Poypoy's Growlog - First Big Harvest and Salsa!

poypoyking · Mar 6, 2013

wildseed57 said:
nice grow, really like your varieties. A lot of Flavor and a lot of heat..
I was just going to have 5 plants of 5 varieties a total of 25 plants, but I got out of control again and have close to 60 plants, so I will be looking for places to put plants in the garden and pots, along with them I have close to 30 tomatoes and 30 eggplants. Then I have find spots for my salad greens, peas, beans and what ever else.
God I love Gardening

Thanks, I always overdo it and have to cull or give away quite a bit. Last year I potted up 250 tomato plants which was 4 times what I actually planted.

PIC 1 said:
You may want to try seeding the Chocolate Habs in a solo cup by themselves. When they sprout you can move the that container as cose as possible to the lights (depending on the fixture type)....also fill the cups up with more soil. More soil=Bigger roots.

The only drawback with starting the seeds in a solo cup is I lose the benefit of the heat mat and humidity dome. I can't get the soil as warm with that amount of soil to heat. I have 4" pots I will be potting the largest ones into as they max out the space they have.

Sanarda said:
I have some choc Hab seeds and got great germ. Send me a pm ill send you some

I did have one of the Chocolate Habs pop up today, and it looks way better than the last batch did. It actually has normal size cotyledons and is taller in its first day than all 5 of my previous sprouts got. So I should be good but thanks for the offer.

I also started my Annuums tonight:

Jalapeno
Jalmundo
Purple Jalapeno
Serrano
Santa Fe Grande
Black Scorpion Tongue
Espelletes
Numex Sunrise/Sunset/Twilight

I am guessing most of those will be up by the time I get back in town Sunday night.

poypoyking · Mar 11, 2013

A quick photo update after being gone for 4 days. Overall things are growing well but I am getting a bit of leaf curl/crinkle. Looks like I need to adjust my lights a little when I get home tonight, and will lay off on the fish water just in case they are getting too much nitrogen as well.

I had a second chocolate hab come up as normal so I will probably just run with those two and get them out from under the humidity dome. I might clone one of them once they get a bit bigger as an insurance policy.

My annuums started popping up but not enough of them to warrant a picture yet.

poypoyking · Mar 20, 2013

Most of my Annuums are up and doing well. This is where I ended up for germination:

Jalapeno - 9/10
Jalmundo - 9/10
Purple Jalapeno - 10/10
Serrano - 10/10
Santa Fe Grande - 4/5
Black Scorpion Tongue - 5/5
Espelletes - 0/3
Numex Sunrise/Sunset/Twilight - 10/15

My Chinense are doing great for the most part. I have a few runts I will end up culling. The two best looking plants are one of my Yellow 7 Pots and a Chocolate Scotch Bonnet, followed closely by Bhut Jolokia and a few others.

I kind of forgot how much my soil mix compacts over time, so I will be adjusting quite a few of these this week. I still haven't decided whether I will pot up to my 4" round pots or just pot them up in the solo cups. Some of the leaves are starting to get restricted based on the level of the soil.

You can see the lack of the leaves on two of the cups here. These are very runty, but to be fair they were both started from a "half" of a seed. I am surprised anything came up at all actually.

So the plan for this week then is to adjust my existing plants in some way and then pot up my Annuums.

It hardly feels like spring today. The high here is 15 degrees today and I still have two feet of snow in my garden.

poypoyking · Mar 27, 2013

There was a lot of growth this last week. I culled a not-chocolate scorpion and one brain strain yellow. I potted up my chinense in the same cups, just pulled them out and filled up the cup more. The roots are looking great and the plants are taking off.

Here in the front are some of the Annuums I just potted up, with a mix of Chinenses in the back, I think the 3 in the back right are Yellow Bhut.

Over here we have some Suave, Chocolate Bhut, Caribbean Red Habanero, Naga Morich, and a few others.

Here is a mix of Jalapenos I just potted up, with some basil getting ready to pop in the foreground.

Here we have some Fataliis struggling to keep up with some Naga Moriches, Chocolate Scotch Bonnets, and Peach Bhuts.

The Yellow 7 Pots are trying to take over.

And one last shot of my favorite tray.

poypoyking · Apr 1, 2013

I tried to take my pictures outside fo the flourescent lights so you can actually see what color the plants are vs how they appear under the lights. I still have two months before they are going in the ground, though a few will be going into pots and moving into my office at work. The only drawback is I only get direct sun until 10am or so. I might put some sort of directional lamp in here if it seems like I need it.

The back row here are my Bhut Jolokias. They are really doing well and looking healthy. The small ones at the bottom are some Grande Jalapenos I started a couple weeks back.

This is a mostly Bhut (Chocolate, Peach, Yellow) and Naga Morich tray but I think there are a few stragglers in there.

My five biggest plants are all on this tray, and comprise of two varieties, Chocolate Scotch Bonnet and 7 Pot Yellow Large. The left two corners are Chocolate Scotch Bonnet and the second from the left in the back and the two right corners are the 7 Pots. At least one of the 7 Pots will become a Bonchi at some point.

A side view of one of the Chocolate Scotch Bonnets.

And then a somewhat closer shot of one of the 7 Pots.

Most of my basil (Sweet, Genovese, Thai, Lime) popped up in the last couple days, and I will be starting the balance of the rest of my seeds tonight. In the lineup I have about 150 tomato plants as well as a few different dills, various lettuces, spinach, scallions, turnips, carrots, kale, chard, and a couple others. Starting later this week my lows will only be in the thirties for the most part so once I get my new raised greens bed I will be direct sowing a lot of the forementioned.

Spicegeist · Apr 1, 2013

Nice... looks like a few of them are ready for bigger pots...

poypoyking · Apr 1, 2013

Spicegeist said:
Nice... looks like a few of them are ready for bigger pots...

Yeah, I haven't decided how many I am going to try and keep in the solo cups and how many I am going to try and pot up. I will have 5 plants in my office and most of the rest will be in the ground. I thought I talked my wife into letting me have a bucket area in the backyard where I cut down a shrub last year but when I told her I was going to get the buckets a few weeks later I got shut down. I even promised no orange home depot buckets

PIC 1 · Apr 1, 2013

Lots of nice looking plants!

You can grow plants in the office with East window light. I'd suggest a variety that not only stays somewhat smaller but also produces pods no matter the conditions...(Ornamantals, Thai's or certain Habs). You can make a serious go with the Caribbean Red with some prunning/training...the biggest obstacal will be ripening the fruit. You may need optional lighting. The smaller the pods the faster the ripening.

poypoyking · Apr 1, 2013

PIC 1 said:
Lots of nice looking plants!

You can grow plants in the office with East window light. I'd suggest a variety that not only stays somewhat smaller but also produces pods no matter the conditions...(Ornamantals, Thai's or certain Habs). You can make a serious go with the Caribbean Red with some prunning/training...the biggest obstacal will be ripening the fruit. You may need optional lighting. The smaller the pods the faster the ripening.

Thanks! I think the ones I am shooting for in the office are Chocolate Hab, White Bullet Hab (not started yet, but for an indoor grow that is fine), the Caribbean Red, one of the 7 Pots, and then one variety of Bhut (haven't decided which one yet. I can also stick a plant or two on a south facing window it just won't be in my direct office so I will have to walk to the other side of the building to keep an eye on them.

poypoyking · Apr 8, 2013

Things are progressing as expected. The annuums are shooting up and will probably pass up the chinense in 4 weeks or so. I got my 1 gallon nursery pots on Saturday, so some of the bigger babies will be potted up sometime this week. I need to be careful though as I don't want to run out of promix for my other plants that need to get potted up yet. I might have to just bite the bullet and run and get another bale.

I am going to sneak a couple non-pepper pictures in here, so close your eyes or gloss over them if you need to.

Basil!

My purple jalapenos just trucking along nicely.

My "Top Shelf" varieties. Some of these will get potted up this week as several are becoming monsters.

My baby maters. As much as I love peppers, if I was on a deserted island and could only choose one seed/plant to grow it would have to be a tomato plant.

One of my Yellow 7 Pots trying to outgrow the solo cup as quickly as possible.

Front left is my biggest Chocolate Scoth Bonnet, he will be getting a new home too.

And finally a mix of annuums and chinense.

I still have a few tomato seedlings that I am waiting on, and I am waiting on 4 more varieties of peppers that I planted last week for an indoor grow. Once I am done with the seedling stage I will get a fan on these guys for a few hours a day.

I feel a lot more relaxed this year than I did last year. I am not sure why because when you add everything up I started a lot more this year than I did last year. I think part of it is that I have done everything when I wanted to, where last year I felt I was always behind and scrambling to get things done.

I built another raised bed on Saturday (8x4), and managed to get it filled and mixed before it started raining. This one will just be for miscellaneous greens and herbs which means I will be able to dedicate more space to peppers at one of my two community plots. This week I will plant the carrots and start some of the lettuces outside in addition to the potting up I will be doing.

poypoyking · May 10, 2013

I am way way way overdue for an update. I am the network admin for my company and we have one of our offices moving locations. It has been an incredible amount of work and we have had to postpone the move twice now because of different vendor/contractor delays. I have pretty much been in maintenance mode the last month aside from getting the greens and carrot beds planted.

