My chili plants update... CATS ATE 2 OF THEM! First steps in hydroponics.

Hello, steemit friends. This is my weekly update of my chili plants. They are really doing great, but unfortunately my cats managed to eat two of them. I’ve also started two plants in hydroponic setup. Here are the bigger ones:

As you see the upper left Carolina Reaper is doing great and it already has so big leaves. They are almost my palm, but these are it’s first set of leaves and I plan to cut the plant down to three leaves, like I does the last week to two of my peppers. One Carolina and one Moruga Scorpion.

You can see on the photo they already have their second generation leaves and started a few side branches. This lets them to grow even bigger and stronger. This way the peppers concentrate all the water and nutrients for the new branches, but still need their older leaves(at least some of them) to continue the process of photosynthesis.

You can actually see how fresh are the new leaves! Oppositely the “bigger” Reaper doesn’t have any side branches and leaves at all while only the tip is growing, definitely not very fast. This is due to plant’s target to keep the bigger leaves fresh and fed.

Definitely this plant will receive a new “haircut” in the beginning of the next week. Actually the leaves make great salad! Yes, pepper leaves are edible and even in Korea they make kimchi with them.

Unfortunately the last week the cats in my apartment had decided, that peppers are great food for them, and unluckily two of the Pepperoncino plants ended without any leaves at all. I sincerely hope, that they will manage somehow to grow their side branches. At least one of them has one leave left and it will continue to produce photosynthesis.

Now to the hydroponics.
I’ve recently put two of my plants in hydroponic setup. They are put into rock wool and the bottom part of their roots is in hydroponic solution, from where the plants will feed themselves with nutrients. I bought liquid hydroponic fertilizer, called Dutch Formula, and it actually comes in three bottles. In the different phases of growth the different components have to be mixed in different proportions, in order to provide the plants optimal nutrients.
Here is the Carolina Reaper, which is involved in my hydroponics experiment:

The part with the water has to be entirely covered, preventing any light to come into the solution. I used a paper box with a jar in it. The plant itself is put into rock wool, which is placed in a plastic cup with holes on the bottom.

I put another plant in hydroponic solution - this is one of my Pepperoncino plants, and I will grow it side by side with a plant, being grown in soil. This way I will have side by side comparison between the two methods.

The front one is in soil, while the one in the back is in hydroponic solution.

And these are the nutrients for the plants, that I bought last week.

That’s all for this week. I hope, that my plants will be cat-free and they will grow happy.
See ya!