maxcaps 2014 grow: avoiding the freeze!

Hello All,
 
New here, but feeling right at home. I figured I'd go ahead and get my glog started, though I may wait a few weeks yet before starting anything.
 
I'm pretty new, not totally new. I had a small grow last year, mostly in containers, bringing up plants that I hoped would make cool overwinter bonsai's (bonchi's). I ordered a handful of different varieties from http://fataliiseeds.net, all  95% of which sprouted nicely, though something must have gone wrong because many never grew true leaves. I think my house was too cold... I've moved now and now have an excellent heating system. I also kept the seeds by a window that I think got too drafty. 
 
I did have a handful of chinenses survive, including a wonderful Red Habanero from fataliiseeds, and some chiero roxa plants that produced a handful of tasty purple pods. I purchased some local Scotch Bonnett starts from a small scale nursery, and grew jalapeños and serrano starts from a local nursery. It's safe to say I am now addicted, as all these fire worked its way into my family's weekly diet. I have a 12'X8' plot begging for plants, and I may do some extra in containers...
 
Enough background. Here's the plan. As jalapeños (salsa, roasted, and canned) are not a staple, I want to grow a handful of varieties. The chinenses have amazing flavors, so I'm going to branch out with two or three new varieties (though sadly I did not save any scotch bonnet seeds from the last season... what is wrong with me?). Last year I tried some super hot varieties... none lived. I am going to try again! I actually ordered most of these seeds before stumbling upon this wonderful community. In any event, here is the lineup:
 
Chinenses:
 
Red Habanero (seeds kept and OW bonchi (thanks fatalii)
Chiero Roxa (seeds kept, may use OW bonchi, haven't decided)
Scotch Bonnett (forgot to keep seeds, but I can replant OW bonchi)
White Habanero (seeds from Pepper Joe, should arrive soon...)
Chocolate Habanero (seeds from Pepper Joe, should also arrive soon)
Fatali (from pepperlover.com)
Big Sun Habernero (from pepperlover)
 
Superhot Chinenses:
 
Carolina Reaper (seeds from PuckerButt)
Naga Morich (seeds from PuckerButt)
Bhut Jolokia (seeds from PuckerButt)
Dorset Naga (seeds from PuckerButt)
7 pod (from pepperlover.com)
 
Other Superhot:
 
Tiepin (seeds from PuckerButt)
 
Annuums:
 
Poblanos (from Pepper Joe... growing to Acho's to use as powder base)
Giant Jalapeño (from Pepper Joe)
Early Jalapeño (from Pepper Joe)
Black Jalapeño (from Pepper Joe)
Purple Jalapeño (from Pepper Joe)
Fresno Pepper (from Pepper Joe)
 
Wish I had found you guys sooner, I'd have added some douglah's to the list. I am also on the fence about adding a couple more chinense varieties. 
 
Also growing some companions. Planning on putting in a couple tomato plants, garlic, cilantro, and carrots (had a lot of luck with tasty fat purple carrots... atomic purple I think they were called)
 
Will post some picks of my OW bonchi's tomorrow, and start going into techniques. On the fence about coffee-filter germination versus sowing in a tray.

 

[GA Growhead]

The sun was brutal today. Pretty hot with a warm breeze. I had to water right when I got home. Glad you got someone watching your boxes. Going to be like this all week. Better than freezing temps, right?
You can try to hit Greg, PIC1, up on food spots around Chicago. He sure knows his foods! Enjoy the city there!

 

[maximumcapsicum]

Three more days till I head back!
 

The post-apocalyptic freeze episode seems to have safely passed, Adam!
Looks like the GA sun is being good to your plants!  Everything looks
really good.

 
Let's hope! Now I am worried about water, but the dude watching my plots has been pretty active in the texts. Hopefully that means the watering has been happening as well!
 

Super looking plants in your pics!!!  Keep it green!!!

 
Thanks HJeff! Gonna do my best.
 

Glad to see the ladies took it all in stride Adam!
 
Peppers are a pretty tough plant for sure!
 
Hope the peeps watering water for you!
 
Leaving town is tough while a grow is happening.

 
It is. Necessary evil though... just wish I had lined up some help before the last minute. Good news is if this goes well then I got my backup plan for the future. 
 

