OZZZ 2022

Hey everyone.

Recently we moved to Arizona and this is my first time trying to grow outdoors here so we will see how it goes. We got here last year in June and for experimental purposes I planted a cayenne, scotch bonnet and a morouga scorpion that overwintered naturally outdoors and are still going now, although they don’t look the best. I planted them late last year so the SB and the morouga didn’t produce anything at all, but the cayenne was productive. Now the SB from last year is loaded, while the morouga produced only a single pepper so far.

In January or February I started a bunch of others, another MOA, a fatalli, yellow 7 pot, Caribbean Red, and a red 7 pot.

I have them all in white ceramic pots and I tapped into my landscaping irrigation line and ran drip emitters to each pot. I’m hoping I have the water needs dialed in. Obviously it gets hot as hell here but yet I don’t want to overwater them either. Our tap water is very high PPM too… it’s about 1.0 EC straight from the tap, but the PH is 6.5 at least.

I think each pot is around 7-10 gallons in volume, and I have 2 - 1/2 GPH emitters in each pot running for 30 minutes every morning. I don’t have a ton of flexibility in this aspect because the landscaping is in the same line…. So if I need to adjust the water needs to each pot I need to swap out the emitters to a higher or lower flow rate but I am locked into a 30 minute run time every morning. So far they are doing ok but lately we are peaking 100 degrees and they are getting beat down by the afternoon sun, so I have ordered a 50% shade cloth and am waiting for the hardware to arrive to get it installed …. that should offer some relief.

From Back to front we have 7 pot yellow, Caribbean Red, MOA SB, 7 pot Red and in front a Fatalli. These were all planted this year around Jan/Feb:

The yellow 7 pot is producing pretty well, I probably have around 20 pods on it so far and more appearing by the day:

The second MOA SB is starting to push pods also, she seems like she just woke up and is just getting started:

The Caribbean red is loading up also, while the 7 pot red and the fatalli are not pushing pods yet. They seem much slower either that or they just aren’t as happy.

Here’s the plants that are still alive from last year. First up the cayenne…. The foliage doesn’t look great but she has loaded herself up again with new peppers:

….. and the MOA SB from last year…. Her foliage also doesn’t look the best but she is loaded up pretty well. Maybe 20-30 pods

…. And the morouga scorpion that isn’t doing much other than the one ripe pepper I got off of it already.

 

[PaulG]

@PaulG …. This is great information and really helps. Do you think 1 gph drippers placed every 18” along that bed…. Running for 30 minutes once a day will be sufficient? The above ground potting soil level is about 12” and the Ammended native soil extends about 12” below ground… of course below that is just the native compacted Arizona dirt.

I suppose I could add another 10 minute interval around 3pm in the afternoon. I’m sure all the plants will appreciate that.

Keep in mind I simply tapped off of our main landscaping irrigation line. So whatever I set the timer too all the plants on our entire property will have the same schedule. The citrus trees, palm trees, hibiscus bushes etc etc.

That’s the reason for the long run times. The trees obviously have much higher flow rate drippers and more of them for a deep watering.

My point being I can’t really Taylor a custom time schedule for the garden without it also affecting all the trees and plants along the property.

Right now it runs at 5:30 am for 30 minutes, once a day so I need to adjust the emitters for raised bed accordingly.

I was thinking 1 gph drippers ran for that length of time once a day should be sufficient as it can drain into the native soil but I’m not sure either. Maybe it could be too much and 1/2 gph drippers would be better?

I think your plan sounds good. That would
give each plant a half gallon of water If there
were one emitter for each plant. I would start
there and just keep a check on the soil moisture
around the plants and adjust emitters as necessary.

How many plants in all?

 

[OZZZ]

I think your plan sounds good. That would
give each plant a half gallon of water If there
were one emitter for each plant. I would start
there and just keep a check on the soil moisture
around the plants and adjust emitters as necessary.

How many plants in all?

So the bed is 20’ L x 3’ wide. I’ll have 5 pepper plants and 2 tomato plants at the very end.

Here’s some new pics of the work done today. I added the additional 200 gallons of soil, but found some yummy ammendments I had forgotten I had so used those instead. Jamaican bat guano (high N) and seabird guano (high P) mixed with kelp (high K).

Then added more azomite and also some humid acids to help break everything down.

Here’s some pics it was a long few days over here

The crime scene before I got started

…. After I added all the guanos, acid and minerals (before mixing in)

Then I added some sand, and some pumice stone I found in my garage. Basically I used the bed to dispose of spare gardening supplies I have accumulated over the last 20 years

Finally I added 10 cubic foot of Kellogg raised bed garden soil.

…. Then I mixed it all in and transplanted a bunch of plants, but I have no pics of that I’ll get them tomorrow.

