DesertChris' High Desert Extreme Gardening Glog

annie57 · Sep 18, 2013

Dang, Chris! Long time no . . . I think pods will turn soon as weather cools off. JA Habs (Ramon's) are my fav hab. Like hot candy. And if not mistaken, well could be that Jamie's seed, Choc bhut x yellow 7 is one of my favorite peppers: Madballz. REALLY nice pepper for flavor and good heat!

And hope your battles with aphids and beetles is winding down: they generally just love any form of curcubit carrying with them nasty viruses/wilts. Good that you separated peppers and toms from them. And often, nuking is only way. Squash/cuke beetles like neem on cereal or just dirty, no rocks.

I have faith everything's gonna turn in time. Nice job and as others said, you have it ready, can get in sooner next spring before blasted with heat, have two harvests: super job of irrigating desert, worms, nice soil build!

PIC 1 · Sep 18, 2013

I'm glad to see the super hots producing on your plants. It's been a crazy summer all over the map. My supers are start starting to ripen, only a few good weeks of decent weather left here. I'll be pickling and making chutney's from the unripes........lol

Sawyer · Sep 18, 2013

Hey, Chris, glad to see you're back to posting. Good looking pods, fingers crossed for a late frost. How is your Jigsaw doing? Mine has some small pods. I'll post a picture over in the Jigsaw thread shortly.

DesertChris · Sep 20, 2013

Ok, I was inspecting the 5 foot tall red bhut plants and accidentally knocked an unripe pod this size off a plant.
Since I was tending the farthest out back gard3ns I decided to taste it.
Nibbled the end....a little heat.
Nibbled the stem end...more heat
Opened it and ate the pith...more heat
Snacked on the rest while hunting for summer squashes
Not super extra hot yet, but enough to cause lots of saliva and make my nose run, which was good since I had a stuffy nose...lol
Can't wait for them to ripen up!!

Sawyer · Sep 20, 2013

You know, I've knocked off two like that. The first was just like you describe, so I was careless with the second. That sucker lit me up. Not sure what the difference was, a few days' maturity maybe?

DesertChris · Sep 20, 2013

annie57 said:
Dang, Chris! Long time no . . . I think pods will turn soon as weather cools off. JA Habs (Ramon's) are my fav hab. Like hot candy. And if not mistaken, well could be that Jamie's seed, Choc bhut x yellow 7 is one of my favorite peppers: Madballz. REALLY nice pepper for flavor and good heat!

And hope your battles with aphids and beetles is winding down: they generally just love any form of curcubit carrying with them nasty viruses/wilts. Good that you separated peppers and toms from them. And often, nuking is only way. Squash/cuke beetles like neem on cereal or just dirty, no rocks.

I have faith everything's gonna turn in time. Nice job and as others said, you have it ready, can get in sooner next spring before blasted with heat, have two harvests: super job of irrigating desert, worms, nice soil build!

Hi Annie!
Yep...Jamie's seeds via Sawyer

Those are setting pods nicely! I'm going to save seeds and grow them next year for sure!

I can't wait for Ramone's JA Habs to ripen!! Definately will save seeds and also overwinter the plants.
Yeah...the cucurbits have been laid waste to by those pesties! Some pulled through but some were slain...
I should have went toxic on them sooner, but was hoping the millions of ladybugs would take care of it...nope...
Those squash beetles are like an army working together to kill their own food supply...lol

Luckily we harvested tons of cukes and summer squash already.
And their are plenty pumpkins too.
Spaghetti squash grows really really well here! I harvested a dozen or so, and there must be 40 more out there ripening.
Butternut squash is ripening too...maybe 25 out there.

Now that the heat is lessening, the hotter peppers are growing faster and setting pods!

The annuums seem to set pods just fine in the hotter weather.

I am definately going to be able to plant out much earlier next year!! Adding 3 irrigated gardens was waaaay more work than I anticipated, but sooooo worth it in the long run.

