PeriPeri's Grow Log 2012: South Africa

Hi All,

So I'll give it another try this year. God knows I love chillies and I would love nothing more than to have a bumper harvest... but I suspect the truth of the matter is I do not have green fingers. In fact, give me a chilli and I will be pretty guaranteed to kill it lol That's not negativity talking, that's reality based on last years experiences lol

Last year it was pots. This year its a farm east of Pretoria, here in South Africa. My reasoning for this madness is pretty much like a hunter hunting with a machine gun... out of the thousand seedlings I plant... I must walk away with something lol (I hope).

So I have a pice of land. Good soil down by a river in the african sun.

The planting area has been divided into two sections. An enclosed area (±40mx40m) with shade netting and an open area (±40mx40m). Water is limited, but there is borehole water.

Outside Area:

Inside Area:

Temps this time of the year are in the mid to high 30ºC. It's the rainy season, so there is rain and it comes in buckets and hail-stones!

So here are the pics I took of the inside and outside areas Saturday 6/10/2012. It was 37ºC that day. I have a video as well which I took last Sunday when I started the planting (to come). Luckily we have a cold front at the moment, so since monday it has been overcast, cool and we have rain (magic). I think its about 23/25ºC at the moment. I planted on Sunday (36ºC) early morning (24/25ºC) and late afternoon and pretty much watered for the rest of the day. Didn't look like rain at all... but it's here and could not have come at a better time really!

As you can see I have laid out the beds in rows. Planting is at 45-60cm intervals. I am doing a little experiment also with double planting and single planting. I suspect the yield will be lower with the bushes that have been double planted... but who knows. A different climate... maybe results will show different.

On the grow list:

Bishops Crown
PeriPeri (naturally)
Hotazel
Hot Pixie
Thaibo
Thai Dragon
Baby Belle
Cal Wonder
Yellow Scorpions
ButchT
Black Pearl
Naga Viper
White Hab
Orange Hab
Brown Hab
Red Hab
Big Jim
Long Thai
Cayenne
Cheyenne
Jalapeno
Carolina Reaper
Serrano
Pasilla Bajio
7 Pod
Bhut Jolokia
Naga King
Scotch Bonnet
Hungarian Sweet Wax
Cherry Bomb
Boriya Mirch
Brain Strain
Ring of Fire

Still to come...

Angkor Sunrise
Devils Tongue White
Barrakpore
Douglah
Jonah
JonahxButchT
Primo
Naga Morich
Infinity
Goronong
Devils Tongue Choc
Hab Choc

One or two other... but I can't remember.

First lot I planted on Sunday 7/10/2012.... details will follow...

Over and out for now!

PeriPeri

 

[PeriPeri]

 

[DocNrock]

Growing nicely down there, PeriPeri! Lots of great varieties.

 

[PeriPeri]

Thanks DocNrock, the superhots are taking their time! lol

 

[DocNrock]

Thanks DocNrock, the superhots are taking their time! lol

They certainly do.

 

[PeriPeri]

Happy New Year guys! May 2013 bring a bumper crop to you all!

 

[meatfreak]

Very nice glog, beautifull plants, definitely one to follow! Happy New Year, only 14 hours left over here.

 

[saugapepper]

Great looking plants Lourens!! I love your updates because there are so many photos to enjoy while I stare out the window at the snow.

Happy New Year mate!

Conor

 

[Sownseeds]

Hi mate , just been reading through your grow log for the first time, man how i wish i had an area like you have to grow in the ground, your plants look great mate.

 

[PeriPeri]

Happy New Year meatfreak - thank you, welcome!

Happy New Year Conor. It's been pretty hot here last couple of days... having been raised in Germany, one never really gets used to having Christmas and New Year's in the sun! From where I'm standing, it would be awesome to have a white Christmas and New Year lol

Going to be another scorcher today and if there is no rain today, I think I will have to go through to water again... I will keep those pics coming!

Sownseeds - thank you... I hope to keep those pics coming. I struggled to get the glog going at the beginning... there was just too much to do. I have been very fortunate to have this plot... and all things considered, the weather has been really brilliant this year. Happy New Year!

 

[PeriPeri]

And the first red chilli has peaked...

Hot Pixies coming on nicely...

Thai Chillies (Thaidragon)...

The smallest chilli in my grow list (Ignite)... this is truly minute lol...

Ring of Fire's podding up... from the bottom up...

The hottest in the fold coming on nicely...

Plenty chillies on some bushes...

That's as many images as I can post on the system will upload more tomorrow.

Managed to go through and water today. Good timing as it had been hot and no rain on the horizon.