In addition to the tomatoes I planted April 1st I started a few more peppers a couple days after. Muskymojo and ms1476 were kind enough to trade me some white bullet habs and a few other varieties were thrown into the mix. Muskymojo also sent a small packet of some smoked powder which tastes fantastic. It curled my nose hairs a little bit and the heat stuck with me a good while.

On to the peppers!

This is my biggest plant - a yellow 7 pot large. He really wants to be outside but he is doing great in the 1 gallon pot.

An overhead view of the same plant.

Here we have a purple jalapeno that was really needing a drink.

Here is a yellow 7 pot, not chocolate scorpion, and a yellow bhut.

Some mixed Chinense and Annuums.

A picture of my main grow area. The lowest level only works for plants while they are still short, hence the basil and smaller tomato plants.

This is about half of the tomato plants I will be planting. Pardon the mess, this is my overflow area cobbled together in my workroom.

I think these are a yellow bhut, chocolate scorpion, and another yelllow 7 pot.

I have culled a few peppers and tomatoes as I have been going. I have one more set of lights to put up yet but just haven't had time. I have daily free time from about 11pm until 1 or 2am, but my workroom is right under my son's room so I can only perform quiet tasks.

I still don't have a final grow list of what I am going to put out in the dirt. I think when all is said and done it will be about 80 tomato plants and 60 pepper plants. I can fit about 30 tomatoes and 20 peppers in my main garden, and the rest will end up in the community plots I have.

I did ge ta nice dehydrator for my birthday (Nesco fd-80a), so I am very excited to be able to dry a lot of my produce this year. I can't wait to make "sun-dried" tomatoes from all the cherry varieties and be able to dry and powder peppers. I got so many cherry tomatoes from 4 plants last year that we made several 6 quart batches of tomato basil soup just from the cherry tomatoes. We finally ate the last batch from the freezer last month.

poypoyking · May 28, 2013

I just about have everything planted. I ran into one snag when I went to go plant in my two city plots this past weekend. Someone accidently planted in one of my plots. I called the city this morning but that doesn't let me go back in time to get my tomatoes planted.

This is everything before it got planted out. The weather has been abysmal for my tomatoes. They have been waterlogged for most of two weeks now but are getting planted out anyway.

These are my main "salsa" peppers. A mix of Purple Jalapenos, Jalmundo, Serranos, Fish Pepper, Chocolate Habanero, and Red Habanero. I grow the peppers and tomatoes that I want immediate access to in the backyard garden.

White Bullet Habanero, Brain Strain Yellow, and Suave.

A few non pepper shot here too. Carrots and Scallions.

Tomatoes - 31 plants here with mostly concrete reinforcing wire cages.

Dill, Basil, Scallions, Lettuce, Chard, Kale, Turnips, Spinach, and Cabbage.

Chocolate Bhut, Yellow Bhut, Peach Bhut, Fish Pepper, 7 Pot Yellow, Chocolate Scotch Bonnet, and Fatalii.

And here are the rest of my peppers and a row of Basil. A friend came and grabbed quite a few peppers from me so this isn't as full as I normally would have done. I will find something else to put in there, maybe some more Basil. Essentially this will turn into one mass hedge of peppers. Kind of a mix of everything in here. Jalapenos, Habaneros, Naga Morch, various Bhuts, a few Scorpions, Fatalii, 7 Pots, etc.

Unfortunately it will be a couple weeks before I can get my tomato plot done. I need to identify who is in my plot and get them to move, but I am traveling for work the next week. Should give them ample opportunity if I put up a sign to contact the city and figure out the right plot for them to be in.

I already have a few pods on some of the jalapenos, still haven't decided whether to pluck them off or not.

stc3248 · May 28, 2013

Great looking plots you got going Poypoy!!! Everything happy and healthy and ready for lift off!

WalkGood · May 28, 2013

Wow these last shots show how lush they look ... every ting looking great!!!

poypoyking · May 28, 2013

stc3248 said:
Great looking plots you got going Poypoy!!! Everything happy and healthy and ready for lift off!

Thanks! Hopefully when I get back in a little over a week I can start things off with a little mini pod-porn show.

WalkGood said:
Wow these last shots show how lush they look ... every ting looking great!!!

Thank you! Everything was getting pretty rootbound in the solo cups. Most of them look pretty good but some of the jalapenos were really starting to yellow.

