How r ur peppers going in Perth west oz?

[highlucks]

I picked that one up at the Midland Sunday markets.

More photos

Golden Needle

 

 

 
Burmese Heritage??
 

 

 

 
My stick that I bought summer last year, hoping it can make a come back because the pods were awesome

 
These are some of the pods from the above stick, if anybody could shed some light on the type it would be greatly appreciated.

 

[megamoo]

 
Re: Sun scald... sorry to hear that Moo.  At least you have a massive crop to cope.  If I lost another 6 to heat after the BLS, I'd be back to needing more seedling to have any hope of chillies this year.
 
Re: Mites - what are the signs? 
 

oops I meant half a dozen chilli pods not plants.   Found another handful today too.  The pods get patches of soft white wrinkly skin and rot.  It is only on a few plants that are in the position where the pods get direct sun from midday to dusk.  No big problem because there are many more unaffected chillies.
 
I am however losing quite a few pods to a pest, probably the eggfruit caterpillar from last season.  The first thing you notice is a large exit hole on the pod and the little M%@# F^&@&#^ maggot is long gone... although not before he's spent some time eating out the inside of the pod and leaving his crap in it.   The entry hole is tiny and very hard to see.  It causes the pod to abort, or ripen prematurely, so there are a lot of small green pods that have dropped with holes in them. 
 
I have no idea how to fight this pest other than seal the plants in a mosquito net which I can't do, or pick the pods as early as possible and finish ripening them inside, which isn't ideal at all.  Last season some large spider webs helped I think, but it still came out at around 25% or more pods trashed. 
 
Signs of mites - the new growth is all spindly, withered and twisted and growth grounds to a halt.  I think that once you see the signs, the plant is already infested and any neighbouring plants are also infected.   The one infected plant I cut back and sulfured early in the season has made a complete recovery, has caught up in size to the others and is putting out lots of buds.  Won't be able to treat the new one in the same way because its in the hedge.
Nice pictures highlucks.  Those pods look Red Habanero to me.

 

[highlucks]

Thanks Moo.
 
Debbie and I did some potting up this evening. We have around 40 new seedlings potted out in chiliville. We colour coded them all for easy ID in the future. There were more than enought to fill the main aquarium so had to utilise a smaller one on the side.

Sorry the photos are so average, it was dark when I took them.

Perlite supply.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Micca302]

oops I meant half a dozen chilli pods not plants.   Found another handful today too.  The pods get patches of soft white wrinkly skin and rot.  It is only on a few plants that are in the position where the pods get direct sun from midday to dusk.  No big problem because there are many more unaffected chillies.
 
 

 
 
Yeah been getting the same problem with some pods over the weekend. Also a bit of sunscold but all have survided though.
Gotta expect some casualties when they are sitting inside a furnace!
 
Micca

 

[Micca302]

Picked up a Chocolate Brainstrain from Wildfire Chilli yesterday.
I was pretty impressed with the amount of flowers per node it had.
 

Chock Brain Strain Flowers
 
Usually most of the flowers drop off and only get one or two but will see.
 
I did have a SBS Demon Hab throw out a heap of flowers with 5 setting fruit
 

Demon Hab Pods
 
I was out and about the raised garden bed on the weekend and found my first Superhot.
 

7-Pot Primo
 
Looking pretty gnarly and seems to be showing more of it's Naga origins in shape.
 
Now for some colour
 

Jamaican Scotch Bonnet Long Yellow(now that's a mouthfull!)
 
And finally a little Tobago seasoning Pepper
 

Tobago Seasoning Pepper
 
Ahhh gotta love it when you see your fruits of labour!
 
Micca
 

 

[highlucks]

Man great shots, That JSBLY looks amazing and the 7 pot just looks scary.
Did you catch up with Candice at the markets or the nursery?

 

[Micca302]

Cheers mate.
I caught up with Candice at the Markets. Was pretty quiet down there, but seeing it was something like 41 Deg.C at 10am i wasn't surprised.
 
