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Drew's Grow Log

I mentioned in my Introduction thread that I'm growing a bunch from seed for the first time. The only success I've had from seed before were some Hungarian wax plants last year. But I also didn't really know what I was doing until now either. I'll post a few pictures in here once I get them into Photobucket, and will also be posting everything here in my blog, also called Texoma Heat.

I get a seed starting tray with 50 peat pots and a bag of Jiffy seed starting mix, all set on top of a 24"x12" heating pad. I put all the seeds in moist paper towels yesterday and let them soak overnight in Ziploc bags on the heating pad with a sweatshirt over it. One of my cats found it to be a nice place to sleep as well.

Here's what all has been planted:

10 jalapeno
5 bhut jolokia
3 cayenne
3 Hungarian wax
2 sweet banana
2 Zimbabwe bird
2 Thai extra hot
2 Peruvian white habanero
2 spicy mustard habanero
2 Tasmanian habanero
2 Caribbean red habanero
1 long slim red
1 Santa Fe grande
1 Hungarian black
1 fatalii
1 chocolate habanero

I started between 2 and 4 seeds per pot to try to conserve space and make sure something ends up growing in each. I'm setting my heating pad on the second of the three heat levels. It has an automatic 60 minute shut off on it though, which could pose a problem. Anyone with any advice here? Should I put it on the highest heat setting? The lowest? I might take it with me to my office for the week so I can turn it back on every hour.

I'm still waiting on a shipment of aji pineapple, chiltepin, and yellow rocoto seeds. I also have a packet of a random variety of seeds from Rainbow Chili Seeds that I'll be soaking and planting after these are ready to move to pots.

I have a very small grow light that it mounted on the wall with a 65R30/PL bulb in it. It's about all I have the space and money for right now. I'm hoping to change things and get a better setup next season.

Anyways, here's where it all begins for me, and here's to hoping for a successful growing season for everyone here. I'll have a few photos posted in the next few days. Maybe not here, but definitely on my blog, linked in the opening paragraph.
 
Click to expand...
Looks like everything that survived will be alright. This morning, the sprouts/seedlings/whatever were all back to standing up straight instead of being mashed down and/or leaning over.
 
I got a bunch of stuff moved into larger pots today and yesterday. I'll get some photos hopefully next week when I get back from my trip out to Amarillo.

Currently sitting on my front porch, 34 potted pepper plants, a tomato plant, a tomatillo plant, plus cilantro, rosemary, catnip, and basil. Still to be repotted: about 50 more pepper plants.
 
So it's been a while since I actually posted anything here. Work takes up so much of my time...

Anyways, a few photos coming up. As I mentioned elsewhere, I have an Apache that's been pretty prolific so far. I picked a bunch and put them in a plastic bag which I have hanging in the front window of the house to try to dry them out.

My Mohawk has produced two peppers so far. Kind of a bitter taste though. Anyone know anything about these? It's a small pepper, no heat, looks like a mini bell, but more bitter than sweet. Saw one site that said it's a hybrid, but I'm not sure of what.

More to come in a moment, switching computers...
 
If you want to dry those Apaches, I wouldn't put them in a plastic bag. Platic will trap moisture, which will give you more rotten peppers than dry ones. Try just stringing them up with a needle and thread and putting them somewhere with good air flow. They'll dry no problem with the heat in TX!
 
Paper towel works well to - it lets the moisture through while keeping some heat in. There, now you know most of my secret technique for using a crockpot to dry chiles. ;)
 
Excellent, I'll try that out. I was considering venting the ziploc in some way to let out moisture, but couldn't think of a way to do it. I only have about 8 drying now and a ton more on the plant, so if I wreck these, it's not the end of the world.

I had said I was going to continue this post once I switched computers. And once again, work got in the way. So I continue now.

While watering earlier today, I saw what I think are a few cayennes on one of the plants I started from seed. The pot has no label on it, so it's either something I replanted while thinning seedlings (lots of cayennes in there), or something from the mystery mix I got as a bonus from one of the seed companies. Not sure which, but I don't really care either. As long as it's eventually edible.

I bought a few others from Walmart. So the list of plants currently stands like this: Yellow bell, Mohawk hybrid, Anaheim, Sweet banana, Santa Fe Grande, New Mexico Big Jim, New Mexico 6-4L, Sandia, Cherry, Hungarian hot wax, Hungarian black, Jalapeno, Apache hybrid, Fresno, Cayenne, Long slim red, Serrano, Aji pineapple, Tabasco, Zimbabwe bird, Yellow rocoto, Chiltepin, Fatalii, Orange habanero, Chocolate habanero, Mustard habanero, Tasmanian habanero, Caribbean red habanero, Bhut jolokia, plus a bunch of mystery ones. 77 plants, at least 29 varieties.

Also rolling out four tomato plants: two Mr. Stripey, one yellow pear, one patio. One tomatillo. And some herbs for good measure: sweet basil, Thai basil, rosemary, catnip, lemon balm, and mint.

Last but not least, a photo of most of it.

Pots.jpg

Back in late May...

Everything1.jpg

About a week ago.

Ahh, the fun of Miracle Gro Tomato Food!
 
Latest photos: http://s653.photobucket.com/albums/uu259/TexomaHeat/Aug 15/

There are 36 of them, so I'm not going to post them all in the thread. Enjoy.

Got a few wax peppers that I put on a sub last night, and a few habaneros that I minced and put in quesadillas. Also got a few Fresnos, a Big Jim, a couple serranos, and a Sandia that I have strung up and drying on the porch.

Should have some plants kicking ass in the month of September!
 
