Lespaulde 2019 Season

Nulle · May 14, 2019

Maple's beautiful

PaulG · May 14, 2019

Wow, everything looks great, Erv. The greenhouse kit
turned out really nice. You are going to love using it.

When you mentioned insulating the greenhouse, what
were you thinking about doing? My greenhouse needs
a boost from a little space heater during the March-April
stretch to overcome the cold nights.

My plants all outside now, heeled into their final large
containers. so no more lugging in and out - it's do or
die time for them. I can't justify breaking branches and
leaves every time I move thirty 2-3 foot tall plants around
in their small pots!

Looks like we have a string of nights in the 44-49˚F range
for the next 8-10 days, then the night temps are supposed
to be over 50˚F from there on out. The plants are just going
to have to live with it for now! Tough love.

Good luck going forward, friend. Looks like you are getting
this chili grow thing down!

lespaulde · May 18, 2019

Nulle said:
Maple's beautiful

Hi Nulle, thanks a lot! It's amazing how she went from a full-on indoor cat living in a city appartment for her first 2 years, to a full-fledged outdoor cat bringing home mice, birds etc. within only a year. Instinct rules strong I suppose, although she is very sweet and still enjoys coming inside for long naps and petting sessions etc.

PaulG said:
Wow, everything looks great, Erv. The greenhouse kit
turned out really nice. You are going to love using it.

When you mentioned insulating the greenhouse, what
were you thinking about doing? My greenhouse needs
a boost from a little space heater during the March-April
stretch to overcome the cold nights.

My plants all outside now, heeled into their final large
containers. so no more lugging in and out - it's do or
die time for them. I can't justify breaking branches and
leaves every time I move thirty 2-3 foot tall plants around
in their small pots!

Looks like we have a string of nights in the 44-49˚F range
for the next 8-10 days, then the night temps are supposed
to be over 50˚F from there on out. The plants are just going
to have to live with it for now! Tough love.

Good luck going forward, friend. Looks like you are getting
this chili grow thing down!

Thanks for the kind words Paul, definitely already enjoying it so far and can see this is going to be a big game changer with the short and relatively cold seasons we tend to have here.

With regards to the insulation, I was indeed mainly referring to whether you put insulation in the ground etc., or whether you were solely relying on the space heater to keep things alive? I can see some kind of space heater will be a must, but will need to be creative as to how to do it, as we don't have power all the way down where the greenhouse is. Excellent news your plants made it all outside, and judging from how your glog is looking, things are simply thriving over at yours to say the least! And I feel ya, lugging in all those plants back forth is not just a drag, the risk of breaking branches etc. becomes too real when they get to a certain size. Fingers crossed the nights stay good for now, and that soon the real summer is upon us. Over here, nighttime temps are definitely above 10C/50F, and soon seem to be reaching 15C/60F, which is when I hope my Chinenses to really take off. And thanks, while I feel I have learned a thing or two compared to last time, I can see there's still lot's of learning to be done, which also makes this hobby so great as the learning never ends (although you do make it seem like there is a finishing point...

)

Been busy this week planting up, hooking up the autopots and in general getting things settled into final places for the season. Overall, the greenhouse is looking pretty much full now I reckon (don't want to overload it either), and plants should have enough space for growth and proper lighting:

Left side, inside view:

Right side (only plant missing is in the still-empty 60L growbag, the Bulgarian Carrot - needed more dirt which I'll get soon

):

I'm liking the 60L fabric bags quite a lot, and am really curious to see how big plants can get and how often they will need watering - any opinions on that based on experience?

The B.O.C.:

The Biker Bill's Jalapeño:

And now to the 'lazy' autopot section

:

Jalapeños:

SRP and SL Chili Red:

Aji Pineapple and Aji Mango:

Foodorama SB and KSLSB (which haven't been super happy about having been tossed outside I think):

And last but not least, the maters (Sweet 100, Chocolate, and yellow cherry (left-to-right)):

Currently, I'm using the Hesi Coco nutes at 75% strength, using distilled water with a 1:4 portion of tap water, which ends up with a pH of ~6.5. This seems to work very well on the autopot valves, with no crystallization occuring. If I use straight up tap water, I get a lot of crystallization once the nutes are added, which probably would prevent me to use the setup over prolonged periods of time. Curious to see how long the 47L/12.5gal nutrient tank lasts this year with 8 plants, but as long as I can get a week of use, I'll be pleased. Still considering whether I will do a comparison experiment with the Hydro nutes vs Hesi Coco when cultivating in Coco, but that might have to be on a different set of plants.

