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Mitzi's 2019 - Grow, grow, grow your Bhut

Sorry about the title; it just came to mind.  Warning:  This glog will most likely be EXTREMELY BORING - read at your own risk.  2019 will be my third "proper" year growing chillies.  I'm still at the newbie stage of wanting to try every variety of several species and haven't yet managed to narrow it down to particular favourites.  Consequently most of my planned grow is made up of things that are new to me.  
 
Decided to go for more baccatums next year as they seem to do well in my climate; they take months to ripen but then I get a glut.  Gluts are very welcome in my house.  Will grow a few annuals as ornamentals outside the front door and also some I hope are reliable enough to get a crop from even if we have a bad summer.  I love the challenge of growing really hot peppers even though I don't have a greenhouse so that means some chinenses.  So it's quite a mixture.  Only one rocoto so, if it's successful, I should get true seed from it to re-stock the European Seed Train (EST).
 
List currently looks like this:

  1. Aleppo
  2. Basket of Fire
  3. Ethiopian Berbere*
  4. Gelbe Kirschen (Yellow Cherry)
  5. Hot Cherry (Cseresznye) Paprika
  6. Pritamin (sweet pepper)
  7. Rosemary Pepper
  8. Purple Tiger
  9. Thai Demon
  10. Urfa Biber
  11. Aji Berry Amarillo
  12. Aji Guyana
  13. Aji Guyana Rush F2
  14. Aji Lemon Drop
  15. Aji Mango
  16. Criolla Sella
  17. El Oro de Trinidad F2
  18. Ethiopian Peppertree
  19. Hot Orange
  20. Mini Bonnet
  21. Sugar Rush Cream*
  22. Sugar Rush Red
  23. 7 Pot Brainstrain Yellow
  24. 7 Pot BBG White
  25. BBG7
  26. Bhut Jolokia Peach
  27. Bhut Jolokia White
  28. Black Cayman
  29. Coyote Zan White*
  30. Fatalii Peach
  31. Fatalii Uber Yellow
  32. Genghis Khan Brains
  33. JPGS
  34. Moruga Scorpion
  35. Moruga Scorpion/Brainstrain(?) Red
  36. Moruga Scorpion/Brainstrain(?) Yellow
  37. Moruga Scorpion Caramel*
  38. SB Matthew Arthur red
  39. SB MOA WHP x
  40. SB TFM
  41. White Lightning (PDNxBMJ)
  42. Manzano Orange

 
* Not received yet
 
There are a couple more I got from the EST but, embarrassingly, I can't remember what they are.  
 
Attempting to overwinter:

  1. Bahamian Goat
  2. BOC x Primo yellow
  3. Brazilian Ghost (2 plants)
  4. Burkina Yellow
  5. Carolina Reaper
  6. Genghis Khan Brain
  7. Habanero Red
  8. Krishna Jolokia
  9. Nagabrain Chocolate (2 plants)
  10. Nebru 7
  11. PdN
  12. PdN x SB7J
  13. SB Cappuccino
  14. SB MoA

 
They are all aphid-infested and somewhat sick looking so I'm not sure any of them will make it.  I certainly need to deal with the aphids in the next few weeks before I start sowing seeds.  My other half (OH) has banned plants from the bedroom windowsill which is the best place in the house (south-facing.)  I've snuck three tiny ones on there but most of the rest are languishing in a north-facing window so are getting no sunlight whatsoever.
 
This year (2018) I had 38 pots outside plus three indoors, making 41 pots of 35 varieties, plus about a dozen more plants which never got potted up into proper pots.  Approximately 40 pots will be my limit again for next year but I would like to grow more than one plant of some varieties so ideally I need to whittle the list down to 30 varieties or fewer from the 56+ above.
 
How on earth does one choose?
 
Click to expand...
These are the three lanky seedlings plus the CW Red in porridge pots. Weak and floppy as if they'd been on a bender all weekend. Come on, troops, grow a backbone and look lively!
 

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Way to talk to your seedlings, Mitzi!
I'm sure they will straighten up for ya!
 
I have found a mix of gentle persuasion
and brutal invective to be most effective
when having discourse with my seedlings.
 
Talking to them boosts their carbon dioxide levels so helps them grow.
 
Last summer, every time I went past it, I told my Reaper plant that it was going in the compost bin at the end of the season if it didn't produce x number of pods.  It kind of worked but most of the pods were so tiny they were unusable.  However, the plant is still with me.
 
After a couple of days on a sunny windowsill*, today is cloudy so I've got them under the Secret Jardin LED light in the "grow room" which isn't actually set up for this year yet.  They are getting much more intense light than the other seedlings, which are on the dining room windowsill under an IKEA grow light.  I hope it doesn't fry them!  However there are some overwintering plants on the grow room windowsill which have some pest problems, so I will have to keep a very close eye on the seedlings.
 
