BigCedars SuperHot Grow 2012

stc3248 · Apr 14, 2012

NIce video Brandon! All your plants look fantastic! Even the leggy, sunburn, or slug damaged ones look good! That slug bait is good stuff, Since I put it out I only get some occasional damage from the the slugs and snails. Their #'s here can be staggering. I'm an ultra distance runner and during some long night runs there are parts of town that you can't take a step on the sidewalks without stepping on 3 or 4 huge snails. They will stretch for miles and miles like that. Hundreds of thousands of them. I still have a ton out front, but don't mind them there.
How warm does it stay at night in your GH's? Doesn't look like you're running a heater of any sort? Plant out is right around the corner! Hope your grow continues to go well for you!

Shane

Take that Paul! Top of the page! I love all the impromptu competitions that have evolved.

MGOLD86 · Apr 14, 2012

Ok, Ok, first of all, if you are gonna steal my page boosting methods, you can't do it with better looking subjects.... :rofl:

Damn, those guys are freaking huge. They are definitely loving life. I can certainly tell the benefit of potting up. It has taken everything in me to not touch my guys because they are goin in the ground next week. It is pretty amazing how you thought evertything was dead, and then started a bunch, everything came back, and now you need a bigger greenhouse.

Everything looks great, and you better believe that I have a seed list a mile long for ya! :lol:

chileaddict · Apr 14, 2012

Hey Brandon. Great video. Sorry if you have mentioned this, but how many of your plants are going to stay in pots and how many will go into the ground? I am so close to making the move to the greenhouse, but just dread having to use the heater at night. Have you been using a heater on your greenhouses at night so far? Enjoy this great weekend of beautiful weather.

PaulG · Apr 15, 2012

Hey Brandon - nice update! Your greenhouse plant look just great; really packed in there!
The overwintered plants look like they are ready for Spring for sure! I can't wait to stop
fiddling around with the weather, looks like you have a leg up on things, my friend.

@Richard - I have been running my heater in the greenhouse at night to keep the temps up a bit. Still a bit chilly in our neck of the woods.

BigCedar · Apr 15, 2012

stc3248 said:
NIce video Brandon! All your plants look fantastic! Even the leggy, sunburn, or slug damaged ones look good! That slug bait is good stuff, Since I put it out I only get some occasional damage from the the slugs and snails. Their #'s here can be staggering. I'm an ultra distance runner and during some long night runs there are parts of town that you can't take a step on the sidewalks without stepping on 3 or 4 huge snails. They will stretch for miles and miles like that. Hundreds of thousands of them. I still have a ton out front, but don't mind them there.
How warm does it stay at night in your GH's? Doesn't look like you're running a heater of any sort? Plant out is right around the corner! Hope your grow continues to go well for you!

Shane

Take that Paul! Top of the page! I love all the impromptu competitions that have evolved.

Hey Shane, glad you enjoyed the video, I'm not a professional film maker so it's good to hear it was alright haha. Thanks for the compliments! I'm really happy to see they're doing good so far. Been growing tons of stuff for years but superhots from seed was something new and a bit intimidating, so it's quite the accomplishment for me

That's crazy to hear about the snail situation you have down there! I can't even imagine.. I've seen 1 maybe 2 snails my whole life up here! The slugs aren't even that bad.. they seem to hate everything but young tender plants. I'm thinkin, REALLY?! theres tons of green lush grass, weeds, wild plants! Can they all really taste that bad that you have to climb up 2 5 gallon containers to eat my peppers?! lol.. I should start planting out of the GH this next thursday!! I hope all is well for you too my friend. Keep harvesting! Thanks for stoppin by.

MGOLD86 said:
Ok, Ok, first of all, if you are gonna steal my page boosting methods, you can't do it with better looking subjects....

Damn, those guys are freaking huge. They are definitely loving life. I can certainly tell the benefit of potting up. It has taken everything in me to not touch my guys because they are goin in the ground next week. It is pretty amazing how you thought evertything was dead, and then started a bunch, everything came back, and now you need a bigger greenhouse.

