This a chacoense I dwarfed and it became much more productive and the plant stopped its sprawling habit.

I don't know if it's possible to effect flowering by changing light spectrum.

I run MH and HPS all the time and get plenty of chiles.

I grow chiles year-round with Metal Halide (MH) lamp for green/blue and High Pressure Sodium (HPS) for red/yellow.

I run both all the time whether plants are flowering or not.

20,000 to 30,000 lumens/square meter at plant canopy.

Yes, it's a Bolivian Rainbow.

You have probably killed the seed by germinating with such high nutrient levels.  

Start with water only for germination, the seed has all the nutrient required to germinate.

I will also caution you not to use nutrient levels recommended by manufacturers when growing plants; it is waaaaay too high. Remember what they are selling........

I dwarf mine by cloning, but I don't get the very nice stem you got with pruning. I think yours looks nicer  than mine.

My  method for dealing with aphids is to throw out all the chiles in the hydro greenhouse (12 plants max), clean and disinfect  the greenhouse well, let it sit with no activity for a month and then replant

I have had to do this about once every ten years. Aphids have always come in with dirt, but I fog out occasionally and bring in a plant with dirt.

Hydro chiles seem to have less pathogens/pests as the plants are never stressed and are not attractive to pathogens/bugs.

Flower drop probable causes:

1. Day temp too high >95F
2. Night temp too low <65F
3. Too much nitrogen fertilizer
4. Too much water
5. Low light levels (reduces fertility).
6. Very low humidity (reduces fertility)
7. Poor air circulation (air circulation contributes to pollination).
8. Lack of pollinating insects.
9. Size of pot
10. Too much mineral in feedwater.

June 7 til today is less than 90 days and you may be expecting chiles before your  plants are ready.

First ripe fruit from a really spectacular chile.

I use 20-30% of recommended amount of nutrient all the time quite successfully with chiles....flowering or vegetative growth.

I replace my lamps every two years and have never had one burn out, but Venture lamps burn out in 7 months or thereabouts.

My other HID lamps are Sylvania and I have never had one burn out.

Avoid Venture lamps....the price is reasonable, the lamps are not.......

Envirolites are compact lamp/ballast assmebly and you can't get at the wiring without destroying the lamp.

High temperature lamp operation and shortened lamp life make overdriven fluorescents less attractive than HID lighting both from a first-cost and an operating cost standpoint.......

It's pretty cool that you can do it, but it has no benefit for chile growing  that I can see.

I thought originally that Denise wanted seeds Waaaaayyyyyyyy too badly and was trolling everywhere.....in caps, yet.....

Unless you farm 1000 acres of chiles, what are you going to do with that many seeds?

I'm a hobby grower and I use maybe 50  seeds a year.....

Lainaus käyttäjältä: "pedro"Hi,
Can I build something up myself ? using sodium bulbs etc ?  - I'm rather put off by the expense of commercial HPS lights with "ballast" etc.
cheers
Pete

Any gas lamp, either fluorescent or HID, requires a ballast.

HID lamps, either High Pressure Sodium (HPS) or Metal Halide (MH) run more efficiently than fluorescent.

I began with a wick hydro system (Emily's garden) and I have always used time  to ripe fruit  and ripe  fruit mass as a measure.

With a poblano that originally came from Johnny's, time to ripe fruit decreased 25-35% with my present recirculating hydro/aero and fruit mass increased over 30%. Fruit quality also increased, but is harder to measure.

Here is a tepin (sivuli) that I tried to kill by pruning both the roots and top....I was unable to kill it.......note new griwth on stem.

It's really pretty hard to kill a chile.......patience with the tepin.

Chlorine you don't want. Get some 5-gal buckets and draw water 48 hrs before you use it in reservoir. If you can taste the chlorine in the water from the tap, put an air bubbler in the 5-gal bucket and run it for 48 hrs.

Hard water (minerals) is a different problem, but most nutrient manufacturers have hard-water nutrients.

I have been growing in hydro for quite a while and have just concluded an unintended experiment.

My data indicates that when my  Ph varies from 6.5-7.0  chiles grow, flower and fruit just fine. For the last couple of months, I have been letting the Ph go to between 7.0 and 7.5 and the growth turned much worse.....nothing died, growth slowed, flowering and fruiting slowed or  stopped. I have changed Ph back to 6.5-7.0 and all the chiles  have recovered

I grow in a temp controlled g'house and climate/light conditions have not changed and nutrient maker and concentration have been constant....the only variable changed was Ph.

Conventional wisdom (the thing I was testing) is that Ph from 5.0 to 7.0 is good and I disagree.

Other observations.....?

Lainaus käyttäjältä: "primmy hill"Hello from a new grower!!
What is the photo period for chillies? Are they like roses that the more light, the longer the better? Or do they only start bearing flowers/fruit after a reduction in hours of light, just like when autumn starts?

I grow in a g'house inside and leave the lights on 16 hrs/day.

Chiles are day neutral, ie, photoperiod makes no difference in flowering or fruiting.