Aussie Burnzy's first grow log

G'day,
 
So Im starting this early (really early),
 
We are in the lead up to winter in Melbourne but preparation should always start early. Fair to say nothing of mine has started yet, let alone finished. It's not my first year growing peppers but it is my first year growing more exotic peppers.
My inspiration came from tasting reaper paste. HOLY SH!T Ba!!$ that was hot! But I liked it. Now I cant get enough. Sad but true....
 
I really want to start this log so I can keep track of updates for myself. I've seen so many awesome logs on here that I kinda feel like I need this to keep it all in one place myself. So it's not about you, it's about me lol.
 
My list as it is:
 
From http://thehippyseedcompany.com/ Efficient dispatch, less than 24 hours perfect!
THSC Chocolate Trinidad Scorpion
THSC 7 Pod Douglah
Dorset Naga
Fatali Pepper
Pimenta de Neyde
Red Cayenne Pepper
 
From http://www.wildfirechilli.com.au/ Well, AFAIK it hasnt left yet and ordered a day before THSC. Hopefully my goods arrive....eventually.
Smoking Ed's Carolina Reaper
Jay's Peach Ghost Scorpion
Moruga Scorpion
 
On top of this I have a few things I want to test. Im a beginner folks so what happens happens. I have some plants that are doing OK this year that I want to try seeds from and overwinter. "Not isolated...nothing special...really just to see what will happen. Aldo have a handful of dare I say supermarket seeds. C'mon man supermarket seeds are cool as! They're free and that fits well with me. If they come out true then even better.

What I will be trying:
Butch T From Chilli Factory - Will also try to overwinter this one.
Orange Habanero From Bunnings
Red Habanero From Coles...We will see.
 
I currently have a fridge that was highjacked at an earlier stage and met face to face with a grinder and now has 2 'vent' holes either side of it. (makes some ripper salami and killer Prosciutto) and now has a new life of growing seed. Currently in testing but here it is:

 
Taking a look at the year as it is:
 
Butch T:
Great looking healthy plant but only 6 pods in March. A little disappointing but will use the seeds.
 

 
Seeds from this pod:

 
Orange Habanero that struggled a little to start but pushing daisies all day long now:

 

 

[Shorerider]

Bump. It's been two weeks, can we have an update please? 

 

[Burnzy]

Bump. It's been two weeks, can we have an update please? 

Well I had been trying to hold of until I have pods on my chinense peppers but since your asking here's a bunch of picks from today.
 
I noticed yesterday the bees were very busy in my chilli bed so now I wait. Hopefully by next week I'll start seeing pods. Loads of flowers and buds all over the plants so as long as they don't all drop things are looking good!
 
WARNING: This post is extremely pic heavy but will be the last growth post until I start posting pods I left most of the pics full size in this post for detail. Taken from my Galaxy S6
 

 
Red Moruga

 
Smaller Red Moruga

 
Dorest Naga (this almost died but is coming back ok.

 
2 x Fatalii

 
2 x Jays Peach

 
Carolina Reaper

 
Chocolate Douglah

 
Cayennes. Currently covered in flowers and baby pods. Second round for the season on these.

 
Tepins (reaper to the left and Chocolate Douglah to the right). Very happy tepins

 
Couple of bud/flower picks. Hard to see but they are covered in both

 
Now for the plants out back.
 
This overwintered/volunteer birds eye is about 70cm (28") wide and about 40cm (16") high. Pumping out the pods and certainly the largest I've ever had. Nice heat on these too! The one at the top of pic is another volunteer that stayed in the garden bed. These were a test to see which came out the best. The large one I potted up for the winter and sat under my patio with about 3 hours sun. Remarkable difference!

 
Birds eye pods

 
Smokenmirraz. If you see this post this pic is for you. . A couple Potnall's I picked up in December. A little late in the season but might get a couple pods from them and will overwinter. One the left is a Trinidad Scorpion Chocolate and the right is a Naga Bhut Jolokia.

 
So there it is! Now I wait for pods!
Happy growing to you all!

 

[smokenmirraz]

Smokenmirraz. If you see this post this pic is for you. . A couple Potnall's I picked up in December. A little late in the season but might get a couple pods from them and will overwinter. One the left is a Trinidad Scorpion Chocolate and the right is a Naga Bhut Jolokia.

