I'm in and starting with Reapers and Cayenne

Hello - Jungle Joe here.
 
I was given some Carolina Reapers a while back and ran out over the winter making fantastic chili's & what-not. Oh no ! Time to grow my own ! But where do I get seeds ?? - a little quick research and I found Ghostpepperstore.com - it was as a close as I could find to me in Minnesota.
 
I pretty much stick to organics for all things grown by my own hands, so the seedlings would be as such.
 
I did soak the seeds I ordered from the Ghostpepperstore.com site in a shot-glass of water overnight and then popped into slits I made in rooting plugs. That seemed logical as they should keep the seeds moist but not in standing water after the initial soak. Into a translucent take home container for humidity on a seedling heat mat. After almost 2 weeks(!), I finally got my starts - 2 of 5 worked their way through. A week later and I put those seed started plugs into organic soil in tiny coir fiber pots and have them under a shop CFL pigtail screwed into a shop light clamping hood. It's not getting warm enough outside yet ! lol
 
To make sure I had more than just Reapers growing this summer I decided at that point to try some other peppers I had in possession. I had store-bought Anaheim & Serranos, 1 tiny Thai Devil that was from a friend and, of course my very own last years Cayenne. What a fabulous crop of 7 - 8" long cayenne peppers I got from some started plants bought locally. The cayenne were hanging over my sink from a string still as that's how I dry them and use them. So, I simply opened the skin of one of my own dried cayenne and shook out some of the seeds. The rest were still fresh peppers, but I did hack into them and got some seeds out - why not, right ?
Seeds from all of the above got an over night soak.  Soaked them over night, even the fresh - and then into rooting plugs just like the Reapers. Of course the only to "pop" were my cayenne. They popped in just about 5 days in fact. All the others are no-go's still. But the Cayenne are so successful I had to distribute tail-on seedlings into other plugs so I could have more chance for success with a variety of seedlings. These have been coming up for about a week now and are just about to hit the low lid of the take home container...
 
So that's where things are now.
 
And since I do a fair amount of traveling I am always hoping for major growth changes when I return. I just have yet to see that - go figure... I've never been a patient person though.
 
 
Welcome to the THP[emoji16].
With growing peppers you will develop patience [emoji16].
It took me 2 years to get my Cayenne seeds to sprout. [emoji16]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Thanks for all the welcomes.
 
These are the reapers for a stint outside.
 

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Whoa - that's a small pic I have posted there. My original pic you can zoom in and see the fine little hairs, new growth starting, etc... I'm to be guessing a new member cannot post anything with any detail. ?
 
Traveling tonight, so I added the recent cayenne sprouts to soil just like the reapers - with mycorrhizal inoculant dust.
 
And the reapers are looking like they got burnt up a bit :confused: -  Imagine that - ME burning up a Carolina Reaper !!! lol
 
Good grief - it's a single frikin' CFL ! At least they have new growth (2nd set leaves) coming and they aren't acting "dead"...
 
 
So I added an extra inch or two distance between plants and CFL....
 
I'll be interested to see what they look like on Monday around noon.
 

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So here's another glimpse into to my lack of patience unfortunately. :rolleyes:
 
When I returned home from being away for four days, I saw THIS:
 
1 Limpies.jpg

 
A bunch of LIMPIES ! See them there ? ;)
 
I almost went catatonic... But of course you have to at the very least TRY. So I dumped some water into the plastic tray and left for 4 hours.
 
Returned to see if anybody came back and saw this:
 
2 After Watering.jpg

 
Standing upright once again.  :dance:  Phwew !
So then I noticed the Reapers haven't made even the slightest change.  :cry:  They clearly aren't dead - but they need something I'd say to get 'em going.
 
So then I was meandering around and saw a happy sight:
 
3 Mysetery Seedling.jpg

 
4 Mystery Close Up.jpg

 
That is more than likely another Carolina Reaper - but I was tossin' other seeds like the Anaheims in there too (they were all taking soooo long to pop..)... Seems to me that I put the toothpicks right near the Reaper seeds I put in there though... Only one way to know for sure. I tossed it outside on the deck to be in the sun  :shh:  - I see the weather peeps aren't showing any lows lower than 46˚ at night for the extended forecast so why not ?
 
