Well I did not have time to write what else was going on last time. So also on March 10, 2009 I transplanted some of my plants to my Hydroponic cutting board system. I placed in 2 inch mesh or net pots some Safi Red, Naga Morich, Trinidad Scorpion, Trinidad 7 Pot and also some Bhut Jolokia. My system is a plastic tub filled with water. Sitting on top is plastic cutting board material with 81 2 inch holes for the net pots to sit in. In the water are two aquarium air stones that airate the water by creating bubbles. Also a submersible aquarium heater to keep that water around 80 degrees. I placed my seedlings into the net pots and packed rock wool around the roots. Rockwool is an absorbing material that holds moisture and is actually spun from volcanic rock.

I am using this system to prep my plants and get some growth on them before they are transplanted into my larger Hydroponic NFT system. I add nutrient to the water using a crystal fertilizer called Gro-More. The plastic tubs are about 13 gallon. So 1 teaspoon per gallon will be mixed with water and then added every week. Water will be high enough to barely touch bottoms of pots that stick into tub. Air bubbles from air stones oxygenate water to encourage root growth, mix nutrients and keep water from getting stagnant. Later I will add more seedlings to 3 inch soil pots and new aeroponic propogator. Will update blog when that happens. Hope I can generate enough Trinidad 7 Pot and Trinidad Scorpion chiles so I will fill my NFT sysytem but also have plenty of plants to sell to other chileheads. As it stands now it looks like I will have plenty of Bhut Jolokia and Naga Morich to grow and sell.

More seeds up Part two Trinidad Scorpion, Trinidad 7 Pot, Naga Morich and Bhut Jolokia

Well I was happy with my seeds coming up in my Bio-Dome mini greenhouse. But now I am even more ecstatic about my 512 cell seed tray results that I have placed in my Vitapod Greenhouse germinating unit. I used a good organic soil mix. I have almost 100% germination rate on my Naga Morich, Bhut Jolokia, Trinidad Scorpion and Trinidad 7 Pot seeds. If you notice some empty rows in the seed tray they are the Rocoto's and the Chocolate Bhut Jolokia. Rows 3, 4, 5 and 6 are Red and Yellow Rocoto's. They have a poor germination rate. Row 11 and 12 are Chocolate Bhut Jolokia. So far out of 150 seeds planted in rapid rooter plugs, Bi-Dome and soil seed tray I have only had 24 Chocolate Bhut Jolokia come up. I planted 64 Red Rocoto's and 64 Yellow Rocoto's. The Rocoto chile seeds are coming up slow and are hard to see in this photo. When looking at the photo of this seed tray go from Row #1 on the right to row #16 which is all the way to the left when facing the photo. Here is the layout of the Chile seeds I planted.

Row # 1 Naga Morich seeds

Row# 2 Bhut Jolokia seeds

Row#3 and #4 Red Rocoto seeds

Row#5 and #6 Yellow Rocoto seeds

Row #7 Maya Pimento seeds (Israel Habanero)

Row #8 West African Safi-Scotch Red seeds

Row#9 and #10 Fatalii seeds (Central Africa)

Row #11 and #12 Chocolate Bhut Jolokia seeds

Row #13 Trinidad 7 Pot/7 Pod seeds

Row #14 16 each Trinidad 7 Pot seeds and 16 each Trinidad Scorpion seeds

Row# 15 20 Each African Gambia Habanero seeds and 12 each Bhut Jolokia seeds

Row #16 Bhut Jolokia seeds

More are coming up each day. I will update this photo after a week or so of growth. Hopefully more Chocolate Bhut Jolokia's and Rocoto's will be up by then. Next post will be transfer of late February seedlings to Hydroponic Cutting board system. I am hoping to have plenty of Hot Chile Pepper Plants to sell later on!

New Seeds up! Trinidad Scorpion, Trinidad 7 Pot, Naga Morich and Bhut Jolokia.

