ronniedeb's 2014 season

PIC 1 · Aug 4, 2014

Ronan I'm happy to see the plants are loaded with peppers !
That's a big asset having a greenhouse. You must be having a better than typical year with the weather.
Nice harvest photos.....you're getting a bit of everything for the cutting board.

ronniedeb · Aug 4, 2014

PIC 1 said:
Ronan I'm happy to see the plants are loaded with peppers !
That's a big asset having a greenhouse. You must be having a better than typical year with the weather.
Nice harvest photos.....you're getting a bit of everything for the cutting board.

Thanks! The greenhouses are a bonus for sure. Last summer was good too, but compared to the summers before that we have been lucky. A little rain and cold, but not too much!

ronniedeb · Aug 10, 2014

Harvesting and Preserving!

Godddammmmit!!!!
Lots of pellets down, but still finding half eaten pods. Bigguns too!

El Oro de Ecuador, proper sized pods. Tasty pods, nice and fruity.

Hempy Buckets:
Fatalii x Murupi Doce. Set a few small pods earlier. Only now starting to set more consistently.

Fidalga. Again, setting pods at a nice rate now.

Harold St Barts. A lot of my chinense are strangely scalloped this year.

Guampinho de Veado has set a load of pods after a slow start. Strange plant, Grew really tall without forming many flowers, now flowering and fruiting loads, but also dropping load of leaves.

Serrano

stickman · Aug 10, 2014

Good on ya for canning up your harvest Ronan... I'm doing the same today. Nice to see ripe pods from your plants despite the cold, rainy weather. You can see some cracking in the skin of the El Oro de Ecuador from excess rain. For some reason, slugs here seem to prefer my Korean radishes over my peppers... go figure. Do you think it's been raining too much lately for the slug pellets to be effective? I think Lourens was having a similar problem in South Africa during his last growing season. Cheers!

ronniedeb · Aug 10, 2014

stickman said:
Good on ya for canning up your harvest Ronan... I'm doing the same today. Nice to see ripe pods from your plants despite the cold, rainy weather. You can see some cracking in the skin of the El Oro de Ecuador from excess rain. For some reason, slugs here seem to prefer my Korean radishes over my peppers... go figure. Do you think it's been raining too much lately for the slug pellets to be effective? I think Lourens was having a similar problem in South Africa during his last growing season. Cheers!

Thanks! Most of my plants are in the greenhouse, including the El Oro de Ecuador. They are in an Ebb and Flood hydro system, Don't know what the cracking is about. I'm thinking most of the damage is by small slugs like the one in the pod in the earliet photo. I think they may just be avoiding the pellets by chance. Hopefully I'll get them soon.

PIC 1 · Aug 11, 2014

Those container plants look all healthy and perky outdoors !
Those are some beautiful Serranos....many uses for those.

ronniedeb · Aug 11, 2014

PIC 1 said:
Those container plants look all healthy and perky outdoors !
Those are some beautiful Serranos....many uses for those.

Thanks a million! These plants have been in the greenhouse most of the time. Any plants left outdoors usually stay too wet and suffer. We're getting the tail end of Hurricane Bertha at the moment, lots of heavy showers, gusty winds and hailstones. Not good!

Yeah Serranos are great for sure!

ronniedeb · Aug 11, 2014

Some more harvest:

Mostly Aji Cristals, which is my most productive plant so far this year

Also included a massive Brandywine tomato:

First decent sized Faria pods:

Still a lot of damaged pods. All this lot was damaged:

Some more damage looks like slugs, some caterpillars. I've put slug pellets in, but have yet to spray BT in the greenhouse at home. Tomorrow I will.
Some damaged Sugar Rush:

Rooster Spur has crazy busy flowering nodes:

First ripe Bode Amarelo Pod:

First ripe Fidalgas

First ripe Beni Highlands:

ronniedeb · Aug 21, 2014

There seems to have been a little slump in the pepper harvest in the last week or so, I guess with our drop in temperature. Single figures at night now, and plenty of rain and wind to go with it. :roll:
Tomatoes are coming through now though, making up for it a little.

After 3 years (albeit, of neglect), my Goatsweed plant is podding at last

Not Capsicum galapogense

Flower looks chinense like, I think.

Some non-pepper pics.

An American plant, Spanish Moss (Tillandsia usneoides). Hardy down to -15 C, apparently but tricky to overwinter all the same. An Epiphytic plant, sensitive to air pollution and humidity. Survived last winter in my friends garden though. It seems to have grown a little since he gave me a bit in spring.

A friend dropped me up some Lobster and Crab claws. Thought some Lemon Drops might go well with them in a pasta.

stickman · Aug 22, 2014

Not a bad pull at all for this time of year Ronan, and those tomatoes look good... think you'll be using any of them to make hot sauce?

Nice looking pods on the Goat's Weed... Mine are ripening up their second wave of pods, and this is where most of the production happens with them I think.

I never would have thought you could grow Spanish Moss in Ireland, but good on ya for pulling it off. Continued success brother!

ronniedeb · Aug 22, 2014

stickman said:
Not a bad pull at all for this time of year Ronan, and those tomatoes look good... think you'll be using any of them to make hot sauce?

