Four-Pepper False Start Glog

While I'm (successfully) growing plenty of herbs at the moment, the important stuff is obviously the peppers... and, since I'm pretty sure I baked the first set of seeds I attempted to germinate due to underestimating the power of my seedling heat mat after moving it into the grow tent, we're calling that a swing and a miss and moving on with Batch #2.
 
Tomorrow night they'll get the coffee-filter-in-a-baggie treatment and a hopefully-more-comfortable place in a lovely fluffy towel on the mat.

 

[internationalfish]

Finally got a sprout from my rockwool; a white devil's tongue. It's now in one of my Second Generation Half-Assed Kratky Things (trademark pending on the name).
 

 
It already shot a root all the way through, which is now in half-strength hydroponic nutrients.
 
That's one out of seven germinated, four of which are giant white habaneros, and those are the ones I really want to grow out... hopefully they grace us with their presence, preferably sooner rather than later.

 

[internationalfish]

We got whacked pretty hard by a typhoon last night. My day-glo devil's tongue got pushed over and is going to need to be staked, which isn't a big deal... the only actual loss is my bonchi experiment, which got mostly uprooted. 
 
Not great, but it could've been worse.

 

[CaneDog]

Empathy like.  Glad it wasn't any worse. Seems like you have a lot of good things happening though to balance it out.

 

[internationalfish]

Empathy like.  Glad it wasn't any worse. Seems like you have a lot of good things happening though to balance it out.

Heh, thanks. Things are going OK overall, though it's back up close to 100F here this week, which is disheartening... hopefully it doesn't stunt the plants again.

 

[internationalfish]

Things seem to still be doing reasonably well despite the heat coming back. We might have actually finally hit real fall, so hopefully there aren't any more dramatic pauses in pod growth.
 
The balcony is looking reasonably jungly. The last typhoon that went through took several of my isolation bags as souvenirs... I know I have at least one good pod, a goronong, but the rest need to be re-bagged.
 

 
My SLR is growing as well, just... not pods. There's just one on it right now, I think, and it hasn't produced any others for quite a while. Somehow I think I'm out of the running.
 

 

[internationalfish]

Quick update.
 
I've been planning next season's grow. I'm thinking I can comfortably get five five-gallon bags onto the balcony.
 

 
They're interspersed with one-gallon bags; planning to try 'companion plants' (I'm thinking garlic, basil, mint, chives, and laurel) to see if I can keep some of the bugs away. Also, it'll be nice to have the herbs around; I had them out front this year and my wife didn't exactly prioritize them, so they're... permanently pre-dried.
 
Getting started on my next round of tent plants. Today I potted (bagged) up my shishito and Greek pepperoncini. On the left are a 7JPN and a kung pao cayenne that are going to the office; in front are some Okinawa garlic.
 

 
The last of the previous round was a CGN 21500 that I read its last rites last night, so I'm getting started on the next. The last half-assed Kratky white devil's tongue didn't make it; I moved it too quickly. So round 3 is starting now; hopefully I get decent germination this time, otherwise I'm going to try going back to starting in coir and hope it's me and not the seeds (which I'm running out of for a few varieties I'd really like to grow).
 
Circling back to that garlic, they're short because I just harvested for the first time. Man, these have a nice strong flavor.
 

 
And a more conventional harvest. Korean peppers, CGN 21500, a day-glo devil's tongue, and a few lemon drops.
 

 

[PaulG]

Cool to see you starting a new grow, Fish!

 

[CaneDog]

+1 to that!  Good to have the experience of last year to work with too.  
 
Good batch of CGN21500's ya have there.

 

[PaulG]

Forgot to mention I like the positioning tool (top pic #606)
you made for planning out the spacing on your balcony!

 

[internationalfish]

Cool to see you starting a new grow, Fish!

 
Thanks! The last gallon bag batch in the tent went through so much abuse on the way there that I'm looking forward to having these grow entirely in coir for their whole lives. Hopefully the results are at least more consistent.
 

+1 to that!  Good to have the experience of last year to work with too.  
 
Good batch of CGN21500's ya have there.

 
Yeah, they're looking good. Going to let them finish ripening and probably try a fresh sauce with plenty of garlic and vinegar; something different after only doing ferments so far.
 

Forgot to mention I like the positioning tool (top pic #606)
you made for planning out the spacing on your balcony!

 
Haha, this is something I like to do for laying out furniture in rooms. My wife laughed at me when I was doing it for my office, then quickly decided it wasn't that stupid when she wanted to start picking out furniture for the baby's room.
 
I just realized that my growing season is basically over... and over the weekend I stuck a 7JPN outside that didn't have a place in the schedule.   I do have another one that's coming to the office, and the last plants I brought in did very well in the window here. So hopefully it works out again. Oops.
 
That also means I really need to step it up if I'm going to get a decent amount of isolated seeds... 

 

[internationalfish]

Snagged a few more pictures because I couldn't resist. First time I've gotten these myself, and two at once!
 
Rasta jigsaw x Jamaican hab (fitting) F1:
 

 
And a day-glo devil's tongue:
 

 
Bagged some more buds as well. Will probably keep bagging daily.
 

 
Behind where I'm taking this picture is an AC unit (I'm basically sitting on it). After I tore down a bunch of plants quite a while ago, I just set a few of the stumps on top of that; with just the occasional rain, they've been coming back on and off. The mutant purple UFO might actually fruit before the season ends.
 

