• Blog your pepper progress. The first image in your first post will be used to represent your Glog.

Stefan_W's 2013 Pods A-Ripenin'! Glog

I am going to start the new glog for my upcoming growing season on a bit of a personal note. One year ago tomorrow (January 3rd) is the one year anniversary of the day that my daughter was diagnosed with a tumour that is lodged in the middle of her brain. The past year has involved treatments and hospital stays, and there were at least three different points when we were pretty sure she was not going to make it. But she is a fighter, and nothing could keep her down for long.

Sofia has personally planted every pepper and tomato seed that I have started in the past three growing seasons. She beat the odds last year to help me, and once again she is defying what medicine has to say to help me out this year.

We started a jalapeno plant about a week ago just for the sake of watching it grow, because we both love it so much. One of the jalapenos grew to the point that it had its firt couple of leaves, so we transplanted him into a bigger pot. While we were at it I decided to put in some aji lemondrops, partly because they take a long time to fruit up and I wanted to give them a huge head start.

This is the jalapeno plant. I pulled the second one out because we did not need it, and discovered that the roots had grown all of the way down to the bottom of the cell.
IMG_0962.JPG


My daughter personally doing the transplant.
IMG_0964.JPG


Her aim is better than mine, and so it turned out perfectly.
IMG_0966.JPG


Next up was taking out the lemondrop seeds from peppermania.
IMG_0977.JPG


I need a few extras of this type, so I asked Sofia to plant two seeds in each of the four cells. Two plants will be for us, and whatever else grows will be given away to good friends.
IMG_0979.JPG


Two of the three tiers in my lighting stand are currently being used as toy shelves, which is cool for now. The lights are adjustable, and moved down to get close to the seedling.
IMG_0980.JPG


The heating pad works extremely well, and once the cells are covered the top clouds up in no time.
IMG_0983.JPG


A happy early jalapeno seedling in his new home. I thought I heard "feeeeeed meeeeee" coming from that direction, but I'm not sure.
IMG_0985.JPG


That's it for today, folks! Welcome to my new glog :welcome:
 
Nice pics Stefan! I'm pretty sure the bushiness of the Aji's is a trait... I planted Omnicolor's and Criolla Sella's this season, and they're both growing into good sized bushes... prolific producers too, I was charmed! What's even sweeter for us "Nortenos" is that they seem able to take more cold than the Chinense varieties and are less finicky than the Pubiscens. Let me know if you want to sample some of my pods, I'd be happy to send some up your way.
 
Ok, every ting is looking Irie, lush, growing and very good great overall … so I’m voting you update the “On the Road to Garden Recovery without the Aid of a 12 Step Program.” ;) Have a great weekend mon!
 
Stefan I’m sad to read this morning about the Train derailment in Lac-Megantic in Quebec's Eastern Townships. Yes I know you are in Ottawa over 4 hours away but that’s a terrible accident especially with the petroleum/gas fire and explosions. I wouldn’t doubt you have friends or family as we do a few hours north of us, I hope they're all ok. The article I read didn’t mention any casualties as they didn’t know. Our prayers and thoughts go out to your fellow Canadian brethren’s …  
 
Have a good weekend brethren and keep up dat awesome grow!
 
stickman said:
Nice pics Stefan! I'm pretty sure the bushiness of the Aji's is a trait... I planted Omnicolor's and Criolla Sella's this season, and they're both growing into good sized bushes... prolific producers too, I was charmed! What's even sweeter for us "Nortenos" is that they seem able to take more cold than the Chinense varieties and are less finicky than the Pubiscens. Let me know if you want to sample some of my pods, I'd be happy to send some up your way.
 
Hey Rick, thanks for the offer! I may take you up on that if I run out of growing season to ripen my pods. 
 
