Sili Grow 2012

The stakes are higher (hotter) for me this year. My main grow starts in a couple of weeks, but I thought I'd test fire some of these C. Chinense varieties in baggies / coffee filters just to get a feel for germination rates. Baccatums and Annuums start later. My main grow will involve Hoffman's Seed Starter medium in 72-cell flats.

This is a pretty big 'test,' and I'll grow 'em forward if they sprout, then compare with the dirt-born later.

Thanks to those enablers who sent seeds and advice. I hope to let you know how they turn out. I thusly unleash heavenly hellish heat upon thyself.

An unholy out-of-the-ground beginning:

A high tech germination center:

 

[HillBilly Jeff]

Excellent poddage and I really like that falcon pic. Most excellent!!!!

 

[PaulG]

Okay, Ken, I'm bringing your glog to the top of the page 1 index!
Hope you have had a good Fall/early Winter there. We are still
cruisin' here. Can't believe I am still seeing pods ripening on Dec 9!
Hope you'll let us know how your season turned out. It was going
great guns the last time I looked!!

 

[Siliman]

Lame as my GLOG is, thought I would do a wrap-up. Paul G has me fired up a bit, as he was kind enough to send several seeds my way and get me thinking about peppas again. So having been roused from pre-winter sleep, here is a recap.

This year, I attempted 57 varieties of peppers and succeeded in getting pods from 55 of them. Seeds grew true from members on the forum and from commercial sources. THANK YOU soooo much!

What worked well: Germination: from cups and in Hoffman Seed Starter Mix. ProMix BX for potting up and diluted Botanicare liquid ferts: Pro-Grow, Karma and Cal Mag in early stages.

Timing: Starting seeds in early January for Chinense varieties to February worked well. Next year I'll start few of my most stubborn plants around January 7th but most later in the month. Annuum varieties start late Feb to early March. Here's some Chinense pods and start dates.

Germination and early growth: Used germination in baggies, cups and Hoffman Seed Starting mix. All worked well. Will continue to use cups to germinate small batches or to test seed viability, but will primarily use Hoffman for main grow. Transplant medium was Pro Mix BX.

Over-Wintered plants: Had 8 of 10 plants survive from the 2011 season. This included some Frutescens, Bacatuum and Annuum samples. I planted in new medium and provided defense against aphids and gnats (see this link for details.) These plants stayed indoors in a south facing window at about 65 degrees for about 6 months. Plants had a nice head start and produced prods earlier than those from seed.

This OW Siling Labuyo later produced well in a 5-gal container. It is a very slow grower for me, so the additional growth paid off:

Cloned plants: Basically, took cutting from new growth on over-wintered plants and stuck directly in some moist starter mix. This took longer than I thought, but was very successful. Plants had a head start over those grown from seeds and all produced pods. Thanks to Paul G for ideas and procedures! Earlier in my GLOG I tried using Root-Tone to assist in the transplant. Bad idea, just stick them into the 'dirt' and keep them moist.

Raised beds and other: worked to increase organic material into framed bed and continued improving other areas of soil. This has begun to pay off. I did another year of pretty tight spacing of plants, and this time I believe it worked out pretty well as it was so damn hot this summer. Always messing around with that.

Hoop House/ cloche/ low tunnel: Highly recommended for anyone growing peppers in shorter / colder climates. Any early sunny spring day at 60-degrees was easily transformed into 85-degrees. It does require some attention to open (roll up) sides when it gets too hot in there. It's a low-cost solution to extending your season. I incorporated this into my raised beds, but I think you could drive in some rebar to anchor the PVC, if you have a cheap source for that. It really got my plants going earlier and extended the season on the other end also.

Plant out timing (in ground): Spring was a more normal start here, but there was still a few days that were cold enough to (perhaps) stunt some of the plants. Last frost here around mid-May, but next year I am waiting till June 1 for any peppers going into the ground. There is nothing to be gained by planting into the soil when it is still a few degrees from optimal warmth. I am seriously considering waiting until June 1st to plant next year, even though 'the book' says good to go by May 8th.