Also I am going to add a 3rd layer to the border blocks outlining the bed.

I transplanted my full sized fatalli plant that hadn’t done shit in the pot it was in, because I’ve never had fat allis and I’m hoping it’ll do better in the raised bed.

Also I transplanted a few very very young starts. A 7 pot yellow (hoping for actual yellow this time), a Freeport Orange Scotch bonnet, and also a scotch bonnet marabella caranel from @JGBaxter59

Then….. I threw down four Super Bhut jolokia seeds right under a dripper line, directly in the bed… seeds from white hot pepper. It’s hot out so hopefully all will take off and do well. If not I have plenty of starts already above ground in my cannabis room.

 

[PaulG]

Raised bed is dope, bro

Last pic =

 

[Downriver]

After everything you put in there, looks like the only thing missing is....

 

[OZZZ]

Raised bed is dope, bro

Last pic =

That pics is from WHP of the seeds I got from them of the strain. If I get something similar I’ll be ecstatic…. That’s one badass ghost phenotype.

After everything you put in there, looks like the only thing missing is....

That’s exactly why I’m adding the third layer to the block wall, first thing our little westie did was jump up in there and try to lift his leg on the Fatalli. I shoed him out if there and gave him a scolding lol…. But the third layer will make the wall taller and be more of a deterrent. He’s kind of a lazy guy so I think it will work well to keep him out, he’s only like 15” tall after all lol

 

[OZZZ]

Alright! Outdoor garden is pretty much complete. I’ll need to rearrange and reorganize the dripper layout once the starts in the garden bed get larger. Right now they are small and it’s hot outside so they need direct watering of their root zones.

I think I’m already seeing the little guys get bigger…. But Maybe I’m just seeing things lol. The yellow 7 pot

The scotch bonnet marabella caramel

Freeport Orange Scotch Bonnet

Still working on getting the watering down on the container peppers to avoid the BER but I’ll keep at it.

….. and here’s my outdoor Carolina reaper autopot test plant. Due to the high reservoir temps I went ahead and shutoff the reservoir and will bottom water with fresh solution daily until she’s much bigger … then we will try again. I’ll continue to experiment with it until I get things figured out. A lot going on over here! HA!

…. And my poor tomato plants got blasted by horn worms…. Some are doing ok some not so much….. One is almost completely eaten down to the stem nubs but I did get them all sprayed with BT and it seems to have eradicated them completely so now I just need it to spread its roots into that bed and make a recovery. It looks pretty bad though lol

…. Charlie seems happy with all my hard work…. Let’s see

….. nice! Got the seal of approval…. Had me worried for a sec!

 

[OZZZ]

Time for an update on the chili experiments as I have a ton going on over here and most of them are not doing all that great.

It’s been blazing hot here in Phoenix, but this week we did get some cloud cover and it cooled off a little.

First up the raised bed. I’ve got some new seedlings that sprouted directly in the bed, I simply sowed seeds right in it, outdoors under a dripper line and they popped and are growing, although slowly. At first the plants were taking off nicely but now it seems they have stalled. For all the ammendments I added into that bed, I think I should have added worm castings for more humus. All the soil was old, used soil. While I did add some bags of mushroom compost and granular ammendments I think the mix needs more compost and worm castings to be really effective. Still I think once they get their roots dug down and start hitting the native soil things should improve.

Also I think they are getting over watered. I had to bump up my irrigation timer to 1 hour a day to keep one of our trees alive … doing so I believe is resulting in overwatering the bed and I’m seeing signs they need calcium. I have been burrying banana peels, eggshells and used coffee grounds at various places in the bed… far away from the roots to improve things over time but that will take awhile. Also, I have now cut it back to 45 minutes so that should help. They were doing much better with less water.

First up the large Fatalli transplant. I dug it out of its previous pot with a shovel, ripping off half of its roots. Then I watered it with some leftover liquid hydroponic nutes from my indoor cannabis grow and burned the living shit out of it. Oops

Won’t be doing that again. I’m sure it will make a recovery eventually but just in case I transplanted another little fatalli seedling right next to it.

Next, left to right are the yellow 7 pot, the scotch bonnet marabella caramel and the Freeport orange scotch bonnet. All are doing ok but there are some signs of calcium uptake issues that appeared after I increased the irrigation timer. Hoping it gets better now that I’ve cut the water back. I am giving everyone a cal mag and rhizotonic foilar to help them along until they get really established.

Here’s some of the seedlings I sowed right into the bed. A super Bhut jolokia

A bih jolokia x sugar rush peach

…. And a super Bhut jolokia x (Pink Tiger x Peach Bhut) that is in a container. I have two of these seedlings. This one which is bright green and another indoors that’s completely purple. Probably will be very cool pods

 

[OZZZ]

Now for my container peppers. Here’s a MOA scotch bonnet that is doing great. She’s very hardy. Likes the soil, food and water. I’ve been hitting her hard with nitrogen trying to get her to grow bigger and it’s working clearly. I’ll switch her to a more balanced bloom feed soon now that we are nearing end of summer

 

[OZZZ]

Next up the other container plants. Some doing ok some not so Much. I think having these containers on the irrigation system is a bad idea. Too hard to get the right moisture dialed in. If the plants would double in size I think I could get things humming along better. Maybe I should opt for hand watering for awhile to get them going. I’m not a huge fan of the specific pepper types though and I have other plants I can start over with (plus I’m more excited about the varieties whereas these where test plants), so I may end up taking all these containers out of here and starting over with big smart pots with fresh soil. Not recycled.

First up the Caribbean red, unfortunately she got a big drink of the same leftover hydroponic nutrient solution that burned up the fatalli …. And she got equally burned.

Another MOA scotch bonnet. Not nearly as big as the other one but she’s hanging in there

…. And a 7 pot red. Leaves have always been curled up since I can remember. It has never been a happy plant. I’ll probably toss it soon.

Here’s another pic with a rosemary bush in the front.

 

[OZZZ]

Here’s an interesting find. Came out this morning and a chocolate habanero seedling is getting dwarfed by random mushrooms that popped up in the container. There’s loads of them popping up everywhere too. The mycelial activity should make for a great soil but they are blocking the little seedlings light. I’ll have to chop a few of them out and I’ll leave the rest.

 

[OZZZ]

As for my outdoor autopot trials… they have also been a failure. The heat in the root zone just seems to be too much, the reservoir water gets to 105 degrees some days and that’s just not going to work I guess. So I resorted to hand watering to runoff to see if I can get them to rebound…. they continue to hang on even though they look like they all have pythium. I’ll leave them be and see if they do better when things cool down. These are all in coco coir being fed hydroponic nutes. Here’s the Carolina reaper.

…. And a morouga monster

 

[OZZZ]

Finally!! I have now ordered 3 x 20 gallon smart pots and mixed up a FRESH - NEW soil mixture. For the 60 gallons of soil I used 3 cubic foot of Fox farms ocean forest, 2 cubic foot of worm castings, 2 cubic foot of coco coir and 1 cubic foot of perilite. Mixed it all up adding azomite and kelp meal.

It’s a beautiful mix! Porous, dark and rich in humus. Im considering adding some fish bone meal but I don’t want it to be too hot. I will definitely add crushed egg shells into the bottom layer of soil in each pot. Also I will *HAND WATER* these individually so I can bypass the issues with being on the irrigation system. I’ll look after these three much better, they will be my babies. Right now they are inside under lights, in coco coir being fed hydro nutes but I’ll transplant them into the soil after they get a little bigger.

The three plants that will go in each smart pot are as follows:

First … the other super Bhut jolokia x (Pink Tiger x Peach Bhut). This is the purple one, it’s been purple from the time it broke soil. I have a feeling it’s going to be one cool ass plant.

Next a super Bhut jolokia

…. And finally the bih jolokia x sugar rush peach… also should be an awesome plant

 

[OZZZ]

Well! I think that’s all for now! Phew!

I’m obviously feeling things out experimenting with multiple techniques until I find my chili groove. I’m guessing the raised bed and the large smart pots will be where I end up but we will see. It’s unfortunate I can’t get the autopots to work right in the heat, but I’ll keep them going as long as I can and see if they might turn around and recover once it cools off. We really only have one more month of brutally hot weather. Time will tell…. We will see

 

[OZZZ]

Ran into a little friend on my hike this morning

He wasn’t nearly as happy to see me as I was him

 

[PaulG]

Great pit viper photo, from tongue to buttons!

 

[OZZZ]

Great pit viper photo, from tongue to buttons!

Yeah was a great shot! Interesting getting it as he was lodged down into some rocks.

Chili garden experiments continue. I chopped down the Caribbean red and the 7 pot red as neither of them were as happy as the MOAs, plus I didn’t like the pods really at all…. But loved the MOAs flavor, even though they really didn’t have the proper shape at least they are tasty

So I moved the two MOA yellows right next to each other as they are doing well and getting big on the high nitrogen feed I’ve been giving them to increase their size and discourage flowering through this hot weather.

Now that we are nearing the end of summer I’ll shift back to a more balanced NPK and allow them to bloom and hopefully start setting pods. Also everyone got a fresh heavy top dressing of worm castings.

The two MOAs and a rosemary bush

At the very back are the Carolina reaper, and morouga monster…. The coco coir autopot plants. They are hanging in there I’m hand feeding them as of now.

Also you can see some new additions. I loaded up some 20 gallon grow bags with a mix of FF Ocean Forest, worm castings, coco coir, perilite, coffee grounds, banana peels, crushed eggshells, azomite and kelp meal….. then planted a Bih Jolokia x Sugar rush peach, a Super Bhut Jolokia, and a Súper Bhut Jolokia x (Pink Tiger x Peach Bhut).

Watered them in with a root stimulator and a heavy dose of Orca mycorrhiza.

Let’s see how they do!

They are all tiny right now as I had them in my indoor propagator tent being fed hydro nutes so they may take a second to adjust.

The Bih Jolokia x Sugar rush peach

The super Bhut Jolokia

…. And the super Bhut Jolokia x (Pink Tiger x Peach Bhut). Really excited about this plant. Dark purple foliage and stem from the time it broke ground as a seedling.

….. and over here a chocolate Hab (left) and another Super Bhut Jolokia x (Pink Tiger x Peach Bhut). This one was bright green all the way up until recently and is now starting to get purple shades.

Lots of new starts. I expect them to do better than the previous round of plants. I think my old used soil wasn’t balanced enough even with the amendments. I didn’t add enough humus/compost/castings to bring the old soil back to life sufficiently.

With a fresh soil mix Im hoping these guys take off.

 

[OZZZ]

I’ve ordered and organic nute line from Blue Planet Naturals. I’m going to start using it on all of these chilis. The large plants will get it starting now as they are established. The little plants will stay on water with little to no nutes until they get larger. There is plenty of nutrients in the soil for quite some time for them, especially those 20 gal grow bags. They will probably stay on water only for months.

This organic line up is a three part base feed and should do well. Grow, micro, bloom. Will use RO water and cal mag on the grow bags. Hand watered.


Farmer's Pride 3-Part Organic Blend Fertilizer Set (32 oz Jugs) Quart | Concentrated Plant Food for All Plants & Gardens | Makes Up to 470 Gallons | Blue Planet Nutrients https://a.co/d/abKX92U

 

[PaulG]

Looks like you are getting the grow dialed in, Ozzz!
Those 20-gallon grow bags are impressive. Being
bhuts or bhut hybrids, those plants will easily hit 5'
tall, maybe ,more. Also gives a nice comparison to
the white pots. They are bigger than I thought from
your other pics. You can't beat Ocean Forest. I mix
mine with Happy Frog and add a few a granular amend-
ments and worm castings, as you do.

Can't wait to see those grow big!

 

[OZZZ]

Looks like you are getting the grow dialed in, Ozzz!
Those 20-gallon grow bags are impressive. Being
bhuts or bhut hybrids, those plants will easily hit 5'
tall, maybe ,more. Also gives a nice comparison to
the white pots. They are bigger than I thought from
your other pics. You can't beat Ocean Forest. I mix
mine with Happy Frog and add a few a granular amend-
ments and worm castings, as you do.

Can't wait to see those grow big!

Thanks man I’m hoping for some Chile TREES! HA!

Yeah those white pots are oddly shaped. It’s hard to know how much volume they have but if I had to guess I’d say it’s around 10 gallons probably. If I’m going to keep them then I probably should know. I think this weekend I’ll pull the dirt out from one from the plants that I chopped and use a 5 gallon bucket to get a better idea.

 

[OZZZ]

MOAs are busting out of their pots on the new nute line. Looking really nice. I’m now switching them to a bloom nutrient to allow them to flower out and start setting pods, however there is some higher nitrogen granular that I top dressed with a month ago or so that will need to be depleted so it may be a little while before they start setting pods.

…. And the plants in the 20 gal grow bags are taking off. Still small but easily have doubled in size

Bih Jolokia x sugar rush peach

Super Bhut Jolokia

…. And the Super Bhut x (Pink Tiger x peach Bhut)

….. Chocolate Hab is starting to dig in

As well as the second Super Bhut x (Pink Tiger x Peach Bhut)

…. Over in the raised bed things are changing rapidly. Unfortunately we had a big rain storm and I didn’t realize that the raised bed was made right underneath the drip line of my roof. When the plants get large that will be a good thing as we are in the desert and don’t get much rain but right now after the storm I came home from work and found the force of the rain water falling off the roof line uprooted a bunch of the young plants leaving their roots exposed to the sun. Sad to say the scotch bonnet marabella and the Freeport orange both got uprooted and burned up.

So there’s been some new additions to the bed.

First up the fatallis are still hanging on. I just started feeding them with organic blue planet nutrient line and seems to be helping, she looks like she wants to bounce back. Underneath the canopy you can see the second fatalli seedling i put in as a backup. She got uprooted also in the rain but I was able to replant and save her.