Chaotianjiao's 2013 Grow Log - A little bit of everything!

Seeing the grow logs on here has inspired me to put up my own. It may not be the most interesting, the most frequently updated, or have the highest scoville units, but I think it will be fun to see how far I've come over the season and track my progress.

I'm growing a lot more peppers this year than last year, including many new-to-me species.

Grow list:

Peppers​

C. annum​

Anaheim - Botanical Interests​

Bull's Heart - pepperlover​

Chaotian Jiao (Sichuan) - OP - can trade seed​

Chaotian Jiao (Tibetan Cascabel) - OP - can trade seed​

Goat's Weed - pepperlover​

Mulato Isleño - Trade Winds​

Pasilla Bajio - Botanical Interests​

C. baccatum​

Aji Rojo - Trade Winds​

C. chinense​

Bhut Jolokia Red - pepperlover​

Brain Strain Yellow - pepperlover​

Datil - pepperlover​

Fatalii - OP​

Jamaican Hot Chocolate - Trade Winds​

Mako Akokosrade - pepperlover​

C. pubescens​

Manzano Rojo - Trade Winds​

Eggplants​

Edirne Purple Striped - Rareseeds​

Casper​

Ichiban​

Tomatoes​

Tigerella - Rareseeds​

Riesentraube - Rareseeds​

San Marzano - Rareseeds​

White Queen - Rareseeds​

White Oxheart - Rareseeds​

Orange Green Zebra - Trade Winds​

Speckled Roman - Botanical Interests​

German Green - Botanical Interests​

Brandywine Red/Yellow - Botanical Interests​

Cherokee Purple - Botanical Interests​

Basil - Genovese & Siam Queen​

Okra - Clemson Spineless​

Snow Peas​

Background on my pepper choices:
Last year all I grew were cayenne, fatalii, and three types of chaotian jiao—the two above and a small thin frutescens that wasn't great. The cayennes didn't turn out as well as in California; they weren't as flavorful. The fataliis amazed me; so much fragrance and flavor with all that heat.

The two chaotian jiao varieties both had great flavor. The one called Sichuan I took seeds from peppers I bought at a Chinese grocery store that were labeled from a Sichuan food company. The one called Tibetan Cascabel I also got from dried peppers from a Chinese market, but I had only ever seen these peppers used in one restaurant in China: Makye Ame, a Tibetan restaurant in Beijing. I never saw them used anywhere else in China. I grew these next to each other, and they may have crossed; my plants were visited by rather industrious Eastern Carpenter Bees all season.

As far as the new varieties, I've never had a baccatum variety before, so I picked one people said was a good introduction to the species. Stores here sell yellow and sometimes orange rocotos, but they always seem soggy, so I wanted to try some home-grown pubescens.

The fataliis last year were so delicious I had to try more chinense, so I went with mako akokosrade and jamaican hot chocolate because people spoke highly of their flavor. Datil, brain strain and red bhut were freebies from pepperlover. I don't know if I'll be able to handle the heat of the two superhots, but I figured I won't know until I try!

Goals:

1. Grow sturdier plants. I didn't prune mine at all last year, and their shapes were all over the place, with many of them getting spindly and weak.
2. Save seeds. I hope to bag some blossoms and save some isolated seeds, enough to grow next year and hopefully enough to share/trade, too!
3. Overwinter my favorites. I had no idea about overwintering until November of last year, when I didn't have enough funds to invest in grow lights. I have lights now, and this year I want to save my favorite plants. Bonchi, anyone?
4. Clone plants. I want to try cloning by taking cuttings. Always been curious about this.

Methods:

• As of now—and this may change based on feedback on my progress—I plan to grow these in containers. I have large grow bags and some large plastic planters I used last year. Last year's soil is going to be remixed with some fresh compost.
• I plan to prune the "Praxxus55172" way to get sturdier plants. I'm also burying my stems to the cotyledons and will bury plants deep. I'll use the pruned bits for cuttings.
• I'm mulling over using bonemeal or other phosphorus fertilizer, but I'm not sure. Would love to hear opinions on this. Some swear by it, others say it means more flowers but not necessarily more fruit.
• If my plants need calcium, I'm going to try making my own calcium acetate from vinegar and CaCO[sub]3[/sub]. I have calcium nitrate that I used on my tomatoes when storms kept giving them end-rot, but I'm afraid this impacted my yield.

Whew! Long post.

Here's some pics of some of the pepper sproutlings so far. They're under a 4' T5 HO.

