Captain's glog, star date 9/25/13: FIRST HARVEST PICS!! My first attempt at a hot sauce as well!

[SIZE=13pt]Intro[/SIZE]
[SIZE=13pt]          It's been just over a month since I started growing peppers, to make a long story short I've always loved hot peppers and have wanted to grow them for awhile, so one of my coworkers who has grown peppers for the past few years decided to help get me started.  I’m extremely excited to see how all this turns out, but seeing as I’m new and inexperienced I figured I’d post on here as I go for feedback purposes and such, so if anybody has any helpful hints/tips or just sees me doing something I shouldn’t be doing then please don’t hesitate to speak up and let me know.[/SIZE]
 
[SIZE=13pt]My Original Setup:[/SIZE]
[SIZE=13pt]          [/SIZE]I started with 3 plants (thai hot chille, habenero, and jalapeno). [SIZE=13pt]Each plant was put into a 8” plastic pot, the Serrano was potted in a 12” when it replaced the Thai Hot Chille.  Aside from the little biodegradable containers the plants came in, I’m using Miracle Gro potting soil with micromax, says on the bag it offers continuous feeding for up to six months.  I also mixed in some Jobe’s Organic Vegetable and Tomato granular fertilizer with the potting soil.  They sit on my deck all day where they get plenty of direct sunlight starting around 9-10am.  I’ve cut back a bit on how often I water them out of fear of overwatering them, and if there’s a big storm coming I like to tuck them safely away under the roofed portion of the deck.  I sprinkled a bit of extra fertilizer into each pot a few days ago (roughly 3 weeks after initial potting).[/SIZE]
[SIZE=13pt]

left to right: Thai Hot Chilli (RIP), Habenero, Jalapeno[/SIZE]
         
[SIZE=13pt]Back to the story…[/SIZE]
[SIZE=13pt]          Things were going well until I noticed a small aphid problem on my jalapenos so I bought Garden Safe Organic Fungicide 3 (Fungicide, insecticide, and miticide all in one) that seemed to do the trick.  Then I noticed my Thai hot chille started to turn a yellowish color and the leaves drooped a bit one day and the next morning I woke up to find all the leaves had fallen off and the plant was dead, at which point I took it back to the store and replaced it with a Serrano plant which is coming along just fine now.[/SIZE]
 
[SIZE=13pt]Next step: Pot upgrade[/SIZE]   
[SIZE=13pt]          After posting a question on here earlier about pot sizes, I decided to upgrade my plants to 3.8 gal pots to give them a bit more living space, which I plan on doing first thing tomorrow morning. [/SIZE]
 
 
[SIZE=13pt]So that’s all for now, I'll post[/SIZE][SIZE=13pt] pictures of the plants in their new homes/how they looked pre-transfer. And as I said earlier, if anyone has any hints/ tips or sees something I’m doing wrong please don’t hesitate to let me know, the more experience/wisdom the better! [/SIZE][SIZE=13pt] [/SIZE]

 

[sreinhard88]

Figured out how to upload the pics, here's how they look pre-transfer.
 

Family photo (left to right: Serrano, Jalapeno, Habenero)
 

Here's my Serrano, this one replaced the Thai Hot Chilli that mysteriously kicked the bucket.
 

Something's been eating the leaves, couldn't find anything after further inspection.

Two leaves that fell off the habanero.
 
 

The Jalapeno plant, not sure if I should be concerned about the yellowish coloration in the top leaves.

 

[sreinhard88]

Repotted my plants into larger homes today, I'd say everything went pretty smoothly 

The family in their new homes!
 

The Serrano certainly needed to be moved up the most.
 

The Jalapeno was next, other than a slight yellowing in the top leaves everything looks alright.
 

Habenero was probably the easiest to get out of the original pot, still no sign of whatever was eating some of my leaves, but I did find a small web at the very bottom of the plant, no spiders around at the time though.
 
