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GA Growhead's - something special this way grows

Welcome to the not so much of a glog, glog. This is really just more of peak into my garden.
This season...
Long story short, I'm still dealing with back problems, so my beginning of the season wasn't the best. I got hit hard with aphids. Couldn't pot up quick enough and lost a ton of plants/varieties that got no light/air under the bigger plants. Finally got some ladybugs and got the aphids under control.
The whole ladybug experience inside was interesting. I will just say that, but they did there job.

I never even made a grow list. That's an example of how this season was started. I just planted what I wanted to, over the course of a few nights.
The germination went into two classes... what I wanted to grow, which included the breeding projects, and what I needed for the farmers markets. And... after all was said and done, I ended up with... what I have.
Lost many varieties I planted and wanted to have in the garden for this season, but it is what it is.
Counted 400+ in ground after planting and have 200 or so in pots. Around 130 different varieties I am guessing by rough count. So after loosing a ton of plants, I still have a ton. Made for a much more manageable year than the previous, which is a good thing.
Gotta thank the wife, who started all the rest of the fruits and veggies, and helped me with all the peppers. I could'nt have pulled it off with out her. Her thumb is getting greener than ever now!

I have too many breeding projects going on. Which isn't a bad thing either. Kinda awesome to see for myself actually. Somethings I want to commit to, and grow out until stable breeds. The list of crosses keeps growing and I keep cross pollinating.

I planted 46 plants in pots of just my Reaper x bbg7 F2s (nicknamed project booglegum at this point). I wanted to see what the F2s would produce so started a bunch, which reduced to 46. Every plant is throwing out different pods, as expected, but I didn't epects all the hidden recessive genes that are being expressed. Plants that you would never expect to come from either of the parents. Will get into those at some point on here.

I am also trying to get redemption for some things from last season that never produced. Some overwintered, some starting with the same seeds, & a few have some of both.

If you have seen my previous glogs, I didn't do much different this year, with an exception with dealing with peat pellets. To speed up time, I stabbed them with a toothpick from all sides, in multiple directions, to break them up. I mean a ton of times quickly. Then rolled to break up further and then stirred with the toothpick. Doing so definitely sped things up and achieved the same goal.

My garden is still completely organic and I have finally gotten a good organic potting mix down. Plants are very happy in it. No more store bought soil!
Used more composted chicken manure this year with great results. Some plants have just grown, with the higher nitrogen levels, and are just starting to flowers, but everything is huge! Not complaining. Even burnt a few with a manure tea! That's how I roll! Gotta learn somehow!

I do not have as much time available as I would like and have not been very active on here. I need to apologize for being slack and have just started to catch up on everyone's glogs. I already see some new heads, which is a positive thing. We all need to keep that fire going!

With that said, please don't get your panties in a wod if I can't get to replying to your comments. I may only have time to update here and not respond, but just know that if you commented, I read it.Man up, and what's with the panties?!


Enough of the explaining & legal jargon, ©2015 GP, all right reserved where applicable by law, and stuff.... blah blah blahhh ® :D


OK, on to some garden shots.

My season has started out very moist. Rain olé plenty! Lots of lost lower leaves and some bact spot. More rain than we needed for sure. The last couple weeks have been drier and the plants are much happier.
Here are the hedges on the original pepper garden, which has the highest raised rows. They have been the happiest and are farther ahead than the rest of the garden. They will be over my head in no time and I will be crawling thru here on my hands and knees.


Lots of Peruvian white habs already. on the right is a Bahamian goat x jellybean white hab F2. The F1s of this cross were like hot candy. So sweet, the sweetest tasting pepper I have ever had. This F2 is like a sweeter goat. Very tasty, but not like the F1s. Each F2 plant is different, as expected, and throwing out multiple shapes and colors. Will post other shapes at some point.



These aji mango, from Judy at pepperlover, is my new favorite baccatum. There really is a slight mango taste under that baccy flavor.





The sunrises scorps are on point this season and are giving me some color already. Love these plants.





This is a PI-441598 Peach cross x PDN F1. Thought adding more purple would be a good thing to do. Starting to show some Peach!


Side note. When using a paint brush to pollinate, make sure to clean between crosses. I had one plant of the above cross grow out green. It is now throwing out pod with bbg7 calyxes. I was confused until I thought about the paint brush and me forgetting to dip in water in between. So another interesting cross with Peach possibilities. F2s should be fun.