Staking will have to be on the cards next time I am there with a matter of urgency. Big Jim's are all falling over one by one. Bishops will be certain to follow suit... I have a bamboo screen that I will pilfer to get loads of thin strong supports.

Nursery is looking great... little superhots are coming on quickly. I will see if I can do some transplanting next week too.

Vervet monkeys were on the prowl today. I did try and take pics for you guys, but unfortunately they were into the trees and back into the bush quicker than I could take a picture.

Enjoy guys!

 

[saugapepper]

Lourens, congrats on the first ripe pepper of the year! The madness is beginning....

Take care buddy,
Conor

 

[scratchzilla]

Lourens,

I take it back... you won't be picking for days... you'll be picking for months! My god your plants look fantastic. I just came in from clearing 10cm of snow from my freaking long driveway. Lousy Canadian weather... the first European to truly settle here was Samuel de Champlain, a Frenchman in 1608. When I die and go to heaven (if there is such a place) the first person I want to see is not my deceased father or grandparents, cousins, etc., it is Monsieur Champlain so I punch him right in his big Gallic nose for deciding that Canada was a good place to settle... he could have sailed just a bit further south and named what is now Florida, Canada.

Careful. They're sensitive to French bashing in this thread.

 

[PaulG]

Hey, Lourens! Your garden spot is to die for. It looked like
you were going to have over 400 plants as I browsed your
glog - how many have you turned out now?

 

[PeriPeri]

Lourens, congrats on the first ripe pepper of the year! The madness is beginning....

Take care buddy,
Conor

Hey Conor, it certainly is. It does look like PeriPeri and all the Thai Chillies are going to probably hit first at the same time. Closely followed by first batch of Habs, Calfornia Wonders and Big Jims.... Bishops, Baby Belle are still taking their time... There should be a respite before the superhots hit! Yeeeeha

Careful. They're sensitive to French bashing in this thread.

In the Republic of The Hot Pepper we are all just Chilliheads. Glad the Portuguese settled in Southern Africa and introduced us to the PeriPeri

Hey, Lourens! Your garden spot is to die for. It looked like
you were going to have over 400 plants as I browsed your
glog - how many have you turned out now?

Hi PaulG. Thank you! It has been up and down. I sowed more, lost quite a few, lost more transplanting to the outside area... had a wipeout at the beginning when the staff didn't water... and to be quite honest... I have lost count and not counted them again lol... not very efficient - I know. But I realise I do need to do this for the records. I will do a count next week. It has been so far - an amazing experience. Expremely exhausting at times, to difficult to fun... but I think the best part will be the harvest. That is if the monkeys don't get there before I do

Bishops Crowns beginning to pod... love these! Flavour, shape... heat is just perfect. I will use these as the base for sauces...

The Nursery is still full... more to come...

 

[stickman]

Great looking plants Lourens!! I love your updates because there are so many photos to enjoy while I stare out the window at the snow.

Happy New Year mate!

Conor

Hi Lourens, and the same from here in all respects... We've got 20 cm of snow on the ground outside and -17 degrees c... Nothing stayed on the ground until this, so it feels like we got winter all in one go.
Nice pics as usual... Your plants are looking great, and you should be rolling in pods in a month or so. Cheers!

 

[Sanarda]

Everything looks great Lorens. I cant wait to see your harvests.

 

[PeriPeri]

Hi Sanarda, not as much as me I plan to do a taste test for every chilli... I'm salevating at the very thought

 

[DocNrock]

Oh where does the time go? I remember when that Hotazel was just knee high to a grasshopper, now it's got a baby.

Seriously, looking great there. Lots of pods, new starts, and so much space. Awesome. Gonna taste everyone, you said? Now that sounds like it will all be worth it!

 

[PeriPeri]

When you wait that long... you gotta taste them all lol

 

[PeriPeri]

I went past the chillies today. It was another really hot day today. What the chillies need is another good long soaking downfall of rain. It takes me two hours to water all the plants and this is the absolute bare minimum. The soil is quite difficult to permeate with the hosepipe. Once wet it is great, but getting the water down to the roots is another story. Anyway, it is the best I can do at this stage.

Unfortunately I did not get enough time to take pictures, but with the dry spell I will be back there in the next couple of days. I can report that everything is growing amazingly. I did loose some Big Jim plants. Stems snapped clean off from falling over. It really hurts me to see this... but before I went out, I went to my girlfriends house and chopped some bamboo for staking the plants. So another thing today was to start staking all the Big Jim's... which has been done. I also staked some of the Bishops... as some of them too are now beginning to bowe under the weight of the growing pods.

Next year I will do the staking earlier on in my grow... it is proving to be more difficult as the bushes are now quite difficult to navigate without damaging plants. Not sure how I will harvest - may need a hot air balloon!