First year growing - glog

to THP.  nice grow you have going so far.

At the end of May, I had put some plants outside. They did OK in June, however they grew a lot slower, probably because of low temperatures. Carrots, rucula and peas did great.
 

 
This is “Sorteper”, the Blondie chili. No sign of dark leaves anymore. Flowers had a lovely purple color.
 
 

 
15/05-2014
Cheyenne basically had stopped growing, and set pods instead. It is about 40 cm tall, with about 8 fruits on it. Could probably have grown it bigger, and gotten a bigger yield, had it gotten more light and space, and had I cut the pods early.
First pod matured on the Cheyenne about 30/06, to a lovely yellow/orange colour.

 

 
 
 
01/07-2014
Had some issues with aphids on my outside plants. I mixed dishwashing soap, ethanol and water, and sprayed them. This seemed to work, but also seemed to affect the plants a bit (maybe a more dilute solution next time). Inside, plants suffered from spider mites and one seemed to be infected by thrips.
Gradually, the plants began to produce ripened pods.
Decided to put my Bhut Jolokia outside, as it still dropped flowers, though otherwise healthy. Inside, Bonsai and Blondie did fine, but the rest had some issues, and some dropped leaves. Especially Serrano Tampiqueno lost a lot of leaves, and was infected by spider mites. I cannot circulate air well in my apartment, and temperature probably reaches 30-35 degrees in the sun, if not more. Moved more plants outside.
 
 

29/07-2014
The Bhut Jolokia finally put on some pods. It did drop flowers outside for a while as well, but probably just needed to adjust, nighttime temperatures probably about 10-15 Celsius. Lovely looking pod! Next year, put the danm plant outside a lot earlier. These are never going to ripen before it gets too cold outside.. might have to move it inside to finish ripening later. We will see.
 

 
 
02/08-2014
Did a heavy sorting of my chilies. I got rid of those that were too damaged by heat and infections. Put the rest of them outside. Being outside appeared to get rid of spider mites, and hadn’t seen the shadow of aphids in weeks. Maules Red at this point did the best by far, despite having dropped about 70% of its leaves (high inside temperature) and being infected by spider mites. I put it into a 20 liter bucket, and put it outside. And in quite short time, it grew like mad! The Bonsais did really well, was not affected by pests, the high temperature or anything. Gave lots of ripe, tiny chilis. Tough little suckers! Supermarket red chilies did pretty well, though they grew quite small with 10-15 pods on each of them, limited by temperature or potsize probably. Blondie had grown really tall (~1,5 meters), partly because it had been crammed with the other plants. Hot Banana did OK, it did not like the high temperatures inside, but produced a few pods anyway. I begin to notice that 5 liter pots are somewhat limiting for the plants, as the Maules Red in 20 liter and Bhut Jolokia in 10 liter buckets are growing FAR bigger, and producing a lot more pods.
 

 
 
 
 
 
And just one other thing I would like to share. Managed to find a swamp with Myrica Gale 8 km from my apartment, neat! Flavoured nearly 2 liters of aquavit with these leaves to make a VERY delicious schnaps!! Very aromatic herb, has an amazing scent.
 

 
 
I will return tomorrow with new pictures. The leaves of the "sorteper" blondie turned black! Guess the more intense sun affected it somehow, and it might have been genetically exposed (mutated.)

Bitchin' Kitchen! Looks great. Had to google aquavit, water of life is the perfect wording XD

I had a wedding to attend, but I am back now.
Status of the growth:

Notice how the plant at the upper left turned very dark? Guess it responded to the light by blackening. Very interesting
The unripe peppers are black aswell

 
They do ripen to red though

 
Bhut Jolokia finally growing a LOT of peppers (like 70 on the plant). Small, and very unripe. Probably gonna have to bring the plant inside soon. Night temps are about 5 celsius, and quickly getting lower.

 
Chili "Cheyenne" Plant is tiny, but give some nice peppers

 
Despite it being tiny, its producing pods like MAD!

 
And the plant thats been doing the best: Maules Red. Lots of big, juicy pods on this plant, being the only one in a 20 liter bucket.

 
 
The harvest of the day. Its a bit small, but my neighbours have had a hard time keeping their hands from the fruits of my labour!!

Det er nogle flotte planter, godt klaret. Sikke nogen tyvagtige naboer du har.

Ya my neighbours have also developed a taste for them lol... nice grow

Looking good. But I do think that you should stop saying that "Sorteper" is a Blondie. It is not.  

