Coincidence or just the right conditions?

[PaulG]

Being my first time growing anything i have seen this year as trial and error, especially as everything was started at the very ends of their respective seasons.

I did a fair bit of reading before and i know i have a lot more to read but for now this is about my chillis.

I sowed my seeds at the end of April, germination was fairly quick and they ere in their first pots 2 to 3 weeks ago. Of these i split some between the greenhouse and some went under a 125W CFL, these have so far outgrown the greenhouse ones however over the latter half of these week they seemed to just freeze in size, i couldnt see any roots at the bottom of the pots but decided to repot them into bigger pots anyway, mainly due to the fact i had been using a fairly cheep compost alone that had dried out to the point water ran straight through it and because i have read enough now on these forums to believe a soil compost mix would be best.

With that decided i got the chance to get a lift out to B&Q late Thursday (cheaper than our local nursery) and picked up a bag of B@Q MPC with John Innes, at under £5 for a 56litre bag i thought it might turn out to be a better buy than my previous stuff, a bag of premium topsoil , bag had been opened so got 35litres for £3, and although the do not sell Chilli Focus i found a general purpose Miracle Grow for approximately the same price, this is only 5/5/5 instead of the 7/7/7 of CF but does contain virtually the same trace ingredients and was around the same price as CF.

Friday morning saw my and OH repotting using an approx 60/40 MPC to Soil mix, i removed a lot of the dried old compost until i could see a few of the roots. I also did the same for the ones in Gh and game them all a feed with a well diliuted feed. Within half an hour all the ones under the light had sulked to the point they were horizontal across the top of the soil, the GH ones only drooped a little.

When turning the light off i checked again and most were starting to try and stand up again, the GH ones looked fine.

Today the GH ones do not look much different at all, one has decided to run flat a bit and then stand back up at the tip, the rest are as they have been for the last week. The ones under the light however seem to have had a growth explotion, not so much upwards but in bulk, the stems have virtually doubled in thickness and the leaves have added a good 50% to their sizes.

Is it coincidental that the ones under lights have almost died sulking and then exploded this way or that as they were more advanced maybe they were ready for rapid growth but could not supply themselves with enough nutrients and the soil change and feed then gave them optimal conditions for this growth burst? Sould I also then expect the GH ones to catch up and give a same burst in a week or so?

I am hoping it is the latter because then i will have learned something

[Two_Sheds]

sorry, I'm too tired to digest your long posting ... but you need to feed the chillies every fortnight or so, as the MPC will have run out of food after about 5 weeks.

also, don't let the compost dry out.

[Alison]

I feed mine every week when they're producing. Seems to work for me and I get plenty of fruits.

[zazen999]

Sorry, but I am not sure what the question actually is [I'm a pedant].

But yes, I feed chillis one a week and repot once the roots come out of the bottom, I don't use growlights and none of mine flopped at all.

[PaulG]

Sorry for any confusion, the main question really is to do with the growth explosion only on those under light, is that growth due to a natural growth spurt at a set stage of a chillis life and it was coincedental it happing at the same time i used the new soil etc or because the stress they obviously felt during the repotting (compared to the GH ones) has made them come back stronger?

[SarzWix]

When you repot plants, especially when there's any root disturbance, it's usual to keep them out of direct sun for a while til they settle. Or they do what yours did and fall over. So I would guess that the ones under the lights fell over for that reason, the greenhouse ones didn't because they weren't under as much stress.
The growth from the ones under the lights is probably because you've been holding them back by having them too dry, and now they've finally got some moisture and extra nutrients they're making up. The greenhouse ones will more than likely put on more growth too, but as they were before, a little slower than the ones under lights.

[PaulG]

When you repot plants, especially when there's any root disturbance, it's usual to keep them out of direct sun for a while til they settle.

Thank you, this was something i had not come across yet and does help explain the differences, especially as it was very cloudy outside when everything got repotted so as you say, far less stress on the plants in the greenhouse.