Everything looks great, and you better believe that I have a seed list a mile long for ya!

Matt, it doesn't matter how many videos I post, Your the professional film maker around here. Seriously. lol.

Thanks for the good words dude! Your plants are going in the ground next week!? Nice!! I wish I lived in your area.. Much better climate for chile plants. That's why I started my plants so freaking early, you can't just plant out a buncha superhots in 3.5 containers here in western WA and expect them to produce, it just doesn't work that way around here!

Seed list a mile long? HA! your gonna have to earn it buddy!
Here's the deal.. If I get these babies to produce..

You tell me what you wanna grow.. I'll send you the pods.. But you gotta do a video review for each of them!
I'm gonna do a video review for each as well but I would like to see what someone thinks about mine who has sampled peppers from other.. Hotter parts of the states.. See if the heat is different, etc..

Game?

Pssst... I'll send you seeds no matter what, I just thought this might be fun and interesting

Thanks for stopping by buddy.

chileaddict said:
Hey Brandon. Great video. Sorry if you have mentioned this, but how many of your plants are going to stay in pots and how many will go into the ground? I am so close to making the move to the greenhouse, but just dread having to use the heater at night. Have you been using a heater on your greenhouses at night so far? Enjoy this great weekend of beautiful weather.

Hey Richard! Thanks alot for the video compliment. I don't think I've mentioned that, even if I did, no worries buddy! I'm putting all of them into containers.. 4,5,6, and 7 gallon containers to be exact.. I'd like to put some in the ground to save on money with soil but were on the hillside of puyallup and the ground is full of rocks the size of boulders.. in a nutshell it sucks really. I've tried in ground before and the container plants have always done ALOT better than the ones in the ground.. If I lived in the valley I'd certainly put some in the fertile soil they have but it's just not in my deck of cards up here. Thanks for the reply and stopping by man. Hope all is well with you!

I've been wanting to address this for awhile........

The 2 heater questions from Shane and Richard have made me decide to do a review on low temps vs chile plants..

As for the temps at night in the GH's? They're only 2 degrees warmer at night and 20+ during the day.. I'm not running any heaters or heat sources at all, just a thin layer of plastic seperating weather from the plants. I've been wanting people to see how hardy these plants can actually be in cold/near freezing weather, I've done this for years and it wasn't until I joined THP that I noticed how timid folks are with night time temps with these plants.

I've been working at a produce/plant nursery store full time for 10 years now come june and I've seen my fair share of nights that have dropped below 32 DF... At my job? When that happens it's a fire drill as we call it, here's why..

So here's what we do with tomato starts, peppers, cucumbers, hanging baskets, geraniums, annuals, you name it, when frost is in the forecast during spring or fall.. We have to move 10-60 racks of plants (keep in mind 1 rack has 6+ shelves with 6 flats of plants on each shelf) under our big outdoor tent.. If the temps are below 30 degrees we then cover the plants with frost cloth. Each and ever year that goes by, the plants do just fine. As long as they're under cover.. They WILL be okay. Cold temps will kill some types of plants.. but very, very few. What WILL kill young plants is frost.. and even if it is going to be a frosty night, the only way frost can "set" on a plant is if it is able, and to be able it has to be in an open area with no cover.. so with something as simple as a bed sheet, plastic, or what I use, frost cloth, you can save a plant from death. I treat my plants with the same precautions.. If I see temps lower than 34 degrees.. I cover my GHs with frost cloth and that my friends, is it. No heaters, no heat source from lights, and as you can see in my pics and videos, they grow, and do just fine. To give you an idea.. I left my overwinters outside of the greenhouse last night and the temperature got down to 35 outside(been in the 40s lately) I covered them outside with nothing but 1 sheet of frost cloth to be safe(incase the weather man was wrong) and the temps in the GH holding all the 250 1st years got down to 35.. This morning? Everything is totally fine, healthy, and growing. Another fun fact I didn't share when I brought my plants out for the first time last week.. The very first day they spent outside the night temp got down to 33 in the GH they were in.. I had no heater going what so ever.. just a layer of simple frost cloth. Keep in mind they went from a 75+ degree household to that kind of temp drop in one day.

