PaulG 2014

slade122 · Sep 24, 2014

I too had a bit of a washout with my eggplants and larger tomato varieties. Although, in Texas the cherry / pear / berry types always perform better. This year we had a cooler summer than the past few years, but it was still 98-103 on most days with medium humidity. This is enough to halt flower production on tomatoes as well as stretch them out to the point where I just decide to pull them.

On the jiffy pellets,

I've never had good luck with that sort of thing - I always end up going back to cells, or as I am starting to prefer now - 4" pots. I'd like to see if you can get those jiffy pellets to perform, and if so what you do to make it work. Don't spare any details!

romy6 · Sep 24, 2014

Looking good compadre!!!!!!!!!!!!!

PaulG · Sep 24, 2014

Devv said:
Wow Paul! Impressive!

Seems they all came in during a short period of time, a busy time now!
Right you are, Scott. We had a little normal weather followed by another hot spell and the pods seemed to all turn in a week.
It will go slower for the remaining ones - 70˚ weather and .8" of rain overnight will slow things down a little
You look good in the pic too! You're in good shape Must be all that yard and garden work....
Thanks for being lenient, brother. I could stand to lose ten!
Glad the hernia surgery is better, that just can't be fun! Never been though that, but had my Appendix burst 15 years ago. I thought I was having a baby! They do more cutting after a burst and rough you up some cleaning you out. My guess is they roll you on your side and stick a garden hose in there...LOL. I don't bruise, not even after having nose broken twice. But I was bruised after that. Ouch!
That's a lot more major than hernia surgery - it's practically an office visit these days.
Like Greg said, you have enough for a hot winter there and then some!

Thanks, bud. Nice to get a bumper crop in my small grow. Once the pods are dry, I'll blend
up some powders and send out some samples. Hope you can be patient!

stickman said:
Beautiful pull Mr. G! You've obviously gotten attuned to your local growing conditions to pull off getting ripe pods from all those varieties. Good on ya!

Thanks, Rick. I wish we could have the local growing conditions we had this season every year!
We're into the mixed Fall weather now. Just hoping for enough nice weather to ripen up pods.

KiNGDeNNiZ said:
Not even in the cheater box
Good work paul.. looks like a 40 lbs of victory

I guess onefowl1 has the green thumb, getting 7/8 to germinate!

I feel fortunate to be the recipient :cool:

Thanks, Denniz; now to start thinking about next year's grow!

I haven't shown this plant much. Red Bhut Jolokia - Spankycolts, 2nd generation. The plant grew agonizingly slow for a long time,
then finally took off on the hot weather. The pods have colored up in the past week, and are about ready to pick:

Some of the nicer pods:

The Chocolate Bhut - GaGrowhead, has another round about ready to pull:

Good news from the south American front; peruvian seed Aji Amarillo, 2nd generation, starting to ripen up:

Same for the bushy phenotype plant:

The Manzano set a number of pods, but they have BER, which develops as they ripen. Still useable flesh, but I hope the seeds are
good. I think the 5 gallon pouch wasn't enough for this plant. Next year I'll do two, both in 7 gal or bigger pots:

Picked up a nice pod at the NWCF, courtesy of Jacen (onefowl1):

Guess I'll go out and dodge a few raindrops!

Devv · Sep 24, 2014

I just love the way the plants look up north, they stay a bit squatter and have a greater pod density. Here mine get to a good size, but are generally stingy with the pods. So I grow more

I usually have BER issues with my tomatoes, tried a calmag drench last year with no luck. And I used it every weekend. This season I went with a full dose of seaweed extract AND calmag in a foliar spray once a week. Instead of losing 30% of my tomatoes I lost just 1 to BER. I sprayed the peppers too.

Paul, 10 pounds is nothing. Just look around, things have changed a lot in the last 30-40 years

But I do hear ya there, my britches were a bit snug when school started this year...LOL. Dropped 4-5 and 3 mo to go...

PeriPeri · Sep 24, 2014

Wow Paul, great looking Bhuts and Manzano's - scary looking Bubblegum lol I'm hoping to grow he latter two myself this season... holding fingers crossed

stickman · Sep 26, 2014

Interesting observation on the BER in your Manzanos Paul... I haven't tried to grow mine in pots yet, and have never had that problem, so you could be right. Along with the Bhuts, they were my last pods to ripen too. Drive on buddy!

PaulG · Sep 26, 2014

Sorry fellas, missed your posts in the page change!

slade122 said:
I too had a bit of a washout with my eggplants and larger tomato varieties. Although, in Texas the cherry / pear / berry types always perform better. This year we had a cooler summer than the past few years, but it was still 98-103 on most days with medium humidity. This is enough to halt flower production on tomatoes as well as stretch them out to the point where I just decide to pull them.
Oddly enough, my larger heirloom varieties are now ripening up big fruit after a summer of no fruit at all. Go figure.
On the jiffy pellets,

I've never had good luck with that sort of thing - I always end up going back to cells, or as I am starting to prefer now - 4" pots. I'd like to see if you can get those jiffy pellets to perform, and if so what you do to make it work. Don't spare any details!

