Battling Root Rot with a quick system change

Since I started using organic nutrients the plants in my NFT (nutrient film technique) system have developed root rot.  The NFT tubes are small and provide little support for my massive mature bell peppers plants.  I switched to a deep water culture bucket system to try and save the plants so they continue to produce peppers for me.  Heres the latest video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fm8Cz2GWa-o

Sub-Irrigation Bucket Planters - Local Chicago

I have for sale sub-irrigation bucket planters made from 5 gallon food-grade plastic buckets. I have modified popular web designs to help reduce the time between waterings.



HOW THEY WORK:

There are 2 buckets in each planter. The inside bucket holds the soil, the outside bucket holds about 1 gallon of water. At the bottom of the soil bucket, there is a net pot that hangs down into the water. As the soil in the bucket dries out, its naturally wicks up more water. Your plant roots remain moist and never drenched. Because the soil can only hold so much water, and excess water simple drips back down into the reservoir. The lid on top prevents water from evaporating requiring you to water less. Easily fill the reservoir with the PVC pipe and when it is full, water will exit through specially placed drainage holes SO IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO OVER-WATER!

THESE ARE PREFECT FOR:
Balconies
Porches
Decks
Patios
Small yards
Areas with contaminated soil
Or any other small space that makes gardening difficult!




1 for $15 --- 3 for $40 --- 5 for $65 --- 10 for $110

small charge for delivery $2 for northside, $3-$5 elsewhere in the city. Will deliver further for bulk orders. Email with questions, soil & plant not included.  To receive an addition $5 off, send email with title "Blog Sale" to urban.farm.garden@gmail.com

NOTE: This sale is intended for the city of Chicago.  If you would like to know about shipping to your area please send an email to urban.farm.garden@gmail.com

Quick Fruiting Update

My peppers are finally beginning to ripe! These are chocolate beauty peppers so still have a few more days until they are completely ripe!

 The pepper to the left has begun to turn orange.  First time growing these, but I'm going to assume they will turn red then purple before completely ripe.

Several others still in their growth stage :)

Self-Pollinating, Pepper Updates, and New Fertilizer Solution

Self-Pollinating

To self-pollinate your plants, all you need to do is take an old paintbrush, make-up brush, etc., and brush the inside of all flowers you want to pollinate.  I usually go back and forth a few times to make sure I've transfered the pollen.  Wait a few days, if you don't see anything start to grow inside the flower, you may want to do it again.  Otherwise you did a great job!  The peppers below are about 2 weeks old.

You can compare these to the post below for a change in size.  I'm surprised they've grown so slowly over these two weeks, but ran out of nutrient solution and just finished finals yesterday.  I was able to run to my local hydroponic shop, Brew and Grow to pick up some new fertilizers.  I only mention the name of my local shop because I absolutely love the service. They carry many different brands and quickly recommend something that actually fits my needs.  Too many times employees try to get you to buy the most expensive stuff.

Anyways I decided to go with an organic fertilizer instead of the usually synthetic fertilizer I have been using.  The reason I went with the organic one is because it contains kelp, bat guano, molasses, etc.  Basically everything you need plus some bonus compounds that are usually sold separately.  Also picked up an organic additive to maximize product and give the peppers a sweeter, more bold and round taste.  Both are made by Aurora Innovations based out of Oregon.  I have been told they own their own bat caves and keep everything in house.  HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Be sure to check out my latest video: Update 3

Here Come the Peppers!

Pollinated these a few days ago with an old make-up brush... I'd say it worked pretty well :) I have about 6 of these peppers growing on this plant, flowers on the other plants have just started to come up.  I'll start to update more frequently now that they are producing.

Force Flowering

Metal-Halide light

High-Pressure Sodium light

So I forced these plants into flowering by changing to my high-pressure sodium bulb and reducing the daylight time from 16 hours to 12 hours over a period of a few days.  This gives that plant a different light spectrum more useful for flowering and producing fruit.  One plant has flowered more vigorously than the others and has already been pollinated.  Next update will have pictures on the peppers. Not sure how they will turn out since there is low humidity and I forced them into flowering, but theres only one way to find out.

Flowering Has.... Begun?

For those of you who haven't seen my latest YouTube video, here's the scoop:

 FLOWERS!

MORE FLOWERS!

Two out of my 3 Chocolate Beauty Peppers have flowered.  They were planted as seeds on February 19, 2011.  So it's been between 7 and 8 weeks and they have already flowered.  

I have 3 Orange King peppers that haven't even budded yet! (SHOWN BELOW)

Maybe it has to do with the fact that the Orange Kings are still a first generation, and the Chocolate Beauties (assumed to be pure bred still) are a second generation.  These Chocolate Beauty seeds are from my hydroponic crop in 2009.  Still not sure why they flowered so early, but I just noticed the flowers opened over night.  I will have to do some research into this to figure out why, unless you know why, then you could just tell me :)

Well, thats all for now.  Make sure to check out my YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/bluemist431