MeatHead 2015-

Hi all. With Christmas having come and gone for another year, it's time to start preparing for the new season. I decided for the 2015 season to grow a lot more sweet-hab range peppers, as we use much more of those than the superhots as that's all my wife can handle. Still growing a few supers for my own use in cooking, sauces and powders though.
Anyways enough babbling-this (should) be my list for the season, however based on last year, 1 or 2 may still make their way in-
Superhots-
Yellow 7 pot-windchicken (OW) *
Nagabrain red-windchicken (OW)*
Bbg7-kingdenniz
Nagabrain yellow-windchicken
Nagabrain Chocolate-windchicken
Chocolate bbg7 - prodigal_son

Hot-
Peri peri - Refining Fire
MoA Scotch bonnet - Jamison (OW) *
Congo red - windchicken (OW) *
Bonda ma Jacques x yellow 7 pot-windchicken
Safi red bonnet - didn't note who I got these from originally
Birgit's locoto - windchicken *
Locato - pepperlover
MoA red-cmpman/kingdenniz
Thai orange - prodigal_son

Mild-
Jalapeno cracked - pepperlover
Giant jalapeno-pepperlover
Bishops crown-pepperlover
Brazilian starfish-juanitos
Black Hungarian - hillbilly jeff
Aji pineapple-coheed196
Maras biber-kingdenniz
Urfa biber-kingdenniz
Aleppo-kingdenniz
Biker Billy jalapeno-buckeyepepper
Ecuadorian sweet rocoto - pepperlover
Criolla sella-buckeye
Orange starfish-pepperlover
Aji mango - pepperlover
Stuffing Scotch bonnet - pepperlover
Lemon drop - juanitos

Sweet-
Jimmy nardello - Kneppers peppers
Sweet apple - refining fire
Elephants ear - pepperlover
Bull's heart-pepperlover
Dulce sol - pepperlover

Wild-
CAP 215 - pepperlover
Tepin-seacowboy
CGN 19198 - pepperlover
Cumari pollux - pepperlover
Cumari pollux-prodigal_son
"Most prolific" C. Chacoense - pepperlover
C. Galapagoense-prodigal_son
C. Lanceolatum-prodigal_son
Cumari do para-prodigal_son
Rocopica-Prodigalson

I actually need to update it to show that the tepin and CAP 215 are now OW'S. I thought they'd died off after a couple of frosts, but was recently surprised to find new growth popping up on them. Trimmed off the dead growth, gave them a feed of fish hydrolysate and put them in the greenhouse. Tepin-

CAP 215-

I was planning on growing in raised beds this season, but due to our crap soil showing me it can't handle any decent amount of rain, will be growing in containers raised off the ground on pallets raised with cinder blocks. Pretty sure this would lead to some bad root rot if I grew in ground before I can fix the soil-

Santa must've thought I was a good boy this year, or he was drunk and couldn't read his list properly. Got some awesome new gear for Christmas!

Currently have Galapagoense, Lanceolatum, prodigal_sons Cumari pollux, Cumari du Para, "most prolific" C. Chacoense, CGN 19198 and rocopica in the Aerogarden. In my new germination station I have bbg7 red and brown, Bonda ma Jacques x yellow 7, locato, Ecuadorian sweet rocoto, MoA red, Stuffing Scotch bonnet, yellow and chocolate nagabrains, SAFI red bonnets, more lanceolatum, rocopica and galapagoense, and pepperlovers Cumari pollux from pepperlover.
I was also lucky enough to get in on Juanitos offer of a plant mfrb that he wanted to send out as test runs before selling live plants next season. I received 2 lemon drop and 2 Brazilian starfish plants in great condition, and have since had to pot them up into 6 inch pots.

One last pic. I read a story that a local parks pond had been stocked with rainbow trout last week, so I had to go and try to catch my 1st ever trout as I love catching new fish, and I also wanted to see if they actually put up a good fight. Ended up getting a couple, and even for small fish they do indeed put up a fight! Much better than bass even twice their size.

That's all for now. Need to get some updated pics of my OW'S soon to add. Thanks for stopping by, and all the best for the 2015 season!

 

[MeatHead1313]

Looking good man. Keep em poppin and have a happy new year!

  
Thanks ETH! Hope you have a happy new year too!

Looking like a good start
Happy new year.

Thanks Paul! Happy new year to you too!
So due to having to work today, New Years eve was a quiet, sober night at home. Tried my hand at doing roast lamb for the first time, and it came out pretty darn good! Served up with roast potatoes and carrots, reminded me of Sunday night dinners growing up back home.

Loving the heat mat that came with my new kit. Getting much better germination rates than last year already. MoA reds are now 3/3-

Bbg7 is 2/2-

Also have my first ever pubescens on the way! Ecuadorian sweet rocoto-

Had a quick peek into some of the other rapid rooters to see if there was any other action from other seeds, and from what I could see I have both bbg7 chocolate and 1 Safi red bonnet that'll be up in a day or 2.

 

[Devv]

I agree with Gary, a lot can be done with clay. I've worked both and the sand just seems to grind up all the compost and other amendments (and they disappear) , where as the clay gets better every year. Which is the exact reason I added all the heavy soil to the sand last year, I just wasn't getting to where I wanted to be fast enough.
 
Lamb plate looks great Chris!
 
And glad to see all those hooks too!
 
Looks like you're off and running!

 

[MeatHead1313]

I agree with Gary, a lot can be done with clay. I've worked both and the sand just seems to grind up all the compost and other amendments (and they disappear) , where as the clay gets better every year. Which is the exact reason I added all the heavy soil to the sand last year, I just wasn't getting to where I wanted to be fast enough.
 
Lamb plate looks great Chris!
 
And glad to see all those hooks too!
 
Looks like you're off and running!

Thanks Scott. Off and running for sure!
I was a little dejected with the soil here to begin with, but now I'm optimistic about it, especially with being able to get all the compost I want for free. Got quite a few fields with cows near us too so may have to inquire about getting some cow manure from the owners. Not sure if fresh would be ok or if I'd need to either get old, or compost it first though. Need to research a little more there.

 

[Devv]

I would compost it, as it will contain weed seeds and be too hot. Once you get the yearly rotation down you should be good to go..

 

[HellBoar]

Awesome man! I also go one of the germination stations and got sprouts on all of my seeds. I agree, the mat sure makes a difference!!! Didn't have any luck with the paper towel method lol. Good luck on your 2015 season and Happy New Year!!!

HB

 

[PaulS]

I haven't seen a germination station before. Looks to be working really nicely.
Happy new year

 

[MeatHead1313]

I would compost it, as it will contain weed seeds and be too hot. Once you get the yearly rotation down you should be good to go..

  
Awesome. Thanks for the info! Got a good spot picked out already for a compost pile so halfway there!

Awesome man! I also go one of the germination stations and got sprouts on all of my seeds. I agree, the mat sure makes a difference!!! Didn't have any luck with the paper towel method lol. Good luck on your 2015 season and Happy New Year!!!
HB

  
Thanks HB! Yeah the heat mat is definitely the way to go for me. I tried the paper towel method last winter, and had abysmal germination rates with it. Think I'll be sticking with the setup I have now for sure!

I haven't seen a germination station before. Looks to be working really nicely.
Happy new year

Happy new year to you too Paul! I'm sure there's other names for them, the one I got for Christmas was labelled as a germination station so that's what I'm calling it lol.

 

[HellBoar]

I haven't seen a germination station before. Looks to be working really nicely.
Happy new year

The one I have is also named the Germination Station, and its by Hydrofarm. Hope this helps.

HB

 

[MeatHead1313]

Had some more babies poke their heads out today! Got 2/2 chocolate bubblegum 7 pots up, along with 1 Bonda ma Jacques x yellow 7 pot, and 1 Ecuadorian sweet rocoto which became a victim of botched helmet head surgery, so think I'll have to sow another seed to replace that 1.
Today's sprouts-

Quick pic of the rocoto after I botched the surgery

As seedlings have emerged, I've been pulling the rapid rooters out and placing them straight into bigger pots with a coir/perlite mix under lights. Currently have 8 under the t5's

Used the leftover lamb from our new years eve roast in some vindaloo last night. I cheated and just bought store bought sauce, which only had red jalapeños listed as the pepper ingredient, so naturally I had to kick mine up a bit.

Pulled 2 bhuts out of the freezer for mine, but only ended up using one. Gave it a nice kick, but should've used the second as well

All plated up on a bed of rice.

