Avon Barksdale's 2011

[Avon Barksdale]

Edit: Pictures should be working now, sorry. :o

It's been a while since I posted any pics, my children are all grown up now. They grow up so quickly. Within the next month I should have a new phone so I'll be able to post better pictures, and should be able to post more since they'll be easier and quicker to upload with a smart phone. Backyard gets a lot of shade from a giant oak tree and about 6,052 mulberry trees, so it's hard to get good lighting too. But here goes...

I'm not sure I have all the plants labeled correctly because I don't have any way to label them as I take pictures, so I'm going from memory, could have mixed some up. These are all in 7 gallon nursery pots:

Red Scotch Bonnet

Yellow Bhut Jolokia

Yellow Fatalii

Family Portrait, that's the JV Section in the back.

Cumari Pollux from Wayright, started very late but catching up very nicely.

Brazilian Starfish, I would guess this one has about 40-50 pods on it all with the awesome pod shape of the Brazilian Starfish. Strange to see such uniformity of pod shape. Haven't had a taste yet, but I really like this one so far.

 

[Avon Barksdale]

A few of the pods from the Brazilian Starfish

A Bih Jolokia, loading up with pods. This one has probably 30-40 small pods and a lot more flowers on it.

Same Bih Jolokia plant

Bhut Jolokia, very large but not a whole lot of pods. Pods just started to set on this one in the last couple weeks

I think this is a chiltepin, but I'm not sure. This was started very late also, but is growing very quickly, although it's not really setting pods yet. I think there may be a couple there but very few if any yet.

 

[Avon Barksdale]

Aji cristal pods. This plant is pretty large and fruiting like a champion. It has about 10 full sized pods that are taking for ever to ripen. It was one of the first producers.

Cumari from Wayright started very late, but catching up.

Another family photo. I have about 70 chiles in pots, and another 40-50 in the ground that you can see in the background. The large plants to the right are tomatillos. To the right of those are blueberries, raspberries, figs, currents, strawberries and other fruit trees/shrubs, but they're not really in the picture. I would post some pictures of the ones in the ground, but after seeing Silver Surfer's garden I'm embarrassed to. They're mostly annums and frutescens are were started pretty late anyways, along with some less desirable chinenses, but they're starting to pack on some size and a few pods.

Red Scotch Bonnet pod, doesn't really have the right Scotch Bonnet shape, but should be a good pepper anyway.

 

[SRBII]

Wow
your plants all look amazing
those pods look
nice work!!

 

[madhatter]

Plants look great AB. Lots of green in those photos. Colour in your camera might be a little off but the pods are coming along nicely. Hard to find a red scotch bonnet with the true bonnet shape. Senegal hot peppers are the best ones iv'e found so far.
thanks for sharing

 

[Bleash]

Very nice plants!

Keep up the good work.

Bleash

 

[wayright]

Man your plants are looking great Tyler!
And ya got some nice size pods already too!
I wouldnt worry about a late start on tha Cumari!
You will get tired of picking those!
After about the 5000th pod you may give up!
Great work man!!

Kevin

 

[Avon Barksdale]

Thanks everyone, things seem to be going pretty well, but I'm battling a number of pests, mostly mites. I've been spraying thoroughly every few days but I still keep seeing new damage, although relatively minor it's slowing some plants down. They haven't done any major damage so far but I don't want to let them get out of control. I've had a few peach aphids but I think I killed them, haven't seen any in a awhile. The flea beetles are too busy eating the tomatillos to worry about my chiles or anything else. I have seen a few assassin bugs and today I saw my first lady bug, hopefully there will be more. Tons of lightning bugs on my plants too, hopefully their larvae is eating some slugs. Also have a lot of wasps hanging around my plants. Not sure what they're doing around my plants, maybe they're just there for the gang bang.

To think it wasn't that long ago that there were sub zero temperatures and ice storms were knocking out the power for days at a time and I was packing Jesus candles in the seedling closet to try to protect them from frost.

