Dulac's Glog

Up until now I have only sowed seeds outside. I never babied the seeds--they went straight into the ground. This year I decided to get a head start and grow indoors. I have been growing using sunlight and just recently amended the sunlight with a cheap light. The sunlight isn't really long enough for good growth it seems. So far the cheap light has done well. I had a Thai dragon pepper that was a pale green and it has become more green and healthy looking. Early on it lost two leaves

. It was either from lack of light, overwatering, or overfertilizing. I replanted it and it did not drop any more leaves but remained a pale green until I amended the sunlight with the new cheap light. The sun can heat up the room to 88 max so far. During the night it is usually around 77.

This year I also plan to crossbreed for certain characteristics. For example, I want a larger Thai dragon pepper (C. frutescens)
with more heat. I also want a more prolific Bhut Jolokia (C. chinense and C. frutescens), so I will try to cross them. Additionally the Thai dragon pepper is hardy. They survived an earthquake (not much of one), a hurricane, a northeaster, a heatwave, and frost in the late season (was still living in December outside)! Not only that but it grew a seedling without my involvement other than bringing it inside in indirect sunlight. One dried up pod fell in there and I just left it for kicks. I also want the peppers to grow in clusters upright, which is not only beautiful but efficient. Wish me luck on creating such a pepper! If I do, I should call it a Thai ghost dragon pepper. I will talk much more about what I plan to cross and for what traits.

Seed List (pending):

Edit: Removed large annoying photos of last year's plants.

 

[SuperHot]

Nice start on you seedlings!!

Hab plants with pods that size will stay small. If you want a larger plant with monster pods I would pick them off.

Good luck!!

 

[Dulac]

Nice start on you seedlings!!

Hab plants with pods that size will stay small. If you want a larger plant with monster pods I would pick them off.

Good luck!!

Oh those were stunted last year. I didn't grow them inside and grew them too late in the season. However I had enough of them where I got a fair amount. I didn't care too much about them last year. This year I'm doing everything different . I found a new appreciation for the orange habs. I think they are good on pizza, potato skins with cheddar cheese, and stir fried with vegetables.

 

[Dulac]

Here is an update. Germinated more seeds on February 15th. Then I found some Jamaican red scotch bonnet seeds and started germinating them about a week ago.

My recovering cayenne pepper:

You can't see it but it has about 3 flower buds growing at the top of it underneath its foliage. It seems a bit odd for 3 flower buds to be growing there in the upright position (maybe they will grow down when mature). I'm wondering if it got crossed with my Thai dragon peppers. Is it normal for cayenne to have 3 buds growing at the top of the plant?

Here is my Thai dragon pepper that got sick and lost 4 leaves. It used to be a very pale green. it seems its problem was lack of nitrogen. After I fed it awhile ago it turned a very healthy green.

Here is an orange habanero plant. It has been doing very well.

Here is the side view. Looks like it has some minor fert burn.

Here are some red habaneros I cannot identify from an international market here (took the seeds from pods). They are very hot and tasty.

Here is the new stuff I started germinating on Feb. 15th. I don't have pics of all my plants (too many). The Thai dragon volunteer in my op is extraordinarily healthy and happy.

Red habanero 3 cotyledons

Red habaneros (bunch of them in there to conserve space)

serrano (oops this one isn't new. It's from mid or late Jan.)

Bhut jolokia 3 cotyledons

Bhut jolokia

Jamaican red scotch bonnets (started them about a week ago)

Devil's tongue

Trinidad scorpion Butch T.

Early jalapeno

Naga morich

White Habanero

Fatalii

Chocolate habanero

Bih jolokia

 

[Dulac]

I've nuked some of my superhots. My habanero chocolates reacted the worst. Most have recovered but lost a lot of leaves. This occurred after I thinned out my plants too! I saw good results on my cayenne but the superhots reacted horrible. I have also planted superhots and other chiles in a bed at my condo. I plan to plant more chiles at the college where I share a garden with two professors. I'm an alumni at that college . There are some plots left over from last year and I will make more plots since I have so many chiles. I just noticed that my Thai dragons are f2 hybrids . The label on the package was so small that I never noticed they were F1s. I noticed something wasn't right when they started growing pendent flowers. I'm very disappointed since I loved those plants last year.

