How r ur peppers going in Perth west oz?

[Rainman]

 
Yeah no problem. Cheers for asking.
They are definately hard to come by the little blighters
 
Micca

 
No luck finding ladybugs - in shops or in the park.  
 
On a side note, the Epson salt spray left a residue, so next time I'll try it half/strength (1 tbsp per litre).  It seems to have been most enjoyed by the Capsicum and Habanero which look much better, but the Ghost Peppers are now looking a little more ragged, but that might be from the wind over the past 36 hrs?  One Ghost seems to have more leafcurl than before the spray...
 
On the down side, something is now eating the leaves of a few plants and no sign of what...  Also, the Jalapeno has some brown spots.  I have some Yates Mavrik chewing and sucking insect pest killer so will probably spray the plants tonight.
 
On the plus side, added a Chocolate Habanero and a Trinidad Scorpion seedling to my collection this weekend.  They are getting their first bit of early evening sun for 30-60 mins.
 
 Rainman

 

[Micca302]

Cheers for having a look mate.
The ol ladybug is definately a hard one to find but man they are ferocious aphid eaters!
 
Try the epsoms half strength. I haven't had a problem with it before and does help with flower drop/setting fruit.
With your plants getting munched on maybe go out at night and have a look at them. Iv'e had the same thing and have gone out at night and found bloody slaters eating my plants!
Brown spots on your Jalapeno sounds like a fungal problem? You might have to give them a fungal spray treatment but look the problem up first on google.
 
Good luck and happy growing
 
micca

 

[nemspy]

Most of my sticks still really slow to come back. Won't prune them so heavily so early next year. My completely unpruned chocolate bhut is going bonkers - about 50 flowers right now.
 
In other news, picked up one of Wildfire's really nice Douglah seedlings from Bunnings today. Stem as thick as two pencils and about a foot tall.

 

[Andy21]

What bunnings nempsy? I checked on Monday and still non in stock :-/

 

[nemspy]

What bunnings nempsy? I checked on Monday and still non in stock :-/

 
Bunbury - they went out south of the river today and north of the river tomorrow. Just Douglah and Butch T for now.

 

[Andy21]

Cheers mate it's just the douglah I'm after

 

[Sarge]

Ill try my local bunnings in sydney see what I find. Damn pepper plants growing so damn slow. My dads corn grown 2 months after my peppers are nearly 2m tall. The cucumbers are overtaking the back yard while my peppers are still crawling. Even germinating is slow. I popped lettuce in one day. One single day to germinate. Watermelon in 4 days.

 

[Micca302]

I saw their newsletter that said they have just been released to bunnings(I think they came out yesterday).
Sounds like the other varieties are still a bit far away.
Good luck with the Douglah Andy. One of my faves for the unusual look/ flavour but also the hottest thing i have ever had!
The Douglah is one hard hitter!
 
Micca

 

[Andy21]

Thanks Micca
Picked one up yesterday ill post some pics later today of my plants and the new douglah it's f'in huge lol seriously strong seedling I'd love to know what it's been fed etc...
Also I've got some cool jalapeño crosses going on ill post the pics I planted 40 from seeds I'd saved from last year and got some weird ones with full purple leaves and flowers and also some that are starting to look like they may have crossed with my red bhut

 

[Micca302]

Thanks Micca
Picked one up yesterday ill post some pics later today of my plants and the new douglah it's f'in huge lol seriously strong seedling I'd love to know what it's been fed etc...
Also I've got some cool jalapeño crosses going on ill post the pics I planted 40 from seeds I'd saved from last year and got some weird ones with full purple leaves and flowers and also some that are starting to look like they may have crossed with my red bhut

Yeah would love to know what they feed them too. Those nurseries have some good stuff there.
Those crosses sound cool, looking forward to some piccies 
 
Micca

 

[Sarge]

Bugger, I spoke to the rep at Wildfire, they don't do east coast since masters is already covering the area

 

[Rainman]

Most of my sticks still really slow to come back. Won't prune them so heavily so early next year. My completely unpruned chocolate bhut is going bonkers - about 50 flowers right now.
 
