dash 2, 2014: You're Doing It Wrong!

Impressive plants and list, I like the use of the spoons too, very inventive. I know eh, that's the hard part is trying to decide.

Awesome! That looks like a tasty list! I miss Menards! Where in Wisconsin are you? I just moved from WI to TN. I was in Kenosha.

Penny said:

Impressive plants and list, I like the use of the spoons too, very inventive. I know eh, that's the hard part is trying to decide.

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     Thanks! I'm really excited to see how big and productive my OWs get this year. (Especially the 2yo's) Plastic forks make the best pot labels! They're really durable and reusable if you wipe the marker off with a little alcohol.
 

Jamison said:

Awesome! That looks like a tasty list! I miss Menards! Where in Wisconsin are you? I just moved from WI to TN. I was in Kenosha.

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     I'm actually a transplanted 'Sconnie native. My wife and I moved "south of the border" a few years ago, so now we're FIBs.  We sure miss the great outdoors that Wisconsin has to offer, but I guess the growing season is a little longer here… Luckily there's a Menards in town, so we can still "Save Big Money!". (Kinda looks like the Menards dude, doesn't it?) 

As I always liked to cook, I started my gardening experience with some herbs which are still growing outside. Next step was planting a few of Butch T. plants inside in 2012 January.
Last summer I had 17 mystery chilies in the ground and for this year..well the original plan was to have the same amount - 8 Moruga and 8 Jay's peach Ghost plants.
Just potted the seeds a few hours ago aand.. couldn't resist... 20 kind of peppers, 2 from each variety most of them are super hots (in my profile).
I still have a few other varieties but I will not plant them for this year, this will be enough for my peppergasm..I watched reviews about all of them and chose according to flavor.
To be honest I planted 3 seeds per variety to make sure 2 of them will sprout and I will give the excess plants to neighbors. At least this is the plan for now

This Glog needs some serious updating...Those are some impressive OW's.
 
Last year was my first year OW plants from the garden. looks like you trim yours identical to mine. Initially, I was getting the feeling that maybe i should have trimmed them shorter and left some foliage on them, but they bounced back and are looking goos now....you look like you are having good luck too. 

I like the forks, I use plastic knives
 
The list looks great.
 
And I agree more pics needed!

beerbreath81 said:

This Glog needs some serious updating...Those are some impressive OW's.
 
Last year was my first year OW plants from the garden. looks like you trim yours identical to mine. Initially, I was getting the feeling that maybe i should have trimmed them shorter and left some foliage on them, but they bounced back and are looking goos now....you look like you are having good luck too. 

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     I know, I know. I'll update it tomorrow, I promise! I've been meaning to for a long time, I guess I just needed a kick in the pants. 
     It's funny you should mention that about my OWs. I had initially just taken "a little off the top" to untangle them a little before I dug them up last year. It turns out the local aphid population was really happy I left them so much delicious foliage.  I had a chance to fumigate about half of them with a no-pest strip before it got too cold to keep them outside any longer. Those ones were fine, but the others ERUPTED in aphids a few months later. I had just "gone to town" on them before those pics were taken.
     At this point some of them are starting to flush leaves again, and some I'm starting to wonder about… I guess we'll see in a few short months!
     I'll update tomorrow with all kinds of pretty eye-candy. Maybe I'll get some more feedback/advice regarding my more questionable OWs. And maybe, just maybe, in the days to come I'll see what I can do about giving everyone a tutorial on how to transplant a 4 1/2' tall cactus. (As soon as I figure out how to do it… ) 
    Thanks for the interest!

Zoli said:

 couldn't resist... 20 kind of peppers, 2 from each variety most of them are super hots (in my profile).
 

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     I know what you mean! My list got a little out of control this year, too. My wife probably won't be too happy that I'm not going to have room to grow shell peas this year, but I think she'll forgive me when she sees how many red lunchbox peppers I'll have for her.
 

Devv said:

I like the forks, I use plastic knives
 
The list looks great.
 
And I agree more pics needed!

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     I usually go for the knives too - usually they're all that's left in the box after the forks and spoons are used up. So I was kinda surprised when I found a box with only forks in it. Seriously, what kind of a meal does someone eat using a spoon and a knife? Really tough soup? 
     Thanks for the props on the list. A lot of them are varieties I've never grown or eaten before, so this should be a really exciting summer! And I agree, MORE PICS!!! I'll make it so...

     OoooK. After a little arm-twisting (thanks beerbreath81 and Devv!), I decided it was time to post an update and let folks know how things are going. 
 
 
     First up, some of my OWs are flushing new leaves after my aphid rampage from the middle of January. I had been hunting and pecking at the bastiges for quite a while before I decided a scorched-earth policy was probably the way to go. These plants were leafless a month ago.
 
Carolina Reaper:

 
Jalapeño:

 
 
 
     Most of my OWs look like this, however. All the stem tissue is still pliable and green, but it seems like only a handful of nodes are doing anything. I'm hoping warmer temps and some direct sunlight will wake them up when they go outside when spring comes in about seven months.
 
Cayenne:

 
     My younger plants seem to be a lot happier.
 
7-pot Chaguanas that I started in early January: Still a little chlorotic from repeated applications of permethrin, but still dang healthy. 

 
Fresno that just popped the other day - the newest addition to the team:

 
This is a Fatalii that I started (along with a few other varieties) last August as an experiment in over wintering seedlings. For comparison, take a look at how it looked in my first glog post, back on 1/14. (third pic, bottom right) The way things are going, I think I'll be starting more seedlings next Summer, too! Also a bit yellow (and blurry? ) from permethrin.

 
Parsley that just hooked. I didn't even notice it until I started taking pics for this update!

 
 
The next two pics are of two varieties of red oak-leaf lettuce that I'm trying out this year. I had so much luck with the buttercrunch I grew last year that I decided to up the ante a bit by doubling the number of plants and adding three new varieties.

 
The red color is amazing and not done justice by my crappy camera.

 
 
Bump, pork a-whore?

Bump!

Solem22 said:

Bump!

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Thanks, brah! 
 
 And now for some random gardening / pepper eye candy...
 
     These are the subject of my next project. They are in dire need of a transplanting, as you can see by how comically tiny their pots look. I'm thinking I might just have to prop them up with some sort of soft scaffolding and take a hammer to the pots. Laying down the longer-spined specimens is not an option, because their weight would likely drive the spines back into their flesh. I'll also have to find a way to keep the cats away from them while I give the roots a chance to callus before I repot them. Anybody done this before? I'm open to suggestions!

 
 
 
     And finally, I figured I'd just throw this pic in here to warm you folks up a bit and remind everyone that Spring is just around the corner. The heat awaits! 

 
 
     Thanks for stopping by!
                -dash 2

nice update dash, those catus are are going to look good in the ground. Year three!! will be a good one for those OW's.

yeah those 2yo look pretty mean.
 
U should post pic of your whole grow area, kinda want to see what all equipment u got and stuff.

beerbreath81 said:

nice update dash, those catus are are going to look good in the ground. Year three!! will be a good one for those OW's.

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     I only wish I lived in a climate that would allow me to unleash those monsters in the front yard! Although they're pretty hardy as far as cacti go, they certainly wouldn't have put up with this last winter.
     I'm really looking forward to seeing how big (and productive  ) those OW's will be come August. If last year was any indication, this year I may have to climb them to harvest peppers and use my chainsaw to prune them! I never thought I'd have to put my skills as an arborist to work in the garden...
 

OKGrowin said:

yeah those 2yo look pretty mean.
 
U should post pic of your whole grow area, kinda want to see what all equipment u got and stuff.

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     Thanks! In the coming days, I'll post some pics of my two Caribbean red habs. I never would have believed a pepper plant could look so gnarly, if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes.
     As far as equipment goes, right now it's not much to write home about. I have two 4' x 2' card tables - one is under eight 4' t8 fluoros, the other has a 4' x 2' heating mat and is right in front of a big south facing window. Just enough room for about 50 pepper plants and a flat of lettuce and parsley. I'm gonna have to get creative when it comes time to start my tomatoes and flowers...
 
Here's a pic of the fluoro table. (Old pic. Plants are waaay bigger now.)

     
 
 
And here's a shot of two of the four raised beds I put in last year. This pic was taken in June.

 
     The two plants in the front row next to the alley are my Caribbean reds. That's not even half as big as they got last year. I'm going to have to allocate more space for my OWs this year; last year I lost a couple other plants under/inside them! 
 
     Thanks for stopping by. I'll be updating later this week, once I get the rest of my starts going. Plus I think I have a plan for repotting those cacti.   Wish me luck...

hows those OW's doin

Yeah I wanna see them ows too

     Well, I think I'm finally safe to plant. God, I hope so. It kind of sucks to have to plant on an 85 degree day, but I didn't have much choice this year. It was still getting down into the 30s at night a week or so ago... Without further ado, here's what's going on at el jardin del dash-o dos.
 
     First up is a shot of one of my four raised beds in the front yard. Up front are a bunch of red lunchbox peppers and one prik chi faa. In the back are my (surviving) OWs. Unfortunately, my two big (two-year-old) annuums died recently. It was a long, rough winter for all my plants and the odds were stacked against those two, especially. But, on the bright side, my two two-year-old caribbean reds still look OK. They're flushing new leaves everywhere and the roots still look pretty healthy. Also of interest - one of those OWs is a Carolina Reaper. I'm gonna be ROLLIN' in super hot pods before long!
 

