Mooglog 2013/2014

Spicegeist · Feb 14, 2014

jay's peach and mustard habs look great...

stc3248 · Feb 15, 2014

Mega, that hedge and yard has really transformed into a work of art over the past few season. Love the looks of your spot! Those sunburned ones will be fine...just ugly for a bit. Does your sulfur also have pyrethrin in it? The stuff I use does and it really works. Bonide Tomato and Vegetable I think???

PeriPeri · Feb 15, 2014

Hey Moo, I may have a farm with loads of space, but I tell you... I am green with envy that you can grow your plants right in your own garden. It is such a major bummer I have to travel for an hour to see the chillies. But then again, I have whitefly galore on my property - hence I rather grow elsewhere. But this coming season I am going to try and find a dirt patch closer to home!

stickman · Feb 15, 2014

Looking extremely good Moo! I've found during my last couple of seasons that most of my peppers seem to do better when I plant them fairly close together. Granted, mites and Aphids aren't much of a problem here. Have you ever thought of companion planting to call in the friendly insects that groom your plants or repel the bad ones? Onions don't take up much space and have a very shallow root system. You could plant a few in among your chiles to repel the bad guys. Cilantro and Lime is a classic accompaniment to hot chiles, and Cilantro is great for attracting Lacewings and Ladybugs. It takes up very little space if harvested before it begins to bolt, and you can just replant to keep it coming.

megamoo · Feb 15, 2014

Spicegeist said:
jay's peach and mustard habs look great...

They really do! Although the mustard habs have the same colour as a chillie that is rotting from the inside out

stc3248 said:
Mega, that hedge and yard has really transformed into a work of art over the past few season. Love the looks of your spot! Those sunburned ones will be fine...just ugly for a bit. Does your sulfur also have pyrethrin in it? The stuff I use does and it really works. Bonide Tomato and Vegetable I think???

It looks great when its at this stage! From what I can see on the packet all it has is Sulfur. It says 800g to 1Kg sulfur. So I guess that is the purity?

I really try not to spray anything on my plants that will kill, because if it kills the bad bugs, chances are it will also kill good bugs. I've been lucky not to have many pests to deal with apart from the mites. I got aphids on my first hydro seedlings but removed them mechanically and haven't seen any since. If the option is there I always try to let nature deal with it.

PeriPeri said:
Hey Moo, I may have a farm with loads of space, but I tell you... I am green with envy that you can grow your plants right in your own garden. It is such a major bummer I have to travel for an hour to see the chillies. But then again, I have whitefly galore on my property - hence I rather grow elsewhere. But this coming season I am going to try and find a dirt patch closer to home!

I think my garden does well because it is an existing and established ecosystem, with all the other plants having been there for years. Nature has balanced out the good and bad bugs which only happens over time. My last house had much more space to grow in but it was an empty grass box of a yard. I had whitefly and aphids and other diseases move in straight away. I messed up everything else as well

stickman said:
Looking extremely good Moo! I've found during my last couple of seasons that most of my peppers seem to do better when I plant them fairly close together. Granted, mites and Aphids aren't much of a problem here. Have you ever thought of companion planting to call in the friendly insects that groom your plants or repel the bad ones? Onions don't take up much space and have a very shallow root system. You could plant a few in among your chiles to repel the bad guys. Cilantro and Lime is a classic accompaniment to hot chiles, and Cilantro is great for attracting Lacewings and Ladybugs. It takes up very little space if harvested before it begins to bolt, and you can just replant to keep it coming.

Thanks. Companion planting was always my plan but never really got around to it. I've stuck some Basil and Parsley in there but that's about it. I've only had a problem with mites this season. Aphids appeared but I squished them all. I've seen a few ladybugs hanging around, and some small spiders. The eggfruit caterpillar that decimated my harvest last season has ruined far fewer pods so far. Considering how little attention I've given them they are doing great.

megamoo · Feb 18, 2014

Did another quick half harvest. I said before that there will be a gap after this because the plants haven't got many buds and flowers at the moment. Well for the most part that is true. A few plants, (Primo Orange, Hab Mustard, Douglahs) seem to be in prime position and are going strong but the majority are waiting out the heat.

The single Primo Orange plant has delivered after a long ripening

These pods are from 4 Jonah plants, 2 Douglahs and the rest are singles. I have two Yellow 7Pots but one has stopped producing.

The Moruga Yellows look absolutely identical to the Yellow 7 Pots so I'm suspicious it might be a mix up.

stickman · Feb 18, 2014

Nice money shot Moo! Curry's at your house tonight, right?

Dot Com · Feb 18, 2014

Begeezus moo!!! :shocked:

IDK if we can remain friends unless you tell me how to get yields like that!!! :lol:

Spicegeist · Feb 18, 2014

Wow, Primo Orange looks great!
:fireball:

The shape reminds me of the cardi yellow...

How does it compare in terms of taste and heat with the Moruga Yellow and Yellow 7 Pot?

Trippa · Feb 18, 2014

Awesome mega!! I also like the use of the double photo to 2x the harvest

... Its got me thinking I might duplicate a photo of some of my current harvests 100x to show my face around these parts

... Seriously though ... Great job ... What's the plans for them??

megamoo · Feb 19, 2014

stickman said:
Nice money shot Moo! Curry's at your house tonight, right?

Thanks Can't make spicy food with the kids around, well I really don't have the time with them to cook for

but I've got a weekend coming up soon with big specialist meal potential.

Dot Com said:
Begeezus moo!!! IDK if we can remain friends unless you tell me how to get yields like that!!!

It's thanks to a lot of mushroom compost, little bit of chicken manure and lots shadecloth coverage, you need that under our sun. Pots are limiting, raised beds are free.

Spicegeist said:
Wow, Primo Orange looks great!

