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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.
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My daughter personally doing the transplant.
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Her aim is better than mine, and so it turned out perfectly.
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Next up was taking out the lemondrop seeds from peppermania.
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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.
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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.
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The heating pad works extremely well, and once the cells are covered the top clouds up in no time.
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A happy early jalapeno seedling in his new home. I thought I heard "feeeeeed meeeeee" coming from that direction, but I'm not sure.
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That's it for today, folks! Welcome to my new glog :welcome:
 
Nice looking pics all around... especially the Tobago Treasure pods. Those are odd-looking Paprikas... what variety are they? Hope you're getting cukes along with the Tomatoes so you can make salsas and/or relishes,
 
stickman said:
Nice looking pics all around... especially the Tobago Treasure pods. Those are odd-looking Paprikas... what variety are they? Hope you're getting cukes along with the Tomatoes so you can make salsas and/or relishes,
 
Thanks! I am growing leutschauer paprika for the first time, and they seemed a bit strange at first but the are straightening up into the classic cone shape as they get bigger.
 
This was supposed to be a cucumber and zucchini free year for me because I was ravaged by cucumber beetles last year, but some cukes started growing anyway. If the rabbits keep their paws off the seedlings long enough I may have some relish yet!
 
Huge storm system passing through this evening. Very high winds that are doubling over trees, and our house guest saw a funnel cloud in the distance while cycling. Looks like the worst has passed though.
 
Before it started to rain I managed to snap a quick shot of the first yellow scorpion SR gigantic pods. These were not there yesterday.
 
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That's great Stefan... isn't it great how fast things come on when they finally do? Glad you dodged the bullet with the squall that passed through.
 
WalkGood said:
Now that's great ... growing killer super pods in Canada ... awesome job Stefan \o/
 
Growing supers in Canada is one thing, but growing supers after the worst Canadian spring I can remember is another thing all together! Thanks for stopping in, and have a great trip!
stickman said:
That's great Stefan... isn't it great how fast things come on when they finally do? Glad you dodged the bullet with the squall that passed through.
 
Yeah, it blows my mind how I can look at a plant one evening and see no pods, and then the next day after work there are little pods all over it. One of the joys of gardening, to be sure.
 
We definitely dodged a bullet. Tornadoes do touch down in the area from time to time, and being in a suburb well outside of town I always worry a bit when they are around. The wind was actually so bad it split the branches of a couple of my sweet peppers.
roper2008 said:
Nice Stefan.  Looks like a lots of flowers on that SR gigantica.  Will be watching to see how that one turns out.
 
The 2 seven pods and the aji lemondrop are the ones I am watching most closely, because all of those plants look like they are huge producers and they are all starting to pod up. I'll definitely have pics of them in all of my updates. Thanks for stopping by!
 
GA Growhead said:
For the worst spring ever, your doing exceptional well. Love seeing that everything is podding up!
 
Thanks! I am way behind the other growers here, but I am just taking the slow and steady route this year ;) 
 
I'm actually feeling pretty good about things because I had real doubts that I would get any pods at all. I'm guessing the majority wont have time to ripen, but I am definitely confident now that I'll at least have some to sample before all is said and done for the year. And then there is always next year.
 
Devv said:
 
That my friend is a sign of a super healthy plant!
 
When does your season end?
 
Our season for pepper is pretty much done by the end of Aug. The night time temps start to dip in mid-Aug, and the first really cold overnight lows start a couple of weeks give or take after that.
 
Stefan_W said:
 
Our season for pepper is pretty much done by the end of Aug. The night time temps start to dip in mid-Aug, and the first really cold overnight lows start a couple of weeks give or take after that.
 
Wow!
 
Really short season! I hope your harvest matures before the cold sets in!
 
Devv said:
 
Wow!
 
Really short season! I hope your harvest matures before the cold sets in!
 
Normally I wouldn't worry about it because I am pretty sure I can grow anything. But being behind a month due to a brutal spring definitely brings up a few concerns. 
 
Stefan_W said:
 
Normally I wouldn't worry about it because I am pretty sure I can grow anything. But being behind a month due to a brutal spring definitely brings up a few concerns. 
How do I know you'll just pull it off?, you have the skills!
 