Sorry for the long read, I hope it was interesting. I guess the moral to the story is these plants are ALOT hardier than alot of us might think

Thanks for the replies. I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend.

Brandon

habaneroheat81 · Apr 15, 2012

Hey, BigC! Enjoyed the video, really put into perspective how many 250 superhot plants all jammed up in a couple of greenhouses really looks like.

the plants are looking great! The heater thing blows my mind a little bit. At that I should be able to put mine outside without even a green house. As you may remember when you were living up here the summers are warmer than it is down there or tacoma. I haven't put up my greenhouse yet and think I may not really need it at this point, but I'll be putting one up just in case. I'll be putting it up on my glog as I get started building it.
Anyways, great job and with the serano pod on there it means its only a matter of time for some fresh pods from your OW's. :woohoo:

Aaron

chileaddict · Apr 15, 2012

My biggest worry about the chilies (especially Chinense) sitting in temps in the 30's all night is the effect if might have on the growth rate. Will it slow down or stunt new growth? I don't know. I just worry about it. They are already behind schedule because of various reasons. I am glad you are doing this so I can see what happens and not worry so much. I did leave my plants in the greenhouse all night last night and they still looked happy this morning. I will use the heater just to get the temperature up to about 50F though starting tonight. In a few days I have to leave town for a couple of weeks and won't be able to watch them so carefully. What to do...run the risk of burning them in the greenhouse or stick them back under the shitty T12 bulbs? Oh well, that's not so important right now. Looks like I might be a Grandfather today!

PaulG · Apr 15, 2012

Hey Grandad! That's great news! Also like your discussion of the
frost cloth idea. Is it heavier than say, weed block? Is it a thin sheet,
or does it have some heft and thickness? Sorry for the questions,
but I've never heard of it before.

Anyway, your grow is looking really good in the NW where
growing peppers takes skill

PIC 1 · Apr 16, 2012

Brandon.......Awesome video.......Your plants are spec on with the hardening off phase. Your OW's are well established with new growth, and your GH plants are soaking up sun and fresh air.
Those dam slugs........They pick on certain perennials that I grow. Then its time to whip out the "Sevin" (powder) ........they don't like that!

Your ahead of me with the outdoor scene.. I potted up half of my tomatoes to 1 gal containers and I hope to finish that task by next weekend.
After that the OW's come out and by the end of the month all the 1st yr pep plants will be batheing in the sun. We're still hitting some lower 30's in the evenings this week but the forecast gets better into next week.........some of your 65 deg weather is on its way.

How many of those 250+ plants are you keeping for yourself?
Whomever buys some will be in for a trest cause doze plants are gonna be crank'in out some pods!

Good luck with the ongoing process ( I mean forward progress )................ :lol:

Hope all is well with your family........and friends

Greg

judohero · Apr 16, 2012

wow you are going to have pounds of peppers at the end of this season.

BigCedar · Apr 16, 2012

habaneroheat81 said:
Hey, BigC! Enjoyed the video, really put into perspective how many 250 superhot plants all jammed up in a couple of greenhouses really looks like. the plants are looking great! The heater thing blows my mind a little bit. At that I should be able to put mine outside without even a green house. As you may remember when you were living up here the summers are warmer than it is down there or tacoma. I haven't put up my greenhouse yet and think I may not really need it at this point, but I'll be putting one up just in case. I'll be putting it up on my glog as I get started building it.
Anyways, great job and with the serano pod on there it means its only a matter of time for some fresh pods from your OW's.
Aaron

