3/5King's 2013 ZING!-Peppin' Ain't Easy 2.0 "If The Boat's a Rockin'....."

we're still Alive!.....now let's get back to growing peppers.




So I decided to start Peppin' Ain't Easy 2.0 instead of continuing last year’s Glog. This way everything can stay nice and tidy.

If you want to see my shenanigans from last season, CLICK http://thehotpepper....sy35kings-2012/



I’m excited…the season is upon us! (Well except for those that live on the other side of the hemisphere; you bastards have been growing for months!)(Mezo…lol)

Let’s see, where to start….well, I hope everyone’s year is starting out right. I know everyone’s year can’t be going well, so a prayer will go out to all of you that are having a not so good 2013. Me…I’m alive and still ambitious, so I’ll be alright.

On to the plants; well, I started some plants back in November…here I was being hopeful to the extreme..thinking I would have some nice plants to give away around Christmas or the new year….that was my first mistake circa 2013..

I did something wrong (like usual) listed below will be the list of seeds I started and what my setup consists of....(Like it says above…peppin’ ain’t easy)

Seeds 2013 (started Nov. 17, 2012)

Carolina Reaper
Bubble Gum 7pot
Explosive Ember
FireCracker
Red Missle
Purple Puru
Orange Starbust
Cappezoli
Brazilian Starfish

More coming…


Soil

Pro-Mix Organic with sea based compost

Nutrients

General Organics-Bio Thrive (gave first feeding at around 60 days old)

Grow Box/Light Setup

5- 6500 Kelvin 2750 Lumen 1- 2700 Kelvin 2750 Lumen (CFL’s) (Total: 16,500 Lumens)

5- Square foot growing area

Sides and roof lined with mylar bubble wrap (Like the stuff you line your basements with for insulation)

Plants are 4-10 Inches away from lights (depending on how big they are)

Bottom Watered

Foliar fed with bio thrive (every two to three days)


Side Note: (I did water the plants at about 30 days with the used water from my fish tank. I used this water for about 2 weeks and then went back to regular water for awhile)

Temps- 80-90 Degrees




So there you have it, this is the start to my 2012/13 season. Now to get on to the hiccups along the way…dang I forgot to mention the overwinter…I’ll get to that debacle in a minute.

Problems encountered; The plants started growing fine but as they got older, they just randomly dropping leaves (although it seems that the leaves that drop are the older leaves) Not from the bottom up or the top down, just random. Sometimes they drop when they are green, sometimes they drop after they have yellowed and some…some even just shrivel up and die on the plant..lol. This is a funky situation.

Also a lot of the plants seem to be stuck…like the plants look like they are getting older (stems getting thicker, mature leaves) but they aren’t really growing in size anymore. Now I can say that they A. Should have enough light at 3300 lumens a square foot B. Maybe they are too close or not close enough to the light.


My thoughts about the leaf drop: Possible that they are A. Getting too little of light (which shouldn’t be the case) B. They are getting burnt by hot spots from the bubble mylar or C. I have no idea…



Well, if you have any input or ideas as to why my situation is bucked up, please feel free to inform me.

Now for my overwinter; I brought in one Moruga for the winter. When I brought it in, it was thriving. New growth was popping up left and right. It was growing fast, so I asked Pepperguru what I should do. He told me I could just clip it like a bonsai tree. Well…the plant had shot a lot of branched out of the main trunk, before the split. So I cut most of those branches that had shot out, off and left all of the foliage above the first main split. After I did that, the plant didn’t do so well anymore. There really wasn’t anymore new growth and what was there although did get bigger, started to die and drop leaves. As well, the branches started to die from the top down. So I cut them back….everything started dying back more…so I cut it back more. Then one of my last (new) green branches had a dead leaf on it, so I went to pull it off and with barely any pressure, the whole branch pulled right off the plant! Hahahaha…I laughed so hard and then immediately used some cutting gel and stuck it in some soil. The pics you see below are what’s left…..ah haha, It makes me laugh so hard.

So there you have it. I know this was/is a lot to read but I wanted to be thorough lol. This way everyone’s questions are answered before they are asked and you all get an idea of where I’m at and what it took to get here.

LET THE GAMES BEGIN 2013!! Now for the pics..


SOME LEAVES THAT DROPPED

ORANGE STARBURST

CAROLINA REAPER

EXPLOSIVE EMBER

ORANGE STARBURST

BUBBLEGUM 7

INDOOR GROW

INDOOR GROW

MORUGA OVERWINTER

MORUGA CUTTING

 

[3/5King]

is it difficult to water them or you got a spigot near by?

