PeriPeri's Grow Log 2012: South Africa

WalkGood · Nov 26, 2012

"pretty much harmless," Wait till they get a little taste fo your pods ... then you in trouble

PeriPeri · Nov 26, 2012

lol, the snails get to be up to twice that size... going to lasso these snails and ride them cowboy style lol

PeriPeri · Nov 26, 2012

Oh holy crap.... I just read up about these snails and they eat a wide range of plants, fruit and vegetables.... sand, stones, bones... concrete and each other.

There I was joking... but this might be a slight problem me thinks.

On Wiki they say one of the preventative methods is flame throwers... hmmm.... and goes on to say that none of the methods have been effective. Time to order that bazooka!

wildseed57 · Nov 27, 2012

Just seen the size of that snail and thought of what the French are now doing with them.
It seem they are trying to corner the caviar market by selling snail eggs, with a few dozen of those babies you could beat the French at their own game, you could flavor the snail caviar with some of your own hot sauce. I bet the Japanese would love it they could serve up some good snail shushi with a big glob of fresh flavored snail eggs on top. Yum!

DocNrock · Nov 27, 2012

wildseed57 said:
Just seen the size of that snail and thought of what the French are now doing with them.
It seem they are trying to corner the caviar market by selling snail eggs, with a few dozen of those babies you could beat the French at their own game, you could flavor the snail caviar with some of your own hot sauce. I bet the Japanese would love it they could serve up some good snail shushi with a big glob of fresh flavored snail eggs on top. Yum!

Nice.

wildseed57 · Nov 27, 2012

I wonder if someone maybe Piri could do something like that in a throw down it would certainly be different. Ha! Any one want to get a can of salted cured and flavored Giant Snail eggs, Oh boy its "whats for dinner Honey?"
Really though If I seen anything like that near my garden I'd be breaking out the old shovel and start squshing them.

WalkGood · Nov 27, 2012

PeriPeri said:
Oh holy crap.... I just read up about these snails and they eat a wide range of plants, fruit and vegetables.... sand, stones, bones... concrete and each other.

Some were smulled into Miami, don't ask me why but I read about how they found some eatting someone's founddation of their house :O

PeriPeri said:
There I was joking... but this might be a slight problem me thinks. ...

I haven't had a snail problem in long time but they did eat a few peppers. Mine here look like escargot snails.

PeriPeri said:
On Wiki they say one of the preventative methods is flame throwers... hmmm.... and goes on to say that none of the methods have been effective. Time to order that bazooka!

lol, I used diatomaceous earth around my plot in the ground, the stuff gets caught inbetween their skin and the shell and kills them

PeriPeri · Nov 27, 2012

Seriously thats going to be one hell of a tough piece of snail... those things are solid muscle lol

As for the snail eggs... I'll give it a miss lol Le grande Escargoux de Afrique... tres manifique... and that's as far as my french goes lol

scratchzilla · Nov 27, 2012

That's alright, French is stupid.

WalkGood · Nov 27, 2012

PeriPeri said:
Seriously thats going to be one hell of a tough piece of snail... those things are solid muscle lol ...

Seeing their size I have no doubt they're probably tuff muscle, although I've eatten numerous conch and they're not bad prepaired the right way. Regardless after seeing so many bad snails in my garden and all the work it took to get rid of them, I don't have any desire to ever eat escargot, lol.

scratchzilla said:
That's alright, French is stupid.

And I thought this was an iternational forum, that just sounds racist and fuels the fire ...

scratchzilla · Nov 27, 2012

It's not racist at all, I am French.

WalkGood · Nov 27, 2012

scratchzilla said:
It's not racist at all, I am French.

lol

Edit: one of my very good friends is French and he just told me in irc that could be provocative to stir the flame of usa anti French sentiments *WG rollseyes*

PeriPeri · Nov 28, 2012

Gentlemen, no matter what we are or where we come from, we share the same interest. Chillies. And snails, or so it appears.

I will be watching these snails closely and if they appear to be gunning for my chillies, I will be taking evasive proceedures. But for now, they are not on the menu - thank you!

Some more images to focus on 27/11/2012

Growth is steady. It's been hotter and we have not had rain for a few days now. But the mounds of soil that surround the chillies are retaining at least two days worth of water... but the guys are watering every morning and night all the same. Temps are not too high at the moment 28/29ºC predicted for today. Usually the weather report differs somewhat... on the ground temps will probably be closer to 30/32ºC I would say.

In any case, next time I go. I will be:

1) Deweeding, Turning all the soil and mixing Mega Seagrow pellets into the soil around the base of the chillies.
2) Adding cutworm poison that I still have left over - and will make a plan to stick sticks next to every stem as per Stickman's suggestion.
3) Planting next batch of seedlings from the propogator into the nursery
4) Transplanting any chillies big enough from the inside area to the outside area.
5) Watering I guess
6) Take more pics for my fellow chilliheads

That will probably be the order of the day. It may only be on Sunday, but I will try and get out there Saturday morning if I can.

Somewhere someone told me I have to nip the set of leaves at the top of the chillies to get them to branch out.

Anyone have any feedback on this for me??

Thanks!

In the propogator, we have some seedlings that will be taken this weekend to plant into the nursery....

1) Bhut Jolokia
2) Angkor Sunrise
3) 7Pod Brainstrain
4) Chocolate Habanero (Not sure if this is the same as a Brown Habanero - anyone?)
5) Devil's Chocolate
6) ButchT X Moruga (Should be fun lol)
7) Naga Morich
8) 7Pod Primo
9) Scotch Bonnet
10) 7Pod Barrakpore
11) Moruga
12) Bahamian Goat Pepper
13) 7Pod Jonah
14) Douglah
15) Naga Viper
16) Yellow Scorpion X Bhut Jolokia
17) ButchT
18) 7Pod Jonah X ButchT ((This I want to know... I can't imagine a more lethal combination) tried them both and I must say... the heat and drool creatyed by the Jonah and the sheer agony by the ButchT... should be interesting!

I also picked up a lovely Burning Embers or Exploding Embers from our local nursery.

So yea... going to be busy in the nursery again.... got to create space in the indoor section... probably have to get bottom field deweeded and ready for more!! lol

stickman · Nov 28, 2012

PeriPeri said:
Adding cutworm poison that I still have left over - and will make a plan to stick sticks next to every stem as per Stickman's suggestion.

Somewhere someone told me I have to nip the set of leaves at the top of the chillies to get them to branch out.

Anyone have any feedback on this for me??

Hi Lourens
Once the stems on your chiles are woody and about the diameter of a pencil you won't need to protect them from cutworms unless the ones out your way are beefier than ours. Make sure the bamboo skewers are in contact with the stems of the plants you want to protect. If they're too far away they won't work.

If you're going to pinch off the primary node of your plants to force branching, let it grow out at least 3 nodes before you do. I don't think it's necessary though. Just make sure the soil is fertile enough to support vital, healthy growth.

Do you plan to mulch your plants? It'll conserve water during the summer heat and add humus to the soil.

Those giant snails are just crazy! Fortunately, the only things like that we have are small tan-colored slugs that are easily dealt with by spreading a band of diatomaceous earth on the ground around the plants. It cuts them up an they bleed out and die if they try to cross it. It's totally non-toxic too. Cheers!

PeriPeri · Nov 28, 2012

Hi stickman. Thanks for the great tips. I hope I dont damage the roots trying to get the sticks so close to the stem. Will need a little finess I think!

Yea, those snails are kind of prehistoric looking. The valley that I am planting in is literally just a stones throw from the "Cradel of Humankind" here in SA. Thought to be the origin of life itself. I will try and capture a bit more of our wildlife in the area. Great insects, snakes, scorpions and reptiles of all sorts really. There are Vervet Monkeys, Buck, Caracal (Rooikat) and the occasional Nile Monitor, Porcupine etc running around. Occasionally there are sighting of Leopard and Hyena in the area... but you don't ever really get to see them.

I think I will let mother nature do its thing! Too scared I will stuff things up with the plants.... usually when things go sour, it's my fingers that were in the mix lol So I shall leave my fingers out of this equation... but I will add some Sea Mingus fert... this has been amazing. The week after fertelising, the plants just rocket!

WalkGood · Nov 28, 2012

Wow Lourens everything looks awesome, keep those cool pics coming and apologies about the off topic but I think all is cool as he’s French and that’s why I included the *WG rollseyes* to add sarcasm

BTW I think Stickmans advice it great, I too use DT to keep snails at bay.

PeriPeri · Nov 28, 2012

lol all good here - no need to apologise! ONly problem about living in South Africa is that while we are arguably the most 1st world spot on the African continent... we are still hugely third world in many things. Often I hear guys talk about stuff you have in the US... we just don't get that kind of stuff here.But I am sure I could pick up a flame thrower or two left over from the Angolan war

DocNrock · Nov 28, 2012

So much stuff happening there, PeriPeri. Looking great. I will echo what Stickman said. I don't think it is necessary to pinch the tops. The plants will branch when they are ready. I have a couple of plants that I pinched. They did branch earlier, but they became more shrub-like as opposed to a taller plant. If that is what you are going for, then pinching would help. I don't get the impression it helped in the end with production, though.

Keep posting! Loving this pics.

scratchzilla · Nov 28, 2012

I use cups of beer to keep my snails at bay, but you'd probably need a keg or two for those bad boys.

stickman · Nov 28, 2012

I'd be surprised if you couldn't get any diatomaceous earth in South Africa since they mine the stuff there... http://www.goldorecr...h-south-africa/ They dig it in several different places in the Olifantshoek area.
Just sayin...