Phil, hobbyist gardener from Germany, shares more about growing chili peppers using hydroponics

• Craft Hot Sauce Podcast •

Phil comes on the Craft Hot Sauce Pod to share his experiences with hydroponics and growing chili peppers. Phil is a hobbyist gardener that got deep down the rabbit hole of learning more about growing chili peppers using the method of hydroponics.

On the podcast Phil shares how he got started growing chili peppers, different methods of growing hydroponically, some of the peppers he’s most excited about growing, and lots of advice and knowledge for those looking to learn more about growing peppers and hydroponics.

If you want to follow Phil and his chili growing projects follow him on Instagram @dangermann_garden

On the podcast Phil shares lots of resources that he has summarized below:

Youtube channels 

• Khang Starr - Great simple tutorials for beginners, but also gardeners who want to try some new stuff like propagating and easy hydro with everyday objects being used. Recently he has also made lots of clips of non-pepper related videos like hydro lettuce.
• Chilli Chump - Youtuber with great garden updates, gardening tutorials and hot sauce making videos. 
• Peter Stanley - Innovative pepper grower with great videos on gardening DIYs, especially for hydroponics. 
• Rob from 7 Pot Club - Great pod reviews (the others also all review peppers), garden updates and tutorials. He also writes quirky, fun songs about pepper growing. 

Communities: 

• Pepper Lovers Community (PLC):it started on Google+ as a location for Khang Starr subscribers but then moved to Facebook, Reddit and Discord. A great resource for beginners asking for help as well as experienced growers to exchange ideas and updates. 
• The r/hotpeppers community is also very active on reddit and has many of the same members as the PLC. 
• There are lots of hydroponics related sub-reddits but I find the most active one is r/hydro 
• Annual Pepper Seed Swap - Well worth it as it’s fun and certain varieties can only be swapped and not sold (2020 link but keep an eye out for 2021 - should start in October). If you don’t want to wait, there are other places like the Facebook group for seed swaps. 
• Annual hot sauce exchange - like the reddit secret santa  

Monitoring and automation 

• Check out Blumat and autopots - these are some great systems working with gravity alone 
• I highly recommend building some self-watering wick pots as in Khang Starr’s tutorial or Peter Stanley’s. While you’re at it, check out airpots and how to make them yourselves 
• Kyle Gabriel’s automated hydrponic system using Raspberry PI as seen on youtube or here with his instructions
• There are other codes written like PiGrow (sub reddit link) and other systems made with both Raspberry Pi and Arduino - I recommend searching a web a bit if you’re interested. 

Don’t hesitate to reach out to Phil on his instagram - @dangermann_garden

The Craft Hot Sauce Podcast is supported through advertising. Our sponsor for this episode is Anton Paar and their product, the ViscoQC. bit.ly/33AXEAh

Music and editing in this episode was performed by the great Mike Turnwall. www.miketurnwall.com