havent measured the wattage, dont really know how, i didnt buy it from a chinese supplier either, bought it from an american hardware supplier over ebay, might be worth checking but its gotten great results...

well if it gets to that i guess id have to cut off any excessive peripheral stem growth, im not really looking for monster pepper bushes and baskets full of chilis here, i may just fill half the pots with quick maturing herbs and veggies just to see what hydro can do without having to allocate space

well hopefully they wont get 2-3 meters tall in a few months

hopefully they wont grow too big by april/may, by then il move them to the garden or a temporary pot then garden, most of the chilies iv chosen are more compact, the ones that are not i will move, i figured i would keep half in the system and half out to avoid crowding, i might make some bucket hydros who knows, but i would keep 4-5(7 pod, bhut j., tepin and something else) in the system longer term if they dont grow too big but idk how big theyl get as i have never grown with hydroponics before

only planted a couple varieties so far, mostly because im still waiting for my ph down to arrive in the mail and my nutrient water ph is barely below 7, the tds without nutrient is already at 240 which cant be helped, all i can do is add a gallon of distilled water to every batch, dont mind the plants sitting on top, theyl be planted soon

10 hole drip irrigation system with 66 gph water pump($6 USD at harbor freight), 1/4 ID clear tubing attached to 3/16 ID black vinyl tubing irrigation system($6 USD at harbor freight)  in 30 gallon blue plastic tote($9 USD at lowe's)

90 watt led, 7:1:1 630 460 600nm ($100 USD on ebay)

ground circuit interrupter and pump timer set to 15 minutes of every hour

3 inch net pots w/ hydroton and either peat pellets or bare roots


General Hydroponics dry hydro maxi series, 5 lbs($32 USD) should last 2-3 years in this system
comments or suggestions?

results after 2 months 

my naga has also produced loads of flowers under this light so the 630 nm red does produce flowers

well i constructed a drip irrigation system a couple days ago so the roots wont be sitting directly in the reservoir and im hoping the drip rate is high enough, i think it is tho, il upload some pics tomorrow of what i made, im using general hydros dry nutrient maxi series, i hope it will perform as well as the flora series everyone else uses...

Alright well i got the hydroton in medium size but I dont have any rockwool but i do have peat pellets, can those be used instead since the peat it encased in net fabric that prevents the peat from escaping and jamming them pump? or can a semi developed plant be simply transplanted directly into the hydroton with completely naked roots?

Does anyone know anything about this pepper or where it's seeds may still be bought? Apparently it's a pepper variety that takes 25 days to flower and was developed in 1978 but was discontinued in the 1990's. It's a sweet pepper but it's novelty, compactness and efficiency intrigue me. The plant ittself is so small but it bears fruit larger than the plant itself and occupies little space, I must grow this!
http://www.usu.edu/cpl/research_dwarf_pep1.htm

Im wondering, does expanded clay texture make much difference? is fine better than medium?
When you place the plant in the hydro pot, do u you work the roots the through growth medium or do you just dump the growth medium on top of the roots? and how much of the roots needs to be in the medium/resting in the reservoir/dangling in the air?

since most plants only grow as big as their roots allow, I was wondering what kind of pots do peppers like? I only have so much growing space so I want to use the smallest space per plant possible. Do pepper roots grow outward or do they prefer to grow straight down?

I just bought a packet of 7 pot seeds from a licensed dealer in florida, usa and inquired about buying in bulk. He told me that he could not because he has almost sold out, but instead said he had a little known pepper called sucre fuego that he has plenty of but because of it's lack of fame it hasn't sold well for him, but he says it is in fact hotter than the 7 pot pepper! I am very much interested needless to say, but I have never heard of this pepper before. Apparently it is a chinense from venezuela. He supplied this info:
"Heat: Dangerously Hot; do not believe this pepper's heat has ever been measured; but, they are definitely hotter than any habanero including the Scotch Bonnet and 7 Pot / 7 Pod.
Pods are habanero in shape about 2" long by 1.5" wide with the characteristic pimpling / wrinkling found in most hot peppers.  These peppers are extremely hot going from green to bright red when mature, flowers are white. Pepper plants can grow three to four feet in height, full and good producers."
It looks in color and shape like a red habanaro but has that bhut/7 pot prune wrinkle on its skin, but a little smoother. Why haven't I heard of this pepper before? Does it go by another common name? Does anyone know?

Did you dilute the miracle gro any before adding? Fatalii's site mentioned when fertilising peppers to dilute conventional fertiliser to half strength. I use miracle gro as well, and it doesnt take much

If I wanted to grow a pepper bush indoors permanently, what size pot would be adequate so as not to impede the roots?

Well the unacclimate bhut kinda sorta died as the hangars holding the led light broke and the ufo smashed it. Now it is just a stem, and until it grows new leaves I will just post pics of the other bhut, and here they are
Day 5:

Day 6:

Day 7:

Day 8:

Day 9:

Day 10:

Day 11:

Day 12:

I don't understand it either, I come up with theories but I really don't know, but the 90 w I am using uses the 630 nm and it's doing a fairly good job so I am wondering if all that emphasis on the correct wavelength of red is really overstated or not.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQcV9uya-2Q
another nice video, but at the rate the peppers grow in this I doubt they're just using the 90 watt model

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fh9oGroryoc
this video claims the 630 nm red led to actually be better than the 660 nm red based on tomato plant yield

start(unacclimated bhut jolokia)

Day 1:

Day 2:

Day 3:

Day 4:

seems being unacclimated to the change in light spectra is a shock to the plant, all the unhealthy old decaying leaves have fallen off, but it still seems to be hanging on and I hope to see an explosion of healthy new leaves to replace them within the next week

start (bhut jolokia that had been acclimated first)

Day 1:

Day 2:

Day 3:

Day 4:

Spent weeks struggling to stay alive, no new growth, and in just 4 days already on a second pair of new leaves
note the difference in appearance of the new leaves from the older leaves in the last photo