Plants look great AB. Lots of green in those photos. Colour in your camera might be a little off but the pods are coming along nicely. Hard to find a red scotch bonnet with the true bonnet shape. Senegal hot peppers are the best ones iv'e found so far.
thanks for sharing

Yeah I think you're right, after I posted I was thinking that the pictures seem to have a weird tint to them. I think I'm going to activate my friend's old Droid 2 tomorrow and start using that.

Man your plants are looking great Tyler!
And ya got some nice size pods already too!
I wouldnt worry about a late start on tha Cumari!
You will get tired of picking those!
After about the 5000th pod you may give up!
Great work man!!

Kevin

Thanks, and thanks again for the seeds! I'm looking forward to the cumari and cumari pollux, they're growing really quickly so I'm ready. I just checked the cumari pollux and I swear it seems like it's grown a few inches since yesterday.

 

[Mr. T]

Thanks everyone, things seem to be going pretty well, but I'm battling a number of pests, mostly mites. I've been spraying thoroughly every few days but I still keep seeing new damage, although relatively minor it's slowing some plants down. They haven't done any major damage so far but I don't want to let them get out of control. I've had a few peach aphids but I think I killed them, haven't seen any in a awhile. The flea beetles are too busy eating the tomatillos to worry about my chiles or anything else. I have seen a few assassin bugs and today I saw my first lady bug, hopefully there will be more. Tons of lightning bugs on my plants too, hopefully their larvae is eating some slugs. Also have a lot of wasps hanging around my plants. Not sure what they're doing around my plants, maybe they're just there for the gang bang.

To think it wasn't that long ago that there were sub zero temperatures and ice storms were knocking out the power for days at a time and I was packing Jesus candles in the seedling closet to try to protect them from frost.



Yeah I think you're right, after I posted I was thinking that the pictures seem to have a weird tint to them. I think I'm going to activate my friend's old Droid 2 tomorrow and start using that.




Thanks, and thanks again for the seeds! I'm looking forward to the cumari and cumari pollux, they're growing really quickly so I'm ready. I just checked the cumari pollux and I swear it seems like it's grown a few inches since yesterday.

Avon,
Would you mind providing a quick summary of your soil mix, fert type(s) and schedule, etc...?

 

[Tonly]

Everything looks great.
If those aji cristal are going too slow, go ahead and try one. I think they are pretty good before fully ripe.

 

[Avon Barksdale]

Avon,
Would you mind providing a quick summary of your soil mix, fert type(s) and schedule, etc...?

Sure. I haven't had much of a schedule, I just feed them when I think they need it. They were started in Pro-Mix Ultimate Organic Mix (BX is much better, but the Ultimate Organic is the only one I can find locally) and fed only fish emulsion (5-1-1) and CalMag until they went outside. For the few months they were inside I probably fed them with fish emulsion about 4 or 5 times, using about 1-1.5 teaspoons per gallon of water. They got a little CalMag probably 5 or 6 times, probably about a teaspoon per gallon for that too.

Outside they're in Pro-Mix BX mixed with some other stuff. I mixed it up and threw various things in there, but for the most part the mixture is something like this (by volume), as far as I can guesstimate since I didn't measure anything:

60% Pro Mix BX
13% Composted Manure
7% Mushroom Compost
15% Spagnum Peat Moss (just to stretch it out a bit)
5% extra perlite

I mixed it in a wheelbarrow (just the top piece, too poor to buy the bottom too ) using a shovel. Each wheelbarrow of mix was enough for about 5-6 7 gallon pots (6.15 gallon actual capacity). In each wheelbarrow of mix I added about 4-5 large handfuls of Dr. Earth Tomato, Vegetable and Herb Fertilizer. It consists of "fish bone meal, feather meal, kelp meal, alfalfa meal, soft rock phosphate, fish meal, mined potassium sulfate, humic acid, seaweed extract, PRO-BIOTIC™ seven champion strains of beneficial soil microbes plus Ecto and Endo Mycorrhizae.". Some of the later plants got Epsoma Vegetable Fertilizer instead of Dr. Earth.

