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2019 Hay Bale Pepper Patch

I've been a member for a while but never posted a grow log. My usual garden is too boring for that. I use 20-30 pots and overwinter my mama plants in a hillbilly winter shelter. Our ground here isn't good for in soil gardening and I've not been enthused enough to undertake the work and expense to build raised beds.
 
Now I have my peppers working the way I want and have the need for a much larger grow to supply a project. The main peppers I'll grow will be reaper, douglah and fatalii. For a couple of years I'll do hay bale gardens and heap tons of organic trash into the area. I have monumental amounts of pine straw, oak leaves and bonfire ash every year to dump in the walkways. I think this will do a world of good to make this new garden area mo'betta for eventual in ground growing.
 
I closed off a 38x38 patch in the NE field that gets full sun. This is the area I chose. The big painted guy is my fertilizer supplier.
 
The little painted guy is my running buddy and load inspector.
 
 
 

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DWB said:
 
Honestly, I was thinking if I never topped the plants, they would grow straighter and taller and I'd have adequate room to work with them with minimal training other than strapping them up by the main stem. I was hoping they wouldn't turn into this type of sprawling shrubbery.
 
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I wonder if you could lift them by pinching the lowest laterals early like tomato suckers, keeping the bushiness up off the ground.
 
CaneDog said:
 
I wonder if you could lift them by pinching the lowest laterals early like tomato suckers, keeping the bushiness up off the ground.
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That ship has sailed brother. Some of those low branches are well over 3 feet long with a lot of action. As soon as I reap that harvest, those suckers are getting trimmed out until I can see some wood.
 
DWB said:
 
That ship has sailed brother. Some of those low branches are well over 3 feet long with a lot of action. As soon as I reap that harvest, those suckers are getting trimmed out until I can see some wood.
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Ha, I can definitely see that.  I was thinking more of a future plan. Seems like if you could lift branches a bit then less crawling for pods, maybe tougher for snakes to hide effectively, and less ground contact and better air circulation versus fungus and such. And doing it early before the plants invested energy in them.  Just a thought.
 
Good plan in all regards. A bit counter-intuitive but I guess the rules change sometimes. I'm definitely getting my short course in jungle management.
 
Edit: I guess it started going wrong way back here in April. Maybe I should have started cutting side shoots until I had at least a foot or two of open stem. What do you think guys?
 
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DWB said:
 
Edit: I guess it started going wrong way back here in April. Maybe I should have started cutting side shoots until I had at least a foot or two of open stem. What do you think guys?
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I hate cutting my plants.  I think you've done just fine all along - so long as you don't end up snakebit, I guess. 
 
BigCedar said:
Your grow rooms were awesome, and man... I wanna see more of those OWs! You got some trees in there!
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Hey Brandon, here's my little gang of OW plants. They're coming along considering I didn't pot them up til about a month ago. I let a couple of them go and planted three out in the garden and still have two I haven't re-potted yet.
 
Nothing in this area has been fed since planting so I'm giving everybody a quart of Masterblend 19.5-18-38 today. The stuff is easier to mix in a garbage can than in the gallon jugs like I did for the nursery plants.
 
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:shocked:  :shocked:  :shocked:
 
DW! You have a full blown national pepper park! That is insanity, I can only dream of getting supers to that size, incredible! Did you ever think it would get this out of control or is this the norm for you? Those OW's are beautiful thanks for the pic D! What do you have isolated in there? Further more what all do you have in there? Anything different than what you have growing in the Hay Bales?
 
Cool snake! Maybe I missed it.. what kind? 
 
Great pics of Mr. Cody! Brought back not too distant memories of when Bella was that age, had to believe when they're that little they're gonna grow up to be big ol dogs. Kadie's almost full size.. Shes grown out of chewing on everything in the house but now we have to beware of her overly long tail.. It's like a baseball bat that never stops swinging. I learned that I can't make eye contact with her or get her attention in anyway shape or form near my pepper plants or it's just all bad. The tail machete cannot be taken lightly! 
 
Loving the harvest shots, and anxiously waiting for more! Those Douglahs look deadly  :shocked: You had me cracking up with your last reply, "My main concern is getting my old ass back up again" Lol! I feel ya man. I did a shit pot of heirloom cherry toms one year, I should try and find a picture.. anyway, there were tiny rabbit holes/tunnels that I could barely fit in laying down (crawling would have been a bonus) I would have to use my shoulders to wiggle side to side on my back while pushing forward with my heels to get through the tunnels during peak season. I was in my 20s back then and it was hard to get up after a few rows of that shit. If it wasn't for the fact all the cash from that crop was going towards a down payment on a house I would have probably just walked away from it.
 
