Anybody here grow pepper plants, indoors, hydroponically?

A few months ago, I thought it would be cool to try growing some superhot peppers indoors during the winter. So I bought some seeds off ebay, germinated them and then put them in DWC buckets. I have 6 buckets with the following varieties: habanero, king naga, 2x moruga scorpion, brazilian ghost, and carolina reapers. They've exploded and outgrown their space, so I put them all under a spare 400w MH. The tallest ones in the back are over 3-1/2 feet tall.

I only have peppers on the habanero, but lots of flowers on everything else. Will keep updated as other plants start to produce.

As this is my first time growing peppers at all, any suggestions and feedback would be very welcome. Also if you grow these, I'd love to see your gardens!

Thanks and peace.

Lights on:


Lights off:






Back side of 3.5 feet tall King Naga and Carolina Reapers:


Promising future peppers:

lots of wind help pollinate

Nice I like it !

yes very nice,take q tip rub flower to flower everv two days; u have more peppers than u can eat

thumper60 said:

lots of wind help pollinate

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thumper60 said:

yes very nice,take q tip rub flower to flower everv two days; u have more peppers than u can eat

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Thanks! Pollination is a challenge since there are no flying insects in my basement. I have been rubbing the flowers with a q-tip like you suggested but I could definitely use more airflow to help the cause even further. Still getting a lot of flower drop but hopefully will see more peppers here really shortly.

Not sure I want to eat too many of these, was more growing them as a novelty. What do people do with superhots? Make salsa, hot sauce?

sunni said:

Nice I like it !

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Thanks. Glad to have you along for the ride.

Dry them out n mske pepper flakes for chili. Pizza and anything else. I magic bulleted 2 quart mason jars of my dried peppers and ended up with pizza parlor size shaker of hot pepper flakes. Have you ever eaten the ghist, scorpion, or reaper before? If you have not I would recommend to get some cheese first. I grow all 3 of those. And they're top 3 hottest in the world as of now. I like to pickle my peppers. Add in sliced carrots. Onions. Garlic cloves. Peppercorns. And lots of rosemary. These make great gifts if u have friends or family if they like spicy food. Also they make good decorations too if u make a nice bright mix of peppers. Once pickled they last virtually forever and u can still add to chili. Stews. Tacos. And everything else. My mouth is watering thinking of it. Also u can dry out oepoers and mix in with pepper shaker for a kick. I have a pretty hot mouth. I've won many hot wing challenges. It's an addiction.

If you want nice looking pepper plants look up the fish pepper. About as hot as a jalapeño. Great flavor. Smaller size plant. And tons of peppers. Literally hundreds. And they come in every color under the sun. Even striped

KingBlunted said:

Dry them out n mske pepper flakes for chili. Pizza and anything else. I magic bulleted 2 quart mason jars of my dried peppers and ended up with pizza parlor size shaker of hot pepper flakes. Have you ever eaten the ghist, scorpion, or reaper before? If you have not I would recommend to get some cheese first. I grow all 3 of those. And they're top 3 hottest in the world as of now. I like to pickle my peppers. Add in sliced carrots. Onions. Garlic cloves. Peppercorns. And lots of rosemary. These make great gifts if u have friends or family if they like spicy food. Also they make good decorations too if u make a nice bright mix of peppers. Once pickled they last virtually forever and u can still add to chili. Stews. Tacos. And everything else. My mouth is watering thinking of it. Also u can dry out oepoers and mix in with pepper shaker for a kick. I have a pretty hot mouth. I've won many hot wing challenges. It's an addiction.

If you want nice looking pepper plants look up the fish pepper. About as hot as a jalapeño. Great flavor. Smaller size plant. And tons of peppers. Literally hundreds. And they come in every color under the sun. Even striped

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Wow, thanks for the suggestions! Sounds like plenty of uses for these things, I'll need to google specific recipes once I harvest peppers to actually make something with. The first habanero is ready to pick any day now, many more on the way and hopefully other varieties soon.
No, I haven't tried any of the super hots except the ghost. Great kick and flavor, excited about trying the other varieties I'm growing even if they will scorch my face off.

