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Next to My Chair

Been thinking about it.. pretty sure I'm growing peppers because I'm bored.  Like, deeply, existentially bored.  Plus, a little harmless pain never hurt anybody, right?  Hell, it's probably even good for you.  We'll see if those are good enough reasons, I guess.  I bought me some "Scotch Bonnet Orange" seeds from Amazon before I found you fine folk, lurked around here for a while, then planted them anyway along with other, infinitely less suspect seeds I ordered from far flung places around the globe(!) as recommended by the very venerable Vendor Vault.  I've got them growing here by my chair.  I sit here and read. (The wall to my right as I took this picture is lined with bookshelves I'm slowing filling as I try to forget the world each afternoon.  Mostly scifi the last few years.)  It would be distracting to have a big boxy tent looming over me, so I've just got them sitting there on a cardboard box.  I hope to replace the box with a little table here soon.
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My rig consists of something like a quarter of the full Amazon Indoor Garden of Tomorrow-orrow-orrow-orrow ®.  This LED light I got is something else, man.  It's REALLY bright!  Paper towel germination, used a few Jiffy pellets, stuck some seeds straight in some old Miracle Grow I had, kept them in the Jiffy box there until they sprouted.  I'm glad to be rid of that Jiffy dome now; it was a pain in the ass.  Ahh.. let's see.. I'm mixing CNS17 Grow into RO/DI water, testing and adjusting up with GH pH kit, pouring it over my little darlings there in about 3:1 coco:perlite.  Just culled and potted up today to 3.5 inches.  All seems to be going well except for some slight canoeing of leaves, which I'm ready to blame on the 24% humidity (We wake up half mummified in the winter.  I know - grow tent.) and a few early spills on my rug.  Trying to keep it simple and not drive myself crazier futzing with dozens of parameters here, so I'm not going to sweat it unless things turn worse.  I'm not!  Worry verges on religion with me, so this will either be therapeutic or turn out to have been a bad idea.. 
Any and all comments or criticisms are very welcome and I thank you all most warmly for having me and schooling me and reading my noodlings! 
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I mean to cut notches in the PVC pipes and wrap twine every six or ten inches or so.
 
I know what you mean about getting the cages on late.  I've cut windows where I can't work the branches through.  It also makes a big difference to have some help to hold open the cage while maneuvering it around the plant.
 
If you've got extra fencing you could extend upward those falling short the way I did with my Lemon Drop recently.  I'll get a picture.
 
Couldn't get it to focus on the wires..
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What I did was drill holes in the PVC pipes and thread twine through them. Maybe the reason why I messed up is that I attached the pipes to the net cups before drilling the holes! It was a royal pain to drill the holes with a hand drill once they're stuck up in the air. So don't be like me and make sure you drill the PVC before you attach them to the net cups!
 
I only drilled holes in the top - thinking about it, holes at a 4" spacing would allow for a nice mesh to be achieved and give good support. One thing to watch out for is that the empty net pot doesn't provide much resistance so when I was tying the twine tight, I was distorting the pot.
 
Siv said:
One thing to watch out for is that the empty net pot doesn't provide much resistance so when I was tying the twine tight, I was distorting the pot.
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Thanks! I'll play around with different pipe diameters and attachment points and such, find a configuration I like before I stick the plant in there.
 
Uncle_Eccoli said:
DouglahT and cayenne
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Unc, how hot are those DouglahT pods?
 
I found some that look remarkably similar. Different from anything I've ever grown. The plant is supposed to be Douglah and it's from my seed. I wonder if one of my Scorpions got frisky with a Douglah? Only thing is, these pods are nowhere close to Douglah or Scorpion heat.
 
Or maybe my wife is right and I have no sense of heat anymore. :crazy:
 
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They're pretty hot.  Certainly hotter than my yellow bonnets, but I couldn't really say more about it than that.  The taste is amazing, though.  Sweet, with a flavor like some kind of red fruit.  I think they're the tastiest peppers I've grown yet. 
 
I got one of the clones from the vole plant moved up to a 5-gallon Kratky bucket today, so should have some brown ones to compare to these eventually. 
 
Uncle_Eccoli said:
They're pretty hot.  Certainly hotter than my yellow bonnets, but I couldn't really say more about it than that.  The taste is amazing, though.  Sweet, with a flavor like some kind of red fruit.  I think they're the tastiest peppers I've grown yet. 
 
I got one of the clones from the vole plant moved up to a 5-gallon Kratky bucket today, so should have some brown ones to compare to these eventually. 
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Thanks Unc. These odd pods I have are really sweet and fruity too.
 