But then I figured I should really get at least a cayenne or two out in my 1/2 wine barrels. They're filled with my homemade organic soil and are what I grew the best cayennes ever in last year. I have to keep anything I WANT up in something - birds, squirrels, rabbits, deer and neighboring dogs and cats all have had a go at my plants from time to time. The barrels have been the only way to have any success.
 
So outside into the barrels two of the cayenne went:
 
5 Cayennes Out.jpg

 
You can't see them - but they're there inside those two wet-spots. Yes, they are indeed puny little seedlings, but they aren't doing anything fantastic inside - so why not ?
Here's a close up of one the tiny suckers - you can see a whole lot of crushed comfrey leaves and what-not in there. Yum !
 
6 Cayenne Close Up.jpg

 
So they both made it through a 46˚ night :party: , so that gave me encouragement to at least try 1 of the 2 confirmed Carolina Reapers outside.
 
I put 1 of the Reapers outside in my soil this morning - but I believe I "Chose Wisely" and did put a white cloth covering over it, and yes, the other cayenne too.
 
7 Reaper Out & Covered.jpg

 
So there is me pushing the envelope and displaying my lack of patience.
 
Peppers outside in Minnesota, away from the house, in early May, at the "first sign" of warmer weather !
 
Now GROW damnit ! lol :deadhorse:
 
 
Yesterday, after checking on what had already been planted and noticing no detrimental problems, I decided to go for it and throw the rest of the pepper seedlings outside. I figured I am covering them anyway - so what the heck ?
 
Here's Reaper #2 outside (you can see mycorrhizal inoculant dust on it and around it) now:
 
8 2nd Reaper 20190515.jpg

 
Then because it's been really warm which I believe these peppers love, I figured I should give them a bit more filtered light. Also - there is some serious rain being forecast so I want to be sure these puny seedlings are protected from the beating drops too.
 
So I ripped thin strips of flexible plastic and made a tent-dome sorta thing and then changed the cloth to very thin dish-towels to let more light in.
 
They look like this now:
 
9 Covering 1 20190515.jpg
10 Covering 2 20190515.jpg

 
And then after a light 1/4" rain last night I just wanted to be sure nobody got beat up, so I checked and then I also took this picture of the 2nd Reaper. You maybe can see rain drops on it. I had sprinkled some neem cake around to deter crappy little pests - like squirrels. You maybe can see the brown little granules which are probably pretty smelly thanks to the rain :cool:
 
11 2nd Reaper Aft Rain 20190516.jpg

 
By the way: All of the sticks I have shoved into the ground are to deter all of the deer that are making a daily procession through the back yard. It would take only one big stupid nose to come sniffing/snipping and I'd all be snuffed out. I am hoping the neem also deters THEM !
 
 
 
Hey deadhead! Very cool of you to come on in and post up. I'm new to this site myself, but not to growing peppers. The only thing different this year is starting from seed and plugging the runts in super early. So you're getting the full gamut here
That all said, I logged on to make a post regarding my peppers at this point.
After a weekend of massive rain - 3 inches in my rain gauge since Friday morning thru Sunday - I had to cover the half barrels as there was a frost warning. Whatever, this is Minnesota after all. But give it a rest Mother !
Anyway, I almost fainted when I went to pull the thicker blankets off the barrels. Squirrels had payed a visit and made two of the tiny plants disappear. 1 was a Reaper too!!!! I was beside myself...
Anyway, after going hot and cold and at one point thinking between deer and squirrels I should just give up, I looked again at what was left this morning.
I noticed the squirrel didn't kill the plants, it had only scooted them WAY over !! The Reaper I thought gone was only leaning way over - same with the Cayenne I thought was gone. A quick re prop up and I placed big ol' rocks around every plant ! Suck on that you dirty rats (I actually really like grey squirrels, the reds can eat dookie though) !
So off to work I went this morning with a renewed attitude. No pics yet, but I did observe a bit of new growth on the Reaper that did NOT get abused by the squirrel! Pics to come once it stops raining. It's raining right now in fact and the winds are coming straight from the Rockies I think. It's crappy out there !
Oh, and the super tiny supposed Reaper in the pot on my deck was definitely wiped out by a squirrel. I didn't have rocks surrounding it. F'ers !
 
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