PaulG 2014

PIC 1 · Oct 14, 2014

Paul here's a plant (Caribbean Red) outdoors in early June a few years ago. It started out as a branch cutting (8" long) with 4 unripe pods on it.. (the previous October),...I dipped the cutting in rooting hormone powder and planted it in a 50/50 mix of dampened vermiculite/perlite. The clone took within 3 weeks I was able to replant into a potting medium and bring indoors under flouros....Dam if I can find the photos but what I can say is all 4 pods ripened and after I stripped them off, the plant grew like mad. I did have pods by Superbowl...no joke. I brought the plant outdoors. It flourished being very compact and dense. It would have looked great in a large urn or hanging basket since the branching tended to cascade over.

PaulG · Oct 14, 2014

PIC 1 said:
Paul here's a plant (Caribbean Red) outdoors in early June a few years ago. It started out as a branch cutting (8" long) with 4 unripe pods on it.. (the previous October),...I dipped the cutting in rooting hormone powder and planted it in a 50/50 mix of dampened vermiculite/perlite. The clone took within 3 weeks I was able to replant into a potting medium and bring indoors under flouros....Dam if I can find the photos but what I can say is all 4 pods ripened and after I stripped them off, the plant grew like mad. I did have pods by Superbowl...no joke. I brought the plant outdoors. It flourished being very compact and dense. It would have looked great in a large urn or hanging basket since the branching tended to cascade over.

That seals the deal, my friend! I'll give it a try.
I wonder if they would root in the AeroGarden?

Why the combo of Vermiculite and Perlite?

PIC 1 · Oct 14, 2014

PaulG said:
That seals the deal, my friend! I'll give it a try.
I wonder if they would root in the AeroGarden?

Why the combo of Vermiculite and Perlite?

Give it a try.....I think other folks have cloned in the aerogarden..........Denniz always has good results ?
Rock wool also works fine with a little prep work before hand.

I've always used vermiculite when propagating, especially when air layering. It retains moisture, and lets the air flow at the same time. The perlite increases the oxygen once the roots get going......no soggy feet.

You can use a large clear solo....holes for drainage...to view the roots as they grow. Set the cuttings in the greenhouse. High humidity is a must.

Devv · Oct 14, 2014

Nice pods Paul!

I hope the weather holds for you Paul, you've done really well this season...

Good information here Greg!

Trippa · Oct 14, 2014

Well Paul all I can say is your season has been a pleasure to follow from start to finish ... Well done on the fruits of your labour/love ... And it is still chugging into autumn .. great stuff. Hey I have my annual Christmas card list with your name on it again this year ... Drop me a pm sometime as I have your name on a few stray varieties which you may like..

PaulG · Oct 15, 2014

PIC 1 said:
Give it a try.....I think other folks have cloned in the aerogarden..........Denniz always has good results ?
Rock wool also works fine with a little prep work before hand.

I've always used vermiculite when propagating, especially when air layering. It retains moisture, and lets the air flow at the same time. The perlite increases the oxygen once the roots get going......no soggy feet.

You can use a large clear solo....holes for drainage...to view the roots as they grow. Set the cuttings in the greenhouse. High humidity is a must.

Pix coming soon, brother!

Thanks for the great tips, Greg!

Devv said:
Nice pods Paul!

I hope the weather holds for you Paul, you've done really well this season...

Good information here Greg!

Thanks, Scott. We're into the real Fall weather pattern, now. Mostly rainy and cloudy with
some sun breaks here and there. On the positive side, night temps are still above 50!

Trippa said:
Well Paul all I can say is your season has been a pleasure to follow from start to finish ... Well done on the fruits of your labour/love ... And it is still chugging into autumn .. great stuff. Hey I have my annual Christmas card list with your name on it again this year ... Drop me a pm sometime as I have your name on a few stray varieties which you may like..

You are kind and generous, my friend. Will PM right away. Is your addy still the same?

