Nee's first pepper season. (Australia) Pics, vids & banter.. yey! \\(^o^)//

nee · Aug 21, 2012

el hombre chilli said:
Did Amber and the kids eat the hot fish as well? How hot was it in comparison to a hab or jalapeno? What was the flavour like?

Mate, if you're headed to Grant's can you pick me up some seeds please:
Bolivian Rainbow
Habanero White Jellybean
Tabasco
Cayenne

We'll be down in a few weeks and will fix you up then if that's ok.

Hi Bernardo..
Naaa...was just me that ate the pepper

Anyway, with only 1 pod so far i'd be reluctant to share! lol

I saw Grant today to get my hot sauce 'fix'...and ,weirdly enough, i also went there to pick up some Bolivian Rainbow seeds!
I spotted them on someones post on here and just have to grow some...they look awesome!!!
He has got some, but couldn't locate them....so i will be popping down there again as soon as he can find, and i will ask if he has the others (unless Grant reads this beforehand and wants to post here!)

nee · Aug 25, 2012

Spotted my first Hab making an appearance tonight...
Early days, but still stoked

The Macedonian pepper plant is still going great guns.

A pod with an additional twist...

I have whacked a few of my plants out in the back porch to see how they'd cope with the current weather...usually 17 degrees by day and down to 5 - 7 by night, and they are coping with it no problem, which is good! I will probably send more of the plants outside in the next week or 2.
I have also sown a load of my fave herb ever.... Coriander!!! I have fallen in love with fresh Coriander, and cant get enough of it! We use it in everything!

cbradac · Aug 25, 2012

Nice one Neil. What hab is that??

I've got a bunch of buds on my puple ghost, red hab and thai chilli! Weather is definitely getting better.

nee · Aug 25, 2012

cbradac said:
Nice one Neil. What hab is that??

I've got a bunch of buds on my puple ghost, red hab and thai chilli! Weather is definitely getting better.

Thanks cbradac!

Its a Magnum Hab.....and yeah, spring has deffo been in the air here lately hasn't it! I love this time of year...

stickman · Aug 25, 2012

nee said:
Spotted my first Hab making an appearance tonight...
Early days, but still stoked

The Macedonian pepper plant is still going great guns.

A pod with an additional twist...

I have whacked a few of my plants out in the back porch to see how they'd cope with the current weather...usually 17 degrees by day and down to 5 - 7 by night, and they are coping with it no problem, which is good! I will probably send more of the plants outside in the next week or 2.
I have also sown a load of my fave herb ever.... Coriander!!! I have fallen in love with fresh Coriander, and cant get enough of it! We use it in everything!

Glad to hear you like fresh cilantro. Now if you add fresh squeezed lime juice you've got a classic accompaniment to food from Mexico and Central America, and half of a salsa... to that, just add chopped scallions and plum tomatoes, fruity olive oil, salt, pepper and the chiles of your choice and you've got an excellent salsa cruda! Substitute garlic and tomatillos that have been toasted in a dry frying pan for the tomatoes and scallions and process in a blender or food processor and you have a tangy cooked salsa.

nee · Aug 27, 2012

Thanks for the info there Stickman....i can see myself putting those to good use over the summer

I pulled all of the indoor plants out from under the lights earlier on tonight so i could give them some water and a dash of chilli focus, and spotted that the Cili Goronong has it's first pod appearing.

I keep forgetting about this plant..lol This one seems to be the one that sits in the corner being overlooked by the 7 pots and Jolokia's...

The plants i have put out in the back porch seem to be doing ok. I'm surprised that, even though it's not really warmed up here yet, i need to water these more often...which i'm guessing is more down to the airflow out there compared to the lack of airflow the indoor plants are getting, and thus drying the soil out faster.
I was a bit annoyed that one of the smaller plants out there has had something nibbling away at it. It's not totally butchered though, so it's no biggie.... Whatever was feasting on it doesn't appear to have been back for seconds, so hopefully it's found something else to devour.

nee · Sep 1, 2012

The 'test plants' i relocated in our back porch last weekend seem to be doing pretty good, so today i moved a load more from under the lights, to the back porch.

It's officially Spring here in Australia now, although still a teeny bit nippy overnight...here's the temps for the week ahead to give an idea

MAX / MIN

Sun: 20 / 5

Mon: 19 / 8

Tue: 22 / 8

Wed: 17 / 13

Thur: 16 / 9

Fri: 14 / 7

So it's heading in the right direction anyway, as for the past few weeks it's been down to 3 or 4 degrees at night.

DocNrock · Sep 1, 2012

Looking great, Neil. Great jump start on your season!

stickman · Sep 1, 2012

DocNrock said:
Looking great, Neil. Great jump start on your season!

