TBG's First Chilli Blitz! (2017-18)

So much for pictures in the next few days.
 
Weather this week has been bloody brilliant, range between 18-27, which is pretty good for this time of year. So i decided to start hardening off the plants, with all the solo cup plants having a fun time in the shade. From the shade, its into the dappled shade, and then into the greenhouse, and then into the ground! Or so the theory goes...
Sowing? All done, hopefully, only two varieties left to germinate, but I'll resow if they don't. Corno Di Toro Rosso was a flop, with 0/2, so chucked in some Big Jims instead. All that's left is Aji Pineapple, of which I have plenty of seed to spare, and Red 7 Pot Jonah, of which I have none. But fear not! I plan to sow some Bleeding Borgs in the case of Jonah not showing up (he might be trapped in a whale?)
 
And all the plants are looking ship-shape, well, almost. I can't complain about how they're going, and don't think I need to. There's now 21 solo plants, with room for more. And 56 Jiffy pellets. Not sure how many more I can cram in...
 
But, I have lined up a secure and reliable source of relief from my excess plants. As I have said from the start, I only plan to have one of each variety, with a few more of crosses and whatnot. But I have been growing two of each, in case of failure. But so far, there haven't been any non-germination failures. So I've got plants to give away. 
 
If there's anyone who wants some, I've got double of pretty much everything on my grow list, so if you want to come pick up some free plants, be my guest! obviously wouldn't be convenient for non-NSW folk, or even most NSW folk. But anyway, PM me if you're interested, but you'll only have a week from today to arrange it, otherwise stock may be unavailable.  
 
And keep your heads up for my giveaway, as soon as these last few seeds germinate, s**ts gonna be crazy!
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
Stay tuned.......
 
 
 
 
(again)

Keep it going TBG. Excited to track this glog.

Nearly 3 weeks since my last update, so I wouldn't be surprised if you guys think that its been fairly quiet. And fair enough. But it has been anything BUT quiet, I've just been a slacker. But today is a milestone - the official end of my sowing and germinating - I'm done!

That there ^ is the final addition to the family - Bleeding Borg 9 Red. Shout-out to Walchit for those seeds he sent me a few weeks ago!
 
Now that I'm done, I'll grace you all with a complete and comprehensive list of my varieties for this grow!
 
--- A COMPLETE AND COMPREHENSIVE LIST OF THE VARIETIES INCLUDED IN TBG'S FIRST CHILLI BLITZ! ---
(In order of appearance)
Aji Amarillo
Carolina Reaper
Choc 7 Pot
Purple Naga Viper
Bahamian Goat
Bhut Jolokia Red
MoA Scotch Bonnet
Scotch Brain
White Fatalii
Aji Jobito X BBG7 (Choc)
Caramel Bhut Jolokia
Komodo Dragon
Jay's Peach Ghost Scorpion
D3's Aji Painapple f2
Trinidad Moruga Scorpion
Cayenne X Bhut
D3's El Scorponero f2
D3's 7 Pot Burgundy X CGN 21500
P. Dreadie Scotch Bonnet
Trinidad Perfume
Trinidad Scorpion CARDI
Orange Wild Brazil
Tabasco
Prik Kee Nu Suan
D3's Devils Prick f2
Goats Weed
Peter Pepper Yellow
Malih-Helow
Mystery
Habanero Mix (Red Savina & Tiger Paw)
Jalapeno
Albanian Red Hot
Brazillian Starfish
Aji Lemon
Rocoto
Red/Green Bell
Rocoto Aji Largo
Big Jim
Bleeding Borg 9 Red
 
That's the final list - gained a few, and lost a few, compared to the original list, but 39 varieties in total! So I'm pretty happy with that, as I was concerned with going over 40, and being under is just great!
 
Now, there's a heck of a lot of stuff to get up to date on, so I'm gonna do it over a few posts. We'll cover the *interesting* plants, the plants at all their different stages, the garden beds (still vacant), my recent and continuing battle against a horde of horrendous villains (AKA aphids), and my non-chilli plants, which I can now start sowing for! All that and more is what you have to look forward to in the next couple of weeks! No guarantees as to when the posts will come, but I assure you that they will, and they will be loaded with pictures!
 
