Progress and Frustrations

[txice]

Originally Posted by Amigatec

Here is the difference between a CMH and a hps light, same fixture, but 2 different bulbs. Notice how orange the HPS is?

Yes....I'm familiar with the differences between the two types of light.

[GpsFrontier]

"If the plants are trying to either carry a heavy crop load of preexisting fruit on the plants or trying to produce more vegetative growth at the same time as flowering, then the plant may sacrifice the flowers in favor of more leaf development. In this case, pruning of the plant may help this process swing back in favor of flowering and fruit set."

This is the part I have trouble with

trying to produce more vegetative growth at the same time as flowering,

Unless they were talking about a specific variety rather than in general. Because pepper plants don't stop growing once they start to flower. That's not to say there is no merit to the whole statement in general. But that would mean the pepper plants you have were full size at this point. When actually they can/will get ten times that size, with peppers growing all along the way. I also don't think pruning it back would keep it from wanting to grow vegetation, unless you pruned it in the right places to keep it from growing anything new. But that wont stop it from wanting to, as I see it.

I attached some pictures of my pepper plants last summer. Going by the strawberry's I would say the pepper plants were transplanted into the system within a week or two of the time the pictures where taken where they are smaller. I am not exactly sure when the pictures were taken where they are larger, but it was about that time I was having trouble keeping the nutrient solution temperatures down, so I don't have any latter pictures of them. They were no where near full size at that point either, you can see how I have them spaced at 1 1/2 feet apart to give them space to grow. But with no way to keep the nutrient temp under control, I decided not to waste nutrients and electricity to keep them on life support.

Hey...it's posted on the interwebs...gotta be true right??

Ya, the interweb is a great source for information, but you need to use some common scene and not just believe everything you find on it. I have written articles for one of my GPS website and placed them in various places to be published. Although the information I provided was accurate, these places don't check to make sure before they post it. Also anyone can get a website and post anything they want. Shoot I could say I had sex with Alicia Silverstone (my favorite, well one of them), so I guess it would be true then, and with a little photoshop editing I could prove it.

[txice]

Originally Posted by GpsFrontier

This is the part I have trouble withUnless they were talking about a specific variety rather than in general. Because pepper plants don't stop growing once they start to flower. That's not to say there is no merit to the whole statement in general. But that would mean the pepper plants you have were full size at this point. When actually they can/will get ten times that size, with peppers growing all along the way. I also don't think pruning it back would keep it from wanting to grow vegetation, unless you pruned it in the right places to keep it from growing anything new. But that wont stop it from wanting to, as I see it.

I don't think the intent was to suggest pruning would stop growth....but merely stunt/slow it for a time allowing the plant to divert some of that growing energy to flowering energy instead. I certainly don't have a PhD in botany or anything like that so I can't sit here and say it's 100% true, but I've uncovered other research that supports this idea as well so it was at least not something I'm willing to totally dismiss either.
I know my plants aren't "mature" by any means (they were still just seeds in little manila envelopes barely 3 months ago), but I also think you might be over estimating potential growth. Various sources, plant encyclopedias, etc all suggest that most of the plants I'm growing will average a "mature size" ranging between 2 to 4 feet. The bhut and habaneros I've seen estimated a bit larger than that, but not dramatically so. You're suggesting they will grow to 10+ feet and I just don't know they will get that large.

Originally Posted by GpsFrontier

Ya, the interweb is a great source for information, but you need to use some common scene and not just believe everything you find on it.

Yeah...that was merely an attempt at a joke.

[GpsFrontier]

I certainly don't have a PhD in botany or anything like that so I can't sit here and say it's 100% true, but I've uncovered other research that supports this idea as well so it was at least not something I'm willing to totally dismiss either.

I don't have a PhD in botany either, though I would like to because it would come in handy. Sorry, I am not trying to imply that you do dismiss it. Its good to see someone take the time to look for answers and not just believe the first thing you find. I too like to find information form different sources so I can piece the truth together from it.

I also think you might be over estimating potential growth. Various sources, plant encyclopedias, etc all suggest that most of the plants I'm growing will average a "mature size" ranging between 2 to 4 feet. The bhut and habaneros I've seen estimated a bit larger than that, but not dramatically so. You're suggesting they will grow to 10+ feet and I just don't know they will get that large.

My estimation of 10 times bigger might be an over estimation but I didn't mean to imply they would get anywhere near 10 feet tall. If they did, the system I built for my pepper plants would have been waaay to small. By your pictures they look to be 6 to 8 inches tall, but my 10 times bigger was more referring to the potential of the total mass of the full grown plant and not just the height. If I were to give a size I would probably say 2 feet wide and 3 feet tall.

Although given the right conditions (as is possible with hydroponics) plants of all kinds generally grow faster and bigger than in soil. So if given the right conditions I would not be surprised to see a pepper plant grow to be 3 to 4 feet wide and 4 to 5 feet tall. Of course there many different variety's of peppers as well as hybrids of those variety's, so any plants potential should really be based on the exact variety and weather it is hybridized. That's kind of why I keep saying I'm not familiar with the pepper plants you are growing.

Yeah...that was merely an attempt at a joke.

Ya I know, I completely got it. Just thought I would through out an example based on my own experiences. Not sure who coined the phrase "interweb" but I think I first herd it on Jay Leno a while back, and I laughed my but off.

[txice]

Several of those guys are already over a foot tall. Still got a few shorties though....some have definitely not taken off as quickly as others.

Doing a nute change in the morning and I'm seriously contemplating swapping the lights around for a cycle just to see how things are affected. Though on a side note, there does seem to be progress. I can see now without a doubt that my bolivian rainbows have indeed started some peppers. My bananas have one as well but it doesn't look to have changed or grown any. I can see noticeable change in the bolivian rainbows though and the peppers are definitely growing. Maybe I just wasn't being patient enough (definitely not a virtue of mine). Still sure I can make a lot of improvements though.

[txice]

Update....probably too soon to draw any firm conclusions from the light switch, but I did follow through with changing to the 400W HPS. The (not so good) pic attached is showing a few of the peppers from one of my bolivian rainbows. They are almost all purple now. My lone surviving thai sun (the little guy that got damaged but was making a comeback ended up a midnight snack for one of the cats , so I'm down to just one now) has started a pepper as well. My banana pepper plants continue to simply drop flowers, the lone bloom that started to turn into a pepper hasn't progressed any at all. My peruvian purple now has open blooms on it as well as my rooster spurs, but no peppers going on those as of yet (but no flower drops yet either). Rest of the plants all have blooms starting on them, but no open flowers yet.

[GGM]

I think most chilli peppers grow around 3 feet but some can get upto 10 feet, here are some pretty big chili plants.