I struggled with them for a long time, too, until Jason (GaGrowhead) clued me in.
*use warm water to expand pods, goes much faster.
*once expanded, take the pellet and moosh it all around to loosen it up.
Even after expansion, you will feel harder rings of compressed material in it.
Keep massaging until it is nice and loose.
*Tear the top of the netting to expose the top of the ball of soil.
*Make your own little hole for the seed, the original should be long gone.
*Use a heat mat under the domed propagation tray.
*I transplant the root ball into dirt as soon as the cotys are fully opened up.

Here are links to two of my earlier posts at the beginning of the season:

http://thehotpepper.com/topic/44101-paulg-2014/?p=924140
http://thehotpepper.com/topic/44101-paulg-2014/?p=924516 - oops, edited 9/26

romy6 said:
Looking good compadre!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Awww, I'll bet you say that to all the chili heads :oops:

Thanks, buddy, always good to see your smiling avatar here!

Been awhile since I posted a foodie. Some Morcilla sautéed in olive oil then made into an omelet. Sprinkled with Waywrights Smoked
powder and topped with Ann's (Salsalady) outstanding Ghost Fire Hot Sauce and a little of the Tropical Ghost at the end. Yummy!

Jeff H · Sep 26, 2014

The last few updates have been outstanding Paul. Great to see such a bumper crop for you.

PaulG · Sep 26, 2014

Devv said:
I just love the way the plants look up north, they stay a bit squatter and have a greater pod density. Here mine get to a good size, but are generally stingy with the pods. So I grow more
I guess every climate has its own bennies! I have to say The big plants do look way cool, though!
I usually have BER issues with my tomatoes, tried a calmag drench last year with no luck. And I used it every weekend. This season I went with a full dose of seaweed extract AND calmag in a foliar spray once a week. Instead of losing 30% of my tomatoes I lost just 1 to BER. I sprayed the peppers too.
I usually have few issues with BER, but for some reason the manzano got it big time. CalMag didn't help much here, either. BER seems to be connected with water issues, and I wonder if the little 5-gal pouch was too hard to manage a consistent water content, especially in the 95˚ days.

Paul, 10 pounds is nothing. Just look around, things have changed a lot in the last 30-40 years But I do hear ya there, my britches were a bit snug when school started this year...LOL. Dropped 4-5 and 3 mo to go...

I can relate to that, my friend! What is your job at school? 'Summers off'?

PeriPeri said:
Wow Paul, great looking Bhuts and Manzano's - scary looking Bubblegum lol I'm hoping to grow he latter two myself this season... holding fingers crossed

Hi, Lourens. I'm hoping the BBG does well. If it's like the other 7 Pots, it should be very productive.

Good luck with yours!

stickman said:
Interesting observation on the BER in your Manzanos Paul... I haven't tried to grow mine in pots yet, and have never had that problem, so you could be right. Along with the Bhuts, they were my last pods to ripen too. Drive on buddy!

The Chocolate and Yellow Bhuts I grew this season podded early, often and densely,
then ripened up right on schedule. The Red Bhut seems to like the cooler temperatures
of Fall, although this one is ripening up earlier than the first generation plant. I had to
finish it in the green house in 2012.

The Manzanos, Ajis Amarrillos, and Red Bhuts seem to be designed to create consternation
with their late ripening tendencies!

Jeff H said:
The last few updates have been outstanding Paul. Great to see such a bumper crop for you.

Thank you, Jeff. I have had two dryers with a total of 14 trays running non-stop!
It's a nice problem to have. Should be some great powder blends coming up
when everything is dried out!

Good work with your grow this year, Jeff! I enjoy your glog when I get a chance to visit it!

Devv · Sep 26, 2014

PaulG said:
I can relate to that, my friend! What is your job at school? 'Summers off'?

I'm the IT director, we work 226, all year round. But we do get 12-13 days of vacation, which we use during the summer. So we work 4 day weeks (Fridays off) during the summer and travel some. My wife works in my dept., she keeps me sane, or close to it. She's like radar on the Mash show, a great compliment to our dept. I feel semi retired after 25 years as an auto technician, the cool thing is we get the same days off that the teachers do during the school year. 62 months until retirement, and yeah I'm counting, but not trying to speed up the time

PaulG · Sep 27, 2014

Allright, Scott. I'll bet you've seen a few changes in the IT world in 25 years! I remember
using the Apple 2e back in the 80's, and how awesome we all thought the Apple GS was
when it came out!

Sounds like the ideal schedule. My wife and I were both teachers, and having
the same vacation days was awesome. I'll keep you posted as to what
retirement is like so you can go in with your eyes open

Picked a couple of Manzanos and the first Aji Amarillo yesterday. I ate the little piece
missing at the base of the pod; the placenta has nice heat, so the overall pod has a good kick:

The bottom of the Manzanos cut off due to BER:

My neighbor made an awesome salsa with these pods. Super flavorful and nice heat, not overpowering.

PaulG · Sep 28, 2014

Picked more pods today.
No time for nice arrangements - just shot 'em in the bags!

