Aaron's GLOG - Update July 30 - POD Shots inside.

OCD Chilehead · Mar 25, 2014

Looks great. Nice list. Good luck.

Nulle · Mar 25, 2014

Impressive list. Good luck with your grow.

Penny · Mar 25, 2014

Nice...looks good! :dance:

cone9 · May 21, 2014

Big list! How they doing now?

KingLeerUK · May 22, 2014

I"m curious what your eventual plant-out or grow-out space will be; this is a huge list and you have a LOT of seedlings going.

Ragnar · May 23, 2014

Thank you for all the replies!

Unfortunately I've been incredibly busy this last bit and haven't really had time to keep on top of this. On the plus side we just got back from 2 weeks on Caye Caulker in Belize (diving the Blue Hole and the outer atolls was incredible!) and I've been working outside on a few things for my mum in my down time...retaining walls etc. Here is a photo from April 24:

On to my pepper journey!

Unfortunately we don't own a house as of yet because we hope to move South, so my mum has offered up the side of her house (along with a few other spots for nicer looking pots...) and my girlfriend’s parents have offered us a fair-sized sunny plot out in the back end of their yard for peppers, herbs, and some tomatoes. I am a lucky man!

My main grow strip only gets about 6hrs of sun per day. Last year I had a few plants there and they did OK; I got around 20 ripe fruits off store bought hab starts that were a lot younger and over-watered. If I get 1/2 that on each plant this year I will be pleased because for me this year is all about finding some favourite chinense varieties. In the sunny plot I have no clue what to expect and with the other scattered bunch in pots I figure I’ll do OK.

We are amending and planting into the ground on Sunday, so that will be an adventure, and I potted out my main grow yesterday - 60 3 gallon bags. After that I will have odds and ends and a handful of homeless to figure out what to do with.

In the pots I went with Al's 5-1-1 mix. Originally I had planned to go all organic with root pouches and the whole nine yards but I did a last-minute about-face when I read a little into the 5-1-1. (5-1-1 is 5 parts pine bark, 1 part peat, 1 part perlite). My decision is based on a few things. First off, my biggest issue (I think) both last season and with my starts this season has been watering. Too much, too little, it has driven me freaking bananas. So when I found this mix it was extremely attractive due to its fast-draining properties. Especially since I will be the giver of water only half the time this will give me the peace of mind to sleep at night. The only nutrition added to it is some time-release miracle grow. When I water I’ll use a nicer low-dose liquid and they’ll get straight water when my mum helps out. I really hope it works out, I’ve heard mixed reviews but I think as long as I make sure they are well-fed I’ll be good to go. On a side note, tediously picking the sapwood out of 20 cubic feet of bark was a serious pain in the ass. Here is a photo of pepper row with two pots still to go… quality is crap because it’s iphoned. Yes, they are VERY close together. I’m not expecting huge plants here… if they explode I’ll gladly navigate a jungle to pick more peppers than I expect.

I picked up 6 Jalapenos and 4 Ring of Fire Cayenne as well and would still like to add a Thai and maybe Tobasco. Red Caribean Habs have been cut as well as Red Congo Habs.

My plan in the long run now is to over-winter my, say, 25 favourite chinense and pubes and then limit myself to 25 early starts over the winter for a total of fifty plants max. This year I will have around 100. I don’t know how that happened because at the end of last summer I planned for 30. Whoops. I think though one of the main reasons for having so many is as a backup for the 5-1-1 mix. I am excited about it but at the same time modestly nervous about getting everything dialed in quickly enough.

Here is the per-plot list:

Pepper alley:
7 Pots – Red, Yellow, White, Jonah, Burgundy, Brown x2 , BBG, Primo, Red Brain, Yellow Brain
Bhuts – Red, Assam x2, BOC, Chocolate, Peach, Yellow, Bih
Scorpions – Yellow, Chocolate, Moruga Red, Moruga Yellow, Moruga Brown
Other Supers – Reaper x2, Billy Boy Douglah, SB7J, Jay’s Peach Ghost-Scorpion x2
Habs Etc. – Cumari do Para, Fatalii x2, White Fatalii, MOA x2, CGN 21500, Jamaican Hot Chocoate, Chocolate Hab, Mustard Hab, Golden Hab, Datil, Red Devil’s Tongue
Pubes – Yellow Manzano x2, Orange Manzano x2, Red GT Rocoto, Mystery Seed Train Pube
Baccatum – Lemondrop x2, Bishop’s Crown x2
Anuum – Golden Cayenne x2, Jalapeno x6

Peat-mix Pots.. Full Sun, Same Property:
Cumari do Para x3 (hangin baskets!), Reaper, Fatalii White, CGN 21500, Brown Moruga, Lemondrop x2 but same pot.