Looking green. Spring has sprung. That bonchi is insane. Thanks for the updates. One good thing about leaving town is when you get back you can see the progress. Good luck on your trip

 
Yeah the bonchis are most at risk right now I think... luckily it does tend to be pretty humid down here. I think my worse case scenario is the annuums dry out a little, but probably nothing they won't bounce back from.
 

The sun was brutal today. Pretty hot with a warm breeze. I had to water right when I got home. Glad you got someone watching your boxes. Going to be like this all week. Better than freezing temps, right?
You can try to hit Greg, PIC1, up on food spots around Chicago. He sure knows his foods! Enjoy the city there!

 
Don't tell me that! *shutter*. Better harass my volunteer waterers some more. 
 
Not a bad idea! If some time opens up I'll need to do that. Most of the folks around here are pretty frightened of spicy food, but I know there some life in the city. We're actually about 30 miles outside of Chicago at the moment.
 
Thanks for dropping by guys!

 

[JJJessee]

Looks like a good bounce back, Adam.
They will have grown so much you won't recognize them when you get home.
 
Congrats on a successful nursery phase.
Production phase coming up. 

 

[Jamison]

Chicago eh!  Better make sure you get a hot beef sandwich with some extra giardiniera on that baby!  What part of Chi town you in?  Plants are looking awesome man,  quite a bounce back if i'd ever say!

 

[maximumcapsicum]

Looks like a good bounce back, Adam.
They will have grown so much you won't recognize them when you get home.
 
Congrats on a successful nursery phase.
Production phase coming up. 

 
Thanks man! That's what I keep telling myself. They made it this far... a week in the hands of my neighbors won't hurt 'em much? I think I'm gonna donate some of the potted peppers to my neighboring gardeners when I get back, assuming no causalities. 
 
Can't wait for production.
 

Chicago eh!  Better make sure you get a hot beef sandwich with some extra giardiniera on that baby!  What part of Chi town you in?  Plants are looking awesome man,  quite a bounce back if i'd ever say!

 
Outside Chicago, in Naperville actually. Handling family stuff and visiting a friend who is battling Stage 4 colorectal cancer. Not fun, but an important visit.
 
Better make a break for the hot beef! Little lady tells me we need to go to Vienna Beef stand for that. Going to add it to the itinerary.

 

[Jamison]

Naperville,  poured and finished lot of concrete there for sure and all the surrounding burbs.  Check out Lou Malnati's Pizza,   you won't be disappointed I absolutely promise that.  And on your way back through bring me one of them pies    I sure don't miss all that traffic.  I'm sad to hear about that.  I hope everything turns out alright!  Have a safe trip back to ATL!

 

[Devv]

Sad to read about your friend Adam.
 
I hope you enjoy the cuisine up that way, that whole region has some good eats!
 
Be careful on the trip home too.

 

[maximumcapsicum]

1 16 hour road trip later, and I'm back in ATL. That's the distance/time adjusted for a 11 month old passenger. He was a trooper.
 

Sad to read about your friend Adam.
 
I hope you enjoy the cuisine up that way, that whole region has some good eats!
 
Be careful on the trip home too.

 
Yeah he's been a real inspiration to my wife and I. Hope things start looking up soon. We are all staying positive.
 

Naperville,  poured and finished lot of concrete there for sure and all the surrounding burbs.  Check out Lou Malnati's Pizza,   you won't be disappointed I absolutely promise that.  And on your way back through bring me one of them pies    I sure don't miss all that traffic.  I'm sad to hear about that.  I hope everything turns out alright!  Have a safe trip back to ATL!

 
Lou Malnati's is a regular while we're up there. We actually had our wedding rehearsal dinner there. Amazing food. Didn't get to try any hot beef of Chicago-style franks this time around, but we'll be back up in the Fall.
 
Okay guys, I am back in Atlanta. My waterer did not let me down (there is gonna be a bottle of bhut hot sauce in his future I think), and my good the weather last week was absolutely perfect and the plants look to be about 50% bigger than they were when I left. The 7pots that were frosted so bad are more like 2-3x the size they were last week. Phenomenal difference.
 
