My few little peppers 2010

[FayahBen]

Greets,
it's been a while i'm reading this forum, and i've finally decided to join this great chile community.

I've only got a few peppers in pots (i need more space).
The pics have been taken at the end of june and the beginning of july, i have to take some more pics soon, as with the heat, both plants and peppers are growing crazy. ^^
(even if they had a bad month of may, with low temperatures, rain and hail, they're lookin' nice)


Here's the little pepper family...

The Lemon Drop is the first and only one to have got ripe fruits yet (i've already harvested 25-30 peppers) and it has got a huge quantity of pods on the way. ^^

Lemon Drop (june)

First harvest ^^ (june)

Quite some pods on it (july)

The Jamaican Scotch Bonnet is a small bushy plant but it's producing quite good, I hope to have some ripen pods soon ^^
Jamaican Scotch Bonnet (june) (i have another plant in a smaller pot too)

Some nice pods ^^ (july)

The Brazilian Starfish has got a strange appearance, and began to produce pods later than the others, but it's growing quick now.

Brazilian Starfish (june)

The Peruvian White Habanero has been sown a lot later and it's still small, but now growing and flowering good.

Peruvian White Habanero (june)

And finally, 2 Red Rocotos that are from last season and have been overwintered.

Red Rocotos (june)

Some pods (june)

And a very little kind of bee (i don't know the species) which loves the pepper flowers

 

[scarpetti]

Nice! I think that bee is actually a wasp of some sorts. A lot of the little wasps will pollinate and eat parasites.

 

[SouthernYooper]

Nice stuff. Keep up the good work! How are those Aji Lemons? Never had one.

 

[FayahBen]

Greets,
some new pics taken this morning

The lemon drop is still producing slowly and it's still got a lot of pods to come, and a lot of new forming. ^^
They have a citrus taste, with good heat but not too much, it makes them easy to use in every meal.

The jamaican scotch bonnet is still seting fruits good too (in fact all the peppers, with the good weather we have these days, are setting a lot of fruits).

The other scotch bonnet in a smaller pot:

The brazilian starfish has grown well and tall, and is now setting a lot of fruits.

The peruvian white habanero is growing well too and begins to produce pods.

It sounds like a good harvest to come this summer

 

[Geosojda]

plants are looking great!

 

[Maligator]

Looks like you are going to have a great harvest this year. Plants look really healthy.

 

[ZanderSpice]

Nice selection and healthy plants. I'm missing Lemon Drops this year. I planted Aji Crystal instead. It's good, but w/o the citrus flavor.

 

[salsalady]

your plants are looking very happy! and to be harvesting those ajis already is great.

welcome to the forum!
SL

 

[lazienfat]

Welcome to the THP, I think you will love this forum. Your plants are looking great, I like the picture of the flower and bee.

 

[kiddc]

Hi, welcome to THP!!

btw, your Peru White Hab looks abit ...elongated?

 

[FayahBen]

Thanks everyone for the compliments.

Salsalady, i'm harvesting the lemon drop quite early, but it's because i've tried to sow them really early to see what it could do...
The lemon drop, the brazilian starfish and the jamaican scotch bonnets have been sown at the beginning of december, and have been grown behind a south facing window until I planted them in those pots at the end of april. We had a good weather at this time, but the month of may was really cold and rainy. :/ (but no frost, just night at 4-5°C and days between 10-20°C, but it doesn't seem to have bothered the rocotos and the lemon drop too much)
In fact it's too early lol. The plants were not growing a lot, and the baccatums were too big and awaiting for more room. The first lemon drop pods have been set on the plants just before transplanting, and the plant has set fruits with the cold temperatures. This strain is a winner ^^.

Lazienfat, i already love this forum ^^. In fact i've been reading it for quite 2 years...
The bee (or wasp maybe) is very little, a normal bee would be the size of the full flower... but this insect really loves peppers nectar, helping with pollinisation, so isolating flowers is essential to make seeds, i'll see if my bagging of branches works...

Kiddc, about elongated, are you talkin' about the pods or the branches ?
If it's the branches, maybe it may be because it has got a little more shade than the other plants and its little size doesn't help... (it's in the same pot than the others, 35cm wide / 12L, except the 2nd jamaican scotch bonnet which is in a 30cm wide pot, and the rocotos in 40cm wide square pots)
It seems like it has a good load of nitrogen looking at the leaves (i use only organic fertilizers), which may have an effect too.

By the way, the first rocotos are coming soon, a few pods began to turn red.
But it's the same than last year, with the heat they don't grow a lot now and the flower buds are drying long before they would be opened. :/
Last year they began again to flower at the end of the summer, and i harvested the pods in november/december lol.

 

[FayahBen]

And here they comes...

The first ripe rocotos of the season

The two plants i have, have got different fruit shape as it can be seen, even if they came from the same seed bag...


And the first ripe (little ^^) jamaican scotch bonnet too

I was excpecting a yellow one, but reading again the peppermania's description, it says 'sunshiney yellow-orange' ^^

Some others are ripening, this one got a nice shape

 

[FayahBen]

The brazilian starfish is now loaded with pods and some are beginning to ripen.

I'll know soon how do those little spaceships taste like ^^

The jamaican scotch bonnets are good, really fruity with a little smoky overtone (specially when roasted in oil, less noticeable when eated raw).

 

[RichardK]

I get those bees too, they are Ceratina cockerelli I think (Small carpenter bee) and they love my pepper flowers too.

 

[FayahBen]

I've searched a few pics of Ceratina cockerelli with google, it's not so far, but the head hasn't got the exact same shape, and they are all black, while my little one is striped (more light brown than yellow).
But it may be a kind of related species (we're not on the same continent, hehe), they seem to have the same size by the way.

Here is another pic taken from the same flower, it's a little fuzzy, but we can see the insect in another angle.

 

[marito001]

Great looking Plants, do you prune any of your plants when they start to grow?

 

[Wasatch]

Looking very nice.

 

[FayahBen]

Great looking Plants, do you prune any of your plants when they start to grow?

I don't prune plants at all (you can see on the pics branches coming from under the first branching node).
But i pinch flower buds on the first 4-5 levels of branching nodes (maybe a little more was done on the lemon drop, because it was really too advanced before moving it outside).

edit: a little mistake about pruning... the rocotos have been pruned 3 times during their overwintering period (the first time after the last harvest, the last time just before repoting in bigger pots and going outside)

 

[FayahBen]

Today's little harvest
with the first starfish ^^

The rocotos are still ripening...

The jamaican scotch bonnet shows a lot of pod shape variation on the plant... this one is the one ripening in a pic above:

This one is kinda flat, hehe:

The plant is pretty, short but strong, in fact it has got the biggest stalk of all my pepper plants despite its small size:

and the leaves, that are light green, have got purple coloration on the leaves' margins and sometimes on the veins:

 

[FayahBen]

A few new pics... the pepper are doin' well ^^

The lemon drop is still producing a lot of pods everywhere:

One of the rocotos, feelin' good under the little palm tree:

The peruvian white habanero has grown well, and is setting a lot of pods, the firsts begin to turn color: