This years indoor pepper grow

In tune with last years hydroponic lettuce and tomato grow. This is what is growing inside with me this year a cayenne pepper plant that will be turned into homemade cayenne powder which is used almost as much as salt round these parts. Due to female bullshit and having to move my indoor stuff over the summer was not nearly as big as i wanted, but i made due. this works great so I am going to try a yatzy pepper grow when this is done which are sweet little thai chilis that produce very few leaves mostly peppers.


on to the cayenne
the light setup 2 68 watt 2700k CFL's producing 4200 lumens a piece and 2 23 watt 6500k CFL's with 1400 lumens a pop the goal is 5-8000 lumens per square feet and this home depot scratch and dent cabinet is 1.4 sq feet.
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3683/9...497cca48_c.jpg

the plant in a 2 gallon cloth pot just like last year but smaller. air prunes roots promoting lateral branching also the little 4 inch fan to promote in cabinet air movement with 4 2 inch vent holes and a single 120mm computer fan I am only running 5-6 degrees above ambient at 3 inchs from the bulbs

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7299/9...89541c25_c.jpg
Peppers!!!

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7333/9...560f1961_c.jpg

An overview of sorts

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5485/9...0a6287d8_c.jpg"
the yatzy peppers that are coming next

https://pepperjoe.com/art/yatzy.jpg

I linked this in the post whore thread, another board member is growing some awesome peppers. Others are bragging how hot a one, they can eat.

haha thanks jim i will get a picture of my balcony plants tomorrow have a habnero that is screaming in blooms right now....should be fun

Could anything be grown using this method? AND is the fan running 24/7, same for lights?

Also peppers will grow year around as long as they have light and warmth. They will go through a period of no blooms but I have heard if you stop watering them they will start back up.

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Originally Posted by jim

Could anything be grown using this method? AND is the fan running 24/7, same for lights?

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pretty much any bush style plant.
height is the only main issue in this setup limited on vertical growth, I have a bigger multi pepper/ tomato grow planned for the doldrums of winter that will have much more height to work with. and also a much bigger light
the color of the bulbs is very important i am running a spectrum that matches the fall so the plant feels the need to produce more fruit.

the lights are on 18/6.

plants need a period of darkness to build cells. the fan runs 24/7 to keep the air from becoming stagnant.

Yeah, more details. I was able to get my jalapeno plant to flower, but no peppers. I think you are probably correct about having the wrong kind of bulbs. I'd like to start over and do it right if I can.

What do you need to know Irving i will enlighten you haha. I think your main problem is light intensity the sun puts out 10000 lumens per sqft on a sunny day the bare minimum for any kind of production is 3000 I have 8000 not counting reflection loses and such

And as much as it is taboo the cannabis forums are great areas of info they have been doing indoor stuff for ages and them stoners are industrious folk

Many of the same principles apply to growing vegetables indoors.

Can I use the same color bulbs for peppers and herbs? I like how you have the two different bulbs to widen your color span.

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Originally Posted by Irving

Can I use the same color bulbs for peppers and herbs? I like how you have the two different bulbs to widen your color span.

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I can adjust the color and wattage based on what i am doing too. if i want a flock of spinach I would go all high kelvin bulbs 6500k with a lower wattage because it does not require nearly as much light
I started this plant with that scheme and after it started blooming i switch to 2700k. I bought all of these lights at home depot most clfs have a kelvin rating on them the 6500k take some hunting depending on the store I am using a lesser wattage 6500k bulb because it is only to augment not as a primary the 2 big boys are primary
in growing plants the only spectrums that the plant uses are low like the 2700 and high like the 6500 the bulbs you can buy that are between 3000 and 5500 are just wasting energy the plant can not use it.
I would make your main focus the pepper with the herbs outside the main beam of light. they do not require near the amount of light as a pepper or tomato

The problem with cfls is the light drops off quickly the farther it is from the bulb but a plus with cfls is the put out very little heat respectively. If i had this much wattage in such a small place with incandescents the temp would be over 120 degrees easy.
When you start talking HID lighting the lumens per watt rises but the heat does as well I am going to have to address this problem this winter when i get my 3x3x5 space set up under a HID bulb

Well keep up the thread. I'll pm you with any questions so as to not junk up your thread. Thank you for the insight thus far.

Very cool reading. Thanx for sharing!

Okay, one last question. Can I just change the bulbs now and expect the plant to produce, or is my plant a lost cause at this point? Been flowering for at least two weeks now.

Get some intensity on that thing they will keep blooming and shake the plant to spread pollen

-any idea what the utilities costs (electricity) is of this type of growing? In other words, would I spend $50 to grow $25 worth of peppers or tomatoes?

We have a pretty successful garden from April-November and I've wondered for some time now how I could lengthen than span of growth shy of a greenhouse. If I could grow a few plants indoors, it'd be fantastic.

