STC3248, Just Another Grow Log! Holiday Harvest!

stc3248 · Apr 12, 2012

PaulG said:
"While out and about I found this pretty lady patrolling on one of my Bishop's Crowns..."

Looks like a variety of crab spider. The ones we have are stalkers. Nice hire.

Your update had me smiling, as always. Such nice stuff. And then it was like,
"Oh here are some freakin' outrageous ornamentals I just happened to kick out
the door a couple of months ago, I guess they are ok" comment to make me feel
like .... warmed over

It's all too cool, bro. You are the egg mcmuffin of pepper growers!

Funny...you can still see where the cat munched on them if you look closely. I'm debating over potting them all up for a while to try to get them to thicken up to make better bonchi candidates.
I would much rather be considered the bacon egg and cheese biscuit of pepper growers...because everything is better with bacon!

Beehunter said:
Awesome dude! I loved reading that review!!! I cant believe you ate the whole thing... and Before you had your dinner in your stomach! Hardcore....

Man the powder sounds awesome and i love the color! Sounds like an awesome oven baked chicken rub to me. Little powder little oil and BAM dinner is done! damn now im hungry....

That brain was one I'll never forget that's for sure...still debatng doing a video review. One thing I've noticed is that you really can't look too cool eating one of those things. No matter how tough you act, you can't hide convulsive, full body rejection styly hiccups or sweat/snot pouring out of yourself. lol

That powder is the best I've made so far. Once I get it tweaked just right...I may send out a few care packages.

hooda said:
I had powdered some manzanos a bit ago and I've been putting it in everything I can. Great stuff. Yours looks quite nice.

Thanks! One of my favorites by far. I can't wait 'till I have some of my own to use. It's real nice to be able to pick them up at the local store, but I would really like to taste one that is fresh and picked at peak ripeness. The two plants I am growing have more of a straight up, almost vinelike appearance so far. First buds are appearing, so I am sure some branching will follow.

Thanks again for checking in everyone! I have another busy weekend, so I'm sure I will only be able to add a few updates :liar

: ...lol

Shane

p.s. Paul, I beat you to 18k! :dance:

You will beat me to 20k...

stc3248 · Apr 13, 2012

Momma just called me at work...she overfilled the pool and all my annuums are now in a lake of superchlorinated water. With that plus all the rain, I live in a freaking desert and I can't keep my plants from drowning. Those plants were finally starting to look good and put out some buds...damn, damn, DAMN!!!!!!

Melissa77754 · Apr 13, 2012

stc3248 said:
Momma just called me at work...she overfilled the pool and all my annuums are now in a lake of superchlorinated water. With that plus all the rain, I live in a freaking desert and I can't keep my plants from drowning. Those plants were finally starting to look good and put out some buds...damn, damn, DAMN!!!!!!

Awwww man Shane, that sucks!! I hope they don't take too hard of a hit, good luck!

richphitzwell · Apr 13, 2012

stc3248 said:
Momma just called me at work...she overfilled the pool and all my annuums are now in a lake of superchlorinated water. With that plus all the rain, I live in a freaking desert and I can't keep my plants from drowning. Those plants were finally starting to look good and put out some buds...damn, damn, DAMN!!!!!!

may i suggest cheep bricks to prop up your pots

stc3248 · Apr 13, 2012

richphitzwell said:
may i suggest cheep bricks to prop up your pots

Melissa77754 said:
Awwww man Shane, that sucks!! I hope they don't take too hard of a hit, good luck!

Its the in ground plants that took the hit...the pots are fine. Debated buying 8 more 5 gal containers and digging them up and putting them back in pots...but nah. Bells, Poblano's, and Jals is all that's in there, and I have a ton more Jals in a separate area. So I am just going to see what happens. I also have Anaheim, Big Jim, Goccia d' Oro and the Annuum Scotch Bonnets that are milds so I'll be fine either way. Plus, maybe then I can plant the other 12 supers that momma wants me to get rid of!

hooda · Apr 13, 2012

Damn that sucks. The rain is really coming down over here now. Mine are all in pots atm so I moved them last night. Anyway hope yours make it out alright and hopefully this is out last rain for a while.

richphitzwell · Apr 13, 2012

ah gotcha thought you were refering to the potted plants along your pool. gotta say though, never in 30 yrs have I seen my road filled with water from gutter to gutter. good luck

