glog 2025 - LEAVE OR DIE

CHAPTER #01 - LIKE REPTILES

It's never too early to say "it's never too early to get started" so this year, to counterattack a possible fake summer effect like in 2024, I started 3 months in advance (18th of december).

Chiltepin cappuccino - 2024

I sterilized the seeds with a 9:1 water/bleach solution, and presoaked them for 24h, then I put them on paper towel on every heater of the house.

As soon as the roots emerged, I put them in soil (instead of waiting for the cotyledons to open on the paper, that maybe was causing more stress to the roots).
My friend gave me reptiles heatmats and a reptile UV lamp, that I'm using to heat the soil filled pepper cups (my apartment is cold, now I have 5C degrees more).

Soil is a brand new one, no more fungus-filled recycled one thanks!!

So, everything seems to be better and working well, apart from a big problem... I decided to go all-in and grow 130 varieties, even if I only have a small balcony. I couldn't choose what to remove, so I thought of putting 2-3-4 plants per pot. That's for two reasons: the first is that I'm insane the second one is that, having only 4 hours of sun per day, I realized that for my environment it may be better to grow small plants: I'll expect competition among them, and hopefully many small tastings.

I started with 60 varieties: wild ones, pubescens, and a mix of chinense and frutescens; to be fair, after all this babysitting I've already got the pepper burnout. Also, I'm already out of space! Time to mount a twin structure.

The wild ones I chosed are:
C. lanceolatum
C. chacoense
C. rhomboideum
C. tovarii
C. galapagoense
C. eximium
C. cardenasii
C. flexuosum
Also, a couple of C. rabenii, a couple of C. annuum var. glabriusculum, a C. baccatum var. baccatum, a purple flowered baccatum and some wild chinense/frutescens.

On late january/february I'll start with C. annuum and C. baccatum ones; mutants, variegated and F1 to F4 crosses included.
Some friends are trying to overwinter at home some of my last year's cultivars that couldn't set fruits (especially F1 and C. rabenii), anyway I sowed them again.

C. lanceolatum seeds surprised me because they are black and way smaller than any Capsicum seed I've had, included C. eximium.

I will also radically change the way I grow them outdoors, from the composition of the soil to the way I'll manage insects; but this will be told on march .

 

[CaneDog]

Oh, jeez. Hail right after you put them out, huh? Seems like there's always something nature will throw at you to keep it from being too easy!

 

[SatanicFlatIron]

Well, in the end I did well to put the plants outside already, I surprisingly got an anomalous streak of days of intense sun! The plants are already growing, and after 2 days in which they moved like flags in the wind, now they are stable.

This powerful sun has caused some burn damage on some leaves, but nothing serious, also thanks to the only half day of sun they get.
By the way, does anyone have experience of sunburn on C. pubescens and C. lanceolatum? It seems that, instead of the classic white-yellow spots like on annuum and chinense (first photo), these two species have reacted by making a sort of "silver dots" appear on the leaves (second and third photos), if that is the reason.

I tried to make a solution of water, sulfur, potassium soap and neem oil, in order to prevent infestations of mites and aphids, but it came out a mess : the potassium soap made the pH skyrocket and I should buy citric acid to balance it; the neem oil floats, is sticky, clumps the sulfur and is difficult to wash. Having read that sulfur (effective against mites) is also useful against aphid nymphs, I decided to abandon this theoretical concoction and stick to sulfur alone. After spraying it 2 days ago on 4 pots as a probe, I applied it to the rest of the plants.

I drew a map with the varieties I have, because I'm starting to not see the labels on the pots anymore, covered by leaves or sunk during watering... there are 127 varieties, it's easy to get lost

Today I am very happy because the first flower has opened, and it is not just any flower: C. lanceolatum, a marvel!

 

[MarcV]

The sun will always damage your plants when you just put them outside, but they will recover just fine!

 

[CaneDog]

Lanceolatum flowers are very cool looking. I like the splayed calyxes in particular. Glad to see that things are starting out so well!

 

[SatanicFlatIron]

The plants are fine but growing very slowly also because it has been raining for days and will rain for another 2 weeks, but it is not a problem, it is always like this when I put them outside in March, there is plenty of time to grow starting from mid-spring. In my environment putting them outside in May has always been much worse.

a small forest-style canopy

Aji white fantasy has huge leaves!