In other news, picked up one of Wildfire's really nice Douglah seedlings from Bunnings today. Stem as thick as two pencils and about a foot tall.

 
Seeing the same slow come back on my over-wintered orange Hab.  The seedling I planted for the orange Hab is now almost twice the size of the over wintered one!
 
I couldn't resist checking out the Wildfire plants as all my flowering super-hots that have flowers are still dropping them (only the mexi, Jalapeno, Banana and Cayenne are setting pods)... Also, I broke my self-imposed ban on getting more plants this year... could not resist buying a Douglah and Butch T as they were so huge.  Nemspy, are you going to Stake your Douglah? 
 
Dragged the wife to 4 Bunnings stores in the process too, next time I will phone around as Balcatta, Joondalup and Innaloo didn't stock the Wildfire's, or they'd sold out.  Whitfords still had a few though, if anyone else is looking for them.

 

[nemspy]

Rainman, I'll stake it. I've actually got two. One that's going to brave the winds of my balcony and may not do so well, another that's potted and up in Perth in a mate's backyard till it strengthens.
 
The two plants I kept inside over winter DIED when I put them back outside - so much for that plan. The ones I left out in the cold mostly are coming back but, as I said, very very slowly and often only from the very bottom of the stem.
 
My Hungarian Black is fruiting well, but the superhots are dropping all their flowers. Everything else is too small to be flowering. Oh, one exception, my little Fatalii seems to be holding a fruit or two. It's a bit of a funny one as it was a seedling I planted late last season. It ended up being a stick about 15 cms tall that I left at my Mum's place all winter. It started to come back so I brought it down here to Bunno. It's really bushy now but hasn't really gotten more than about 25 cms tall. It's like a dwarf plant.

 

[Rainman]

Just potted the Wildfire's into 19 L pots.  I staked mine too but its quite sheltered in my back garden for the most part, so they shouldn't need it really.
 
The Douglah

 
The Butch T

 
Here is the shade cloth 'room' I rigged up out of the wife's cloths rack and a few cable ties... also has reduced the incidences of insect attack

 
My over-wintered Habanero is starting to look like a bonsai... Have just fertilized it and given it some more Epsom to try and get the second wave of yellow leaf and flower drop to stop.  
 
I keep reading about flower drop when temps get over 30-35 degrees... that's pretty much Perth everyday for the next 3-4 months, so I'm not sure how this will work out, or do they adapt?
 
My Jalapeno is a 'dwarf', its like 25 cm tall, but has held 3 peppers in the first wave and now has another 8 on the go, with the 3rd wave of flowers on their way.  Wish it was a bit bigger, as I really need 15 at one time to make my home made sauce...

 

[nemspy]

The funny thing for me at the moment is a bunch of my seedlings, despite being no more than a handspan tall, are already flowering.

 

[megamoo]

Nice shadehouse that will diffuse any high winds and reduce the effect of the harsh sun.
 
Chilli plants can handle higher temps above the soil but not below the soil.  Having pots sitting on a wide area of paving is a bad idea in summer.  If you can stop direct sun from heating up the pot that might help.
 
My overwinters were sticks for a few weeks but every watering I gave them some food.  I have a 5 litre sprayer which I filled with aerated water.  That is tap water left in a bucket with an aquarium bubbler overnight.  It removes the chlorine and maximises the dissolved oxygen which roots love. 
 
Then I added a tiny splash of seasol and powerfeed, the green one for more vege growth, not the red one for veggies which is better to induce flowering.  By tiny splash I mean just enough to tint the water, you don't want it black.  Just enough so that you can tell its not clear.  You do this every watering, so once a day if its hot.  Once they start to sprout leaves it really picks up speed.  I took the spray nozzle off so it just streams out, saves time. 
 
