KingLeerUK's 2014 Grow Log - "Plants Off, Dance Off"

After a bit of a hiatus... I'M BACK BABY!
 
Towards the end of last season I drifted off THP due to having had such a poor season and my ever-increasing race schedule on the weekends.  My plants just didn't produce very well last year.  There wasn't a single reason; the combination of too much rain early in the season, leading to brownspot issues and then a really bad whitefly infestation brought my garden to its knees.  I did manage to overwinter several plants and get the pests under control which has given me a bit of a head start on this year.  That said, I've still found a way to be a little late to the party.
 
Let's start off with the Good News
 
In the "fall" (Florida doesn't really have seasons) I had a bit of a brain spark and realised that I could use my 35 pound kitty litter containers as 5-gallon equivalent growing pots.  I transplanted 5 plants into these makeshift buckets and was therefore able to shelter them indoors during the worst of the "winter".
 
As a result, going into the year I had two Red Savina Habaneros and 2 Trinidad Moruga Scorpions and 1 of something that is definitely a superhot (maybe a Butch-T) get a running start with 18" of established growth.  They are now almost 3 feet tall and putting on tons of pods.
 

The kitty litter container garden.
 

More detail on the kitty litter containers.
 

Possibly Butch-T?
 
I've been planting out some of my 7" pot over-winters as buckets became available, and these include:
3x Carolina Reaper
2x Chocolate Scorpion
2x Doughlah
2x Yellow Scotch Bonnet
1x Trinidad Moruga Scorpion
1x Devil's Tongue Yellow
 
I have had a few small early pods from the Scorpions.
 
In the back garden I had three Moruga Scorpions survive, and they are all putting on large pods with distintive tails.
 

Trinidad Moruga Scorpion Tails
 
I also have several Devil's Tonuge Yellow plants in both the front and back garden area.  Only the plants in the front yard are putting on pods, but they are doing so in a spectacular fashion.  I've already been able to harvest several pods in April.
 

Devil's Tongue Yellow
 
I started a batch of seeds in the propagator about 5 weeks ago and they have already migrated through the 4" pots up to 7" pots on the back porch light table.  This year I've decided to do early topping of all of the seedlings to try and get them to branch out and be less leggy.
 

 

 
I started a second batch of seeds in the propagator last weekend, mostly replacements for the low-germination seeds from the first round.  This only also includes a variety of tomatoes.
 

 
 
Some of the Bad News
 
I only had two of my Bhut Jolokia (Red Ghosts) survived the winter and they are in pretty poor shape.  I may start some new plants now so they can overwinter for next year; they might even produce a few pods before it gets too cold this year.
 
I lost most of my Kung Paos.  I have one very health plant that survived the worst of the "winter" being nestled up next to the fence.
 
I lost my one and only established Cherry Bomb, but more seedlings have already been started.
 
I lost all of my Golden Cayennes, but as with the Cherry Bombs I have seedlings started.
 
I am having one hell of a time trying to get any Bishop's Crowns to germinate. This year I ordered seeds from pepperlover.com and not a single one of them germinated on my first-round attempt.  We'll see how it goes for round 2.  If none of them start that will make FOUR YEARS in a row I've tried to grow these and never gotten a single hook.
 
 
And the Indifferent News
 
I'm abandoning any tobasco growing for this year, while the plant is very pretty and was massive last year, I never used the pods and it is taking up precious space.  If I can't find a home for it in the yard elsewhere it will just be culled.
 
 
KINGLEERUK'S 2014 GROW LIST FOR KIDS WHO CAN'T GROW GOOD AND WANNA LEARN TO GROW OTHER STUFF GOOD TOO
 

7 Pod Brainstrain Yellow
7 Pot Jonah
7 Pod Primo
Aleppo
Aribibi Gusano Orange
Bhut Jolokia Red (p)
Bishop's Crown
Brazilian Starfish
Carolina Reaper (p)
Chichimeca Jalapeño
Chocolate Scorpion
Cowhorn
Datil
Devil's Tongue Red
Devil's Tongue Yellow (p)
Douglah (p)
Giant Jalapeño
Giant Mexican Rocoto
Golden Cayenne
Kung Pao (p)
Mariachi Jalapeño
Mucho Nacho Jalapeño
Naga Morich
Naga Viper
Olive Primo
Purple Jalapeño
Red Cayenne
Red Cherry Bomb
Red Savina Habanero (p)
Trinidad Barrackpore 7 Pod
Trinidad Moruga Scorpion
Yellow Scotch Bonnet (p)
 
(p) indicates pods in production now

 
More updates when I can.   Same bat time, same bat channel.

