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

Hi all! Although i've been into hot sauces / chillies for a long time, a Google regarding "growing chillies in Australia" led me to this site......and onto amazing people here in Australia, who have inspired me to grow my own!
There's not a lot to report as of yet, but here's my story so far! Please feel free to give advice to a newbie, as i really want this human vs chilli relationship to work out!

The story so far....

Pre-soaking my chilli seeds. I have 14 or more varieties to sow: From top left to bottom right....

Habanero Chocolate
Scotch Bonnet TFM
Bhut Jolokia
Macedonian
Pimenta da Neyde
Magnum Habanero
7 Pod Jonah

Habanero White Giant
Hot Fish
Cili Goronong
7 Pod Red crossed Yellow
Manzano
Fatalii
Habanero White JellyBean

Cutting the seeds from a Yellow 7 Pod....this time with GLOVES!! lol I have a load of extra seeds saved...just in case the winter grow doesn't work out, and i need to replant in the spring.

Week 1....seeds are in a propagator, kept at a constant 25 degree's thanks to the cable modem it's sat on! I don't expect any change for 4 weeks or so....fingers crossed!

 

[el hombre chilli]

Bernard (el hombre chilli) and his wife were round earlier and i grabbed a couple of Aji Pineapple / Goat Pepper seeds, which i will sow in the next day or so. We also decided to try one of the Macedonian peppers from my plant....still green, but the temptation was too much! They pack a fair bit of heat, nothing too extreme though, and we were surprised at how sweet they were. The heat for me was mainly in the throat, but Bernard got it in the tongue!
I was amazed too at how many seeds were inside for such a small pepper....must have been a good 20 or so...

Yep, definitely tongue burn, very intense for a bit there too. The taste was surprisingly sweet though, almost like a capsicum (bell pepper). Thanks for the bishops crowns. Have sown the hab jellybeans so fingers crossed.

 

[Mezo]

Nee you have certainly become a chilihead.

Nice one geezer.


Mezo.

 

[nee]

Nee you have certainly become a chilihead.

ooops!

ps, there were a few updated pics at the end of the last page if you didn't see them....as Bernard must have posted about 30 seconds after i updated it and began a new page

Cheers all

 

[Mezo]

Bernard? you lost me there Nee?

Right im going to bed for sure this time, honest, night.

Mez.

 

[nee]

Bernard? you lost me there Nee?

Right im going to bed for sure this time, honest, night.

Mez.

Sorry, i meant that Bernard (el hombre chilli) posted right after i updated my glog on the last page....thus starting a new page....so people may not have seen my last update which i posted about 30 seconds before this new page started!

You didn't miss much though...just a few pods the size of a pinhead, and me moaning about how damned cold it is at night...lol

 

[stc3248]

Lol...its even bigger now, but has overtaken the top of the stake so far that it's cascading halfway back to the ground. Great plant and pod. Awesome for just snacking on. Fully customizable heat level. Eat the perimeter for pure sweetness...toward the middle kicks it up a notch or two. I'll be checking in here often!

 

[nee]

OK, whilst mowing the front lawn this afternoon, i had a silly thought about the possibility of getting a few plants in soil as well as pots.
Initially i was going 100% pots only, but this hot pepper thing has really bitten hard here...lol

Across the front of the house theres a section that had loads of horrid bushy things growing when we first moved here, so i pulled them out using the car (lol) and just left them to grass over...
So today, after finishing the grass cutting i decided to have a poke around.....and before long i got the shovel out and took the first inch or 2 off the top to get rid of the turf.
I then got the fork and dug to a depth of about 12"...and basically just 'turned it over'......this is where i'm stuck as i need to know where to go next.

Obviously stuff HAS grown here in the past, but i have no idea whether this is good soil or bad soil. There were a few worms here and there, but some of it seemed a bit dusty and dry, and other areas were pretty packed in.
It seems a good area as it's not in full sun all day, and if it works out i will probably do the whole area in front of the house next year

SO....my first question is:

What should i add to this? I'm guessing there's going to be some sort of manure involved...but what type?
Anything else to add??
Do i just dig it all in and then plant?

Also, i dont want the grass growing there around the plants....so do people cover the whole lot in black plastic and just have holes where the plants are?

If anyone can offer any help that would be amazing....as i never really considered planting in the ground until today, but really want to give it a go
I know there's a soil 101 topic, which i will read through tonight when i have a bit more time, but i just wondered if anyone had an instant answer who has been there and done it recently, that would be cool!

Here's the area....de-turfed and dug up with the pitchfork! Got rid of the bigger roots and general rubbish!

As you can see, stuff does grow there..like that big bush thing!! No idea whether peppers will like it though?

The Macedonian pepper seems to be ripening to red now too

Thanks to anyone who can advise further

 

[Mezo]

Looks good enough just bung them in Nee, you can always add some manure later.

Mezo.

