Growing in the white stuff

Hello all. I figured I start a grow log. It will be mostly for notational purposes. I will need much advice for growing on the Canadian prairie. Today marks the arrival of my final seed order. I have my lights all set up but still need a bit of soil mix.
 
The goal here is to produce peppers that are started indoors but will hit maturity outside. 
 
Last year I started using pots and achieved moderate success. This year I will expand the collection of pots and start in on constructing hoop housing in April with the hopes of getting the plants outside earlier to take advantage of the long days near the solstice. Last year I was able to get the white jolokia to mature but not anything more pigment. 
 
I'd like to get into making powders this year. I would like to branch out from making pickles and jelly's. Depending on my successes or lack thereof I may try something more exotic in my 85 day growing window like a Viper. On paper I think it could work...
 
The list so far:
 
White Bhut Jolokia
B's Bullet (Chinense Ghost Cross)
Jamaican Yellow Mushroom
Orange Ghost (hybrid from Atlantic Pepper Seeds) 
Mustard Trinidad Scorpion
Sugar Rush Peach
Leutshaur Paprika
Urfa Biber (no relation to Justin Bieber)
Yellow Hun replacement known as the brown Freddy's Fryer an annum variety.
Locally climatized variety of orange scotch bonnet (re:not very hot) 
Paper lantern habenero. Still considering this one. 
Bulgarian Carrot
Cherry Bomb
 
Most of the list is new to me outside the w.jolokia, cherry bomb, and orange s.b. Advice as always is welcome. 
I am not trying to grow the hottest pepper. I am trying to grow the best peppers for my cooking which involves pickling, salsas, and a custom rub blend for ribs. Something to add a little zip. I have a couple of spots one of which is behind a 40ft boxelder which suffers for sun exposure and the other which has sun but suffers from plow winds. Will be prone to dessication and snapping limbs. At least the tomatoes were despite being staked and tied. 
 
I will apologize in advance for mixing the pepper content with the non pepper related content. I tend to garden in smaller spaces so it all gets scruntched together. For reference last year's pots, last year's gardens and yes I was even dumb enough to try an early variety of corn. Oh the  joys of being ignorant! All done in drought with vermicompost and a bit of boundless optimism. 

 

[Zippy]

Thanks for the tip Paul.
 
Update, I moved my plants outside but the wind gusts which happen in spring were late this year. We've had 14 days of sustained windstorms. Windspeeds have been at a low of 70kph gusting to 90 for three days and one day had gusts over 100kph. Lots of tree limbs came down. I had defoliation on the tender plants. They look like crap but so far everything survived. I have given everything a shot of nitrogen and new leaves are emerging. If enough emerge I will trim out the rattier older leaves. Right now I'm just holding my breath and hope everything makes it through. For now I will wait and see what happens next. 

 

[PaulG]

That sustained wind is a downer. I hope your
plan is successful. Wind is the only weather I
can't stand. You can shelter from most every-
thing else, but the wind is just freakin' destructive.
 
Good luck going forward, Collin!

 

[Zippy]

Pepper update. The plants have recovered enough from the spring wind storms that I feel confident enough to put them in front of a camera. 
 
Note I grow in multiples of 4 because I noticed that certain peppers have preferences. The fourth plant of any given variety ends up on the test row. Last year for example, the Jamaican Mushrooms were clearly happier in the ground. This year I will say the Reapers are happier in the pots. 
 

 
Assorted Cherry bombs and Brown Jalapenos to the left, trial in ground singles on the right.
 

 
Opposite.
 

 
The Cherry Bombs are early this year. Too early for salsa unfortunately. 
 

 
Kabal Habanero
 

 
Bahamian Goat
 

 
 
In ground Scotch Brains. Cold weather damage but ahead of its potted siblings. 
 

 
Carolina Reapers looking not bad all things considered. 
 

 
I lost a lot of size on the White Bhut Jolokias to the wind storms but they are bouncing back.
 

 
Closest, a struggling Scotch Brains, followed by Yellow Moruga Scorpion, followed by JPGS and a Red Scorpion farthest. Both the Yellow Scorpion and the JPGS are growing well and are the largest pepper plants so far. 
 

 
Front, chocolate habanero/scorpion cross up front plus a sweet potato trial on end. Rear, Chocolate Bhut, Devil's Tongue Yellow and Red Savina Hab on the end. 
 

 
It isn't the prettiest grow but the conditions I grow in are not ideal for peppers. 

