Lespaulde's 2020

Good day to all my fellow pepperheads out there. Given that 2020 is well underway, I figured it's time to get my new glog going. I'm hoping this year's will be full of delicious peppers, learning moments, new things to try out and last but not least, a lot of fun growing these tasty little devils together with the awesome community that makes THP the mecca it is.
 
I'm almost exclusively growing new varieties this year, which is not due to the fact that I didn't like last year's peppers, but rather taking the opportunity to create the illusion of making a dent in trying the many cultivars that have found their way onto my bucket list. I've sourced seeds from various places including Semillas and South Lincs Chili boys, and am forever grateful for the awesome trades I got to do with PaulG and Dr. Cane McDog, which have shaped this and even next year's grow already.
 
So now to the good stuff, the peppers. The list (thus far, after lots and lots of back and forth in Google sheets) looks as follows:
 
Autopot
Sugar Rush Peach
Numex Pumpkin Spice
Numex Lemon Spice
Numex vaquero
Jalapeño Zapotec (CaneDog)
Jay's Peach Ghost Scorpion
Paper lantern
Dorset Naga Orange

Fabric bags
Rocoto Cristobal
Jamaican yellow hot
Hyper Pube (CaneDog)

Buckets
BJ hybrid-2 (PaulG)
7 pot burgundy (PaulG)
Aji Amarillo (PaulG)

Indoor / Tent
BJ Purple x Aji Mango
Aji Lemon x BJ Purple
B. O. C. crosses
Early Jalapeño
Bahamian goat
Rocoto Oculto
 

For those of you that remember my glog from last year, Sugar Rush Peach is the only cultivar I'm repeating, which is because it was a huge hit at home, with both me and the missus enjoying it on lots of different dishes. Sweet, but still with a nice kick, especially when added to a hot meal. Other than that, there are lots of Jalapeno varieties as this must still be my favorite type, and I took a "why not try them all" approach, which I hope to continue over the years. Seeds will be planted in 2 batches, with the first batch having been put in the rockwool just before New Year's:
 
Jay's Peach Ghost Scorpion
Paper lantern
Dorset Naga Orange
Rocoto Cristobal
Jamaican yellow hot
Hyper Pube (CaneDog)
PaulG's BJ hybrid-2
7 pot burgundy (PaulG)

I'm extremely excited to be able to grow some Rocotos this year, so thanks for edging me on to that, CaneDog and others in the forums. I have a feeling they will like the Danish climate which tends to have cool nights even during the summer, and will be grown fully outside, not in the greenhouse (space limitations).
 
I had already started a small winter indoors grow consisting of my own Aji Lemon x BJ Purple cross (F1), which has been making good progress.

Oct 11th:

Nov 14th:

December 5th:

Today (bear in mind it was on a non-sunny windowsill for 3 weeks during the holidays in order to not let it dry out under the intense lights, where it also aborted its recently set first fruit):

Once the other seedlings made their way outdoors, I will expand the indoor grow according to the plan above (yeah, right! xD) and keep that going too, simply just to get as many peppers sampled this year as possible. 

So at the start, the tent looked as follows:

Soon after, I moved the bulk of the seed starter rockwool cubes into a heated dome, and am transferring the cubes to the tent as the seeds pop. Currently, the JPGS, Jamaican Yellow and PaulG's BJ hybrid have already popped, so let's see how quickly the others follow. From seed to seedling in basically a week is as good as I could have ever asked for.

As always, thanks for reading and any input/criticism/feedback you may have, and I will try to keep it saucy in terms of pictures and taste reviews etc.... Happy 2020!

 

[PaulG]

The Purple Thunder BJh-2 is really going to be an awesome plant!
 
Great to hear there is a pod on it. For all practical purposes it is
probably isolated! Looking forward to seeing how it develops.

 

[lespaulde]

The Purple Thunder BJh-2 is really going to be an awesome plant!
 
Great to hear there is a pod on it. For all practical purposes it is
probably isolated! Looking forward to seeing how it develops.

Yeah, seeing Glen and Devv's results, if our weather catches up, it will be a crazy specimen. Almost baccatum like how tall it grows, and I'm counting on July for it to start spitting out pods - fingers crossed! [emoji1695]

And yes, those seeds should be fully isolated, so will be a good way to keep these traits as I have not seen such a gorgeous purple on a pepper plant before.

'updated' the water now, by adding 30% tap water, and bringing nutes up to 800ppm with the Plagron hydro A&B nutes. Those nutrients, in RO water go up to 1000ppm at full strength, so if I now start at 800pppm, and go up to 1000-1200 as plants mature, I should be in a sweet spot, given that my tap water starts at 350ppm. But first I will let everything dry out for about a week or so, and see how the JPGS responds. We've got some actual summer days coming in this weekend, so that should help the ladies feel more at home...