Yeah, I kind of figured the bushiness was an aji trait. I'm not thrilled with it because it forces me to move my pots around to make everything fit again, but that is no big deal if the pods taste good.
WalkGood said:
Ok, every ting is looking Irie, lush, growing and very good great overall … so I’m voting you update the “On the Road to Garden Recovery without the Aid of a 12 Step Program.” ;) Have a great weekend mon!
 
Thanks, and have a great weekend too!
PeriPeri said:
Hi Stefan... plants are looking great man. Looks like they are really gearing up a notch now!
 
They seem to be, and they are getting bigger every day now. If it a fun time here :)
WalkGood said:
Stefan I’m sad to read this morning about the Train derailment in Lac-Megantic in Quebec's Eastern Townships. Yes I know you are in Ottawa over 4 hours away but that’s a terrible accident especially with the petroleum/gas fire and explosions. I wouldn’t doubt you have friends or family as we do a few hours north of us, I hope they're all ok. The article I read didn’t mention any casualties as they didn’t know. Our prayers and thoughts go out to your fellow Canadian brethren’s …  
 
Have a good weekend brethren and keep up dat awesome grow!
 
My family is back in Winnipeg, but I do know people in the area. Thanks for the concern and well-wishes!
 
If you want some baccatums that are not so bushy, consider the Bishop's Crown, Aji Pineapple, Blonde, Aji Amarillo, and/or Malawi Peppadew (Piquante).  My Omnicolor sprawls everywhere.  The others I listed grow mostly upright. 
 
DocNrock said:
If you want some baccatums that are not so bushy, consider the Bishop's Crown, Aji Pineapple, Blonde, Aji Amarillo, and/or Malawi Peppadew (Piquante).  My Omnicolor sprawls everywhere.  The others I listed grow mostly upright. 
 
Thanks for the tip! I may try out a pineapple next year if I have the space for it. It partly depends on whether I decide to overwinter the lemondrop in the fall. In any event, I briefly considered using a large tomato cage that I have handy just to keep it upright for when the pods start to come in, but I think it is already too big to pull this off. At least I'll know what to do next year.
 
Your plants are rebounding nicely.  Your going to get tons of pods from your tabasco.  Last year I planted a tabasco and 
another hot pepper in an earthbox.  The tabasco got so large, full of pods. If I ever do that again, it will be one tabasco in
an earthbox...The Aji Lemon has a drooping habit.  Does not grow tall, but sure likes to hang down.  Another one that has
tons of pods.
 
Stefan_W said:
 
Thanks for the tip! I may try out a pineapple next year if I have the space for it. It partly depends on whether I decide to overwinter the lemondrop in the fall. In any event, I briefly considered using a large tomato cage that I have handy just to keep it upright for when the pods start to come in, but I think it is already too big to pull this off. At least I'll know what to do next year.
 
I think you would really like the Aji Pineapple.  It really does have pineapple-like overtones in the flavor.  And it has just enough heat to make it a great snacking pepper.
 
roper2008 said:
Your plants are rebounding nicely.  Your going to get tons of pods from your tabasco.  Last year I planted a tabasco and 
another hot pepper in an earthbox.  The tabasco got so large, full of pods. If I ever do that again, it will be one tabasco in
an earthbox...The Aji Lemon has a drooping habit.  Does not grow tall, but sure likes to hang down.  Another one that has
tons of pods.
 
The tabasco is definitely a favourite of mine for making sauces. The lemondrop is definitely looking like it will hang down once the pods start to come in. I try putting my largest tomato cage over the top this afternoon, and there is just no way to get that done this year. 
DocNrock said:
 
I think you would really like the Aji Pineapple.  It really does have pineapple-like overtones in the flavor.  And it has just enough heat to make it a great snacking pepper.
 
I will definitely give it a try next season. Thanks for the suggestion! Where is a good place to get seeds for it?
 
WalkGood said:
We need a pic fix ... hope all is going great! That Aji Pineapple sound interesting ... I wouldn't mind trying one too ^_^
 
I wasn't planning on doing an update today, but I have some pics from this afternoon that I can share. Ask and ye shall receive!
 
