Dawn's Kinderpeppergarten Rainforest **REPURPOSED 10/14

[drbanks]

This is a General Hydroponics RainForest Aeroponics system.  I'm using it to take recently sprouted pepper seeds and grow them until they're large enough that they should be transplanted elsewhere.

Right now, this has an assortment of recently sprouted peppers, mostly of the hot, but not that hot variety.

[drbanks]

After literally (inexplicably so) weeks of slow procurement of bits and pieces (stud finder, 9 volt batteries, ceiling hooks, step ladder), I finally have a proper hanging solution for the LED panel over this planter.

Things really shouldn't be this difficult, but I'm rather skilled at making them so.

[drbanks]

And speaking of making things difficult:

I am such a klutz.

Went to prune some of the big leaves off my Kung Pao Pepper plant (right rear), because they were blocking the light to neighboring plants.  Ended up breaking the main trunk about halfway up the plant.

The bad news is that I've severely crippled it.  The good news is that it's no longer blocking the neighboring plants.

[drbanks]

FWIW: The step ladder serves an ongoing function of acting as a stable platform for five gallon buckets full of water an nutrients being siphoned into the planter.  I've already broken other plants during that operation in past weeks.

[drbanks]

I just transplanted a freshly sprouted Hinkelhatz to this garden yesterday, and as of this morning, it still hasn't died.  Which was an issue a few days ago when I tried to transplant a Lemon Drop plant which immediately died.

Still to come are Bhut Jolokia and Carolina Reaper, both of which have just about got to the "4 true leaves" stage in their germination.

[drbanks]

Aji Pineapple and Tabasco:




Kung Pao and Korean Hot:



Hot Rod Serrano and Cayenne:




Sapporo, Biquinho and Hinkelhatz:




Black Betty and barely surviving Cherry Pepper (after I badly fractured it)

[drbanks]

I just did what should be the weekly dump & refill on this, except I got tired last week and skipped this one.  So, it's a two week dump & refill.

Doing D&Rs on two of these thirteen gallon buckets every weekend, I've been learning some techniques to streamline it.

The first is, get three five gallon buckets and mix all 13 gallons of nutes at once.

The second is getting some support to elevate the bucket above the bucket when I'm siphoning the new nutes in.  In this case, the shortie step ladder I got to install the ceiling hooks for the lighting

My next trick is that I just ordered 25' of 1/2" tubing, so I can run it from the bucket to the bathtub and directly siphon from there.

Lesser tricks: I'm using (at a minimum) the three part "Flora" series of nutes plus hydrogen peroxide plus CaliMagic.  Cross-contamination is an issue because at the concentrations that can come out of the bottles, you can end up precipitating the minerals out into your measuring devices, which in my case are pipettes.  I've actually clogged pipettes doing that by accident.  So, I've bought separate pipettes for each bottle that stay rubber-banded with the bottle.

And, I've done so much accidental damage to the plants in my Pepper Pot because all six sections are populated, I've intentionally left one hexagonal section in this one unplanted so I can easily remove it when it comes time to siphon nutes in or out.  In fact, when I refill my Pepper Pot now, I'll remove the section with the scotch bonnets in it and move it to the blank section in this pot.  Much less damage now.

[drbanks]

Getting to the point where I'm going to have to find some new homes for these plants.  


The Sapporo and Aji Pineapple are both proper sized plants ready to start fruiting, and indeed, they've got buds forming.  The rest of the original plants aren't too far behind, and I'm now doing a daily job of trimming them away from each other.

[drbanks]

The Carolina Reaper sprout in Frankenstein has enough of a root system to be properly called a plant now, so I just transplanted it to the Kinderpeppergarten.

The way the rest of the plants in there are growing, I'm thinking they're going to be needing a new home PDQ, but I figure I've got at least a month before the newer seedlings will be a problem.

[Shawn]

Want to see this one grow.

[drbanks]

[drbanks]

For being the most recently planted, the Carolina Reaper is already settling in quite nicely:



The Sapporo badly needs to find a new forever home:



The Tabasco has me constantly hacking back its neighbors so it can get some sun:



The Kung Pao is also trying to overshadow the Tabasco:



Second in line to get evicted once a new home is available: Aji Pineapple:



Caught between the Aji Pineapple and the Hot Rod Serrano, the Cayenne pepper also needs help getting sun:



The "Hot Rod" Serrano plant:



The Cherry Pepper plant surviving my abuse:


Finally, the Black Betty, living up to its name:

Not pictured:
Hinkelhatz
Biquinho
Korean Hot

[no1kcfan6]

Lots of nice pictures!

[drbanks]

The Sapporo pepper plant was just getting too big for this venue, and it's always intended to be a place for something between just sprouted and ready for a forever home, so I just moved the Sapporo to Frankenstein, aka Extra Tertius.

[drbanks]

The Aji Pineapple plant (left rear in the group photos, and clearly the tallest plant in there ever since I removed the Sapporo) is just getting too big for the space provided.

I have two Bounties that I keep meaning to recycle, the one with the Tomato Plant That Ate My Dining Room, and the nearly year-old Jalapeno plant, but both keep giving me fruit, so I never have the courage to break it down.

So, I ordered another Powergrower Drip/DWC bucket that should arrive tomorrow.  My current plan is to transplant the Aji Pineapple to it.

I guess I shouldn't feel in a rush, because it's quite healthy, and so far, all I really have to do is keep pruning it back so the neighboring plants get some light, but you know what happens when you prune a nightshade...

[drbanks]

Sometime in the last couple of days, I added my freshly sprouted Fish Pepper plant to one of the less shady areas in the bucket.  Once I'm done moving out the more mature plants, I can redistribute the sprouts.

I think for now, I'm going to stop sprouting new plants.  I can't imagine what it's going to be like here when all of them are producing.

Of course, I say that now.  Read my upcoming post in the Peppers forum.

[drbanks]

I just found a new forever home for my Aji Pineapple and Kung Pao plants, so they've just been removed from the kinderpeppergarten and transplanted into my new PowerGrower.

As expense and frustration would have it, I have another PowerGrower waiting for me at the rental office, so I can probably take two more plants out of this pot and have enough room left over to fully grow the remaining plants.

[MaryL]

That all looks so lush and fantastic!  I'm glad you have found a few more places to transplant them

[drbanks]

Working from home today, so maybe after work, I'll have the time to wander over to the rental office and pick up the long-delayed PowerGrower.  If so, I might be able to transplant a couple more members of this thing.  My goal is to get this thing reduced to seedlings and five plants.  It has enough space for six full grown plants (like the pepper pot), and I've been leaving one slot open to ease dump & refills.

And I know I keep saying I have two Bounties that will free up soon, but the definition of "soon" keeps getting extended as both persist in yielding fruit from plants that I should have terminated long ago.

[MaryL]

Oct 10, 2017 3:59:49 GMT -5 drbanks said:

And I know I keep saying I have two Bounties that will free up soon, but the definition of "soon" keeps getting extended as both persist in yielding fruit from plants that I should have terminated long ago.

I know, right??   It’s like a big tease!!