Hey, just thought I'd swing by and say hi. I stumbled on this site totally by mistake! I've been making ridiculous hot sauces and making my own BBQ sauces for the past 5-6 years. Somewhat famous for my BBQ sauces. I was starting to think about getting into a marketplace while living in California, but then decided to move to Hawaii to teach. Then, because I love making hot sauces and there is very little agriculture here for peppers and what little there is is stupid priced (1 lb Jalepenos = $7.99 and Habaneros = 9.99!!!), I decided to start growing my own. And it's been a helluva ride.
I lost an entire 100 pepper crop because I didn't do the research on my land. It used to be an orchid farm. Orchid fertilizers and what ever else used, very bad for chili plants. Very bad. Also, we have birds here that apparently love eating peppers. Just the peppers. Bastards. Found Neem oil for that fix.
I have revitalized much of the soil here, still working on some other areas, but mostly having to grow out of greenhouse and then planting in built raised beds. Lots of problems there as you can imagine.
As a new grower, I'm glad to have found this site. Looks like ALOT of experience here!
Something I would like to offer, if there are takers, is our beautiful Hawaiian Chili pepper. I have no problem sending free seeds to you, but I warn you, something about them growing on lava rock, they do not taste the same outside of the black lava we have here. Anyway, I'd love to hear your thoughts about how to revitalize soil, is chili pepper plant growing like other agriculture, i.e. crop rotation, grow with other plants, etc.
I will send photos tomorrow, after a day of surfing, to show you my test plants. I don't want to plant 100 plants again and have them die off. So, I have 2 peach Bhut Jobol's, 2 Tortuga Scorpions, two Habaneros, a Jalapeno, Serrano, Bell peppers, Hawaiian Bells, Hawaiin Chilis and tomato plants of various heirloom varieties. Basically, they are the experiments into what the hell is going on with my soil! Either way, I have about 2 months to figure it out before my 250 seedlings grow outside of their little pots!
I'm hoping to be able to plant 50 Carolina Reapers in solid soil soon. Crazy thing, I was expecting them to germinate in about 3 weeks. Nope, 5 days. That cut my time to plant by alot. Gotta figure this out.
I lost an entire 100 pepper crop because I didn't do the research on my land. It used to be an orchid farm. Orchid fertilizers and what ever else used, very bad for chili plants. Very bad. Also, we have birds here that apparently love eating peppers. Just the peppers. Bastards. Found Neem oil for that fix.
I have revitalized much of the soil here, still working on some other areas, but mostly having to grow out of greenhouse and then planting in built raised beds. Lots of problems there as you can imagine.
As a new grower, I'm glad to have found this site. Looks like ALOT of experience here!
Something I would like to offer, if there are takers, is our beautiful Hawaiian Chili pepper. I have no problem sending free seeds to you, but I warn you, something about them growing on lava rock, they do not taste the same outside of the black lava we have here. Anyway, I'd love to hear your thoughts about how to revitalize soil, is chili pepper plant growing like other agriculture, i.e. crop rotation, grow with other plants, etc.
I will send photos tomorrow, after a day of surfing, to show you my test plants. I don't want to plant 100 plants again and have them die off. So, I have 2 peach Bhut Jobol's, 2 Tortuga Scorpions, two Habaneros, a Jalapeno, Serrano, Bell peppers, Hawaiian Bells, Hawaiin Chilis and tomato plants of various heirloom varieties. Basically, they are the experiments into what the hell is going on with my soil! Either way, I have about 2 months to figure it out before my 250 seedlings grow outside of their little pots!
I'm hoping to be able to plant 50 Carolina Reapers in solid soil soon. Crazy thing, I was expecting them to germinate in about 3 weeks. Nope, 5 days. That cut my time to plant by alot. Gotta figure this out.
!
