They look good ao far. I have never grown bhut jolokia's but I know that when my peppers are sprouted that much I seperate them or you will have one hell of a time untangling roots and ay end up with only one plant. I put mine in 16 ounce plastic cups I got a at dollar store. I put a few holes in the bottom in case of too much water. Then it is under tha shop floro fixture lights until hardening off time. I had a lot of success last year with this method and so far this year things are going very well. I am no expert but I would put them in something like this until you are ready for their final home. Are you potting putting them in a garden? Also, where are you located?

I am planning on putting them in pots and I live in the California central coast. Thanx for your advice.

For growing in pots use a potting mix for containers. It lets the plant get enough air to the roots and doesn't get too waterlogged. Regular top soil or garden soil is not a good idea.

Transplant your little ones into a small cup/pot, and get it into bright light, real or flourescent. I'm not familiar with the aquarium kind. As long as it doesn't heat up alot it should be fine. Put the seedlings near the flourescent...1 to 2 inches away, just not touching them. Later pot up to a container 12 inches across or larger. Be careful when moving the pampered seedlings outside. They can not take the wind, intense light, etc. all at once. Give them only a little each day and perhaps start with them in a shaded, sheltered area. After several days of hardening they should be fine outside as long as the weather is warm (60F +) They will live at lower temps as long as it's above freezing but they don't grow much. If they are in pots you might as well drag them in at night or on cold days if it isn't to much bother.

Hey, Congratulations!

My NMSU seeds germinated at 95% rate. Unfortunately, my carelessness has led to a few deaths.

Below is a shot of some seedlings/plants I started Dec. 1 and subsequently moved to a hydroponic bubble bucket. I figure under my HPS light I should have fruit in 30-45 days.

I concur with transplanting to individual pots sooner than later. BUT BUT BUT please take care with handling the seedlings. When moving, use the leafÂs not the stem. At this early stage the stems are very delicate.

YouÂve done a good job getting this far. IÂm sure youÂll be just as successful bringing them to fruit.

Great job!

Bill

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Nice set up you got there ottowapepper. How much does a set up like that cost and is it easy to maintain? Your plants look excellent, I envy your plants. You'll be eating hot peppers before my plants grow any leaves.

Thanks guillo,

As for cost it all depends on what you have already on hand. I already had the HID light and ballast so a huge chunk of the cost was already taken care of.

HereÂs a rough breakdown of my investment (in CDN dollars):

Already had on hand
-------------------------
HID light and ballast $240
MH light bulb $35
HPS light buldb $23
Metal rack (Costco) $80
Aquarium air pump $10
Air stone and tube $5

Purchased to do hydro
---------------------------
Rubbermaid bin $6
Drain attachment and tube $3
Bag of clay pellets $8
4 mesh baskets $2
Nutrients (enough for 30 plants) $24
pH down $8
Cheap pH meter $45
GW Hydroponics Forum members priceless
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$96

You could get away cheaper with pH testing strips ($8). You could also just recycle a food grade buckets from a restaurant instead of the Rubbermaid bin.

As for ease of maintenance, at first I spent 10 minutes a day. Now IÂm spending 10 minutes a week on the hydro stuff. Replicating an insect and pollinating new flowers daily with a small brush can take a little time I have a new respect for bees!

If youÂre really interested I suggest you peruse the Hydroponics Forum. It may seem complicated at first but it really isnÂt once you get into it.

I got into it for a couple of reasons; something interesting to do during the long winter months up here in Ottawa and I wanted to develop a batch of true Bhut seed for future crops. The hydro setup fit the bill in that it was easy to isolate the plants from other peppers.

My main focus is the dirt garden. This year, like others, IÂve gone a bit overboard on starting plants. IÂve got approx. 200 pepper seedlings on the go (6 Bhuts included) and only room for about 50 in the garden and in pots LOL. Once again this year my friends and neighbors will benefit from my overflow!

Bill

HereÂs a shot of the initial setup. It currently has 3 bins in it; 1 for 3 Bhut plants, one for a cherry tomato from hell and one for lettuce and spinach.

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HereÂs a shot of the Bhuts taken on March 2. The ones posted earlier were taken on the 23rd.

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Nice setup, ottawapepper. Very cool to have pepper plants like that growing in the winter. I have some Bhut Jolokia seedlings growing. Sure hope a few of them grow some dollar bills like yours :)

I would love to get into that but I imagine my almost 3 year old and six month old would get into it as well. Someday down the road. Great set-up though. Very impressive.

LOL naturegirl. I wish they grew dollar bills, it would help with the increased power consumption caused by a 400W bulb running 16 hours a day!

ripperbt, yes I imagine a few youngsters may develop an interest! LOL

Thank you both for the kind comments.