+1 that! It's a great feeling to get them outside in the dirt, and it looks like it's just around the corner for you. Good on ya Nee!

nee · Sep 2, 2012

Thanks a lot guys

This place has been so amazing, and full of great people always willing to help out with advise....

OK, today was Fathers Day here in Australia....and the kids got me the best prezzie ever!

It's one of those 4 shelf mini-greenhouse things!
Whilst assembling it, i made sure i used my best friend, silicone sealer, in all of the joins where the poles join....just to give it a bit of strength. Also i filled 2 buckets with water and put them on the lower shelf. Plus i will fix it to the wall sometime soon, just to be safe

Obviously a lot of my plants are pretty big now, but it's going to be great for the rest that i have just sown. I managed to fit a few of my mid-sized plants in by removing one of the shelves.

The rest of the plants (the bigger ones) are now all in the back porch....meaning my 'winter grow under lights' is officially over, and the lights now redundant! I will now steadily introduce the plants to the outdoors...

Here is a pic of the rest of the bigger plants. It's funny, as the small light box that i had mounted inside of the wall when i first started my winter grow was just the right size to act as a second shelf out in the back porch! It pays to keep things that, at the time, you don't think you'll ever need again!

It was a beautiful day here today... The sun was out, it hit around 19 degrees, and we went for a walk on the beach....and dipped our feet in the freezing cold sea (lol)

stickman · Sep 2, 2012

Wow Nee
You're off to a great start! I got one of those 4-tiered mini greenhouses this past spring and used it to start my chiles down in my cold basement. It should do you well. Cheers!

nee · Sep 2, 2012

Many thanks Stick.... and as i'm planning to sow a load more it will definitely be handy! Although saying that i haven't had anything pop up for ages now, but patience is the key, and just when you least expect it, something sprouts

I meant to put this in my post earlier today...

After spotting in someone elses post regarding potting plants into 'green bags' (recyclable shopping bags) i have been on the look out for some of a decent size, and as cheap as possible.....and stumbled across these today in our local Bunnings hardware store, so i bought a few to test out.
At $1 a go they have to be worth a shot, as i was looking at plastic pots of the same size and they were $10+.
I have put a standard sized bucket next to it in the photo as a size comparison.

The bags seem quite strong, so i'm going to give it a go...will let you all know how they fair over the next few months.

Datil · Sep 2, 2012

Nice thread nee! I use a similar mini-greenhouse myself, i suggest you to put some sealed containers full of water on the bottom, open buckets will raise the humidity too much. The containers also keep some heat collected by the water during the day in nigh time (passive heating).

Cya

Datil

stickman · Sep 2, 2012

Datil said:
Nice thread nee! I use a similar mini-greenhouse myself, i suggest you to put some sealed containers full of water on the bottom, open buckets will raise the humidity too much. The containers also keep some heat collected by the water during the day in nigh time (passive heating).

Cya

Datil

As a refinement, you could spray paint the containers of water flat black to maximize solar gain. If the containers of water are big enough, they might warp the wire shelf underneath... so just take it out and let them set on the ground inside the tent.

If you want to improve the drainage in the shopping bags without weakening them you could punch some holes in the bottom and set grommets around them.

megamoo · Sep 2, 2012

Looking good.

Sanarda · Sep 2, 2012

Wow This thread just proves how great that some people are here. Stickman and Datil are indicative of the generosity of knowledge here. People that have learned from their experiences and so willing to share the knowledge. Like they see where your going wrong and go YO YO YO,, dont do that cuz this is what happened to me when i did that...Its so greattttt...I know your going to have a great grow. Keep posting cuz im watching...

nee · Sep 3, 2012

Well...the first day i get some plants in the greenhouse, turns out to be 20 degrees and sunshine for most of the day.

Note to self: maybe cover greenhouse with shade cloth before such days to avoid frying leaves on fresh plants...

That is all.

megamoo · Sep 3, 2012

nee said:
Well...the first day i get some plants in the greenhouse, turns out to be 20 degrees and sunshine for most of the day.

Note to self: maybe cover greenhouse with shade cloth before such days to avoid frying leaves on fresh plants...

That is all.

done that

I like the idea of greenhouses in winter but you have to be there to open them up on slightly sunny days or its bake and death time.

DocNrock · Sep 3, 2012

Nice gift, the mini-greenhouse. Keep us posted on the $1 grow bags!

nee · Sep 3, 2012

megamoo said:
done that

I like the idea of greenhouses in winter but you have to be there to open them up on slightly sunny days or its bake and death time.

Well i'm hoping tomorrow will be ok....
I now have 70% shade cloth covering it now, and will leave the door open too....
Its a sod, as the only time i can be around to supervise is on the weekends...so trying to harden these off is going to be a right pain

No idea how i'm going to do it successfully.

DocNrock said:
Nice gift, the mini-greenhouse. Keep us posted on the $1 grow bags!

Will do mate