Micca

 

[Andy21]

I missed it yesterday :-/ thought the markets was on later than 1pm hoping they're gonna be there again in the next couple of of weeks!
On a brighter note I've got a few pods setting on my super hots!! Only 1-2 per plant but I'm sure more will follow! I thought the day would never come!
Also had anyone had the ghost chilli burger from that place in dianella? I lost a bet with a mate and going to eat one on Wednesday apparently it's put 5 people in hospital so I'm slightly concerned! Haha

 

[Micca302]

Great to see you have some Superhots setting
 
Man good luck with that Burger mate. If it is the one i'm thinking of they use an extract sauce and I absolutely hate extracts.
Why make something that has just got pure heat no nice Chilli taste and a chemical aftertaste...............
The extract also upsets my stomach much more than say a whole Trin Scorp.
I hope you manage to do it and survive the PAIN. Vid it and we can all have a good laugh
 
Micca

 

[highlucks]

Andy, Candice will be back at the markets on Sunday and is taking pre orders during the week.

Micca, I agree. He should be making his own killer sauce. especially with the varieties of chili now available in WA.

 

[nemspy]

I have one butch T from a plant from last year setting and a single douglah from Wildfire setting. I was at bunnings today and the seedlings there from wildfire now have pods all over the damn things! Grrrr!
 
I can't work out why my huge Chocolate Bhut will not set a single fruit. I'm treating it exactly the same but every blossom drops.
 
In other news - I cut off some of the yellowing leaves from my Jalapeno. It seems to have stopped growing and I'm hoping it was putting energy into trying to save the sickly foliage.
 
I'm feeling a bit bummed about my crop. In october they all started to take off and looked so lush and nice, but Dec and early jan have been nothing but leaf drop and lack of fruit setting. I shouldn't be too disappointed because at the same time last year I only had tiny little two inch high seedlings and they came good, but I feel as though I've been struck harder by pests and mysterious plant illness this time around.

 

[Micca302]

I have never had much luck with the Chock Bhuts or Douglahs. For some reason they don't seem to fare well in my garden.
You should have grabbed a podded plant there Nemspy. Last year grabbed one from the Chilli Fest and the amount of pods on there outweighed the cost of the plant itself!
I think I saw small bags(maybe 30G?) of dried Morouga Scorps for $35 bucks down the markets 
 
Micca

 

[nemspy]

My plants seem to fall into a few broad categories this year.
 
Category A - Absolutely caning along. Red Hab is pretty much the only one doing this. It's covered in pods and seems to be thriving on my balcony, even though it's so tall the top 30 cms or so are fully exposed to the wind. Flowers are large and a slight bump of the plant seems to rain pollen.
 
Category B - Plants that came back well from last year very early in the season but stalled- These include a few annuums I have going. Most of them have fruited to some extent, but they seem to have become stunted in their regrowth, having produced some really dense, thick leaves that are almost like rubber early in the season and now they look a bit sparse and sad. Wondering if I should knock the fruit off to let them grow more.
 
Category C - Seedlings that took off like gangbusters but now are losing many of their large lower leaves.
 
Category D - Strong looking plants that are covered in small blossoms that seem totally bereft of pollen and have not set any fruit at all (chocolate bhut) or only one or two fruit (butch t, fatalii)
 
Category E - green sticks that are alive but STILL haven't reshot.
 
I want more in the A category!

 

[megamoo]

My plants seem to fall into a few broad categories this year.
 
Category A - Absolutely caning along. Red Hab is pretty much the only one doing this. It's covered in pods and seems to be thriving on my balcony, even though it's so tall the top 30 cms or so are fully exposed to the wind. Flowers are large and a slight bump of the plant seems to rain pollen.
 
