Eephus Man's 2012 March to Hell and Back (Grow Log)

Okay, I'm going to *actually* try and update things this year. My first flats will start tomorrow (chinenses and a few other long-seasons), and the rest, minus a few herbs/tomatoes, will go in later this week or early next. I'm going to try and be better about keeping records this year, too. We'll see how it goes with my limited time, but I'm hopeful.

So...without further blab, here's a tease of a few batches of seeds soaking in a seaweed/superthrive solution over night.



My current grow list looks like this:



Peppers (Hot)

7-Pot White (OP)
Aji Angelo
Aji Omnicolor
BAC593605
Bahamian Finger (Direct Sourced!)
Barro do Robiero
Billy Biker Jalapeno
Bonda ma Jacques
Broome
CA438633
Cheiro do Norte
Chocolate Bhut Jolokia
Chocolate Habanero (OP)
Criolla Sella
Congo Trinidad
Datil
Fatalii
Fish
Goat's Weed
Guampinho de Veado
Habanero de Arbol
Hinkelhatz
Hot Portugal (OP)
Mustard Habanero
Naga Jolokia
NuMex Jalmundo
Peach Scorpanero
Peppadew
Pilange (OP)
Rooster Spur (seedlings destroyed)
Santa Fe Grande
Thai Hot
Uyababa
Yellow Bhut Jolokia
Zimbabwe Bird

Peppers (Sweet or Very Mild Heat)

Ashe County Pimiento (0% germination)
Buran
Canary Bell (Two germinated, gave both away)
Cubanelle
Dulce di Minvervino
Hungarian Wax
Jimmy Nardello's
Kaleidoscope
Kalocsa
Kurtovska Kapiya 1619
Miniature Red Bell
Piment D'espelette (0% germination)
Pimiento L
Piquillo
R Naky
Shishito
Sweet Banana
Sweet Chocolate (lost seed, did not plant)
Sweet Pickle

I'm trying out small batches of varietals that are new to me, and larger for those that are known favs for me. Most of these will end up in pots or small raised beds. My title is in reference to the well-known summer conditions in Texas this year, where we were spared little in the way of either rainfall (none between late April and early October) or temperatures (over 100F for 90 days, including two, back-to-back 25+ day runs over 100F). This is also a test to see which varieties produce before the heat set, during the summer, and which begin to produce again the most quickly in the fall.

We'll see how it goes and I'm happy to have you on board for advice, tips, questions and observations!

Special thanks this year to Buck77, Kappy, menotume, hot stuff, and Spicegeist for help with wanted seeds and unrequested generosity!

 

[Eephus Man]

Thanks, sync!

Hinkelhatz



My baby Nagas. Lots of 'em. This plant is crazy.



Sweet Pickles



Dulce di Minervino



Top view of Fish



Not sure what I was going for here, but it got uploaded, so here ya are



Kaleidoscope



Chocolate Hab. This plant is that same 4th-year plant and is fairly stout and small, but full of fruit already.



Kaleidoscope X...maybe. Might be a true Kaleidoscope. They started very bulleted, but have dropped and are looking more like the standard fruit now.



Look at that nasty lil' Yellow Bhut hiding in there. This is an overwinter also...



That's all for this round, folks! Hopefully I'll have some more up in about a week or so.

Thanks for looking!

 

[Beehunter]

Nice update and sweet pics! Man i have seen a few pics of yellow bhuts and they all seem to be bumpy as hell! How your season continues to rock!

 

[Eephus Man]

Nice update and sweet pics! Man i have seen a few pics of yellow bhuts and they all seem to be bumpy as hell! How your season continues to rock!

Thanks, Bh! Yes, these Yellow Bhuts are very bumpy. I really like them, too. Plenty hot, but not crippling.

And I have had an incredible season so far. The hail/rain literally split thunderheads around our part of Austin last night, so despite the fact some folks in the city got inches of rain and large hail, we escaped the hail and missed the rain.

But temps are back down again and are very low for mid-May. If it stays like this for the next ten days, I will continue to have a lot of fruit, and probably have it on all the chinenses as well. Very, very lucky for an early March plant out and still having 80s F temperatures in mid-May!

 

[Eephus Man]

Just noticed some really big Chiero do Norte fruit hiding this morning.

 

[Justaguy]

Nice low light pics. Her camera is working good for ya. Is it just me or are your Nards skinny?

 

[Eephus Man]

Nice low light pics. Her camera is working good for ya. Is it just me or are your Nards skinny?

Brian,

Thank you. Her camera is now "old", but its great. I'm going to try and use it more frequently. I was warned I might get blurry shots, but most of them were fine. Gotta love a real SLR.

They are really, really long this year. No real scale in the photo, but they've got to be 8-9" long now. So they are definitely skinny, but larger than I've ever been able to grow them. Does that make sense?

 

[Justaguy]

Yes it does. 8-9 is their common length here. Maybe they will fatten up. I get skinny ones too. The shoulders on mine tend to be like a pups feet. Big feet = big adult dog. Even skinny they are good and plenty of pepper to work with when 8-9 inches. Going to have to try Shishitos next year.