Looking good, Burnzy.  That's quite a collection you've got!  Most of my potsnall seedlings from this season are at least 60cm tall, most are budding up, and a couple have flowers.  Hopefully I'll get something off them this season, and I'll be able to overwinter a few.
 
Oh, and happy Australia Day, mate!

 

[jiri styles]

very nice plants super bushy and big, what nutrients do you use ?

 

[Burnzy]

Oh, and happy Australia Day, mate!

Same to you mate. None of the usual shenanigans for me this year though. The missus has to work to 7pm so I'm home with the kids. I'll make my own fun!

very nice plants super bushy and big, what nutrients do you use ?

Very little actually. Early on they had only been fed worm casting AACT which was making the front bed plants struggle a bit due to new soil and new worm bin. Shoreider suggested powerfeed so going against my original plan of only organics I needed a quick fix so gave them a feed of this and some epsom salts since. I added as per instructions and was too strong. I fed again Sunday at half strength.
http://www.seasol.com.au/products/72/PowerFeed-for-Vegies
Plants out the back haven't been fed except for the compost on top of existing soil. Been growing in the back beds for about 6 years now with just compost added each year. Everything grows exceptionally well out there except for when the snails and slugs march in. Gotta keep them bastards in check!

 

[Needle99]

Looking good

 

[Shorerider]

Everything looks great mate, certainly a far cry from where things were a while back. Even the Cayennes seem to have perked up since your last post. 
 
You said that the Powerfeed was too strong, why? I feed my seedlings 1/2 strength once they get their first set of leaves, then once established in my garden or a pot, bump it up to full strength (50ml per 9 litres of water) once a week if nothing else. Only full strength for soil feeding though, foliar should be backed off to half strength. 
 
Anyway, thanks for the update, things are looking great so far.
 
 
SR.

 

[Burnzy]

Everything looks great mate, certainly a far cry from where things were a while back. Even the Cayennes seem to have perked up since your last post. 
 
You said that the Powerfeed was too strong, why? I feed my seedlings 1/2 strength once they get their first set of leaves, then once established in my garden or a pot, bump it up to full strength (50ml per 9 litres of water) once a week if nothing else. Only full strength for soil feeding though, foliar should be backed off to half strength. 
 
Anyway, thanks for the update, things are looking great so far.
 
 
SR.

Maybe I'm wrong but after feeding I noticed a lot of crimping of the new leaves that I never really seen before. Also with the quick sappy growth the new branches were at times limp like they hadn't yet been able to build the strength to hold themselves straight. After a few days or so they became strong and were fine from then on in. I did foliar and soil feed with the same 9 litres.
 
Here's the leaves:

 
and here:

 
Would that be something else? I mixed as per instructions, 50ml (5 caps) to 9 litre watering can. It says for 2-4m2 so used a whole watering can on the bed since it's 2.4m x 1.2 (or just slightly under).
 
Another question while you're around. I noticed one of the plants dropping new leaves on the top of the plant. We had constant drizzle over a couple days. Could this be why they dropped the new leaves?
 
Thanks for all your help.

 

[karoo]

First of all , Happy Australia Day! 
 
Great grow and garden. Don't be too hard on yourself , those plants look great.
The leaves had a very short term setback in their development , it is not a long term problem.
Maybe one day of severe heat or cold shock.

 

[Meteora 360]

Growing outside in Januar, wow! I´m very jealous!
Plants looking great and i´m can´t wait to see more pictures!!

 

[Shorerider]

Crumpled or curly leaves could be over fertilization, but I doubt this is the case with your plants. Over fertilization is usually diagnosed by the outer edges of leaves drying/dying.
 
It can also occur due to lack of calcium in the soil. Adding Dolomite lime is a good way to boost calcium, as is adding Gypsum or Bone meal (Blood and bone). It can't hurt to add some Dolomite lime, it will also reduce chances of Blossom end rot on pods later.
 
I'd sprinkle with Blood and Bone as a replacement feed then wait a couple of weeks before you feed again. I'd reccommend a thorough watering in after applying the B&B so wait until things dry out first, or apply just before decent rain. If the B&B gets wet but stays on the leaves, this will also cause leaf burn.
 
It's fine to foliar feed with the half strength Powerfeed, but you definitely don't want to foliar feed with full strength because you can cause leaf burn. Soil watering with half strength will slow things down if it's the only food your plants are getting. 
 