 

[internationalfish]

'bout ready to put this glog to rest. Next month we should start dipping into pepper-unfriendly territory temperature-wise.
 
My favorite right now is a mutant/crossed purple UFO that was so weird I cut it all the way down and tossed it to the side. Well... it came back, and it's producing fruit. It's the Rudy of plants I don't want, and I can't help rooting for it. Heh. Heh heh. Rooting.
 

 
It's hard to get a good picture of the output, but my chocolate hab is doing very well. It was already doing well, but now that I killed the damn stink bugs that were tormenting it, it's even happier; got at least one isolated pod that should give me some good seeds to store.
 

 
Oh, look at the old man with his finger on the fucking lens. Ugh. Anyway, these are my jigsaw x Jamaican hab F1s from WHP; they're doing very well, and podding up like crazy. Looking forward to a sauce from these.
 

 
On the upper right you have my beloved day-glo devil's tongue, and on the left a choco hab... but in the middle, beside the weeds, there's garlic. After I pulled a bunch of underproducing plants, I stuck some garlic cloves in their places; some of them are doing very well, and I'm excited to see how the bulbs turn out.
 

 
This is a lemon drop. Or something similar to a lemon drop. I don't know if mine is crossed with something or whether odd, bumpy pods are the norm for this plant, but it does produce when it feels like it. Not planning on growing it again, though; I'm not a fan of this kind of low, viney growth. Doesn't work well with my limited space.
 

 
This has been interesting. I started two 7JPNs; one is in the office and has kind of settled into a slightly darker than normal but much lighter than expected leaf color. This one had a much easier life in the tent and got transplanted and moved outside... now it's growing bright green leaves. It's irritating because I love that dark color, but more generally... WTF? Is this something environmental shock regularly does?
 

 
I'm honestly really looking forward to shutting this down and starting over next spring. I'm happy with some of this year's grow, but I love uniformity and standardization, so hopefully what I have lined up for next year works out better than this has.

 

[PaulG]

This has been interesting. I started two 7JPNs; one is in the office and has kind of settled into a slightly darker than normal but much lighter than expected leaf color. This one had a much easier life in the tent and got transplanted and moved outside... now it's growing bright green leaves. It's irritating because I love that dark color, but more generally... WTF? Is this something environmental shock regularly does?

The dark purple color is a response to sunlight - the plant
produces the dark anthocyanins in response to the sun, or
your lights.
 
The more intense the sun, the darker the purple coloration.
Think of it as a sun tan for plants   

 

[internationalfish]

The dark purple color is a response to sunlight - the plant
produces the dark anthocyanins in response to the sun, or
your lights.
 
The more intense the sun, the darker the purple coloration.
Think of it as a sun tan for plants   

 
Your scholarship is appreciated, sir.

 

[internationalfish]

Everything is producing pretty nicely right now, so I went and pulled the mostly-ripe pods.
 

 
From left: SLR, something that's not caribe, chocolate hab, day-glo devil's tongue, goronong, gochu, lemon drop. From there, on top and in the middle are two different Jamaican red hab x Fatalii gourmet phenos, and on the bottom are red habs from the little Halloween pepper plant I picked up. Finally, on the right, a few hawk's claw.
 
I didn't pick any of the decent batch of CGN 21500 I have right now because I'm letting them ripen all the way first; they seem to take forever to get there. On those and a few others, though, I finally got isolated pods growing, which is a relief. Looking forward to stocking up on trustworthy seeds. Before that, though, I got so annoyed with the 90%+ failure rate on netted buds that I ordered some larger mesh bags. Once those get here, hopefully I can manage a lot more isolated pods much more quickly.
 
There's not actually anything I want to do with these... we have way more than enough sauce already, so maybe I'll actually start dehydrating in earnest.
 
And it turns out that, yes, the off-pheno purple UFO I threw aside and neglected is not only alive, it is indeed fruiting.
 

 
A for effort, bud (heh heh), but that pod still isn't going to be any good.

 

[PaulG]

Those not caribe pods look pretty interesting.
 
Nice harvest, my friend.

 

[internationalfish]

Those not caribe pods look pretty interesting.
 
Nice harvest, my friend.

 
Thanks! I'm pleased (and there's a lot more than that still green on the plants).
 
The not-caribes pretty much just taste like generic chinense; basically nothing interesting to offer, which is disappointing, but that plant sure does produce. I think it's the only one I won't even be trying to get isolated seeds from.

 

[internationalfish]

The next sauce I want to make is CGN 21500 + gochu, and since I already have those waiting on the counter, I'm drying this little harvest. Here they are, prepped for the dehydrator.
 

 
Just received some spice shakers from Amazon; I'll be splitting up the powders and taking them to the office. Everyone's excited, though I don't think the fermented sauces I brought in adequately prepared them for dried, concentrated pepper powder. We'll see, I suppose.

 

[PaulG]

Managing two grow logs at once.
You are a pepper stud, 'Fish!
 
Have fun subjecting your office colleagues
to your chili powders     

 

[internationalfish]

Managing two grow logs at once.
You are a pepper stud, 'Fish!
 
Have fun subjecting your office colleagues
to your chili powders     

 
Haha, well, that's probably the only time I'll ever be called a stud of any kind, so I'll take it.
 
Oh, I will.