HM01 2016

     Where the hell is this year going?! It's the 25th already? Good gravy. I should probably get some seeds going. Here's what's going in the dirt today:
 
1.) Bonda ma Jaques
2.) Fatalii orange
3.) Habanero Antillais Caribbean
4.) Habanero giant chocolate
5.) Mako akoksrade
6.) Peach Congo
7.) PI 281317
8.) Scotch bonnet elysium oxide
9.) Scotch bonnet Foodarama red
10.) Scotch bonnet MOA
11.) Scotch bonnet P. Dreadie
12.) Scotch bonnet TFM
13.) Scotch bonnet x Brain
14.) 7pot burgundy
15.) 7pot Primo orange
16.) Bhut orange Copenhagen
17.) Burmese Naga
 
 
     I decided to go easy on the OWs this year, so I only kept four from previous seasons. I have a wild Brazil (5 gal), a Bahamian goat (7.5 gal) and a fatalii x Red Savina  (7.5 gal) all from last year and one TS CARDI (7.5 gal) from two years ago. The CARDI buried me in pods last season - even in its small pot, it produced enough fruit to fill about 6 MFRBs. Deciding whether to pot it up (~20 gal) or stick it in a raised bed is going to be tough this spring! 
     I'm gonna go plant some stuff. I'll be back here in a minute. I know the drill - no pics, blah blah blah...
     Wohoo! The 2016 season starts here!

 

[juanitos]

notlike button lol

 

[Hybrid Mode 01]

     I finally have some pics of my resurrected plants. Photodumpster shit itself halfway through my last attempt at a post, so I'm just going to post pics instead of rewriting everything.
 
 
7 pot burgundy

 
 
 
 
elysium oxide bonnet

 
 
 
 
 
another eo bonnet

 
 
 
 
orange fatalii

 
 
 
 
MOA

 
 
 
 
Peru bitdumi

 
 
 
 
Big Jims

 
 
 
 
maras biber

 
 
 
 
aji amarillo

 
 
 
 
rocopica (eximium x pubescens)

 

[Maligator]

Plants look really nice for being resurrected

 

[jcw10tc]

Nice looking plants.   Curious to see how orange the orange fatalii gets.   The few seeds I had didn't germinate.   You grown the EOB before.   That's definitely one of my favorites now.   Put out some great peppers last year. 

 

[Hybrid Mode 01]

Plants look really nice for being resurrected

 
     Thanks! I was too ashamed to take pics of them back when they looked their worst. They looked rough. There are still some of the yellow, bleached leaves hanging on to some of the stems. Some of them even greened up a bit. But when they finally got roots into their new soil, the afterburners kicked in. 
 
 

Nice looking plants.   Curious to see how orange the orange fatalii gets.   The few seeds I had didn't germinate.   You grown the EOB before.   That's definitely one of my favorites now.   Put out some great peppers last year. 

 
 
     Thank you, a compliment for my grow coming from you means a lot! If I get any orange fataliis, you're more than welcome to a few of them to sample and save (OP) seed when the time comes. I never grew elysium oxides before, I bought them in the CP auction and had never heard of them so I figured I'd give them a shot. I'm growing a lot of different bonnets this year to compare them. I think MOA is the only one I have any experience with, so this season should be pretty interesting. 
     My two plants look very different. (I mentioned that before my original post got deleted...  ) One was completely purple - moreso than any goats weed or cheiro roxa I've grown before. (Its color has greened up a bit since then, but I'd definitely still consider it a purple plant.) So I'm really curious to see what, if any, differences there are in fruits later this season. I'll keep you all posted.
     Incidently, what is the typical color for an eo bonnet? I'm not sure which one of mine is the anomaly, since I've had a hard time finding info on that variety online. TIA

 

[Hybrid Mode 01]

     I took the OWs out yesterday, hopefully for good. I have them hardening in the shade right now. They'll go out under the sun in a week or so, depending on weather.
 
Left to right, fatalii x Red Savina, Bahamian goat, TS CARDI and wild Brazil.

 

[dragonsfire]

Nice looking Stems

 

[tctenten]

Man... Those look great. Some nice thick stems.