Hey Aaron! glad you liked the video bud! I thought the cold/heater info would blow a few away.. Whether anyone believes me and tries it out is a different story lol. I do remember it being hot up there. I'm actually at about the same elevation, I'm nowhere near the valley, were actually off of Canyon Exit, on the Puyallup side, I'd actually call it Summit before I'd call it Puyallup. Sounds like you have some good things in the works with the GH! If you don't end up using it this spring it will DEFINITELY help out this fall with your late start plants.. Chances are your gonna end up with lots of green pods (like I did last year with late starts) and run out of hot days to ripen them up.. The GH will fix that problem

The starts I'll give you soon I don't think you'll have a problem getting ripe pods out of them though, I started super early for that reason. I know, it's just a serrano but I'm stoked to eat a nice ripe red one, I'll take what I can get right now! Hope all is well with you and the fam buddy.

chileaddict said:
My biggest worry about the chilies (especially Chinense) sitting in temps in the 30's all night is the effect if might have on the growth rate. Will it slow down or stunt new growth? I don't know. I just worry about it. They are already behind schedule because of various reasons. I am glad you are doing this so I can see what happens and not worry so much. I did leave my plants in the greenhouse all night last night and they still looked happy this morning. I will use the heater just to get the temperature up to about 50F though starting tonight. In a few days I have to leave town for a couple of weeks and won't be able to watch them so carefully. What to do...run the risk of burning them in the greenhouse or stick them back under the shitty T12 bulbs? Oh well, that's not so important right now. Looks like I might be a Grandfather today!

First off.. Congratulations to you and your family!! :dance:

That's great news! Thank you for sharing!
Keep me posted, grandson? granddaughter?
Oh, and my wife wants to hear the baby name lol

As for the cold questions, I personally have never had a problem stunted plants. They do slow a bit but that's going to happen when they go from consistant 75degree day/night temps indoors to the ever changing outdoor temps.. I'd imagine that if I didn't have them in the GH they would slow down quite a bit. Even with it being in the 30s every once in awhile, the day temps are climbing to 85+ in the greenhouse so I think that keeps them from slowing down.

I hope your enjoying being a grandpa!
My best to you and your family.

PaulG said:
Hey Grandad! That's great news! Also like your discussion of the
frost cloth idea. Is it heavier than say, weed block? Is it a thin sheet,
or does it have some heft and thickness? Sorry for the questions,
but I've never heard of it before.

Anyway, your grow is looking really good in the NW where
growing peppers takes skill

Hey Paul! you can buy the frost cloth at lowes, home depot, etc.. It's ALOT like weed block cloth, no heavier, it is very thin. I think it might be made out of a different material though. I can snap a picture of it if you would like? It's cheap stuff too.. We buy 1000ft rolls of it for work and I think they're only 20-30 bucks.

Thanks for the kind words buddy!
I'll be really happy to hopefully see some good looking supers.. Seeing a gnarly bumpy pod growing in western WA will be a first for me. I hope all is well with you Paul!

PIC 1 said:
Brandon.......Awesome video.......Your plants are spec on with the hardening off phase. Your OW's are well established with new growth, and your GH plants are soaking up sun and fresh air.
Those dam slugs........They pick on certain perennials that I grow. Then its time to whip out the "Sevin" (powder) ........they don't like that!

Your ahead of me with the outdoor scene.. I potted up half of my tomatoes to 1 gal containers and I hope to finish that task by next weekend.
After that the OW's come out and by the end of the month all the 1st yr pep plants will be batheing in the sun. We're still hitting some lower 30's in the evenings this week but the forecast gets better into next week.........some of your 65 deg weather is on its way.

How many of those 250+ plants are you keeping for yourself?
Whomever buys some will be in for a trest cause doze plants are gonna be crank'in out some pods!

Good luck with the ongoing process ( I mean forward progress )................
Hope all is well with your family........and friends

Greg

Hey Greg! How are ya my friend? I'm anxiously waiting for that update you mentioned

Thanks for stoppin by and checkin the update out! I'm glad you liked the video! Shootin videos is a whole new ball game for me so it was good to see people enjoyed it. I'm actually using the advice you gave me for the hardening off process, I took the same 30 min interval process you use and sorta made it my own using the shade cloth and GH. Thanks again, it works great.