But for now, here's a few highlights of the last few weeks without updates!
 
The greenhouse/tent, acquired at the end of August, adn nealry lost in the wind a few days later. Hence the ropes pinning it down!

 
An old picture of the first signs of side growth, now most of the plants have it! Can't remember which plant this was, looks like Komodo Dragon? I'd say that's what it is.

 
A view inside the worm farm that I got at the end of August. It's been pumping out 25 liters of diluted worm juice every week! Not giving it to the chillies just yet, they're still under age...

 
My firstborn, Amarillo 1, trying on some new shoes. I was very happy with the roots, although the plant itself is a bit on the small side, especially compared to all the other growdown competitors. Pretty much every other seedling that's more than 3 weeks old has over taken it in size, and its 3 months old! I think that its first week spend on the windowsill is the cause of the stunting, its the only thing that it doesn't have in common with the other seedlings. Looking at this picture and comparing it to the plant right now, it has greened up by about 150% since that transplant, which I'm pretty happy about!


 
And that's all for now! I'll be back soon with some more substantial updates and stuff, so stay tuned!
 
 
 
Oh, and BTW, I have a strain that I cooked up in the lab in my basement. I used some old InGen equipment to genetically engineer Resin Spurge Cactus DNA strands into a Naga Pod, and am growing the results as we speak.
The Resiniferatoxin produced sure makes Pepper X comparatively seem like a Bell Pepper!    And they though that capsaicin extract was hot....
-manical laughter-
 
 
 
Thanks for stopping by!
 
 
 
 
EDIT(s): Fixed picture links   No I didn't lol - attempt 2  Yes I did!

Looking good man.
 
Interested in that Nagactus you got going
 
You Amarillo is small above soil, but holy heck it's got some root structure. Bet it's just gonna explode with growth soon.
 
How's the garden patch coming along. Haven't even touched mine yet. Had a years worth of rain in 9 months here. Hopefully summer is better.

Hi TBG

Thanks for sharing. Subscribed.

KAOS said:

Looking good man.
 
Interested in that Nagactus you got going
 
You Amarillo is small above soil, but holy heck it's got some root structure. Bet it's just gonna explode with growth soon.
 
That's what I'm hoping! It greening up in the week since I transplanted it is a good sign, as are the great temps we're rocking now!
 
How's the garden patch coming along. Haven't even touched mine yet. Had a years worth of rain in 9 months here. Hopefully summer is better.
 
If you remember, there was still a bit left to be cleared, and the fence was buried in a grassy hedge? Well, all that's done, the only work needed now is the soil, which I am still figuring out what exactly to do. More in the oncoming updates!

Click to expand...

 
 

qandeel said:

Hi TBG

Thanks for sharing. Subscribed.

Click to expand...

 
Thank you for dropping by qandeel, and a slightly belated to the forum! I'll be trying to keep this glog more up to date than it has been in the past month or so, so that subscribe button should be useful! If you have any questions, feel free to ask them!

I can almost guarantee that the Amarillo had wet feet from the solo cup. Would explain the stunted growth and yellowing. It IS going to rocket in its new home now.

KAOS said:

I can almost guarantee that the Amarillo had wet feet from the solo cup. Would explain the stunted growth and yellowing. It IS going to rocket in its new home now.

Click to expand...

 
Aha, so more drainage needed? If thats the case, I'll pull out the cordless drill and fix up all the other cups, as they'd have similar worries.
 
Power tool time!

Looking good Nev! +1 on good drainage... None of the nightshades like wet feet. Just under 40 plants is still an ambitious list. As things wind down here in the northern hemisphere we'll be looking to you folks in the south to pick up the ball and run with it! Good luck!

Sent from my LGL44VL using Tapatalk

How does this look for drainage?


4x 4mm holes. I drilled these into my newer batch of solo cups, about a week ago, and they're looking fantastic.



That's an Aji Jobito X BBG7 Choc, and is the best looking out of all of my plants. So the bigger holes are the cause for its health?

Is it safe to drill into the bottom of a solo cup when the plant has quite a few roots? I'd rather enlarge the current holes in batch 1, as they have about 5 x 2mm. But I don't want to kill the plant by injuring it's roots. ..

Thanks for the help guys!

