Tag Archives: growing peppers dwc

Transplanting a Chocolate Bhut Jolokia Plant

I had two chocolate bhut jolokia pepper plants growing in the same DWC bucket. It was getting crowded so I decided to try and transplant one of the plants from the dwc bucket to dirt. Have never tried this before and no idea if I did it right…

Step 1 – removed net basket from dwc bucket, remove as much of the hydrotron as possible.

Step 2 – cut back roots as close to net basket as possible. Removed plant and any excess hydrotron that was stuck in the roots.

Step 3 – trimmed off a little more of the roots and then planted in dirt. watered thoroughly and set by window so it gets some natural light.

***March 27 2011 update***
Since transplant the chocolate bhut jolokia has just been sitting in a window and it’s doing great. Turns out dwc to dirt is pretty easy and appears to not negatively impact the plant. Here’s how it looks today:

Growing Chocolate Bhut Jolokia in DWC

This will be the post I update with my progress growing a chocolate bhut jolokia pepper plant (sometimes referred to as the “chocolate ghost pepper”) in a DWC bucket. I pulled the seeds from some pods I acquired earlier this year:

The pods were HOT. The normal red bhut jolokia typically has a scoville rating between 855,000–1,359,000 and I can say without a doubt the chocolate bhut jolokia is every bit as hot as it’s red counterpart. Has a nice smokey flavor too.

I started the seeds on November 14, 2010. I simply inserted them in soaked (ph adjusted water) rock wool and put them straight in the dwc bucket to germinate. Temps were in the mid 60’s and I top watered every couple days. I started 3 seeds and 2 lived.

December 4, 2010 chocolate bhut jolokia sprouts:

December 18, 2010 chocolate bhut jolokia sprouts:

Somewhere between the 4th and the 18th I added heavily diluted nutrients. Still may have been a little much as I had some issues with leaf curl. Could have also been the lights – I had them on 24/7 and about an inch off the top of the seedlings. I moved the light up a few inches and switched a 16/8 light cycle.

December 28, 2010 chocolate bhut jolokias:

Leaf curl a little better and practically non existent on new growth. Think i was giving them too much light.

Growth seems to be picking up now that they have a heavier concentration of nutes.

January 2, 2011 chocolate bhut jolokias:

Here’s how things are shaping up for the chocolate jolokias as of January 8, 2011. Growth seems to be picking up now that they have some nutes.

Here’s how the chocolates are looking on January 18, 2011. Growth is picking up. Took quite awhile for the seeds to sprout but now that roots have set and nutrients have been added these things are really growing fast. Planning on isolating these to get true chocolate bhut jolokia seed stock for use in the garden or possible sale.

This is the January 28, 2011 update. The Chocolate Jolokias are growing fast, especially considering the cool temps in the basement.

February 12, 2011 update. Both chocolate bhut jolokias have been growing quickly. starting to look a little droopy, might be time to add some more water to the bucket and/or do a water/nute change.

March 5, 2011 update.
A few weeks ago I transplanted one of the dwc chocolate bhut jolokias I was growing and moved the remaining plant to it’s own bucket. I’m letting this plant form flowers and hopefully some pods. It’s my experiment plant and I may just use it for chocolate bhut jolokia seeds.

March 27, 2011 update.
This thing’s growing like crazy. The little T5 i have it under won’t cut it…hoping to put it under my 4×4 T5 in about 6 weeks when I move all my pepper sprouts outside.

7 Pod Brain Strain in DWC

I decided to grow the 7 Pod Brain Strain hot pepper in a homemade DWC bucket. I will update this post with progress in the coming weeks and months.

I got the seeds this past summer from user “Pepper Ridge Farm” at the thehotpepper.com. I have not tasted one myself yet but it’s supposed to be hot – as in as hot if not hotter than the current Guinness record holding Naga Jolokia aka Bhut Jolokia aka Ghost Pepper.

I’m not one to baby my seeds to get them to sprout and the brain strain seed I used was no exception. After soaking the rock wool overnight I inserted a single brain strain seed and immediately put the rock wool and seed into the 3 inch basket + hydrotron and into the 5 gallon DWC. That was November 6, 2010.

Here’s what popped up on December 8th 2010:

7 pod brain strain seed sprout

Still just in water (no nutes) here’s what it looked like 10 days later on December 18th 2010:

7 pod brain strain seed sprout 2

Still just enjoying ph adjusted tap water here’s where the brain strain sprout is on December 28th:

7 pod brain strain plant in dwc

Using the gallery on this site for the photos so they will be a in a different size from now on.

Still in the same PH adjusted water, not nutes. Here’s how the 7 pod brain strain looks on Jan 2, 2011

Dumped the water and added some nutrients today. Since I dropped the seed in the rock wool in Novemeber this 7 pod has been in just water. Here’s how it looks on January 8, 2011:

roots –

Here’s the January 18, 2011 7 pod brain strain update. Seems to like the nutes I gave it.

January 28, 2011 update. Growth seems to have slowed and have lost some leaves. Going to swap out the water/nutes this weekend and see if that helps. Not sure what the problem is. PH is in the right range. Nutes are diluted.

February 12, 2011 update. Lots of shoots growing under the min leaves. Roots have been growing like crazy and noticed small buds starting to form a few days ago. Will probably pinch considering the size of the plant. Under just about the same conditions the brain strain definitely grows a lot slower than the chocolate bhut jolokias i am growing.

March 5 2011 Update-
I decided to transplant the 7 pod brain strain from it’s dwc home to a pot with dirt to get it ready to move outside in the spring. I followed the same process a few weeks ago when i transplanted a chocolate bhut jolokia from a dwc bucket to dirt and that plant is doing very well. It was getting too crowded under my 2 foot grow light and since the chocolate bhut jolokia i am growing is so much taller it was hard to keep the light on both of them.

Here’s how the brain strain looked. Short and stocky and all the new growth was coming from the bottom portion of the plant.

The roots –

The roots cut back –

The 7 pod brain strain laying on a paper towel –

Brain strain in it’s new home –

March 27, 2011 Update

Still a slow grower but the Brain Strain seems to be enjoying it’s new dirt pot home: