HeatMiser's 2021 Glog

Happy New Year!
 
With the new year comes a new Glog, hoping that 2021 is much better than 2020 (low bar, I know). I'm already pumped to get things going.
 
Here's what I'll be growing this year
 
5 Gal Kratkys
 
Fatalii - Always wanted to grow these. I've had germination issues in the past. Hopefully I'll get to finally grow one this year.
Antep Aci Dolma - I've read amazing things about this pepper. Looking forward to using it in the kitchen.
Carolina Reaper - The one and only. The king of sting. I just had to grow one of these.
Paquime Hybrid - These Jalapenos are gigantic. I see some Poppers in the future.
Yum-Yum Hybrid - Growing these for my wife. She wanted to try a different sweet pepper.
Habanero - A classic. I'm growing this one to fully use the space I have available for my 5 gal buckets. This might get axed if a more interesting variety shows up.
 
 
1 Gal Kratkys
 
Chiltepin - I didn't get to see this one set pods last year due to a broad mite attack. I'm trying again this year.
Numex Twilight - Carrying this one over from my current 2020 grow.
Mystery Pepper - Carrying this one over from my current 2020 grow.
 
3 Gal Fabric Pots
 
Piri-Piri - I follow Chillichump on YouTube and he's all over this one. Figured I should try it and see what I think.
Bahamian Goat - I also follow Khang Starr and he mentions this one all the time. 
Sugar Rush Striped - These look soo cool, like bacon in pepper form. 
Death Spiral - Cool name, don't know what to expect.
Khang Starr Lemon Starrburst - This must be one of the most hyped-up peppers recently. Let's see what the fuzz is about.
BJh-1 Purple Thunder - Got my hands on some seeds from the A-Train. Thanks for adding these PaulG! The pods are really gorgeous. Hopefully I can get them to grow successfully.
 
This grow is going to be a challenge for me in a good way. This is the most plants I'll have ever taken care of, and also I'll be branching out a little and try to grow the 3 Gal Fabric Pots outdoors. I hope I can keep those plants to a manageable size until they move outside.
 
Seeds were already put in their rockwool cubes earlier today:

 
Just waiting for germination. Let's see how this year (and grow) turns out!
 
Hope you guys are having a good start to 2021...
 

 

[Downriver]

Plants are looking great HM!
 
It'll be interesting to see how the Piri-Piri reacts to the haircut.

 

[Siv]

I feel a bit more comfortable with the Kratkys now since this is my third grow using that method. So far so good with those, so just need to keep it up!

 
I'm having the opposite feeling to you. I'm hesitating to set up the hydro plants this year!

 

[PaulG]

 
I'm having the opposite feeling to you. I'm hesitating to set up the hydro plants this year!

What up, bro? Your set-up is so sweet.

 

[HeatMiser]

Plants are looking great HM!
 
It'll be interesting to see how the Piri-Piri reacts to the haircut.

 
Thanks DR! - so far so good - it's starting to grow side shoots. I can't let one plant get too tall since most of them are kind of squatty at this point, so it had to take one for the team. Still excited to try this one after all the hype.
 

 
I'm having the opposite feeling to you. I'm hesitating to set up the hydro plants this year!

 
 

What up, bro? Your set-up is so sweet.

 
I agree with Paul here. Why the hesitation? You have an awesome, mostly-automated setup. I'd definitely use it!

 

[Siv]

I think maybe last year I overdid the number of plants and battling aphids on such huge things was a pain and I lost the battle. I never have this problem with soil...
 
However, you've both convinced me to give it a go again but I think I'll only do a few, perhaps 7 buckets.

 

[PaulG]

Alright, Siv! Baby steps, bro.

 

[HeatMiser]

Quite a few exciting news today...
 
First of all, we have the Annuum group of 5 gal Kratkys. They are definitely putting on the growth and all of them are flowering at the moment

 
Of these 3, I'm currently most excited for the Zapotec Jalapeno (left). I can now start my Jalapeno projects, so I crossed it with the Mystery Pepper in hopes of creating a clustering Jalapeno:

 
Speaking of the Mystery Pepper - the pods have finally started to change colors. I'll be saving tons of seeds from this one, as it is a really productive plant and I have high hopes for it being a tasty pepper.