 

[skullbiker]

Its refreshing to see a grow with multiple Cherry Bomb plants.[emoji1303]

 

[Zippy]

The C.B.'s are one of the few naturalized peppers here. You don't have to do anything special for them. No fertilizing, fast growth, takes night time cold nights, even dappled shade to some degree. They don't need the attention the more exotic peppers do. 

 

[Zippy]

Here is a first for me. I've never grown peppers which had holes in them. Three of the Peach Ghost Jami had holes. I couldn't find a worm. I sampled the tip and they have plenty of heat. One was completely hollowed out. This tells me the insect does not have issues with capsaican. Ideas? 

 

[Zippy]

First Scotch Brains pod to ripen. Not a heavy producer but the fact it is ahead of the habaneros in ripeness is surprising. Much more oily than I expected after cutting into it. I am noticing the plants in the ground are having pod shapes closer to the advertised pictures. The early pods like this one have their own shapes. Both in ground and pot are ripening at the same time which was is odd. Fairly aggressive heat. Thanks Justin at WHP. 
 

 

[Zippy]

Variation on the Peach Ghost Jami. One plant is more coloured. Though it might possibly be just lighter fruit load allowing quicker ripening. I can't say. Seed source WHP. Probably not the first time Justin had to field a question like this. 
 

 

 

 

[Zippy]

Frost is due to hit tomorrow. Early. I am beginning to harvest the most ripe peppers I can. Top, assorted cherry bombs, yellow hungarian and brown jalapeno. Then Red Savina Hab, Peach Ghost (which is redder than I expected on one plant), and Bahamian Goat. Then Scotch Brains, Kabal Habanero and Urfa Biber. Scotch Bonnets are about 50% ripe. The Bibers are rotting from the tip up. My guess the nights are too cool. Will have more peppers to come.  
 

 

 

[Zippy]

Getting ready for harvest. Yellow Scorpions ready, red, not quite there yet. Habs are just putzing for whatever reason.I'm just glad I've been able to keep things alive considering how many chilly nights we've had for Sept. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

[ahayastani]

Getting ready for harvest. Yellow Scorpions ready, red, not quite there yet. Habs are just putzing for whatever reason.I'm just glad I've been able to keep things alive considering how many chilly nights we've had for Sept. 
 

 
That's the reason I didn't bother too much with habanero (and other hots) when I was still living in Europe. Too much work and fuzz for very unsure results Jalapeño and related cultivars were relatively easy and gave decent returns.

 

[PaulG]

I'm just glad I've been able to keep things alive considering how many chilly nights we've had for Sept. 
 
 
I hear, ya, buddy!  I always feel guilty for complaining about our PNW
weather when I see what you Northern brothers and sisters have to
deal with. 
 
That is a really nice little lean-to. A string or two of Christmas lights
in there would help get through those chilly nights.
 
Stc3248 had some cool pics of that system in his 2012 or 2013 grow logs.
 
 

 

[Zippy]

Question for you Paul. Would you chose the mini incandescence or the larger C9  bulbs. One has more lights but are smaller, one has larger bulbs to give off more heat. Which would be warmer?

 

[PaulG]

Question for you Paul. Would you chose the mini incandescence or the larger C9  bulbs. One has more lights but are smaller, one has larger bulbs to give off more heat. Which would be warmer?

I think Shane used the C9 bulbs.
 
I was impressed by how well it worked.
Plus it looks cool as heck at night!

 

[Zippy]

Good ideas Paul. I have one string of C9 bulbs in the Christmas box. I'll need another two.
 
The nights are going to turn sharply below freezing. The days will barely be above freezing. Snow is forecast in the next 10 days. Considering I am having peppers go bad I decided to harvest to cut my losses. Now last year we had snow on the ground by the 1st of October so I don't know if I can use Thanksgiving as a date for future harvests. 
 

 
Conclusions from this season,
 
I am happy with the recommendation to grow a Bahaman Goat. The plants produced heavily and keep well once picked compared to other varieties. I might try pickling but they are a bit on the hot side for that. I'll have to figure how to tone them down somewhat.
 
The burn is quite smooth compared to a habanero. It will become my second favourite pepper. My favourite pepper is one I tried last year but was unable to grow without the hoop house. This year I did succeed in getting about 90% ripeness out of a Devil's Tongue Yellow. I really like the taste of this pepper. Unfortunately I have to push the season to barely get it done. I know what you are going to say, just grow a Fatalli. That is the one pepper whose smell triggers my asthma. I'll actually choke if one is broken open. However I can get a fatalli to ripen far sooner than a Devil's Tongue. If I grew exclusively outdoors I'm stuck to 85 day pepper varieties. The fact I got a 110 day plant to ripen without supplemental heat is something of an achievement.
 