 

[KingLeerUK]

This weekend I did get a little done in the garden, but I don't have pictures of everything available today.
 
1. Put up the 10'x20' shade fabric held up by metal T-stakes.
2. Amended a 4'x20' row of soil with peat moss, vermiculite, and 3 bags of Black Kow
3. Got the okra seedlings in the ground, each with some organic blood meal and bone meal in the starter holes.
4. Did a foliar for all of the outdoor peppers from my most recent AACT batch and started a follow-up batch.
 
Which brings us to the visual portion of our presentation:
 

 
The Douglahs have some very large pods on and are starting to show a little bit of burgundy/brown shading on their upper edges.  I'll have at least 5 pods going over to The Dark Side at about the same time.
 

Oh, Douglahs.  That's like saying "oh, ninjas".
 

And here are some baby Yellow Scotch Bonnets.  It's only taken a WHOLE YEAR to get the plant mature and healthy enough to put some pods on.  Last year between the terrible weather, aphids and whiteflies I almost pulled the plug on this plant.  It is now showing its gratitude.
 

The indoor bhut jolokia experiment continues, with solid germination in all but 2 cells.  This means that I'll have to do some water float separation on a couple of seedlings to get my full 20-count distinct set.  In the nature of fairness I'll use the splits in a 50/50 towards each of the topped/natural habit groups.
 
I'll try to get some more pictures tonight of the shade cloth setup (I'm bringing ghetto back, baby) and some more poddage.
 
I've also received seeds from pepperlover.com and will be starting those in a germination tray in the next couple of days.  These are my FINAL set, likely to all stay in pots or fabric bags for overwinters into 2015.  They will include:
 
Brazilian Starfish
Datil
Giant Mexican Rocoto
Naga Morich
 
7 Pod Jonah (bonus seeds)
Devil's Tongue Red (bonus seeds) - I already have had great success with the Yellows
 
She also sent bonus seeds for Yellow Devil's Tongue and Trinidad Douglahs and a packet of Douglah powder.  Now that's customer service!

 

[KingLeerUK]

As promised, a few more pics as an update.
 

 
It's amazing how fast these Yellow Scotch Bonnet pods are sizing up.
 
 

 
DING! Round 2 for the Red Savina Habaneros are up for harvest.
 

 
More "mystery" superhot pods (maybe Butch-T?) are going over to ripe on several of the plants.  Yes, I know the leaves are showing some terrible yellowing; I've dosed this plant with some organic blood meal and a hit of my AACT brew.
 

 

 
The Douglah pods are going straight from green to brown; here comes the pain!

 

[PexPeppers]

WOW! lookin pretty awesome!

 

[KingLeerUK]

Finally an update!
 
The past 3 weekends I've done a race every Saturday which hasn't left a great deal of time for garden updates.  Everything is moving along though.
 
I did pull a tiny harvest of Red Savinas and a single Yellow Devil's Tongue for family and grabbed a quick snapshot of it:
 

 
After some initial concerns over possible overwatering things have dried out a lot and my selective and restrained soil amendements are paying dues.
 
All of the in-ground plants are looking amazing.
 

This single Trinidad Scorpion in the back yard has over 20 pods on, with easily twice again as many flowers.  Can you spot all of the pods?
 

His neighbour hasn't put that many pods on yet, but the foliage is in outstanding condition and there are TONS of blooms setting.
 

And...  even more Scorpions.
 

AND MORE
 

So, this is my temporary rig for shade fabric over the east-facing third of the back garden area.  It's not the most aesthetic setup, but it works perfectly and will suffice until I can get something else setup.  I can already tell the Morugas under it are appreciating the reprieve.
 

Tons of Scorpion Morugas and "Butch T" (?) ripe in the front privacy fence container garden.
 

Indoors, the bhut jolokia germination experiment has moved out onto the back porch light table, with exactly 70% germination by seed count.  I'll have my perfect 20 for the topping/non-topped experiment and I'll give away the remaining seedlings once they get up to 7" pot size.
 

Here is some close-up detail of a "spare" first-round Carolina Reaper for this year that I'd topped about 10 days ago.  Not really the best angle but it already has two sets of branches and multiple new growth shoots at the leaf joints.
 

The Yellow Scotch Bonnet is progressing nicely.
 
 
In The Next Post... REAPER TIME.

 

[PexPeppers]

NICE!

 

[Shurbryn]

Damn! Looking good mate!

 

[KingLeerUK]

and the adventure resumes!
 