Hence also the reason I refer to it by the other name. It was labelled as a blondie from the supplier, maybe a mislabel, maybe a cross.
 
Anyway, first Bhut Jolokias ripening!

 
 
I found it quite surprising, since the first pods on this plant only appeared 4½ weeks ago. They ripened REALLY fast. Sure, its a tiny pod aswell.

Harvested a decent amount of chilies so far. Bhut Jolokias ripening, though none of the peppers had any seeds - still a lot of heat though! First time trying these peppers. The sweet, floral smell/taste really surprised me. I'm actually not that great a fan of it!
 
Jolokias might not have any seeds.. but they did contain surprises. This really really seemed like a tiny chili within a chili within a chili?

 
 
 
In other news, lots of other peppers ripening

 
 
Also beginning to consider which plants to try and OW, and maybe attempting making a few bonchis. Searching for chilies to add to grow list next year!
So far I'm really interested in the Goats Weed especially. Im gonna have less space next year (I'm moving), so I cannot expand my growth.
 
The varieties I'm currently considering:
Goats Weed
Maules red (Has been really good to me, its the biggest plant with a great yield, and awesome peppers)
'Cheyenne', the yellow Annum. (yield is good, and its a compact plant, and my growth space is limited)
Some upward facing Thai/bird pepper. Ideas would be appreciated!
A Manzano/rocoto variety. Ideas would be appreciated!
 
I would like a few HOT ones aswel.
I will attempt to OW the Bhut. Other than that, I'm a bit at a loss. Weather is similar to UK here, so not really well suited for low-tech superhot growth.
I am considering to have some backup HOT chili, maybe of the following varieties:
yellow fatalii (as its been praised to heavens on this forum)
Bhut Orange Copenhagen BOC (originating locally, so thought it would be interesting)

A little update. Ill come to the peppers, but the more exciting subject is my newly-arrived Miracle Fruit plant.
 
Arrived 7 days after ordering, from Thailand to Europe. Was shipped bareroot, and arrived in a box, bent.

 
I can hardly complain about it being bent, as it was only supposed to be 15-18 inches, and when measuring from soil to top leaf, its at least 23 inches, so the part after the bend is basically just free extras.
 
It was shipped bareroot, and a wierd chemical smell was emenating from the roots, and was still very prominent even after soaking in lukewarm water for a couple of hours. I'm not sure what to make of it, but I guess if the plant lives and is doing fine, it's probably alright.
 
Used a mix of perlite and a peat mix for another acid-loving plant (rhodondendron) in 50-50 by volume, and potted it in a 5 L pot with 3-4 cm rocks in the bottom, to improve drainage. Watered with about 1 L of tapwater, pH adjusted to about 4-5 using a couple of teaspoons of vinegar.

 
As per sellers instructions I then placed the plant in a large clear plastic bag, to increase humidity, and placed in a west-facing window. Temps typically about 18-20 degrees C.
 
I can barely wait to see if I can keep this thing alive and happy, especially after the bareroot shipping. Also they are supposedly really hard to take care of in these northern climates!
 
 
In other words, peppers.
Made a bonchi-like plant for my mother-in-law.

 
 
Bhut jolokias quickly ripening. I have no idea of what to do with these peppers, I'm kinda scared of the heat these babies pack! Acidentally put my lips on a knife i used to cut one of these, and I got burnt hard! Also interesting. They appear to ripe to orange, BUT the peppers closest to the wall actually turn red, maybe because the heat from the bricks help the peppers ripen more?

 
 
"Maules Red" plant doing fine, producing lots of peppers. They are really consistent in heat and taste, and used them for cooking a lot. Taste is a bit dissapointing i must admit, as they just taste like plain sweet red bell peppers, but with a burn.

 
 
and the pepper labelled "Cheyenne", really compact plant putting out a lot of pods for its size. They've taken forever to ripen though, but it's finally happening.

 
 
Also just placed an order at pepperlover.com a few days ago, and ordered ~5 varieties for next years growth
 
Happy sunday everyone!

Good looking plants!

Looks like a fun grow, great work!  The bhuts look nice, but they don't exactly have that classic bhut look... did you try them yet?

yes I tried the bhuts, sorry for not answering earlier. They are definately superhot with a strong floral aroma, though their shape do appear to be sort of fatalii-like? I wouldn't know, this is my first year growing peppers.