A quick update on the c. rhomboidium from Jacen (onefowl1). Has hit 15"
(about 37 cm) at the top leaf node, so I had to pot it up to a one-and-a-half
gallon (about 6 L) container:

stickman · Oct 16, 2014

Your glog never disappoints Paul... there's always something new going on here. :party:

You've had some good looking pulls the last week or so too. How did you like the Hungarian Paprika pods? This year I didn't get as many from the plants as I did last year... I think the cool, wet spring into early summer put a crimp in their style. They're usually one of the first plants to flower and set pods, but this year they dropped flowers like crazy until around the 4th of July.

PaulG · Oct 17, 2014

stickman said:
Your glog never disappoints Paul... there's always something new going on here. You've had some good looking pulls the last week or so too. How did you like the Hungarian Paprika pods? This year I didn't get as many from the plants as I did last year... I think the cool, wet spring into early summer put a crimp in their style. They're usually one of the first plants to flower and set pods, but this year they dropped flowers like crazy until around the 4th of July.

You are kind as usual, Rick!

I think the paprikas are great. Nice peppery taste.
They dry nicely and should blend well with some hotter reds.
I had some nice early pods in the nice part of Spring, but then when excess
Summer heat set in, I didn't get many pods. The return of more seasonal
weather has seen a few more pods ripen up. I guess I got around a dozen.
The plant never grew beyond 2 feet tall, but it is a a nice looking variety.

We had a beautiful Summer yesterday - 70˚ and sunny! Today back to cloudy and rainy!

The c. galapagoense - Sstc3248, is still ripening up a few pods. If it gets too late, I'll try
cutting the branches and hanging them up to see if I can get the rest of the pods to ripen:

Picked four more yesterday :party:

:

The Goat's Weed and Texas Tepin are under the deck canopy for the rainy Fall weather,
but yesterday saw them out in some welcome sun. There are 3 or 4 ripe pods on the
Goat's Weed, but still a hundred :liar

: black ones left. Well, it seems like it:

Lots of nice, big pods on the Tepin:

Trippa's Bird's Eye HTM just keeps going. The leaves are yellow and falling off, but it wants to ripen every last pod:

This is why I hate pulling up plants. This Charapita is rarin' for another shot:

Devv · Oct 17, 2014

Still got some good stuff going on Paul! Glad to see it.

Yeah, pulling plants is hard. A break is coming soon

PaulG · Oct 17, 2014

I pruned the 3rd year Fatali last week to prepare for a repotting as my first bonchi attempt:

Combing out the roots. I had to dump dirt into the tub three times - I'm always amazed at how much dirt expands out of the pot:

Roots cleaned out and washed:

DIY bonchi tray:

Pruning back the roots to fit. I removed a little more here
and there after this pic. That's landscape cloth in the tray:

Wired in. I tied off to the tray rather than under it since the trays
have no feet and the wires make them wobbly underneath:

The final product. It's either dead or will sprout new growth in a few weeks! I've done this a lot with pines
and maples, so we'll see if my technique translates to peppers. This potting is really a 'bonchi-in-training'
and should be 're-trayed' when it has grown out more roots in 6 months to a year.

This one is screaming "bon chi me!":

A few pods still soldiering on. This is a 7 Pot Barrakapore:

Devv · Oct 17, 2014

Good on ya for doing a bonchi.

I have a Thai in a small pot, pretty much have to water it every day in the heat. Funny how they react to their new feet and put on just a tiny bit of growth. But it still flowered and set a few pods..

My question is should I trim the roots again? It seems like the potting soil is going away and being replaced with roots..

PaulG · Oct 17, 2014

Devv said:
Good on ya for doing a bon chi. We'll see

I have a Thai in a small pot, pretty much have to water it every day in the heat. Funny how they react to their new feet and put on just a tiny bit of growth. But it still flowered and set a few pods..

My question is should I trim the roots again? It seems like the potting soil is going away and being replaced with roots..

The bonsai information I have read says to root prune and re-pot every two years.
But those are in tiny trays. It is amazing how much soil they consume, so sometimes
I just add a little on top. I'm really bad about repotting. In my experience, if you don't,
the plant will push itself out of the pot with its roots, or just get funky and not grow well.