 

[Eephus Man]

Rain, rain, go...ah hell, stay all you want! I've got mushrooms growing out of the bottom of my pots, but I won't even remember what this sounds/looks like come August. I'm enjoying it!

https://www.dropbox.com/s/qj9xehpcgv1igb9/2012-05-10_20-29-54_86.mp4

Also, I can't figure out how to embed a vid on THP. Sorry.

 

[Justaguy]

.reminds me of the rain we got last year

 

[Eephus Man]

.reminds me of the rain we got last year

How was your season? I don't know if its *too* wet yet, but its keeping the temperatures WAY down, which means I have fruit on almost every potted plant, save a few late starts and 2-3 chinenses.

 

[RedtailForester]

Great looking plants Eeph! What kind of Hinkelhatz are you growing? I finally got my hands on some good yellow Hinkelhatz seeds from another THP member. I've got three nice looking plants going at the moment. Ironically, the only commercial seller that had them sent me horrible looking seeds that were gray and moldy. She claimed to be the only carrier of yellow chickenheart seeds.......I guess that is about to change.

 

[Eephus Man]

Mine are classic red, so far that I know. Believe my source was Seeds of Change. They are insanely prolific so far. I also saved seed from fruit I got from Johnson's Backyard Garden (great local farm here). I assume they weren't isolated, but I haven't grown them out yet.

Would love to know how the yellow ones turn out and how similar plants/yields are.

I remember having them last year for the first time and finding them much hotter than I had expected.

 

[Eephus Man]

cmpman inspired me to try and take a few semi-macro shots on my video camera today after the rain. There has been a LOT of rain lately, which is amazing compared to
last year. I'd say I hope not to much for the peppers, but we're in such dire need, I'm not sure I care.

Aji Angelo overwinter with what must be 35 peppers on it already.

Congo Trinidad from Gary (windchicken). This is a *seriously* robust plant.

Fatalii. These things are coming on fast and furious.

Couple of cool Fish shots. Beautiful freak.

Naga Jolokia. Loaded with pods. Most of them are nice 'n' pimply.

Aji Omnicolor is exploding. Very cool.

 

[hornilla]

Nice pics, Eephus Man,. How are your mystery peppers doing?

 

[Eephus Man]

Nice pics, Eephus Man,. How are your mystery peppers doing?

Thank you!

They're doing really well, actually. The tall one has bloom all over it and I'm waiting to see fruit any day now. The little chinense in the box is getting much bigger, No sign of fruit, but its growing steady and I expect I'll see *something* on it this year. The others in the back are still suffering. I think I'm going to dig up the mystery pube this weekend and put it in a pot. I won't get fruit till much later in the year, but I can't stand to see it the way it is...

I'll try and post some new pics over in the other thread this coming weekend. How 'bout you?

 

[Eephus Man]

A few more with a (clearly) less steady hand.

Mike (capsidadburn)! I don't think the Onza Roja you gave me is an Onza Roja! Not that I'm complaining. It has some very good looking peppers starting to form on it. Looks *sort of* like a Goat's Weed X (especially with the pubescens), but I'm not sure. Also, your Costeno Amarillo and Bih Jolokia have now caught up and are fruiting. Very cool. Thank you! And the T-Scorp is a little behind, but still doing fairly well. I lost one of the others...

Here's the Onza Roja X. Again, sorry for the hand shake today. Must need snack for a little blood sugar boost.

Shishitos hiding in the jungle. If you look closely, you can see a friendly and a scourge, too. Who sees 'em!?

Yellow Bhuts looking pretty nasty.

Zimbabwe Bird fruit starting to turn...

 

[hornilla]

My mystery peppers are doing fine. The big one seems to be building its first fruit. But there are only two more flowers on it. Hope it will be more within the next weeks. The smaller one does not show any flowers yet and still the new leaves are more yellow than green. Seems to be characteristic?! I posted some pics in the mystery-thread.

 

[romy6]

Love the macro pics and rare varieties. Keep the pics coming. We can never get enough!!

Oh and can you post a pic of the chiero do norte pod and give a lttle feed back on heat and taste?

Thank you

 

[Eephus Man]

Love the macro pics and rare varieties. Keep the pics coming. We can never get enough!!

Oh and can you post a pic of the chiero do norte pod and give a lttle feed back on heat and taste?

Thank you

Thanks, romy!

And...most definitely on the Chiero do Norte. There are definitely some full-sized pods on it now. Its in the "jungle thicket" right now and I've been too lazy (and possibly too superstitious given my good luck this year so far - knock on wood) to disturb it. But there are two or three varieties that aren't getting fair photo coverage. Time to fix that!

And as soon as I get some ripe fruit, I'm going to start taking photos of the fruit and doing taste reports. Why not, right?

Thanks for following!

 

[Eephus Man]

Three quick shots.

First is one of the first few Barro do Robiero fruit.

My mystery baccatum is starting to "show". Looks like it'll be some iteration of a Bishop's Hat/Nepalese Bell? Guesses are welcome.

Same with this mystery chinense. Any thoughts at this very early stage?