 

[PaulS]

  
Awesome. Thanks for the info! Got a good spot picked out already for a compost pile so halfway there!
  
Thanks HB! Yeah the heat mat is definitely the way to go for me. I tried the paper towel method last winter, and had abysmal germination rates with it. Think I'll be sticking with the setup I have now for sure!
Happy new year to you too Paul! I'm sure there's other names for them, the one I got for Christmas was labelled as a germination station so that's what I'm calling it lol.

The one I have is also named the Germination Station, and its by Hydrofarm. Hope this helps.

HB

 
Germination station is a great name! If I didnt already have a propigator I'd be shopping for a germination station right now! haha

 

[MeatHead1313]

Had a couple of new sprouts emerge the last couple of days. New to the fold are a chocolate nagabrain and another SAFI red bonnet, which puts me at 2/2 for that variety.

Also have the first true leaves appearing on a few plants already too. 2 MoA reds and 1 bbg7. Love seeing the plants looking like they're enjoying things as it helps assure me I'm not messing anything up.
MoA red-

Another MoA red and the bbg7-

Should also have a yellow Nagabrain joining the party soon-

 

[Jamison]

Looking good man!  Starting seeds is my favorite part about the whole process,  even more so than harvesting pods for some reason.  It's almost a miracle to watch a tiny little seed grow into a beautiful fruit bearing plant.  I feel like God sometimes    Glad everything is going as planned,  and I will be checking in as often as I can!

 

[MeatHead1313]

Looking good man!  Starting seeds is my favorite part about the whole process,  even more so than harvesting pods for some reason.  It's almost a miracle to watch a tiny little seed grow into a beautiful fruit bearing plant.  I feel like God sometimes    Glad everything is going as planned,  and I will be checking in as often as I can!

Thanks Jamison! I'd have to agree too. Starting seeds is fast becoming my favourite part of the process for much the same reasons.
The MoA seeds I got from you back in 2013 are still doing good. The 3 I have sown are the last from those seeds, and peeking in the rapid rooters today I can see action from them already.

 

[KiNGDeNNiZ]

I wish you well. Keep growing

 

[Devv]

Glad to see your babies are doing well!
 
Keep it green!

 

[beerbreath81]

seedlings are of to a great start. That flooded pic just gave me flashbacks of my season last year. Moved to new place and the soil here is very heavy clay and hard as concrete when dry. Although last season did not go as planed I have done major improvements with the advice of the kind folks on here I am optomistic of my next season. It will take some doing but I'm sure you'll have that plot whipped into shape in no time.  . Good luck this season. 

 

[Essegi]

Good luck with your season! Great start for sure!

 

[MeatHead1313]

Thanks for the kind words all!

Update time. Not a lot to update at the moment. Things have been going pretty steady lately. I've been getting one or two new sprouts roughly every 2 days, but a few have been helmet heads that have been KIA during surgery. The good thing about though is they've been multiples of supers that I've already got healthy sprouts of, and I was planni bh on only having 1 or 2 of each anyway this year, so no big deal there.

I did get my first sprouts in the aerogarden though. Cumari du Para-

Couple of MoA sprouts-

Went to our local Mexican grocer today to pick up some dried piquins in order to this-

Chilli head trail mix. Mixed up some mixed nuts, M&M's and dried piquins.

While there, checked out the produce, and saw they have jalapeños at 2 pounds for $1. That price has me seriously considering not growing any Jalas this season, and just getting them from there instead.
Also found a bunch of red manzano's in with the usual yellow/orange manzano's so had to grab some to try-

 

[MeatHead1313]

Think I may switch back to straight coco as a seed starting medium instead of the rapid rooters. To start with the rapid rooters were doing great, but I'm now having trouble with them drying out too quickly which has resulted in no new sprouts recently.
Current seedlings are looking good though.

I have a couple showing some purpling, but being on new for me varieties I'm not sure if it's normal for them, or if it's something else. It's only on my bbg7 and red Moa seedlings at the moment. Any ideas?

We had a freeze here last week, with temps getting down to 24 with the wind chill at 11. Unfortunately, the greenhouse I got obviously wasn't designed for over wintering plants, and this is how my OW'S in there are looking. Not good.

Good thing is the branches and trunks seem to still be alive, so hoping they can pull through.

 

[Matthew_293]

Did you go fly fishing? That's my other hobby haha, trout love crayfish patterns from my experience