Farm Plus and my super hot pepper attempt

[Kate]

Holy cow, that's a ton of peppers! You did a great job!

[Mightywhite]

I dehydrate most of the peppers i don't eat and grind them up with various other peppers and herbs to make seasoning.  They are also cool party favors if someone is feeling brave or has something to prove lol.  I eat the habaneros with almost every meal, the ghosts are a bit too hot for daily use.

[Kate]

Do you use a dehydrator or your oven, or? I've never broken down to get a dehydrator, but if I start growing a lot of hot peppers, I might.

[mike]

Kate, if you want to dehydrate foods, don't go cheap. You can do it in your oven with the door cracked. But it's hard to regulate and time. I bought a couple of cheaper dehydrators from Nesco, but they aren't quality. They aren't as safe for doing jerky, either.

I ended up buying the Excalibur 2900 from Amazon. It was about $170, but I get perfect results every time now. No matter whether jerky, veggies or herbs.

[Kate]

Yeah, I've always done it in the oven, but you're right...it's a PITA.

Thanks for the info, Mike. I'll check it out!

[Mightywhite]

I use a lower level dehydrator (Cuisinart DHR-20)  I forget how much it was but it does the trick.  I have to turn it on high even though the instructions say medium, and it takes a bit longer than the directions say as well, but I leave the peppers whole so this is expected.  I also dehydrate other stuff like green onions and other "filler" to grind up with the peppers and make my seasoning.

[Shawn]

My new air fryer oven dehydrates and we are going to try to do sweet potatoes for my dog.  But I need to wait a couple weeks until I go back to the surgeon to see if I can do more then sit and lay around yet.

[Kate]

I'm perusing the aisles in Amazon, checking some out.

[nick]

Just read through this thread and I sure am curious as to where these pepper plants are now.

[Mightywhite]

I will post an update soon, sorry I kind of fell off the map.

[Shawn]

Sept 4, 2018 11:49:05 GMT -5 Mightywhite said:

I will post an update soon, sorry I kind of fell off the map.

Don't fall that far again, ok?     LOL

[Happy]

Jan 30, 2018 18:17:24 GMT -5 mike said:

... For greens and herbs, I use Growth Technology Ionic GROW (I don't bother with the other stages)... 

Keep up the great work. But, don't overdo it. Too many folks go all in with this and burn out with hydroponics. I was almost one of them. I love my AG's and Totes. I want to turn my small bedroom into a grow room. Sorry if I'm being nosey.

mike, would you please clarify a few things for me?

1. If I use only Ionic Grow for my greens and herbs, I won't need any other supplements?
2. You find Ionic Grow superior to AG nutes for greens and herbs? If so, why?
3. Do you think Ionic Grow would be superior to Floranova Grow? It seems like Floranova Grow adds more trace nutrients.
4. With Ionic Grow you don't need to worry about pH, but you do with Floranova Grow?

Thanks for your words of wisdom on preventing overdoing hydroponics to the point of burning out.

[mike]

I'm afraid I can't say anything about the Floranova Grow, I haven't used it. I switched from the GH Grow because I was sick of testing pH. With the Ionic Grow, I found I didn't even have to check. Mind you, I did for a long time before I trusted the Ionic. In my opinion, the Ionic produces more bountiful and better tasting greens than any other product. My only drawback on the Ionic was I found the taste of mint leaves to be slightly different.

Oh, and yes, on greens and herbs, Ionic Grow is all I use.

[MaryL]

Thanks for bringing this up Happy, and Mike thanks for your response.  I am reminded that I bought a bottle of this, so I'll use it on my herbs.

[Mightywhite]

Update Day 264:

So it's been quite some time since my last update, but to tell the truth not much has changed...  Pretty much just rolling on cruise control.  I gave up on General Hydroponics 3 part formula and use Dyna-Gro only now.  I also use Mr. Mucha-Stash instead of the GH Cal-Mag and I find it just works better.  I also consistently use Dyna-Gro Pro-Tect and everything is as easy as pie, no more PH testing and less mixing than before.

The ghost pepper garden got completely out of control and I cut it WAY down.  It was growing all outside the garden and up the walls and everywhere else.  I chopped it down in increments not to injure the plants too much by leaving lots of leaves to still do their thing, once it got bushy again I chopped it some more until it was bushy and below the lights.  Completely successful and it is still producing tons of peppers. 

The habanero's are the real champions though. This garden is ultra easy to maintain and literally produces hundreds of peppers.  Minimal trimming was needed and they just seem to be right at home in the farm plus with any nutrients i have tried, they all work, even the stock nutes.  I use the Dyna-Gro/Pro-Tect/Mucha Stash combo here as well and smooth sailing is an understatement.  This is truly easy with the orange habs.

The plants in the tent are doing well also, I just keep the Blumats bucket full and check for ripe peppers every few days.  Just like in the Aerogardens the ghost peppers have out grown the habs, but they all still survive and produce fruits.  But less than the hydro gardens.  I still have not trimmed anything in this tent and it is quite jungle like in there lol.

I am still dehydrating all of the peppers that i don't eat for storage and to one day grind them up with other dehydrated stuff to make my own Cajun seasoning.  And of course I got into this hobby so I wouldn't have to grow outdoors, but I get so many clones and extra plants going even after i give a bunch away I still ended up with like 15 potted plants outside...  It's like a sickness lol.  Once again I thank all of you for your help along my way and hope you are all doing as well as I am!

[Shawn]

Mightywhite, you have a knack I see for growing peppers and figuring out how to get tons of peppers.  Way to go.  They look great.

[Mightywhite]

The only thing I really need to improve on is my water filtering process. My reverse osmosis filter takes about 6 minutes to fill a gallon jug, you can imagine the time it takes to fill over 30 jugs! I plan to get like a 30 gallon drum with a float switch and a gallon pitcher to measure with. Then I’ll just have plenty of water on demand. The RO system was a huge improvement over the 1gallon distiller that took 4 hours to make one gallon, that was a job in itself!

[Mightywhite]

I use the Hydro-Logic Stealth RO-300 if any of you are interested in a decent RO system.

[MaryL]

What fantastic projects!  And all your cloning, wow!  Very impressive. What is the green in one of your bowls of dehydrated peppers?  Green onion?

[nick]

This has really set the bar for pepper grows. Impressive!