Lespaulde 2019 Season

Ghost Pepper Revolution · Apr 13, 2019

lespaulde said:
Yeah, perhaps I jumped the gun a little bit with discarding it, but as most of the leafs already turned crispy, I didn't really have much faith... Had I been ultra keen on the pods, I for sure would've given it another chance, but also seeing how dry and hardened the roots had turned, I gave it maybe a 10% chance of surviving. With the O/W BOC still in play this season, I didn't really need another superhot.

Thanks for the tip though, as I will keep it in mind next time disaster strikes - always good knowing how stubborn these pepper plants can be!

On another note, finished the foundation today so this week the actual build of the greenhouse itself can start:

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Makes a little more sense when you put it that way if you werent Uber about it then not much of a loss

lespaulde · Apr 16, 2019

Ghost Pepper Revolution said:
Makes a little more sense when you put it that way [emoji16] if you werent Uber about it then not much of a loss [emoji6]

Lol, definitely not Uber no, although it will be part of my next grow for sure, and I gave away my backup plant, so perhaps I'll still score a pod from them if their grow works out...

Quick update on the ladies, whom I'm hoping to have in the greenhouse by the end of next week...

Tent overview:

Bulgarian carrot (bottom left) threw its first 2 pods, and will go in a 60L growbag upon plant out. Other plants did slow down for a while but are seemingly picking up the pace again, so I'm guessing the roots finally made their way through the new space.

As I was moving the tent today, I also managed to get a shot of them outside:

The Aji Mango (left plant, picture 3) stretched quite a bit when I first took it out of the tent, so now it's back inside after a FIMing several weeks ago, and has begun throwing out some side shoots. From what I read elsewhere on the forum, this does have a tendency to become a tall plant, so I guess it's normal growth phenotype?

The newly DWC-transplanted KSLSB seems to be happy and is spreading out:

Last but not least, the OW Numex Orange Spice is finally putting out a few new leafs from the sides, albeit very slowly. There are still some straggler spider mites here and there which I'm trying to tackle with the neem, as I'm sure they're stunting the plant. It's still a bit touch and go, but I remain hopeful...

Lastly, the other two DWC plants are doing well and the Lemon Drop is pushing pods, and I'm still baffled by the size difference compared to Coco coir:

Had to start trying them up with tomatoe clips, which I saw Chilidude using last year and which really are great.

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CaneDog · Apr 16, 2019

If you can score back a pod from the choc bhut you gave away that would be great. That plant grew so well for you I'd want to stick with the current genetics. Never grown aji mango myself, but I often see baccatum varieties start out tall yet still turn into serious bushes.

Things are looking good. And plant-out's creeping ever closer - especially if you can get that greenhouse up!

lespaulde · Apr 19, 2019

Yeah for sure I want to try a pod (that's only fair in return for the plant right?

), and I'm lucky enough to even have some additional seeds from the original stock, so 2020 will see this plant in my greenhouse I'd say... I'm still intrigued one of the 2 plants had purple leaves, although I do believe it to be lighting related, as my KSLSBs also showed it, but it disappeared once out of the tent. Anywho, we'll continue that endeavour next time.

Regarding the Aji Mango, indeed the hydro one is bushing out like mad, so I'm hopeful this one will also take off once in a more natural environment. Thanks for sharing your previous experiences!

For now, making steady progress with the greenhouse, as the frame is now in place, so only the glass remains and then another week or 2 before night time temps should be ready for the plants' first sleepover together outside! :dance:

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BigCedar · Apr 19, 2019

Erv, everything looks incredible. Loving the overwinters man those things are some of the best OW's I have ever seen, nice work! That BOC is going to go nuts! :shocked:

Very informative and it was quite entertaining seeing all the different ways your growing these plants. I found a way that works and haven't done much experimenting outside of that, props to you for trying some many different things. Also not to beat a dead bhut but man I felt bad for ya with that chocolate jolokia, that thing was a beauty. Speaking of beauties that purple bhut is quite a stunner as well. Cool varieties, looking forward to keeping up with your grow. Call me stupid I'm okay with that but I gotta ask... Where is "DK"

Devv · Apr 19, 2019

BigCedar said:
Erv, everything looks incredible. Loving the overwinters man those things are some of the best OW's I have ever seen, nice work! That BOC is going to go nuts! Very informative and it was quite entertaining seeing all the different ways your growing these plants. I found a way that works and haven't done much experimenting outside of that, props to you for trying some many different things. Also not to beat a dead bhut but man I felt bad for ya with that chocolate jolokia, that thing was a beauty. Speaking of beauties that purple bhut is quite a stunner as well. Cool varieties, looking forward to keeping up with your grow. Call me stupid I'm okay with that but I gotta ask... Where is "DK"

I assumed, and we all know how that can go. That we're talking Denmark here.