Time for Part 1 of my updates! Due to popular demand, we'll be looking at the garden beds where I plan to house the gang.

First up, is the Pepper Patch (to be)


All cleared! The soil isn't too good however, so I'm gonna have to figure out a way of making it habitable. Nothing too fancy, I'll probably just mix in a few bags of premixed. I'm thinking three rows of plants, holding about 27 plants total? I think that was my calculation, allowing 2ft spacings.


Next stop is the raised beds!



This one is a small one, about 0.9x1.2x0.3m. It has some good soil in it, but I'll top it up with some composted and organic materials as it hasn't really had much added in the past year. This one may or may not have chillies, I'm leaning towards saving this one for tomatoes, cucumbers and whatnot.



Here is a star shaped bed, which is a bit groovy. I'm planning on replacing the soil in it, hence why it's empty at the moment. It can hold five chilli plants with generous room, as well as those little shelves for herbs, which should be good for companion planting!

Here is my DIY bed, it's roughly 1.5x0.9x0.3m, so a bit bigger than the other bed. I think it'll hold at least 6 plants, but I don't want to crowd them too much.



As well as the beds, I've got a few medium-large pots to put the leftover plants into.


And that's that! I don't know about shade cloth, as it doesn't get too hot for most of summer, but there's often a couple of days of high 30's that will be a slight concern for the in ground plants. But I'll cross that bridge when I come to it!

Thanks for stopping by, and stay tuned for the next installment!

Good luck. That's a lot of soil you gonna have to sort out.
 
You could always bury some bones in the pepper patch and let Scooby Doo get some tilling done for you.

Absolutely great weather here! Hovering around 25 for the last few days, has the smell of an early summer! In the greenhouse/tent, it's been getting to 40's when closed! So obviously been keeping it open during the day, which gets it down to around 30, just perfect!

Transplanted 3rd batch of Jiffy's to solo cups, only 4 plants though, as I ran out of my mix! Need to get some more potting mix to combine with the seed raising mix for the future solo-shoed seedlings!

Glogs need pics!


Batch 2 already has joined batch 1 in the tent, and this lot will in the next few days if the weather stays good!

Not confident enough to plant out just yet, but the plants aren't really big enough anyway, not to mention that they need a place to go!

All The Best, and until next time!


TBG

In above picture, clockwise from back left:
Trinidad Moruga Scorpion, D3's 7 Pot Burgundy X CGN 21500, Trinidad Scorpion CARDI and D3's El Scorponero.

That makes for 37 plants in solo cups!

Here's something interesting.



These are two Scotch Brain plants. They have had the same treatment, the one on the right, I repeat, the right, is a few days older. The only difference between the two, conditions-wise, is one thing.

Drainage holes.

The left has 4x 4mm holes in the base, while the right had 4x 1.5mm holes. The difference in results is obvious, and for me, astounding. I am a fairly new guy to the whole operation, but I never would have considered that drainage was the problem if it weren't for you guys.

So now ALL the solo cups have larger drainage, and I'm hoping to see some improvements all round!

So thank you all!

Looking good TBG. You have some healthy babies.

Thanks for sharing the results of the experiment of the different drainage condions. Very helpful indeed.

qandeel said:

Looking good TBG. You have some healthy babies.

Thanks for sharing the results of the experiment of the different drainage condions. Very helpful indeed.

Click to expand...

Cheers!

Glad my lesson helped more than just me!

TBG , I am with you on the drainage. I have seen the same difference in my plants in the soil and container's ability to drain. At some point it looks like al your water just runs right through, that is why bottom watering works even better and you don't feel as if all the water and nutes just runs away and is wasted.

For any plastic cups or old yogurt containers , I cut the bottom lip of the cup so that is open to the bottom and to the side to help with bottom watering.

+1 on bottom watering.

That's how I've been doing it with the Jiffy's and solo cups, it saturates the soil juuust right, and it's impossible to give too much (well, almost impossible).

And this is why I love fabric grow pots ... no drainage holes to get blocked
 
Glad you got sorted TBG.
 
Your left brain is looking healthier than your right brain for sure
 

 
As an experiment use a soldering iron and pop some holes in the sides of one of your solo cups also.
 
The extra oxygen to the roots may surprise you