Any Tips for Growing Baccatums?

[stettoman]

Gotcha on the gene pool, was thinking on the same lines as possible/likely.

Don't you just love the continuous entrance of noobs to the pepper genre? The fert is a prepackaged tomato mix made by Schultz. I chose it because I'm hearing negative things about N preponderance in pepper media. The dilution is Schultz' suggestion for a "seedling mix", 1/4 teaspoon per gallon. I also have gallons of nutrient free rainwater available and can put off using this until true leaves form.

I've grown a LOT of veggies in my life, this is my first venture into what I consider exotics. The specifics on growth criteria intrigues me, but my goal is Yummy in my Tummy.

 

[solid7]

Gotcha on the gene pool, was thinking on the same lines as possible/likely.

Don't you just love the continuous entrance of noobs to the pepper genre? The fert is a prepackaged tomato mix made by Schultz. I chose it because I'm hearing negative things about N preponderance in pepper media. The dilution is Schultz' suggestion for a "seedling mix", 1/4 teaspoon per gallon. I also have gallons of nutrient free rainwater available and can put off using this until true leaves form.

I've grown a LOT of veggies in my life, this is my first venture into what I consider exotics. The specifics on growth criteria intrigues me, but my goal is Yummy in my Tummy.

 
Definitely put off using ferts for now.  Just to be clear - your ferts will work, but no plant will uptake that much K, relative to the other numbers, barring some mitigating factor.  If you had a grow media with some sort of propensity to latch onto K, that would be a reason to supplement the extra, but outside of that, not so much...
 
I don't normally use a synthetic fertilizer, but I did this year, to help speed up a stabilization of a cross.  What I ended up using was CNS17 Grow from Botannicare.  (3-1-2)  I didn't have to supplement any calcium or magnesium, and got picture perfect plants and fruits.  One Tbsp per gallon, and it was dirt cheap.  I give that recommendation, because using the ferts that you are using, you may end up with some problems with accumulation of salts, later on.

 

[stettoman]

No, I don't need a buildup of any deletrious nutrients, especially with the consideration that some of these plants will be kept potted.

Thanks for the fertilizer recommendation.

 

[solid7]

Certainly. Best of luck to you. It's awesome to look back on the progress you make, and see where you came from, once you've ended up somewhere better. Hope you post up some results.

 

[stettoman]

Certainly. Best of luck to you. It's awesome to look back on the progress you make, and see where you came from, once you've ended up somewhere better. Hope you post up some results.

 
 
Thanks, and yessir, I have a thread in the glog forum. It's definitely a shirttail grow, I'm no horticulturalist, the nomenclature is Klingon to me, but peppers fascinate me and I'd love to see these plants thrive.
 
I'm sort of the trailer park grower of exotic peppers in there, but I do have enthusiasm...

 

[solid7]

I'm sort of the trailer park grower of exotic peppers in there, but I do have enthusiasm...

Sometimes that's the best way to be. I've been guilty of overthinking my grows in the past. All said and done, I sometimes made it way harder than it had to be. So no need to self-deprecate. Some of us do it for the education, some of us do it for the end product. It's all good.

 

[CMJ]

Just an update. The baccatums are growing like wildfire now, and have by far surpassed all of my Annuums and Chinenses that were planted much earlier! I will post pics later if anyone is interested? Thanks for all of the tips.

I suspect you're the victim of a bit of bad luck, or an unknown issue.  IMO, baccatum are vastly faster/easier to germinate than most chinense.
 
While a rare event, I've had baccatum seeds pop in 4 days. A week usually does the trick for the 'slow' ones.  
As mentioned, they do at least as well as most annuums and better than 95% of the chinense in hot weather.

I think you are right about getting some bad seed, at least with the Aji Pineapple anyway. They germanate but quickly die. All other Bacs., plus the 1 Aji Pineapple that actually survived, are flourishing now. I just put 5 Aji Fantasy in soil after 4 days in a bag/paper towel.

 

[CMJ]

Treat them like any other Capsicum species while indoor. If you grow long enough,you will eventually have issues with bad seeds or poor growth in a few plants,it's genetic or technique and not species related.

The only differences I see with baccatums are related to size and ripening time in the large pendelums. They are huge plants and pods can take quite some time to fully ripen.

I am not sure where you are located,but I couldn't start them in December in zone 5. Would be 5'tall by June plant out.

I am in zone 8a. Normally plant out first week of April. I just harvested my last Caribbean Reds from my outdoor plants last week. Woke up to 11 degrees F this morning! The indoor grow was supposed to be a Winter project to keep me occupied during the off season, but I am quickly running out of room. I went ahead and started my seeds for next season. That may have been a mistake. Lol