C. rabenii is also a beautiful plant. It has started to fork

C. lanceolatum is losing flowers and some leaves, but is creating a bunch of new shoots at the base. It seems that this alternation is one of its characteristics

F1 C. chinense crosses have already opened their first flowers, beating all other C. chinense to the punch thanks to their famous hybrid vigour. I can't wait to try my new creations!

Some shades of purple, brought out by the sun

Tiger anaheim (a variegated one)

Sunburns, once the hardening off is finished, are over. I am however experiencing other small problems. I therefore document the casualties of 2025, which are to be taken into account. Mainly we are talking about the smaller and more delicate plants, which have not passed the hardening off test. The lesson is therefore to solve the problem of small plants upstream, which has various causes.

C. flexuosum and C. tovarii have such long germination times that they should have been started earlier (perhaps in November).

C. flexuosum: man down! For the second year it dies when it is very small. Maybe I should look for fresh seeds, I think they are many years old and that could affect the general health. Goodbye flex, see you next year!

same for C. tovarii, the stem has thinned and no longer stands upright

the two little Jamy are dried up, but I could already see from the first indoor stages that something was wrong, there was little chlorophyll in the leaves and I think the reason is that I extracted them from the only fruit of 2024, not fully ripe

this is the Ebay test: very low germination (most of the varieties not born), and the few born are practically still. The reason is surely old seeds and not well preserved. I am used to serious sellers like Semillas (RIP) where germination is very high, so we are really talking about two opposite worlds. I feel sorry for the young growers who maybe only buy on Ebay or Amazon and then think they have a black thumb

the stem of C. rhomboideum has been hollowed out by something, or perhaps weather damage

the last ones are unfortunately among my favorite varieties, Pimenta da Neyde, which have curls/malformations on the new leaves that I fear are attributable to broad mites, which last year decimated the crop. I immediately intervened with sulfur, fingers crossed

See you soon!

 

[SatanicFlatIron]

Despite manual removals and the application of sulfur and potassium soap, the aphids are still there, so I will soon switch to an Azadirachtin-based insecticide, completing my metamorphosis from natural to artificial.

Here is a photo update, , the plants are healthy, there are several flowers/buds and even some fruit set

 

[SatanicFlatIron]

I will soon switch to an Azadirachtin-based insecticide

I bought the product NeemAzal T/S on advice, which unlike neem oil should work and cover me the entire season. It will take a couple of weeks to see the results, since it acts on the nymphs causing the population to collapse.

A final greeting from the rocoto Marlene

 

[CaneDog]

Hope you can keep the bugs under control without too much hassle. There seems to be that early season time when the aphids can run amok before the predators get established and it can be a real pain.

You rocoto Marlene is looking good. Is that one you've grown before or it new to you?

 

[SatanicFlatIron]

Thanks CD. Last year I only grew a rocoto de seda (it was the first pubescens) but it didn't produce fruit due to bad timing and mite attack. Lessons learned.
With so many plants I'm not giving here the right weight to each single pepper variety, as they deserve. I would need a papyrus ; and for the pics unfortunately can't have a nice black cloth, they are more balcojungle style photos next year i will have less plants.........

So here's a brief parenthesis on rocoto! This year there are 7 brothers.

I tried again with de seda but with a very low germination ratio, probably due to incorrect storage of the seeds on my part, so they are very late, we will see if something comes out but I doubt it.

This is RPFH (well, a couple)

Aji largo

Mini olive (very nice dark green wrinkled leaves). It's in the same pot as C. eximium and C. cardenasii, as you can see on the right. A perfect place to try making a rocopica, if the flowers cooperate!

Manzano rojo (I bought a fruit in a peruvian market in Milan last december)

I had almost forgotten about the "stolen yellow", as it too had difficulty germinating due to the age of the seeds. I would say it has recovered. It has no real name because it comes from a fruit "taken" at a South American market by a PF member, so I don't know what the original variety is. Here is a photo of the fruits

The last one is the Marlene but I can't take a picture because it is literally buried in the canopy of plants. I found the flower I photographed two pots away, the branch had snaked in military style lol

 

[CaneDog]

I found the flower I photographed two pots away, the branch had snaked in military style lol

Haha. This happens to me sometimes. I'll get all happy that something is flowering and then I'll realize it's just a flower from another plant I put too close.

That's a great bunch of rocotos! I hope you get good production so you can sample them all.

 

[SatanicFlatIron]

CHAPTER #03 - NATURENS GALLERI

randomly reintroducing the chapters

I am alternating NeemAzal with potassium soap since the aphid infestation is quite advanced and I also need to add a knockdown effect.