I have started new plants. Some of them were given to me by Patrick and others were given to me by Mgold. Thanks both if you read my blog. I also grew a primo from each of you that I can compare. The plants are doing well. I will post pictures of plants here and there rather than all at once.

I planted only 1 seed of a TS Morouga that Mgold sent who got them from Judy. It's doing good! I planted one brain strain from Patrick but some sort of larvae ate the seed from the inside! I'm positive it's from the recycled peat I used. That's ok, I'm currently germinating two more seeds in paper towels to avoid any pests. I want to compare the brain strain and Morouga for differences. I suspect they are different varieties and will provide proof if that's the case.

Here is the lovely Morouga:

I also had a seed trade with Dan who was very generous in his trade. I wanted a pimenta da neyde for crossbreeding very bad and I traded for that and more with Dan. I've been very anxious about the pimenta da neyde. I've been worried if it will germinate because I only have 6 seeds or if it's crossed. It looks like 3 out of 4 have germinated! I can also confirm that they are pimenta da neydes. When they first popped up I was disappointed at how green the cotyledons were. The first true leaves on one of them were completely green as well. I started doubting them even though the stem is very unique looking. I tried researching about why foliage turns green on plants. I read about the process that turns the pigment purple but I've forgotten the scientific name . That's ok because I think I found the problem. I think the problem is with the florescent lights. I don't think they have enough of the proper color for purple pigment. So I gave the pimenta da neydes some sunlight yesterday and today. I noticed the leaves started turning the nice dark purple I'm after! Either it was from moving them into the sunlight or the plant's maturity. I will test this hypothesis next year by growing a pimenta da neyde under my florescent lights only and the other one in the sun.

Here are the pimenta da neyde seedlings:

You can see where the true leaves are transitioning from green to purple from their tips. Oddly the cotyledons don't seem to change color. I've never seen seedlings of pimenta da neydes, so I don't know what to expect.

 

[Dulac]

Well, many of my pods have been ripening. My plants are doing great . I've also made some super hot sauce (various types of 7 pots, jolokias, Trinidad scorpions, etc.).

Bih Jolokia pod (ate it and it was very hot!):

Pimenta da Neyde pod (can't tell when they are ripe!):

Not to sure what this is. I planted the seed from a pod labeled "habanero" I found at an international market. It's at least twice the size of the pod I grabbed the seeds from. Maybe it's a hybrid.

Green 7 pot Jonah (old pic. It went right into my sauce!)

 

[Dulac]

Trinidad Scorpion Butch T. pods

Orange Habaneros

Serrano pod:

Mystery habaneros:

Big Jims:

Big Jim close up:

I plan on crossing the big Jim plant here with Trinidad Scorpion Butch T. plant shown. Wish me luck on that! I'm gonna do a lot more crosses and even 4 way crosses.

 

[SocalChilehead]

Pods look great that is the same problem I am going to have with the Pimenta De Neyde, but it is a great problem to have.

 

[patrick]

Looking nice Dulac.

 

[Dulac]

Thanks! I had so many plants I had to grow them very close together. They are very crowded but doing well .

Here is Plot 1 (I have two other plots about the same size and two small ones I didn't take pics of):

Wild Brazilian pepper C. praetermissum (from plot 2)

Yellow 7 pots:

7 pot Jonahs:

Bhut Jolokias:

Weird bhut jolokia pod shape:

 

[PaulG]

Wow, Dulac! That's quite a jump from 17 April to 27 July!
Nice garden spaces. The pod pics you posted yesterday
look great!

Good luck going forward with your pod harvest!

 

[buddy]

great looking chiles. congratulations and good luck with the rest of the season.