HillBilly Jeff · Sep 28, 2014

Nice pull. Still getting quite a few pods. How do you like that pumpkin hab? Ran across it just yesterday and was wondering about it.

PaulG · Sep 28, 2014

Thanks, Jeff. I'm a bit humbled by the bounty that has come forth this season.

The Roatan Pumpkin Habanero seeds came from Roatan, Honduras. I got them from a
bartender; he and his pals called them 'Mountain Peppers'. The pods were
small and looked like little habaneros. The first generation had mostly smaller
pods and a few slightly bigger. This 2nd gen. plant was loaded with big pods,
which I was finally able to identify as The Roatan Pumpkin, apparently native
to the island. It has habanero heat and decent flavor for a hab. Not too caustic,
but definitely chinense!

I finally tallied up my production from last season. Going to post it here for
comparison with this year's results. should be able to weigh out dry pods in
a week or so. Last year, I killed half my grow, so this year's total will be much
greater, I imagine.

2013 Final Production Tally:

Pod Production Dry weight, grams:
Naga Morich………………………..213 pods, 79gr (52gr w/ seeds)
Bih Jolokia…………………………156………44gr (31gr w/ seeds)
Pointed Yellow Hab………………..152………29gr
Jamaican Red Mushroom…..………51………..80gr
Fatali/Savina………………………..129………98gr
Not Giant White Hab…………...…..69………..72gr
Scotch Bonnet TFM………………...…..120……….87gr
Black Pearl OW…………………….n/a……….58gr
Red Habanero………………………112………65gr
Bahamian Goat……………………..82………..91gr
Orange Habanero…………………..177………81gr
Devil’s Tongue…………………….156………71gr
Peruvian White Hab……………….121………23gr
Fatali OW………………………….109………79gr
Bonda Ma Jacques…………………108………68gr
Yellow Seven………………………51……….68gr
Chocolate Habanero………………..n/a............21gr
Mountain Pepper…………………...n/a………2gr
Yellow Scotch Bonnet……………..n/a………9gr

Devv · Sep 28, 2014

Still pulling nice numbers Paul!

A heck of a job this season!

I'm impressed how you make it work despite the short season.

HillBilly Jeff · Sep 28, 2014

That is way too much number crunching for me lol.

PaulG · Sep 28, 2014

Devv said:
Still pulling nice numbers Paul!

A heck of a job this season!

I'm impressed how you make it work despite the short season.
That's what the grow shelf and greenhouse are all about my friend.
Without those, we're growing annuums.

Thanks, bro! This is about it. From now on, the pods will dribble in, except for
the Choco and Red Bhuts and Aji Amarillo peppers - they still have a decent
harvest left in them. I'm slowly cleaning out the grow and setting up pots for
next year. I'm looking for a source of 8-10 gallon containers that don't cost
an arm and a leg.

HillBilly Jeff said:
That is way too much number crunching for me lol.

It's one of those things you do once :rofl:

Actually, the main purpose is so I'll have a good idea of which varieties pack the
most bang for the buck. After this season, I probably won't keep track anymore.

PaulG · Sep 30, 2014

Ripening is proceeding on the Ajis Amarillos and the Manzano is ripening up another pod. I hit the Manzano with another shot
of Cal-Mag, and it seems to have helped. the BER on the Manzano is less pronounced on this pod, and the green ones
haven't shown traces of it yet:

Aji and Manzano vines:

Peruvian seed bushy phenotype Aji Amarillo, 2nd generation:

Closer in:

The peruvian seed Aji Amarillo, 2nd generation - Plant about 7' tall:

Aji Amarillo from PepperGal, 2012, another tall plant:

Costeño Amarillo - SoCalChilihead, ready for another round of harvesting:

PaulG · Sep 30, 2014

A few more pods have managed to ripen up. We're in a cloudy, cool spell right now, with a few days of mostly sunny
coming up, hopefully. The season is just about over - 49˚ last night. As soon as pods are ripe, or near ripe, they have to
be harvested this time of year or they split and/or get soft quickly.

These are a perfect example. I'm tired of calling these Giant not White not Habanero peppers. I'm just going to call
them yellow Scorpions since that is what they look like and the number of stinger type pods has increased with each
generation; this is the third. We may get a few more pods from this one:

This is an awesome plant:

This has been an awesome plant; might get a few more pods from it:

Ha! Forgot to title these Choco Bhuts from GaGrowhead. Still a fair number of pods almost ripe on this plant:

The Bird's Eye just keeps putting on more color! I'm sure we'll get some more of these:

Some more pods on this one as well. A great producer, as are all the 7's here:

These are from a third generation plant. You have to love a plant that gives you pods like this at the end of September!

There are a couple of handfuls of pods left on the Datil, but these three caught my attention:

If you like numbers better:

Devv · Sep 30, 2014

Sounds like things are winding down there Paul, but good on ya for squeezing out the last harvests!

Are you applying the Calmag as a foliar application? That worked much better compared to a drench for me, twice a week didn't hurt either