 

[stickman]

You can never go wrong spading in compost. It'll help the soil hold onto moisture and nutrients and slowly release them as needed. For the rest, why not get the soil tested? It'll tell you what nutes the soil needs, and save you spending money on the ones it doesn't. Don't overdo the Nitrogen, but know that peppers are heavy magnesium feeders. Again, don't overdo it, but after finding that my soil was deficient in Phosphate and Magnesium I spaded in 3 pounds of bonemeal and a cup and a half of epsom salts per hundred square feet, in addition to an organic general garden fertilizer.

 

[TheFanMan]

looks like quite a good spot to plant there. Just keep in mind as it is under the eaves it will probably need more watering.

What should i add to this? I'm guessing there's going to be some sort of manure involved...but what type?

doesn't really matter, as long as it has been aged.

Anything else to add??

Check the PH and see if it needs some lime.

Do i just dig it all in and then plant?
Yup

Also, i dont want the grass growing there around the plants....so do people cover the whole lot in black plastic and just have holes where the plants are?
You can use black plastic or mulch or anything that will keep the weeds down, it will also keep the water in.

 

[Mezo]

Sugar cane mulch is good (no weed seeds in it).

Mezo.

 

[nee]

Thanks everyone....that's exactly the type of info I was after!
I'm going to pick up a soil ph kit tomorrow and see what's what, and go from there.

 

[nee]

Fanman, can you expand on the 'aged' manure?
Not sure what aged manure is, and how to tell!

Also, i can see myself prepping the rest of that bordered area tomorrow too... I might get that bush attached to a vehicle and rip the bugger out and replace it with hot plants. May as well, eh?....

 

[nee]

Hi everyone!

OK, i have prepped more of the border around the front of the house today.

I went down to the local Bunnings and got 3 bags of organic compost and also 3 bags of sheep manure and worked it into the soil. These were 25l bags.....so does this sound enough for that area, or do you think i need more?
Also i have tested the soil ph in a few different areas and it spans from around 6.0 - 7.0.....and i think i'm right in saying i need to try and get somewhere in the 5's for peppers?
If so, are Epsom Salts the solution to lower the ph? And to what ratio....and applied dry or with water?

Any help on the above would be great

 

[roper2008]

Back on your picture of your Macedonian pepper. It is feferoni? Looks a lot like it. If so, it
was developed for pickling.

 

[megamoo]

From what I've read the best soil pH for chillies is 6 - 6.8.
Did you test the soil pH before or after digging in the manure? Adding manure and organic compost will lower the pH of soil over time. If you are getting levels around 7.8 then you should add something like sulphur to bring it down. They will tolerate 7 but its not going to kill them.

I wouldn't worry about it. They'll do fine in that.


edit: Also you will want to cut back on the Nitrogen in their fertilizer once they are a good size and are podding up. P and K will get you more and better pods, too much N will bush up the plant but not get more pods. Hopefully by then the sheep crap will be used up, so you'll want to feed with something that has less N.

 

[stickman]

From what I've read the best soil pH for chillies is 6 - 6.8.
Did you test the soil pH before or after digging in the manure? Adding manure will lower the pH or soil over time. If you are getting levels around 7.8 then you should add something like sulphur to bring it down. They will tolerate 7 but its not going to kill them.

I wouldn't worry about it. They'll do fine in that.

+1 on pH... . When I suggested testing the soil I meant collecting a sample and taking it to a lab to test for the mineral nutrients like Phosphate, Magnesium, Calcium, Potassium, etc. The percentages of these nutes in soil depends a lot on local conditions, makeup of the rock layer under the soil, what was growing there before, etc. They vary widely between locations. Getting your soil tested for nutrients and amending for nute deficiencies can make a huge difference in your harvest and the health of your plants.

 

[nee]

Hi Megamoo!

OK, the reading was before i added anything to the soil...so it sounds about right if it's meant to be around 6 - 6.8....excellent!

Stickman...i will have to look into the lab thing. I don't really know where to start though, but i'll ask around!
I'm not putting all of my plants in the soil, as it's more of a test to see if they'll like it there....so it's no huge issue if the soils a bit out of whack, and something i can look into for next year if they don't like it as it.

Thanks for the replies! Appreciated!

Roper2008...i've no idea whether the Macedonian is a [background=rgb(255, 244, 228)]feferoni as i got them from Grant JungleRain and they were just labelled as Macedonian......although after looking up the [/background][background=rgb(255, 244, 228)]feferoni on Google they do seem identical![/background]

 

[megamoo]

I'm not sure how much the lab testing costs or even where to get it done, but if you are bringing in so much material like compost and sheep manure then the test will probably just reflect what is on the bags you used. It's definitely a good idea if you are planting into the local soil over a large area and you need to know how to improve the soil but for your small bed you have created all the minerals and nutrient levels with what you have brought it. Perhaps add some trace elements depending on what the compost is like.

 

[nee]

Thanks for that mate

Oh, i just thought of one more question regarding planting in soil....

Slugs and snails!!!! Any hints to keep them at bay?

For the smaller ones i was going to do the old '2 litre clear plastic bottle over the top' thing...but i was thinking what i can do to keep them away from the bigger ones, although realistically i guess it's just one of those things i'll have to live with.
Plus i guess that when the weather warms up more here they'll probably head towards trees and stuff to keep out of the heat!?