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Originally Posted by hatidua

-any idea what the utilities costs (electricity) is of this type of growing? In other words, would I spend $50 to grow $25 worth of peppers or tomatoes?

We have a pretty successful garden from April-November and I've wondered for some time now how I could lengthen than span of growth shy of a greenhouse. If I could grow a few plants indoors, it'd be fantastic.

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Growing peppers is like other hobbies. You do it to waste time and money hoping for a superior product. The bulbs are key. I used only "cool" bulbs early on and ended up with some tall bushes. All the joints were elongated (the plant folks have a term for it). The box with the different temp bulbs mixed is a great idea. And you can keep a pepper plant going for at least three years.

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Originally Posted by ben4372

And you can keep a pepper plant going for at least three years.

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Definitely had no idea they lasted that long!

Roughly 10 bucks a month in electricity 182 watts is 18.2% of a kilowatt hour multiply that by 18 hours a day times 30 days times 11 cents of electricity the cabinet has about 140 bucks in it. When I do the big grow room usage will jump to 300 watts but I won't use as much heating the house because I will be venting hot air into my bedroom.

The ability for me to grow exotic peppers and have good tomatoes when everyone else is eating red cardboard is worth it

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Originally Posted by Irving

Yeah, more details. I was able to get my jalapeno plant to flower, but no peppers. I think you are probably correct about having the wrong kind of bulbs. I'd like to start over and do it right if I can.

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the spectrum isnt going to cause the plant to not fruit more then likely you didnt shake the plant or have a fan blowing on it so it could pollinate

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Originally Posted by cofi

the spectrum isnt going to cause the plant to not fruit more then likely you didnt shake the plant or have a fan blowing on it so it could pollinate

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He was running a very low intensity light from an areo garden I am thinking intensity

Here is a picture of the plant. It looks like it is trying to spread out. Possibly because of the low light intensity?
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-6...905_134427.jpg
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-g...905_134438.jpg
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-C...905_134456.jpg

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Originally Posted by cofi

the spectrum isnt going to cause the plant to not fruit more then likely you didnt shake the plant or have a fan blowing on it so it could pollinate

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soft paint brush usually do the trick too. I have a kaffir lemon tree that requires some 'loving' if I want to see some fruit out of it. :)

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Originally Posted by hatidua

-any idea what the utilities costs (electricity) is of this type of growing? In other words, would I spend $50 to grow $25 worth of peppers or tomatoes?

We have a pretty successful garden from April-November and I've wondered for some time now how I could lengthen than span of growth shy of a greenhouse. If I could grow a few plants indoors, it'd be fantastic.

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Use tubular skylight.. it gives you a good 13-14 hours of summer light no matter where the sun is.

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Originally Posted by ChunkyMonkey

Use tubular skylight.. it gives you a good 13-14 hours of summer light no matter where the sun is.

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Link?

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Originally Posted by Irving

Link?

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I have 2 of these on the south facing roof. http://www.archiexpo.com/prod/solatu...70-919378.html $160 w/ some kind of discount 3 years ago.

http://img.archiexpo.com/images_ae/p...70-3768735.jpg

Correction.. the newer version has LED for night time lighting. Mine do not.

Hmmmm, I'd like a couple of those in my heated garage...

The Boulder REI is just about nothing but those skylights, it's odd how they can redirect light.....but alas, I have no attic which makes it rather sporting.

Could you not just install them directly onto the roof and ditch the piping? Kind of like the 2-liter soda bottles filled with bleach water they use in Africa?

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Originally Posted by Irving

Could you not just install them directly onto the roof and ditch the piping? Kind of like the 2-liter soda bottles filled with bleach water they use in Africa?

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Yes, I only have 5" of tubing because of the vaulted ceiling. It works fine.

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Originally Posted by Irving

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-C...905_134456.jpg

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Looks like you have a pepper starting on the left(well like 3 nodes in from the left).....plant looks extremely healthy although I would check your ph(that's why those leaves are twisting)

Good to know about the leaves. That node is just another flower.

SUCCESS! This plat was getting pretty tired and had lots (50%?) of dead/dying leaves that just kind of turned brown and slowly died. I cut all the stuff off about a week ago. Then yesterday I was adding water to the fish tank and I saw these. I was so surprised I almost literally jumped when I saw them. Pretty small, but must have grown extremely fast because I didn't see them when I was trimming. When I trimmed the plant, it wasn't even growing new flowers like it did back in September. I trimmed, noticed some new flowers a few days later, then this. I can't wait to eat them. How long do I leave them on there?

ETA: Almost forgot, one of the lights on the Aerogarden hood went out several weeks ago. I don't know how this plant is fruiting at all.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-E...28HDR%2529.jpg
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-1...28HDR%2529.jpg