This season I am trying some hydroponic growing which will dictate what method I use for growing in my Greenhouse.
This weekend (04.08.12) I moved some of my seedlings into the hydroponic setup on my deck but I am still a little worried about the temperature at nights here in New Zealand as this is still getting down to around 9 degrees celsius. To combat this I added a 200 litre heater from SOG. I guess time will tell if I was a little too excited about getting the plants in, I do have some more chillies going in rockwool just in case!
(06.08.12) With the weather being pretty cold at nights I thought I should try to protect my fragile seedlings from the frost but I am not entirely sure what is the best method, I have posted on the ‘Chillis Galore’ forum so will see what the responses are but for the meantime I am just covering the plants with small plastic cups and a rock on top to hold it in place, the idea being the warmth from the water will rise and be trapped in the cup and will also prevent the cold air from reaching the plant.
(07.08.12) Here are my seedlings that I currently have growing under a fluorescent grow light with a small reflector I had made at work out of aluminum and some reflective 3M material. I have the light on from when I get up until I go to sleep. The propagators are also on a heat pad to keep the seedlings nice and warm.
I got home tonight and the seedlings were looking pretty average, one was pretty much dead, so I decided I would bite the bullet and move them out to my shed under my grow light for now. Hopefully they survive. I should of known it was still too cold outside for them being that it is still getting under 10 degrees Celsius on a regular basis.
(02.09.12) Most of the plants seem to of recovered from their stint outside in the cold weather (my bad), although some are still lagging growth wise, yet they have not died so I am still hoping they take off soon. I also think I had the light a little too close to the plants to start with as I was getting some leaf burn so I have now lifted the light up higher. My seedlings also didn’t like the light too much so I have now put them back under my fluorescent light for now. Hopefully not too much longer and I will be able to get some of the plants out onto my deck setup as changing the nutrients in the shed is a mission with so little space to work in. Here are some updated pics.
…and here is the straggler!
(13.10.12) I moved my chillies from inside under the grow light to outside on the deck, they should be OK now as the temp is only getting down to about 12 degrees at night and the plants are a lot bigger now so less fragile. I still have my greenhouse to install but have been busy with other projects etc so hope to get onto that soon. I still have some small seedlings growing as well as some small soil based plants, not sure if I am going to go soil or hydro based in the greenhouse yet, it kind of depends on when I manage to get it installed I guess! Here are some updated pics. On the last up close pic you can see some flowers starting which is not too bad considering the date and how early it is in the season.
(15.10.12) Since I moved my peppers to the deck I now have some extra grow space in the shed under the grow light so I added a couple more bubbler hydro buckets as well as planting my remaining seedlings into soil. Here are all the other chillis I have going other than what is on the deck.
(18.11.12) Just a small update, plants in the hydro are all growing well and some are flowering and starting to fruit which is exciting. I have moved all my small soil based plants into larger pots now which are currently sitting in the front yard on my deck.
I have had some issues though with algae growing in the hydro buckets as some light must be getting through to the inside. It isn’t too bad and the plants don’t seem to be affected yet, I will keep an eye on them over the next week or two and may end up spray painting the buckets black to try and stop the light getting through which I will have to do for next season anyway. Here are some updated pics.
(02.12.12) I finished putting my greenhouse together and put it on my deck for now while I get tree stumps and the rest of the front yard sorted this summer holiday. O have put all of my soil based chillies in there and hope they will grow a little better on the cooler days.
My hydro chillies are going well, some are flowering and others are fruiting.
(08.12.12) Here are some picture updates:
The following are some pictures from near the end of the grow season, I had so many chillies I was starting to run out of things to do with them and I gave away huge amounts of them too. I would of had in the thousands from 8 plants grown hydroponically, the final height of these plants was almost 2 metres!
