• Blog your pepper progress. The first image in your first post will be used to represent your Glog.

PaulG 2012

I'm chomping at the bit to get started with some new chilli varieties this coming Spring. So far I've just scratched the surface with Poblanos, Jalapenos and Serranos, all of which I really like. I've been egged on by a new Second Generation Mejicano neighbor as we've talked about hot chillis over the back fence! He helped me make some Pico de Gallo with my Serranos and Early Girl tomatoes and has some great recipes from his mother and grandmother. Hopefully I'll be able to share some of them on this forum in the future. I need to grow more Cilantro. Oh yeah!

I've ordered seed from several sources which received at least a few good comments on this forum (6/12 - items crossed out did not germ, or weren't planted this year):

US Hot Stuff:
Bolivian Rainbow
Yellow Peter
Nosegay
Trinidad Scorpion (from Spankycolts)
Devil Tongue

The Hippy Seed Company: Seed Packet Mixes
NuMex Twilight (from Siliman)
Yellow Jellybeans
Tom Thumbs
Wild Texas Tepin

Refining Fire: Seed Packet Mix
Scotch Bonnet
Chocolate Habanero
Jamaican Red Mushroom

New Mexico State University:
Chiltepin
Omnicolor
Red Carribean Habanero
Orange Habanero

Pepper Gal:
Aji Yellow (request from a Peruvian friend of ours!)
Thai Hot

Peppermania:
Inca Lost
Fatali
White Habanero (from Spanky)
Red Savina (cross with Fatali, from Spanky)
Bishop's Crown
Inca Red Drop
Orange Rocoto
Congo Trinidad

I doubt I will be able to try all of these out this year, but I have saved my seeds in small glass jars with tight-fitting lids for storage over the next year. I have been saving seed from other garden produce and have had good luck with germinating them after two or even three years. The jars are stored in boxes in the garage for a cool dark location for them. I have ordered several compact varieties with an eye toward trying to winter over some of my plants this year. Since I didn't even know peppers were perennial, I can say I've already learned something from this forum!


I purchased a small greenhouse from One Stop Gardens (via Harbor Freight) for $300 four years ago. This is one of the greenhouse kits I've noticed in the greenhouse advertsing bar at the bottom of some of the pages on this forum. This picture is from Spring/ Summer 2011. You can see my tomato and pepper starts on the sheves. I winter over some bonsai trees and jade plants as well as geraniums, begonias and Gerbera Daisies. In the winter, I use a small space heater (visible on ground in the picture) to keep the temp at 40F during the few cold weeks we experience here. So far it has worked pretty well. If overwintering pepper plants becomes a reality I'll be making more room in the greenhouse! I've started a thread in the Grow Tech forum to discuss issues which crop up with these units.

greenhousepan11a.jpg


January 14, 2012:

Composting:

Okay, I need to do something outside. I know, I'll dig out a compost bin. We've had a little dry cool weather, so the worms have burrowed down, and the compost is crumbly, if a tad wet.

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The first step - dig out the bin and sift the material. I use a homemade frame with a layer of 1/4 inch plastic hardware cloth backed with a layer of one inch mesh poultry netting. The fine stuff goes into the wheelbarrow, the coarse stuff into an adjacent compost bin we're still building up.

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The bin on the left is covered to keep the leafy material dry and fluffy. The dry leaves are an important layer in the compost 'cake'. The bin on the right is the one I'm digging out. Nice, dark and crumbly with lots of worms! The sifter is on the wheelbarrow, and some of the coarse stuff is already on the active compost bin in the middle. The bin in the back is resting for several of months. It has a black plastic hardware cloth cover to keep out squirrels and racoons.

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The bin is all dug out. I left about two inches of broken up compost on the bottom of the hole to create a space for the worms to move into. You can see the bin in the middle has a layer of coarse stuff spread out on the top.

DSCN3323sm.jpg


The last step is to put a nice deep layer of dry leaves on the bin we just dug out. Now that bin will rest for a at least several months or more while the earthworms move into the compost/earth interface and do their work. That will make a great base for the next cycle of composting in this bin. I put a thin layer of leaves on the middle bin, too. Now there's a nice layer cake of dirt/compost, leaves. kitchen scraps. All small yard clippings except grass go into the compost bins, even tomato vines and pepper branches and twigs. I don't even chop stuff up too much. I try to have at least 10 or 12 layers of stuff built up before I cover the bin with a layer of dirt/compost and let the worms work for several months. I'm getting about 12-18 cubic feet of compost from these bins a year. My goal is to become 'soil self-sufficient' at some point, perhaps only having to procure horticultural pumice or vermiculite and some peat moss every so often.

