Pepper Fish 2020

PepperFish · Mar 16, 2020

P. S. Any advice on how I can add pictures mid post without them reoccurring as an attached thumbnail at the end of the post would be greatly appreciated. I am much better working in the dirt than on the computer!

Bou · Mar 16, 2020

Impressive lineup! I wish you a great growing season and hopefully to be back to work sooner than later. We shall prevail!

juanitos · Mar 18, 2020

PepperFish said:
P. S. Any advice on how I can add pictures mid post without them reoccurring as an attached thumbnail at the end of the post would be greatly appreciated. I am much better working in the dirt than on the computer!

just upload them to imgur then paste the bbcode

The_NorthEast_ChileMan · Mar 18, 2020

juanitos said:
just upload them to imgur then paste the bbcode

Hey Jon, no cut & paste of BBCode necessary..... Right click on the IMGUR pic - then left click on Copy image in the menu that opens------

Make sure the cursor is flashing where you want the pic to appear then right click & left click Paste

PepperFish · Mar 20, 2020

Oh man, I have to learn a new website. Ok I got this, lots of pics of my progress coming soon. Thanks for the advice.

PaulG · Mar 20, 2020

Woah, PF, your grow is off to an impressive start.
Looks like a great bunch of seedlings under way.

You have just about every pepper I've ever heard
of in your grow list. I guess 1200 plants makes for
lots of space for interesting varieties!

Good luck getting them into the 'incubator' and
your garden plots worked up.

Sorry to hear about your job. I hope that your layoff
is as short-lived as possible. Carry on, brother!

PepperFish · Mar 20, 2020

PaulG said:
Woah, PF, your grow is off to an impressive start.
Looks like a great bunch of seedlings under way.

You have just about every pepper I've ever heard
of in your grow list. I guess 1200 plants makes for
lots of space for interesting varieties!

Good luck getting them into the 'incubator' and
your garden plots worked up.

Sorry to hear about your job. I hope that your layoff
is as short-lived as possible. Carry on, brother!

Thanks. Luckily we moved back to NC for the lady's job not mine so it's only a minor hit. Though I'm finding it harder and harder to justify to her all these farm expenses when I can't contribute to the morgate. What can I say, variety is the spice of life. And if you think this is a lot, you should check out Funke's Greenhouse in Cincinnati. I worked as a lead technician there last season and we had something like 250 varieties of pepper starts. I actually went through this whole process there last year growing out about 900 plants and saving seeds from some 50 varieties, but somehow they got lost in the move so it's back to square one.

Anyways, some good news and bad news today. So here we go...

I got the incubator set up. Its a super simple design and has its various faults but for a super budget friendly hot house its doing the trick.

Maybe a little too well. This morning I was out tilling up a plot for my tomatoes when the sun showed up and outside temps shot up to 85F. By the time I got done with the plot and went to let them breathe I opened it up to a sad sight. After watering most everything came back, but unfortunately a few plants took some damage. I'm kicking myself as I know better. While working in the greenhouse last year we had to deal with watering every day, sometimes more than once and I'll never forget Al, the owner, explaining while these plants are in their 3" pots we're they're whole world. They depend on us for everything and you have to baby them and that I did not. Al would have been pissed.

Luckily though the damage was sparse and limited to individual plants not whole varieties. And I think everything will grow out of it, though it will probably set them back a couple weeks at least.

Some damage pics

Tobago Treasure

Bhut Jolokia Strain II

But overall I'm still going strong. Here are a few of my top performers so far. (Reminder: I didn't have the space to seed everything at once so I'm sure other strains will shine a little further down the road)

Bahamian Goat

Aji Amarillo

Chocolate Scotch Bonnet

Harold St Barts

\
Yellow Scotch Bonnet

Aji White Fantasy

Trinidad X

Jamaican Hot Chocolate

Scotch Brain

Rooster Spur

Himo Togorashi near 100% germination

I've still got a lot of work to do and am a little worried because my sweet peppers are taking so long to germ but overall I'm happy with the progress thus far. I'll be sure to keep you guys updated at time moves on.