 
Now, this definitely made my day. Here are a couple of Texas Tepin seedlings, which were started from seed on Jan 1st, along with the rest of my plants. I kept them on a heat mat until the first days of March. At that point, I turned off the heat mat and mostly forgot about the cubes inside the tupperware. This morning I see that two of them sprouted probably a few days ago. They are a bit leggy but that's something I should be able to fix. This is one plant I really wanted to get to fruit last year, and I'm excited to have another shot at it this year - it only took 90+ days to germinate!

 
Finally, mandatory Twilight pic:

 

[ahayastani]

Now, this definitely made my day. Here are a couple of Texas Tepin seedlings, which were started from seed on Jan 1st, along with the rest of my plants. I kept them on a heat mat until the first days of March. At that point, I turned off the heat mat and mostly forgot about the cubes inside the tupperware. This morning I see that two of them sprouted probably a few days ago. They are a bit leggy but that's something I should be able to fix. This is one plant I really wanted to get to fruit last year, and I'm excited to have another shot at it this year - it only took 90+ days to germinate!

 
A gringo once told me that Texas and stubbornness are synonymous
I'm glad for you they decided to grow

 

[CaneDog]

Happy Easter, HM.  Lots of good stuff in your post.  I don't want to get too far ahead of things, but I'm looking forward to seeing your clustering jalapeno - I've previously seem them cluster mainly in popper form.     I've never done a cross with a clustering variety and I have no idea what to expect genetically.  Will be cool to see.
 
Good stuff on the TX Tepin as well. I've found a lot of tepin to be long-season varieties up here in the PNW, but they should love your indoor conditions during the summer, especially if your not running the A/C a whole lot.
 
Twilight's looking great too and it's good to see you getting close on the mystery.

 

[HeatMiser]

 
A gringo once told me that Texas and stubbornness are synonymous
I'm glad for you they decided to grow

 
Haha! Texas is a special place for sure, and one thing that I always find interesting is how much people down there love their state. They sell Texas-shaped tortilla chips (among many other things):
 

 
But their BBQ alone is definitely worth visiting for.
 

Happy Easter, HM.  Lots of good stuff in your post.  I don't want to get too far ahead of things, but I'm looking forward to seeing your clustering jalapeno - I've previously seem them cluster mainly in popper form.     I've never done a cross with a clustering variety and I have no idea what to expect genetically.  Will be cool to see.
 
Good stuff on the TX Tepin as well. I've found a lot of tepin to be long-season varieties up here in the PNW, but they should love your indoor conditions during the summer, especially if your not running the A/C a whole lot.
 
Twilight's looking great too and it's good to see you getting close on the mystery.

 
Thanks CD - I'm also eager to see how the Jalapeno cross is going to turn out, but it's still going to take a while before we get to see what the genetic lottery gives us. 
 
The Tepin was a really welcome surprise today. And it's great because once the rest of the plants go outside, it will have room besides the variegated Jalapeno, so it should work out OK and I should be able to get it to fruit this time around.

 

[PaulG]

90 days to germinate! That may be
some kind of record 
 
If these don't make it, I can send some
Wild Texas Tepin seeds from last season.
It was a prolific plant with earlier ripening
pods than most of the other wilds. The
whole bush was ripe by the time I harvested
them.

 

[HeatMiser]

Short update...
 
There's some good weather coming for next week, so I decided to pot up a couple of my coco plants get them acclimated to living outside. The two lucky ones are the Habanero (right) and Sugar Rush Stripey (left) - the Habanero lost a couple of leaves overnight and has a few wrinkled leaves, so I thought I'd give it a new home. The Habanero will eventually move into a bigger pot.

 
In Kratky Land, things are moving along. I've put some pvc pipes around the Annuums for support. The plants are getting close to the 2ft mark. I don't think I'll let them grow much taller than that:

 
Also picked some ripe Twilight peppers. They are currently in the dehydrator and will be turned into flakes or powder. These pods are super seedy, and while there's not much in terms of flavor, the pods pack some heat:

 

[HeatMiser]

Well, it seems like the weather is changing here in the PNW. This is great news because the plants in coco were getting crowded and some of them started showing signs of stress, so they are now spending some time outside. Hopefully this is not just a temporary thing. Note to future self - I should start seeds about a month later for plants that are intended to be grown outdoors. Anyway, we'll see what happens with them.
 
