Anyone ever had issues with plants having edema? I started a bunch of the worlds hottest peppers indoors and their showing 0 to 100% signs of edema. When it happened there was no ventelation and I was trickle watering cause they were all started in rockwool cubes. Now I'm letting it dry completely then watering and have installed some ventelation. From what I can tell its just caused from over watering. The plants look spectacular, but show signs of edema and I wanna nip it in the bud, so to speak. Does anyone have any experience with this? I really wanna make sure its not bug related, my outdoor garden is getting ravaged by leafminers because we had no winter and the leafminers didn't die, but their predator the wasp and its cousins did. So while wasps are just now starting to build a large population, were just getting ahold on the leaf miners. Heres a pic o my pepper babies. Varieties include
Butch T Scorpion
Trini Moruga Scorpion Yellow
Trini Moruga Scorpion Red
Ghost Red
Ghost Purple
Ghost yellow
Trini 7 pot primo, Douglah, Backapore, cardi and a few more.

 

For those wondering these are 1 month - 1 week old from sprout, growing under a 4ft 4bulb T8 with 2 x 3000k bulbs and 2 x 6000k bulbs. Occasionally hit with Floranova grow(This stuff is the beez neez!) Moving them under a high ventelation 1000w MH this week and repotting into 2 gallon pots. Also anyone developing an LED lighting system I'd be happy to test it for you. I plan on developing one soon as I have time but the longer I wait the better the LED's are gonna be. Right now everything on the markets a joke and BS. A real LED light that works will run about $1500 for a 300w light.

 

Oh and I have a massive seed stockpile if anyone needs seeds for anything. I have about anything you could ever want as far as herbs and vegies NON GMO. Only a couple pepper seeds I can give you because these hot ones I'm growing run for around $5-$20 for 10.

 

That's exactly how I did it, right down to the 2 flavors of fluorescent light. The only thing I might add is that plants poop in their soil, so the pots need to be flushed with massively excess water every month or two. Of course, you let them dry out after that experience and resume normal watering for a month or two.

and a small oscillating fan (about 10 inch diameter) to stress their stems so they grow stronger stems and don't fall over at the slightest touch.

 

Yah their going in the Full room with fans, vented 1000watts metal halides, light rails, monitoring system and co2 system this week. I imagine the edema will leave then. This was just an emergency seedling setup. Had a great germ rate though. Right about 95%. And with these specialty peppers thats really good. 25-35 day germination times.

 

Max if you are able to acquire seeds for the fabled Amazon tree called Borojo, and if that tropical species is able to flourish in that amazing indoor facility you have created, there is ENORMOUS economic potential for the fruits of that plant, which contain THRICE the protein per weight as does meat - which is a statistic entirely unheard of in the plant world.

I just acquired a few thousand seeds of Borojo, that have now been planted in a nursery here, for later transplanting out under the canopy of banana trees down by the tropical swamp nearby. Borojo can take up to 5 years to reach fruiting stage, but it is a relatively small shrub that prefers the shade, which means it may do well indoors beyond the tropical belt.

Even if you are not interested in this plant, a google or Wikipedia search is still well worthwhile, just to learn a bit more of the enormous nutritional value of this unique shrub. In coming years, I envision the large-scale production of Borojo as one of the answers to the global food crisis, particularly in developing nations of the tropics.

 

P.S. My slow browser intially opened just the thumb-nail image of that grow light setup, which I mistook for a green-house, thanks to my poor eyesight.

On that wrong assumption, I proceded to enthuse about larger scale tree culture than was relevant here, so apologies for that waste of words on my part.

 

With light ventilation and no more trickle watering and just lettting it dry then soaking it the Edema has gotten much better, not gone completely but looks 70% gone.

 

P.S. My slow browser intially opened just the thumb-nail image of that grow light setup, which I mistook for a green-house, thanks to my poor eyesight.

On that wrong assumption, I proceded to enthuse about larger scale tree culture than was relevant here, so apologies for that waste of words on my part.

I like to grow everything, I'm specializing in peppers right now because as far as legal crops these are pulling the most money and in highest demand. But I will seek out those seeds and see if I can grow them here. If you can get me some seeds I'll send you a vanilla orchid. Or anything else you may want in return.

 

I'll hold back on recommending the seed supplier I bought my Borojo seeds from in Germany, Max, until I get some decent germination rates in the nursery I set up for them here.