I haven't heard yet that capsaicin is the cure for this virus, but I haven't not heard that either so I'm going to keep moving along with this pepper thing and who knows maybe we"ll be the ones to save the world

Good Luck Growing !!!

PaulG · Mar 20, 2020

Good looking grow. Nice save on the incubator.
You dodged a bullet there! The plants will bounce
back fine.

PepperFish · Apr 1, 2020

Checking in...

It was cold last night, the low dropped to 42 but the make shift hot house seems to be working. It was 48 when I took this but the sun had the greenhouse effect in full swing and I bet it was at least 10 if not 20+ degrees warmer in there with that amount of condensation.

Got started on the pepper patch. This will get worked a few more times and shaped into beds. Irrigation set and covered with fabric and she should be set to plant when temps level out in a couple weeks.

The nursery setup is still going strong. Almost everything has been transplanted out but it does look like I'm going to be down a few varieties. So far I haven't got any germination on the Mulato Isleno, Corno di Torro Gaillo or the La Huala Orange Rocoto and it's looking like those will be scrapped.

Inside we've got the Petit Marseillais...

Arequijeno Rojo Rocoto...

And the rest of the gang.

PaulG · Apr 1, 2020

Looking good, PF! Have fun getting the garden
plot worked up and everything planted out!

PepperFish · Apr 24, 2020

Checking in with an update...

The weather has finally begun to level out here after a few weeks of some dramatic shifts. Temps have ranged from 87 - 28 with the wildest swings happening in just a couple days. Luckily the make shift hot house has done it's job and everything is just about ready to go into the ground. I've been waiting for night time temps to hit 60, and it looks like we'll be there within a week or two. Now if I can just get enough dry days in a row to finish out my plot. Like a lot of you I've had a problem with aphids. They hit me earlier this year than I expected, before I started my IPM. I've been seeing two distinct varieties of aphid, the usual peach aphid and one that I cannot identify. They're real dark and larger than the light green one's I'm used to seeing. They're definitely responding to my pesticide program and other than an accidental over mix which fried a few trays (mostly Himo's but unfortunately my only 3 Pineapple Rocoto and all of the Tunisian Baklouti and Liebesafel) I seem to be winning the war. They're outgrowing their 3" pots and trying to keep them fed has become a real challenge but overall I feel good about my progress and can't wait to get these guys in the ground.

A few pics of the progress:

Airing out the "incubator" today. We've got temps into the upper 70's this afternoon and I'm all but done using this except on rainy days to keep from flushing out the nutrients.

Petit Marseillais - First year growing and I'm really excited about this one. I'm hoping this will be an excellent culinary pepper that will grab the attention of at least one local chef.

Ashe County Pimento - Another first for me that I am a little excited about. It is an heirloom from Ashe County NC, just a couple counties over from where we're at. Pimento Cheese is a big thing here and hopefully I can find a small processor interested in keeping it local.

Doux de Landes - Who am I kidding, I'm excited about all of these

Aji Amarillo

Aji Guyana

Piquillo de Lodosa

Scotch Brain

Fatalii

Fish

Arequipeno Rojo Rocoto - (My only three rocotos) I don't think these will go into my plot. I'm thinking about putting them into 15 gal grow bags to keep them from the full sun and heat of the summer. I definitely want to over winter these but have had zero luck with rocotos in the past. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Aji Mango Round

Datil

White Ghost

Piment d'Espelette

Negro de Valle

Mr. Toad hanging out by the plants today. He seems to approve of the IPM I've put in place. On that note I think I should go into what I'm doing to tackle the aphids. I use an integrated pest management plan that take a multi pronged approach, using three different pesticides. All of them are ORMI listed for organic production and are what I like to consider low impact. Now that doesn't mean there isn't any impact but I try to limit their use and spray outside only in the late evenings when pollinator activity is at its lowest. I am hoping by the time these go into the ground I'll have them under control and the beneficial insects will handle the rest of the fight.