The shape reminds me of the cardi yellow...

How does it compare in terms of taste and heat with the Moruga Yellow and Yellow 7 Pot?

I processed all those in the picture and am dehydrating them right now. Haven't tasted one but I can say that they smell great! Same deal with the Moruga Yellow. I don't taste much before the pain hits when I eat the superhots. I'm judging their flavour on smell.

Trippa said:
Awesome mega!! I also like the use of the double photo to 2x the harvest ... Its got me thinking I might duplicate a photo of some of my current harvests 100x to show my face around these parts ... Seriously though ... Great job ... What's the plans for them??

Awesome is correct

I did the two photos because a while ago I had some harvests of lots of different varieties with only a few pods each and the names obscured the pods. I suppose its not really needed in this case but it does make it look twice as much.
That was only half the harvest too, the Habanero Hedge section is ready to be picked over, and there are a bunch of Jays Peach Ghost Scorpions I'm itching to get at.

I'm sure if you had some land you'd churn out a mass of produce. I know if I only had pots and a balcony I'd be lucky to get any pods.

This season I'm making powder not sauce. So I filled my dehydrator with Primo Orange, Jonah, Moruga Red and Yellow, and Yellow 7 Pot. They've been crisping up for two days, almost done.

PeriPeri · Feb 19, 2014

Ooooh man that looks super awesome... them pods are coming in fast and furious my friend... great guns that is a heap of fiery pods!

Dot Com · Feb 19, 2014

The natural compost/ferts really does the trick. Plus, in re: your comment about raised beds, I have to grow in pots. I would almost kill to be able to grow a chile in the ground

as opposed to pots. Oh well, one day..

Rainman · Mar 8, 2014

megamoo said:
It's thanks to a lot of mushroom compost, little bit of chicken manure and lots shadecloth coverage, you need that under our sun. Pots are limiting, raised beds are free.

Another sick harvest Moo! After following your success this year I'm in awe. Next season I'm going to be taking a few leaves out of your grow book, starting with ditching the pots and going for the raised beds.

Where did you get the mushroom compost in Perth?

megamoo · Mar 9, 2014

PeriPeri said:
Ooooh man that looks super awesome... them pods are coming in fast and furious my friend... great guns that is a heap of fiery pods!

Thanks. They are coming faster than I'm able to process them. Based on that I think I will grow less next year... but I say that every year

Dot Com said:
The natural compost/ferts really does the trick. Plus, in re: your comment about raised beds, I have to grow in pots. I would almost kill to be able to grow a chile in the ground as opposed to pots. Oh well, one day..

People can grow in pots, its just I can't.

Rainman said:
Another sick harvest Moo! After following your success this year I'm in awe. Next season I'm going to be taking a few leaves out of your grow book, starting with ditching the pots and going for the raised beds.

Where did you get the mushroom compost in Perth?

The mushroom compost I bought from Masters. They have their own branded stuff that is 5 bags for $20. Although I think its changed now. Last season I got a trailer load from a landscape place of half mushroom and half sheep manure. It was too manure heavy and the plants grew massive and green but didn't spit out the pods to match. This season in the grow bed along the blue fence I only put the mushroom compost in and they are growing fine because there is still chicken crap left in the bed. With the bags there's no shoveling and wheelbarrow action too.

When processing that last harvest shot 3 weeks ago I noticed an increase in the rate of maggot infected pods. It was only a half harvest too and there were ripe pods still waiting. Then because of lots of different reasons I wasn't able finish off the harvesting until last week when I did a `harvest anything with colour` to try and remove any food for the maggots.

(Yeah I got sick of keeping everything separated and labelled.

)

Of course it was too late. More than half of this picture was thrown out. Most of the Douglahs and every Habanero Mustard were infected. Damn things seem to have a taste for my Primo Oranges too.

I mentioned in another thread that you don't often see maggot exit holes in green pods so a strategy of removing all coloured pods will cut the numbers down. After an inspection yesterday I found plenty of green holed pods. So that strategy was a half measure and its now time for the full measure.

I'm calling my new strategy of dealing with the pepper maggot "SCORCHED EARTH". I'm combing every plant and removing every single pod I can find. Ripe or unripe its gone and sealed in a bag and binned. Flowers are left alone but if the petals are withering or have dropped then its removed. The hope is that I'll break the breeding cycle of the moths and remove their food supply and the adult ones will move on. I started yesterday and will finish it today, then I'll let everything grow again. Like hitting the reset button.

It's a drastic experiment but I have to try something. When I next get a harvest I will post results.

Rainman · Mar 10, 2014

Good luck with the pepper maggot / moths. Such a shame that so much went in the bin!

megamoo · Mar 10, 2014

Rainman said:
Good luck with the pepper maggot / moths. Such a shame that so much went in the bin!

Thanks. It was a just over two 9 litre buckets of pods. Some of the plants had loads of green pods almost ready to turn. Including my first Peach Bhut pods. Also the first Bhut Jolokia X Giant White Hab pod after two years of trying to get one! :banghead:

I think there is enough time left in the season for at least one more big harvest.

Devv · Mar 10, 2014

Sorry to read about the maggots. I read up on them, they can sure do a ton of damage.

Like the garden, sun shades are a huge help once the sun gets hot for sure!

Super David · Mar 10, 2014

I tried culling all my pods last season to avoid this egg plant fruit grub. It certainly didn't stop them but it did break the cycle for a while and increase yields once it all came back.
I wish there was a chemical to stop these suckers, killing the moths as I see them and picking pods just doesn't seem to cut it.

Francoi · Mar 14, 2014

Megamoo I've read placing fake plastic butterflies scare moths from coming into that area, maybe give that a shot?
I haven't got around to trying it yet..