It is now March 10. And I have learned from my failures. I took remainder of seeds from my paper towels and placed them in the Park Bio-Dome. Then I added a few rows of Bhut Jolokia to fill it up. Even though these seeds were given up for not germinating the Park Bio-Dome ressurected them. As you see I finally got a few Chocolate Bhut Jolokia to come up. Also some Trinidad 7 Pot seeds germinated and plenty of Assam Bhut Jolokia seeds too! I will transfer these into my Hydro cutting board system in a week or two. My Trinidad Scorpion seeds and Naga Morich chile seeds are germinating in my other Vitapod system.

Learn from Failures (Naga Morich, Trinidad Scorpion)

Well in my quest to germinate these superhot varieties called Trinidad Scorpion, Naga Morich, Trinidad 7 Pot and Bhut Jolokia I have had some failures. I used good seed starter plugs in my Greenhouse Sensation Viatapod germinating unit. But never used plugs before. So I had many dry out which killed my seedlings and also kept some plugs too wet so those failed to germinate. So I lost majority of seeds planted in January.

Other mistake was this. I kept my seedlings in the dark too long. So when I did finally install a plant light they did not respond. The results were more dead seedlings. So it's not the fault of the equipment but the operator. So when you fall down get back up and try again. I recieved another germination unit called the Bio-Dome from Park Seed. It cost me $47 plus shipping. Little bio sponges sit in 120 styrofoam holes that sit in 1/2 inch of water. A clear plastic dome with vents goes on top to make a greenhouse like the Vitapod. I did not buy my Heat Propogation pad from Parks. I got one from my local nursery for about $10 less. I placed heat pad under Bio-Dome unit and planted my seeds.

Before I go further some of these seeds were already in the germination process. I had them in ziploc bags in moist paper towels. These I placed in my heated Vitapod. Some did germinate and I placed them in the plugs. The rest went into the Bio-Dome. I had about 10 Naga Morich, 8 Trinidad Scorpion, 6 Trinidad 7 Pot and 2 Chocolate Bhut Jolokia. These are the first Chocolate Bhut Jolokia's to come up. Since this seed is new I am one of the first to germinate them!

Okay lets get back to the Bio-Dome. So I moved remainder of paper towel seeds into Bio-Dome along with some new seeds. All together 120 seeds.

Planted the following on March 6, 2009
60 Assam Bhut Jolokia seeds

30 Trinidad 7 Pot seeds

30 Chocolate Bhut Jolokia seeds

Okay so you think I am done. No way! I paid a visit to my friend Bill at City farmer's Nursery in San Diego. I told him my issues and one of them was maximizing my space in my Vitapod Greenhouse. Well Bill showed me this seedling tray that was about 10x20 inches. It had little square holes about 1/2 inch wide and an inch deep. Best part was this tray had 512 cells for seedlings!!!! I could fit 3 of them in my Vitapod Mini-Greenhouse that I got from www.greenhousesensation.com!! So I got a good seedling soil and a tray to sit this tray in. Also purchased clear plastic cover to keep heat and humidity in. So here I was putting a mini-512 cell greenhouse inside a larger heated tabletop greenhouse (heated Vitapod). I planted 512 seeds. First I filled each cell with soil. Then gently placed a seed in each one. Then sprinkled soil mix over all the cells and used a spray bottle to moisten all the cells. Here is what I planted. Each Row is 32 cells.

Row# 1 Naga Morich seeds (32)
Row#2 CPI Bhut Jolokia seeds (32)
Row#3 and #4 Red Rocoto seeds (64)
Row#5 and #6 Yellow Rocoto seeds (64)
Row #7 Maya Pimento seeds (Habanero Israel) (32)
Row #8 Safi Red Scotch Habanero seeds (32)
Row #9 and #10 Fatalii seeds (32)
Row #11 and #12 Chocolate Bhut Jolokia seeds (64)
Row #13 Trinidad 7 Pot seeds (32)
Row#14 16 Each Trinidad 7 Pot seeds and 16 each Trinidad Scorpion seeds
Row #15 20 each Gambia Habanero seeds 12 each CPI Bhut Jolokia seeds
Row #16 CPI Bhut Jolokia seeds (32)

With me trying to supply a demand for Hot Chile Pepper plants I had to plant a lot. Because if I get these up soon and transfer to my Hydro Nursery I will have plenty Hot Chile Pepper Plants plants to sell In April-May. Here are pics of seed tray, Bio-Dome and rest of what I discussed.