 
 
     Next up is a shot of a De Arbol that I started (along with seven other plants) last summer. I just tossed some seeds in some 6" pots and let nature do its thing. It sure is easier and cheaper to overwinter a plant than it is to try to start seeds in a cold house in January! I'm going to be doing a lot more of this in the coming months. 
     BTW It's been WAY too long since I saw condensation on a cold beer bottle. NOW it looks like pepper growing weather!

 
 
     And finally, a group shot. They sure don't look happy now, but this spring has been a huge pain in the ass for hardening plants. After a point, I just said "screw it", if a plant can't deal with a little sun, gusty winds, near freezing temps, 90 degree temps, more wind, another cold snap, a hailstorm, boils, pestilence and owner neglect… wait what was I talking about?…
     Anyhoo, they'll be tougher for it. They may look rough up top, but they have really strong root systems and will, no doubt, take off any day now. Unless we get a snowstorm. Or a direct hit by an asteroid.

 
     One more thing. I finally got those damned cacti transplanted. I did a little creative pruning (just enough so I could get a grip with some leather gloves), loosened the roots from the pots and pulled them up. After I let the roots callus for a few weeks, I mixed up some soil and put them in their new spacious homes. Then I just needed to put them outside on the porch for a few more weeks to start getting them used to sunlight again. Now they're out in the elements, happily soaking up all the sunshine and rain they can handle! I'll post some more pics of them when I do an update for my container planting. 
    As always, thanks for stopping by, fellow chiliheads. I hope you're all having cooperative weather. Finally.

man, sorry to hear about the OW's. It sucks when you put that much time and effort into keeping them alive and they have a small rough patch and all hope is lost!. On the bright side  finally planted in the ground, and all looking good i must say. I like the four raised beds, they will fill out nicely in the coming months is the other half of the raised beds reserved for some tomatoes?

beerbreath81 said:

man, sorry to hear about the OW's. It sucks when you put that much time and effort into keeping them alive and they have a small rough patch and all hope is lost!. On the bright side  finally planted in the ground, and all looking good i must say. I like the four raised beds, they will fill out nicely in the coming months is the other half of the raised beds reserved for some tomatoes?

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     The way I see it regarding my lost overwinters - now I know where I need to spend a little extra time and effort. I have plans for the coming years for the De Arbol and the Reaper mentioned above. As well as a few (10 or 15 ) other plants that I'm going to turn into trees! Overwintering is the way to go, for sure. It would have taken over a half dozen plants to produce the number of pods that my two big caribbean reds produced last year!
     Tomatoes are going out back where I have a trellis already set up. I'm going to be planting okra, beans, tomatillos, onions and maybe a few other things in the extra space up front. Also, I need to buy a few jalapeños. I was counting on my OW to produce what I need for making jelly this fall. If I don't supply my landlord with jelly, he's going to be pretty disappointed. It's written in the lease!
 
 
edit: In memoriam of my lost Anaheim http://thehotpepper.com/topic/42085-show-me-your-chile-plant-with-the-fattest-trunk/page-2 May she compost in peace.
 
another edit: My plants really seem to like beer...

     Well it's the middle of June, so I suppose it's time to do one more update to show how things are looking just before pod-up. Honestly, the reason I haven't posted an update in so long is because my plants have been looking pretty shitty because of herbicide drift damage. There was a three week stretch back in late May/early June where I had to go out about every other day and pinch off all the new, damaged shoots. Growth regulator herbicides like 2,4-d and dicamba are translocated to areas of fast growth, so the only way to get it out of your plants' systems is to keep removing all new growth until it starts to look normal. 
     But now that that's over, my plants (for the most part) are thanking me for all that vigilance with some really explosive growth!
 
 
Here's a 7pot yellow in a 10 gallon pot. I don't think I've ever grown a healthier looking plant. I started her in January.

 
 
Here's a fatalii in a 5 gallon pot. You'd never know these plants were green sticks with a few ragged old leaves about three weeks ago!

 
 
This is my flagship plant this year. It's a Reaper I grew in a 5gallon bucket last year. My OWs had to put up with a lot of abuse last winter, and this one's only tougher because of it. I can't wait to see how many pods I get off this specimen!

 
 
Here's a shot of that Reaper's stem that I took last night.

 
 
Same plant again. Once the herbicide damage let up (this plant needed a LOT of constant pruning to keep up), this gal threw out more flowers than leaves. If only a fraction of these set, I'll be golden. This thing is absolutely HAIRY!

 
 
 
Here's a mustard hab that I started last summer. It's bigger than most of my OWs! I never had a mustard hab before, and it's not a plant you hear much hoopla about. I'm curious to find out if they're any good. I'm gonna have plenty to try!

 
 
 
And finally, I always try to give a little something extra to you few confused THP members who accidentally stumble into my glog.  Here's a prickly pear that I transplanted to my front yard the summer before last. They really like the spot I picked out for them. They're doing really well for plants I ripped out of a sandy ditch, stored in paper bags for a month and tossed on the ground!

 
 
 
Thanks for stopping by everybody. Stay tuned in case I post another update before frost!