DSCN3322sm.jpg


The good stuff. It will go into a plastic, vented storage bin for at lest eight weeks to cure a bit. Then I mix it with a little peat moss and some vermiculite or pumice for aeration. In my large containers, I add 2 or 3 inches of compost worked into the top of the container only every year. I try not to mix up the soil layers in the big containers very much, letting the nutrients percolate down through the soil as in a natural setting. As the blog continues this summer, I'll include photos of the irrigation system and containers I use to grow my tomatoes and peppers, and a few other things.
 
2/8: no new germinations today - day 18. I'm thinking the germ phase is pretty much over. There may be a few late arrivals, still. I will update the germination table if that happens. I'm not giving up on the no-shows, yet! Still not much luck with the ornamentals and smalls (not included in the germ table): chiltepin - NMSU - 1/6 w.t. tepins - THSC - 4/6 explosive ember - THSC - 2/6 yellow jellybeans - THSC - 0/6 nosegay - USHot - 0/6 tomb thumbs - THSC - 0/6 numex twilight - THSC - 0/6 Maybe somebody has an idea why I got poor results with these (except the w.t. tepins). I treated them just like the other seeds, and I'm thinking the quality is good, cuz they're from reputable vendors. Maybe they need something a little more specialized? I won't try them again until next year. Side note: I hooked up a couple of computer fans on the grow table. They are moving the seedlings all right, but my temp goes down from 83-ish to 73-ish. With the lights 18/6 (dark 12a-6a) the temp drops to the ambient 60's at night. This is not a good thing. Do I need to run the fans all the time, or is a couple of hours a day enough? Maybe the 'dark' should be during the day so the heat is up during the nighttime. I'll search the site for this topic, but in the meantime.... thanks in advance.
I only run my fan a few hours a day. The day after I water I run it all day to keep them from being too damp too long. I don't know if this is the right way or not??? My plants seem to like it though!
 
It's hard not to point the finger at the seeds when everything else in the group grows fine. When you've allowed a lot of time, at some point you gotta throw in the towel. Speaking of towels, I'd suggest doing a small test with your stubborn seeds using the salsa cups/paper towel method. It doesn't take up much space and could give another take on the seed viability.

PM me your addy if you'd like some CPI NuMex Twilight to compare what you have. They're last year seeds, but I had really high germ rate with them.

Yep, the fan factor will affect your temp controls. I run my fan when the room is warmest and I mist the plants then also. I also have a 'cold' room at night--when the lights go off, it routinely hits 60F. I'm sure my plants grow slower than others on the board because of it, but I don't think it stunts them. Heck, when I get 60F at night outside in the summer, they're loving it... :cool:
 
Side note[/u]: I hooked up a couple of computer fans on the grow table. They are moving the
seedlings all right, but my temp goes down from 83-ish to 73-ish. With the lights 18/6 (dark 12a-6a)
the temp drops to the ambient 60's at night. This is not a good thing. Do I need to run the
fans all the time, or is a couple of hours a day enough? Maybe the 'dark' should be during the day so
the heat is up during the nighttime. I'll search the site for this topic, but in the meantime.... thanks in advance.

I've noticed that when the sun goes down at night the wind dies down and doesn't come back up until the sun's been up an hour or so. Unless there's a front coming through, but that's another story.
 
I only run my fan a few hours a day. The day after I water I run it all day to keep them from being too damp too long. I don't know if this is the right way or not??? My plants seem to like it though!

Thanks, Shane. I appreciate your advice - If the plants like it, you must be doing something right!
Some of my seedlings look a bit yellow, others look nice and green. I have given some a few drops
of fish fert at 1/4 strength to see if that makes a difference.

