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It's never too early to get started!

Sooo... 2022 season is over and most of my 2023 plants are already there - no reason not to start a new thread already! 😃

See my previous glog... https://thehotpepper.com/threads/2022-too-early-to-get-started.75362/

While all my current plants are technically overwinterers, only a couple have grown through the 2022 season and are considered interesting enough to keep for next seasons grow.

Let's start with the famous Schneider farms SB plant, which will be going into it's third season in 2023. It currently doesn't look all that nice but that was also the case during the winter of 2021 so no worries here...

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Top view:

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Next in row is my Scotch Brains plant...

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Top view:

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And then there's the Humble Servants Homestead (HSH) SB, which was also elected to stay for next season...

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Top view:

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I'm starting to see some larger pods on my oldest plants. Probanby because we finally have some proper summer weather now. There are also flying quite a few bees and bumble bees around my pepper plants now. Maybe that also makes a difference? The tiny pods I had until now were all nearly to completely seedless. I wonder if that is why the pods don't grow properly.

Jamaican Long SB... it turns out that these pods turn red while they're supposed to be yellow. Hybrid maybe? Or a mutation? The (tiny) pod that I tasted was very hot and floral. Not really my cup of tea...
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Larger pod from the MOA red...
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And the Schneider farms SB... my number one SB as proven again today. There was this ripe pod that I ate and liked. 😁 But it burned when I swallowed it... felt it go down all the way to my stomach and gave me a "nice" stomach burn. Wife mad at me, she claims I'm destroying my stomach with eating those raw podberries... 🙄 but what does she know 😜
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While my bonnet plants usually produce pods that not really look like "proper" bonnets, there's a few plants that seem to be producing "true" bonnets. The pods are still really small but the shape is there...

Allen Boatman scotch bonnet:...
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Jamaican true form from Semillas:...
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Maybe shake them a little everyday, if you think that lack of pollination can be a problem here. I do this often, I shake branches, put fingers in flowers etc.
 
The yellow MOA from WHP is growing elongated pods... not exactly MOA like... 🤔

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The marabella market SB, also from WHP, is growing pale green yellow pods. I wonder what the ripened color will turn out like...

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And what a difference a couple of proper summer days make! A week ago this plant was hardly growing a single pod, and now it is full with young pods! 😲

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The first somewhat larger ripe papa dreadie scotch bonnet... including the usual spikes... (barely visible)
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Smell was very citrusy. Few seeds...
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Taste was like sweet lemon zest. Initially there was nearly no heat. Heat came after swallowing. It was a mild whole mouth burn, definitely not at the normal sb heat level. Nice snacking pepper 🙂
 
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Yeah in time those branches get really heavy. A good shower can be enough to cause some serious damage!
 
Took the schneider farm scotch bonnet apart for some pictures...

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The plant is loaded with pods! It really needs good support to keep it together...
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And then I did the same with the papa dreadie scotch bonnet and disaster happened. The papa dreadie is also loaded with pods, but I never tied the branches up... 😱
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The breaking of the branch was an ongoing process apparently...
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Luckily there's still the other half of the plant. Better tie that branch up properly...
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Some of the nicer pods from the broken branch... still tasting grassy, heat was not very high...
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Yeah, Pepper-Gurus plants are dwarfs compared to these 😁 :seeya:

There are indeed plenty of pods growing. Question is... will they be hot? From the samples I took sofar, there seems to be very little heat (relatively speaking). I have no idea why that is, but I had the same thing happening with the bonnets in the 2023 season. I was happy to have a 7pot brainstrain in 2023, which was probably also not at the expected heat level, but still provided me with plenty of heat (and they still do as I still have quite a few in the freezer). Anyway, let's wait for the pods to ripen first 🙂
 
I still need to start harvesting the first "proper" peppers of the season, but I'm already looking forward to start growing the plants for the next season. Starting very early was an advantage this year in respect to plant size and number of pods, so that's what I'm going to do again. And again I'm going to try to limit the number of plants, although I know that is difficult 😁. Will definitely be grown: the Schneider farms SB and the yellow 7pot brain strain. Anything else remains to be seen...
 
MarcV said:
It threw that broken branch of the papa dreadie on the compost pile. Went checking today to find a couple of slugs... yikes!
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WOW is an understatement, Marc. I counted 15 slugs in that little square foot or so. I've never seen a concentration of them like that. I don't know how you can grow anything without it being destroyed.
 
Well... there are those blue slug killing grains, but because slugs are a major pest this year, those grains are out of stock everywhere. Except for the "bio" products that is, but that is virtually useless as it does not kill the slugs.

So I put some of my plants on a table... (notice the remains of the papa dreadie in the bottom right of the picture)
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And the largest plants are on the ground, inside a wall that is shaped in a way that it is supposed to keep slugs out. This works reasonably well but I found several dead slugs inside the barrier already (I still use some of my leftover slug grains just in case...).

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www.biogroei.be

Slakkenmuur

Duurzame, mooie verzinkte slakkenbarrière Beschermt zaailingen en jonge moestuinplantjes Heeft een unieke vorm waar slakken niet over kunnen
www.biogroei.be www.biogroei.be
 
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MarcV said:
Well... there are those blue slug killing grains, but because slugs are a major pest this year, those grains are out of stock everywhere. Except for the "bio" products that is, but that is virtually useless as it does not kill the slugs.

So I put some of my plants on a table... (notice the remains of the papa dreadie in the bottom right of the picture)
1000006450.jpg


And the largest plants are on the ground, inside a wall that is shaped in a way that it is supposed to keep slugs out. This works reasonably well but I found several dead slugs inside the barrier already (I still use some of my leftover slug grains just in case...).

1000006451.jpg

1000006452.jpg


www.biogroei.be

Slakkenmuur

Duurzame, mooie verzinkte slakkenbarrière Beschermt zaailingen en jonge moestuinplantjes Heeft een unieke vorm waar slakken niet over kunnen
www.biogroei.be www.biogroei.be
Click to expand...


Well... there are those blue slug killing grains, but because slugs are a major pest this year, those grains are out of stock everywhere.​




This really works but I don't see it on Belgium Amazon.

 
I noticed that, while many small pods on my plants start with a very nice bonnet shape, they seem to lose their shape while growing larger and eventually become a "blob". This one for instance is a very nice one on my HSH plant. I'm going to keep an eye on it to see what it becomes like.
I assume it's the growing conditions...?
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