Lespaulde 2019 Season

Alright everybody, here we go; another year, another round of trying a range of different peppers and methods to grow them. After having a lot of fun last year, I'm of course trying to keep everything low key, but am already struggling to keep my growlist to a bare minimum so I will be able to handle the plants while also having enough time with my soon-to-be one year old son and significant other of course. There's just so much choice and reading about all the different types in various glogs etc means that we all need a lifetime of growing to find our favourites.

The biggest step forward this year is to really start from scratch (i.e. seed), as otherwise good luck finding those exotic varieties you cannot get at your typical garden store; while the selection of seedlings in Denmark is really not bad, it still excludes you from a huge selection. So my list, for now, is:

Aji Pineapple
Aji Mango
Sugar Rush Peach
Biker Bill's Jalapeno
KS Lemon Starrburst
Foodorama Scotch Bonnet
Aji Lemon
BOC Sweetbite (own cross from last year, F1, with a bit of luck getting through F2 as well)
Sri Lanka Chili Red (Growdown)
Early Jalapeño
Chocolate Bhut Jolokia
Bulgarian Carrot

And the overwinters:
Numex Orange Spice (love the heat on these jalapenos!)
Bhut Jolokia Purple

A big thanks goes out to William Beckham from the PLC on Google+, as he was kind enough to send me the Aji Mango, Sugar Rush Peach and Lemon Starrburst seeds - what a great guy!

Most of the plants will go back into the 8L (2 gal) autopots, albeit in 100% coco this time, but I also obtained some 60L (16 gal) fabric pots that I'm curious about trying. Lastly, since I will be growing some plants in the office at work, I will also try a couple of Kratky grows as the method intrigues me.

Nutes will be Plagron Hydro A&B this year, as 5L each was only 35EUR/40USD, while only needing 1.65ml/litre, making it very cheap indeed. For the 60L fabric pots, I will probably stick with the Hesi Coco from last year as the medium will be a 30/30/30 mix of Coco/soil/leca pebbles.

Originally I was aiming for Feb 1st, but since all the equipment came in already yesterday (grow tent etc, pics to follow), I couldn't wait anymore... Thus this happened today:

Now the waiting game begins, thanks for reading!

Sent from my ZTE A2017U using Tapatalk

 

[lespaulde]

Thanks for all the kind words guys, this forum is simply so full of awesome people that it's not only the peppers themselves which  are rewarding about this hobby, but also meeting the kind of people that make this community as great as it is!  
 
I must definitely say that expectations are met and then some with the greenhouse, and that the hard work getting it up is certainly paying off already. We've had quite a few weeks of decent weather during the day and extreme down-pours during the night, but given that the plants are all nice and dry means that the rains were of no concern. Day time temps were a good 10 degrees C / 18 degrees F warmer inside than out, and it clearly shows on the plants and especially the chinenses. Will get an update posted with pics very soon, when I 1) find the time to actually do it and 2) I'm not reading other people's glogs trying to stay up to date on what's happening on the other continents and the people with the big time serious grows. It's tough keeping up this year, but of course this is mainly a luxury problem...  

 

[lespaulde]

Yeah, I really hope to be able to taste a 'real' lemon starrburst soon, and let me say that I finally have a few true pheno pods that are ripening up on the DWC plant, so I expect to be able to sample it this weekend. The first pods have set in the greenhouse too, but these will probably still take another month before they are ripe - very curious to see whether I can taste any difference at all. And I agree, with the name and the hype around it, total fruitiness is my expectation too, so let's see! And no worries Brandon, if you're interested at the end of the season, I'd be happy to send some seeds your way.
 
The Sugar Rush is definitely making itself more and more desirable by simply taking forever to ripen. The pods look so nice and big and juicy, and the reviews on youtube also sound very promising, so the excitement is high for this one too. Will be sure to post a taste review of this one too, also so that Rasmus may end up pulling the trigger on this one too. I'm sure it's got a little more heat than a true snacking pepper would for me, but I think that's also exactly what I want and end up putting it on a 'tropical' grilled cheese sandwich or what not...