The Scotch Brains while not a heavy producer made a very nice sauce! I did not ferment so the sauce was less complex than what you would buy but for myself it is good enough. It is actually better on crackers than the bought stuff. I will grow again simply because it turns about 50% ripe come September which is valuable to short season growers. It made it onto my permanent list.
 
Out of all the habanero varieties I've tried the Kabal is the first one I did not detect any soapy taste with. It is easily the slowest habanero I've tried so I can't just stick it out somewhere like I've done in the past. Try it. It ain't bad.
 
The JPGS sucked at every level. It was the slowest to fruit, only sized up after September, and would not ripen to the golden colour shown in the pictures. The three that did hit the hue immediately began to rot like all the Turkish peppers I've tried. Sorry guys but as good as it may be to grow where you are, up here in the higher latitudes it didn't hit maturity and failed to make the cut. 
 
The surprise this year was the Yellow Moruga. I got 100% ripening and these plants produced more pods than the habanero. I got three harvests from them. I haven't worked out any recipes for them as I prefer the Red Scorpions for flakes but if anyone has any sauce recipes for the Yellow Moruga I'm all ears.
 
I need a Red Savina replacement for next year. That plant was ridiculous! Every pod was different from every other pod. Seeds came from Renee's Garden. Garbage. Maybe a Yaki Blue Fawn for next year...? 
 
My observations on pigment are still holding true. The darker the colour the longer the ripening time. My Red Scorpions were only 85% ripe or so. The chocolate jolokias were just starting to turn brown now. I will try to ripen indoors. The 95 days to maturity Baker Creek was advertising was bunk. 
 
The Brown Jalapenos I tried were not bitter. I was never a fan of the bitter flavour on the back end of the jalapeno. They are unfortunately really slow compared to a regular jalapeno by a full month. Undecided if they will make it to next year.
 
That said I decided to buy some end of season Reapers at a local greenhouse in late June and am glad I did. They were healthy plants and this was the best Carolina Reaper harvest I've ever had. The plants were covered in flowers today when I pulled them and if I had heat, they could have gone well into November for fruiting. I considered overwintering but I am not a fan of dealing with aphids as I have so many lady beetles from the garden I never have to worry about that. When I pull the garden plants the lady birds just migrate over to the grapes as the aphids are attracted to the ripe grapes. That is how I hang on to the critters in the fall. Indoors would block all that. Could I get more if I built a dedicated cold frame and taken these plant past Halloween? Sure but I was already considering supplemental light once I hit October as the sun angle just isn't there for me. 
 
So for a budget gardener and in the shade of the neigbour's three 40ft boxelders that was the best I could do. Your results may vary.

 

[ahayastani]

If I grew exclusively outdoors I'm stuck to 85 day pepper varieties. The fact I got a 110 day plant to ripen without supplemental heat is something of an achievement.

 
It certainly is
 
Good luck in your preparations for next season

 

[Zippy]

Thanks but I've learned where the success is and it is sticking with more annuum varieties. Without being adjacent to a building I'm going to have to stick to 75 days. Near a building another 10 from the heat island effect, and under a tent for anything more than that. But at least I know where the limits are!

 

[ahayastani]

Thanks but I've learned where the success is and it is sticking with more annuum varieties. Without being adjacent to a building I'm going to have to stick to 75 days. Near a building another 10 from the heat island effect, and under a tent for anything more than that. But at least I know where the limits are!

 
Before moving to Chiapas, I lived at ~51°N, in a temperate humid climate. Annuum were not really a problem. With well-thought over preparations, I obtained good production of bell peppers, jalapeño, serrano, etc. Habanero was a whole different thing, and harvesting was not before September, and only with heat waves in summer... There are a lot of people with good success growing chinense in that climate, but not without considerable effort. I was mainly interested in supplying the family with vegetables (from onions to cabbage), I wouldn't have been able to manage the time...

 

[Zippy]

I'm at 50 N. and with dry, but still humid continental climate. Being in the interior there is a lot of variation. I had never gone the distance with fussing over plants before this year. I am undecided if I should do that again given I may not have the time I had this year. Still, it is a good highwater mark of what can be done. Obviously any gains would be in a full on dedicated greenhouse but considering the shade I am operating in, that won't be this property. Plus I'd like to get out into the country as the city has morphed into something I do not recognize and lost its character. 

 

[internationalfish]

Sorry to hear things have lost their appeal there, man. Hopefully if you do move you end up in a more pepper-friendly climate.