Two and a half months later, I'm still getting pods in. Most of them have been dried and will be ground soon. On that note, the season in review...

Jalapenos: Really didn't grow well at all. The few I got were very small and got damaged by insects very quickly. They're cheap enough to buy, so I may not bother with them in the future.

Yellow bell: The dangers of transplanting without caution. The plant was getting two decent sized peppers and outgrowing its smaller pot, so I decided I'd try to move it. I managed to snap the stem pretty well, so instead of ending up with a couple nice sized yellow peppers, I got two small green ones. Live and learn. We're still a few weeks away from our first frost and the plant has a couple small green ones.

Hungarian hot wax and Sweet banana: Decent producers early in the season, nothing in the hot summer months. I'm still planning on doing a couple next year, but I'll keep them in a cooler, or at least shadier spot so they aren't getting direct sun and 100+ degree temps from 10 am to 3 pm for 3 months straight.

Aji pineapple: One of my new favorites. Late producer, great flavor. I'm planning on overwintering one or two of them.

Apache: Not a fan, won't be growing next year.

Bhut jolokia: Simply awesome, another I'm planning on overwintering.

NuMex Big Jim: Great producer from early to late in the season once I got over some early end rot problems. Even now on November 1, I have a good 4 or 5 big green ones still on the plant. A keeper for next year.

NuMex 6-4L, Anaheim, Sandia: Not as good of producers as the Big Jim.

Zimbabwe Bird: Another new favorite of mine, three plants still producing. Small too, so I might be able to put one on my desk at work over the winter.

Bolivian Rainbow: Awesome. Planning on putting it on my desk at work over the winter.

Chiltepin: Usually a slow producer, I had a lot of green ones on the plant for a long time, but once they ripened, I had tons coming off for a few weeks. Definitely keeping this one over the winter.

Tabasco: My first tabasco plant was great then mysteriously died. The second one I bought produced nothing. I'm going to try to keep it over the winter, but won't expect much out of it.

Cayenne: Another excellent producer, might not overwinter, but I will certainly plant more next season.

Cherry: Had a good couple of weeks, but then quit producing. Probably not going to bother with it next year.

Fresno: Always a favorite of mine, did not disappoint this year. Will do again next year.

Serrano: Not as big a producer as my plant from two years ago (yet), but that was a real shocker as to how much I got from it. Planning on keeping this one around as it has 22 pods on it right now that I'm hoping will ripen soon. If not, fine, I'll just pick a bunch of green serranos then!

Fatalii: Got nothing from it. I've always heard they're really stubborn though, so I'll try it again next year. Might even try to overwinter my current one.

Mohawk: Hated it.

Orange habanero: Always a good one for me, this year was no exception. Going to keep it around as well.

Rocoto: No production, but I also had to have it indoors for a long time. Will try to overwinter one, maybe two.

Tasmanian habanero: First habanero I've ever grown successfully from seed. Planning on trying to keep my current plant.

Caribbean red habanero, Chocolate habanero, Mustard habanero: Didn't give me anything. I'm hoping to overwinter each though. Perhaps getting a jumpstart next season will help them out.

Noshownate: I mostly play left wing, but also some D as well. I used to play street hockey in Boston as a goalie when I was in college.
 
Gotta love those jump starts.
Don't give up.
Hey my tabascos grow whether I want them to or not.
You make me want to go out and dig up all my bolivian rainbows and try to over winter them.
 
How the pLants doin bub? Street hockey is the sheet no one down here in south west florida prob even know what sthat is!:)
Have you been gettin any pods yet? PIcs?
 
The first frost is about to hit tonight, so I brought a few plants indoors for the night. Okay, more than a few-- 17: a NuMex Big Jim, a serrano, 3 aji pineapples, a Bolivian rainbow, an o-hab, 2 choco habs, a Caribbean red hab, a Zimbabwe bird, a tepin, a bhut jolokia, a mustard hab, 2 rocotos (I left one outside), and something I have no ID on since it was part of a random mix but looks cool. The rest I'll leave out and hope for the best. If they live, great. If not, oh well-- I'm going to start seeds again in a month or two. Just in case, I picked all that I could, whether ripe or not. I might try the paper bag ripening technique on them.

Noshow: Had a lot of pods throughout the season but didn't take many pictures. I'm planning on taking them constantly in 2010 though. Granted, I was going to take a ton this year too and keep my blog updated, but life got in the way quite a bit.

Here's what I do have for pics, posted at another message board back in August: http://www.hockey-fights.com/forum/showpost.php?post/1097790/
 
Well hello everyone. Been a while since I've been here. Took a short break from painting the bedroom to post here.

I decided this year to buy all my plants from a nursery instead of doing them from seeds. Yes, I know, I'm a cheater. But I also didn't have the time to devote to the seeds because of a regime change on the job (previous coach out, former assistant now takes over as head coach), and didn't want to half-ass it.

A list of plants you say? Certainly. I'm cutting back this year, going for plant quality over plant quantity.

1 chiltepin that I successfully overwintered-- beyond stoked about that!
1 serrano
1 NuMex Big Jim
2 orange habs
2 Caribbean reds
1 jalapeno
1 cayenne
1 "purple flash" ornamental
1 white habanero
1 chocolate habanero
1 bhut jolokia
1 datil sweet
1 aji dulce
1 Zimbabwe bird
1 Thai dragon
1 lemon drop
1 Trinidad scorpion
1 fatalii
1 Fresno
1 hot cherry
1 tabasco
1 Scotch bonnet yellow
1 red Peter pepper

So still a wide variety, but not as many repeats as last year. I think I had 70-some plants last year, whereas now I have 20-some total. I'll get photos pretty soon.
 
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