We have a 100 foot hose we drag out to the garden and water with that. We will be getting 3 55 gallon drums to collect rain water in the near future though....then it get's interesting because my buddy and I will undoubtedly sit down and scheme up some powered watering system for it...lol

Looking great, Dave.  I planted a number of varieties from Ajijoe.  Some of them came out awesome, like my Fatalii.  Then there are quite a few "nots."    Adds a bit of mystery to the grow, hahaha! 
 
Glad to see things plugging along!  Pods look great!

Next year there will be a definitive system to our labeling....I just figured this year I'd I.D. Them as they pod up....maybe...lol

 

[3/5King]

Well, well, well....look who is back...
 
Sorry for not posting more often guys (for those who care anyway lol) 
 
I've got some photos! Oooooooooooooooooo
 
Things are going pretty good in the garden. The plants are a lot more responsive this year than last. The temperature needs to warm up and things will really take off but as of now we are having April weather in mid June. Last night was a crazy T&L Storm with a ton of rain, some hail and by the looks of a few plants, some wicked winds too. Everything is intact though. Some of the plants are getting chewed on (at my house) but nothing that I'm too worried about....yet. I think it's ants, earwigs or something of the like.
 
We've got some of the Annuums podding up and the Jalabanero too (which is an Annuum I guess) The pumpkin (some giant variety) is taking over the garden day by day....we are going to prune it back today. Use that mammoth plant to grow one big SOB. The other one we will let a few grow on. Briggy's starting to grow a little bit now that the weather warmed a little. I'd say he is around 32" tall'ish. He's the anchor of the race...you know....the guy that win's it in the end. Shane.....I'm com'in for you...
 
Don't have any pics of my garden yet but here are a few from my buddy and I's. Oh and we also made another compost tea and fed/foliar sprayed the other day.
 
On a non pepper related topic, I bought a racing style mountain bike and took a 40 mile trip on it last Sunday. It took 3.30Hrs....felt great! Except my chooch really hurts....WTF...that shit is no joke. I talked to someone and they said to get these biking shorts/boxers? that have padding in the butt area...lol. I need to look into that. I've also got my 10K coming this Sunday. Stoked about that, my goal is to finish in 1hr and 25mins. Anything more is a bonus, anything less and I will still be happy I did it. (two weeks ago I ran it in 1hr and 29mins, so I'm hoping to give a little bit extra and see what happens)
 
Well, here's the pics, I'll have more after a bumpski.
 

 

[theghostpepperstore]

Bumpity,
 
Definitely invest in a proper pair of biker shorts, your "boys" will thank you. I also recommend getting one of the seats with the cutout, which keeps the "boys" cool and takes some of the pressure off of them.

 

[Sawyer]

Nice, clean looking garden.  Mine is mostly growing future mulch... yeah, that's what I'm going to call all that grass and weeds.

 

[3/5King]

Bumpity,
 
Definitely invest in a proper pair of biker shorts, your "boys" will thank you. I also recommend getting one of the seats with the cutout, which keeps the "boys" cool and takes some of the pressure off of them.

Yes, that's the plan TGP, I'm in need for sure.

Nice, clean looking garden.  Mine is mostly growing future mulch... yeah, that's what I'm going to call all that grass and weeds.

Thanks Sawyer! If you look at the left back corner, you can see what it looked like before the newspaper and straw went down. We just payed it on top and it's worked really well so far. Some grass has shot through though.

 

[PaulG]

Hey, buddy!  Finally got to catch up on your grow - from aphids to pods,
your glog is a great read!  Really like the newspaper/straw mulch idea
for your garden beds.  Even if a few weeds or grass shoot through, you
can head 'em off at the pass before they go crazy!
 
Plants and pods looking good.  Especially those OW's.  I had about the
same results you did.  I guess that's not bad for a couple of noobs at the
OW thing!
 
Good luck with your fitness program, bro, sounds like you are going at it
pretty seriously.  I ned to do the same thing.  I was pretty good before
dad took ill and passed away last Fall.  Have put on 20+ pounds since.  
Now that the good weather is here, I want to get back to my 6-mile a day
walk.  If I do six-and -a-half, about 10K,  it takes me 1:40 when I'm in the
groove.  My goal is to get the six mile walk down to 90 minutes by October.  
We'll see.  Good luck to you, my friend!

 

[Devv]

Looks good!
 
Congrats on sticking with it!

 

[Peptacular]

Looking killer man. What are those hooked purplish peppers? Those are cool lookin. I'm sure you mentioned it earlier on but I'm a lazy arse, forgive me.

 

[3/5King]

Hey, buddy!  Finally got to catch up on your grow - from aphids to pods,
your glog is a great read!  Really like the newspaper/straw mulch idea
for your garden beds.  Even if a few weeds or grass shoot through, you
can head 'em off at the pass before they go crazy!
 