 
For the Jalapeno and the Habenero I mixed in a tbsp or so of the fertilizer I used when I first potted them, not much, just a small housewarming gift.  The Serrano was potted much more recently than the others so I decided to pass on fertilizing it.  I was told on another post that if I were to remove what few flowers I already have then the plant would be able to focus more on root growing, resulting in stronger production that should make up for lost time in the long run.  I think right now I'm at the point where it's like "I finally have flowers, now you want me to remove them all?"  any advice on that would be much appreciated!

 

[sreinhard88]

Hello all,
It's been almost a month since I repotted, figured it's time for an update.  One of the biggest changes is the addition of a Cayenne plant I found at work that was just screaming my name lol.  It appears everyone is officially settled in their new homes and growth has really started to take off!  I also topped a few of them a few days after repotting and it's certainly made a difference.  Other than that, the only thing I've changed is the addition of fish emulsion I  plan on using every other week or so. I just fertilized everything in addition to watering with some of the fish emulsion last ngiht for the first time in almost a month, I don't wanna overdo it so at most I fertilize once every two weeks.  Without further ado, I give you the pictures I finally got around to uploading!
 

Cayenne, Serrano, Jalapeno, Habenero
 

Really happy with how the growth of the Habenero seems to have exploded the past few weeks.
 

Just as impressed with the growth of the Jalapeno.
 

Can't wait til the pepper on here is ripe, feels like its taking forever lol
 

Been waiting just as long for this Serrano to ripen, the suspense is killing me!
 
I'm curious to see the difference the fish emulsion will make, in the meantime I'm already starting to plan my setup for next year, starting with seeds this time plus any overwinters I decide to do (leaning towards the Cayenne and Habenero).  

 

[FreeportBum]

Plants look great keep up the good work

 

[sreinhard88]

Hello all! It's time for another update! Production really seems to have taken off the past week and a half or so, getting pretty big too.  Waiting for them to start ripening, however, is driving me mad lol   I did notice an odd spot on one of my Cayenne peppers that I'm not sure what it was, I'll be posting a question about it in the growing forum after this but I'll post it here too in case anyone can help identify it.
 

Group shot (Cayenne, Jalapeno, Serrano, Habenero)
 

Here is the weird spot I was talking about, anyone know what it could be?
 

Some healthier looking peppers on the cayenne, Feels like it's taking forever to ripen.  Over a dozen pods on this one
 

Habenero continues to grow, 4 or 5 peppers appeared a few days ago
 

 
 

Jalapeno looks like it hit a mini growth spurt; it's almost as tall as the serrano now.  Pepper production is a bit slow, only 2 on this one so far.

 

Serrano producing like crazy, again just waiting for ripeness
 
 

Can't really see it here, but this one is starting to cork a bit
 
 
The only thing I've changed since my last update is the addition of some crushed up eggshells to the jalapeno and habenero to boost pod production a bit (I heard it helps). Guess that's all for now, I'm sure as soon as the first one ripens I'll be right back here posting pictures.  Hope everyone else's season is going well! 

 

[sreinhard88]

Hello again all!  Time for another update!  It's been about a month since my last update and everything continues to be running smoothly.  Finally seeing some ripe peppers! One on the Serrano that was picked and eaten, another on the way, and one on the Cayenne should be fully ripe soon.  I leave for college in a few days so I have to instruct my parents on proper pepper care so they can manage them til I start to OW in October.  Been working on getting equipment so I can OW 2 of my plants in my apartment, while I'll let the other 2 go dormant at home.  Definitely taking the Habanero with me, now I just have to decide whether I wann take the Serrano or the Jalapeno.  The only thing I've changed is the addition of a layer of MG shake and feed tomato + calcium in each pot, might be a bit too soon to tell if it has had an impact yet.  Without further ado, I bring you updated pics! Enjoy!
 