It seems that after 1 week from the first treatment the row of single plants (mainly C. annuum) has benefited as there has actually been a large reduction in aphids. It must be said that a single row allows me to spray the products more easily from all sides and under the leaves, where the mfs lie.

On the double row, however, it is more problematic as it is difficult to access the plants further back, and under the leaves; low plants like some C. chinense do not help. For greater agility I imagine that the ideal would be to buy a sprayer that also sprays upside down, and cover my arms and hands because otherwise the insecticide ends up on me.

Here are the two rows

First fruits forming: tiger anaheim

hungarian hot wax

(an unripe one fell, and so I ate the first pepper of the season )

scotch bonnet

rocoto striptease

C. lanceolatum in flower

mutants

black pearl OP flowers (probable cross)

NW cross (C. chinense)

UP1BGD cross (C. annuum)

I count more than 15 buds in the cluster! curiously this year it inherited the flower cluster that was not present for many generations (although it pops up every now and then on different generational lines). Unlike the chinense crosses that are isolated, these are OP, so they could also have crossed with another variety; they are also F3, great-grandchildren of a P2 in turn F3 not stabilized, so they could easily express different traits from the F2, which I had selected in 2023 for the dragon head shape of the fruit and for the total loss of anthocyanins compared to its brothers. However, at least on the loss of anthocyanins for now it seems that we are there, let's see what will come out! In any case, I think of starting to isolate this and the other 4 parallel varieties too (which, despite being different lines crossed over the years with different varieties, are all in some way descendants of the cross between my first two peppers, two Calabrian heirlooms from 2018) to then carry forward those that have the best aesthetic and/or organoleptic traits.

I am waiting for the endless rainy weather to end and the climate to warm up, and to have more flowers and pollen (at the moment they have it in minimal quantities) to do a long series of new crosses that I have planned.

Greetings from the pepper guardian!

 

[SatanicFlatIron]

This is the second year in which ants, at a certain time, start cooperating in my neverending battle against aphids.
As you can see in the pics, two ant species have started to take all the aphids away (and other preys too).
They are probably migrating the herds elsewhere, or foraging.
ty, nature is amazing

I have started crossing peppers

Some other nice pics:

 

[SatanicFlatIron]

I bought an electric sprayer to deliver azadirachtin or other solutions, and it's super handy!

I am keeping on crossbreeding peppers. As usual, I can't follow every original plan: I am changing my mind on the fly according to which flowers are available. Also isolating old crosses, and trying new interspecific crosses. The balcony is already full of organza bags Some will fail, and some are only theoretical, because I know which phenotypic traits I want, but for the organoleptic profiles I still have to review some peppers I'm crossing. I'm taking a lot of daily notes.

A note: almost every little pepper plant that I gave away in january died (black thumb friends) or it's stuck at 10cm height (green thumb ones). It seems that, apart from classical C. annuum peppers sown/bought in spring, all the other species (wilds included) require too many details: temperatures, lamps, soil... I understood that normal people don't know what to do with little plants in winter Well, it was just an experiment and a way to not killing duplicates, I think next year I won't do it again and will simply stick on bringing ripe pods with me when available.

This year I improved the setup in many aspects but there will be still a lot of final considerations, especially on the too many plants / plant competition topic: insects thriving, organizing pots to give more light to short species, spacing out rocotos...

Anyway. Many annuum are fruiting: helix nebula

Here's a little scorpion

C. lanceolatum

and the first local ladybug helping!

 

[SatanicFlatIron]

Aphids gone! and even the ants have stopped coming and going.

Official: I can't get through the balcony anymore unless I'm playing twister. I'll buy some new supports but I also need an alternative solution to get the corridor clear again: I was thinking of two ropes (one for the plants in front, one for the plants in the back) that go lengthwise from one side of the balcony to the other, in order to keep the plants and branches more closely packed together... any other ideas?

Passers-by are starting to be mesmerized especially since plants only get 4 hours of sun, and it's not even summer... someone then asks me what the little bags are for. I try to explain but then I realize I "speak Arabic" ("to be incomprehensible" in italian).

So many plants amaze me.

Some C. chinense like bih jolokia assam #1 and aji charapita have crowds of buds.

In the photo above, the tallest plant that shoots upwards on the left is the aji limon, which has usually always been quite bushy. I hope it has crossed with some other variety. Some thoughts: despite my will to buy seeds of stable and isolated plants, and the need to isolate my crosses, I must say that OP crosses always have a mysterious charm on me, because unlike the other two more reasoned categories they occur through the work of nature and are 100% dream therefore irrationality.