Sevin powder huh? Are you referring to actual chile powder?

I'm glad my 65degree sun package made it through and is on it's way for ya! haha. Man, I don't envy you having everything inside still, I have a ton of respect for you, thinking about the time that goes into an operation like yours is mind baffling. I'm so happy to have everything outdoors now lol. WOW it frees up so much time! I love to cook and I finally have time to do that once again lol.. My wife has been doing the cooking since I started the indoor part of the opertion since I didn't have time after work. Made a big ol pot of jambalaya last night, it was great

Sounds like your tomato's are at the same stage mine are, I didn't start from seed since we have a great supplier at work. I just took home a dozen gallon starts that are about 10 inches tall last night. We didn't have tomato starts until the middle of june last year bc of the really bad weather.. Middle of April this year? I'll take it! Looks like were in for a great year finally.

As for how many plants I'm keeping out of the 250..
Well, I'm donating 4 of them to Aaron, and another 5 to a long time friend and coworker of mine.
So pretty much.. I'm keeping all of em. lol. How many are you shooting to end up with?
Have you figured out how to ship live plants yet? I know this guy here in western WA that might be interested..
:lol:

I hope all is good with you and your family Greg, and your plants of course!

judohero said:
wow you are going to have pounds of peppers at the end of this season.

Hey Judo! I hope your right! The goal is to have more than I know what to do with. lol.
Thanks for stoppin by.

patrick · Apr 18, 2012

Brandon this has got to be one of the best, most detailed grow log on this site. I would make this required reading for any new pepper grower. Heck I'd recommend it to the seasoned pro too. Way to grow man.

chileaddict · Apr 18, 2012

patrick said:
Brandon this has got to be one of the best, most detailed grow log on this site. I would make this required reading for any new pepper grower. Heck I'd recommend it to the seasoned pro too. Way to grow man.

I agree Patrick. He sure puts in the time and the passion really shows.

BigCedar · Apr 25, 2012

patrick said:
Brandon this has got to be one of the best, most detailed grow log on this site. I would make this required reading for any new pepper grower. Heck I'd recommend it to the seasoned pro too. Way to grow man.

Thank you very much for the compliment Patrick. I really appreciate it. Ha, you, a few others, and my own chile obsession was my inspiration to do this and I plan on doing it for years to come! So coming from you, it's pretty nice to hear

I hope all is well with you dude. Again.. Thank you

chileaddict said:
I agree Patrick. He sure puts in the time and the passion really shows.

Thanks Richard. I really appreciate it. Thanks again for the grandchild pictures

I hope all is well with you and your family... and your pepper plants! haha.

mini Update.

I've been really REALLY busy lately with work(it's our rock n' roll time of year) family, and plants so I apologize for the lack of updates lately..
I'll post a video and more pictures this weekend but for now here's a bit of an update for everyone.

So to those who don't know, I started a few seeds when I thought I killed all my original plants.. Heres a few shots of the plants that sprouted the first week of March, they look a bit different at 7weeks old than my original first time from seed plants..

All of these are 7 weeks old, in gallon containers now. Also keep in mind.. These plants are COVERED in fungus gnats and I haven't done anything to them other than fly traps. After I took out all the first 250 the 100s of gnats moved in on the last 32 like no other.. I've yet to see any significant damage on the plants or serious stunted growth. I decided.. I'll be starting next years plants ALOT later than I did this year.. These guys are almost as big as some of the plants I'm planting up outside that I started in December! shows you what a bit of seedling knowledge will do for ya

2 Aji Chombos in one container.

Naga Viper

4 Yellow Brains in one, one gallon container. I'm going to experiment with grouping this year.. So far I see no problems.

I've been potting up my 220 originals for about a week now.. before work.. after work.. my days off.. My God is it a process with this many plants.. A back-breaking process too lol. Between my job and this hobby I'm gonna be giving advil some pretty good business lol. All worth it though!

Anyway, heres what the pot-up process looked like a little over a week ago..