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[Devv]

I know we all have a bit different opinions on what is the issue with your plant.
I see darker veins, which leads me to a deficiency. I saw a lot of that when my soil Ph was crazy high, I would mix calmag (1 oz per gallon) and perform a foliar application  once or twice a week.
I also was adding a little chelated iron, which contains some micro nutes.
 
I think I saw a ghost in the greenhouse!

 

[PtMD989]

That aerial view photo of your greenhouse is cool [emoji106]. How did you take it ? With a drone? How’s your rain water pH , compared to your tap water pH ?


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[lespaulde]

I know we all have a bit different opinions on what is the issue with your plant.
I see darker veins, which leads me to a deficiency. I saw a lot of that when my soil Ph was crazy high, I would mix calmag (1 oz per gallon) and perform a foliar application  once or twice a week.
I also was adding a little chelated iron, which contains some micro nutes.
 
I think I saw a ghost in the greenhouse!

Loving the extra food for thought Scott, thanks! Indeed the darker veins and yellowing leafs was also leading me down the deficiency path, which makes sense given my new water situation. So I think that needed adjusting no matter what for the long term well-being, and first focus on drying things out a bit in the short term. Last year I feel I had things dialed in quite OK with the nutes (Hesi Coco), and was already warned about the low calcium levels in those by Chilidude. I wanted to finish what was left of those, but now figured it was time to get serious and get the Plagron Hydro A&B in action, which should be a good match for a high rain water content.

Good to hear CalMag worked a treat in your hands too, I will have a look at the local garden center one of these days. I have some Epsom salts which I might try immediately, just for good health in general...

And haha yes, it's our local garden ghost who likes to linger around the plants and watch them grow. Can't get rid of him for the life of me!

That aerial view photo of your greenhouse is cool [emoji106]. How did you take it ? With a drone? How’s your rain water pH , compared to your tap water pH ?

I wish it was big enough to need a drone! It's the wide angle lense on my phone that just manages to capture the entire GH, and I like to take a weekly picture to see how things developed over the season...

Good question, I should actually check what the pH is, as I'm merely assuming it's good enough.

Managed to find some young ladybug larvae around the garden (we have a patio the moms seem to appreciate during early spring), so transported a couple into the GH. Five mins later I already caught one munching on an aphid, and even have a video on it but which I can't seem to post here, so a pic will have to do. Cheers, and happy munching little ones!

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[PaulG]

Awesome pic of the ladybug larva doing the job for you!

 

[Devv]

Agreed! Awesome pic!

 

[PtMD989]

Cool pic [emoji106][emoji16]So that’s what ladybug larva look like, eh [emoji106]. The larva looks like it could star in a monster movie [emoji16][emoji1787].


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[Bhuter]

Hey, Erv!
While thinning out my plants, easier-to-get-rid-of-than-I-thought pubescens got an early boot. So my trifoliate Rocoto Oculto CLEF was purchased by another member and it's leaving here tomorrow. Hopefully they will post plant updates.

I'm sorry. Pubescens and their lateral growth is a big hassle to me.

 

[PaulG]

Cool pic [emoji106][emoji16]So that’s what ladybug larva look like, eh [emoji106]. The larva looks like it could star in a monster movie [emoji16][emoji1787].


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Don't they also go by the name 'ant lions', or
am I confusing it with something else - maybe
lacewing larva?

 

[lespaulde]

Thanks to the PNW taking one for the team (sorry, and thanks! ), we've gotten to enjoy mainly good weather over the past 2 weeks, and next 2-3 weeks also look predominantly good, so things are definitely progressing out in the GH.

The SRP has his own little buddy, whom I've caught in there at least 3 days in a row:

The plant is covered in pods, and it's nice they came early as they will take 60 days each to ripen, so that should be before the end of summer hopefully...

Look at how many it throws out at a single node:

Had no idea Baccatum did that, and do not remember that pheno last year either.

Dorset Naga orange has thrown a first couple pods too, and I'm curious how these will be compared to e.g. B.O.C, both in terms of heat and flavor:

Jalapeño Vaquero is putting out some serious growth while ripening its solo pod. The pod started corking, but I think I'll wait until it's red before picking.

The infamous JPGS seems to be recovering after a good week of drying out, and me having upgraded the nutes to the Plagron Hydro A&B, and raising ppm to ~1,000ppm. Also gave the all plants a good soaking with Epsom salts, and the new growth on JPGS seems happy again, so I'm quite relieved. I will see if I remove the strange leafs as I'm guessing they're not providing much help and may only be shielding the potential growth below. Any (strong) opinions?

Top view:

Bottom view:

Overall, things are starting to fill out, and even harvested a first cucumber; how do folks determine whether or not they're ripe?

