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.

 

[OZZZ]

The yellow 7 pot is beat up from the downpour as well, but appears to have established a strong enough root system that she was able to stay in place

I put in 3 new super Bhut jolokia seedlings. That are still getting hardened off so a little unhappy at the moment

…. A Thai pepper plant I scored seeds of while I was eating in a local Thai resteraunt

The second Bih Jolokia x sugar rush peach. Not doing much, there must not be enough nutrients in the raised bed so I recently top dressed everyone with worm castings and will start feeding them with liquid feed.

…. And I have given up on the outdoor autopot experiment for now, and pulled the Carolina reaper out of its coco autopot and planted it directly into the raised bed. Hopefully she will green back up and recover from the Pythium issue now that she’s out of the autopot.

 

[OZZZ]

Everyone is coming along!

The MOAs have exploded from the high N feed and are now big enough so I’ve switched them to a bloom mix and they are starting to push out flowers.

…. And the plants in the 20 gallon grow bags are doing great, growing very fast

The Bih Jolokia x Sugar Rush Peach

The Super Bhut Jolokia

….. and the Super Bhut Jolokia x (Pink Tiger x Peach Bhut)

The chocolate Hab (left) and the second Super Bhut x (Pink Tiger x Peach Bhut)

..….. and the raised bed has went through some changes. I planted the autopot plants directly into the raised bed and they are doing great although the seedlings aren’t growing nearly as fast as the 20 gallon grow bags which tells me the used soil I put into the bed is lacking…. I guess it wasn’t amended enough, probably needs more quality compost or worm castings. For now though I’m feeding them liquid nutes and that seems to be helping.

Left to right a Thai pepper plant, another Bih Jolokia x sugar rush peach seedling and the Carolina reaper that was previously in the sutopot

Here we have a morouga monster (center) and two super Bhut jolokia seedlings (to the Left and right of the Morouga monster)

…. A 7 pot yellow (left) and the same super bhut seedling from previous photo

….. and the burned up fatali that is making a comeback

 

[PaulG]

You are getting a patio full of green plants looking really good.

 

[Tinkerbelle]

Nice!

 

[OZZZ]

Thanks guys

Looking good for sure, maybe a little late to ge starting seedlings but here they will grow right through the winter and come spring I should be loaded with large plants and pods… if they are fast enough to make it happen this fall

 

[OZZZ]

Not the best day to take a picture because they have been getting rained on all day but I figured an update was needed.

They all have exploded in growth. Temps are cooling down…. But they aren’t producing many blooms. Some of them are producing a few but not many. I think the nutes I was using was too high in nitrogen and has made them explode in growth but it’s weak vine-like growth. I’ll switch to a fertilizer with little to no N and more PK and see what that does. Outdoor chili experimentation continues

 

[francisp]

Beautiful plants.

 

[OZZZ]

Beautiful plants.

Thanks!

 

[mymouthsburning]

I've got a question to ask, what medium would you recommend growing chilli's in?

Nice work! Hopefully your yield this year was a good one.

 

[OZZZ]

I've got a question to ask, what medium would you recommend growing chilli's in?

Nice work! Hopefully your yield this year was a good one.

Hello there,

I’m not sure I’m the guy to be asking here on this forum, as you can see I’ve been going through some growing pains over here with the chilis myself. Now I’ve got large vegetative plants that aren’t producing anything but that’s likely because of the fertilizer I’ve been using not because of the medium.

I’ve always liked Fox Farm ocean forest but the last few bags I’ve bough seen to be different without much nutrient content like it was before.

I’d probably go with their happy frog soil next time.

I’ve switched my fertilizers to a low N and higher P and K so hoping the plants will chew through the existing N and start blooming now that our temps are starting to cool off. It’s still a work in progress over here my friend!

 

[OZZZ]

Alright time for an update on the chili garden front.

I got my timing all wrong on these guys, planted them late, then didn’t have my soil right so calcium issues ruined most of my crop with BER…. Then i got that straightened out just in time for the sweltering phoenix desert summer heat to stomp out any further fruit production.

Then i got the bright idea to hit them all with high nitrogen fertilizer throughout the summer, with the idea being the heat was stopping them from producing anyway…. So why not grow them big and then switch to bloom nutes when it cools down in the fall.

