Let the Games Begin

Mostly Organic Grow in pots and ground
 
Will from Wales.

Currently living in the hills of Panama, 650 meters above sea level, daytime temps of 24-30 Celcius, night time temps of 14-20. Wet season from approx Mid May to November. Very heavy downpours, still plenty of sun to be found. Dry season December to April, hot and windy no rain. Foothills of an old volcanic range, the second largest inactive volcano crater in the world is just over the other side of the mountain. Water is from an underground spring on the side of the mountain and runs all year.

Seeds purchased mainly from Pepper Joe (No need to say anything, what's done is done, lets see how they come out, so far so good)

Chocoalte Trinidad Scopian Cappuccino
Butch T Trinidad Scorpion
BTR Scorpion
Chocolate Fatalii
7 Pod Douglah
Sapporo
Guatamalan Jalapeno pepper
Lemon Habanero
Ghost
Spicy Mustard Habanero
Big Bertha
Moruga Satan Strain
Kung Pao
Yellow Del Toro
Fresno Pepper
Firecracker
Bubblegum
Chocolate Morouga
Red Mrouga Scorpion
Sante Fe Grande
Jigsaw
Cayenne Pepper Blend
Jamaican
Yellow 7 pot
Francisca
Orange Scotch Bonnet
Red Savina
Yatzy
Primo
Naga Viper
Charleston
Naga Morich
Red paper Lantern
Yellow Fatalii
Chocolate Carolina Reaper
Yellow Carolina Reaper
Carolina Reaper
Red Habanero
Jalapeno
Anaheim

24th May 2016 - First batch sown. Tissue, water, plastic container and cupboard

June 6th 2016 - Approx 75% germinated for most varieties. Transplanted to cup sized conatiners for the most part, some larger containers.

Pot and Ground preperation:

September 2015 - 10 ground holes dug upto 4 ft. Layered with compost, top soil, chicken shed litter, horse manure, leaf litter, and saw dust.

June 5th 2016 - 3 ground holes dug upto 2 ft, filled with fish head and guts, compost and top soil.

June 9th - 2 x 100 Gallon, 1 x 75 Gallon, 6 x 10 gallon containers filled with the following;

Compost (Leaf litter, grass cuttings, wood chippings, chicken shed litter, coconut husks and large quantities of kitchen waste including coffee, fruit skins, vegetables, fish bones, meal wastage from an Eco Lodge with upto 30 people. No meat) Not fully composted. Slow release.

Leaf litter (Mostly mangoe and similar with some pine) Slow release

Lake silt (15 years of collected sand and jungle litter a good mix of roughly 50/50 it seems of sand and dark black well composted jungle material) Fast release

Ground Eggshells, mashed up rotting mangoes (not your most traditional addition, but I plan to use what is around me and we have 100's of rotting mangoes at the moment).

6 month old horse manure compost tea

Top soil (healthy top soil, plenty of worms)

That is it for now, feel free to give me advice or tips, on what I am doing at any stage. I am a true novie who loves to grow things, but know very little about chilli growing. But I intend to learn and enjoy growing these beautiful plants.

 

[willow]

Awesome stuff! It seems like you have some really beautiful land down there.
Looking forward to more updates.

Thanks. Yes it s a great place, just renting though. 

 

[willow]

New project down by the stream where there is a cabana with a large patio area, prettifying the area and using potted chilis to do so. 
 
Pots are done with a base of sand, then a mix of river sand, horse manure, compost and top soil.
 
Seedlings are ready, desperate for more space have a few interesting varieties I got from pepperlover, really looking forward to seeing some of these. Will let you know what as I Transplant
 
There is also a large sloped bank behind the toilet with the parrot painting, I think this might be a good place for chilies in the future as it drains well.
 

 

[willow]

Bank next tot he main house, the gardener has thrown in a row of tome and peppers about 15 of each. No prep work hes just chucked em in while I was out No idea what, once again cups disappeared. See how they get on, hard to see in the photos but about 10 are good, 5 need to be replaced, which I will do with an Ecuadorian pepper I have a load of seedlings for.  Not sure they will do very well as the ground is pretty lifeless I think, we will see, locals are used to planting in any ground because they are totally dependent on chemicals for plant food. Slowly slowly he is coming around to organic land improvement.
 
I dug three holes on this bank a while back and filled with fish heads, need to hunt out the spots and get some seedlings in, job for Monday.
 

 

[willow]

Jeez how the time flies, been away on pleasure and business on and off for a month and have not been able to look after my babies as much as I would like, but in general they are doing ok. Wow the rains are heavy this year last few weeks have drowned the place, lot of pod dropping, but comes with the territory I think. Managed a first small harvest of some paper lanterns. Two plants ended up with a few but lost 3 or 4 times this amount to the pods dropping off. Looks like they have started throwing our more pods again so might get another harvest if I am lucky. Some of the plants have given up the ghost, check out the orange scotch bonnet, definitely threw in the towel after one serious rain storm.
 

 

 
Most of these doing very well, one in particular has exploded in the last few weeks, not sure what it is
 

 

 

 

 

 
The ones under the roof in the mammoth raised bed are so so. Lots of growth distortion from excess water, one that was sick has improved, the others I have pinched again, see if I can get them through the rains and then let them go to flower, might just have to use the bed for something else in the future.
 

 

 

 
90 Gallon container plants are doing well. I have been pinching 3 of them regular to promote bushing. Seems to be working well.
 

 

 

 
This plant is beautiful. Its in a 90 gallon container and is supposed to be Naga Viper, but we will see, the leaves a re different to almost all my other plants and I really like them.  Pinched it a few times and the plant has a lovely shape and the pods are beautiful too, getting very big.
 

 

 

 
The other 10 Gallon ones put in a bit later, yatzy doing very well. BTR is trying but not many pods and only one has made it so far, photo later. Orange scotch bonnet just gave up, but produced a few nice pods but nowhere near the heat I would expect from a bonnet
 

 

 

 

 
Smaller raised be in the open
 
Most are stunted, by the rain I think, some have produced pods. 
 

 
Chillies in the field need weeding
 

 
Not much happening with other plants around the place, I have been pinching them back as the rains mean they cant do much else, keep em small for now and let them go in a month is the plan, some have some serious growth distortions but still look decent enough.
 
Learning a lot this year and that is what it's all about, onwards and upwards.
 
 
 

 

[JoynersHotPeppers]

Looking great, I need to get back there so I can surf Bluffs