Category B - Plants that came back well from last year very early in the season but stalled- These include a few annuums I have going. Most of them have fruited to some extent, but they seem to have become stunted in their regrowth, having produced some really dense, thick leaves that are almost like rubber early in the season and now they look a bit sparse and sad. Wondering if I should knock the fruit off to let them grow more.
 
Category C - Seedlings that took off like gangbusters but now are losing many of their large lower leaves.
 
Category D - Strong looking plants that are covered in small blossoms that seem totally bereft of pollen and have not set any fruit at all (chocolate bhut) or only one or two fruit (butch t, fatalii)
 
Category E - green sticks that are alive but STILL haven't reshot.
 
I want more in the A category!

We all want category A !
 
I have a yellow moruga scorpion overwinter which is category B except it hasn't set any fruit.  I believe the mistake I made was with the original soil mix.  I've seen the same thick, small, dense regrowth pattern with others which I put down to bad soil.  I think the problem can be solved with a repot/refresh of the soil.  Specifically in my case I put too much perlite in the mix, but I think 90% of time its the opposite problem with not enough drainage.   Going to do a repot in the next few days and I'll tell you if it reponds positively.
 
C - I get this too but its worse in pots.  Apparently this is caused when the plant takes mobile nutrients from the lower leaves to feed new growth and pods.  My plants definitely have sufficient nutrients present, so they can't access them - pH lockout.  I'm beginning to suspect its either a pH problem from the water or build up of fertiliser salts.   OR its something to do with beneficial bacteria on the roots and leaves.  This season I haven't used any compost tea or worm juice with watering, or worm castings in soil mix.  There is a reduced size of plants and yield to this time last year.
 
D - Do you rub your finger on the open flower and check for pollen?  If I remember correctly (50-50 shot there), I read somewhere that the best pollinating time is early afternoon around 2pm.   Most of my plants that make flowers set fruit, except for ones under heat stress that drop buds and flowers.
 
E - I watered (with weak fertiliser) green sticks for months before they came back, but at some point you have to just chuck em

 

[Rainman]

My plants are in pots and I'm squarely in the Category C and Category D camps.  I'm finding it very frustrating seeing sooooo many flowers constantly fall off the plant.
 
I planned on using the chilli focus to feed them weekly, but I keep over doing the fertiliser, so I scale it back.  Then I get too much the other way and probably starve them... I'm pretty sure I'm to blame for the flower drop.  Ah the joy of my first grow season.  
 
I regret not adding some manure to my pots... Do you guys think it would be a good idea to work a little manure into the soil at the top of the pot?  If so what type would you recommend? I'm not sure they or me can take a 3rd re-pot to get this soil right!

 

[highlucks]

Not too sure which category I fall into yet as I am mostly still seedlings. But I did grab a few pods this evening, nothing to compare to your super hots but its a start.

The top left is Heritage burmese, top right is serrano, bottom left are from the Golden Needle?? and bottom right from unknown plant. The bottom row were harvested late and are a little dry.
Better shot of the burmese below.
 

 

[AussieMitch]

Category D for me. There's a small graveyard under each plant full of dropped flowers. Only one Butch T has set one pod, and one purple Bhut has set one pod. I reckon it's the heat.

 

[Micca302]

Iv'e eliminated catagory E. They were sacrificed to the Chilli Gods 
Gotta keep em happy!
 
Micca

 

[Andy21]

Haha micca I ditched a few plants tonight as well! Mine were because I couldn't save them from infection of some sort though! I managed to sort it out on the rest of my plants and didn't want it spreading again!
They're really starting to take off now ill post some pics of my raised garden bed tomorrow it's turning into a chilli jungle! Still having lots of flower drop with the superhots but a few pods setting here and there so hopefully more to follow!
And nice harvest there highlucks!
Oh and I ordered a couple of brainstrains from wildfire too! Pickin em up on Sunday

 

[highlucks]

Thanks man, I might see you there amongst the hundreds as I have a few plants to pick up myself. Not too sure what time we will be there though.