I'd suggest doing a small test with your stubborn seeds using the salsa cups/paper towel method. It doesn't take up much space and could give another take on the seed viability.
I think that is a good idea - I will try that today.
PM me your addy if you'd like some CPI NuMex Twilight to compare what you have. They're last year seeds, but I had really high germ rate with them.
Done. Thanks.
Yep, the fan factor will affect your temp controls. I run my fan when the room is warmest and I mist the plants then also. I also have a 'cold' room at night--when the lights go off, it routinely hits 60F. I'm sure my plants grow slower than others on the board because of it, but I don't think it stunts them. Heck, when I get 60F at night outside in the summer, they're loving it... :cool:

Last point well taken - good observation. S-man. I probably worry too much. That's the
problem with being retired - all I have to do is nit-pick over my seedlings :scared:
Your stuff looks great, so I have to feel you know what you're talking about. I'm going to follow
both your- and Stc's- advice, and fan the seedlings for a few hours during the day.

I've noticed that when the sun goes down at night the wind dies down and doesn't come back up until the sun's been up an hour or so. Unless there's a front coming through, but that's another story.

So I guess you're saying fan on during the day? Sounds like what the others are
saying. I like your observation - I mean, if things grow without interference in
ma nature's back yard why should we tinker with the system? Thanks, Stickman.
 
I have a couple tri colored variegata, aji omnicolor and fish pepper seeds left...I have very few of each, but will send what I can if you're still looking for something. I also have some piquins that germed 100% for me...and some other stuff. I have really small #'s on most of them, but don't mind sharing with the right folks! Check the list on my glog and see if anything on there strikes your fancy and I'll check my numbers when I get to the house tonight...
 
Thanks, Shane - PM'd a few minutes ago. Have a great evening!
 
2/9: 1x long red cayenne - Ferry Morse

Stragglers keep showing up! The chart on page 5 updated - the percentages
for orchid mix and soil mix are almost identical, now, 75% and 74% respectively! Go figure.

The seedlings look pretty good for the most part, green and leafing out.
The c. baccatums (inca red drop, omnicolor and bishop's crown) all have yellowing
leaves, both in orchid mix and soil mix. They otherwise look okay. I'll nab a photo
of the baccatums and other seedlings tomorrow and maybe someone can help me
with a diagnosis.


Have been working on jury-rigging some fans into the grow table arrangement.
Here are some pics to give an idea. I am running the fans (2) for 4 or 5 hours over
mid-day, and still have the lights on an 18/6 schedule for the time being.

Here is one end of the set-up:
DSCN3494a.jpg


And a view from the other end:
DSCN3496a.jpg


The whole grow table. Some hitchiker tomato seedlings on the left : )
DSCN3499a.jpg


Normally the ends are covered to help hold in the heat a little. Temp around 73F
with fans, 83(28C) with no fans. The ambient temp at night in the garage when
lights are off is in low 60's range.
DSCN3500a.jpg
 
Hi Paul, This guy's further down the road than you are since his plants have blossomed, but maybe it'll help.

http://en.allexperts...pper-plants.htm

I know my soil is very poor in phosphate, and so sandy that it leaches potash quickly, so I add lots of humus in the form of compost and well-rotted horse manure to hold moisture and nutrients and rock phosphate every three years or so. Maybe I'll add a little bit of epsom salts this year too.
 
Hi Paul, This guy's further down the road than you are since his plants have blossomed, but maybe it'll help.

http://en.allexperts...pper-plants.htm

I know my soil is very poor in phosphate, and so sandy that it leaches potash quickly, so I add lots of humus in the form of compost and well-rotted horse manure to hold moisture and nutrients and rock phosphate every three years or so. Maybe I'll add a little bit of epsom salts this year too.

Thanks, Stickman! What's up with the epsom salts? (never mind :oops: ) We have real clay soil here,
so I grow in containers for more control. It wouldn't hurt to add a little poo along
with my compost and recycled potting soil, I bet.
 
Thanks, Stickman! What's up with the epsom salts? (never mind :oops: ) We have real clay soil here,
so I grow in containers for more control. It wouldn't hurt to add a little poo along
with my compost and recycled potting soil, I bet.
Yeah, just not too much since excess nitrogen will make for lots of leaves and not many pods. 5-10-10 or the organic equivalent should be just about right. ...Actually, now that I think of it, since you're growing outside in pots you could foliar feed with seaweed/fish emulsion about once every three weeks. Did you know plants like beer? The alcohol they can take or leave, but dissolved sugars in beer will be taken up by the roots and it's food they don't have to photosynthesize. Every couple of weeks I mix up a brew of beer, corn syrup or molasses, a little dish soap and a little seaweed/fish emulsion. I pour it into a hose sprayer, add an old golf ball for an agitator and top off with warm water. Shake to mix and turn on the hose to water it into the vegetables.
 