 
I've still got one plant in the ground, a Reaper. I limbed up the tree it's under before planting it, but I couldn't reach high enough without being unsafe with my ladder, so the plant is in shade all day. It's growing nicely, but no flowers.

My bro has a big piece of land a couple hours away and wants the plant. I'll be going down there in a week and a half, leaving in the late morning. There's little doubt it'll be 95° and very humid. He'll have a hole ready.

I've never moved a plant out of the ground.. How should I do this?
Cut around the plant with a spade, pry it up out of the ground.
Moisten the root ball, wrap it in plastic.
Wrap the plant with something for transport?
Keep the plant in a (cool?) shady spot until dusk.
Plant in the hole, water.

Any of that wrong? Missing steps or considerations? I figure I'll wait as long as I can before I disturb the plant, ideally just before I leave for the boonies. Or would it be better to dig up the plant earlier in the morning when it's not so hot?
 
I water reasonably the night before because I want the soil only very slightly damp, not wet or totally dry (either can cause collapse/deterioration of the root ball).  Also the plant will uptake some water overnight which will help sustain it.  I don't remove a plant until I'm completely ready to move and replant it, so I'd recommend doing so immediately before you leave.  I spade around close to where I think the edge of the root ball is while limiting any extra soil (too much extra soil and it tends to break apart sometimes) then lift it out onto a shovel and carefully set it on fabric/plastic to wrap it. I don't moisten the root ball after removal (again, because I don't want deterioration of the soil around the root ball) nor would I wrap the plant foliage, but I definitely try to keep it out of direct sun.  Then I'm just careful with it until it goes into the new hole. I amend the hole with any fertilizers and such and water the plant in without soaking it, being sure to get some water right at the base of the plant so it penetrates the root ball. 
 
That's basically my method.
 
Lucky bro.
 
And don't forget to acclimate the plant to it's new digs. Going from shady to 12 hours of 95F full sun could kill it. Use something to shade it for a few days and increase sun exposure gradually – kinda like hardening off all over again. Good luck with it. And I agree, lucky bro.
 
For sure. Thanks!

I'm really only growing Reapers because he wanted them. I saw it as a novelty and wasn't really interested. To be honest, I was skeptical of the whole superhot thing, thinking they must give up a lot in flavor to focus on heat. Having now tried these DouglahTs (still haven't tried a Reaper - dear brother has urgent plans for a hot sauce) I know how deeply wrong that assumption was. I can't get over how good these DouglahTs taste.
 
My new hummingbird feeder has attracted more bees and wasps than hummingbirds, but most of the bugs visit my pepper flowers, too!  Frankie loves to chomp at sky raisins, though, and there are so many more spicy ones around now I worry she'll catch one..
:mouthonfire:
 
Put up some shade cloth yesterday. My poor plants suffered in this week's heatwave.  A few green pods dropped, nothing major, but it was a harrowing experience.  Angrily shaking my fist at the sun made a difference, I think. 
 
Uncle_Eccoli said:
For sure. Thanks!

I'm really only growing Reapers because he wanted them. I saw it as a novelty and wasn't really interested. To be honest, I was skeptical of the whole superhot thing, thinking they must give up a lot in flavor to focus on heat. Having now tried these DouglahTs (still haven't tried a Reaper - dear brother has urgent plans for a hot sauce) I know how deeply wrong that assumption was. I can't get over how good these DouglahTs taste.
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You know, the vast majority of people don't have a hope in hell of experiencing the flavor nuances in something as mild as a habanero. I'm so glad you're enjoying the genuinely hot and tasty stuff Unc.
 
I may have to go cuss at the sun. The "feels like" temperature has been around 110° down here. That's so much BS. No way 110 in the desert feels anything like being in this sweatbox. Anyways, one of my sharpei plants growing in a real hay bale is suffering from the wilt. I lost one in another bale a while back, same symptons so this one is enjoying intensive care mode now.
 
DWB said:
 
You know, the vast majority of people don't have a hope in hell of experiencing the flavor nuances in something as mild as a habanero. I'm so glad you're enjoying the genuinely hot and tasty stuff Unc.
 
I may have to go cuss at the sun. The "feels like" temperature has been around 110° down here. That's so much BS. No way 110 in the desert feels anything like being in this sweatbox. Anyways, one of my sharpei plants growing in a real hay bale is suffering from the wilt. I lost one in another bale a while back, same symptons so this one is enjoying intensive care mode now.
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I am cursed with an abnormally acute olfactory sense, which is great for eating peppers and drinking beer and what, but absolutely sucks in every other facet of life. 
I didn't expect to love a superhot.. Confuses my nascent plans for next year..
 
Yep, we're right there with you - 109° and downright swampy.  Sucks. 
 
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