Sweet to Mild Heat Pepper GAL [1/13/2021]

[hakaku]

For this grow-a-long, I've planted two different sweet bell pepper varieties:

Variety name: Sweet Purple Oda Pepper (C. annuum)

Description: A sweet-to-mild bell pepper that starts purple and ripens from a peach-orange colour to a nice bright red.

Source: SEEDS.UA via a reseller on Amazon.ca

Date planted: 2021-01-20

Variety name: Giant Red Bell Pepper (C. annuum)
Description: A sweet bell pepper that ripens from green to red.
Source: SEEDS.UA via a reseller on Amazon.ca

Date planted: 2021-01-19

I've put 3 seeds of each in 2 different pods. I expect to find out if they're viable in maybe a week from now. If not, I'll either reseed them or switch to seeds from a different provider.

Both are described as being sweet. Honestly, I look forward to seeing the purple colour of the Oda peppers. And given the name of the other one, I'm hoping it'll give bigger peppers, but we'll see if the name is just all talk.

Set up:

They're currently in a "nursery" farm unit along with other recently seeded pods containing herbs and tomatoes. Once they get larger, I'll transplant them to their own separate basket.

Photo as of 2021-01-21:

(the two pods in the front, ignore the one in the back)

[Sher]

Both of those peppers sound delicious. Beautiful, too.

[Shawn]

I agree with Sher, they do sound good.

[hakaku]

And we have lift-off!

2021-01-24 (~4 days since planted)

One of the red bell pepper seeds is starting to germinate.

I'm also seeing some signs from the Oda pepper, but nothing as visible.

[Sher]

Four days since planting is amazing. 

My pepper seeds often take 10 days or so to germinate.

[hakaku]

Better photo of the little sprout (2021-01-25):

Still waiting on the Oda peppers to awaken from their slumber.

[Sher]

Sprouts are miracles! They never fail to awe me!

[hakaku]

Red (2021-01-31, ~12 days):

Purple Oda (2021-01-31, ~11 days):

I reseeded the Oda a few days ago since I wasn't seeing any germination (I'm admittedly impatient). I technically can't tell if it's one of the old seeds or the new seeds that sprouted.

I also added a little bit of AG nutrients to the water to help them take off.

[hakaku]

Red (2021-02-07, ~19 days):

Purple Oda (2021-02-07, ~18 days):

Both pepper plants are growing their first set of true leaves. I'm going to have to thin them down to one plant though -- it always makes me sad to do this :(

Sidebar: I don't think I mentioned this in my initial post, but I'm using Urban Leaf's "AeroGarden compatible grow sponges". They're practically the same as the AeroGarden grow sponges, just cheaper (at least, when I bought them a year ago).

[hakaku]

Giant Red (2021-02-13, ~26 days):

Purple Oda (2021-02-13, ~25 days):

Since last time, I thinned out both down to one pepper plant each. They've definitely started to grow. Today, I gave them some nutrients since I was a bit overdue (hence the yellowing on the first).

[hakaku]

Red (2021-02-20, ~33 days):

Purple Oda (2021-02-20, ~32 days):

I topped both plants a few days ago and you can already see some new leaf growth

[Sher]

I love the way the tips double when they are topped. Your plants look good!

[hakaku]

Red (2021-02-27, ~40 days):

Purple Oda (2021-02-27, ~39 days):

Both plants are doing pretty good, although the Giant Red Bell Pepper is looking a bit yellow and veiny compared to the Purple Oda, perhaps due to lack of nutrients. I've since added more nutrients and switched the nutrients to General Hydroponic's Flora series, which I use for my other pepper plants.

I should probably transplant the tomato and lettuce that I have also growing in this basket.

[hakaku]

Red (2021-03-06, ~47 days):

Purple Oda (2021-03-06, ~46 days):

Gave a bit more nutrients. The Purple Oda is starting to grow upwards a lot, while the Giant Red is staying pretty low. The veininess of the Giant Red hasn't changed, even with new growth -- but maybe that's just how it grows. Nothing else interesting to report for the time being.

[Sher]

hakaku  the photos aren't loading for me with the large files and my slow connection, so I can't see the veininess you mentioned.

Are you using Calmag? It's great for greening up plants.

[hakaku]

Mar 7, 2021 13:55:23 GMT -5 Sher said:

hakaku  the photos aren't loading for me with the large files and my slow connection, so I can't see the veininess you mentioned.

Are you using Calmag? It's great for greening up plants.

Hmm, I can't remember if I ever did. But I've added some now that you've mentioned it.

It's a bit stranger than just veininess though. Upon closer inspection, it seems that the main leaf vein is zigzagging. Looking it up online and no one seems to know the cause of this phenomenon. Some suggest herbicide drift (but this is indoors, unless the initial seed was affected), mites (I've checked and nothing), and viral infection.

At least for now it's not affecting the other pepper. I'll just have to keep monitoring.

[Sher]

hakaku, the pictures are loading for me now.

I don't think the plants look bad. There may be some minor nutrient issues. I'd just remove the two larger, darker leaves at the bottom right of the first picture, and continue monitoring them -- just as you are doing.

[hakaku]

Red (2021-03-13, ~54 days):

Purple Oda (2021-03-13, ~53 days):

Nothing much to report. The Oda Pepper has continued to grow and started to produce flower buds. The Red Giant, however, still looks bad with curling / ruffling of the leaves. I've been monitoring the nutrients closely, but I'm not sure it'll ever recover properly.

[hakaku]

Purple Oda (2021-03-20, ~60 days):

Hit the 2-month mark. The Purple Oda is still looking great and has started flowering, as you can see in the photo above. Some of its leaves have gotten really massive.

The Red Giant (not shown) still looks really bad, despite increasing the nutrients and using calmag. It has, however, also started to flower. I'm currently debating transplanting it into soil to see if it'll do better without competition.

[Sher]

The purple oda plant and flowers are beautiful.

Are the flowers pink, or is that just the light?