Smokenmirraz Melbourne Miracle

Hi, I'm Smokenmirraz and I live in Melbourne, Australia.  The miracle part of the topic title is getting weather warm enough to grow super hots!  I'll try to add updates once a month or so.
 
I've grown chillies from seed in the past, but these days I'm not that motivated.  At the moment, most of my focus is on growing super hot chillies in 10 gallon pots purchased as seedlings from a local hardware store.  The garden bed has habaneros, jalapenos, and some kind of thai birds eye, tomatoes, herbs, eggplants, and lots of dwarf beans.
 
Currently growing:
 
- Chilli Trinidad 7-Pod Yellow in it's third year of growth and a fantastic producer.
- Chilli Trinidad 7-Pod Pink in it's second year.
- Chilli Carolina Reaper x 2.
- Chilli Trinidad Scorpion Butch T x 2.
- Chilli Naga Bhut Jolokia Red x 2.
 

 

 
 

 

[Weed]

What are the pellets? Red dirt too?

 

[BigB]

Give hime some AusLove

 

[moruga welder]

yes , what are the pellets ?      

 

[smokenmirraz]

The pellets are an organic fertilizer based on composted poultry manure called "Rooster Booster".  It's a fairly gentle organic fertilizer that I apply liberally.
 
Analysis:
 
Nitrogen (N)              As Organic                    3.0
Phosphorus (P)        As Citrate Soluble        2.0
Potassium (K)           As Organic                     1.7
 
The potting mix is a mixture of 3/4 of some fairly generic tomato potting mix, and the red stuff you see at the top is 1/4 of coconut coir not very well mixed in, with a fairly generous amount of pelleted poultry manure.  Last time I made up this combo, I had some plant losses due to lack of drainage and over watering, so this time I thought I'd mix the coir at the top of the pot, and it might even act as a mulch.

 

[Shorerider]

Welcome neighbor.

With that much fertilizer pellets on top, I'd have to think IT is acting like mulch.

I've never used "Rooster Booster" before, but I have used Dynamic Lifter for many years. If they're anything alike, I would never use that many pellets as a top dressing. The pellets are best off mixed into the soil as a slow release fertilizer. Application on the surface is ok, just far more sparingly.

Let me know if you need pots, I can get 20L plastic drums for use as pots for free.


SR.

 

[smokenmirraz]

Welcome neighbor.

With that much fertilizer pellets on top, I'd have to think IT is acting like mulch.

I've never used "Rooster Booster" before, but I have used Dynamic Lifter for many years. If they're anything alike, I would never use that many pellets as a top dressing. The pellets are best off mixed into the soil as a slow release fertilizer. Application on the surface is ok, just far more sparingly.

Let me know if you need pots, I can get 20L plastic drums for use as pots for free.


SR.

 
Thanks for the suggestions.  I must admit I went a little heavy with the pellets

 

[eLuke455]

Great to see another Melbournian...
 
Did you plant the "pot n' all" or did you cut the bottom off the pot? Last year, I bought a few of those "pot n' all" seedlings but I noticed the roots really struggled to push through the pot once planted. I don't know if my soil wasn't moist enough, but I decided to dig up a few of them and remove the pot then replant. Keep and eye on it if you planted them with the pot still on.
 
Cheers
Luke

 

[smokenmirraz]

Great to see another Melbournian...
 
Did you plant the "pot n' all" or did you cut the bottom off the pot? Last year, I bought a few of those "pot n' all" seedlings but I noticed the roots really struggled to push through the pot once planted. I don't know if my soil wasn't moist enough, but I decided to dig up a few of them and remove the pot then replant. Keep and eye on it if you planted them with the pot still on.
 
Cheers
Luke

 
Hi Luke
 
I planted the whole pot this time for the new seedlings.  The seedlings wilted in yesterday's warmth and I gave them a little drink.  Today, some of the leaves looked a little sun damaged.

 

[smokenmirraz]

Quick photo update showing damaged leaves from last week's hot spell:
 

 

[smokenmirraz]

Not much change from last weekend, but some sign of new growth on close inspection:
 

 

[eLuke455]

 
Hi Luke
 
I planted the whole pot this time for the new seedlings.  The seedlings wilted in yesterday's warmth and I gave them a little drink.  Today, some of the leaves looked a little sun damaged.

 
Same here, a bit of sun scalding leaf damage after the hot days.

 

[smokenmirraz]

I picked up a few more items from the hardware store today: 2 x Jay's Red Ghost Scorpion, and a dwarf Meyer lemon.  The Jay's Red Ghost Scorpion were added to the far right of the picture, and the Meyer lemon to the far left. 
 
As Summer is here now, and with a week of average 30deg C weather forecast, I've added some pine bark mulch to the top of each pot. 
 
All the new chilli plants were topped today.
 

 

[smokenmirraz]

Weekend update photo from this morning.  The main vegie patch is doing well, so many dwarf beans.
 

 

[Shorerider]

Your Chilli plants seem to be growing rather slowly. It's been a month since your first post ^ and I'd have expected more growth in that time than I'm seeing here.

Did you remove some fertilizer pellets from the top of your pots, or did you just put that mulch straight over the top?

Too much fertilizer will cause your plants to burn on the outer edges of leaves (which I can see on some leaves) and can also cause slow growth.

I'm in Melbourne too, and can't day we've had many really hot days yet so it's doubtful that the burning of leaves was caused by heat. Burning by heat will most likely affect the top of the leaf exposed to the sun, and not the edge only.

Hope this helps,

SR.

 

[smokenmirraz]

Your Chilli plants seem to be growing rather slowly. It's been a month since your first post ^ and I'd have expected more growth in that time than I'm seeing here.

Did you remove some fertilizer pellets from the top of your pots, or did you just put that mulch straight over the top?

Too much fertilizer will cause your plants to burn on the outer edges of leaves (which I can see on some leaves) and can also cause slow growth.

I'm in Melbourne too, and can't day we've had many really hot days yet so it's doubtful that the burning of leaves was caused by heat. Burning by heat will most likely affect the top of the leaf exposed to the sun, and not the edge only.

Hope this helps,

SR.

 
Growth has definitely been a little disappointing so far, but I think this last week they've started to hit their stride.
 
Mulch went straight over the top of the fertilizer pellets.
 
All the new seedlings wilted on a 30 deg C plus day a few weeks ago and I gave them a little bit of water to pick them up again.  I fertilize each seedling weekly with full strength Aquasol of about a liter per pot.

 

[smokenmirraz]

It's been a hot week.  Last weekend I went a bit overboard with the Aquasol and magnesium sulphate fertilizers and it looks like a few of the smaller plants got some leaf burn as a result.  This week I'll start a regime of one weekend water, the next weekend, half ferts.  You live and learn.
 

 

[smokenmirraz]

First ripe chinense of the season from the overwintered Chilli Trinidad 7-Pod Pink:
 

 
Only a tiny pod at around 1cm, but so good to bite into that fruity chinense flavour

 

[smokenmirraz]

New year update.  I've re-organized the container layout because the overwinters are taking up a bit of space now:
 

 

[Burnzy]

New year update.  I've re-organized the container layout because the overwinters are taking up a bit of space now:
 

Your plants look like they are getting a good bit more growth on them with the more consistent weather. Won't be long until the new ones start forming pods.