Hydroponic Peppers: Day 10

Roughly eight days after setting a few pepper seeds into rock wool, the first of three plants to germinate appeared. The Tequila Sunrise was the first to emerge from its confines, closely followed by the Aji Lemon and, as of this morning (day 10), the Peach Bhut Jolokia. There’s no sign of the Carolina Reaper as of this post.

I’m thrilled with the progress thus far and have confidence that my lighting system and framework should work just fine for next season’s sowing. The addition of the heating pad certainly hasn’t hurt either.

Aji Lemon

While the Tequila Sunrise was the first to germinate, the Aji Lemon (above) has taken the lead in terms of growth. It’s already reaching for the light with its cotyledons. I have also transferred the seedling from the covered container to a net cup resting in a plastic cup (which you can see more of in the last photo below). As there are no roots just yet descending from the rock wool, I am still feeding/watering via eye dropper.

Tequila Sunrise

The Tequila Sunrise has also been moved to the net cup setup now that it’s progressed as far has it has. Letting the Aji Lemon take the lead hasn’t deterred the these seeds however — at least two of them have germinated! That gives a great opportunity to get at least one good seedling to continue along this hydroponic journey. Which brings us to the Peach Bhut Jolokia.

Peach Bhut Jolokia

I hadn’t really considered — this being a test run and all — growing out more than one plant in this endeavor. But seeing the condition of my PBJs outside, I’m half tempted to work out scenarios for three plants instead of just the one or two above. I have two sizable containers (2 gallons each) which should work nicely for a couple of plants, but not sure I can accommodate three of those things as they aren’t all that small. Perhaps I’ll keep one of these in a smaller container and simply prune it more often to keep it on the small side.