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A Fishy Winter Grow: Stuff in a Tent

Be it ever so humble...
 
the-new-batch.jpg

 
Currently, there are three pepper plants on the bottom (the four all the way on the right are garlic experiments). The one that's nice and rootbound in a tiny container on the right is a manganji, which I pretty much just want to see the pheno from. In the bags on the left, there's shishito (which I found out my wife loves, so that goes on the list), and Greek pepperoncini, a.k.a. Friggitello.
 
I'm really hoping to grow giant white habanero, both over the winter and outside next year, but so far I've had no luck at all getting them to germinate. Which really sucks, because I was hoping to cross those with CGN 21500 and possibly larger sweet varieties. 21500 was also supposed to be the fourth tent pepper. I should have isolated seeds for that coming from my current plant soon.
 
But as I've been attempting to germinate those GW habs, I also started a couple other things. My purple UFO did not grow true, but I started more to see if I can get something on-pheno; on the top shelf, I have two new seedlings from that envelope in rockwool. I also have two very healthy-looking sugar rush peach in there. While I'd prefer to grow the peach outside next year, if I can't get those GW habs to take, I might have to switch, and that could be a pretty good candidate.
 
So the current plan is to have four one-gallon bags on the bottom with a nice selection of mild to medium hot peppers, and go through just as much hybridization experimentation as I can with rockwool and Khang Starr style mini-Kratky bottles.
 
Sounds like you have some great plans for the
near future, 'Fish!  I was sorry to read in your
other glog that the graveyard bonchi project
ran into problems. I was looking forward to
seeing that. Hint, hint!
 
Good luck going forward, my friend!
 
KevinThePepperhead said:
Looks very nice!
 
Thank you, sir! :)
 
CaneDog said:
Alright 'fish, let's roll this one again!
 
"Home" may be humble for now, but I have a feeling we won't be seeing elbow room in that tent for long ;)
 
Looking forward to seeing and hearing your thoughts on the ripe manganji.  And to another season of experiments.
 
Good luck with the GWH and purple UFO popping true!
 
Thanks! I'm trying to avoid packing the freaking tent the way I did this year; hopefully I'll have a manageable amount of foliage this time. ;)
 
The manganji had a good flavor (I ate the one I pulled the seeds out of). Not exactly inspiring, but nice, and something local that might be fun to cross with for a medium-heat pepper most of my friends could enjoy -- particularly with it being half local. Pretty much just want to see if they grow true, and if so, save seeds; the hybrids I want to try depend on the GW hab, which... isn't going so well yet.
 
PaulG said:
Sounds like you have some great plans for the
near future, 'Fish!  I was sorry to read in your
other glog that the graveyard bonchi project
ran into problems. I was looking forward to
seeing that. Hint, hint!
 
Good luck going forward, my friend!
 
Thanks! Yeah, unfortunately, I stupidly left the plants out for the typhoon and that was the only casualty. Based on the roots, though, it would've taken a long freaking time to develop nicely, and the roots I wanted didn't end up being useful to the plant, so it would've ended up a big time investment for a really disappointing result. Not sure if I'll try something like that again; maybe next spring, when I obviously start too many plants, regardless of how much planning I do.
 
None of the giant white hab seeds I tried to germinate popped. I did get two healthy-looking sugar rush peach and purple UFO, though, so those now have their own little Kratky bottles.
 
new-kratkies.jpg

 
All shiny 'n' new. Gotta paint them at some point, but honestly, I don't care that much about the algae that'll show up. Or whatever that green interloper is. I want to watch the roots develop.
 
Got another round of GW hab seeds in rockwool, but at this point, the prospects don't look good. Which is really disappointing; hoping to get at least one viable seed out of the 20+ I started with. And given this year's rate of off-pheno plants, more than one seems kinda necessary if I'm expecting anything to grow true. :confused:
 
Also potted the red Halloween hab I rescued and gave it a place on the windowsill in the living room.
 
habloween.jpg

 
He's not much to look at, but he's budding like mad, and hopefully he'll give me a nice standard variety to work with in addition to the oddities I grow and can't even begin to explain in Japanese. Translating CGN 21500 directly works... technically... but I don't have even remotely the vocabulary to make any real sense of it for people.
 
We had a new emperor enthroned today, which was kind of cool (I hope he's as good a man as his dad, that guy is awesome -- and the first Japanese emperor to abdicate rather than dying on the throne, which was a pretty significant change, and it was very interesting to watch that happen). They even gave us a one-off national holiday for it, which was extra cool. :D
 
Things are looking decent in the tent.
 
