The new chillies seeds are in, as of today. I started yesterday by soaking them in half strength chamomile tea for 24 hours, aka scarification, and now they’re in rockwool which was soaked with a pH 6 solution for the same period.
Variety
This year I’m going for a few less plants, as I’ll likely have to relocate them, but being more specific with what I grow and why;
- 2x Peri peri – as they’re the stock standard for many sauces and recipes
- 2x BBM Primo – awesomely hot and crunchy
- 2x Carolina Reaper – just have to have it
- 2x Orange Habanero – hot as all hell, but also one of my favourites!
- 2x Aji Lemon – just for some medium heat, colour and a different flavour
- ‘Banana pepper’ – something new I’ve found and not tried before
- ‘Jonas Orange’ – no idea I even had these seeds, so will see how it turns out.
This is on top of a few plants that have survived since last season;
Still in a hydro setup
- Peppadew – These are a great staple as they’re so mild and delicious
- 2x Cayenne – Again for recipes and sauces, just easy to grow and harvest
- 2x 7 Pod Burgundy – As awesome as the BBM Primo’s I think!
- Birds Eye – Another variation of peri peri essentially, slightly different flavour though
- Purple UFO – I am not a fan of this one, but winter did not kill it
In pots
- Yellow Habanero – Accidentally took a cutting of this instead of Orange Hab, but it did not fruit, so yet to try it
- 2x Unknown – Leaves only just re-growing, and the labels are missing, so this’ll be a surprise
- 7 Pod Burgundy
- TGP Jalap – More information on this in a future post
- Peppadew
In the ground
These were rescued from a mate who was going to throw them out.
- 3x Unknown
- 3x Jalapeno
- 2x Ahaheim
The Plan
Well, I am probably going to stick to ~14 in a hydro setup, but that definitely needs a bit of a rework after a few issues last summer. No big job though, just improved drainage, filtration, and some fittings. For germination this year though, I finally got a Mars Hydro LED light to get them going with!
Each rockwool block has 2-4 seeds in it, and they’re being kept at 25-28C by a thermostat switch which is hooked up to a heating pad meant for small dogs hah. There is also an oil heater in the room set low just for the overnight, but depending on how it goes, I may put that on a 240V socket timer and turn it on only at night. Summer is just coming in, and I want to be power efficient!
Lastly, the lighting is off for now until they sprout, then I’ll go for 12 hours of light per day; 6am – 6pm, before starting to harden them for potting-up with some afternoons outdoors. While in this stage, I’ll also manually monitor the hydration and top it up required.
Oh and there’s a timelapse
So yep, I stuck the PITA Logitech Brio 4K webcam up there pointing at them, set to output a 4K video at 60fps, but recording 1 frame every 30 seconds. The program I use for this is called VideoVelocity 3, made by CandyLabs, and it works a treat. I’ll likely post the timelapse to YouTube when complete.
The setup at day 0
