My first grow!!! If that’s what I’ll call it!

All right yall. Decided to keep a log of my tobasco/habaneros. Been at it since April 26th and pretty sure Ive done every possible thing wrong so far.... So as I watch my wifes tomato plants and her one Serrano plant grow and flower (which I know is too early in season) Im starting to have doubts. So heres where Im at so far...

Ive battled pests, heat, dogs, black plastic containers, over watering and lastly over nutrients. Now with all that being said. Im trying to let them do their things and lay off but will probably go get a couple more plants to have a clean slate. Not giving up on these yet!!! But I believe my zone will allow me to start at this time and still make the end push. Ill post pics of where I started and keep updating as I go! Any advice, inputs or sthups is perfectly acceptable! Also any good peppers yall think I can start now and finish by end of season? North Central Texas in Fort Worth.

 

[Jimenezcs]

Well a lesson learned everyday... todays lesson... wind will do some damage to plants. Didnt think anything about it, heat was supposed to be good so let plants just do their thing. Came back to find my new plants with darkened-crispy edges... welp chalk it up to my first season!


Ignore the one sock lol. Strained a calf muscle on my run yesterday.

 

[PaulG]

We have all been there, J. 
 
Many times.

 

[CaneDog]

Some of us very recently.   My backyard neighbors cut down trees that used to block the stronger SSE winds this time of year and they now arrive unabated at the back deck.

 

[PaulG]

That doesn’t sound good, CD. Of all weather,
wind hacks me off the most.
 
You May have to plant a bamboo wind screen!

 

[Siv]

Wind isn't necessarily a bad thing - although you may lose some leaves or branches, the plant will come back stronger.
 
I think the best thing you can do is find a nice spot and leave them there. Plants in nature don't move around so even though they're in pots, I'd leave them alone and let them settle into the conditions. You have no frost to worry about until November at the earliest so no need to move the plants at all. I've had a case where I grew a plant against a window and it was doing fine but when I moved it after several months, it flopped over as it was using the window for support and never really recovered. I should have just left it alone.

 

[Jimenezcs]

Todays lesson... be careful with very sharp scissors... will it regrow? Zip tie got to tight. Tried to cut off.

SMH...

This is truly a great and nerve wrecking hobby! Loving it! Hahaha

 

[Jimenezcs]

Tried looking everywhere but couldnt find answer...

will the above regrow or cut losses And pull plant?

Original pic here...

 

[CaneDog]

It should.  I believe I can see some activity at the growth nodes indicating they're active.  I think I've only once had a topped sprout that refused to grow laterals at the cotyledons. That was a PC-1 Annuum, which are notoriously resistant to early lateral development. 
 
How many days ago did it break?  What variety of pepper?

 

[BlackFatalii]

I have seen seedlings recover from even worse setbacks than that. Pepper plants can be surprisingly resilient. Why not give it the chance and see what happens? But in the future, I would suggest using garden twine or plant ties instead of zip ties if you must stake very young plants.

 

[Mr.joe]

Wind can be frustrating, it often gets windy here and my poor plants take a beating. Stake the plants and they should be ok, those shredded leaves look bad, but they still work. I think that plant will regrow

 

[Jimenezcs]

Thanks for the info. Think this is a Fresno chili pepper, just happened. Will keep u posted on if it recovers. was gonna let it do its thing and see if it lived. Just wasnt sure since that top piece came off if it still had a chance.

Wind was a new lesson this week so had some sticks from my kids kite which are surprisingly very sturdy and well zip ties hahah. They Worked though and plants did much better when they were staked and tied. But think that one got too tight so wanted to put a looser one on. First year growing so I imagine youll continue to see ghetto fixes and many wrongs on this GLOG. But itll make a fun read for me next year or at the end of the season when I see how the plants actually come across the finish line.

Yeah the bad leaves plant (cayenne) , I figured would be ok. They came back wounded from the battle, but the war isnt over!

 

[PaulG]

Thanks for the info. Think this is a Fresno chili pepper, just happened. Will keep u posted on if it recovers. was gonna let it do its thing and see if it lived. Just wasnt sure since that top piece came off if it still had a chance.
 

As long as there are some nodes, even at the
cotyledons, the plant should send out laterals.

 

[Mr.joe]

Nothing wrong with using recycled materials to stake the plants. The real trick is stake them before they need to be staked.

 

[Jimenezcs]

Welp. Woke up to a new issue... going to say whiteflies based on what Ive read.

Got rid of the leaf and burnt all the crap with a lighter. Didnt want to chance hatching - if those had eggs or something (not sure hahaha)... hopefully I can find the thing(s) that did this! Plant is just starting to flower and decided to just let it do its thing.

 

[skullbiker]

Welp. Woke up to a new issue... going to say whiteflies based on what Ive read.

Got rid of the leaf and burnt all the crap with a lighter. Didnt want to chance hatching - if those had eggs or something (not sure hahaha)... hopefully I can find the thing(s) that did this! Plant is just starting to flower and decided to just let it do its thing.

That looks like what mealy bugs leave behind.

 

[Jimenezcs]

That looks like what mealy bugs leave behind.

After additional search I think your right!

Sprayed with bonide insecticide soap. Did wonders when I got rid of my first bug problem.

Sprayed in morning, and was mostly cloudy day. Waited about 10 minutes And then washed off soap. Kept in shaded area but got caught up in work rest of day. Fast forward clouds went away and plants took direct sunlight for about 5 hours. Came out and some leaves had some messed up spots and lightening of leaves.

Dang! Another lesson learned. Sad part was I purposely intended to keep them in shade.

 

[Jimenezcs]

Wtf is that?

 

[PaulG]

Wtf is that?

I think that is most definitely a scale insect of
some kind. You can see lots of images on Google.
 
I have seen a few of those on my plants
from time to time. Just scrape it off the 
stem, and keep an eye out. They were
never prolific on any of my plants. Maybe
I was lucky to catch them early.

 

[Jimenezcs]

All righty then!!! It's been a while and I'm due for an update!
 
So top level summary: 
 
- Habanero plant was ripped up by dog. No survivor... RIP...
- Tabasco plant is doing really well, got some peppers growing and a far distance from where it started! Of all the plants, this one has been the trooper...
- Fresno Chili - this one had it's head chopped off... Look at 6/10 post... So good news, it grew back - pics below! But... The top I chopped off, I put it in a bottle of water and it did nothing for about 2 weeks - but wasn't dying. about 3 weeks in, two roots came out and a month in I decided to put it in a red cup with some soil. it's now grown second set of leaves and looks to be doing pretty darn good. guess we'll see how it turns out...
-Ghost - This one has set around and done jack and s**t till yesterday. Had a little one growing right beside the main plant. it outgrew the Main one but is scrawny. Yesterday about a month and a half in it finally started showing signs of growth. just got to say I've grown em once. doubt I'll actually be able to eat em. HAHA
-Cayenne - Topped this one... Put the top in bottle of water, looked today and appears to have a root. I'll give it a little longer and then see if it takes the way the Fresno did. 
 
RIP Habanero and other 1st Tabasco plant. Pics to come. 

 

[Jimenezcs]

All together
 
Back- Tabasco
 
Front L-R - Fresno/Ghost/Cayenne