 

[D3monic]

Plants are looking great! I'm really half tempted to plant out. 15 day lowest temp is 42 . Overwinters are going great, wild brazil has a very nice shape to it. 

 

[bpiela]

Wow, have you OW'd them for more than one year?  They look awesome!

 

[Hybrid Mode 01]

Nice looking Stems

 
     Thanks! 
 
 

Man... Those look great. Some nice thick stems.

 
     Thanks. Gotta be that Tomato Tone! 
 
 

Plants are looking great! I'm really half tempted to plant out. 15 day lowest temp is 42 . Overwinters are going great, wild brazil has a very nice shape to it. 

 
     I'm itching to get stuff planted, too. My plants spent all weekend outside. I stick them in the sun from about 3pm to 7pm each day to start hardening. I've only been hardening for about a week, but I think I can already fell thicker cuticle! 
     That wild Brazil is a weird plant. It was really small all last spring, then it just went nuts. It quadrupled in size in about two weeks. And for some reason, it just doesn't need hardening. It went straight from an indoor window right into the sun and it just picked up where it left off last summer. Already covered in buds and flowers! All the others are looking yellow and shedding burned, wind-torn leaves. I'm going to bonchi it in a few years when the stem is a few inches thicker.
 
 

Wow, have you OW'd them for more than one year?  They look awesome!

 
 
     Thank you! The TS CARDI is two years old and the other three are one year old. I have big plans for that CARDI this season! 

 

[Hybrid Mode 01]

     Shortest glog update ever. Here's a shot of my SB Foodarama red.

 
 
 
     Time to go for a walk and enjoy the weather!

 

[Hybrid Mode 01]

     I got a bunch of my plants potted up last weekend. Here is the aftermath.
 
 
 
 
Elysium oxine bonnet

 
 
 
 
Goat's weed. Some dickhead bird chomped the top off, so now it looks stupid.

 
 
 
 
7 pot burgundy

 
 
 
 
Another elysium oxide. The evil twin to the green one! 

 
 
 
 
Foodarama bonnet

 
 
 
 
Peach Congo

 
 
 
 
     Those are all the pics that photodumpster didn't lose in transit. I'm going to try to get a good chunk of my beds planted this evening, so hopefully I'll have some green out there to report back on soon. 

 

[juanitos]

nice purp eob

 

[Hybrid Mode 01]

     I got all my other pepper plants* in the ground this afternoon. Wohoo!   Most were annuums, since about 2/3 of my Chinenses are in containers this season. 
     I forked about 200 lb of compost into each bed last fall along with a little blood and bone meal. This spring, I forked them over and added about 100 lb more compost to each. Today before I planted I turned the beds one more time, raked them level and added a few pounds of chicken manure to each. (Only one got bonemeal, so we'll see what happens with that later...)
     You wouldn't believe how many worms I unearthed when I dug holes to plant my peppers! I should have gotten some pics. After I planted, I mulched the area with a 30 gallon garbage can full of wet leaf mold (2-3" deep) and stuck in a few companion plants. Just some leftover marigolds and petunias.
 
     * Except for my Peruvian Serlano. I'm going to let him get a little bigger before I plant him out.
 
 
 
 
This was the second bed I planted. I left room in the back to put in a few rows of okra. 

 
 
 
 
I had some leaf mold left over out front and didn't want to carry it back to the compost area, so I mulched a few container plants, too.

 
 
 
 
     Leaf mold is my ace in the hole for gardening. So easy to make - basically you "make" it by storing a byproduct of making compost. I just heap up my extra shredded leaves in a pile and soak them down with the hose in the fall. By March, I have a pile of  organic matter, minerals, humus and fungi that are ready to colonize my soil and rhizosphere! For FREE! Seriously, I didn't have to turn the pile once. That's the beauty, it just sits there and rots all winter and turns into gold.
     Gold that prevents soil compaction, eases soil temp swings, prevents rain splash, keeps soil moist during drought, provides nutrients, prevents weeds, feeds worms... Did I mention it's free?
 
     Rant over.

 

[Devv]

Just perfect!
 
I'm a true believer in composting and shredding the goodies to feed the soil.
 
BTW,  great looking plants!
 
Keep it green!