Plant out timing (Containers): No problem getting them into the 5-gallon by May 1st. I was able to shuffle to the porch or into the hoop house whenever early spring cold spells hit. Here is a comparo of a Chihaucle Rojo in a container and one that was put in the ground taken around early July:

By the first week of August, some in the ground caught up to the container plants (here are some C. Annuum mostly jalapenos):

My first year growing with containers, a big success overall. I was able to get a much earlier crop in the containers, but generally a much bigger crop in the ground by the end of season. I tried a few container mixes and the winner (by far) was 80% Pro-Mix BX with 10% Kelloggs Planting Mix. 10% perlite, fertilized with 1/2 cup Dr. Earth for each 5-gallon container. I had about 30 containers, most of them got one solid crop before beginning to fizzle as I really didn't add any additional nutes just to see.

An example of some nice production in a 5-gal container from Patrick's Red Savina:

Mid-season: Outstanding production from container plants, and the in-ground plants started showing their power.
Late season: Ground plants coming on stronger and container plants pretty much done. I now know I need to provide some nutrition if I expect more than one harvest (duh).

Favorites for sure: Inca Red Drop, Congo Trinidad, Chocolate Habenero, Fatalii, but I got good mileage out of everything. I'll try to post up individual photos to all those forum members who were kind enough to provide seeds. Everything grew true as promised and I am very greatful to everyone who helped me up my pepper game this year.

 

[PaulG]

Hey, Ken, welcome back to the glogosphere! Good to have you
hangin' around again! Your container grow turned out great, my
friend; some awesome poddage there. You're right, containers
can stand a little more food, but not too much. I think I gave them
fish fert 3 times during the season.

I'm going to have 9 or 10 plants in the ground in the raised beds
next season. The annuums have done well there, but I want to
try some other varieties in the beds. Guess we're opposite sides
of the same experiment!

+1 on your favorites, those are among my favorites, too.

Are you overwintering a handful of plants like you did last year?

 

[PIC 1]

Ken.........Great to see that all is well and you haven' t missed a beat with the garden !

Seems like yesterday that you were firing up the T8's and getting the ball rollin with the starts.

Where did the season go......and you're right about the cloche/ hoop-a-rama......ha, I've got two of them

and they served out well. This year I'll be adding construction fence fabric in the hardening off phase

to aid with some additional shading................I no wan'em burnt leaves....

Ken I hope you have a enjoyable and safe holidat season...

Greg

 

[Siliman]

@ Paul G--thanks for container food ideas--I was envisioning same thing: as the summer wears on, use fish ferts in moderation, maybe starting dose prior to first pods ripening around late July. Yep, I have a limited number of over-winters going again. I do the full wash down prior to re-potting and had good luck no bugs last time. This winter won't be a big production, but if a few of my favs make it, great!

As you mentioned, it's fun to have the raised beds compete with the containers--different animals. Check out this forest of Incas from Wayright and others:

@ PIC 1 Greg--Well I have to hand it to you for all the advice about lighting, ferts and general plant practices. It all helped. The T8s served me well. plus some outdoor plastic housing really is all I need. I'm also thinking about additional shading for hardening--and also increasing 'wind hardening' for anything that goes in the ground.

Thanks once again to everyone who contributed to my sili grow 2012. Looking forward to any post-Mayan peppers that may come into our (next) lives..

Now, for the grand finale of the 2012 GLOG, FWIW:
A batch of reds (mostly Inca Red Drops from Wayright) that went into a great sauce that came out something like red spicy mustard on steroids:

Bhut Jolokia India Carbon--got some excellent production from these and blazing hot;

Some ripe jalapeno (some Zapotec) on their way to smoke dehydrate and chipotle:

My biggest producer of hot flesh: Gary's Congo Trinidad:

And to the last of the pods...Aji Amarillo and a solitary TSMB:

fade to:

 

[WalkGood]

Very nice plants, pods and very beautiful location you have

 

[stickman]

Nice overview of your growing season. Looking forward to your grow next year... hopefully you won't be as busy with fighting fires and will be able to spend more time in the garden taking pics! Have a happy holiday season

 

[PaulG]

Looks really good, Ken! Those Inca Red Drops are a nice pod, indeed.
Even the green ones I took off the plant when I cut it down had decent
heat and some flavor. The Congo Trinidad was one of my best producers
as well. Next year it gets a bigger pot! Your winterized garden looks good,
nice and tidy even in the freezing weather! The Aji Amarillo pods look really
good. I'm waiting until the last possible minute to harvest; we have a 'warm'
spell of high 30's and low 40's for low temps right now. Will this season never
end?
Holiday Cheer!