I am using a horticultural oil, a spinosad, and a pyrethrum. They all have their pro's and con's but most importantly they have different modes of action. This should help fight against any resistance build up in the population. All three can harm pollinators if sprayed on them directly but again with late evening applications this shouldn't be a problem. Now beneficials are another issue as all three can kill what might be in harms way. Although once dried, usually within a couple hours, any new beneficial that move in should be safe. Thats why I'm hitting them hard and fast to get things under control before they move to their permanent home. I will only spot spray in the field and only when I absolutely have too. They'll get used to control flea beetles on my eggplants and tomatillos later this season as well, but that's another story. I'm sure I'll need them for that, I've never grown an eggplant that hasn't ended up covered in those little boogers. They don't seem to affect the tomatillos production but they sure do the eggplant and without knocking down both populations they're sure to spread back and forth.

Good Luck to everyone and happy growing!

PepperFish · May 5, 2020

First 399 peppers are in the ground!

Pictured directly in front: Petit Marseillais

PepperFish · May 10, 2020

Whelp, I jumped the gun on that one. This artic blast gave us freezing temps last night. I did the best I could to cover 'em but unfortunately just about everything I had planted took some serious damage. Only the Baccatums made it out RELATIVELY unscathed. Now I have to decide whether to pull everything and make room for melons or wait it out and see how the side shoots perform. The Chinenses look like they might act as if I gave them a late topping, but the Annuums not so much. Blah, at least I'm a procrastinator and I've got 800 or so left to plant.

PaulG · May 11, 2020

Man, PF, growing at that scale does have its serious
downsides. Sorry to hear about the cold front damage.
I hope it's not as bad as you think. Peppers are pretty
resilient, so maybe if there are no more weather surprises,
your first 399 will fare well!

PepperFish · May 11, 2020

PaulG said:
Man, PF, growing at that scale does have its serious
downsides. Sorry to hear about the cold front damage.
I hope it's not as bad as you think. Peppers are pretty
resilient, so maybe if there are no more weather surprises,
your first 399 will fare well!

Thanks for the encouragement. I'm going to give everything until the weekend before I make a decision on what to do. Only a dozen or so are totally dead, but I'm going to have to start weighing the loss in yield vs potential profit for another crop. I will probably leave most of the Baccatums and a good portion of the Chinenses and try to leave the best looking two or three plants of each variety that took severe damage just to see what happens and if nothing else still be able to pull seeds. What really hurts are loosing out on the Annuums I had planted, Petit Marseillais and Ashe County Pimento specifically. They totalled close to 90 plants and as mild culinary varieties they were going to be what I really pushed around town. This is my first year in the area and I was hoping they would make a great introduction to what what I do. Now it will be a struggle to consistently supply a restaurant with any one variety. Plus I've never tried either one and have been dreaming of a summer filled with those stuffed on the grill.

I've already changed plans once this year, guess it won't hurt too bad to do it again. I was going to have extras so those will get planted out and I'll probably have the room to plant a row of melons now as well, which is something I've been wanting to do anyways. I make a mean white hot sauce with a hybrid honeydew melon that I want to make the crux of my value added program. I have plans to buy reemay toward the end of the summer too as I plan my fall plots.

Who would have thought we'd see record low temps the second week in May, but next year I'll be better prepared. Live and learn, I guess.

Mr.joe · May 12, 2020

Always amazes me to see these large scale grows. Too bad the weather is getting you, but at least you have a plan for the aphids, I really do hate those little guys. Wishing you good luck going forward.

PepperFish · May 26, 2020

Well I've got the final numbers on my main plot.

The weather here has been absolutely bonkers this spring. It has pretty much rained every day since the late freeze we had, but I finally snuck them in between showers Friday morning. We've gotten over 8in in the last 10 days, with it forecasted to continue like this through Sunday before finally breaking.   To put that in perspective we average less than an inch a week this time of year so to say it's been wet is a huge understatement.   I'm about a month behind where I hoped to be, but with the way this weather has been acting I feel lucky to have gotten where I am.