Sounds like you soak the leaves pretty well with your cocktail.
 
Sounds like you soak the leaves pretty well with your cocktail.
Oh yeah! I give it to them from both ends... Of course, lots of other things like sugar too, so every three weeks or so I give it a bath with mouthwash and cola and a little tobacco tea. Ever hear of Jerry Baker? He calls them his "green up" and "clean up" tonics.
 
Aside from all the tech talk,
Your starts are lookin pretty damn good!
I like all the questions/info/ideas/opinions that your glog has grown to have.
I guarentee ya anyone new to this hobby member or not is lovin it :)
Keep it up man!

Brandon
 
Aside from all the tech talk,
Your starts are lookin pretty damn good!
I like all the questions/info/ideas/opinions that your glog has grown to have.
I guarentee ya anyone new to this hobby member or not is lovin it :)
Keep it up man!

Brandon
Thanks, Brandon - this has been fun for me. It's the responses that make a grow log worth reading,
so I thank you and everyone who's posted here for making it what it is. Definitely a work in progress.
I'll just keep looking to your grow logs for inspiration!

Here are pics of my seedlings so far. The pots have more than one mostly; I'll select/snip in the next few days, but want to fertilize(?) and maybe give a spray w/ epsom salts today or tomorrow, depending on what folk say. I apologize in advance for the cruddy light that I have to work with, these really aren't portraits ; ) The color looks better in real life, cuz I'm photographing with a small flourescent light source. Makes everything look kind of bland. I have to come up with a better 'studio'! Maybe it's because I'm looking at them on my Macbook LCD screen instead of my dad's cool 19" LaCie ElectronBlueIV monitor - what a beauty!

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Congo Trinidad - PM - soil mix

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Poblano - Hume - orchid mix

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Long Red Cayenne - Ferry Morse - soil

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Red Carribean - CPI - soil

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Chiltepin - CPI - soil. One looking kinda puny. It's a goner!

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Yellow Aji - PG - soil


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Serrano - Hume Seeds - soil

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Early Jalapeno - Hume Seeds - soil

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Bolivian Rainbow - USHot - soil

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Marconi Rosso - Hume Seeds - soil

I'll add some more later - it won't let me post any more pix in this post, or let me start a new post.
Forum Fascism is an ugly thing :scared: maybe there is a way to force a new post, but I haven't found it yet :confused:
 
More pix. The geheimstatspolezei image police (picture/icon nazis) gave me a reprieve. I wonder what it will cost me?


DSCN3520a.jpg

Serrano - Hume - orch; Bolivian Rainbow - USHot - orch; Fatali - PM - soil; Chocolate Habanero - RF - soil

DSCN3521a.jpg

Here are the three baccatums along with a Cayenne for comparing color: Omnicolor - CPI - soil; Inca Red Drop - PM - soil; Bishop's Crown - PM - soil. They are definitely splotchier and yellower than the rest, altho' it may not show that well here.

DSCN3523a.jpg

This photo gives a better idea of the baccatums. All from the orchid mix, along with Red Carribean, Congo Trinidad, and Fatali, all from orchid mix, as well.

DSCN3524a.jpg

Here are some of the tiny(!) ornamentals. In the back row, Explosive Ember, Black Pearl, and Explosive Ember (Orchid mix on left, soil on right). Front row, Wild Texas Tepins (not ornamentals, but ordered along with them.) Notice the empty cells? Yellow Jelly Beans, NuMex Twilight, and Tom Thumbs.

Okay, that's most of them - some of the recent sprouts are still real small - not growing too fast. Maybe just not very robust. I also notice some soil humps in the last three I started on 2/4: Red Habanero - Lily Miller, Anaheim Hot - Lily Miller, and Hungarian Hot Wax - Hume Seeds. Will keep you posted on those. A White Habenero hook is just kind of sitting in the cell and hasn't straightened up yet.