Overall, I'm happy as could be, and am waiting for flowers to start appearing on most of the plants, while pods are setting nearly daily on the SRP and Aji Pineapple, so they didn't seem to mind the transition outdoors. Thanks for checking in, as always.

CaneDog · May 18, 2019

"Game-changer" is right LP. The greenhouse and the plants are looking fantastic. It must be great having that to work with now. Hopefully you'll find an easy and effective solution as far as heating, which should really pay off in the fall by extending your ripening season.

Anyhow, really good stuff. I'm looking forward to seeing those bonnets make the adjustment to outdoor life and everything really start to kick it into gear, especially with the warmer nights on the way!

PaulG · May 18, 2019

That greenhouse is money, my friend! In short order
that is going to be so dull of green you may not be
able to get inside!

My MoA bonnets seem to be a little unhappy about
the outside weather, but the Beth Boyd and SB7J are
handling it much better. Maybe due to being crosses?

Those auto-pots look like a real time-saver. Will be
interested to see those with monster plants in them
soon!

Devv · May 18, 2019

Well done!

I'm in agreement about the greenhouse. What a positive addition to your grow

The plants look great, and the ones you say are slow will kick in make you happy.

Wishing you continued success!

DWB · May 19, 2019

lespaulde said:
I'm liking the 60L fabric bags quite a lot, and am really curious to see how big plants can get and how often they will need watering - any opinions on that based on experience?

Limited experience. I'm using some GardenMate 16 gallon pots this year. I haven't fed or watered them since planting and putting the pots into the bins. We get enough rain that the bins fill and the plants drink until next time. The rain forecast over the next few days is kinda iffy and we haven't gotten any since last weekend so I think I'll feed and water them today.

This is two sweetie cherry tomatoes planted in one pot on April 9

This is what they look like today. These were 2+ ft tall maters growing in my tiny fabric sock pots until transplanting on Apr 9 &10. Two Juliet hybrids on the left, the two 2 sweetie cherry in the middle and a Tiny Tom cherry on the right.

lespaulde · May 20, 2019

PaulG said:
That greenhouse is money, my friend! In short order
that is going to be so dull of green you may not be
able to get inside!

My MoA bonnets seem to be a little unhappy about
the outside weather, but the Beth Boyd and SB7J are
handling it much better. Maybe due to being crosses?

Those auto-pots look like a real time-saver. Will be
interested to see those with monster plants in them
soon!

Thanks Paul, and haha, I hope you're right that it will soon be too full in there for me to be picking pods; I might have to train my cat or toddler to do the picking for me...
Interesting to hear your bonnets are also a bit put off by the early season, but I guess given their normal climate, this might not be too strange. It's nice to hear others experiencing the same though, as I then know it's something quite common. I'm counting on them picking up soon, now that night time temps are above 50F/10C and daytimes go up to 30C/90F on sunny days in the greenhouse.

I'm really thankful for the autopots as they save a lot of time and worries while traveling, and am curious how they do in coco compared to coco/soil mix I used last year. Overall, I think I'm doing a tiny bit better than last year, given how the plants looked at this point in 2018

:

Devv said:
Well done!

I'm in agreement about the greenhouse. What a positive addition to your grow

The plants look great, and the ones you say are slow will kick in make you happy.

Wishing you continued success!

Thanks Devv, appreciate the words of motivation and am already looking forward to watching them develop over the next 2 weeks or so. :dance:

I hope I didn't pack the GH too full, but only one way to find out I suppose...

DWB said:
Limited experience. I'm using some GardenMate 16 gallon pots this year. I haven't fed or watered them since planting and putting the pots into the bins. We get enough rain that the bins fill and the plants drink until next time. The rain forecast over the next few days is kinda iffy and we haven't gotten any since last weekend so I think I'll feed and water them today.

Thanks for the really useful info Dee, those must be the same pots as I have as they are also GardenMates. I gave them 10L / 2.5gal of water when potting up, which seemed to be enough to give the whole pot a good soak. I will check them on a weekly basis for now, then increasing that during the hotter summer months. Can't believe all that growth in just over a month, incredible!

lespaulde · May 26, 2019

First 'harvest' of the season, 2x biker Bill's Jalapeños. Despite them having been ripening for over a month, and had the trademark cork marks for being ripe (?), there was hardly any heat. Flavor was very good, but was a bit disappointed with the lack of heat. Hopefully the next round will be hotter, and I'll just wait until they turn red before harvesting (assuming the biker Bill's also do that?).

