Bierz's 2015 Chicago Rooftop Grow

I haven't had a garden for a few years and decided to start growing some peppers on my roof in Chicago.  I originally planned to have 4 plants, and Dru (SmokenFire) offered to give me a few plants, as we're in the same city.  I met with Dru and not only did he have four healthy plants for me, but also several bottles of his delicious hot sauce, some seeds, powders and even a CD.  Great guy.
 
I decided to go a bit bigger on the garden and went to a local nursery and picked up some more plants.  To add to that, I found a seller on Craigslist who had ghost pepper, trinidad moruga scorpion and ed's carolina reaper seedlings for sale.  I got to his house and he showed me a 3 year old ghost pepper plant that he kept in a greenhouse.  Yes, I'll take that too.  I grew ghost peppers 2 years ago and by the time frost hit I only had one ripe pod.  I'm hoping this head start will change all that. 
 
I now have 14 plants going.  All are in 7 gallon smart pots aside from  the 3 yr old ghost, which I decided not to re-pot. 
 
June 9, 2015

Top row, starting in the smart pot: Yalova Charleston, Gheong Yang Gochu, Big Jim, Ghost (3yr old), Habanero, Count Dracula, Ghost (weathered badly)
Second row, starting in the smart pot: Sulu Adana, ghost, lemon drop, trinidad moruga scorpion 2x, ed's california reaper 2x
 
 
June 16, 2015

Same layout as before
 

Cool little spider on one of my ghost plants
 

Early pod on the plant the nursery called a Count Dracula.  Any idea on what this may be?  Purple and ripens to red, so they say.
 
 
July 2, 2015

 
 
July 2, 2015

This and the next two pictures are pods from the 3 year old ghost pepper plant I bought.  Do they look like ghost pods?
 

 

 

This is a pod from the nursery bought ghost pepper plant and looks like the classic bhut jolokia, and I don't think the other really does.  Input is very welcome.
 

This is a pod from one of the plants Dru gave me,  Offhand I can't recall which.
 
More updates as the garden progresses.  Thanks for reading, and any advice/information is always welcome!

 

[bierz]

 
That was with the regular lens.  I think 18-55.  I also have a longer zoom lens. that goes up to 300 I think.  There was no editing or touch-up on the pics. 

 
Another trick to get the depth of field as shallow as you're able is to have your lens fully zoomed.  You should give that 300 a try from just over its minimum focusing distance.  

 

[bierz]

Big ol' harvest tonight.
 

 

[grantmichaels]

Awesome!

 

[bierz]

One of my favorite uses for my macro lens is to do some focus stacking.  I don't have the ideal gear (a slider rail), but this is a merged image of 10 shots with varying focal planes.  These are reapers
 
 

 

[tsurrie]

beautiful shots, really nice!
Is the blur behind the reapers natural? it's post process isn't it? try a bit less blurring maybe ?

 

[bierz]

beautiful shots, really nice!
Is the blur behind the reapers natural? it's post process isn't it? try a bit less blurring maybe ?

 
Hi Tsurrie,
Thank you for the compliment.  The blur is natural.  I made that picture by blending 10 photos together.  I used a 100mm macro lens which can focus when very close to your subject.  While this allows for great magnification, only a very small area (plane) of equal distance from the lens will be in focus.  I did the following:  set the lens focal  ring at the minimum distance and get the closest piece of your subject in focus.  This is in manual mode, with settings locked.  Take your picture (using a tripod).   Now rotate the focus ring a very small amount - now an area slightly further from you will be in focus.  Take the picture.  Repeat until you've captured a sharp image of each area of your subject you'd like.  I stopped after the pepper, which is why the background is not in focus.  In Photoshop I stack the images and blend the focused parts to make one image.
 
I put this together to demonstrate the components of the process (looks like I have the numbering reversed)  :
 

 

[tsurrie]

 
Hi Tsurrie,
Thank you for the compliment.  The blur is natural.  I made that picture by blending 10 photos together.  I used a 100mm macro lens which can focus when very close to your subject.  While this allows for great magnification, only a very small area (plane) of equal distance from the lens will be in focus.  I did the following:  set the lens focal  ring at the minimum distance and get the closest piece of your subject in focus.  This is in manual mode, with settings locked.  Take your picture (using a tripod).   Now rotate the focus ring a very small amount - now an area slightly further from you will be in focus.  Take the picture.  Repeat until you've captured a sharp image of each area of your subject you'd like.  I stopped after the pepper, which is why the background is not in focus.  In Photoshop I stack the images and blend the focused parts to make one image.
 
I put this together to demonstrate the components of the process (looks like I have the numbering reversed)  :
 

 
Very cool indeed. Sounds like a lot of work for one picture, but it's worth and it's beautiful. Keep it up.

 

[tctenten]

 

 
 
Took a couple of shots with the regular lens after a quick harvest this morning.  I may try and go out later with the longer lens and see how it goes.

 

[grantmichaels]

IMG_5975.JPG
 

IMG_5976.JPG
 
 
Took a couple of shots with the regular lens after a quick harvest this morning.  I may try and go out later with the longer lens and see how it goes.

 
I like the 2nd shot, and I think had the stem been pointed away, it would have been even better ...

 

[bierz]

6 days from my last harvest and we have another big haul.
 

 
 

 

[grantmichaels]

Nice scene.

 

[tctenten]

Great harvest and pics.

 

[bierz]

I've learned a lot this season, and grew more peppers than I know what to do with.  I think next year my selection will lean away from super hots.  I really like a few of my plants and hope to over-winter probably four of them.  Today I pulled the Reaper (maybe my only super for next year) and Count Dracula plants, gave the roots and branches a trim and potted them into some indoor planters.  I've never done this, so I'm curious to see how it goes.  Let me know if you think I left too many branches.  I'm hoping for a nice head start in the spring.
 
 

 

[Genetikx]

Number of branches looks fine as long as you have the indoor space and lighting to keep them going for 5-6 months. That's assuming they are going under lights and not a traditional ow. Can always cut back if you need to.

My ow's last year looked like yours on the left. This year I cut the outer branches so I have just the one stalk.