Plants and pods looking good.  Especially those OW's.  I had about the
same results you did.  I guess that's not bad for a couple of noobs at the
OW thing!
 
Good luck with your fitness program, bro, sounds like you are going at it
pretty seriously.  I ned to do the same thing.  I was pretty good before
dad took ill and passed away last Fall.  Have put on 20+ pounds since.  
Now that the good weather is here, I want to get back to my 6-mile a day
walk.  If I do six-and -a-half, about 10K,  it takes me 1:40 when I'm in the
groove.  My goal is to get the six mile walk down to 90 minutes by October.  
We'll see.  Good luck to you, my friend!
 
 
Hey Pauly boy! Nice to see you in these parts. Aphids to pods....yes, hopefully my supers have enough time to grow and give me some decent peppers, the annuums are a for sure. Now I've got something else munching on my plants! I suspect ear wigs or ants....do Box Elder bugs eat pepper plants?? The OW's are coming along, I thought that they would be way farther ahead than they are. In the end, as long as they survive and give me some pods, I'll be happy! Then I can give over wintering another shot in the fall and see if I can't have some 3rd year plants! That would be cool.
 
Get your walk on PG! That's a good size walk every day and in a pretty good time too. You'll get it down and you have such a beautiful state to walk around in....I'm jealous. I reeeeeallly want to make it out to the pacific northwest soon. It's so beautiful. I want to visit the old growth forest you have out there.....one day. 
 
 

Looks good!
 
Congrats on sticking with it!

 
 
Thanks Devv, it's a battle worth the fight.
 
 

Looking killer man. What are those hooked purplish peppers? Those are cool lookin. I'm sure you mentioned it earlier on but I'm a lazy arse, forgive me.

 
 
Hey Pep, thank you. No, I haven't mentioned the pepper's name earlier, because I don't know....lol. I planted out without having a legend of the garden. All of the names washed off of the stickers I put on the sides of the pots...It could be a Casper pepper or a Charleston....I think, one of the two. Although it's in a pot with two other plants and I don't remember what those are, so it's 50,50. If you want some seeds at the end of the year, just ask. 
 
 
 
UPDATE: Yo, yo, yo!! Well, I'm up early today. Earlier than normal that is. I have my 10K tomorrow and it starts at 8:00am, so I wanted to get up at 6:00 this morning so I can go to bed early and be up at 5:30-6:00am tomorrow morning. So far so good. 
 
I took some early morning pictures of the garden (at my house) you guys can help me figure out what is eating my pepper plants and how I should go around riding myself of their existence. You will see in the pics all of the holes and damage that bug X has done to my garden. It's not plant life threatening but I'm sure it slows them down in some way or another. Let the guessing begin! (I suspect three bugs; earwigs, ants or the mass load of box elders that came around this year; do they eat plants? IDK)
 

 
You will see some more chewing on the rest of the plant pics that I have. Some of the chewing is through the middle of the leaves, some is on the edge. I was hoping to just let them grow out of it and become so big that it didn't matter. AND, it must be happening at night because I never see any bugs on the plants really. Maybe it's slugs??.....sneaky bastards....
 
This pic below is 16 different plants that I had sown in one 1/2 gal. container. I was supposed to have separated them and potted them up into their own homes but never got around to it, so I figured why not just plant them all and see what happens. Survival of the fittest; natural selection at it's best.
 

 
This is Mr. Carolina Reaper...he started to grow and fill out, then he slowed down and hasn't done much over the last 2 weeks....I'm hoping some hot weather kicks him into overdrive. He's about a 12-14 ineches around and 10 inches to a 12 inches tall.
 

 
This is DOUBLE BUBBLE....two Bubblegum 7's growing together. (My little experiment) This plant is about the same size as the reaper...maybe a little bigger but it's (or should I say they...lol) have been growing by the day and I think should be twice the size in the next week. Hope to get some good production out of this frankenstein!
 

 
This is I believe, Maui Purple. It's starting to pod up nicely...it's a small plant but should get bigger with age. Love the color though.
 

 
SHANE, you like a comeback story right!?? Look at this funky SOB, I'm not sure what it is, but it sure did fight for it's life. This little plant is in a 1/2 gal container and is no more than 5inches wide by 4 inches tall. It shot out some flowers, they took and actually started these pods to my disbelief....hahahaha. Wonder what it's going to look like by the end of the season??
 

 
Flower Pic....it's off of the plant that will be pictured below this one. 
 

 
This is the plant the flower is from...any one have any ideas as to what kind of pepper this is....I'm going to have to go back to the beginning of my grow log and take a guess. It's shooting out a bunch of pods though...it's doing so well in it's home but it's a small home and I think I am going to pot it up, see what this sucker can do. 
 