And hopefully the groundcloth does its job and keeps me mostly weed free. This is my first time trying to use it like this.

poypoyking · Jun 14, 2013

Two weeks and not a ton happening on the pepper front. I was gone for 8 days for work, and we had one partially sunny day while I was gone. Today was the first full sun day in over 3 weeks - it has been kind of brutal. It is the 13th day of June and it rained 10 of those days, with more rain forecast-ed the next 3 days. Maybe it will pass us by this time.

I didn't get a chance to get to the city plot for some pictures but I did snap a few in the backyard. I am starting to get a few pods. I debating pinching them off but I am just letting them go as it has been the only bright spot during this crummy weather

My fish pepper seems to be showing the least stress from all of the rain. I did plant one other fish pepper plant but I picked the most variegated for my office (yet to be moved).

One of my Chocolate Scotch Bonnets. It is ready to take off as soon as the weather cooperates.

My 7 Pot Yellow seems quite determined to put out some pods for me.

A Numex Sunrise/Sunset that I missed pinching off. It is quite a bit longer than I thought it would be.

One of my Chocolate Bhuts is trying to get in on the pod action but I haven't let him yet.

I don't think this Purple Jalapeno has gotten any taller with all the lack of sun. But it is determined to ripen that pod. Once the weather turns for the better I will pick it so the plant doesn't put any more energy into it.

Some of my non-peppers have been enjoying the weather. The Dill, Spinach, Kale, Chard, and Turnips have all been doing pretty well. These pictures were snapped 6 days ago, and almost everything is quite a bit bigger.

A picture of most of the bed.

Turnips and Spinach with some lettuce in the foreground.

The Kale is doing great.

This cabbage is a beautiful plant. It really isn't what I thought it would look like. I guess I just don't know the DTM of cabbage and when it starts to form a head. Firsts are fun

I hope the weather cooperates and I see a lot of new growth in the next few weeks. The last 4 weeks have been very April-ish with a little higher temperatures. It feels like I am 3-4 weeks behind schedule with all of my pepper and tomato plants.

poypoyking · Jun 25, 2013

A quick update since the sun is shining and things are actually growing

My Chocolate Scotch Bonnet is ready to start podding.

My Yellow 7 Pot is busting out some moves.

My Carolina Reaper is looking decent. I was planning on potting it up one more time but I might just leave it.

Numex Sunrise/Sunset/Eclipse here, you can see two decent sized pods in the middle of the foliage.

Yellow Bhut is trucking along.

My Chocolate Hab is doing pretty well, starting to get some flowers.

Peach Bhut

Not a great shot of my Fatalii

White Bullet Habanero

And finally my Fish Pepper. I love the variegation - this will be a mother plant for some crosses.

With the ton of rain we have been getting the peppers in the pots are doing so much better than the ones in the ground. If this weather keeps up I expect them to overtake the potted up ones by the end of July.

Sawyer · Jun 25, 2013

Those are some really healthy looking plants, Ben. All your efforts are starting to pay off.

poypoyking said:
Thanks! Hopefully when I get back in a little over a week I can start things off with a little mini pod-porn show.

It sucks to have to travel this time of year, doesn't it?

Everything was getting pretty rootbound in the solo cups. Most of them look pretty good but some of the jalapenos were really starting to yellow.

My jalapenos have also showed the most stress from becoming root bound. I wonder if that is a common thing.

My fish pepper seems to be showing the least stress from all of the rain.

Well, it is a fish, so maybe that's not too surprising. :rolleyes:

poypoyking · Jun 25, 2013

Sawyer said:
Those are some really healthy looking plants, Ben. All your efforts are starting to pay off.

It sucks to have to travel this time of year, doesn't it?

My jalapenos have also showed the most stress from becoming root bound. I wonder if that is a common thing.

Well, it is a fish, so maybe that's not too surprising.

Thanks Sawyer.

I seem to remember all of my Jalapenos getting root bound quick last year too. I made a note of it to see if I run into the same thing next year too.

My plan is to move a Peach Bhut, Yellow Bhut, Chocolate Bhut, Fish Pepper, and a White Hab indoors into my office once they really get going for isolation/breeding purposes. I have 63 pepper plants in the ground in addition to the 15 I have in pots right now, so I don't need much for production from the potted plants.

stickman · Jun 25, 2013

Very nice pics Ben... your potted plants around the house are looking great. Especially the Fish pepper. Mine just sat there for a little over 2 months, and is just now starting to really grow. It looks like you're placed to get a great harvest now that the weather is starting to cooperate.

In the pic of the public garden on post #32... is that landscaping fabric you're using for mulch?