 

[jcw10tc]

 
     Thanks! I was too ashamed to take pics of them back when they looked their worst. They looked rough. There are still some of the yellow, bleached leaves hanging on to some of the stems. Some of them even greened up a bit. But when they finally got roots into their new soil, the afterburners kicked in. 
 
 
 
 
     Thank you, a compliment for my grow coming from you means a lot! If I get any orange fataliis, you're more than welcome to a few of them to sample and save (OP) seed when the time comes. I never grew elysium oxides before, I bought them in the CP auction and had never heard of them so I figured I'd give them a shot. I'm growing a lot of different bonnets this year to compare them. I think MOA is the only one I have any experience with, so this season should be pretty interesting. 
     My two plants look very different. (I mentioned that before my original post got deleted...  ) One was completely purple - moreso than any goats weed or cheiro roxa I've grown before. (Its color has greened up a bit since then, but I'd definitely still consider it a purple plant.) So I'm really curious to see what, if any, differences there are in fruits later this season. I'll keep you all posted.
     Incidently, what is the typical color for an eo bonnet? I'm not sure which one of mine is the anomaly, since I've had a hard time finding info on that variety online. TIA

Hey, sorry I didn't reply sooner, I was so busy lost track of everything.  My EOB last year was a normal green plant.  The pods ripened to a rust / brown color.  Can't say enough about this pepper.  I think it won't compare to any other bonnets you are growing.  Its a cross I think created by Meatfreak on here if I am right, between a Faria SB and Douglah.  Its definitely hotter than your typical bonnet, but not a superhot.  The one with dark leaves must be a cross or something, will be really interesting to see what it produces.  Before he shut his site down, he was selling a mustard version that just popped up.  Wish I would have gotten some now but figured I would wait a year.  Might have to make a trade with him for some though sometime. 
 
Your plants are pictures of health compared to mine.  Most of mine are relatively good, but not like yours.  I do have a lot of malnurished ones.  I depend on the nutes in the potting mix and this year I think some ran out and just couldn't keep up with trying to feed them or worrying about over fertilizing.  I think they will be fine once I get them planted out, but sure wish some of them looked a bit better.
 
I'll try to be more responsive next time, but with so much going on sometimes it gets hard.

 

[grispa72]

Very nice plants, they are gorgeous!

Paolo

 

[Hybrid Mode 01]

Just perfect!
 
I'm a true believer in composting and shredding the goodies to feed the soil.
 
BTW,  great looking plants!
 
Keep it green!

 
 
     Hell yeah! Healthy soil is part of a heathy ecosystem. And a healthy ecosystem is a happy, productive garden. Thanks!
 

Hey, sorry I didn't reply sooner, I was so busy lost track of everything.  My EOB last year was a normal green plant.  The pods ripened to a rust / brown color.  Can't say enough about this pepper.  I think it won't compare to any other bonnets you are growing.  Its a cross I think created by Meatfreak on here if I am right, between a Faria SB and Douglah.  Its definitely hotter than your typical bonnet, but not a superhot.  The one with dark leaves must be a cross or something, will be really interesting to see what it produces.  Before he shut his site down, he was selling a mustard version that just popped up.  Wish I would have gotten some now but figured I would wait a year.  Might have to make a trade with him for some though sometime. 
 
Your plants are pictures of health compared to mine.  Most of mine are relatively good, but not like yours.  I do have a lot of malnurished ones.  I depend on the nutes in the potting mix and this year I think some ran out and just couldn't keep up with trying to feed them or worrying about over fertilizing.  I think they will be fine once I get them planted out, but sure wish some of them looked a bit better.
 
I'll try to be more responsive next time, but with so much going on sometimes it gets hard.

 
 
    Thank you for the info on the EOB. I've been wondering what the story is with those since I got them. Now I'm REALLY excited to see them pod up and finally taste one! 
     Just wait until your plants get some roots into that good Illinois topsoil. I bet I'll be able to hear them growing from over here!
 

Very nice plants, they are gorgeous!

Paolo

 
 
 
     Thank you, Paolo. It's been a real struggle to keep them going this season. A story full of heartbreak and redemption. So far things are looking better than they did back in February. Thanks for checking out my glog!

 

[juanitos]

bro where's the update?