With my location just 6 degrees north of the Equator, I had expected any plant specie native to the tropical Amazon to thrive here, but so far, none of these Borojo seeds have poked through the soil. They were air-freighted from Colombia to Germany, and then via New York to Ghana in the dead of winter, and I am beginning to suspect that exposure to extreme cold during shipment may have wreaked havoc on seed viability.

All the same, I intend to buy Borojo seeds again now that spring has sprung, and temperatures are milder. The potential of that shrub as a protein-producing crop is so enormous that I won't hesitate to roll the dice again and order another batch of seeds if this first lot don't make it.

http://ntbg.org/plants/plant_details.php?plantid=1811

 

What about the Monsanto effect,that seeds are engineered not to

reproduce. You have heard of that,Monsanto trying to buy as many

seeds as they can...to control reproduction.

 

Good point, Loosie, but this particular species is still comparatively obscure, and not yet recognized by agro-chemical giants as a crop to monopolize. I hope it stays that way long enough for me to be done with seed buying for this shrub.

Getting impatient I dug up a few seeds this morning, and they are all sprouting, but emerging very slowly out of the seed coat, with nothing breaking the soil surface yet, so I am glad to see that it is just a matter of waiting a couple more weeks before some actual seedlings make an appearance.

 

What about the Monsanto effect,that seeds are engineered not to

reproduce. You have heard of that,Monsanto trying to buy as many

seeds as they can...to control reproduction.

Yes this is already happening. Most commercial plants aren't grown from seed anymore but tissie cultures and clones. USF does all our crop research here and holds X amount of auctions each year. Then the farmers then goto USF and buy the baby plants. When it really became a reality is when the pot seed dealers started pushing feminized seeds for max profit. Then pretty much everyone in the gardening biz saw the need for feminizing seeds or making fruit produce infetile seeds. Look at some of the huge chinese tissue culture places they start up their crops. Its just millions of jars like baby food with the lil peice ofplant growing in it. We can only do so much with GMO's and for everythign we gain we lose something else. Many gardeners/researchers are trying to breed back in the genes lost from genetic engineering. We didn't know it buy by making our corn insect or pesticide resistant we were making it repel beneficial insects too. There starting to have all kinds of problems with GMO crops.

 

I think I live 26degrees north of equator and live in a semi tropical zone. I may be able to get by growing them. The big crop here now is peaches.

 

Good point, Loosie, but this particular species is still comparatively obscure, and not yet recognized by agro-chemical giants as a crop to monopolize. I hope it stays that way long enough for me to be done with seed buying for this shrub.

Getting impatient I dug up a few seeds this morning, and they are all sprouting, but emerging very slowly out of the seed coat, with nothing breaking the soil surface yet, so I am glad to see that it is just a matter of waiting a couple more weeks before some actual seedlings make an appearance.

Couple tips for you if your having a hard time with germination. Score it with a knife or needle. This will help moisture get into the seed and sprout. Winterize it. Many seeds need to winterize before their germination rates go up. They usually will need 30 days in your freezer or fridge. Then plant them. It does that so naturally the seed will not grow in teh winter, but sprout in teh spring. Many seeds especially tree seeds and larger seeds need to be winterized.

 

Behold the future of farming.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YivMRvv4Z2Q

 

I now wish I had used a file to score some of those seeds, Max, at least to compare the germination speed with that of un-scored seeds. I definitely will take the trouble to do so when next I buy seeds from this plant.

Regarding genetically modified crops or critters, I've always been a bit wary of the science, even when the benefits of pest resistance, rapid maturity and enhanced harvest are cited.

Were I a career crop farmer, I would be very reluctant to cultivate any plants designed to produce sterile seeds, such that they are in effect copyrighted, especially if the un-modified versions of that crop get phased out of circulation.

At 26 degrees north of the Equator, your climate should also be suitable for the cultivation of Moringa Olifera, another "miracle tree" whose wide array of nutritional benefits have been the subject of numerous published scientific studies. This tree with edible leaves thrives in South Florida, where several online vendors of Moringa seeds are located. Moringa grows prodigiously fast, and has to be cut back regularly, to keep it compact and bushy.

My amatuer dabbling in horticulture began only recently, so there has been quite a bit of trial and error here, with lessons learnt at every turn.