Nice looking pods on the Goat's Weed... Mine are ripening up their second wave of pods, and this is where most of the production happens with them I think.

I never would have thought you could grow Spanish Moss in Ireland, but good on ya for pulling it off. Continued success brother!

Thanks! I'm going to try and make some salsa with the tomatoes. We have mild winters, usually. That said, last year was unusually mild when it survived in my friends garden. This year may be different. Also, it survived, but didn't really flourish. I don't think we could replicate the reams of Spanish Moss you'd see on Oaks in the Southern States of the US.

ronniedeb · Aug 28, 2014

Super Windy here today and tomorrow. Outdoor plants getting destroyed. To compound that there is quite a bit of mould starting in my allotment greenhouse. Don't know whether I should keep the door open or not!!

Still getting some OK harvests. I think per plant harvest will be down on last two years, but they are keeping me busy with preserves etc.

Trepadeira de Werner

Beni Highlands

Rooster Spur

Habanero Brown Large living up to its name at last

MOA Bonnets

CARDI Yellow

Guajillo

Jalapeno DRH-7400

Blondie

PIC 1 · Aug 29, 2014

Very colorful !
Those are very large Jalapenos and Blondies.
Mold appearing in the gh... well they do call it a ......Greenhouse.....ha.
Is it growing on the windows or in the pots. You probably need more air circulation
Hope the wind dies down and you can keep your outdoor plants sheltered.
Have a great weekend !

ronniedeb · Aug 29, 2014

PIC 1 said:
Very colorful !
Those are very large Jalapenos and Blondies.
Mold appearing in the gh... well they do call it a ......Greenhouse.....ha.
Is it growing on the windows or in the pots. You probably need more air circulation
Hope the wind dies down and you can keep your outdoor plants sheltered.
Have a great weekend !

Thanks! The mould is on the leaves and stems, and some fruit. Mostly the tomatoes, but some peppers. It's grey mould, like this:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/advice/pests_and_diseases/images/medium/grey_mould_on_tomato_stem.jpg

Yeah it's an air circulation issue. The greenhouse is on an allotment, and one of my neighbours closed the door, probably concerned about the hight winds and low night temps we've had recently. Unfortunately that has let the mould spread.

Thanks! Have a good weekend!

stickman · Sep 6, 2014

You've got some nice looking pods in your latest pull Ronan! You really nailed it with the Guajillos, Jalapenos and large brown Habaneros... good job! Have you sampled your MoA Bonnets yet? I think you'll really like the flavor. :drooling:

ronniedeb · Sep 7, 2014

stickman said:
You've got some nice looking pods in your latest pull Ronan! You really nailed it with the Guajillos, Jalapenos and large brown Habaneros... good job! Have you sampled your MoA Bonnets yet? I think you'll really like the flavor.

Thanks Rick. Yeah, I've had a couple of Bonnets. Really nice, and a nice heat for me.

ronniedeb · Sep 10, 2014

Been 2 weeks since I updated. Getting cold these nights. Not long to go for my unheated allotment greenhouse. Harvests are OK. Keeping me busy with preserving.

Madre Vieja has just started to ripen a few pods. Lots more left under the canopy.

Lots more Rooster Spur as well

Wiang Ping hasnt ripened one pod yet.

MOA is doing good. My efforts to isolate flowers has failed completely this year, on most varieties. Very dissapointing. Will have to go with OP MOA seeds next year. I tried using gel caps and net bags. Don't know why they both failed.

In marking this 7 Pod SR for isolation, I gave it a bit of a corseting. Haven't checked if it has any seed yet.

CARDI Yellow pumping out the pods

Katie Pods:

MOA Bonnets

CARDI Yellow

PIC 1 · Sep 10, 2014

Ronan you're hauling in some nice colorful peppers.
All that processing should keep you busy.
Cool nights slowly moving in here also. It's still a month or so before any frost threats.

ronniedeb · Sep 10, 2014

PIC 1 said:
Ronan you're hauling in some nice colorful peppers.
All that processing should keep you busy.
Cool nights slowly moving in here also. It's still a month or so before any frost threats.

Thanks!

Out of focus, but tasty Faria

Plenty more to ripen

Aji Cristal and CAP 267

Chimayo

This was meant to be a 7 Pod Primo.

Beni Market

Not unlike Peito de Moca, looks wise.

Wider sprawling plant though in comparison to PdM.
Beni Market:

Peito de Moca:

ronniedeb · Sep 12, 2014

Beni Highlands:

Saving some seed:
Trepadeira de Werner

Bode Amarelo

Tomatoes still rolling in:

It's a been a good year for Apples. This tree's previous record was 12 apples. This year it produced 49. Very early as well. Meant to be an October Harvest.

I inherited a plum tree in the front garden when we moved in. Its been infested with aphids year on year despite spraying. Never provided anything beyond small hard knobbly fruit. I was going to dig it out this winter, use the wood for the barbecue and replace it with an apple tree. Lo and behold I was passing it the other day and noticed it was full of fruit. It's earned a reprieve.