Thanks for taking the time to peruse this. I'm trying to get to more grow logs, but they are so cool, it takes me a long time to read through them by the time I get there. What will it be like when things really get going? And thanks for sharing your grow logs on the forum. You have no idea how helpful and hopeful they are for me! I'm really glad I found my way to THP. And I'm just joking about the image/icon police - Mods don't punish me please :pray: ;)
 
Hey Paul...a couple of my Bishop's yellowed a little. The soil was staying wetter than I thought toward the bottom. I re-potted them in a better draining soil and let them dry out completely before watering them again. I waited till they wilted, indoors. The problem I was having was I was mistaking wilt from the hot sun with a need for water. Once I moved them inside and let them dry out. They greened up nicely and really took off! They are by far the largest of the plants from that batch of starts.

My habs, BCs and Bells were the pickiest about the moisture problem. When I re-potted them the roots were all very undersized as well.

I am really digging your grow...sticking with the ones you love and not just trying to grow pods so ridiculously hot you can't eat them...
Keep the updates flowing brother!
Shane
 
Hey Paul...a couple of my Bishop's yellowed a little. The soil was staying wetter than I thought toward the bottom. I re-potted them in a better draining soil and let them dry out completely before watering them again. I waited till they wilted, indoors. The problem I was having was I was mistaking wilt from the hot sun with a need for water. Once I moved them inside and let them dry out. They greened up nicely and really took off! They are by far the largest of the plants from that batch of starts.
That is interesting. I have backed off the watering a bit for all the starts to see what happens in the next day or two. I really hope they will come back strong like yours did. I want to try some stuffers! I find it odd that only the baccatums for the most part are having this problem. I thought that maybe they need a little TLC different than the other sp.
My habs, BCs and Bells were the pickiest about the moisture problem. When I re-potted them the roots were all very undersized as well.
Is that probably a result of 'drowning'?
I am really digging your grow...sticking with the ones you love and not just trying to grow pods so ridiculously hot you can't eat them... Shane, you are a great cheer leader! I feel like I have to be
successful so I don't let you down! Actually, I'm leery of the
super hots - I have never even eaten a habanero! I had a couple of rocotillos that SocalChilehead sent me, and I thought they were really good; he sent some orange mystery pepps, too. (Thanks, 'nando!) I like thai hots in my brown rice, and pickled jals and serranos. I'm looking forward to trying some of my harvest if it ever gets that far! My cooking skills are pretty basic, so I'll have to visit the food forums to find some simple but tasty ways to use the peppers w/o scaring my wife.
Keep the updates flowing brother!
Shane​

Will do,my man - likewise to you! I'm heading over to take a look at your pics, now! Have a great weekend!​
 
Wow, love the pics! I'm not too far behind you time-wise, but geeze your plants look huge. You let some of them grow pretty big two in a cell/pot. Are you going to separate them out soon? I'm wondering because in some of my cells I've got a few strong seedlings and I don't want to snip them when I could separate them - which would especially help fill in for the few where nothing germinated... I'm also wondering when to back off a bit on the watering, although I don't believe I'm there yet. Anyway, again, I love the pictures - we're in the middle of a snowstorm tonight so pictures of green plants is a good thing :)
 
Wow, love the pics! I'm not too far behind you time-wise, but geeze your plants look huge. You let some of them grow pretty big two in a cell/pot. Are you going to separate them out soon? I'm wondering because in some of my cells I've got a few strong seedlings and I don't want to snip them when I could separate them - which would especially help fill in for the few where nothing germinated... I'm also wondering when to back off a bit on the watering, although I don't believe I'm there yet. Anyway, again, I love the pictures - we're in the middle of a snowstorm tonight so pictures of green plants is a good thing :)

I separated mine when they sprouted...I just pulled up the extras and stuck them in some soil and they wilted, but popped right back up. If they're further along you can carefully separate by removing most of the soil from the roots and pulling them apart then re-potting. Just be careful...because its better to have one good plant than two dead ones.

Didn't want to hijack Socal's thread...here is a good worm tea link.

http://www.sierra-worm-compost.com/worm-tea.html

I have an old 1 gallon aquarium that I'm going to give it a try in...and I guess we'll see. Smaller container, so I'm thinking a sock for the "tea" bag...
 
Those look great sorry you going to have to cut the weak links. Shane don't worry about hijacking my thread it about sharing ideas and process everyone go through. Dang I love to see how you guys do your tea if you decide to go that route.
 
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