Goat Weed

Goat Weed Pepper Plants 2013-03-21 by bearsbearsbears, on Flickr

Mako Akokosrade

Mako Akokosrade Pepper Plants 2013-03-21 by bearsbearsbears, on Flickr

Datil

Datil Pepper Plants 2013-03-21 by bearsbearsbears, on Flickr

Bull's heart

Bulls Heart Pepper Plants 2013-03-21 by bearsbearsbears, on Flickr

 

[Dshlogg]

Good start and plan. Good luck with them!

 

[Chaotianjiao]

Peppers aren't looking too interesting yet – still just cotyledons. So until they become a little more interesting, here's a San Marzano tomato plant.



San Marzano Tomato Plant 2013-03-26 by bearsbearsbears, on Flickr
I think my phone camera doesn't care for the fluorescent bulbs!

I have probably 40 tomato plants in solo cups at the moment. They seem to be loving it.

 

[WalkGood]

Great list & start, mucho success to your 2013 grow ^_^

 

[SichuaneseFoodFan]

I'm really looking forward to following this.

Are your Sichuanese ChaoTianJiao bulbous or skinny? I have some skinny kinds - laughing (smooth) and regular (kinky).

 

[Chaotianjiao]

Tibetan cascabel is very bulbous. It was from a Fishwell brand bag of dried chilies I purchased in a Chinese market in the San Gabriel Valley.

chaotian jiao Tibetan bell by bearsbearsbears, on Flickr

The other one, which was marked "朝天椒" and was from a Sichuan-based company, is thinner and looks more like what I found when eating in Sichuan.


chaotian jiao supermarket by bearsbearsbears, on Flickr

I can take pics of them dried (they're about 10-15% smaller dried) if you want.

 

[Chaotianjiao]

Field of solo cups with tomatoes reaching for the sky! They're going up faster than I expected.


2013 Vegetable Garden - Tomatoes in solo cups by bearsbearsbears, on Flickr

Everything is looking so purpled! I'm guessing it's a reaction to the fluorescents' UV output? Here's a purpley green little mako akokosrade sprout.


2013 Vegetable Garden - Mako Akokosrade by bearsbearsbears, on Flickr

And a goat's weed, also purpling:


2013 Vegetable Garden - Goat's Weed by bearsbearsbears, on Flickr

Also, one of my manzano's is a hairy little tricot!


2013 Vegetable Garden - Red Manzano tricot by bearsbearsbears, on Flickr

 

[GA Growhead]

Nice! Looking good.

 

[capehog]

I love the toothpick flags good luck with your grow this year

 

[Chaotianjiao]

I've been remiss in updating my grow log. I will say that most of my plants survived their hatchling stage and made it to round two, with the exception of goat weed. Two of them died off; one because I broke the stem. Doh!
 
Here's an overview of the peppers. I have them in containers, mostly in grow bags, hooked up to a drip system. The tall lanky ones are mexican annuums--pasilla, anaheim, mulato.
 

 
My jamaican hot chocolate is the pepper that's doing the best. These pics aren't super current: it's probably another 10 inches taller at the moment, and bushy:

 
My facing heaven (chao tian) chilies are doing well, too. They're branched more this year than last year, and I'm wondering if they hybridized? They're just now starting to flower and set fruit, so I'll find out soon.

 
This sad little guy is one of my four Datil peppers. Unfortunately, 3 of them are rather runty; they did not take to the heavy rain and slugs just loved them. One is doing rather well, but this one is just pathetic!

 
Goat's Weed, though only 2 of the 4 seedlings made it, is doing really well. It's loving the GA climate, and nothing seems to want to eat much of it.

 
Aji Rojo (baccatum, presumably), leaves shredded from rain.

 
Manzano rojo (pubescens). Really interesting branching pattern. The aphids liked this one in spring, but it's doing fine now. Not as hairy as I expected.

 
Mako Akokosrade. Again, these pics are about 3 weeks old, so imagine this about 10 inches taller. It's doing rather well and is starting to bud.

 
Bull's Heart. These have an odd growth habit, clustering many buds in the center of the plant like a medusa pepper, but it's supposedly a fist-sized bell pepper with thick walls. The buds, which aren't pictured well here, get quite huge.

 

[Chaotianjiao]

And for the un-peppers, the front garden. Pictured here are eggplant and tomato plants. They are doing so well this year--much better than last year.

 
This is a White Queen tomato, very prolific so far.

 
White eggplant. These have denser flesh and thicker skins than Asian eggplant I'm used to growing.

 
Edirne Purple Striped. A Turkish variety, these have a really great nutty flavor, stronger than other eggplant I've had. These were great cut into batons, tossed with olive oil, salt, and pepper flake and roasted in the oven at 450 in a cast iron pan. And they're really beautiful to look at!

 
That's all I could take pictures of before the mosquitoes began to cloud around me. It's a late update with some outdated photos, but I'll brave the mosquitoes again soon for more current family photos.