Mystery Red Douglah Size.. Trinidad Viper X Purple Bhut to the right..

Pileated Woodpecker. He shows up everyday while I'm outside along with many other birds

Here's why you grow peppers yourself.. I work at a nursery/produce stand and 2 weeks ago we got our first pepper starts in.. Here's a comparison.. Douglah on the back left, Jonah on the right, nursery bought kung paos in the front.. I can't believe people buy these! I brought one home to restore it to proper health.. These pics were taken over a week ago but after some calcium and TLC they look MUCH better now.. I'll post a picture in a few days.. We just got our gallon starts in today and they look better but still... Nothing like doing it yourself. And I'm new at starting from seed!

So here's my progress so far.. 96 potted up.. 130 to go! I plan on being done by Friday.. My arms, back, legs, you name it, are so sore right now lol.. I can't wait for this part of the grow to be over. I've also been planting up rhubarb, 30 tomatos, zuchinis, cucumbers, squash, flowers, herbs, etc..

My daughter.. wearing my boots as a parting shot

SocalChilehead · Apr 25, 2012

Awesome update love the trinidad viper x purple bhut through it grow stage can not wait to see what type of flowers come out. The weather looks like it is treating you right over there hopefully that continues for you Brandon and great parting shot with a future pepper lover and grower.
Fernando

PIC 1 · Apr 25, 2012

Hey Brandon,

Great update as usual!
The gnats will leave once the plants are brought outdoors. You shouldn't see any damage with plants that size.....they're huge.
How big are those black nursery pots? Man that's a process potting up all those plants. Are you going to sell some at work......... :dance:

Hey if you start later next season you could have many more smaller plants........less potting up. Hmm..................but do you really want more smaller plants or less larger plants.................

Nice catch with the woodpecker photo. I can here "Woody" now. ......Ha.Ha.Ha...Ha.....Ha
Seriously, I can see what you're going through between work, family and taking care of the plants. But it will all pay off in time. Recognition makes it all worth while.....that and a few $$$ along the way.
Once you get everything that you're keeping planted in their permanent homes you can sit back and relax a bit. Those plants will be on auto pilot with just alittle help along the way.....watering, staking.............harvesting bushels of peppers....................

Haha, cute picture of your daughter, she looks like shes ready for action.....lol

Nothing like a 30 pack.....Milwaukee's Best Ice...................any good? or was the price right

Good luck with your weather and the rest of the vege planting. It's always a pleasure checking out your updates
Hope all is well on the western front

Greg

Pr0digal_son · Apr 25, 2012

Well Greg beat me too it. Beast Ice?.... I see how you can afford all the pots and soil now. Good luck with potting all of that up. Way more than my schedule allows. What are your plans for all of these?

habaneroheat81 · Apr 25, 2012

Hey Brandon, I'm jealous of your 7 week olds. The seeds I started 4 weeks ago are still in the pellets

They haven't shown any signs of growth, well not til recently. I put a new light on them and ferted them and now they appear to be doing something. We'll see soon I guess. Once you think your getting it down they throw a curve ball at you
I'll be updated my glog in the next couple days, but had a real scare with the new ones I got (possible transplant shock). In either case your plants are looking amazing! And knowing you can start later probably makes the wife happy :lol:

Your daughter seems to be enjoying the chile growing, but for now the shoes might be a little big

Enjoy the weather we're getting and hurry finish getting the rest repotted cause soon the rain will be here again.

Aaron

Pepper-Guru · Apr 25, 2012

Looking great dude! Next year, I wanna see you with less plants, in enormous containers, putting out more peppers in the same amount of soil! You have the fundementals down to a T, my friend. Next year its insane soil amendments, teas, and volkswagon sized pepper trees! Grow on dude!

patrick · Apr 25, 2012

A labor of love is supposed to make you ache isn't it?

They are a little labor intensive now but like Greg said once they're in the final pot and outside it's just water, feed and pick. I suppose you're going to complain about picking the several hundred pounds of pods too?

Looking great as always Brandon.