PIC 1 said:
I'm glad to see the super hots producing on your plants. It's been a crazy summer all over the map. My supers are start starting to ripen, only a few good weeks of decent weather left here. I'll be pickling and making chutney's from the unripes........lol

Heck yeah, the weather was freaking crazy this year, coupled with my late plant out, and I was starting to worry about getting superhot pods at all....
They are getting into the swing of things now, and temps are predicted in the 80's for 9 days or so, so hopefully I'll get a ton of pod setting happening!!

Glad to hear yours are ripening!!!

Sawyer said:
Hey, Chris, glad to see you're back to posting. Good looking pods, fingers crossed for a late frost. How is your Jigsaw doing? Mine has some small pods. I'll post a picture over in the Jigsaw thread shortly.

Here is my sad little Jigsaw....it's trying....something odd going on with the stems at the top.
It is isolated on the porch in a pot.
I am just hoping it lives...lol...not sure if it'll pod up, but I will overwinter it if it survives...

I am seriously hoping for late frost!!!! Thanks for the crossed fingers!

Sawyer said:
You know, I've knocked off two like that. The first was just like you describe, so I was careless with the second. That sucker lit me up. Not sure what the difference was, a few days' maturity maybe?

LOL.....I bet they get hotter every day!
That's why I just nibble the milder end to test first

I had an immature creaper get knocked off, ate that one too the other day...it was nowhere near as hot...

I knocked a slightly bigger purple bhut off also...I am contemplating snacking on it, but decided I will tomorrow

Sawyer · Sep 20, 2013

That's odd about the Jigsaw. Looks like it's turning reptilian.

DesertChris · Sep 20, 2013

Sawyer said:
That's odd about the Jigsaw. Looks like it's turning reptilian.

It's freaky looking isn't it....
I have 4 plants,all isolated on the porch, that have that going on...
Unfortunately they are the 1 Jigsaw, the 1 MOA, the 1 Puckerbutt Reaper, and 1 of the JA Habs...
All 4 are plants I really really wanted/needed to get seeds from

Sawyer · Sep 20, 2013

Looks like they may be getting sunburned or something. Is there some convergence of afternoon sun there or something?

DesertChris · Sep 20, 2013

Oddly enough they are well shaded...the porch has shadecloth on the roof....it has to be a virus or bacteria or fungus etc... I just don't know what, or how to treat them....

Sawyer said:
Looks like they may be getting sunburned or something. Is there some convergence of afternoon sun there or something?

Sawyer · Sep 20, 2013

Ooh, that sucks. In that case, I have nothing constructive to offer. Hopefully someone here will have seen this before and know what to do to save them. In the meantime, maybe you could start rooting some unaffected branches in water? If there are enough to spare.

DesertChris · Sep 20, 2013

Sawyer said:
Ooh, that sucks. In that case, I have nothing constructive to offer. Hopefully someone here will have seen this before and know what to do to save them. In the meantime, maybe you could start rooting some unaffected branches in water? If there are enough to spare.

Yeah, I suck at diagnosing plant diseases...lol
I also suck at rooting cuttings.... I might try rootone...but it has to wait untill I have extra $$ to buy it.

Like you said...maybe Annie or one of the other experts will see that photo

But I do have tons of other varieties of healthy pepper plants in the gardens, so I should get plenty of good seeds for next year

Sawyer · Sep 20, 2013

I've read of people having good results just putting cuttings in water (and changing the water occasionally to keep it fresh). I plan to try that with some of mine soon. I did have good results this summer rooting hops cuttings in just plain (well) water. I tried plain water, rooting compound in rock wool, and rooting compound in soil, and the water worked as well or better than the other two methods. Of course, hops aren't peppers...

DesertChris · Sep 20, 2013

Sawyer said:
I've read of people having good results just putting cuttings in water (and changing the water occasionally to keep it fresh). I plan to try that with some of mine soon. I did have good results this summer rooting hops cuttings in just plain (well) water. I tried plain water, rooting compound in rock wool, and rooting compound in soil, and the water worked as well or better than the other two methods. Of course, hops aren't peppers...

Wow, that's pretty cool!