Different angle, but here is the tomato/chinense bed before I left:
 

And here is it now (from the opposite side):
 

 
Tomatoes are, as expected, out of control. I am going to have to prune them way back, as a couple branches are crowded the middle row of chinenses. Trying to get the tomatoes to grow up and out, and toward one another, but they decided to reach toward the peppers. These tomatoes have doubled in size. Luckily I can prune them pretty hard and they'll be fine.
 
You'll also notice I seem to have a casualty. The Not Cardi has not bounced back. It has just kind of stood there and lost all its leaves. It wasn't the cold... it is a victim of hardening. It looked perfect when I set it out, it's gone now.
 
Also having weed problems in this bed. Going to pull what I see and mulch it soon. Need a good half hour or so to work on the tomato plants though.
 
Bhut's are fantastic plants. Love the way they're growing, the look, and the vigor of the plants. White and Yellow Bhuts are my chinense super stars right now.
 

 
White. Going to remove the stake and let it spread out a little.
 

 
White bhut put on a pod while I was away. This will probably be my first ripe superhot ever.
 

 
Yellow is not far behind it. I am debating trimming back the secondary growth below the fork, but these have already been stripped. 
 

 
7Pot Barrack looks like its going to have hundreds of tiny little pods. A couple of set, and its still pumping out flowers.
 

 
Goat's Weed is racing to produce my first ripe annuums, probably knows it needs to keep up with my household's huge rate of consumption.
 

 
There are supposed to be Santa Fe Grande's, but they look longer and narrower to me. Will see what they look like when they ripen.
 

 
Aji Chuncho is back, but bushing like crazy. Going to snip all but the best looking shoot and give it some fish emulsion. Dialing back the nitrogen on all the other plants.
 
Now a couple questions:
 
1) I have a ton of set jalapeños. They are coming in much faster than last year. I want to do an unripe pull or two, but most of the plants are purples or blacks. I want to pull "green" pods off them soon... How do you guys decide when to pull green jalapenos? I was probably going to wait until I saw a little knuckling, some cracks on them, then whip up a ton of salsa and maybe do a jar or two of pickles. I was also considering assembling a recipe for a darker, mild, jal sauce. Don't have a dehydrator or smoker yet (these are coming in June). I just know that de-fruiting them while they're small will yield more pods for the season.
 
2) How do you guys normally prune tomatoes? I was going to be pretty aggressive, removing all lower branches that didn't have flowers and stripping most the leaves from branches that had set fruit (Jericson seemed to indicate this works pretty well for him as long as the fruits are set).
 
Thanks for reading!

 

[Devv]

Wow Adam!
 
Superb comeback!
 
Plants are going to be monsters!
 
For the Jals, we normally pick green ones when they start to turn black on the shoulder. At that point they are pretty much done growing.
 
I've only trimmed the lower branches on the Tom's so I can see the nakers
 
I did however tie some branches that were growing on top of the peppers.
 
Give the wife Happy Mothers Day wishes from us here in Tejas!

 

[Spicegeist]

Nice to hear the Yellow Bhuts are coming back... are those from seed I sent you perchance?

 

[Jeff H]

Nice update Adam. THe garden looks fantastic since you've been gone. You're already rolling in peppers. They will be ripe before you know it.

 

[Essegi]

Wow, if i have pepper plants you have pepper trees!
Very well done sir!

 

[OCD Chilehead]

Looking good Adam. Soon that canopy will conceal the ground. Glad to see they got watered.

 

[HillBilly Jeff]

Plants and pods are looking great.  I saved my own Sante Fe Grande seeds and grew them last season.  They look a lot like what yours are looking like.  Got me thinking they must be some sort of hybrid because they are behaving like one.  Searched locally for some seeds and couldn't find any.  

 

[maximumcapsicum]

Wow Adam!
 
Superb comeback!
 
Plants are going to be monsters!
 
For the Jals, we normally pick green ones when they start to turn black on the shoulder. At that point they are pretty much done growing.
 
I've only trimmed the lower branches on the Tom's so I can see the nakers
 
I did however tie some branches that were growing on top of the peppers.
 
Give the wife Happy Mothers Day wishes from us here in Tejas!

 
Thanks Scott! I let the Little Lady know you said hi. She got a doughnut pan from me and a wallet from Henry. We also enjoyed a day of Mexican Food and ice cream. It was her first Mother's Day so we did it up right.
 