 
This is a flower off of another Maui Pruple I believe....or maybe these plants are Purple Puru...idk..it's a crazy glog this year. (Need a bumpski for you guys to see the plant)
 

 

[Pr0digal_son]

Roll em

 

[stc3248]

Haha...all them pods!!! No need for you to be a jealous hater anymore!!!  Looking fantastic! A far cry from your early in-ground woes last year. How did that 10k go?

 

[Devv]

Plants are looking good, poddage is always a good thang!
The purple guy and the round pod guy are neat plants!
 
Nice photography there too!

 

[3/5King]

Roll em

hahaha, I left too soon. Thanks dude..
 
Better late than never.
 
This one is EXPLOSIVE EMBER, pretty...too bad it's an ornamental. I don't like the thought of not being able to eat it.
 

 
This is another MAUI PURPLE that I have growing on the bucket with the Explosive Embers
 

 
 
That's it for today, I'll have some from the other garden tomorrow. Things are getting serious over there..
 
 

Haha...all them pods!!! No need for you to be a jealous hater anymore!!!  Looking fantastic! A far cry from your early in-ground woes last year. How did that 10k go?

 
 
Yes, I have some pods, but they are not supers..lol So I am still jelly. Thank you, last year my grow went pretty good, it's the other grow at my buddies that was in shambles. This year things are doing awesome. Can't wait for a couple more weeks, things will be in full swing by then. I'll have some ripe Jalabanero's and some other cool varieties as well.
 
The 10K is tomorrow morning 8:00am. I'll post the results in the late afternoon along with some pics of the other garden.
 

Plants are looking good, poddage is always a good thang!
The purple guy and the round pod guy are neat plants!
 
Nice photography there too!

 
 
Yep, poddage is a beautiful thing! They are neat plants, I just have to figure out what the green round pods are...lol Thank you, I busted out my top of the line point and shoot...hahahaha. It does a decent job but I want a camera that has better macro abilities. 

 

[stc3248]

Aight man! Go out easy and crush the finish strong my brotha! You'll be in superville in no time!

 

[Peptacular]

Sorry to hear about the shotgun holes in some plants. that little eensy weensy one with the creamy pods is a riot! hilarious in the most awesome way. Is that plant with the small, round, green pods some kind of cherry pepper or wild variety maybe?
Oh, and I think just because a plant is ornamental doesn't mean you can't eat the pods. I sure plan on eating my ornamental thai peppers!

 

[3/5King]

Aight man! Go out easy and crush the finish strong my brotha! You'll be in superville in no time!

Thanks Shane. Actually, a buddy of mine (who lurks through the forum) brought me over some Chocolate Scorpions from Baker's Peppers..so I've got some utter hell-I mean enjoyment to get into tomorrow afterwards.

Sorry to hear about the shotgun holes in some plants. that little eensy weensy one with the creamy pods is a riot! hilarious in the most awesome way. Is that plant with the small, round, green pods some kind of cherry pepper or wild variety maybe?
Oh, and I think just because a plant is ornamental doesn't mean you can't eat the pods. I sure plan on eating my ornamental thai peppers!

Looking back at the beginning of my glog and doing a little research, I think that plant is a Capezzoli. Also referred to as monkey nipples....lol

 

[PaulG]

I had some plants with damage like that a couple of
seasons ago - turned out to be snails.  They would
eat the soft tuissue between the veins.
 
Your plants and pods are fine, indeed!

 

[DocNrock]

Your garden is looking great, Dave.  I agree with Paul, the holes in the leaves are either snails or slugs.  I get them too and have seen slugs out at night.  Even caught a couple in the act.  Love that comeback plant and lovin all the pods. 
 
Good luck on the 5k!

 

[3/5King]

I had some plants with damage like that a couple of
seasons ago - turned out to be snails.  They would
eat the soft tuissue between the veins.
 
Your plants and pods are fine, indeed!

Welp, I'm gonna have to bust out my 22 and my flashlight to start pickin' um off....little bastards.

Your garden is looking great, Dave.  I agree with Paul, the holes in the leaves are either snails or slugs.  I get them too and have seen slugs out at night.  Even caught a couple in the act.  Love that comeback plant and lovin all the pods. 
 
Good luck on the 5k!

Thank you Dock, it's not doing to bad but this weather is so cool....it's really going to effect pod production amounts, I personally think.

They have a death wish. Time for a little salt n vinegar.

That plant has no business having pods on it....I love it! Lol

 

[Dot Com]

looking good. you have more pods than me. I bet the fish fertilizer bumped em. I see a lot of maui purple salads in your future