Things indoors are progressing just fine. We are getting pods for the Jalapeno varieties I'm growing, and some Mystery Pepper pods have finally ripened.
 
Here's the Annuum Group of 5 gal kratkys. I gave them a haircut to encourage a more even canopy.

 
Paquime. The plant has plenty of pods growing at the moment:

 
Zapotec. It has many pods at the moment, the biggest ones look like this:

 
Chinense + Yum Yum. These are not growing as tall, but the chinenses are growing some nice thick stems:

 
Coco plants enjoying a field trip. I'm definitely outside of my comfort zone with these guys

 
And finally, Mystery Pepper with some ripe pods before getting harvested

 
Here are the peppers I picked off the plant:

 
This is a solid pepper. Will definitely grow this again, but I will promote it to one of my 5 gal buckets. In terms of heat, it felt just a tad hotter than a Jalafuego, which is hot for a Jalapeno. This might be good for a sriracha or tabasco-style sauce.

 

[Downriver]

Plants are looking great HM. Nice to see you picking pods!

 

[CaneDog]

That mystery is a legit bush, HM.  Not sure what to expect if you up its container size, but it'll probably set you up for peppers for a good while.  Glad to hear they turned out to be good.  I've had the Zapotec start out producing stubby pods early with the lengthening as the plant gets bigger/stronger.  They're not particularly big compared to others, but they've been good with taste and heat.
 
Glad to see you getting the coir plants outside.  They sure do have a leg up on the season.

 

[HeatMiser]

Hmm, there seems to be a problem with the Paquime. Some of the new-ish leaves towards the top of the plant are developing some spots. Here are a few pics:
 

 

 

 
This is the only affected plant at the moment. Any ideas what could be causing this? Seems like bacterial leaf spot upon a quick search online, ugh. The Lemon Drop I grew during the winter developed some spots like these on the leaves, but the plant didn't seem to care that much and continued producing without much in terms of treatment. I'm hoping that's also going to be the case here.

 

[CaneDog]

Ugh.  That's what I'd suspect.
 
You might try this - https://puyallup.wsu.edu/plantclinic/
 
It's local and you can email pictures or even send a physical sample for a legit diagnosis.

 

[HeatMiser]

Ugh.  That's what I'd suspect.
 
You might try this - https://puyallup.wsu.edu/plantclinic/
 
It's local and you can email pictures or even send a physical sample for a legit diagnosis.

 
That is an awesome resource CD, thanks a lot! I've sent them an email already - hopefully they are not too busy.
 
Anyway, if it's BLS, it must have come from the seeds, as there is no soil involved in my grows. I'm wondering if I should get rid of the plant altogether to prevent it from spreading to the other ones. Would hate to do this, but if that's what it takes, then so be it.

 

[CaneDog]

That is an awesome resource CD, thanks a lot! I've sent them an email already - hopefully they are not too busy.
 
Anyway, if it's BLS, it must have come from the seeds, as there is no soil involved in my grows. I'm wondering if I should get rid of the plant altogether to prevent it from spreading to the other ones. Would hate to do this, but if that's what it takes, then so be it.

 
  
 
  Yep.  That's a tough call.  It looks like it has a good harvest on it and not too far away, either.

 

[HeatMiser]

That mystery is a legit bush, HM.  Not sure what to expect if you up its container size, but it'll probably set you up for peppers for a good while.  Glad to hear they turned out to be good.  I've had the Zapotec start out producing stubby pods early with the lengthening as the plant gets bigger/stronger.  They're not particularly big compared to others, but they've been good with taste and heat.
 
Glad to see you getting the coir plants outside.  They sure do have a leg up on the season.

 
Thanks CD, it grew up quite bushy because I messed around with it early on to prevent it from growing too tall, but definitely a variety worth growing IMO. 
 
The Zapotec pods are starting to lengthen a bit, just like you said - the plant started out a bit slow compared to the others, but it's all caught up now and flowering quite a bit. I think it's going to be a good producer, so definitely good for the projects I have in mind. Thanks again for the seeds!