 

[lespaulde]

Awesomeness that Rhodies are your state flower - I absolutely fell in love with them now that the house we bought a couple years back has many of them in the garden, and they look nice even without the flowers on them. But those 2-3 weeks where they're all in bloom is quite special for sure.
 
And yes, I'm hoping the BOC will do well, and it certainly is producing. I'm a little concerned about the potting mix I put it in though, as many of the leafs are turning yellow and are dropping, so not sure it was the best quality mix. I'm trying not to change too many things now and am just watering without nutes for a little while, as it does have 10 or so pods ripening up, and the bit of new growth that is coming out is looking fine, so it's probably just the old leafs finally deciding it's time to go. 

 

[lespaulde]

Tomato plants are insane, I'll have to post a pic of how they look now, as their growth is simply mental for just a month and a half. They seem to be pretty much plug and play compared to peppers, especially with the capillary boxes everyone uses here in Denmark. Just refill the reservoir once a week and they manage themselves - couldn't be easier!

 
And Rasmus, I'm sure you will also get to grow in a greenhouse at some point, and the rate your plants are producing in your tent, I don't think you're missing out much! And I think that's an inherent thing of growing peppers, that one always wants more. Seeing all the veterans (you included Brandon) growing tens if not hundreds of plants makes my grow look very small by comparison, and it's always nice to have something to wish for. I'm curious to see if I'm going to have way more peppers than I will be able to do something with, but somehow I doubt it...  
 
Anyways, really nice having you guys checking in once in a while, and I will post some updates real soon to show some progression over the past few weeks. 

 

[lespaulde]

And sorry for all the smaller posts, but kept getting the post-to-index error many have complained about, it's too bad that bug is troubling the forums...

 

[lespaulde]

Let's keep going while we can! 
 
The BJ Purple is really going strong now, with lots of foliage and now even some flowers, with the first pod having set. I'm really happy I gave it a new home as it really took a liking to it:
 

 
Top view:

 

[lespaulde]

The 'infamous' DWC lemon starrburst, which worthfully took the place of the deceased Chocolate BJ:

 

[lespaulde]

Overview pics from the greenhouse.

Tomatoes + BOC on the left:

Left side with Biker Bill (60L), and Foodorama SB, Lemon Starrburst, Early Jalapeno and another Biker Bill all in autopots (from bottom to top)

Right side with SLR (Growdown plant), Sugar Rush Peach, Aji Mango, Aji Lemon in their autopots, and Bulgarian carrot in 60L fabric

 

[lespaulde]

Also found out that it's not just plants that appreciate the extra heat in a greenhouse, as Maple tends to chill out next to the plants too.

 

[lespaulde]

Then I also had a little disaster with my other office DWC plants (Aji Lemon and Aji Mango), as they got so top-heavy that the rope holding them up broke... 
 

 
I really tried to get it all back up in one piece, but it was all way too entangled to do it without some serious trimming, so I had to do what I had to do in order to try and save the plants. Even found a little friendly helper in the midst of all the foliage, so I guess it really was starting to become a jungle 

 
After the trimming it looked pretty ok again all things considered, and luckily only lost a handful of green pods which still tasted fine in a stirfry. Now the Aji Lemon is putting out ripe pods every week so I hope this keeps going for the summer months...
 

 

[lespaulde]

And lastly, have been playing a bit with leaving one of the extra jalapeños outside of the greenhouse, to see how well they grow in the general Danish climate. The benefit is that it has full sun from about 10.30 am until 8pm in that location, so that should make up for perhaps slightly lower temperatures outside of the greenhouse. All purely in the name of science of course, and not at all to see whether I can expand my grow area slightly for next year... 
 

 
Thanks for staying tuned, and now I'm back to other stuff around the house

 

[lespaulde]

First actual harvest is now a fact, as the KSLSB looked ready to get rid of the first round of pods:

Looking forward to tasting these this weekend, together with a couple of Aji Lemons - this plant is ripening pods almost daily and providing me with nice lunch-time snacks...

And some even have the trademark stingers :

Not too bad for an office harvest I'd say!

 

[PaulG]

I'd say pretty darn good for an office grow!
 
Nice save on the toppled plants. Did you
upgrade your support string?