Group shot (Serrano, Habanero, Jalapeno, Cayenne)
 

BER on my Cayenne, figures it's the only one ripening at the moment!
 

Look at all the Hab pods! Can't wait for these to ripen
 

Jalapeno showing a lot of corking, no signs of ripening yet
 

Weird coloration on one of my smaller jalapeno pods, is this part of the ripening process or possibly some form of BER?
 

First ripe Serrano! It was absolutely delicious!
 

Another Serrano beginning to ripen 
 
That's all for now I suppose, I'll be posting pics on the grow forum to find out about the BER on the Cayenne and whatever is going on with my Jalapeno.  Once I begin setting up for OW I'll post pics again, or maybe I'll make it a separate glog, guess we'll find out when the time comes.  Thanks for looking! Hope everyone else's season is going well!

 

[DevilsEyes]

U got some nice stuff goin there! I'd remove the BER affected Cayenne though looks pretty nasty.

 

[sreinhard88]

U got some nice stuff goin there! I'd remove the BER affected Cayenne though looks pretty nasty.

Thanks! I removed it the day I posted these pics, damage actually wasn't bad and it was damn tasty!

 

[Tatts]

Your plants are looking great. Shouldn't be long until you are overflowing with peppers

 

[sreinhard88]

Your plants are looking great. Shouldn't be long until you are overflowing with peppers

Yea, waiting for them to ripen has by far been the most impatient part of the whole process lol!

 

[Tatts]

Yea, waiting for them to ripen has by far been the most impatient part of the whole process lol!

I thought waiting for them to germinate was bad enough. Lol

 

[sreinhard88]

I thought waiting for them to germinate was bad enough. Lol

Unfortunately I didn't get to start any from seeds this year, since it's only my first season the person that got me into pepper growing steered me towards already sprouted plants.  I want to start from seeds next season or maybe the one after that once my money/location/resources are a bit more permanent.

 

[Tatts]

My first time growing too, mine are a lot smaller than yours. Almost spring here so plenty of growing time to come.
 
You can save seeds from this years crop and grow them next year. Just make sure you isolate the flowers of the chilli you want to save else it may cross pollinate.
Could find someone to trade with too to swap your seeds for something else. Hopefully you can find someone on here that's interested.

 

[sreinhard88]

My first time growing too, mine are a lot smaller than yours. Almost spring here so plenty of growing time to come.
 
You can save seeds from this years crop and grow them next year. Just make sure you isolate the flowers of the chilli you want to save else it may cross pollinate.
Could find someone to trade with too to swap your seeds for something else. Hopefully you can find someone on here that's interested.

Ah so you still have plenty of time to grow, I have to start taking mine inside to overwinter by early-mid October.  For the Jalapeno and Cayenne I'm gonna let them go dormant in my basement, whereas the Habanero and Serrano will be coming to my college apartment to stay alive inside.  Got some pretty nice lights and stuff for my first indoor setup; I'll be posting pictures of all that when the time comes.  I'll definitely try to save some seeds, I can pretty much guarantee there will be crosses but I don't particularly mind.  Trading is an interesting idea, it would be nice to possibly end up with some superhots for next year!

 

[sreinhard88]

Been about a month since my last update and pics, but today I finally get to put up some pictures of the harvest/final product!  In all I had 3 mason jars of peppers, didn't get a total count cause I've used some for cooking every now and then, but what I had left over was still a pretty good haul for my first season!  The Cayennes and Serranos were halved and dried while the Habs were turned into my first attempt at hot sauce.
 

The full harvest

Habs

Serranos

Cayenne

Can't wait to stuff this jalapeno!

Making the hot sauce...

...and the final product, tastes alright considering I decided to experiment after doing minimal research

Dried serranos

Dried Cayennes
 
So that's all for now, figure the next pictures I put up will be of my indoor grow setup that should be complete in the next few weeks (probably have to have them inside by mid-October).  Thanks for looking!