My one rooting success was when I was planting out the overwintered poblanos, I dropped a plant and broke off a few branches....
So I shoved the broken off branches into the soil and lo and behold they rooted

Sawyer · Sep 20, 2013

Yeah, I've got a couple of limbs I broke off that I shoved in a pot. They are still pretty wilted, but after a couple of weeks, they aren't dead yet! Don't remember what they are, though.

DesertChris · Sep 20, 2013

What is pretty cool is with the sheer # of varieties I planted, I am finding out which ones seem to be more productive and able to handle the hot weather better.
For example...

Yatsafusa peppers are by far my most productive asian pepper, and they dry super nicely.
Those are perfect for me for a thai type pepper...

Purple jalapenos are not spicy enough even for a jalapeno, so next year I will plant more regular ones, and not the purple...

Yellow 7 Pots seem to set pods nicely, gonna grow them again

Morugas are setting pods...Butch T's are not yet...several plants of each....
I gave a Butch T seedling to the daughter's boyfriend, and his plant is pretty big, but no pods setting yet either.

Creapers are not the most vigorous plants in the desert....I have a couple pods growing, but from 9 plants, there should be more....

Romy6 choc bhut x yellow 7 is a productive plant....they are podding up left and right

So next year I will be armed with a ton of info, and can plant more plants of the varieties that do well here, and avoid or plant only a couple of the ones that don't appreciate the desert.

Devv · Sep 20, 2013

Chris, my true Reapers have done nothing but grow (few pods), the "funky" one has set pods all summer long, and tons of them. The taste is so close to the true ones that I see no reason to plant them again. People in the cooler areas, or those that got them going real early seem to be having the best luck. I didn't plant many different supers, just the Reapers, Red Bhut's, Moruga's, and Primo's, just the one plant has done anything. But they are flowering a lot again, hopefully some will stick. Now the Annuums and Hab's don't care about the heat.

I haven't done much with cuttings, but with just sticking them in water and keeping them inside until they grew roots I had 100% success.

Have a great weekend!

DesertChris · Sep 21, 2013

Devv said:
Chris, my true Reapers have done nothing but grow (few pods), the "funky" one has set pods all summer long, and tons of them. The taste is so close to the true ones that I see no reason to plant them again. People in the cooler areas, or those that got them going real early seem to be having the best luck. I didn't plant many different supers, just the Reapers, Red Bhut's, Moruga's, and Primo's, just the one plant has done anything. But there are flowering a lot again, hopefully some will stick. Now the Annuums and Hab's don't care about the heat.

I haven't done much with cuttings, but with just sticking them in water and keeping them inside until they grew roots I had 100% success.

Have a great weekend!

Well....today while watering, I discovered 2 lonely pods on one of the "Desert Reaper" plants...lol
They might be growing true to form...maybe.... sorta....kinda...

Funny thing is my supers are far larger plants than my Habs!
And look to be producing/setting better...but only time will tell.

I should try to root in water, but there is only one good window area (sliding glass door) that gets decent sun, and my gal kicked my plant table out of that area...lol

Attack of the ladybugs

Yellow squash plant.
Stupid aphids are still running amok out there...lol

On a lighter note....
I accidentally knocked a purple bhut off the plant yesterday.
It was just starting to ripen.
I ate it with my morning coffee

It was hotter than yesterdays unripe red bhut, and lit me up nicely...lol
"A pepper a day keeps the stuffy nose away"

Devv · Sep 21, 2013

Those look true enough to me, mine never had that really dark green color.

Cool all the LadyBugs are still hanging!

And when I have rooted a cutting, zero sun until in a pot, then 2 weeks of morning sun only.

Have a great weekend!

DesertChris · Sep 25, 2013

Devv said:
Those look true enough to me, mine never had that really dark green color.

Cool all the LadyBugs are still hanging!

And when I have rooted a cutting, zero sun until in a pot, then 2 weeks of morning sun only.

Have a great weekend!

Thanks for the rooting info!

Yep...tons of ladybugs... I saw the fattest ladybug I have ever seen! It must have been 2.5 times as big as a normal one..lol

Yeah, all 2 of the pods on that plant are that really dark green...yep...all 2 of them...hahaha
Funny thing is I sowed reaper seeds last october....you would think I would have had more pods by now.