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Growing chillis

Geckothan

Geckothan

Fleet Captain
Fleet Captain
Anyone else growing, planning on, or has grown chillis? I just found out both of my naga jolokia seeds have grown taproots and it's got me really excited. I'm not expecting much yield from them (only using a 250w CFL because with the ventilation I'd need to use HPS without frying my plants, the noise would keep me awake all night, keep in mind I sleep with my head a couple of feet away from the cupboard), but hopefully I should get something from them. I've also got a couple of Basil seedlings which I'll probably be transplanting into the garden when they get big enough.

Here's a picture of the set up:
photo0322y.jpg


I'm having a few heat issues at the moment, though. My ventilation consists of an 86CFM 120mm computer fan (a Panaflo, not a cheap no name one with a false CFM rating) and a small oscillating fan doubling as an intake and a "wind simulator" for the plants. I don't know whether it's an inadequate exhaust (I thought 86CFM would have been enough for a 2x3x3 ft cupboard), or lack of ducting, but as soon as I close the door and turn on the exhaust, the temps quickly climb from 26C to 32C. I'm thinking that something along these lines might be happening:
plantventing1.png


Any thoughts on my heat problem, and has anyone else got any chilli growing stories to share?
 
I grew some habaneros a couple of years ago. Turned out well. I had so many that I had to freeze them and I STILL have some left over. I started them out out as seedlings inside very early spring and planted them outside late spring for an early fall harvest.
 
Last year I started a bunch of South American chilis on a heating pad, under CFL's, then moved them under some high-intensity LED lamps I built myself. I lost some of them when I was out of town and the tray dried out, but the survivors thrived when watering resumed.

Where did you find naga jolokia seeds?
 
Ward Fowler said:
I grew some habaneros a couple of years ago. Turned out well. I had so many that I had to freeze them and I STILL have some left over. I started them out out as seedlings inside very early spring and planted them outside late spring for an early fall harvest.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't have thought they would freeze too well. Did they not go soggy when you defrosted them?
 
Pingfah said:
Ward Fowler said:
I grew some habaneros a couple of years ago. Turned out well. I had so many that I had to freeze them and I STILL have some left over. I started them out out as seedlings inside very early spring and planted them outside late spring for an early fall harvest.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't have thought they would freeze too well. Did they not go soggy when you defrosted them?
Click to expand...
I use them when making chili, salsa, and various sauces. They hold up quite well. In fact, it seems the longer you keep them, even when frozen, the hotter they get.
 
Holdfast said:
As a totally non-greenfingered person, how do you know whether it's grown taproots yet or not?
Click to expand...

I've only got a loose sprinkling of soil on top of the seeds, so I can sweep it away to see the seed. I don't know if it's stressful for the plant, but considering some people germinate their seeds in paper towels and move them to pots after they've got taproots, I assume it's ok.
 
Oh right, I see!

As for the heat issue, can you not use a dimmer switch with the light, to reduce the amount of heat being generated, if it's too much? I'm not sure whether CFLs work with dimmers, but I think at least some do.
 
250w CFL is barely enough to grow chilli as it is, so even if I could find a way to dim the lights, it would just gimp the growth. I reckon I'm just gonna buy a bunch of ducting hose and try something like this:
plantventing2.png


That must be the problem. There's no way my fan can be worse than having the door open with no airflow at all unless there's something fundamentally wrong with the way I've set it up.
 
Positive. I leave both of the fans on 24/7, and when the lights are off it drops to 20C within an hour, which is about room temperature.
 
Hrm... I used to run 400W (1600W incandescent equivalent) of CFL's with little problem. Have you tried venting the top of your reflector so it generates a chimney effect? Have you tried venting the lower side and top, then covering the bottom with something like Saran wrap as a test?

This is one of the reasons I spent hundreds on high-power (3 to 5 watt each) LED's (from Cree and Phillips). They can be focused into a narrow beam so they can be placed many feet from the plant.

As a last resort, you can try and channelize the air that flows into your grow chamber, then put ice cubes in the input path.
 
You could also check the usual places *cough* for a book called Indoor Horticulture. My neighbor used it like a bible of indoor growing. I told him my hydroponic/LED chili peppers would outperform his pitiful efforts.
 
The reflector does actually have vents on top if it, but I don't think it's helping much. They are about 120mm though, so I guess I could drill some holes, screw a fan on to it and hook that up to my ducting when I get that sorted out. I also like the ice cubes idea, though I dunno how that would affect humidity. How about dry ice? I'm not sure if that would bring the CO2 levels in the cupboard up to plant-suffocating levels, but I know they love CO2 in moderation, and it would bring the temps down for sure.

I've been doing some reading on "certain sites" about ventilation though, and the general consensus is that intakes and exhausts shouldn't be on the same side as the area unless the exhaust is ducted, so I'm pretty certain at this point that what I need is some ducting, and possibly a better fan to go with it cause I doubt my puny little fan could draw much air through a metre of hose.
 
For my LED project I needed a bunch of monster CPU heatsinks, which are quite expensive, unless you go to your local computer repair place and say you'd like a bunch of big random heat sinks for an LED lighting project. In that case they take you down to the basement and pull out boxes of old ones, which they sold for something like $7 an armload. Most still had fans on them. :)

That should certainly be cheaper than retail, and you get free heatsinks thrown in.

I got my LED's from LEDsupply.com.

My neighbors asked why my kitchen was glowing like it was full of neon.
 
I don't think it helps the temperature to have all that reflective insulation.

Is that meant for improving illumination? If so, consider replacing some of it with white paper. That should still reflect a good deal of light, but trap a lot less infra red.

Also, what is the air intake? I see you have a small floor fan, but is that only circulating air?



edit: If we look at the mathematics,

86cfm = 2.3 cubic metres per minute. = 0.04 kg of air per second. And since the shc of air is 1000 J/kg/'C, then in one second, 0.04 kg of air at room temperature is given 250 Joules, which raises it 6.25 degrees above room temperature.

This is the hottest temperature the cupboard air will get to if the extractor is successfully displacing 86cfm of that warm air.
 
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Years ago, I used to grow habaneros because they were so hard to find. Now it seems every supermarket around where I live sells them, along with a wide variety of other fresh and dried peppers. So, I buy what I need. Call it growing old, growing lazy, and growing middle class.
 
The reflective sheeting is for illumination, and while I could get rid of some of it now, when the plants get really tall, it'll come in handy. Also, the desk fan has a hole behind it, and it's acting as an intake.
 
I'd be concerned that adding ducting will only create an additional friction surface for the air, and reduce your flow rate.

Adjusting the angle of the floor fan should achieve the same effect you want from ducting without getting that additional friction.


But also take the power rating of the floor fan into consideration. Especially if it is a mains powered fan. That energy all gets converted into heat, both in the motor and through air friction. For example, a 250W fan would correspond with another 6.25 degrees in your grow cupboard. (taking it up to around 12 degrees above room temperature)

I feel a second small computer fan properly fitted across the air inlet hole would be better than using the floor fan.
 
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