This only works if you have a draining potting mix.  If the stuff is too heavy or compact nothing will work.  So if you don't need to water your pots every day when its hot your mix could be the problem.

Chilli plants have flowering and vegetative growth at the same time so you get tiny plants flowering all the time.

 

[Rainman]

I was thinking about putting a blanket down on the patio or something to stop the pavers heating up as much.  Either that, or moving the plants onto a grass strip on the other side of the garden where they'll get a little less sun, but be less likely to heat up from below.
 
Thanks for the tip re: Seasol and Powerfeed.   I've been using both as well, but at just under half the recommended rates on the bottles.  Might scale it back a little more next time.  Do you recommend the red power feed to get more flowers or does the green one do that sufficiently?
 
We have a filter on our shower head that removes chlorine as the water here is terrible for us, let alone plants.  When I forget to put water out to burn off overnight I use the shower.  
 
As this is my first 'proper' attempt at growing I've got a wide variety of potting mixes... I didn't realise it was such an art!  Some are very well drained and others not so much.  I'm going to try and loosen the soil a little in some I may have over compacted and possibly re-pot one or two if they don't come good soon.
 
The biggest mistake I made for a few pots was adding water retaining soil improver to the potting mix... but that was before I found this forum.  I'm up to 18 plants now and for this first years attempt I'm going to see how things go and may not bother re-potting this time.  My favourites are in good soil I think.  If some die so be it, especially as I have two of some varieties, I will be wiser next year for sure.

 

[megamoo]

The green powerfeed is fine for getting flowers but once you've got a big mature plant that wants to pod up the red one would be better, just my opinion.  Either will be good enough.
 
When we start getting 35+ days the plants will probably do better on the grass and will be fine with less sun.  Usually during the hottest part of summer flowers will drop.
 
It's a good general rule to use less ferts than what the packet says.  You can always add a bit more if they are hungry but if you give them too much its a real bitch to have to flush a pot out, sometimes its not possible and the plant can take a long time to recover. 
 
I buy one of the cheapy potting mixes that doesn't have any ferts or soil wetter or water saving crystals added and then I cut it with perlite, about 50/50.  The best potting mixes are rough and not sandy.  You have to water them regularly but they won't get overwatered.  There is a tradeoff as it will cost a bit more in water, but I've got a bore retic thing and I'm going to get a rain tank set up too.

 

[nemspy]

It's tough for me in pots. If I water every day I find that, however much perlite and whatever potting mix I use, my pots soon weigh a metric tonne. Perhaps they aren't waterlogged, but it sure seems like it.

 

[Andy21]

Hey guys here's a few photos of my plants including some of the wierd jalapeño crosses...
And my plants aren't picture perfect I know lol some still struggling to come back after a mysterious disease.... :-/ Anyway.....

Butch T

Douglah

Jalapeño X ? Hungarian Black?

Jalapeño X ? Red Bhut?

Group shot of pots still finding space to go in ground!

Another Jalapeño X Purple?

Jalapeño X cayenne/Thai can't tell yet?

http://i1302.photobucket.com/albums/ag132/andyj2121/null_zpsc55c71f0.jpg
And a few more random shots garden bed has
Aji Lemon drop
Red Bhut
Naga bhut jolokia
Thai
Cayenne
Hungarian yellow
Black pearl
Butch T
Choc Habs
Trinidad scorpion cardi yellow
Jalapeño
Capsicum

http://i1302.photobucket.com/albums/ag132/andyj2121/null_zps886b04b0.jpg
http://i1302.photobucket.com/albums/ag132/andyj2121/null_zps0398dcbf.jpg
http://i1302.photobucket.com/albums/ag132/andyj2121/null_zps9323a910.jpg
http://i1302.photobucket.com/albums/ag132/andyj2121/null_zps8c275542.jpg
http://i1302.photobucket.com/albums/ag132/andyj2121/null_zpsea55578c.jpg

should hopefully have alot of pods soon!