The wee Kratkies seem to be doing well. One of the sugar rush peach doesn't seem interested in keeping its roots in the solution, but that should sort itself out before long, provided I don't forget and let its rockwool dry out. So I give it about 50/50 to survive the next month.
 
wee-hydros.jpg

 
The manganji, which I don't plan to keep, seems to have plans of its own. Just fruit, you jerk, so I can check the pheno and keep the seeds.
 
manganji.jpg

 
The ones I DO want to keep, though, are also doing well. Friggitello and shishito, both looking reasonably healthy.
 
friggitello-and-shishito.jpg

 
They don't seem to be too leggy... I switched from the 1000W LED to a 300W , which looks like it's adequate.
 
Been rainy for a while here, but the office plants are very happy. Kung pao on the left, budding like crazy; 7JPN on the right, also starting to put 'em out high in the canopy.
 
office-kids.jpg

 
The tent plants are doing well, and the Halloween hab is setting pods like mad, but still no love from the giant white hab seeds. Hopefully they come around in the next week or two.
 
I have a picture of the bottom shelf, but it doesn't look all that different from the last ones, so... meh. They are flowering like mad, though, so hopefully soon I can put up some green pods. That'll be worth an update.
 
The Kratky kids, though, are pretty happy.
 
happy-kratkies.jpg

 
While this is working out well so far with just one 300W light, I think I'm going to move the big plants to the top shelf (it has a little more head room) and go back to a two-light setup, so the experiments can sit on the bottom and have their own blurple sun.
 
Got the tent reconfigured. Hopefully this is how it'll stay for the winter.
 
tent-update.jpg

 
Finally getting some algae in the Kratkies, which continue to grow well. Still nothing from the giant white hab seeds, though... think I'm going to put most or all of my remaining seeds in a coffee filter and hope for the  best.
 
I'm guessing the outdoor plants will be stalling soon (it's unlikely we'll get a freeze until December or even January, but we're already around 40-50F at night), so hopefully these guys are as healthy as they seem to be. Waiting on an isolated CGN 21500 pod to ripen so I can start a new one for the winter; I'd bring in a cutting instead, but I'm trying hard to avoid getting bugs in the tent again.
 
My little red hab seems to like his place in the window. I don't know what they juiced this guy up with, but I'm planning on saving seeds in case it's genetic; who doesn't want easy, prolific habaneros?
 
red-hab.jpg
 
Tokyo is at about 35N latitude. We are a hair more
than 45N here in Portland area. I guess the weather
in Tokyo should be a tad better than here. We get the
Japanese current modifying our weather. Thanks, ‘Fish!
 
Devv said:
Good luck with your grow. It seems you're going into winter?
 
Yes, I'm ignorant about the weather there ;)
 
Well, right now, we're finally into fall. 'Winter' in Tokyo is very mild (which is to say, REALLY SUCKS for someone who likes snow), but once it dips into the low teens centigrade -- which should be around the end of November or early/mid December -- I expect growth to drop off.
 
Then again, I've never grown anything outside here. So it's entirely possible some or all of my plants could stay productive for another two months; if we keep having unseasonably warm weather... in every season... I might not even lose some of them. Which would be a pain, since I'm planning on replacing all of them. 
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am into my winter grow, though, which is what this particular glog is for. Just topped off the Kratky kids, which are doing very well; unfortunately, my attempts to germinate giant white habanero seeds appear to have failed yet again. So while about half the grow is moving along nicely, the other half is somewhere between "way behind" and "in need of reconsideration."
 
PaulG said:
Tokyo is at about 35N latitude. We are a hair more
than 45N here in Portland area. I guess the weather
in Tokyo should be a tad better than here. We get the
Japanese current modifying our weather. Thanks, ‘Fish!
 
You're welcome, Paul! Enjoy that Fukushima glow. :D
 
I guess this is what happens when you grow stuff but don't, uh, look at it once in a while.
 
friggitello-revolution.jpg

 
Friggitello ('pepperoncini golden Greek') podding up; center right and upper left. There's a few others, but these are the biggest. :) Looks like maybe a bit of edema, too... bonus? I guess?
 
Manganji and shishito have also set pods, but they're not really past the "yeah, that'll probably fall off" stage.
 
Anyway, this was a pleasant surprise! If I hadn't randomly decided to shuffle the tent plants around I probably wouldn't have noticed the pods for at least another week.
 
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