PaulG · Apr 13, 2012

Talk about ups and downs, buddy. It ain't fair! Joining everyone else hoping they
pull through okay. Good to have extra plants, huh : )

As far as 20K goes, looks like you're leaving me in the dust again! You go, Shane!

stc3248 · Apr 13, 2012

Rainy day...blah. I did get a chance to do a walk around out there. I finally have an open tepin flower! Won't be long and I'll have hundreds. Odd though I followed another thread called Holy tepin flower I think, and his bloom was about the size of a quarter. Mine is about 1/4 of a dime in size. These are gonna be some pretty small peppers! Really cool little plants too. If they're small enough maybe I can dry them and put them in a pepper grinder along with some peppercorns. Hmmmm. On the flip side the Pequin Chiapas pod is HUGE by pequin standards. That will be nice in its own way. Fewer needed for a batch of flake or powder. Shouldn't be long till I have my first ripe one to sample...speaking of sampling...

I went back to the little box that Jamie sent and pulled out one of the last two supers left in there. I went back to another of the very first one I tried which was the Yellow Scorpion. After the last 2 (7 pot then 7 Pot Brain Strain) I was a little gun shy. I ate it with dinner this time, which was some Jambalaya covered in Manzano powder...mmmmmm, I ate the pepper in three separate bites with food and drink in between. The first time I ate one, it tasted just a bit fruity with a powerful chinense flavor to it and all I could really concentrate on was the building burn. This time was completely different. While it still had a little chinense flavor and aroma, it wasn't overpowering. The pepper tasted REALLY sweet. Each bite was a bit hotter than the last this time, but I didn't break out in a sweat or get hiccups! Woot. The burn built to a nice just above comfortable level and stayed right there for a bit before coming back down. Nice even all over lips/mouth burn, no throat or stomach burn...ahhhhh heaven. Strange how the tasting of the two blistering red pods made me really enjoy this little yellow guy. I don't have any Yellow Scorpions planted this season, but I may add it next season. I do have Yellow Bhuts, 7s and fatalii. Can't wait for them to put out some pods!

PaulG said:
Talk about ups and downs, buddy. It ain't fair! Joining everyone else hoping they
pull through okay. Good to have extra plants, huh : )

As far as 20K goes, looks like you're leaving me in the dust again! You go, Shane!

I still think you'll pass me soon. The plants look ok right now. Will probably look pretty bad in a couple days, but I think they'll be fine. We have been hit by deluge after deluge today, so whatever chlorine was in there has been washed away.

stc3248 · Apr 14, 2012

There are days when I feel like grabbing the roundup instead of the neem oil and just putting these plants out of my misery! Today is one of those days. The rainy monsoon type weather continued all night last night, and around 9pm it switched to hail. It wasn't one of those "I think that sounds like hail, let me go look!" type storms either. It hit suddenly and it sounded like the roof was about to cave in. They weren't huge TX style hail stones, but they made up for it in sheer #'s. By the time I grabbed my hooded jacket and started to head out to try to give my plants some shelter, it was over. Only lasted maybe 2 minutes. When I turned on the porch light everything was covered a full inch deep in buckshot sized ice pellets. Went out expecting some significant damage, and found some. Luckily its mainly cosmetic, but I'm sure the plants will slow down a little in recovery mode. Very few leaves were knocked off the plants which surprised me. Instead they all look like someone took an AK 47 to them. Bullet holes everywhere!

I haven't seen any ladybugs out for several days (and no larvae, but I am still finding some aphids. So...in true Trump fashion ladybugs...YOU'RE FIRED! I've resorted to chemical warfare again. I doused them all with Neem oil this morning...and will every weekend from here on out! I figure it will help prevent any fungus issues as well. Its been so wet for so long even without watering some of my container plants are yellowing a bit. 10 day forecast once again looks more Socal worthy with 10 days straight of 70+ degree weather so once again I am hoping to turn a corner here.
Not all bad news stories...I am finding open flowers on more varieties each day, and finally getting more pods to set on the ones that have been flowering for a while. A couple of my Jalapeno plants have tons of flowers on them. One plant may have over 100...They're not exceptionally large plants for overwinters, so they look as though they have almost as many flowers as leaves.

Pics of the good, bad and ugly will be up as soon as the sun comes out.