Except for what's in the mix they haven't received anything since they've been outside except for CalMag twice, probably about 2 teaspoons per gallon of water, and 2 diluted (probably about 1/8th strength) foliar sprays of Miracle Grow (cringe) Tomato Food and a little Epsom salt. I had just gotten a nice pump sprayer ($8 cheapo model from Lowe's, but it works really well) and wanted to play around with it.

 

[Avon Barksdale]

Everything looks great.
If those aji cristal are going too slow, go ahead and try one. I think they are pretty good before fully ripe.

Yeah I'm going to, just don't want to pull the ones that have already been full sized for 3 weeks because they should be turning red any day now. But the next group that gets to full sized I'm definitely going to pull a few. I've heard some say they taste better green.

I think it's kind of like the saying a watched pot never boils...apparently a watched pod never ripens, because I've been checking these guys every day and still nothing. I have two Macapá reds that are finally starting to turn, they're completely buried in foliage so I hadn't checked them for awhile. That plant is the densest thing I've ever seen, it looks like it has some sort of weird mutation. Just leaves on top of leaves on top of leaves. It's not very tall but growing well. It had 2 full sized pod on it when it was still 6 inches tall and in a tiny 3.25" pot, it's a strange plant. The pods managed to reach a good size before I noticed them and I just didn't have the heart to pinch them, hopefully I'll get to try those within a few days.

 

[Avon Barksdale]

Large Red Rocoto on the left, Canario on the right. These guys do not like full sun at all, they looked sad and depressed in full sun, so now they're getting some shade from the walnut tree.

Insect ID?

Lady bug porn! Doing the nasty on my Super Chile. I saw about 5-6 Lady bugs, good sign! Tried to snap a picture of an assassin bug but he was being shy and kept going under the leaf and into the dense foliage.

"Bhut Jolokia" from the local nursery, if this is a bhut jolokia I'm jet pilot.

Brazilian starfish pods...this is going to be a good producer!

 

[Avon Barksdale]

Pimenta de Neyde, I wasn't very nice to this guy for a long time but he's coming on strong now.

Had a problem trying activate the Droid 2, hopefully next post will have better looking pictures when I get it activated.

 

[armac]

Beautiful plants

 

[menotume]

Very nice. I just hope mine get that big by the end of the season

 

[Avon Barksdale]

Found out what this is...it's a Zelus Luridus, another type of assassin bug.

 

[Avon Barksdale]

Ok so my photography skills suck, but I got the Droid 2 activated so at least the pictures will look better now. I had some trouble getting the right focus on some pics, but at least that weird bluish tint is gone.

Trinidad Scorpion Moruga Blend

Purple Jalapeño

On another purple jalapeño the pods are growing upright.

Bhut jolokia

Tag got lost on this one, maybe a Ring of Fire Cayenne? Siling Labuyo? Don't know...

Cili Goronong

 

[Avon Barksdale]

Cili Goronong

Today's harvest, first ripe pods have been trickling in for the last week, should have larger harvests this coming week. Ají limo, Macapá Red, Caribbean Red, Bih Jolokia, A Brazilian Starfish, Jamaican Red Scotch Bonnet, Ají cristal. Also just picked a Datil, not pictured here.

Pimenta de Neydey

Fataliis, looking a little skinny, maybe a cross?

 

[Avon Barksdale]

Jamaican Red Hot (annum). This plant is podding up very nicely. It's loaded with about 30 Biker Billy sized peppers, and the pods have a nice, unusual shape for an annum. Haven't tried it yet but if it's hot and good it will be a keeper. He's the middle bottom right guy in the third pic.

Cumari, he is only 2 feet tall tops but he is a very wide, stout guy loaded with pods. Definitely my most hassle free plant, nothing fazes him and he's extremely drought tolerant.