I looked back through my photos from last year, and it was one year ago yesterday that I started a string of foodie type pics with my kung pao chicken. I don't have the pods for that sort of thing this year...yet. Things are starting to really take off in my garden, and I'm hopeful I'll have most varieties by the end of the season. I'm planning a general garden update tomorrow, but for now here is my Butch T.
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I kind of miss putting foodie stuff in this glog, so I decided to take some pics of the beer can chicken I made yesterday. No hot peppers, but it is what it is.
 
Here is the chicken, all prepared and ready to go. I covered the breast with tin foil until the internal temp got up to 100 so that the chicken cooked evenly. I used the charcoal option on the BBQ rather than cooking with propane.
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When the internal temp got to 100 I peeled back the tin foil and let it go until it reached 120, and then I started adding my home made honey Garlic BBQ sauce. I added some more sauce every 15-20 degrees until it reached 160.
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And at 160 it was done!
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The beer I used was from a local brewery a few kilometers down the road. It is awesome stuff, and I highly recommend it if you ever have the chance.
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The chicken was organically raised on a farm a few kilometers in the opposite direction from the brewery. I am really into either growing my own of buying local whenever possible. There is slight charring at the very top, and although it always bugs me I have no figured out how to avoid it because the heat always gathers at the very top of the BBQ cover. 
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I also made some brown rice cooked in apple juice with an apple sliced into in and some cinnamon. The salad was made from veggies from my garden mixed with some top ups from a local farm. 
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I really want to say that it was as awesome as it looks, but that would be a lie. The chicken was not only organic, but it was ethically grown meaning it was allowed to roam free and stuff like that. Normally mass production facilities con consumers by saying a bird was free range when in fact all they did was open up the cage door (penned birds apparently do not leave their cages after a while). Anyway, as a result, I found it to be far less tender than usual. I think I'll be sticking with organic birds in the future, but passing on ethically raised ones. 
 
 
Thanks for having a look! As I said above, I'll be posing some baby pics tomorrow from my recent pod explosion. 
 
Here are a few baby pictures that show where things are generally at.
 
Tobago treasures are really coming on strong. The plants are really full, and considering I still have 6-8 weeks I'm sure these ones will ripen.
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The overwinter ghost pepper is putting out pods like there is no tomorrow. Last year he was good for 125 pods, and this year look even better.
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I have two tabasco plants that I started this year that are just flowering up now, so there is little hope of getting many (if any) ripe pods from them. It is a shame, because tabasco pods taste like grass until they are fully ripe. My overwinter is much further ahead though, and it absolutely filled with tiny pods. I think the majority of these will ripen, but we'll have to wait and see.
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Aji lemondrop with hundred of little pods all over it. I am less worried about these guys because I tried one green and it was edible.
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Yellow 7 SR gigantic. I kept two of these, and both are podding up. The plants are growing so fast that I have to move the pots a further apart every few days.
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Something decided that my yellow brain strain is yummy in the early spring, and has been munching on it ever since. The plant seems ok though and it actually growing. Seeing as there are no pods or even flowers yet I doubt this will amount to anything.
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So that is where I am at. A lot of waiting (while munching on jalapeno pods), a lot of little pods everywhere, but nothing ripening quite yet. There has been a huge growth spurt over the past week though, so I am very hopeful for most of the plants. 
 
Good looking beercan chicken and pod porn Stefan! This hot weather should kick your chiles into overdrive if you make sure they get enough water. Your Ajis look like mine... all sprawling outward more than up, and loaded with pods.   Cheers!
 
You've got a really nice grow going on, and I have my fingers crossed for a major pull before the frost!
 
Do you have a green house?
 
As far north as you are you deserve one!
 
Devv said:
You've got a really nice grow going on, and I have my fingers crossed for a major pull before the frost!
 
Do you have a green house?
 
As far north as you are you deserve one!
 
Seriously amazing grow for how north you are - i am very jealous and also wonder if you're using a green house. Hope you enjoy the results of your hard work :)
 
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