KiNGDeNNiZ · Apr 14, 2012

Hey Shane I live in the west Covina area about 15 mins from Pasadena. Azusa to be exact( someone once said. Oh by one of the original in and out burger joint. I said yawp. Anyways. Yes the oc arborateum. Today they have another event with hundred of vendors selling stuff. Imma check it out. Just to see what's there. Maybe get info on soil mixes and have other stuff for sale. As for my glog I posted pics of the peppers I got three along with some of the ones I planted. Wish I had a head start like everyone else. I didn't start planting till last week of feb. I do "non pepper " veggies as well so I figured it was ok to start then. I didn't know you start in nov or dec indoors. Ahhaahha. Oh well I got some other plants from melissa777 as well. Hope I can treat them as good as she can so I can have some nice pods. Irony to all of this is I can barely eat jalapeños on a pizza. And here I am growing peppers that's gonna burn me smelling them. I do love growing so. I can't wait for these peppers. And yes. I will try some of them. Good luck with your damaged plants. As for the weather. It's so hard to get these guys out in the sun with cold weather and all

stc3248 · Apr 14, 2012

Aight y'all still raining off an on...so I did some indoor stuff first and officially retired the grow shelf...

Here is one of the leafs on my Black Naga...this one also showing some yellow from mother nature overwatering. I could have moved them in I suppose, but I really want to teach them to be a little more self sufficient. :rofl:

And on one of my 7 Pot Primos. All the large leaved Chinense varieties look like this. I know they're gonna be fine, but IT STILL SUCKS!

Here's one of the good news stories. Overwinter Jalapeno, which in spite of a little yellowing from the water is really kicking out flowers and pods.

Tiny Tepin flower...teally trippy. I really love this plant along with the pequins and Wild Brazils...may scale way back to a couple super varieties that I really like and load up on the wild varieties.

As I am writing this the sun is finally starting to shine...maybe I'll find something else picture worthy out there later on. Hope you all are having a perfect weekend!

Shane

hooda · Apr 14, 2012

Sucks about the damage to your plants. I had two of my heirloom tomatoes blow over today and one had three branches broken off of it. But so far my peppers look alright.

stc3248 · Apr 15, 2012

Few more pics from today...

Thinking about potting these guys up to 1 gallons for the season in some fresh soil and doing an all out bonchi on them...but for now they needed a haircut...

I have 3 of this type of Thai Chili the other 2 are in ground. It doesn't go through as many color phases as some of the others,(goes from green through a chocolate color to red) but it does look really cool when loaded out with fire red pods which won't be long. They also have almost no heat, but a really nutty flavor. Good whole family flake producer.

You can see the color phases of this guy in the truck bed...Added the moss to the road today to.

This one's covered in blooms and tiny pods so it should really look cool in a few weeks. I really like this ones growing habit for a potential bonchi candidate later in the season. This one should have the same pods as the next few photos once they develop.

Different plant...really cool pods. The lighting didn't do them justice. These go from bright white, through cream, to a pink/peach phase then orange and finally red. with cool multi-color transitions.

Another plant (same type) with 3 different colors showing.

Last...a small harvest today...

Mucho Nachos, first of the season. These had stalled out a bit with all the rain, so I went ahead and pulled them. Pods show light corking and a nice jet black suntan on one side almost like a goat's weed! Each plant has about 20 or so pods trying to develop so I may pull some more early to attempt to grow a few really big pods and let the plants put a little more size on before I just let them do their thing. These are about 4" or so...perfect popper size! I will review the flavor tomorrow. Keeping in mind that they would be a tad hotter if I let them stay on longer.

More of the ornamentals will get a haircut tomorrow...I am also going to trim some of the worst bug/hail damage off the big dawgs. May put me a little further from a harvest, but I think it will pay off in time.

Thanks for checking in!
Shane

Pulpiteer · Apr 15, 2012

Hey Shane,
Great job! I really like what you've done with the ornamentals. I've heard of that sort of stuff, but never seen pictures of it. Those stems are so thick they look like small trees

.
Crazy to think that in about a month I'll be closing down my indoor grow area too. Growing season, hooray!

PaulG · Apr 15, 2012

Very nice, my friend. I love your bonchi peppers. Sorry about the weather
trix going on there, but those chinense will shake that off like it never
happened. Your grow log is kind of like an warrior epic - battling the
elements while protecting the citizens of pepperville!

hooda · Apr 15, 2012

PaulG said:
Your grow log is kind of like an warrior epic - battling the
elements while protecting the citizens of pepperville!

