• Blog your pepper progress. The first image in your first post will be used to represent your Glog.

Mezo`s "super hots" Glog including the 'big' solar dehydrator.

The is thread with the humungous solar dehydrator. :D

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G-Day, im Mez or Mezo & im new to this part of Australia having come from Perth (Western Australia) where growing chili peppers is so easy (except the heat).

I live in the border ranges in northern New South Wales (bordering Queensland) and its a mixed bag of temperate & tropical conditions, the summers are very hot, wet & humid, the winters are dry & sunny.



Average daily temps.

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And average monthly rainfall.

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Aussies reading this will already know this, but people in other country's probably paint a picture of Australia as a hot dry/dusty land but this is far from the truth, up north its full blown tropics with a wet season & 100% humidity (yuck). Down south its freezing cold & snow during winter, out west its a dry heat like in the Mediterranean & in the middle of Australia is desert country.

So im now growing for the first time "Super hots" and for a very important reason, whilst working away in Perth i had a double heart attack wich has left me permanently disabled, sadly they are unable to operate on me (bypass/stent) as its to far gone, so having worked all my life (Electrician) im now at the age of 45 claiming a disability pension & i hate not being able to work.

Now i take shovel fulls of dam tablets to keep my heart pumping & id rather not be taking any but right now there no option i have to take them or ill drop dead on the spot. After much reading i found out that cayenne powder has all sort of benefits to your health & well being, especially to your cardio vascular system. I had read that cayenne powder can stop a heart attack in its track & i put this to the test (twice) and yes it does work where the medication (Nitrolingual) had no effect.

So anyone reading this who spots a friend having a heart attack just flick some chili powder in a glass of water as fast as you can & get them to drink in right down, fast. It works within 30 seconds of drinking it & it saved me from two more attacks already.

So there's my life story in a nutshell & some sound advice on how to save a heart attack victims life.
And this ladies & gentlymen is why im growing "Super Hots" to make high heat cayenne powder for cooking to improve my circulation/remove fats & as a "just in case of emergency"

OK on with the first of my "Hots" the Bhut Jolokia, the reason i chose this was simple i just Googled "whats the hottest chili" and up popped the result, however further reading on the interweb i found threads from this forum & names like the Butch T, the Douglah & Brain Strain.

So ive ordered them from pepperlover.com after so many people gave such great reviews, Bhut in the meantime lets look at my Jolokia`s.

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Must admit i just love the shape & color of these babies.
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More soon,

Mezo.
 
I don't how this eluded me. Great to catch up on this. Is that asparagus you have growing? Is it true I have to grow these 2 or 3 years until I can harvest? Not sure how your seasons go but I might have 150 decent days of a growing season.
 
Mate, that shed is a classic. Can you get some more pics from a bit further back to give us an idea of how far over it really is?
 
I don't how this eluded me. Great to catch up on this. Is that asparagus you have growing? Is it true I have to grow these 2 or 3 years until I can harvest? Not sure how your seasons go but I might have 150 decent days of a growing season.

Yep they reckon you can get a harvest on the second year but id be waiting till the third one, ive got over 160 growing & im keeping them in the tent till after winter & then we will plant them out. Some are up to my chest height already (the ones ive potted in to larger pots) problem is im out of pots as ive used them on the chilli`s. Asparagus can live for 20 to 30 yrs & like a good draining soil & they are heavy heavy feeders (fish emulsion etc).

They don't like frost either, and at the end of season you apparently chop them right back to almost ground level & if you live in an area with ground frost simply cover them with straw or something like that.

Mate, that shed is a classic. Can you get some more pics from a bit further back to give us an idea of how far over it really is?

Haaa, its that far over Simon truly, ill grab some pics another day but if you look at the shipping container in the background you can judge its lean angle, everyone laughs when they see it.

So i finished off the racks for the dryer ready for my big harvest of pods in six months from now (fingers crossed) i have spare timber left over which ive cut to size & i can double up on the racks (another eight more) so right now i have eight one square meter racks with 100mm space between but could go up to 16 square meters of drying space if i need to (52 sq feet) which is great for something with such a small footprint.

So here are some pics of it finished.

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Notice the 'outrigger' bit of timber screwed to the feet, that's to stop a heavy gust of wind blowing it over, or a cow pushing it over, cows like to rub up against stuff (scratching themselves) and i thought it prudent to add the timber to stop it going over.

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Young Tess (below) wondering WTF is that thing?

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And one last shot, promise.

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Mezo.
 
Mezo, looks great!!! Wish I was this handy... crap I can't even put a nail in straight.

You could do it mate, im no chippy just a bit of commonsense needed, and you screw it together not nail it.

Mezo.