 

[Devv]

Looking good Erv!
 
Those Maters are taking over the greenhouse for sure. When it comes time to try stuff outdoors, the maters are certainly more hardy than the peppers, and the Annuum's, and Pubes more so than most other peppers.
 
A late reply, but I think the Peach and Sugar Rush Cream are 2 different varieties. With all the Baccatum peppers I have grown so far, I have just let the first pod get soft to determine maximum ripeness. They certainly like the heat we have here, and the more I try growing them, the more I like them. The Chinense and the Pubes are a bit more challenging, I have to start them really early. I keep looking at your greenhouse with envy

 

[lespaulde]

I'd say pretty darn good for an office grow!
 
Nice save on the toppled plants. Did you
upgrade your support string?

 
Thanks Paul, they may have been cut in half, but are still going strong - it's impressive how eager they are to grow and produce, luckily for me... And yes, I tripled the gauge of the support wire and added a 2nd just for security!
 

Looking good Erv!
 
Those Maters are taking over the greenhouse for sure. When it comes time to try stuff outdoors, the maters are certainly more hardy than the peppers, and the Annuum's, and Pubes more so than most other peppers.
 
A late reply, but I think the Peach and Sugar Rush Cream are 2 different varieties. With all the Baccatum peppers I have grown so far, I have just let the first pod get soft to determine maximum ripeness. They certainly like the heat we have here, and the more I try growing them, the more I like them. The Chinense and the Pubes are a bit more challenging, I have to start them really early. I keep looking at your greenhouse with envy

Thanks Devv! Yeah I'm having trouble keeping up with the pruning, especially as they put out so many flowers and I have a hard time cutting away branches that look like they will bear me fruit - on a pepper I could never, but perhaps with maters I need to learn to be brave... ? Thanks for the advice regarding being able to grow them outside; I'd definitely be curious to try, but will also admit it was part of getting the approval to build the GH, that we would also grow other types of veggies. Good ole' token tomatoes basically hahaha, but could be worse!  But you know how these things go, this year you grow a few plants, next year you need to double that, and soon you are completely out of space, so will probably have to venture out sooner or later.
 
And good to know on the peach and cream varieties; I think one of them is slowly turning now, but I will resist for a few more weeks (I hope  ) to be sure I get the full experience. I agree with you on how nice the Baccatums are for growing, very productive, not very bothered about climate (too hot or cold) and the pods are very tasty. Pubes will have to come on my growlist one of these days, but looking at my potential list for next year, I'm already way past out-of-room... 
 
And it sounds like you know how I look at your garden and grow setup, perhaps one day we'll end up living in a slightly warmer climate as well... 

 

[lespaulde]

Also finally managed to go down to the GH with an actual camera for a change and took a few quick snaps. Getting fuller and fuller with pods down there, and some are even turning ripe...

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[PaulG]

Grrrr    I double posted instead of edited.
 
Sorry Erv.

 

[PaulG]

Nice pics, Erv. The top pic of the baccatum flower
and just-set pod is awesome.
 
Looks like your grow is firing on all cylinders!

 

[internationalfish]

Wow, those flower pics are incredible! Pollen for days... 

 
How are those Starburst? Definitely a cool-looking pepper.

 

[lespaulde]

yeah, I was also amazed how well you can actually see the pollen - there's definitely plenty! 
 
So, it's probably me there's something wrong with, but I'm perhaps not the biggest fan of the starrburst flavor, at least from the pods I tried from my hydro plant. The 'chinense' flavor is quite overwhelming, and rather than it tasting fruity, it mainly tastes of habanero imho. I've googled it a bit, and it seems that some people sense the flavor of habanero more as a chemical flavor rather than fruity/perfumy, so I'm putting it down as being due to that rather than that the pods themselves don't taste as good as many people say they do. I will keep the soil one going and hope to soon taste one of those, as it may well taste quite different. I'm waiting for the last few pods to ripen on the hydro (so I can give them away) and then I'm retiring the plant; it's one hell of a grower though:
 

 
(size is a bit skewed due to the wide-angle lens, but it measures a good 80cm/2.5ft from side-to-side