*Brought in at night so they don't get chilled
 
Just worked out that there are about 20 more varieties that I want to sow; a few baccatum and 15 or so annuum.  I don't have room for all those, and yet I really want to grow each variety; it's hard to pick some to drop.  It's probably just as well that not all the varieties I've already sown have germinated, although of course it's the ones I really wanted (e.g. Manzano Orange and BBG7) that have failed.
 
I'm also supposed to be doing a seedling swap on another forum - so that could result in another four varieties to grow!  My other half saw our (occasional) gardener in the pub the other day and apparently he (the gardener) said he wants to use some of my glazed ceramic plant pots for another customer.  No effing way!  I'll tell him that I have plans to put chillies in all of them.  I'd also best go out and photograph the pots so I'll know if any disappear.
 
Mitzi, I am loving what you're achieving. 
 
Your Gardener is a gem, I wouldn't doubt. Don't worry that he's trying to steal your ceramic pots for one of his chums. I'm sure he'll be compensating you.
 
"I'm just taking your greenhouse. I'm know you won't mind. Mitzi, down the road need's it more than you do."
 
:P
 
 
 
Caterpillars: I have some on my overwintering plants, in the "grow room" and the back bedroom.  Thankfully the three plants in our bedroom are unaffected as yet.  Some leaves have been getting chewed ever since I brought them indoors but I didn't find the culprits.  However, I found a small one yesterday and a bigger one today.  A couple of months ago there was a sudden appearance of brown-coloured moths in the house, bigger than clothes moths.  Now I'm thinking that those had hatched out from the caterpillars that were on the plants when I brought them in, that they have laid eggs on the plants and now the second generation are much more prolific (no bluetits indoors to eat them off the plants.)
 
My OH thinks I should just bin all the plants from the two affected rooms to protect the seedlings.  I am emotionally attached to some of my plants so I've suggested chopping them down hard (removing all leaves) and spraying them (suggestions for caterpillar-killing sprays welcome) and keeping a very close eye out on any new growth.  Oh, and also move the ones from the grow room into the back bedroom so they are all in one room and separate from seedlings.  What does anyone think? I know hand-picking is recommended for caterpillars rather than sprays but they are very difficult to see and my eyesight isn't the best.
 
Hi Mitzi. BT is bacillus thuringensis, I believe. Spelling
may be off due to faulty memory banks, but they are
organisms that infect and eat pests in the soil, and water. 
 
As for starting new seeds, it's always good to have backup  :D
 
 
Cut down the four overwinters in the grow room.  I'm going to throw out the Burkina Yellow - it's never done terribly well and it seems mostly dead now.  There were lots of caterpillars on all the plants.  The ones that I caught alive I have put outside on the bird table.  Squished others and just dropped some branches straight into the compost bag so there will be some more in there.  The big surprise is that I found five (live) ladybirds.  I was sure that all the ladybirds had escaped in summer when the window was open; I certainly haven't seen any for many months.  Now I'm worried that there will have been more ladybirds on the branches I dropped into the compost sack, but I really can't be sorting through it looking for them.  It has taken me a lot longer than I planned just to cut back and remove any leaves that have holes in them.  Not sure what to do with the ladybirds; because I've removed virtually all the leaves, there won't be many aphids so they might starve.  But it's far too cold to put them outside.  Oh well - best get on with cutting back all the plants in the back room then maybe I can put the ladybirds in there.
 
Edit:
Now I've cut back the overwinters in the back room.  Decided I will also get rid of one of the Chocolate Nagabrains and the BOC x Primo which was nice enough but nothing particularly special.  The Nebru 7 looks a bit ropy but I'd like to keep it for another year if possible as it did well in the first year and will hopefully be even better in year two. 
 
Updated grow list
 
Germinated (at least one seedling):
  1. BBG7 White
  2. Bhut Jolokia Peach
  3. Bhut Jolokia White
  4. Chilliwilly Red
  5. Chilliwilly Yellow
  6. Matthew Arthur SB
  7. SB MoA WHP X
  8. White Lightning F6
  9. 7 Pot Burgundy
  10. Moruga Scorpion Caramel
  11. Guyana Rush F2
  12. Havana Gold
  13. Aji Berry Amarillo
  14. Aji Guyana
  15. Sugar Rush Cream
  16. Rocoto Canario Yellow
 


Not yet germinated; sown eight days ago, so there might still be time:
  • Aji Mango
  • Criolla Sella
  • El Oro Del Trinidad
  • BOC
  • Coyote Zan White
 


Failed to germinate after more than a month:
  • BBG7 Red (2 sowings)
  • Black Cayman (2 sowings)
  • Fatalii Peach (2 sowings)
  • TFM SB (2 sowings)
  • Uber Fatalii (2 sowings)
  • Manzano Orange
 

It's frustrating having so many no-shows but I suppose it's a good way to reduce my grow, which I certainly needed to do.  I think I'll buy fresh seed for next year although I know that doesn't guarantee anything.
 
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