Haha, this got me laughing pretty good.

stc3248 · Apr 15, 2012

First off...I would like each of your statuses...but I've somehow already reached my like quota for the day??? Only liked one this morning??? Don't know when they reset it, or if its so many per any 24 hr stretch?

Pulpiteer said:
Hey Shane,
Great job! I really like what you've done with the ornamentals. I've heard of that sort of stuff, but never seen pictures of it. Those stems are so thick they look like small trees .
Crazy to think that in about a month I'll be closing down my indoor grow area too. Growing season, hooray!

Thanks! Going to try to thicken them up some more through the season with heavy feeding and trimming.
Shutting down the grow station was bitter sweet. Was really nice to be able to mess with the indoor plants when it was either dark or inclement weather...time to put them on cruise control.

PaulG said:
Very nice, my friend. I love your bonchi peppers. Sorry about the weather
trix going on there, but those chinense will shake that off like it never
happened. Your grow log is kind of like an warrior epic - battling the
elements while protecting the citizens of pepperville!

They haven't been fully bonchi'd yet. Actually still debating potting them all up to gallons for the season...Want to try to get some more size and corking on the stems, then pot them REALLY small all out bonchi this fall/winter. Will give me something to mess with during the off season. Going to try a true root over rock with a few. Also plan to Bonchi one each of my Tepin, Wild Brazil and Pequin...and maybe even one of the Peruvian White Habaneros...but for now, those are gonna get all the soil they need to produce as many pods as possible!

As far as the Warrior Epic thing goes...I am really having zero issues, but I am adding some Poetic License for added suspense! I gotta stay ahead of you somehow!

hooda said:
Haha, this got me laughing pretty good.

Yeah...yeah...everyone laugh at the guy with problems! To think...I was gonna give you first option on some of my excess plants...sheesh!

Staying on the Bonchi/Ornamental theme:

This guy is starting to struggle a bit...I bought it like this. There are 4 plants in there, and in spite of more frequent feeding, they are still only doing so-so compared to when they were in fresh soil...

So wielding my Samurai kitchen knife and making some terrible dubbed over Kung Fu sound effects...ooooo00000OOOOOWAAAAYCHA!!! X3!!!

I prepped a new home for a couple of them...this is a fiberglass drip tray I had laying around....looks like it'll make a great planter!

I nice shampoo and rinse for the ladies...

Gave them each a haircut as well...took most of the large leaves off each of them. Still need to prune a bit more, and remove all the pods for their recovery phase.

Since I was in the mood for trimming...and feeling very Paul...ish I decided to try something on my plants that are struggling with their recovery from their aphid infestation...

Not all of these are having problems, some are just excess, but a couple really look terrible. You can see some of the stuff I already removed.

Freshly decapitated and trimmed Yellow 7 Pot...new growth looks good.

This Chocolate Hab got a little less chopped up. The top growth was healthy so I left it on there...

White Bhut...decapitated and pruned...

Did more...don't know if it was right or not, but I enjoyed the hell out of it. Notice how they are high on a table for all the other plants to see what will happen! I am now giving them frequent Neem doses, and I am also going to try putting one of the mylar blankets under them like a table cloth. Silver mulch is supposed to boost growth and deter aphids??? I am going to use a beat up piece of mylar that isn't quite as reflective as a new one to avoid burning them with the reflection.

The healthy plants on the table include a Manzano, another White Bhut, Fatalii, Caribbean Red, and a few other supers I can't remember...

Off to do some non-pepper pruning and some weed and feed on the lawn...ahhhhh 70 degrees and sunny...

Thanks for checking in folks! Hope you're having a great Sunday!
Shane

hooda · Apr 15, 2012

I wasn't laughing at your misfortune, just how Paul said it made me laugh I actually had some plants doing backflips on to the ground so I feel your pain from this last rain and wind.

stc3248 · Apr 15, 2012

My like button worked again...once??? Ughhh.

Well I ate one of the Mucho Nachos. Good flavor, a tad sweeter than standard. Heat wasn't any hotter than a normal Jalapeno. This may be because I picked them a bit early, but I picked one of my small Jals early the other day and it was a scorcher. Next one I will let ripen fully on the plant and see how the heat/flavor does.