Well for what its worth if I was anywhere near your neck of the woods I'd totally drive over and do some military crawlin with ya and help you search for all your elusive reapers!
 
As always, nice work DW, nice work  :cool:
 
 
 
 
BigCedar said:
...we have to beware of her overly long tail.. It's like a baseball bat that never stops swinging. I learned that I can't make eye contact with her or get her attention in anyway shape or form near my pepper plants or it's just all bad. The tail machete cannot be taken lightly! 
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I have the same problem.  It limits where I can set my plants, lol.
 
BigCedar said:
:shocked:  :shocked:  :shocked:
 
DW! You have a full blown national pepper park! That is insanity, I can only dream of getting supers to that size, incredible! Did you ever think it would get this out of control or is this the norm for you? Those OW's are beautiful thanks for the pic D! What do you have isolated in there? Further more what all do you have in there? Anything different than what you have growing in the Hay Bales?
 
Cool snake! Maybe I missed it.. what kind? 
 
Great pics of Mr. Cody! Brought back not too distant memories of when Bella was that age, had to believe when they're that little they're gonna grow up to be big ol dogs. Kadie's almost full size.. Shes grown out of chewing on everything in the house but now we have to beware of her overly long tail.. It's like a baseball bat that never stops swinging. I learned that I can't make eye contact with her or get her attention in anyway shape or form near my pepper plants or it's just all bad. The tail machete cannot be taken lightly! 
 
Loving the harvest shots, and anxiously waiting for more! Those Douglahs look deadly  :shocked: You had me cracking up with your last reply, "My main concern is getting my old ass back up again" Lol! I feel ya man. I did a shit pot of heirloom cherry toms one year, I should try and find a picture.. anyway, there were tiny rabbit holes/tunnels that I could barely fit in laying down (crawling would have been a bonus) I would have to use my shoulders to wiggle side to side on my back while pushing forward with my heels to get through the tunnels during peak season. I was in my 20s back then and it was hard to get up after a few rows of that shit. If it wasn't for the fact all the cash from that crop was going towards a down payment on a house I would have probably just walked away from it.
 
Well for what its worth if I was anywhere near your neck of the woods I'd totally drive over and do some military crawlin with ya and help you search for all your elusive reapers!
 
As always, nice work DW, nice work  :cool:
 
 
 
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Thanks Brandon. I had no idea the hay bale pepper patch would blow out like this. I haven't grown in the ground out here in more than to 15 years because the wilt is so endemic in the soil around here. Hence the ill-fated attempt at above ground growing.That didn't go so well but at least I learned how to beat the wilt. All I usually do is grow some in pots for seed development but mainly to feed my addictions. And have some for friends and family and plenty of pepper powder always on hand.
 
Some of the OW's are from 2015. The ones bagged up are a red TS CARDI, a yellow scorpion, a yellow naga brainstrain  two variants of douglah,  two reaper and two yellow fatalii. I already got all the iso sharpei seeds I need and uncovered them already. They came in waay early..
 
The garden Douglah should be kick ass this year. I've been selecting seed for pod size, heat and flavor for a few years now and planted the best of the best.
 
Yeah man, it sounds like you have tons of jungle experience. I need your expertise. Too bad you can't come over today. You could go with us to see Brit Floyd ar the beautiful Saenger Theatre in Pensacola.as they carry on the tradition of Pink Floyd. This is the sixth year in a row we've seen them there. I don't know how they pull it off but they get better every year. Kinda like Pink Floyd was. We have to be there at 4:30 because we go in then for the meet & greet where we hang out with the band and participate in the sound check and have a private concert before the main show. That cost us some extra bucks but a bunch of it goes to charity. Especially appropriate after Christie's just auctioned off David Gilmour's guitar collection yesterday for 21.5 Million Dollars. He donated every penny to a charity that fights climate change so we're honored to kick in a couple hundred extra to PBS for this treat.
 
So the infamous Black Strat sold for a fuzz under $4 million and his 1954 Stratocaster with serial #0001 sold for $1.8 million. Christie's estimated Black Strat would sell for a lousy $100-150K. Clearly they underestimated the enormity of the power of the Floyd.
 
The snake is a common rat snake. Uncle E named him Snek for me. Sure would like to meet your pups. I hear you on the deadly tails and size estimations. I knew Cody would be a big boy but I didn't think 70 pounds. I was thinking 55-60. The vet said he'd definitely finish off at less than 35 pounds. He brings up that monumental mis-estimation every time he sees Cody.
 