The tobago treasures are starting to pod up. I picked treasures because I thought the heat level was low, and everyone in my family could eat it. Apparently it is a medium, and I mixed it up with perfume. Oh well.
IMG_2998.JPG

 
The paprika are also podding up and going. 
IMG_3003.JPG

 
I am almost speechless. The ali lemondrop plant is massive, and there are pods like this all over it. Take about an absolutely HUGE producer. I heard the pods take forever to ripen, so I am hoping there is enough time left in my growing season to get them to size and have them ripen.
IMG_3026.JPG

 
Hard to believe this peach scotch bonnet was just a stick a few short weeks ago.
IMG_3030.JPG

 
The Prodigal Jonah is getting set to flower. 
IMG_3031.JPG

 
The first flower on my Butch-T. I really want to try a pod out, even though it makes me a touch apprehensive. 
IMG_3041.JPG

 
Group shot. The growth on these plants is such that I actually see differences each day. We are getting a reasonable amount of rain at the moment, and the temperatures are absolutely perfect.
IMG_3022.JPG

 
And I'll end with three quick non-pepper shots. First off is the first ripe cherry tomato, which Sofia will pick and eat tomorrow.
IMG_2973.JPG

 
As challenging as this year has been for pepper growing, I have never had my peas grow like this. I have three varieties of peas, and they are growing on fencing that is 12', 8', and 8' long. It all looks like this at the moment.
IMG_3017.JPG

 
My last pic may seem a bit strange when you look at it. I had spinach growing in this area earlier, and it has been bare for about 2 weeks as I wait for the temps to drop a bit so I can put in some mustard greens. Yesterday, out of the blue, these seedlings popped up. I ripped out about half of them, and then I changed my mind and decided to let them grow out to see what they are. By the look of the seedlings I am pretty sure it is cucumber, but it may be zucchini. The cukes make the most sense because this is about 5 or 6 feet from the area where I grew cucumbers last year. The strange thing is that I did not put in any seeds for either this year, and a huge cluster popped out. Anyway, I figure if nature intended them to be there who am I to argue, so I am just going to grow them out and let them fulfil whatever destiny they have.
IMG_3009.JPG

 
Thanks for stopping by! 
 
Looking fantastic, my friend!  Those peas are loaded up!  Hope Sofia loves the tomato. 
 
Regarding the Aji Pineapple, I got my seed from refiningfirechiles. 
 
GA Growhead said:
Looking real good!
My cucumbers are from volunteers this year. I didn't plant any that i started. I think yours are ment to be, like mine!
 
I looked out at them today and the freaking rabbits that invade my yard got into them and chewed off the heads on half of them. I guess we're about to see whether they were truly meant to be :)
Pr0digal_son said:
Your plants are loving life. They really make a charge when the temperatures even out. Keep up the good work.
 
Thanks! Yeah, they are doing great at the moment and there is no end in sight to the great weather. I was looking out at the garden after getting home a few minutes ago, and the first tiny bhut pods are popping up. Life is good :)
WalkGood said:
Great update! Whoa pods galore Stefan … must be all dat pixie dust you’ve been using ;)
 
A liberal sprinkling of pixie dust never hurts :)
DocNrock said:
Looking fantastic, my friend!  Those peas are loaded up!  Hope Sofia loves the tomato. 
 
Regarding the Aji Pineapple, I got my seed from refiningfirechiles. 
 
Thanks! I was going to buy a couple of other types from refining first chilis this year (like rocoto), so that works for me. 
 
Heading out now to pick the cherry tomato with Sofia. 
 
Very nice Stefan!
 
Trying to catch up after vacation, I see some serious growth there!
 
Here's to everything ripening before the season ends!
 
Devv said:
Very nice Stefan!
 
Trying to catch up after vacation, I see some serious growth there!
 
Here's to everything ripening before the season ends!
 
Thank you very much, Scott! I hope you had a great vacation :)
 
Back
Top