Miracle fruit plant seems to be doing fine, though i've been worried about the soil beeing too wet, and too little sunlight. Winter is approaching, and it gets only 1-2 hours of low angle sunlight per day.


Peppers doing ok, here is the bhut. Leaves falling off, bhut that is part of the autumn i guess


Decided to try and OW the bhut. It outgrew its 10 liter bucket loooong ago. The wet autumn has caused algea to grow on the root tips.


Trimmed foilage and roots, so that it could fit 5 liter pot. Though didnt trim roots enough to introduce new soil, which might be a mistake. Brought the plant inside.


A friend joined the bhut inside


Harvest of the day. Lots of unripe peppers. From top left: maules red, bhut, not blondie, red chili.


My pepper ripening setup.




also recieved my order from pepperlover.com, and recieved everything plus freebies
Had ordered
Fatalii
Tepin
Cracked jalapeno
Brazilian starfish
Habarnero orange

And freebies were:
Amish bush
Aji amarillo
Goats weed

And id say theres between 25 and 50 seeds in each pack, good riddance that is good value!

Awesome northern grow, Jakob!  How long are your daylight hours in the summer?
 
You have lots of great things going there, keep up the good work,
 
and   to the forum!

17-18 hours between sunrise and sunset on 20th of june, the longest day of the year. Average temp (day+night) in june typically ~15 celsius (60 fahrenheit).
Currently 10 hours between sunrise/sunset, Night temps 4-6 celsius and day temps 10-14 (41/55 fahrenheit)

Also thanks a lot! Been following your glog as well, lots of good inspiration to find there!

Hi Jakob!
 
I myself grow some tropicals indoors. I managed to keep my kaffir lime seed grown plant and my meyer lemon alive through winter.
 
I think you main challenge will be to keep the plant happy with little sunlight and also to prevent all sorts of maggot to multiply. I had bad fungus gnats infestation during the winter it was terrible. the GF almost threw all the peppers outdoor in the snow haha.
 
I am also trying to overwinter Aji Amarillo this year, I sure hope it doesn't have aphids 
 
It was an awesome read going through your Northerner glog. It reminds me of the feelings I have had for the past year !!
Good luck for the rest of the season!
Teurf

Good to hear that you managed to keep your plants alive, that brings me hope.

Not much on peppers, the ripening setup is wokring, and the ow plant is doing fine so far. Going to buy a dehydrator to save freezer space.

I would like to hear if anyone has experience with flaking dried chilies, because I dont really know how im going to do that. i want flakes, not powder.

About the miracle fruit plant, it has some issues. Leafs has been yellowing, and 5 dropped off. Another 5-10 leafs going yellow, and probably dropping in the next weeks.


The leafs that are yellowing are placed somewhat irregularly.
ive been trying to diagnose what is wrong, and it must be either:
Soil issues (pH, nutrients, overwatering, salt buildup)
Air issues (humidity)
Light issues (too little)
Temperature (too low)

So soil is perlite and rhodondendron peat, which was added nutrients from the manufacturer. It has only been watered once, and though it was with tapwater adjusted with vinegar, i dont understand how pH could be an issue. I also doubt it is burn by nutrients, as i dont think symptoms match. Overwatering it could be, but i let the soil dry out some, and now it is just moist, not soaking wet.
Been keeping it in a bag, and the amount of condensed water states humidity is not the issue. Temperatures are typically 20-22 celsius, rarely peaking down to ~15-16 celsius. The plant is located in west facing window. it could maximum get about 2,5 hours of direct, low-angle sunlight, but the sun is barely ever visible behind the clouds in this wet fall weather.

So i think it is either pH, overwatering or light. Ive been looking at where the yellow leafs are located, and that is mainly amongst the lower leafs. this first made me think it would be a soil issue, as I reason such issues would travel from the base and up. HOWEVER closer inspection reveals that barely any yellow leafs are visible from the angle that usually faces the window. And there are some leafs in the upper part of the plant that are a lot more yellow, and has fallen off, even though a lot of leafs are present further down. This i reason to be indicating that soil is not the (main) issue.



So I conclude light is probably the issue. Which is concerning, since I dont have any south facing windows, and still 2 months of days getting shorter and shorter (4 months untill it will reviece more light than it does now). Might have to find a spot for it somewhere, maybe at my university? Hmm.

Anyway I will find a solution, and plant is still hanging on.





Also thanks a lot for stopping by, it is really nice to see when people appreciate ones sharing of experiences!