That's really cool on all accounts D!! I'm jealous how was it!?
 
Those Douglahs sound really cool, this will be my 4th time growing Douglahs and after 4 tries I've yet to have one produce proper Douglah pods.. If I strike out again this year you might wake up one day to a PM with potential seeds I could trade you for Real Deal DW Douglah seeds! lol. 
 
Now that you know the full potential of your patch are ya gonna do it again next year or head back to pots? I'd imagine the soils just gonna be better next year little amending needed!
 
Would love to see some close ups or your OWed pods if you're ever over there and think about it! They're probably a lot easier to get shots of then the pods in your amazon rainforest lol. Hope you had some fun yesterday!! Thanks for the reply bud! 
 
 
That's really cool on all accounts D!! I'm jealous how was it!?
 
Those Douglahs sound really cool, this will be my 4th time growing Douglahs and after 4 tries I've yet to have one produce proper Douglah pods.. If I strike out again this year you might wake up one day to a PM with potential seeds I could trade you for Real Deal DW Douglah seeds! lol. 
 
Now that you know the full potential of your patch are ya gonna do it again next year or head back to pots? I'd imagine the soils just gonna be better next year little amending needed!
 
Would love to see some close ups or your OWed pods if you're ever over there and think about it! They're probably a lot easier to get shots of then the pods in your amazon rainforest lol. Hope you had some fun yesterday!! Thanks for the reply bud! 
 
 
BigCedar said:
That's really cool on all accounts D!! I'm jealous how was it!?
 
Those Douglahs sound really cool, this will be my 4th time growing Douglahs and after 4 tries I've yet to have one produce proper Douglah pods.. If I strike out again this year you might wake up one day to a PM with potential seeds I could trade you for Real Deal DW Douglah seeds! lol. 
 
Now that you know the full potential of your patch are ya gonna do it again next year or head back to pots? I'd imagine the soils just gonna be better next year little amending needed!
 
Would love to see some close ups or your OWed pods if you're ever over there and think about it! They're probably a lot easier to get shots of then the pods in your amazon rainforest lol. Hope you had some fun yesterday!! Thanks for the reply bud! 
 
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If my Chocolate Douglah throws proper pods I will be glad to send you some BigCedar if you don’t have any luck! I picked it up from a local university that has a grad student working on something with superhots and other peppers.


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BigCedar said:
That's really cool on all accounts D!! I'm jealous how was it!?
 
Those Douglahs sound really cool, this will be my 4th time growing Douglahs and after 4 tries I've yet to have one produce proper Douglah pods.. If I strike out again this year you might wake up one day to a PM with potential seeds I could trade you for Real Deal DW Douglah seeds! lol. 
 
Now that you know the full potential of your patch are ya gonna do it again next year or head back to pots? I'd imagine the soils just gonna be better next year little amending needed!
 
Would love to see some close ups or your OWed pods if you're ever over there and think about it! They're probably a lot easier to get shots of then the pods in your amazon rainforest lol. Hope you had some fun yesterday!! Thanks for the reply bud! 
 
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It was great and we had a wonderful time. Amazing how these people have the power to kick it up a gear every year but they do it. Can't wait til next year. Damien (the man with the acoustic guitar in the picture and the "musical director" of the group) told me the Saenger is one of their favorite venues because of the beauty and intimacy of the place and said they will be coming to Pensacola for at least 10 more years. That works for me.
 
Sure, I can send you some seeds for next year. Douglah is  a great pepper. I really like them.
 
I'll always have some pots but I'll definitely grow in the dirt next year too. I'll till it if I can beg, buy, borrow, rent or steal a rototiller for a cheap price this winter. I think that's what I need to do to get a baseline soil and then lay on another foot of rotting leaves and manure  My winter crop of oak leaves is always monumental.
 
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I guess the big plants will be making some big pods. From my today basket of a bit over a half kilo, I picked these out as the biggest. 72 grams.
 
I shoulda been picking Douglah pods already but I wasn't looking hard enough. One of my Douglah plants had the wilt really bad but I kept it in deep shade off and on for a few weeks and it lived. I almost forgot about it and noticed it was badly overtaken by the neighbors but I took a close look up in there today and found several deflated Douglah water balloons on the ground and several ready to pick on the vine. The little plant that almost died was the first Douglah to produce. Imagine that.
 
 
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