Do I get a gold star? Sorry been in the education system too long..LOL

lespaulde · Apr 24, 2019

Devv said:
I assumed, and we all know how that can go. That we're talking Denmark here.

Do I get a gold star? Sorry been in the education system too long..LOL

Haha, you do get the gold star Devv, and I'd even give you a sticker if I could!

Although I'm originally from the Netherlands, I've settled in Denmark since the past 3 years, and have taken a good liking to life in the land of the Vikings.

BigCedar said:
Erv, everything looks incredible. Loving the overwinters man those things are some of the best OW's I have ever seen, nice work! That BOC is going to go nuts! Very informative and it was quite entertaining seeing all the different ways your growing these plants. I found a way that works and haven't done much experimenting outside of that, props to you for trying some many different things. Also not to beat a dead bhut but man I felt bad for ya with that chocolate jolokia, that thing was a beauty. Speaking of beauties that purple bhut is quite a stunner as well. Cool varieties, looking forward to keeping up with your grow. Call me stupid I'm okay with that but I gotta ask... Where is "DK"

Thanks BC, your kind words mean a lot and I appreciate them coming from a seasoned grower like yourself! I think I got quite lucky with the BOC as I initially mainly intended to ripen the pods, but then couldn't get myself to get rid of it after and I just kind of let it be on a south facing window and see how it moved along. I will pot it up soon, and then indeed let's see where it will go in terms of size.

And haha, I guess it's an advantage of being a beginner and not knowing how to grow well using any technique yet, as this way, I can see how each version fits with my style, and which way I kill the least amount of plants...

I definitely want to stay focused mainly on the soil/coco formats, and outdoors, although I can see the merit in terms of pure growth from Kratky/hydro and this is a good way to keep the hobby going at the office too.

I'm also definitely finding myself being more and more of a Bhut fan, as the pods taste great and the plants are pretty, so will also pot up the Purple Bhut to see how much I can push it in its year 2.

Thanks for checking in in any case and for the compliments, they mean a lot!

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lespaulde · Apr 29, 2019

What a fantastic week it's been - was away on holiday for 5 days and had nothing but sunshine (unusual for Denmark at this time of year), and when I returned, I was finally able to complete the greenhouse and move the plants out! :dance:

That meant that plants went from this:

(Those sheep aren't ours btw, the municipality let's a local organic farmer have their sheep next to our gardens)

To finally something like this:

There seems to be plenty of space for the now 8 pepper plants in autopots, 2 tomato plants in a self-watering capillary system (which I had never seen before moving to Denmark) and then eventually / hopefully 3x 60L fabric pots once the night time temperatures really are safe.

Quick overview shots of the plants:

The jalapeños

Aji Mango and Aji Lemon

KSLSB and Foodarama SB

Sugar Rush Peach and SL Chili Red

Last but not least, the 2 maters; one cherry as started from seed by my father-in-law, and a Super Sweet 100 from the local supermarket for a buck fifty...

Let's also be honest and say that these are intended to increase the WAF (wife acceptance factor) of having a greenhouse - a term introduced to me by BigCedar and which certainly is a factor to take into account!

She likes peppers, but definitely nothing too spicy and tomatoes are much more up her alley (for now)...

Overall, I'm as happy as could be, temperatures were up at 35C/95F today even though outside temps were only 14C/57F. I will find out over the next few nights how temperatures compare inside vs out during night time, as I've finally been able to add some thermal mass in form of water and rocks.

Sideshot of the greenhouse:

Let's hope the plants appreciate the efforts and start taking off over the next few weeks. Will need to bring them in a few times over the next 2-3 weeks still due to close to freezing temps, but that's a good tradeoff for the sunlight and warm temps during the day I reckon.

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CaneDog · Apr 30, 2019

That's great! Congrats on the greenhouse LP! Looks awesome and it's going to do wonders for your season.

lespaulde · Apr 30, 2019

Thanks CD, definitely feels awesome finally having it in place!

I even saw a little young bee buzzing around in there yesterday, so it should be an insect friendly place!