Girlfriend’s Parents In Ground:
Cumari do Para x2, 7 Yellow Jonah Burgundy White, Red and Yellow Brains, Assam and Peach Bhut, Reaper, Fatalii, MOA

I’ve given about a dozen to a friend who grew some habs last year and have about a dozen homeless (many of which are in poor shape) and a remaining ten I would like to find something to do with…

I’ll try to get the camera and up some better pics when everyone is planted out. Thanks for looking.

Chewi · Jun 4, 2014

How are the white fatalii doing?

Ragnar · Jun 8, 2014

Chewi said:
How are the white fatalii doing?

Of the two I planted they are both doing excellent; the one I have in promix is growing -- but a bit slow -- but the one in the 5-1-1 mix has exploded and tripled in size since plant out. EDIT: actually the white fatlii looks to be the largest of my chinenses as of today after being one of the smallest and least healthy at plant-out.

Here are a few pics I took on my crappy phone with a scratched lens (gf has the camera I'll try to get it soon, just been so busy with things...) of the growth taken may 30:

Annuums and Baccatums, Pubes, and a few Chins, solo shot is the Assam Bhut:

I found a minor pest, well a few now. Kinda feel bad crunching them because they're really pretty cool looking. Meet the clavate tortoise beetle -- I thought he was bird poop until he moved!

So everyone in pepper row is loving the mix and really getting some size. Until a couple days ago I've been pinching buds but I'm sick of that and will just let them do their thing from here on out. Promix and my own mix peppers are doing OK but haven't shown huge growth like the the ones in bark. No idea how the in grounds are doing.

I added some tomatoes... black cherry, wild cherry, lemonboy, a brown variety I saved seed from from the grocery store kumato or something I think?, and another larger variety - either purple cherokee or brandywine ... they're from a friend and she had both but I forget which she gave me now lol. Time will tell I guess.

I also impulse-bought 6 basil varieties and made two big mix pots. Love basil, especially in salad, and now we have 6 types to try! Sweet, cinnamon, lemon, thai, regular, and a red variety.

Also, I'm incredibly happy with this 5-1-1 mix. No rain worries. No over-watering worries. Huge growth. I don't think I'll ever go back to anything peat-based again in containers.

Chewi · Jun 9, 2014

Kumato and white fatalii! Rock on man! Two awesome ones! Keep us posted on the maters too!

Ragnar · Jun 10, 2014

PHOTO UPDATE!!

Finally got to take a couple shots with the camera.

Top brown pot clockwise: Assam Bhut, CGN21500, White Fatalii, Cumari do Para x2

From far left clockwise in bags Jays Peach GhostScorp, Devil's Tongue, Jamaican Hot Choc, Choc Hab. Little guys in the back: Yellow fatalii and red moruga...

Biggy here is a white fatalii, purple foliage is a CGN21500,

Top 2 yellow fatalii's, then 2 reapers, Bushy SB7J in the bottom

Billy Boy Douglah and Yellow moruga

Some Bhuts!

Brainstrains!

Golden Cayennes

And 10 is a hanging Cumari do Para bushing out as they seem to like to do! I have six of these and have big plans for a hopefully huge number of tiny pods.

Been seeing more and more tortoise beetles. Little bastards. Crunch crunch crunch under the boot.

chile_freak · Jun 11, 2014

Very nice plants my brother you will be swimming in pods soon enough! I hear ya on the over planting, my first year I started w/ 18 plants from a nursery, then I found this site started some seeds and ended up w/ 178 plants :o

Runescape · Jun 11, 2014

Plants lookin neat... nice.

Ragnar · Jun 18, 2014

The War on Pests has begun. :fire:

Slugs and earwigs are making a run at pepper row. Noticeable munched holes are appearing increasingly. Took to the trenches just now and the kill count stands at 29. Little bastards! It makes me sooo mad to actually see them chewing the fresh tender new growth. I will be making a second run in a bit. Maybe a third at dawn. Most of the slugs and earwigs looked pretty small still, which is good, get em while their guts are still small.

Going to pick up some DE and maybe make some slug traps or something. GRRRR. :snooty:

Edit: Round 2 @ 2am nabbed another thirty enemies. So, basically, that's about one baddy per plant in the affected area.

Ragnar · Jul 30, 2014

Well it's about time I get around to an update so I took some pics. Lots of green pods, most plants have full-sized pods. Got a few surprises.

Bug situation kinda fizzled out. Put down slug poison a couple times. That's about it. Have a few sick plants. Not too worried though. Finally learned to just let 'em go do their thing. I figure any pest/sickness stress will just make the peppers hotter and I have enough to have a large yield and lose some.

A little concerned that the pods forming in the coming week or two will have enough time to ripen but those are hurdles for later in the season.

Anyway, here is my update, I'm quite proud that I've done so well considering the endless rain and cool temps.

Thanks for looking!

cone9 · Jul 30, 2014

Looking really good, Aaron. Your plants are setting some nice pods. You'll have quite a harvest when they ripen.

Big Kahuna · Jul 30, 2014

Plants are looking great, they seem to be coping with the wet weather much better that most of mine. I think you made the right choice with the 5-1-1 mix.