These pods came from my original F4 bbg7 plants. These are cuttings from the OGs that are three years old now. I decided to move them outside and try and get some pods earlier. They have beat out the overwinters and fresh starts for sure. I have had a few small harvest already. Going to take cuttings again and bring back inside. I have both of the main bleeding calyx phenos seen, the reg and the thicker calyx. The thicker is the top left pod that is less ripe in this picture. I have used both phenotypes in my crosses, and will keep these for future breeding. I favor the thicker calyxed plant's pods, which are smaller. Both phenotypes are also as equally as hot or hotter than any Reaper I have grown.




Since talking about calyxes.... Here is one of the off phenotypes from my Reaper x bbg7s F2s. This is an interesting caylx.




This is a flower that belongs to one of my bbg7xpdn F1 plants. I have four purple and one green plant. All the purple plants are producing the same pods, the green got completely ate up by a hornworm and has just grown back and has it's first flowers again. Wondering if the green plant can be explained again by my unpractical paint brushing, which means its just another bbg7 F5. Time will tell. Back to the flower here... nice purple accenton the petals.






This is what the F1s are looking like. The PDN was the pollen donor, and is very dominant in these F1s, minus the bbg7 calyxes.




And my first ripe pod! Neat looking!


I gotta add, that all the seeds from this pod are going in some starter soil today, to try and have some F3 seeds for next season. Will surely finish these off inside, hoping to find the traits I want to carry forward. If not, more F2s will be grown next year.

And... Please do not ask me for seeds (expect for Jamison). These are not leaving the inner circle for a few generations, as the future phenotypes are selected.
I am not trying to be a dick, or act cool like "I got this and you don't". There is enough of that going on. I'm just doing my thing, and I encourage you to do yours, whatever that may be. The F2 seeds are going to be unstable and all over the place anyway.
I also encourage everyone to make a cross and grow out as many F2 and on plants as possible. This is an amazing experience that everyone should see for themselves.
 
Trippa said:
Those are some great pod shots. That Douglah cross looks fantastic as do all of those crosses and pods!!
Thanks Trippa! That's a mean one!



Trident chilli said:
MoA x Yellow Pixie great looking cross if you are looking for volunteers to grow out this variety I would be more than happy to help
Thanks TC!
I just realized that I tagged that pict wrong. It is actually a TFM bonnet x yellow pixie. I have a MOA mystery purple cross and a foodarama mystery purple cross, and that made me completely confuse that all up.
I picked the first pod last week from TFM/pixie cross. It took on the TFM flavor with the pixie's heat. A nice pod really. I am interested in finding out what the F2s will release. I'm wondering how much variation there will be, and how many unexpected traits pop up. There always seems to be a surprise in each of my F2s I have grown out.
Here is that first pod picked.





Devv said:
Good stuff Jason!
Thanks Scott!


A few more picts...

Harris, a fellow member here, gave me some seeds last year, from a bhut he grew in 2008. I got two seeds to germ last year, with one true plant.
I grew out the seeds from that true plant and this is the results.


Nice flavor and heat!



I grew both of Judy's unstable green and mustard morugas. The only mustard to make pods has made green pods, and the first green moruga has made mustard pods. The flavor of the not mustard (green) really surprised me, it was quite tasty. I enjoyed it more than the green moruga (that is mustard), and it had a much higher level of heat too. Low end super heat.


The not green moruga (mustard) did spit out one almost perfect pod.



They are pretty when ripe too.



Bhutlah PLs. Out of four plants, two are smooth, as shown before, and the other two look like this.




Judy's Stuffing Scotch Bonnet. Had a slight baccy taste I didn't expect. No clues in growth to that. Neat pods with low heat in the placenta only. One plant is making really flat pods, but this one has more room to stuff.



One of the Bahamian goat x jellybean white hab F2s is make these little yellow pods.



Some PI-441598 Peach cross x bbg7 F1 pods.



This is just eye candy! Jalabanero purple cross with purple lined placenta. Such a crazy trait.
 
Really intresting update with great photography .... TFM Bonnet cross and Judy's stuffing bonnet real winners.... then you tease us with a purple MoA can't wait to see that
 
GA Growhead said:
And... Please do not ask me for seeds (expect for Jamison). These are not leaving the inner circle for a few generations, as the future phenotypes are selected.
I am not trying to be a dick, or act cool like "I got this and you don't". There is enough of that going on. I'm just doing my thing, and I encourage you to do yours, whatever that may be. The F2 seeds are going to be unstable and all over the place anyway.
I also encourage everyone to make a cross and grow out as many F2 and on plants as possible. This is an amazing experience that everyone should see for themselves.
 
So hey, can I get some seeds?
 
I kid.
 
FWIW, anyone that takes what you said as being even remotely dickish or elitist needs to learn a little respect for the process. 
 
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