Still need to do some work on insulation though, as it was only 0.7C/1F above outside temperature this morning, which hit a mighty low of 5C/41F, so any colder than that and I would have wished I had moved them inside. Later this week it will be nearing freezing temps at night, so will for sure take them in, but I think they can handle the low 40s (F) without any damage besides a slowing of growth I suppose. I read somewhere that the high daytime temps can offset such a slowdown, but not sure how true that really is. The SRP is flowering though, so I guess I can see from that one whether it's damaging to have them out at those temps if it starts dropping those flowers.

At work, the Bulgarian carrot already has 3 good sized pods, and will aim to take it home and repot into 60L fabric next week - it's rocking quite the canopy so I'm hoping it will grow massive:

The hydro Aji Lemon also has a few pods already, you can see 3 of them in the pic below:

The DWC lemon starrburst is also growing and growing, and its leafs are simply massive, like the size of my hand! It's also forking quite well, so I'm extremely excited about this one:

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CDNmatt · Apr 30, 2019

Les that litle greenhouse you got is pretty awesome buddy, hell even that little cold frame is pretty nice.

lespaulde · Apr 30, 2019

CDNmatt said:
Les that litle greenhouse you got is pretty awesome buddy, hell even that little cold frame is pretty nice.

Thanks Matt, appreciate the kind words! Hell, with all these nice comments I kinda feel I should be hosting a housewarming party for the greenhouse; entire THP invited!

Haha, the least I'll do is set up seed trades with anyone interested at the end of season, and take it from there...

The cold frame definitely treated me well last year - it hosted 6 plants until early August, but then had to move 2 of them out as it was getting too cramped. Definitely a great starter though, and I'm happy to say my brother-in-law is taking it over as he's also dipping his toes in the pepper growing world.

I was so sad to hear about your tunnel flipping over Matt, I can only imagine the shock waking up to find it like that!

Glad to hear the damage was somewhat minimal, but still, for sure nothing that you needed or deserved with all the effort you're putting in! I have some good friends and old colleagues in Toronto, and was shocked to hear there was still ice on the lakes! Hopefully only positive surprises from here on out!

EDIT: Don't look up "Smuckers" on the urban dictionary, as I'm 100% positive that is not what you meant! xD LOL

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Mildfruit · Apr 30, 2019

lespaulde said:
Thanks Matt, appreciate the kind words! Hell, with all these nice comments I kinda feel I should be hosting a housewarming party for the greenhouse; entire THP invited!

When should I come by?

Great greenhouse, I envy you, can't wait to I get a place with a garden. Dont underestimate the WAF, its been shown to be the greatest threat to how big your harvest is going to be.

Devv · Apr 30, 2019

Looking great! The plants will love that green house, really nice work!

I think Matty was meaning Jelly, as in Jealous

Keep it green buddy!

lespaulde · May 2, 2019

Mildfruit said:
When should I come by?

Great greenhouse, I envy you, can't wait to I get a place with a garden. Dont underestimate the WAF, its been shown to be the greatest threat to how big your harvest is going to be.

Hahaha! Nice to see a fellow grower from Denmark on THP! It's for sure been nice with a garden, although a southern balcony should go a long way too I suppose? And in terms of the WAF, you seem to have that down better than me - I am no where near being allowed to have a tent at home, hence why I needed to have it at work... :rofl:

I'm annoyed we have a cold spell coming in with freezing temperatures at night for at least 4-5 days in a row, as it's always a bit of a discussion me lugging the plants back inside at night. but oh well. I'm so thankful she let me have the greenhouse as it does show she's supportive of my hobbies.

Devv said:
Looking great! The plants will love that green house, really nice work!

I think Matty was meaning Jelly, as in Jealous

Keep it green buddy!

Lol, thanks for clarifying Devv, the 'jelly' part makes a lot of sense suddenly! :high:

And thanks for the compliments, it should for sure have been worth the investment and hard digging, and it was free exercise after all, which is hard to come by with a little one at home...