Evolution of the DWC lemon Starrburst from April 26th until now:

The weather is really not the greatest these days, but luckily plants seem ok and are growing thanks to the GH. There will be a lot of rain for the next 2 weeks, but with a bit of luck, summer will arrive just after. It's been so cold that the rhododendrons are flowering a good 3 weeks later this year than usual. Still very pretty now that they finally do though...

Actually managed to move a few from one end of the garden to another, and they seem to have survived the operation! :dance:

Sugar Rush Peach is the most productive plant so far, with about 20 pods hanging around, waiting to ripen. Curious to see if their reputation of being slow ripers is really as bad as people say.

Hopefully people are having warmer temperatures around the globe, although from Paul's and CD's glog, it seems that the rain is omnipresent...

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CaneDog · May 26, 2019

Hey LP. Plants are looking great - including that Rhody. The Lemon Starrburst was already a strong looking plant a month ago with those big green leaves and the development since with the forking and filling in continues to impress. It rained all day here yesterday , but that's all supposed to turn around now with no rain in the foreseeable future and temps in the 22 - 25 range :cool:

Hope the good weather is coming your way sooner than predicted. Your peppers are definitely poised to take advantage of it.

lespaulde · Jun 14, 2019

Been a while since my last update, and this is due mainly to having been on vacation for 2 weeks. This couldn't have come at a better time, as my god did things pick up these weeks! Weather is finally like summer, and the plants clearly show it. Been harvesting the first pods from some plants, while eagerly awaiting other plants to start setting fruit too. All in all, I'm probably a month ahead of last year, which was more than I could have asked for.

Pictures say more than a thousand words, so let's get to it!

Managed to harvest the first ripe Lemon Starrburst; while the pheno was not the perfect shape KS LSBs are famous for, it was close, and very pretty (Aji Lemons in the background, picked at the same time). Really nice intense yellow, and thick flesh. However, given its heritage, I expected a more fruity flavor than I got, as honestly it was very intensely "chinense-like", with good heat (habanero level), but no fruitiness whatsoever. Not sure whether this was due to the fact that it just ripened the day before picking, or because it's grown in hydro, or it actually is more off-pheno than just the shape. Let's see what happens with the plant in the autopot and what happens if I let them ripen for 2 weeks or so after the color change to yellow... The plants has grown absolutely massive now, and will soon need to be trimmed if it is to fit in the tent any longer - it drinks 5L of nutrients every 3-4 days!

The overwintered Numex Orange Spice has finally kicked into gear as well! :dance:

To think that I was THIS close to calling it a day as it was simply not showing any growth, until I added fresh coco and managed to finally get rid of the last spider mites. I'm very curious to see how many pods it's going to put out, and how large it will get by the end of season.

Speaking of jalapeños, I'm very happy with how many buds the Biker Bill is putting out. I even got the first taste of a red one now, and at this point they are definitely nice and intensely spicy, with excellent jalapeño taste. These for sure will end up on my yearly grow list. If every one of those flowers turns into a pod, it's gonna be a killer producer:

The Sugar Rush Peach has also kicked into high gear, and I'm impressed with the size of the pods. Probably got around 25 pods hanging now, so it really needed to be tied up to support the weight. The tomato clips are coming in handy for this.

The bulgarian carrot is clearly still focusing on root growth, as not much is happening on top of the soil. However, the first 2 pods also ripened and this is also a very enjoyable pepper. Heat level is like a good jalapeño (probably Biker Bill level), with a nice level of sweetness. Ripening time is a little longer than the biker bill, but not much.

This being my first year growing tomatoes, I'm definitely enjoying the ride; W.O.W. do these plants grow fast! I left with them being 1ft/30cm plants, with the first set of flowers forming on the left most plant, and I came back and it turned into a jungle! Definitely had to do quite a bit of tying up as the left plant was just spreading over the floor, but tying it up more and more over 2-3 days has helped bring it back to an upwards position. Can't wait to see the first fruits turn red, hopefully in a month or so (?).

