures of tasty looking little pods:

I think this might be Luiza Yellow Pumpkin - its an incredibly cute little yellow pod:
(http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs619.snc3/32580_422700739993_650839993_5419771_7302338_n.jpg)

Aji Cristal is producing some delicious looking pods - when is it best to pick these?
(http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/hs559.ash1/32580_422700754993_650839993_5419772_1582406_n.jpg)

And that Black Scorpion Tongue looks really tasty, think I'll pick it imminently:
(http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-sjc1/hs619.snc3/32580_422700774993_650839993_5419774_7042526_n.jpg)

Well, I picked that Black Scorpion Tongue today:

(http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/hs529.ash1/31080_424875269993_650839993_5471247_3093391_n.jpg)

And sacrificed most of it to add to some fajitas :) I ate the rest raw - quite mild, very easy-going sweet flavour, reminded me a lot of bell pepper. Gave a very welcome bit of warmth to the fajitas - I think adding two would have been a nice level of heat for these. Given how pretty this one is I think I have definitely recommend it!

Good looking stuff! Just out of impatient curiosity: how long did it take for the pods to ripen? Mine are just turning pale after the purple phase.

Mine appeared in late March, so maybe 7 weeks? I probably could have picked mine a week ago.

BST is somewhat fast one to ripen. 8)

Nice looking plants! I especially like Luiza Yellow Pumpkin, looks delicious.

Cheers, sure does Anbanero. I really like the looks and the way it grows, so I'll definitely be saving seeds from that pod.

More pictures!
Today I spotted a cute shiny Birds Eye Baby pod:
(http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs310.snc3/29130_426656924993_650839993_5514532_408680_n.jpg)

And this incredibly evil radioactive looking pod, I have no idea what it is but the flowers look like a Chinense. The plant is growing very strange, so I have a feeling the pod is abnormally small for the variety. I'm scared of this pod. Any ideas what it could be?
(http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/hs339.ash1/29130_426656944993_650839993_5514534_3682365_n.jpg)

Aji Cristal is churning out pods and they all look delicious:
(http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs330.snc3/29130_426656954993_650839993_5514535_5820546_n.jpg)

Lots of babies ready (overdue in fact) for replanting:
(http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs330.snc3/29130_426656969993_650839993_5514537_3694632_n.jpg)

Baby bell finally sprouting, after a month! Kitten damage is visible on the tags (same kitten that likes uprooting young chile plants):
(http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs310.snc3/29130_426656974993_650839993_5514538_493793_n.jpg)

And the rest of my latest planting. Half have sprouted:
(http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/hs339.ash1/29130_426656979993_650839993_5514539_2494323_n.jpg)

I'm thinking that I will soon buy some buckets and transfer my favourite plants into them and out onto the balcony. Is there anything to be wary of with this move?

Hello,
if you want move plants from some biosystem to other(from indoor to outdoor, outdoor to greenhouse or whatever)
you must do it by steps - you move it outdoor for 30 minutes and second day you will see result.
I move plants for 2 hours and second day I have with some chinense UV problem.

Your plants looking nice and Aji Cristal look really tasty:)

Apologies for lack of updates and pictures, its been a very busy summer (got married, family visiting Finland for a long time, etc). All is going great with my little windowsill farm - I've been eating a steady stream of delicious Aji Cristals all summer, and a second wave of flowers is now coming on my best producers.

Thoughts:
- Aji Cristal is an amazing plant. Easy to grow and delicious - I think I'll be growing several of these every year.
- Birds Eye Baby is prolific, and very pretty! Taste is OK as well.
- Black Scorpion Tongue is very decorative, and tastes OK.

Two of my chinense are covered with flowers and I'm getting pods from them - one keeps putting out those tiny little red pods that I have no idea what they are. Very confusing & mild. The other one has put out some pods about 3cm long that are smooth and green - I'll have to take some photos to share, I can't ID them. My Bonnet Bell has a couple of pods coming, which I'm really looking forwards to tasting :)

This is that plant I'm having trouble identifying. The flowers appear to be chinense type, and the pods are smooth and green. I guess it can't be Naga, since their smooth, so maybe its Peito de Moca?
(http://lh6.ggpht.com/_5VOX1ixV8ls/TIy9rweqQkI/AAAAAAAAADg/wL9tb62tkTY/IMG_20100912_144558-1.jpg)

Black Scorpion Tongue continues to put on pretty pods:
(http://lh6.ggpht.com/_5VOX1ixV8ls/TIy90XN01VI/AAAAAAAAADk/uNdh5kDJ30M/s576/IMG_20100912_144453.jpg)

And this is the super cute Bonnet Bell - the photo isn't very good, sorry!
(http://lh3.ggpht.com/_5VOX1ixV8ls/TIy990pnc4I/AAAAAAAAADs/KxLWHCoiOwk/IMG_20100912_144356-1.jpg)

nice grow Trizza

the evil radioactive chinense looks funny and cute  :D


so you are growing CGN 22871
i am thinking of growing this variety next year - there are claims that this one produces tasty fruits and a lot of pods. can you confirm this or didn´t your plant reach the fruiting stage?

thx for update  :)

Update: After a long, tasty season I hacked all of my plants back to short stems. All are now putting out fresh leaves - my plan is to keep them trimmed to a reasonable bonchi size.

I'm now pretty sure that the plant I had trouble identifying is actually Luiza Yellow Pumpkin. I had a good crop of small orange pods from it, and they were very, very tasty! Medium heat, nice fruity flavour. My favourite plant of the season after the Aji Cristal.

Lainaus käyttäjältä: Trizza - joulukuu 28, 2010, 15:26:19 ip
I'm now pretty sure that the plant I had trouble identifying is actually Luiza Yellow Pumpkin

you mean the radioactive, evil guy don´t you?

;D

Lainaus käyttäjältä: Chilinferno - tammikuu 04, 2011, 21:52:50 ip

you mean the radioactive, evil guy don´t you?

;D

Actually I still have no idea what that one was! I tasted it and it was nothing to write home about, flavour was quite immature and the heat was a non-event. I think it might be some sort of weird mutation of a Naga Morich, since I planted some Naga seeds from the same batch as I used and the foliage looks identical.