I've got a few other pepper plants that I'll be growing up near the house, and another genetics project I'm working on from seeds I picked up while traveling the Caribbean this past January (which I'll post about later)but these are what I've put in my main plot. I decided to swap out around 150 plants after the freeze but leave the others to see what happens as they're alive and growing so I didn't have the heart to pull them. I also found some extra's that I had missed of a couple varieties that took damage and those are noted as well.

I topped out at 18 2.5'X43' beds with 2 rows each, averaging 57 plants a bed although I squeezed a few more in there giving me 1,030 plants with 66 known varieties and 2 mysteries that are definitely not what the seeds were supposed to be. It'll be interesting to see what they grow into.

My numbers from Plot I

** where affected by the late freeze we had the 2nd week of May. Yield Data will be off on these plants

[SIZE=medium]Airtama Biqueno                       12[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Aji Amarillo**                            36[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Aji Dulce                                        4[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Aji Dulce Orange**                      8[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Aji Dulce Yellow Round**          4[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Aji Guyana**                               15[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Aji Mango Round  (EXTRA)        9[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Aji Mango Round**                    16[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Aji Panca                                         1[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Aji White Fantasy**                   15[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Alba Regina**                             14[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Ampius                                           9[/SIZE]
[SIZE=8pt]Arequijeno Rojo Rocoto                               1[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Ashe County Pimento**            22[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Bahamian Goat                            29[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Bhut Jolokia Giant Chocolate      9[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Bhut Jolokia Strain II                   23[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Candy Apple                                   4[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Carolina Reaper                           30[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Chihuacle Negro                          30[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Chocolate Scotch Bonnet**       18[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Choricero                                        6[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Criolla de Concina**                   18[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Datil                                                17[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Devils Brain                                    9[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Doux de Lanes                               42[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Dulce de Espana                            15[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Fatalii                                             30[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Fish                                                 17[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Fontera Sweet**                          12[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Grenada Seasoning                       9[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Harold St Barts**                         17[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Himo Togarashi                             42[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Jalapeno                                          3[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Jamican Hot Chocolate               19[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Jimmy Nardello                             6[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Malaysian Goronong                    3[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Marconi Patio**                          12[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Maris Bieber                                  3[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Mirisol**                                      12[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]MOA Red Scotch Bonnet           15[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]MOA Yellow Scotch Bonnet       17[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Mystery Annuum                         1[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Mystery Baccatum**                  24[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Negro de Valle                              6[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Orange Thai                                  10[/SIZE]
[SIZE=8pt]Paradicsom Alaku Sarga Szentes                1[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Petite Mareillais**                       31[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Pico de Gallo                                  6[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Piment D'Epsalette (EXTRA)      18[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Piment D'Epsalette **                 11[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Piqullo de Lodosa                         19[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Prik Chi Faa                                    23[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Quadrato D'Asti Rosso                 30[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Rooster Spur                                  30[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Scotch Brain**                               20[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Shishito                                           39[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Sweet Banana                                24[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Sweet Spanish Long                       6[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Tekne Dolsami                                4[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Tobago Scotch Bonnet**            10[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Tobago Treasure                            1[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Trinidad X                                      16[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Tunisian Baklouti                            1[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]White Ghost                                  10[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]White Thai                                      21[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Yellow CARDI Trinidad Scorpion 13[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Yellow Pixie                                     8[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Yellow Reaper                               14[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]I'll post pictures after it finally stops raining...[/SIZE]

Mr.joe · May 27, 2020

Giant undertaking. Glad they are in the ground, hopefully the weather cooperates for a few months. I'll follow along to see what you grow

Siv · May 27, 2020

I'm always amazed at seeing these large scale grows. The plants look wonderful and peppers are pretty resilient but I have no idea on commercial growing. Look forward to following along anyway and I wish you the best of luck!