So I did that. Ended up with nice big plants…. But upon switching to bloom nutes there was a delayed reaction to where the plants didn’t start immediately setting fruit. They only started that a few weeks ago ….. but now our daytime temps are mid 70s-80s and nighttime lows in the 40-50 range.

Then…. I was slow to shutoff the irrigation to them as I wasn’t sure of how much water they need since the sun is still strong in the day time. So I left the irrigation on too long and that got them nicely yellowed out from overwatering.

So…… that’s cool



That brings me to the current situation. Some are pushing tons of fruits and bud sights but I doubt they will amount to much with these cold temps. On the bright side, they should be ready to rock in the spring when it starts heating up!

Im watering them once a week right now by hand. Does that seem appropriate? How often should I feed? I’ve switched to using Alaskan fish emulsion and the morbloom at a 1/2 TBS per gallon of each rate. Should be a 5-10-10 solution. It definitely is making them pump out flowers and little peppers even with these cold nights

Without further ado…. My yellowed out chili garden. I’ll get this down sooner or later. Some are doing ok, some are not happy at all….. but all of them are hanging in there and most hace developed strong root systems with the exception of a few small super bhuts I only put out a few 2-3 weeks ago

Whole garden shot

Front left the fatali and yellow 7 pot. Both pushing peppers and both have pushed a bunch more out since these photos were taken

Next up the Morouga Monster (behind it is a basil bush that needs chopped) and two súper bhuts planted closely together

The a very unhappy Bih Jolokia x sugar rush peach and a mostly happy carolina reaper

Carolina reaper probably has 100 of these little started peppers.

 

[OZZZ]

Then we have the potted plants in containers

On the left a not so happy super Bhut, on the right a fairly happy super Bhut x (pink tiger x peach Bhut) <— gorgeous foliage on this one and it’s pushed a few purple pepper starts. They look scorpion like

Next up a very happy chocolate Hab on the Right a second super Bhut x (pink tiger x peach Bhut). The chocolate Hab has pushed probably a dozen more peppers since I took these photos 4 -5 days ago or so. The second super Bhut x pink tiger x peach Bhut has maybe a handful of peppers pushed…. Different morphology these are more Bhut shaped…. But still purple

Chocolate Hab

SBxPTxPB

 

[OZZZ]

Last but not least a second (but happier) Bih Jolokia x sugar rush oeach that’s pushing some small peppers also and a yellow MOA scotch bonnet with a small amount of pods developing

Noh Jolokia x sugar rush peach pods starting

….. and finally another small super bhut I put out not long ago. There’s another input in the raised bed not photographed.

 

[OZZZ]

Id really like to get all these guys greened back up and turned around but heading into the coldest months of our year I’m not sure if I should even be trying.

How often would you guys water? Does once a week seem ok?

Should I wait until they actually droop? I’m worried I might get a ton of yellowing or leaf loss that way, but maybe I shouldn’t worry about it until spring comes around?

Would you guys feed with every watering? If not…. How often should I use the fish ferts?

Thanks dudes (and dudettes)

 

[Tinkerbelle]

jeez I thought that said "fish farts"

 

[OZZZ]

jeez I thought that said "fish farts"

Eh…. It happens! HA!

 

[OZZZ]

“I AM THE PEPPER GOD”

“I am ‘ze guardian of deez pepperz”

 

[PaulG]

Cute doggie Plants look like they
are doing okay in the nice weather.

 

[OZZZ]

Cute doggie Plants look like they
are doing okay in the nice weather.

Eh…. Plants are all yellowed out still and struggling, but they are throwing peppers out. I can’t seem to get them to green back up I think our temps are just too cold for fast metabolism?

Low 60’s during the day, high 30’s low 40’s at night. Do you think they should green up on these temps? Been giving them fish emulsion and morbloom, 5-10-10 ratio and it made them throw out tons of blooms and start producing peppers, but they just won’t green back up at all. They are getting watered once a week.

I suppose worst case scenario they’ll just limp along like this until it warms back up then I can feed them all and get them green, but it seems like I should be able to do something in the meantime. It’s like they just can’t use the food even if I feed them. I’m assuming it’s temps but then I see others with perfectly green health plants at these temps so I’m not sure

 

[CaneDog]

Great that you're getting pods! Those are pretty chilly overnight temps. My peppers won't do anything with those cold overnights, but that's likely because it doesn't get nearly as warm here during the daytime when it's that chilly overnight.