I've ended up pruning the tomato plants pretty heavily. Anything too leafy, after the flowers have set, has got to come off or train upward. Going for a kind of wall of tomatoes. I can tell already the paste tomatoes are going to be monsters. All of these varieties are from Johnny Seeds, and they are much stronger than anything I grew last year.
 

Nice to hear the Yellow Bhuts are coming back... are those from seed I sent you perchance?

 
They are Charles! The Yellow Bhut is my most successful chinense. Nearly waist high, beautiful canopy. Very little insect damage. I think I'll have some pods set by the end of the week.
 

Nice update Adam. THe garden looks fantastic since you've been gone. You're already rolling in peppers. They will be ripe before you know it.

 
Thanks Jeff. Yeah I was worried about leaving them in the hands of a stranger. Did a bunch of checking up, but it was unnecessary. He did a wonderful job.
 

Wow, if i have pepper plants you have pepper trees!
Very well done sir!

 
Let's hope! They're on their way.
 

Looking good Adam. Soon that canopy will conceal the ground. Glad to see they got watered.

 
But how will I weed?! Need to get some mulch down on these guys.
 

Plants and pods are looking great.  I saved my own Sante Fe Grande seeds and grew them last season.  They look a lot like what yours are looking like.  Got me thinking they must be some sort of hybrid because they are behaving like one.  Searched locally for some seeds and couldn't find any.  

 
Thanks HJeff! Good to know that they look about how they're supposed to look, even if they differ from what I see on the web. Time will tell.
 
Got a little more time in the garden today. Mostly pruned tomato plants, kept them in their cages, and assessed the peppers. It looks like the Goat's Weed and Barracktepin are racing to produce the first ripe pods. Two goats weed pods started blackening today. Will probably be ripe in a week or so.
 
The 7pot/reaper bed is in slightly rougher shape than the Bhut/Jal bed. I didn't have this bed last season and I seem to be having some weed issues. Unfortunately the 7pot setback put them in tomato shadows, and the explosive growth among the annuums is shading a couple of the chinenses, but I think it's going to work its way out.
 
Here are some pics:
 

 
Blondie is podding up!
 

 
Brown Eggs have tons of flowers and a couple pods set.
 

 
MoA is looking good. Nice big fork, round leaves. Top growth is a little light for me... think he needs a little more fish juice? Maybe I'll let it play out.
 

 
Datil in front. Jalapenos ripening in back.
 

 
Red Bhut is the slowest of the Bhuts at this point. As you can see there is something nibbling on the chinenses. Whatever it is, it seems to be ignoring the annuums. I am thinking about applying some Bt to get it under control... does the situation look severe enough or should I ride it out? It's hidding the 7pots pretty hard to. Maybe grasshoppers?
 

 
Fresno peppers.
 

 
The undisputed king and queen of the pepper patch... white bhut to the left with half a dozen set pods (hidden under its skirt), and my thriving Yellow Bhut (from Charles).
 

 
Aji Chuncho. Bounced back but shaded by the exploding annuums. I need to cut all but one of its shoots if I want to get back into the growdown. Any suggestions?
 

 
Red Hab Bonsai. Canopy looks great! May train it and repot it soon.
 

 
Stretch. Chiero Roxa. Looks like a tree. Kinda.
 
Looks like white bhuts are going to be my first ripe supers. Any recipe suggestions?
 
Thanks for reading! Going to try to make the glog rounds later tonight. Happy growing!

 

[Spicegeist]

Nice the yellow's are growing well.  You know, I've been having trouble with some standard red bhuts too for some reason... strange .

 

[JJJessee]

Sorry to here about the Cardi, but everything else is looking FANTASTIC!
 
Those Jalas are huge!  
 
Those holes could be a grasshopper just passin' through. But if you notice more damage right away could be a slug and he'll keep eating. A hornworm would probably still be there with his mouth full.

 

[OCD Chilehead]

The garden looks great Adam. That Chiero Roxa bonchi does look like a tree. I see some flowers. Will look good with some pods hangin.

 

[HillBilly Jeff]

Plants are looking nice.  I like the OW coming back.

 

[Devv]

Very nice Adam!
 
Your grow is kicking it!
 
Are you getting the cooler weather?