Ragnar · Oct 17, 2014

Diggin' the bochi's, man! Reminds me that I still have a ton of work to do when I get in from my road trip. I've enjoyed creepin through your glog from time to time this season, a lot of great stuff in here for sure.

PaulG · Oct 17, 2014

AaronB said:
Diggin' the bochi's, man! Reminds me that I still have a ton of work to do when I get in from my road trip. I've enjoyed creepin through your glog from time to time this season, a lot of great stuff in here for sure. Thanks a million!

Thanks for the visit, Aaron - good luck getting to that to-do list.

Glad you stopped by from time to time!

PeriPeri · Oct 18, 2014

Awesome Paul. Love what you doin with that there Fatalii

stickman · Oct 18, 2014

I see you're getting ready to OW some of your pepper plants Paul... me too. I found a home for my MoA Bonnets for the winter and I'll be potting up my Manzanos tomorrow before a hard freeze predicted for tomorrow night. You've had a great season for sure, and I wish you success next year as well. Stay crazy buddy...

PaulG · Oct 18, 2014

PeriPeri said:
Awesome Paul. Love what you doin with that there Fatalii

Thanks, Lourens. We'll see how it goes.
I'll feel better when I see some little green growth buds!

stickman said:
I see you're getting ready to OW some of your pepper plants Paul... me too. I found a home for my MoA Bonnets for the winter and I'll be potting up my Manzanos tomorrow before a hard freeze predicted for tomorrow night. You've had a great season for sure, and I wish you success next year as well. Stay crazy buddy...

Yes, little by little, Rick. Frost isn't our enemy right now; we haven't even hit the 50% date yet!
Our bugger is rain which just tends to drown everything here in April and again in November.

Found this interesting web page on Weather Underground referring to the wettest months
of the year around the country:
http://www.wunderground.com/blog/weatherhistorian/comment.html?entrynum=311

That being said, we're into two days of low 70's and dry this weekend, then more rain.

onefowl1 · Oct 18, 2014

PaulG said:
Pix coming soon, brother!

Thanks for the great tips, Greg!

Thanks, Scott. We're into the real Fall weather pattern, now. Mostly rainy and cloudy with
some sun breaks here and there. On the positive side, night temps are still above 50!

You are kind and generous, my friend. Will PM right away. Is your addy still the same?

A quick update on the c. rhomboidium from Jacen (onefowl1). Has hit 15"
(about 37 cm) at the top leaf node, so I had to pot it up to a one-and-a-half
gallon (about 6 L) container:

Thats about 3 inches higher then when mine started to branch out big time much like several other wilds do down low. So it should not be long before yours does the same.

PaulG · Oct 18, 2014

onefowl1 said:
Thats about 3 inches higher then when mine started to branch out big time much like several other wilds do down low. So it should not be long before yours does the same.

There is a little growth at every leaf node; the ones down low are
starting to grow a little as you can see. I imagine re-potting will slow
it's growth down a bit until the roots have a chance to grow out some.

My Wild Brazil and Charapita also had the bushy growth down low.
The chacoense and galapagoense somewhat, but not as bushy as
the other two. I'm hoping all four will make a nice 'wild grove' along
with the rhomboidium, the Cheiro Recife and Jamie's Datil.

I'm already having a hard time deciding what plants to grow out
next season :rofl:

Going to cut down a handful of plants today and tomorrow,including the
Goat's Weed cross. Will be fun to get a final measurement on that one!

PaulG · Oct 20, 2014

Nice sunny day today - the remaining plants got a nice dose of sol!

Moved the c. chacoense and c. galapagoense onto the deck so I can
shelter them from the rainy weather and so the chaco can get some
better sun.

Took down the Goat's Weed cross. Measured the height at 10'8". That's my neighbor Pete:

Pete is 6'2" tall:

The Chili Costa Rica is still ripening up pods under the cover of the front porch: