Anybody live in phx,az or in a area that gets relatively hot and have any experience in growing. Pleass help this is my first attempt at growing I have two bhut jolokias both about 2.5ft tall and about 1.5 ft wide with alot of flowers but no peppers yet some are falling off (heat) but I was wondering if I keep plenty of water in the pot would that help or if I ground them would that? Please any and all suggestion wanted..Thanks SMITTY
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???PEPPERS AND THE DESERT HEAT???
- Thread starter Smitty
- Start date
Use pots that way you can move them around when you need to. I'm about as far south in AZ as you can get, and I'm having a hell of a time keeping mine alive, first and last year trying to grow here. Pots and shade as mentioned, mine get about 3 hrs direct sunlight in the AM now and shade the rest of the day and have been doing a lot better. I'm no expert grower, but trial and error has been a good lesson.
I live in northern california and well get couple weeks of triple digits in summer what i do is keep my plants in the shade under the patio. My other ones I put a double shade cloth so very little sun comes through and i make sure they all get plenty of water, as the heat will wilt them like crazy.
I live in Florence az and I have had good luck with my plants I keep them under a big mesquite tree so they are in partial shade all day and get a couple hours of direct late in the afternoon. Keep em watered.
I'm in Las Vegas and have 4 fatali and one Butch T. The Butch has bigger leaves and is effected by sunlight much faster than the fatali's, keep em wet during direct sunlight and they can take it up to a limit. I'm moving all of mine to a more shaded spot now that they have flower buds appearing. Like you said, trial and error. Just listen to what the plant wants.
Once it's over 95 the pollen becomes steril and they won't produce. I have lived in AZ for years and once it's over 95 you need to bring them in and grow under lights or they will never produce any peppers. The flowers will never set mine have been dropping like crazy from heat and they only get morning sun Take it from someone who has tried. I just brought mine in here in Tempe and will start growing under a light. They are over 2.5 feet in height. GL!
My plants are still setting pods and its been over 100 for a week.
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Check out the grow logs of some of our AZ members, a great place to find some tips.
Wrightdaddy's grow log (just outside phoenix AZ) - http://thehotpepper.com/topic/27203-wrightdaddys-2012-grow-log/
frosty's grow log (phoenix AZ) - http://thehotpepper.com/topic/29198-frostys-glog-2012/
Cowboy bhuts grow log (Mesa AZ) - http://thehotpepper.com/topic/19777-cowboys-never-ending-grow-log/page__st__20__p__420736__hl__cowboy#entry420736
I'm sure there are plenty of others, those are just a few I remember off the top of my head who are in my climate (Phoenix AZ). I won't give any tips of my own cause all 3 of those guys are better growers than I.
The main takeaways I have found are
1) Shadescreens during the peak heat of summer over the entire plant seem to help. I think you do best with as many hours of sun as possible, but lower the intensity and try to keep the plant and soil temperatures down. So 8 hrs of sun will get more growth than 3 as long as you can control the heat.
2) If you use pots, try to keep the pots themselves shaded or cooled somehow.
3) Expect to get most of your pods in the spring then in the fall as they seem to produce less in the peak of summer.
I'm also starting to get some flower drop on my plants right now, we may have a few months of poor pod production ahead. Just try to keep your plants growing and healthy so they will be ready to pump out lots once the temperatures start to drop. I would stay away from "keeping plenty of water in the pot", overwatering may do more harm than good.
Wrightdaddy's grow log (just outside phoenix AZ) - http://thehotpepper.com/topic/27203-wrightdaddys-2012-grow-log/
frosty's grow log (phoenix AZ) - http://thehotpepper.com/topic/29198-frostys-glog-2012/
Cowboy bhuts grow log (Mesa AZ) - http://thehotpepper.com/topic/19777-cowboys-never-ending-grow-log/page__st__20__p__420736__hl__cowboy#entry420736
I'm sure there are plenty of others, those are just a few I remember off the top of my head who are in my climate (Phoenix AZ). I won't give any tips of my own cause all 3 of those guys are better growers than I.