I'll look into the fish pepper, sounds like a nice addition to the pepper farm. There are so many varieties of pepper out there, I can really see how this can become a really interesting and addicting hobby.

Thanks for your input. I'd love to see pictures of your garden (or even the yummy stuff you've made with your peppers) if you'd post them.

I'm almost positive peppers are self pollinators so no need to do anything with them.

made hot peper jam with some of my tobasco peppers i grew this summer, was really good, and not as hot as i thought it'd be..
put it on top of some cream cheese and eat with crackers...

racerboy71 said:

made hot peper jam with some of my tobasco peppers i grew this summer, was really good, and not as hot as i thought it'd be..
put it on top of some cream cheese and eat with crackers...

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yum yum

JG Wentworth said:

Wow, thanks for the suggestions! Sounds like plenty of uses for these things, I'll need to google specific recipes once I harvest peppers to actually make something with. The first habanero is ready to pick any day now, many more on the way and hopefully other varieties soon.
No, I haven't tried any of the super hots except the ghost. Great kick and flavor, excited about trying the other varieties I'm growing even if they will scorch my face off.

I'll look into the fish pepper, sounds like a nice addition to the pepper farm. There are so many varieties of pepper out there, I can really see how this can become a really interesting and addicting hobby.

Thanks for your input. I'd love to see pictures of your garden (or even the yummy stuff you've made with your peppers) if you'd post them.

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Here's a sample of 4 different kinds of pickled peppers and even some pickled green tomatoes. Yum!

I put up 75 qts each of maters&green beans half dozen kinds of pickles 4kinds of relish I don't byt gifts I give away my goodies I love growing veggies get some pics up later

I shaked the stems of my peppers to pollinate them

yes still want to cross think like a bee,

Great looking plants. During the summer I grow lots of peppers outside. My wife is the queen of pepper jelly.

I tried a few peppers in a homemade hydro system inside for three or four weeks. It was simpler for me to put them in soil. I carried 12-15 over the winter inside, but don't have near the light you have. I made pepper without doing anything, but I do have fans on them.

I went in the other direction from you. I grew a lot of the Grand Bell Mix and some Mini Sweet peppers. I had a few Chili peppers and some Jalapeno too.

I have a modified rain gutter grow system in my little redneck green house. Pepper and Tomato plants in landscape fabric grow bags in a shallow trench filled with water. Works great when you remember to keep the trench filled with water. {note to self: remember to buy a float valve}

And what I always do with the really hot pepper I make is to make pepper sauce and give it to my BIL. I have only made him sweat a time or two. What I really do with most of the hottest ones is to blend them up and make a spray out of it. I have a couple of gallons of frozen red slurry in the freezer. If you are having problems with rabbits or whatever in your garden, give their trail a good soaking with the spray.

Thanks for your input Larry. Sounds like you know your peppers, would love to see pics of your garden, or your pepper creations if you got em!

Depending on yields and quality of peppers I start producing, I'll start phasing out plants and making room for more "edible" varieties. I have room for six 3.5/5 gal buckets under the 400w.

Unfortunately, outside growing for me is not ideal since I live in a condo with no yard and potted plants get only sunlight part of the day since my outside space is north and west facing. I do have a large basement and room to permanently have an extra light or two set up, so I may grow these year round indoors. They certainly are hands-off and easy to grow: I only top the buckets off and check/adjust eC and pH once a week and have only done two res changes in 4 months. Not sure if they're thriving because of or despite my methods, they don't seem to mind.

Fucking awesome, I have some chocolate habaneros and some Carolina reapers that are growing in small cups. I'm waiting spring to plant but would also like to start looking at growing indoors. This is a excellent hobby along side growing a cannabis plant every now and then. I want some hot carrots peppers and some thai ones. I wonder how hard it is to clone a pepper plant?

http://www.pepperscale.com/bulgarian-carrot-pepper/

Like I already said look it up peppers & tomatoes are self pollinating!

By the way I'm been gardening for over 20 years & have brought in several pepper plants to save through winter. Key is light & food!

This was my last harvest last year before the killing frost. This was probably the 6th harvest of the season with this being the smallest from last season. So I've had just a little experience growing peppers!