Hey folks. I'm in zone 3, a tough cookie for growing some of the more exotic peppers, and I didn't get to plant any outside this year. I'm going to try an inside grow with a unique setup---my growing location will be in a south-facing pantry window (which is waiting to become a garden window when I can get to it), and where I live the sun will be almost horizontal to the window from November to March, so I'll be able to utilize some of that in combination with a t8 32w fluorescent fixture that I use for starting summer vegies.
The shelving is adjustable, so as my plants mature I can lower the shelf to facilitate full use of sunshine, the fluorescent fixture is already designed to be height adjusted. There is an outlet immediately to the window's right, and I 'll use a heat pad to keep my plants warm on a 30-below February night. I'd like my first grow to be my current favorite, the Peruvian aji Amarillo. I ordered seeds on Amazon once and learned a lesson I could have gotten from Juanito's grow guide thread--$8 and not one of the 10 seeds germinated. I received vendor advice my first day on this site, so I'm good on that score. I saw a video that Neil @ the Hippy Seed Company did taste-testing an Amarillo, I'd love to get pods of that girth.
I am hopeful that the one t8 fixture will be enough, considering the natural sunlight my plants will get additionally. I once grew a Serrano in a basement many years ago with a single incandescent 100 watt gro-lite, and while I harvested a few dozen pods, they were small and lacking in any heat or flavor. I expected no fruit though, so I guess it was a success. Juanito recommends 2 t8 fixtures, but I don't have the room, so this may just wind up to be a science experiment, but hey, life is short, no?
I'm not sure of soil medium to use, I have the Black Primordial Ooze that is the black dirt in this area (note the miles and miles of soybeans just across the road--I'm surrounded by this kind of farmland), but drainage is an issue with this stuff, it's so fine and silty. I'd read that the aji's are a perennial, so I could conceivably transplant to the 8th acre come May and be that far ahead of the game...
The shelving is adjustable, so as my plants mature I can lower the shelf to facilitate full use of sunshine, the fluorescent fixture is already designed to be height adjusted. There is an outlet immediately to the window's right, and I 'll use a heat pad to keep my plants warm on a 30-below February night. I'd like my first grow to be my current favorite, the Peruvian aji Amarillo. I ordered seeds on Amazon once and learned a lesson I could have gotten from Juanito's grow guide thread--$8 and not one of the 10 seeds germinated. I received vendor advice my first day on this site, so I'm good on that score. I saw a video that Neil @ the Hippy Seed Company did taste-testing an Amarillo, I'd love to get pods of that girth.
I am hopeful that the one t8 fixture will be enough, considering the natural sunlight my plants will get additionally. I once grew a Serrano in a basement many years ago with a single incandescent 100 watt gro-lite, and while I harvested a few dozen pods, they were small and lacking in any heat or flavor. I expected no fruit though, so I guess it was a success. Juanito recommends 2 t8 fixtures, but I don't have the room, so this may just wind up to be a science experiment, but hey, life is short, no?
I'm not sure of soil medium to use, I have the Black Primordial Ooze that is the black dirt in this area (note the miles and miles of soybeans just across the road--I'm surrounded by this kind of farmland), but drainage is an issue with this stuff, it's so fine and silty. I'd read that the aji's are a perennial, so I could conceivably transplant to the 8th acre come May and be that far ahead of the game...