I tried to get a good picture of one of the "mystery scorpions" in the front container garden to try and illustrate the vivid red that the pods have.  They almost seem like they'd glow in the dark the colour is so rich.
 
 

My Big Fat Douglah Wedding
 
 
And as promised...
 
CAROLINA REAPERS
 

This particular plant has been (and continues to be) ravaged by aphids, which I'm doing my organic best to try and bring to heel.  They obviously prefer the new growth, and I've been using a combination of insect soap, neem oil and finger squashing but they just seem to LOVE this plant.  I may end up topping it to physically remove them and then make it a daily crusade to police the plant.  The pod here doesn't have a very defined tail.
 
But this one does.
 

This Reaper seems to be growing more "true" than the other plant (same seeds) and it has the most bumpy, knobled surface of anything I've ever grown.
 
That's all for now, check this channel back soon for more poddage adventure time with KingLeerUK!
 
TO BE CONTINUED...

 

[Runescape]

Damn, that second reaper pod looks badass...

 

[Koreansoul]

Ha, your shaded area looks like mine but mine is pretty ghetto lol. The plants love it though. 

 

[KingLeerUK]

I snapped a few pictures on the way out the door this morning.
 

The Douglahs are putting on a fantastic ruby/burgundy shade; this picture just doesn't do justice.
 

The Carolina Reaper is continues to get even more bumpy and vicious looking.
 

Hardening off the "last" of the first round germination seedlings for this year (late start) with an aim to plant them out this coming weekend.   This set includes: Mucho Nacho Jalapeño, Mariachi Jalapeño, Chichimeca Jalapeño, Purple Jalapeño (x2), Golden Cayenne, Cherry Bomb, Cowhorn, 7 Pod Brainstrain Yellow, Barrackpore 7 Pod
 

Just look at that beautiful colour in the leaves of the Purple Jalapeño!

 

[juanitos]

god i wish i had a douglah! looking good

 

[KingLeerUK]

The first "big" harvest of the season, Trinidad Scorpions, "mystery" (Butch T?), a couple of Devil's Tongue Yellow and Red Habaneros.
 

 

Beautiful "mystery" super hots, seeds originally labeled as "Trinidad Scorpion Moruga" but who really knows.  Hotter than a $5 pistol.
 

Yellow Devil's Tongues headed out for pod sharing, as promised.
 

My patience and restraint have been heavily rewarded in that all of the container plants that I dosed with my AACT brew + organic blood meal + organic bone meal + egg shell powder + an Epsom salt foliar are putting on massive and robust new foliage and blooms.  This is one of the "mystery" superhots and you can see all of the new, luxurious green leaf goodness that it has all over the top of the plant.
 

Another shot of the growth, with flash.
 

And finally, the Douglah.  It has kicked over to near full-burgundy in the space of only a couple of days.  I'd imagine it will be ready for harvest by the weekend if it keeps up this rate.
 

 

[juanitos]

some of you guys look like trees lol, nothing on the trunk and a canopy on top. 

 

[Runescape]

Awesome plants, and pods, man... 

 

[KingLeerUK]

This weekend, I completed the re-potting of all of the 2nd and 3rd round seedlings from germination trays to 4" pots.
 

 

 

 
Some of the annums in the mix are a tad leggy, but nothing that they won't recover from.
 
The top-tier of the light table is a quad-fixture T8 (each with two 4' bulbs).  The overflow on the wire rack are being lit by a pair of T5HO 4' dual fixtures.

 

[Runescape]

Wow, thats a ton of plants... neat.

 

[KingLeerUK]

 

 

No flash.
 

With flash.
 
Some pics of the ripening Douglahs.

 

[Shurbryn]

Very nice looking pods dude

 

[KingLeerUK]

Based on the advice in my question thread I harvested three of the Douglahs tonight:
 

 

 

[KingLeerUK]

So, after 9 days of well-deserved vacation in the Montana wilderness I've returned home to to the Florida sauna to find something rather unique happening on one of my Carolina Reapers...
 
It has purple pods.
 

 

 
At night:

 
Now, I don't want to start any trouble, but these pictures haven't been modified in any way.
 
I have 3 Reapers going in containers.  Of the 3, two of them have been setting pods.  The other plant has "traditional reaper" colouration and ripening, starting with a light green and now going over to yellow/orange like this:
 

 
This odd plant has gone straight from green to this burgundy shade.
 
I suppose it could be sunburn, but none of my other peppers in the container area have had sunburn, including the other Reaper.
 
Is it Leer's Pimpmaster Reaper?