Hopefully the outside temps will soon be more consistently warm, including the nights, and then the plants can really take off.

lespaulde · May 7, 2019

It's been a steady week, but definitely also one with a lot of lugging plants in and out every evening and morning, as the night time temps simply don't want to go up. Looks like there will finally be a few days where I can leave them out now, but next week still has a few predicted cold nights. Overall, temps haven't been great during the day either, and plant growth seems to show it, as they've slowed down quite a bit. The greenhouse is doing a great job at heating them up to reasonable levels during the day though, with general temps ranging from 20-25C/68-78F inside, while outside is only 7-10C/45-50F. So this is good news, and at night, although plants were snug inside my actual house, when temps reached 0C/32F outside, inside the greenhouse it didn't drop below 4C/39F. So definitely still some work to be done (insulation etc) before the autumn, but it's a good starting point I think in terms of keeping it frost free during mild frosts and I'm happy. [emoji4]

The SRP had set its first pods and is flowering, so seems to be quite content in its new home:

It's even looking quite big next to the SL Chili Red:

The Aji Mango and Lemon (left to right) are growing steadily too, and the lemon has also started flowering with plenty of pollen, so the first pods should also be a matter of days now... :dance:

The Chinenses have slowed down more than the others, but at least seem ok with life outside the warm tent:

The Bulgarian carrot is one of the densest plants I've ever seen, and while still quite small (perhaps 30cm/11", has 3 big pods and maybe 5 small pods going already. This will be potted up within 2 weeks when I can start leaving plants outside overnight (sorry, not gonna lug 60L / 16 gal fabric pots around

):

The KSLSB is just going bananas, and the leafs are simply humongous on this one:

First flowers have also set, including pollen, so perhaps I'll get to taste one of those bad boys by the end of June?

The other Ajis on DWC are taking over my window sill, and especially the Mango (on the right) has reached over 1.20m/4 feet now, and they're both flowering like mad and setting pods, so they might end up my most productive plants yet. Gives me reason to consider going DWC out in the greenhouse next year too; if growth and production really is that fast, it's perfect for the shorter growing seasons:

Last good news of the week is that I completely overlooked a pod setting on my BOC, which I have missed for at least 2-3 weeks, seeing only dropped flowers etc. Hahaha, it's time for me to collect all plants in 1-2 locations, rather than having them scattered around at multiple places at work and at home... Oops, what can I say, gotta do what you gotta do!

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lespaulde · May 7, 2019

"inside view" from the KSLSB btw, which also lets me test using Imgur as a hosted, rather than the built in Tapatalk function, which I find produces subpar quality. Hopefully this will be a little better...

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DWB · May 7, 2019

Heh, that plant looks good enough to eat for lunch.

CaneDog · May 7, 2019

LP things are looking great - your place is not-so-gradually turning into a jungle! I feel for you lugging plants in and out as I'm about a month deep in doing that now. Hopefully that will end soon for both of us. Great to hear that the BOC has set, but that also means I'm fast becoming the only one on THP who can't seem to grow a happy BOC

And your windowsill has gotten crazy. I can just picture those Mangos full of ripe pods.

Good stuff!

lespaulde · May 14, 2019

DWB said:
Heh, that plant looks good enough to eat for lunch.

Thanks Dee, indeed should consider a stir-fry out of those leafs!

CaneDog said:
LP things are looking great - your place is not-so-gradually turning into a jungle! I feel for you lugging plants in and out as I'm about a month deep in doing that now. Hopefully that will end soon for both of us. Great to hear that the BOC has set, but that also means I'm fast becoming the only one on THP who can't seem to grow a happy BOC

And your windowsill has gotten crazy. I can just picture those Mangos full of ripe pods.

Good stuff!

I couldn't agree more that I hope we can soon both start leaving plants out at night; it's looking to be the case here come Thursday night perhaps:

Regarding the BOC, I can't quite say it's successful though, as it only has 1 pod out of maybe 100 dropped flowers hahahaha. Both of ours should start taking off with some summer heat I'm sure!

And yes, hoping my office will be full of pods ripe for the picking, should be a good convo starter every time someone visits...

The first pod has set on the KSLSB, let's see how long it takes to ripen!

The Chinenses are still getting used to the colder nights in my garage, and are growing very slowly, but I'm sure it will soon all change. Our cat (Maple, since she's Canadian), is also intrigued by the greenhouse, and spends lots of time around it, hopefully keeping any rodents out

The Aji Pineapple and Mango are still growing steadily, with the Pineapple pushing pods together with the SRP, so the first pods of the outdoor season are a fact now :dance:

All in all, can't wait for the weekend as I'll plant the tomatoes and hook up the autopots to their tank and let things run their course. Now will have 3 types of tomatoes (yellow cherry, red cherry and chocolate tomatoes), so I'm curious how they will go. Should be an exciting summer!

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