As for the new leaves dropping, it may have something to do with the rain you've had (could even be the lack of calcium). I don't use mulch, as peppers like to dry out between waterings. Perhaps the prolonged rain, combined with the mulch could be causing the root zone to remain wetter for longer.
 
Unless things get drastically worse, I wouldn't over think things, and just let them do their thing.
 
 
Happy Australia Day guys and Gals,
 
 
SR.

 

[Burnzy]

First C. Chinense pods are starting to form! Fatalii pictured, still very small but looks good! About 10 are forming on this plant. The rest look like they'll have mini pods on them in the next few days. Happy days for me!
 

 
I was getting very concerned they were taking too long to pod up so now I feel a little relief.

 

[smokenmirraz]

First C. Chinense pods are starting to form! Fatalii pictured, still very small but looks good! About 10 are forming on this plant. The rest look like they'll have mini pods on them in the next few days. Happy days for me!
I was getting very concerned they were taking too long to pod up so now I feel a little relief.

 
Excellent news, mate.  We've got a couple more months of warmish weather to grow more pods

 

[Burnzy]

Hey folks,
 
Just a quick update of pics. Pods are starting to grow but still small. Quite a few tiny ones starting to form on the Dorset Naga, Red Moruga, Reaper and Douglah so hopefully in the next few weeks I'll have a stack of pods on each!
 
Jays Peach

 
Fatalii pics.

 

 

 
 

 

[Burnzy]

Pods are coming along nicely. Not as many as I'd like and a fair amount of flower drop this last week due to 3 days rain followed by a couple warm days.
 
I'm actually really looking forward to over-wintering a few of these. I'll pot them up in a few months and If I can remember to move them inside on the cold nights I think they'll hold up well. Only a few will make the grade though. There's a couple that just aren't performing at all. With those I'll start again with new seeds.
 
Jays peach. It's the only one so far.

 
Fatalii. Probably 40 pods on this one.

 
One of about 5 Red Moruga pods so far.

 
One of two 'Smoking Ed's' Carolina Reapers.

 
Here's the chilli bed as it is now. I would say these are still much smaller than I originally expected. I have a total of 14 plants in this bed. Next year I'll reduce that to 8. That will allow about 4 square foot of space for each plant and close to 150 liters of raised bed soil each. They are free to root lower although this year there was a fair amount of cardboard placed under the soil. By next season it should be well and truly broken down. Although the soil below is quite rich in nutrients it's also clay so will take some time to be of significant benefit.

 
My Trinidad Scorpion Chocolate and  Naga Bhut Jolokia out back got smashed by a couple slugs. I couldn't find any sign of them during the day so went out with a torch at night and found 3 fats slugs enjoying the smorgasbord. Fair to say they didn't make it out alive but the damage was already done. They're surviving well so make the list of 2 over-winters.

 
Hopefully soon I'll have some ripe pods to enjoy!
 

 

[Shorerider]

Good stuff mate, and nice work on those slugs. I've been picking the odd pod here and there, but my plants are loaded with unripe pods.
 
If you think your beds are crowded, youshould see mine. 
 
 
SR.

 

[Burnzy]

Good stuff mate, and nice work on those slugs. I've been picking the odd pod here and there, but my plants are loaded with unripe pods.
 
If you think your beds are crowded, youshould see mine. 
 
 
SR.

Would you care to share your chillies shorerider? Would love to see them! Throw a few pics up here!

It's been a year of learning for me. Next year will be bigger and better. Still, i'm getting some pods so I'm happy.

 

[Shorerider]

Sure, I'll take a few pics tomorrow and start a new thread, I don't want to clog up your Glog with my pics.
 
SR.

 

[Needle99]

Wonder if any of the neighborhood kids will "sample" and of your pods

 

[Burnzy]

Sure, I'll take a few pics tomorrow and start a new thread, I don't want to clog up your Glog with my pics.
 
SR.

 
Please feel welcome to shorerider. No need to start a new thread if ya don't want. 

Wonder if any of the neighborhood kids will "sample" and of your pods

Haha! Fair to say they'd only do it once!

Been finding a few of these guys in the front garden lately. The mother must have left her eggs on one of the leaves. Glad to say they are a welcome visitor! Hope I can keep them around! If you can't see it look for the praying mantis. Only about 4cm long so still a baby.