The Foodarama SB and Lemon Starrburst have also started growing now and putting out flowers, hopefully some pods in a week or 2 and then ripe fruits about a month later. I'm still most excited about these 2 as they are my first scotch bonnets (or at least SB heritage) and have heard nothing but great things. I actually already ordered the Bahamian Goat seeds when I ordered my 4th set of autopots about 2 months ago, and am proud of myself for being able to resist starting one more plant this late... xD

Finally, the B.O.C. is now also producing pods, so let's see how much it's going to produce in year 2. At the start, none of the flowers had pollen, so I used the pollen from the Biker Bill to successfully pollinate a flower or 2, and pollen from the Aji Lemon to pollinate another flower or 2, so let's see if those crosses will sprout at all come next year. Still keen on making a milder variant of it, to enjoy the fruity taste to the fullest. Or perhaps I should just try the bahamian goat which may be exactly that LOL!

Anyways, it feels great to now sit back and just watch the pods take shape. Probably I should leave again for another 2 weeks as it's most fun to see the big changes like that, rather than the small daily developments...

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lespaulde · Jun 17, 2019

I hate slugs, so so very much! One of my SRPs was attacked, and will not live to tell the tale.

Unfortunately I couldn't find the son of a *#&@ who did it, so hopefully it doesn't live to share the legacy either... Luckily the damage was limited, but still annoying.

On a more positive note, the purple ghost has really kicked it back up a notch, and is adding bushiness back to its original state. New soil, good nutes and sunshine seem to do the job, perhaps to no surprise...

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lespaulde · Jun 17, 2019

Might have found the reason I couldn't find the slug - the local protector of the realm:

Thanks little buddy!

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PaulG · Jun 18, 2019

Great update, LP. Looks like a really
nice grow underway! Good work... and
good luck going forward!

Devv · Jun 18, 2019

Good to see things taking off for you. I have 2 Sugar Rush Cream plants and they have a more oblong look to them, that and they darken quite a bit as they ripen. A nice mild pepper that the whole family can eat

lespaulde · Jun 19, 2019

Thanks Paul and Devv, always happy to have you gurus checking in and letting me know I'm not completely messing things up!

So from what you're saying Devv, I won't be in doubt when one ripens based on the colour? Are the cream and peach the same variety? I received these seeds from a friendly member over at PLC (on MeWe now), and have been really excited to see what the hype is all about. And yes, the pods are quite sizeable, bigger than what I expected for sure. Hope you're enjoying your holidays!

Found another 2 slugs last night, one of which was brave enough to attempt a BOC... Not sure they have the receptors needed for tasting capsaicin, as it was hiding under the leaf next to it. Sorry to say that both of them didn't live to continue their rampage...

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PaulG · Jun 21, 2019

Alright! SlugMaster reigns!

lespaulde · Jun 21, 2019

Haha I hate to be one, but this year I have to be on patrol as they are simply e.v.e.r.y.where! Don't want to bring out the poisons though, especially with the little one roaming the garden as of this year, so a daily checkup will have to suffice. Hoping the frog will also do his/her part hahaha...

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BigCedar · Jun 21, 2019

Erv! Holy cow man things have taken off since my last visit!

The greenhouse is awesome! Turned out great and the plants seem to be really enjoying it. I love your cat Maple she's gorgeous! Loving all the pod shots I'm all sorts of jealous. Interesting review on the Lemon Starburst (Freaking beautiful plant btw) I haven't heard of a lot of the varieties I've noticed to be "trendy" to grow these days after being out of the social aspect of this hobby for so long, one of those being the Lemon Starburst. I'll be interested to hear your autopot review. I feel like with that name it better own up to atleast some kinda fruity flavor! lol. Sugar Rush is another I've spotted on a good 50% of glogs, man yours look good, be interested to hear your review on those when you get a ripe one. That BOC OW that I fell in love with on my last visit is on fire! Speaking of on fire I hope that slug felt every bit of that burn! lol. Gonna be really cool to see that plant loaded down with orange pods. Seems like you got the tomato thing down in a quick hurry eh? Lol. Lookin good and great choices on variety! Rhodies lookin good, happens to be our state flower as a matter of fact! Fun catching up on your grow Erv, you're killin it my friend nice work! :cool:

Mildfruit · Jun 22, 2019

Holy s***! That greenhouse works like a dream! Gorgeous plants, I hope your next Lemon Starrburst have a more "correct" phenotype but nevertheless its still a great looking plant!
Cant wait for your review on the Sugar rush, I've been close to plant those seeds so many times, maybe a good review from you will finally make me do it

I like the choice of coco coir in the greenhouse, in a few year I hope to pull something like you did here as well - one can always dream