I am also excited for the future of my crosses. What traits will the F3 annuum maintain?

CT:

With the chinense crosses I already have beautiful shapes and shades of white/pink/brown in F1 on an unripe stage.

NW:

The rocotos have greatly appreciated the early outdoor season and the partial shade, and are almost all in bloom.

I also have some fruit, here is the Stolen yellow:

More photos:

Purira (C. frutescens)

Helix nebula

Gorria

Excess of organza on a variegated

Aji white fantasy

This isolated bud for crossbreeding purposes... is it possible that it has regrown the petals of the corolla, after being removed?

C. rabenii (it's a beast of a plant!)

and speaking of pubescence, acrata stem:

C. galapagoense (with mini buds):

C. cardenasii also has mini buds Really particular plant habit, last year it had only made a straight stem, this time it has widened almost crawling and seems to like growing in the shade of a rocoto.

See you soon!

 

[growyourown]

would it be possible to build something similar to a "window box" to be able to have the plants nearer the railing to be placed outside the railing to give you walking room? it would not have to be fixed/fastened to the railing. but i also wonder the railings look to be wooden, so the strength of it to hold all those plants might be an issue... just a thought

 

[SatanicFlatIron]

would it be possible to build something similar to a "window box" to be able to have the plants nearer the railing to be placed outside the railing to give you walking room? it would not have to be fixed/fastened to the railing. but i also wonder the railings look to be wooden, so the strength of it to hold all those plants might be an issue... just a thought

thanks, the railings are made of metal, so I think they should hold some weight. Maybe next year I could evaluate that project (safety, costs...) or more simply reduce the number of plants (like just one row in the back instead of two, or two rows in the back and none in front, as I have done in the past). This year I think I will go for a quicker solution to reduce their volume without moving the pots/tangled plants (or maybe some can be turned to a better position... ) In mid-late summer, when the fruit production is stabilized, I may also prune the plants

 

[CaneDog]

thanks, the railings are made of metal, so I think they should hold some weight. Maybe next year I could evaluate that project (safety, costs...) or more simply reduce the number of plants (like just one row in the back instead of two, or two rows in the back and none in front, as I have done in the past). This year I think I will go for a quicker solution to reduce their volume without moving the pots/tangled plants (or maybe some can be turned to a better position... ) In mid-late summer, when the fruit production is stabilized, I may also prune the plants

That's crazy talk, SF!!

 

[The Hot Pepper]

 

[SatanicFlatIron]

lol yeah... perhaps I am trying to convince myself... I could hang some pots from the ceiling and the wall too

A bad hailstorm came, I lost more than 30 organza bags no problem, I'll start again!
Luckily I'm also having some surprises.
This C. annuum x C. baccatum seems to be a step forward, since the ovary is larger than before I had already crossed the two species once (with many attempts) but the seeds were sterile. So I am trying again (apart from using C. chinense as a bridge).

P3-2 cross survived and tagged

C. eximium (the light green ones) shoot high above a rocoto
The same rocoto in whose shadow C. cardenasii was creeping (still visible at the bottom of the pic)
Both are called ulupica but they are very different. Also, the leaves of C. eximium have no scent, while C. cardenasii has a fantastic scent

C. chacoense has slowed down its growth and lives in the shade of an aji panca. Aji panca is having a huge vertical growth but it's very slow, so far it hasn't produced buds

Chiltepin cappuccino (light green) is still finding a hole. I made some mistakes in positioning because I didn't study the habit of the rocotos and aribibi gusano plants thoroughly, so some smaller or bushy plants are struggling to find light.
Next year I will definitely use cages for the rocoto like @NJChilehead did!
Some chinense are therefore lost in the rocoto jungle (for example: KSLS and JGSP). I hope to get at least one fruit in the shade

NOT black pearl A few posts ago I had already assumed it was OP because of the non-black leaves and the not completely purple flowers... now the shape of the fruit dispels any doubts. Let's see what it becomes! By the way, this unripe pod has a nice purple spot

First bleeding jigsaw forming

Rocopica showing traits of plant habit between ulupica and rocoto, and its first flower (unfortunately fallen)

Some flowers: manzano rojo, RPFH and a pubescens/annuum mix

Teste di fiammifero (italian dwarf heirloom)

 

[serrano]

some serious pepper porn here. my plants are way behind...