Bill

i just got a small jalapeno, super serrano, and super cayenne plant and they arent looking so good. this is the first time i have grown peppers and i do not know what to do, i do live in a mildly cold place. am i over watering? i am not using fertilizer, should i? they are currently in the 2 by 2 by 4 inch plastic holders i got them in from the nursery. they are currently inside.

josh...please start this as a new thread. you won't get much help with it tacked onto someone else's thread and buried like this...
Also, if you put your zone in the location area (in the posted by line with your name) we can better help you with advice for your area.

we would need more info to help you, what kind of lights, what temps, can you post pictures or better describe symptoms you are seeing.
With peppers, over watering is many times the most common mistake but I can't say for sure without more info

thanks
kendra

can a hydroponic like ottowapeppers be used outside? Will chilli plants grow better and faster. I am thinking of making one to use outside. I guess I just need the plastic bin, air pump, baskets, ph moniter, pebbles and nutrients. Where can I buy the stuff that wal-mart doesn't have? Is it worth it or should I just stick to planting in soil?

Hi guillo,

From what IÂve read the nutrient fluid temperature can get pretty hot in a bubble bucket in the sun not good for roots (read it will kill them). Of course you could put it in the shade but that would defeat maximizing pepper growth. I think other types of hydro systems are better suited for outdoor use.

If you still want to give it a shot I suggest you check your local yellow pages for a hydroponics store in your area. If you canÂt find one you may need to try to a web store.

Bill

Guillo, maybe you could try this easy to make grower to try. I use it outside, and it is doing fine so far. Just click on the link below to see some pictures. I am growing several types of peppers outside. chuck

Here is a link that might be useful: easy to make growbox

Chuck, nice job. What would the advantage be from just planting the chilli plant in the ground or in a pot as apposed to using your method?

Attowapepper, yea I thought about that just wanted to make sure. I still might try a hydroponic set up like yours this winter. It would be awesome to have fresh peppers with some carne asada in December.

guillo,

One other thought for you next season... you could start some pepper plants in a hydro setup to get a good jump on the growing season and then move the peppers from hydro to dirt. I'm told people have great success getting early summer crop this way.

I'm about to try it with one of my three Bhuts in the bin now. They're getting a little too crowded. I'll photograph the excercise and post at a later date on the Hydro Forum. I'll let you know when it's posted.

Bill

sounds good attowapepper, I hope it works out for you. Let me know how it goes.

why are my chili plants not growing. I started this thread on 03-27-08 and my plants haven't grown much. They have 4 leaves and are just a little bigger than the pictures above. I transplanted them to individual cups right around the time I started the thread. I had started some other seedlings at about the same time and they are 3 times as big as the Bhut Jolokias.

I am about to give up on my Jolokia chilli plants. Its almost 2 months and they have not grown at all. The temperature has been in the upper 60's and a few hot days once in a while. I am starting to think that I used the wrong soil. I used Supersoil for pots that I got from WalMart. I used like a 12 inch pot.

Mine are the same way! I have maybe 2 small leaves on one plant and 4-5 on the other. They have been growing really slowly, but it's been around 100º here recently. My bhut jolokias are nor starting to branch off, but they are still tiny. I'd say stick with it, I know how hard it can be. I figure it will be worth it once I get some peppers and "spike" my sister's boyfriend's food :-). Don't worry, I'm not sadistic. He's a major chile head and has sworn to try my bhuts once they grow. Best of luck!
Brian

50 bhut jolokia seeds arrive in the mail.Armed with a seedling heating pad and a small hothouse as well as a desire to burn my lips off,I plant the seeds in a seedling starter kit I bought at K-mart.During planting, a spot under my eye feels like it has batterey acid on it.I must have rubbed some capsacin on it.I think these seeds are the real deal!

Feb 20 08

After 15 days in a small hothouse only 4 seeds have sprouted and I wonder if I got bunk seeds.My visions of a crop of the red hot peppers are not gone.After more research I discover that all chiles are slow to germinate.The tempature of the hothouse is kept beetween 70 and 90 deg.Fer.

March 20 08

Now about 40 of the bhut jolokia seeds have sprouted to the height of 2-3".I learn of the process called 'hardening off'.Plants grown in greenhouses develop large thin walled cells.This makes the plant weak to outdoor elements.So out they go during the day in at night to acclimate them slowly to the elements.I kill 10 plants during the process.

April 19 08

Down to 30 bhut jolokia plants to the height of 7",I figure I have enough to sell and list them on e-bay selling none.Continued research reveals that these red hot pepper plants are not for my zone(7).So I keep them in a small outdoor hothouse,hoping to create the climate of India in northern CA.

May 08 to date.

Without discoraging anyone from growing these fiery pods I share the following.
Mid May brought a 'cold snap' to Northern ca.The tempature in the greenhouse fell to 45 deg.I lost another 10 plants.
Thinking I would give them a boost I crushed up 10-10-10 slow release fertelizer and damaged another 10.
I'm down to about 15 plants and 5 "trophy plants"(8" plants with deep green growth).
So good luck to all and any feed-back is welcome!

Here is a link that might be useful: Bhut Jolokia Garden