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[lespaulde]

The outside ladies are also progressing, and I was happy with the dry fertiliser pellets I scored at the local supermarket the other day, as we've had some heavy rains and this way I feel at least they're getting some nutrients. The difference between old growth (yellowish) from when I put them out, vs. new growth since (bright and green) is quite striking. Hopefully its a good sign lol...

Jamaican Yellow:

Rocoto Cristobal, putting out more flowers again:

Rocoto TurboPube from CaneDog, turbo-ing it up now for sure:

I'm very happy with the cages, as I get to keep them a little constrained and growing upwards, rather than fully outwards.

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[lespaulde]

Indoors, the Choc. BJ is also putting on some serious growth and throwing its first buds, so let's see whether I get to sample some this year after last year's fiasco with a dried out plant hahaha...

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[lespaulde]

Regarding the lady bugs and larvae, I never noticed how many we have around here until now, and watching their development is quite cool. Look at these weird transition periods and how clearly you can see what they're becoming!

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[PtMD989]

Plants are looking great [emoji106][emoji16].
Not really sure when cukes are ripe. I’ve picked all different sizes of them and they all seemed ripe to me. I’ve found the really large cukes ( like,say, the size of your forearm)can be very bitter and not the best eating. Hope this helps ya. [emoji16]


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[lespaulde]

Definitely good advice, thank you! The one I picked was good, but also nothing special to be honest, so will play a bit with when to pick them as this one was getting rather large (10" +).

I ended up removing the curled leaves from the JPGS, as there was so much new growth underneath that I figured would benefit from the extra light.

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[PaulG]

Good move on the JPGS, Erv. Curled and/or
yellowing leaves aren’t a big help to the plant.

 

[Devv]

Plants are looking just fine Erv!
 
We always try to pick the cukes and squash varieties when they are a bit small, before the seed cavity gets that jelly type consistency. With so many types out there one has to experiment until they understand the fruits.

 

[PtMD989]

What Devv said x2
When the insides get hollow, they don’t taste good. They are past their prime [emoji16].


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[lespaulde]

I simply cannot believe a month has passed since my last update, and it seems time is just running past me in the blink of an eye! Sorry for the lack of posts, but it's been super busy before the summer holidays, and the weather has been rather cr*ppy for the whole month of July, so not many pods have ripened thus far. That's not to say there's been no progress though!

First of all, the greenhouse a month ago compared to now:

Nice to see the ladies have put on some weight and most of them (all except the JPGS) are having copious amounts of pods dangling from them, which I hope will all ripen in time.

The first few were ready for picking today, consisting of a mix of Paper Lantern, SRP, Jamaican Yellow (not sure they're meant to have an orange look to them? ) and 2 Dorset Naga Oranges (the yellow one would ripen further to orange, but I got impatient...). So nice to be having fresh peppers again!

Also samples my first Jalapeño Vaquero the other day. I'm hoping it was due to it being an early season pod, but there was hardly any heat on it. I'm getting a bit frustrated getting Jalapeño cultivars without heat to them, as what's the point then??? But yeah, I won't make any conclusions on them try and will wait to see what the next one is like (and perhaps wait for a fully red one).

The paper lantern is a strong producer, and having now sampled a few pods, might be one of my new all-time favorites, sweet yet a proper kick to them. Can't recommend them enough, especially for shorter seasons as it was the first to start pumping out pods and is showing no signs of slowing down.

The rocotos outside have also finally started setting more pods after weeks of flower drop. They're growing nicely throughout though, and I hope to get at least a handful of pods out of them. But WOW they take long to ripen, the first pods from May are still not ripe!

Indoor, the plants in the tent are very happy, with the Choc Bhut producing nicely, followed by the Jaloro. And yes, I may have some late season starts thanks to Bryan who was kind enough to send me Haskorea seeds. As part of our trade, I sent him some Thai chili seeds that I took from a dried pod in a restaurant while I visited there. The pepper tasted really quite sweet with a nice glow rather than burn, and after Bryan told me his seeds popped, I figured I needed to try too hahaha. So yeah, let's see how we grow those out whether in hydro or soil.

My indoor Rocoto is not so happy unfortunately, as the infamous spider mites got the better of it. Currently in week 3 of neem oil treatment and things are better, but not fully convinced I have eradicated them. I even went as far as to bring in both ladybugs and their larvae, but it appears you can't make them eat what you want so they were completely pointless. Here you can see the buggers on top, and the plant 4 weeks ago vs now...

Lastly, my wife and I managed to construct a little boxing stand in our yard to keep us sane during these COVID times. Such a good pressure release and we used to (fitness) box 2-3x a week before becoming parents, so it's nice to be back (bag? ) at it!

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