And so it begins...

Well lets catch up on the last nearly 2 months. I got inspired (read: tired of winter) to try my hand at growing something green indoors. I decided to try a variant of Cayenne peppers known as "Ring of Fire" since I like hot peppers and it would be awesome to grow something totally non-native to Alaska. After extensively researching grow light set-ups and other logistical issues, I went with an 8 bulb T5HO (high output) fluorescent rig with 40,000 total lumens of light output. At this point I also roped Shaun into the adventure and he opted to trust my research and get the same equipment. Thus a friendly competition was born. This blog is a way to document and compare our progress, as well as any other interesting findings along the way.

I ordered organic seeds off Amazon, and stuck them in a 4 dollar mini-greenhouse. About 7 days later in my warm garage, I saw the first green shoots. Then came transplanting, and then this whole idea spread to herbs as well, since we had excess "grow" space under the lights. Here's the quick version of the last 7 weeks. The cayenne seeds were planted January 14.

This is how it all began, in some Peat Seed Pods

8 days later....sprouts!!!!

Eventually I would get a 100% germination rate. Ironically, they look kind of "leggy" in this photo....wish they would stretch out a little bit now!

 

After about a 5 week gap, here they are! Now under the permanent light fixture in the permanent pot and growing location.

Here's all 3 of them, at about 5 weeks total age since planting.

6 weeks-ish. Very bushy....almost TOO bushy, with such a dense canopy. I guess that means they aren't struggling for adequate light!

Like Shaun, I have a fan blowing on them 4-5 hrs/day, which helps them develop beastly stems, like this one.

At 6-7 weeks of age, they are developing over a dozen flower buds each, which will eventually lead to peppers. Problem is, I don't want them to produce fruit this early, I want them to become bigger plants first, which will pay off in terms of yield in the long run. So, sadly, I think I will be pinching off these flowers when they get big enough.

Not even 6 inches tall, and trying to produce 12+ peppers! Uh oh!

 

 

Now for the herb update.....

The herbs have been surprisingly slow-growing, even compared to "slow growing" peppers. Nevertheless, they are finally coming around. I, too, burned my first seeds, so I've planted a 2nd batch.

Rosemary crawling along, about 4 weeks old.

Rosemary, about 6 weeks.

Sweet Basil, about 3 weeks old.

Sweet basil, about 6 weeks.

Thyme! TINY seeds lead to TINY sprouts, who knew!

Thyme, about 4 weeks in. Working on 3rd sets of leaves.

This is Sage. I thought it didn't germinate, then when I dug down under the soil I saw it was caught on its seed husk. I decided to show it light and see what happened, and low and behold it started a new set of leaves!!!

Parsely just came up 3 days ago...about 10 days into the 2nd planting.

Here is my patriotic grow set-up...in the garage.

Under the lights.....