The main takeaways I have found are
1) Shadescreens during the peak heat of summer over the entire plant seem to help. I think you do best with as many hours of sun as possible, but lower the intensity and try to keep the plant and soil temperatures down. So 8 hrs of sun will get more growth than 3 as long as you can control the heat.
2) If you use pots, try to keep the pots themselves shaded or cooled somehow.
3) Expect to get most of your pods in the spring then in the fall as they seem to produce less in the peak of summer.
I'm also starting to get some flower drop on my plants right now, we may have a few months of poor pod production ahead. Just try to keep your plants growing and healthy so they will be ready to pump out lots once the temperatures start to drop. I would stay away from "keeping plenty of water in the pot", overwatering may do more harm than good.
Might consider a misting system also - This is my first year growing super hot peppers - but it works well for other plants so should work on them as well. I'm in El Paso, TX and we don't get quite as hot as Phoenix but somewhat close and have used a misting system under a shade cloth on my patch for a couple seasons with good results - set it on a timer to run for 3-5minutes every 20 - 30 minutes during the hottest part of the day and it keeps the plants quite a bit cooler and doesn't keep the plants too wet since the mist is so fine it evaporates quickly.
My dad suggested same thing this morning, considering this idea.
I leary of giving too much advice because of my lack of experience. This is my first year growing super hots and my third year growing anything.
Here is my humble piece of advice. Change your expectations. For instance people here debate whether to start plants in Dec or Jan or Feb. You don't care; you can start plants whenever you want. Overwintering? What the hell is overwintering? That's where on the 0-3 nights of the year when it gets to freezing you move your pots next to a wall or cover them with a sheet.
You may have started your plants a little late for a spring harvest. So what? Just keep them growing and you'll have monsters come fall.
I choose Nov-Mar for indoor growing and I only run my lights at night with the windows open. I shudder at creating that much heat inside my house in August. I am not saying don' t do it. I am just saying I wouldn't.
Report back on the misters. I have thought about it and if it is effective it will be my one of my next projects.
Some random thoughts on growing in phoenix.
1. If you go with pots go with big pots. Put them on the ground. adjust your lawn sprinklers to hit the pots.
2. The water in phoenix is 400+ ppm. Continuous water and evaporation will lead to salt build up. You need to flush soil occassionally. This flushes out nutrients so you need to fertilize lightly.
The rest is obvious: It is hot as hell. Aphids suck. Hornworms go "POP" when you step on them. Wives get jealous of peppers but wnon't stop eating them. That is about all you need to know.
Here is my humble piece of advice. Change your expectations. For instance people here debate whether to start plants in Dec or Jan or Feb. You don't care; you can start plants whenever you want. Overwintering? What the hell is overwintering? That's where on the 0-3 nights of the year when it gets to freezing you move your pots next to a wall or cover them with a sheet.
You may have started your plants a little late for a spring harvest. So what? Just keep them growing and you'll have monsters come fall.
I choose Nov-Mar for indoor growing and I only run my lights at night with the windows open. I shudder at creating that much heat inside my house in August. I am not saying don' t do it. I am just saying I wouldn't.
Report back on the misters. I have thought about it and if it is effective it will be my one of my next projects.
Some random thoughts on growing in phoenix.
1. If you go with pots go with big pots. Put them on the ground. adjust your lawn sprinklers to hit the pots.
2. The water in phoenix is 400+ ppm. Continuous water and evaporation will lead to salt build up. You need to flush soil occassionally. This flushes out nutrients so you need to fertilize lightly.
The rest is obvious: It is hot as hell. Aphids suck. Hornworms go "POP" when you step on them. Wives get jealous of peppers but wnon't stop eating them. That is about all you need to know.
In my area with the Temps we get for the length of time we get it running a mister for 3-5 minutes every 30 minutes in the heat of the day barely gets the leaves damp for a few minutes and they dry out before the next misting -- and our heat is pretty much the same as his with low humidity so the fungii don't have a chance to develop -- with you being close to the gulf and getting more humidity with your heat fungii are probably more of an issue - but definitely something to watch for !