Beautiful sun dried pods. Man that process seals in the color.

Greg

Cheers Greg,

Yep sun dried is the way, takes a little longer but hey whats the rush when you've waited so long for them to grow.

Mezo.
 
Well today i checked the mailbox (mile down the road) and there was David`s seeds all the way from Illinois.

Here is David
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and here is his smiley,,,,,
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And here are the seeds he sent me.

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Mate thank you so much for doing that for me, the Hungarian Wax is one of the ones ive been wanting to grow (half Hungarian).

Stand up bloke just like Conor & thank you both.

Mezo.
 
Hey, Mezo, I enjoy the heck out of your garden story.
If you didn't live in Oz, I'd say you possess Yankee ingenuity :D
Is their an Aussie corollary to that? You definitely have the
knack, Meez. Keep up the good work and enjoy the fruits of your labors.

edit: I'm with you on the screws, buddy - the only way to go!
 
Hey, Mezo, I enjoy the heck out of your garden story. If you didn't live in Oz, I'd say you possess Yankee ingenuity :D Is their an Aussie corollary to that? You definitely have the knack, Meez. Keep up the good work and enjoy the fruits of your labors. edit: I'm with you on the screws, buddy - the only way to go!

Hey Paul,

My father was a toolmaker & i worked in his workshop as a kid, i was an accomplished turner & miller at the tender age of ten. But even before that i was always pulling things to bits to see how they worked & then put them back together again, i guess that's how i ended up being a tradesman (electrician & comm`s tech) but i could have been anything as long as it involves making something with my hands.

Have a look at my bike rebuild i did last year.

Mezo.

Hoho! What are super-scorps?^^

Hey Max,

Good question & one i was wondering myself (David?) i did Google to find out but nothing about a "Super Scorp" unless its a variant David his created himself?

Mezo.
 
My father was a toolmaker & i worked in his workshop as a kid, i was an accomplished turner & miller at the tender age of ten... i could have been anything as long as it involves making something with my hands.

Wanna make me a few cricket bats? My crappy subcontinent one is on it's last legs. ;)
 
There are plenty of willow clefts available in Oz. Mr. Millichamp in Manly can hook you up with clefts at a reasonably cheap rate for you to carve and sell.

Sell to me that is. :)
 
OK, ive got Davids seeds underway today on Jiffy`s, they are in the tent for now but will go on to the 'redneck heat mat' as soon as the Bhuts have done there stuff (sprout or fail).

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Cheers David,

Mezo.
 
Loving this Glog...you earned a follow! Nice job on everything!

Thank you kindly sir,

Start off with a "Whoopsy" i forgot to put Dave`s super scorp`s in yesterday. :banghead:

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Ah well no harm, also re-potted eight of my Avo`s today in to dollar buckets (they looked like they needed it to) there are nine smaller ones growing with about the same number not yet sprouted.

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Almost ready to do crop number three on the Bhuts, crops 1 & 2 came from plants 1, 2 & 3, this time its from plants 4 & 5
which grew later than the first three plants, the pods are smaller on 4 & 5 and im guessing its because the plant knows winters coming so its just chucking out what it has.

This is 4 & 5 (first harvest from these).

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And here are the new kids outside and doing OK, few holes in some leaves but im not to concerned about that.

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And here are the ones with holes.

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I will post a picture of the culprit (well the possible culprit) when someone replies (up to my picture limit i think)

Mezo.
 
Things seem to be good in your neck of the woods Mezo. Really like the Avo's too mate how did u start them? Did u just plant an Avo seed in a pot or what? Your seedlings look healthy too except for the holes but like you said its not that bad wouldn't bother me, damn pests need to whip out the artillery :flamethrower: and wipe em out lol.
 
Hey Benzo,

I just grew them from the pit after id eaten the Avo, i tried the toothpick glass of water trick everyone goes on about but it never worked & i chucked at least 30 after they went black & moldy, then i read just plant them in potting mix with the head poking out & water well, had great results ever since going from complete failure to completes success.

EDIT: I do remove the outer skin on the Avo pit, seems to help it split down the middle easier.

Here`s something an Aussie might know what is, this tiny fly is always hang around my chilli plants.

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Its very territorial, stays around the one plant as if its guarding something but nothing i can see?

Anyone? is it good or bad?

Couple more pics of inside the tent today, got some more potting up to do in the morning (the ones to the right at the back of the bench).

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And Conor`s Wiri Wiri & Piri Piri are getting very large now.

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And Conor`s Black Prince toms below are growing real fast now (120mm or 4 1/2")

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Those Tom`s were started on Jiffys 20 days ago, no heat mat or anything & its Autumn here.

Mezo.
 
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