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.

My daughter personally doing the transplant.

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

Next up was taking out the lemondrop seeds from peppermania.

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.

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.

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

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

That's it for today, folks! Welcome to my new glog

 

[WalkGood]

... I have a 5 year old and an 8 year old. I wish I could encourage them to help me too, but alas, they have absolutely no interest

Offer dem cash, works with our kids

 

[stickman]

Hi Stefan
Your babies all looking good so far, glad to hear you have some Rocotos hooking. I have yet to see any here. I'm fully committed with the Orange Manzanos here. If none of them pop in a couple of weeks my last resort is some Red Rocoto seeds. Cheers

 

[Stefan_W]

Stefan, I am green with envy. You have such an amazing helper. I see how Sofia writes the tags for you... I have a 5 year old and an 8 year old. I wish I could encourage them to help me too, but alas, they have absolutely no interest

These things come and go with kids. Next year Sofia may have no interest, and you may be posting pics of your kids helping with every step. I found that pea plants worked the best for getting interest going, because they grow fairly quickly and most kids love picking fresh peas and eating them pretty much straight off the vine. Adding berries also helped, because I've never met a kid who didn't like berries aside from those that are allergic.

Offer dem cash, works with our kids

This suggestion works too

Hi Stefan
Your babies all looking good so far, glad to hear you have some Rocotos hooking. I have yet to see any here. I'm fully committed with the Orange Manzanos here. If none of them pop in a couple of weeks my last resort is some Red Rocoto seeds. Cheers

I had one rocoto hook, but it was weird. It was the largest loop I've ever seen in a pepper plant, and it stayed that way for days. I tried a gentle tug this morning to see what was going on, and the end came up easily but there was no leaf on it. Weird, I've never experienced this before.

Foody pics coming up later this evening. I'm making up some pizza this afternoon, and it may appeal to some of the heat seekers out there.

 

[Stefan_W]

Today was pizza day, which is always a good thing.

On tap is a pepperoni, mushroom, onion, salami, and chicken pizza.

The chicken was cut into small pieces and pre-baked. It was seasoned with a mix of Joyner's jalapeno and carribean chocolate powders along with some garlic and paprika. When it came out of the over I put on some mild Lucky Dog sauce because I really wanted to try that sauce on pizza. Shown here is the chicken coming out of the oven with the sauce poured onto it.

The pizza fresh out of the oven. It smelled like heaven when it was cooking, and everyone was starving by the time it came out.

The heat level was really high already from the carribean chocolate powder, but I added a bit of the hot Lucky Dog sauce to my slices anyway just because.

My lips are still tingling. Man, this was good pizza!

I forgot to mention that I left a quarter without the hot chicken because my youngest would not be able to handle the heat.

 

[Stefan_W]

Waiting for more seeds to germinate.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMyCa35_mOg

 

[WalkGood]

... ... The pizza fresh out of the oven. It smelled like heaven when it was cooking, and everyone was starving by the time it came out.

Dam you, I just had lunch, last 4 pictures here and you’ve managed to make me hungry again, looks delicious, great job!!!

… I forgot to mention that I left a quarter without the hot chicken because my youngest would not be able to handle the heat.

We do the same with our 12 year old, he doesn’t like it too hot, but our 14 year old can take it almost like mom & dad BTW I hope you know I was joking about paying the kids

 

[Stefan_W]

The seedling are doing really well. The five on the left are tabascos, which were planted a couple of weeks after the others. The ones on the rights are aji lemondrops, except the big guy in the middle who is an early jalapeno.

The yellow 7 pod gigantics have taken off far better than I expected with 6 seedlings and two hooks forming out of 8 seeds planted. That is an 8/8 for Judy's seeds, folks!

That could only mean one thing: seed planting time! I decided to get the last of the superhots on the go, along with another kick at the can for the rocotos. My daughter made up the little signs to keep everything straight.

She also put the seeds in the ground, as usual.

And of course she insisted on putting the markers in too. I had little left to do on my own

I ended up putting in 8 seeds each of yellow moruga scorpion, peach bhut, butch t trinidad, 7 pod jonah, red moruga scorpion, red 7 pod gigantic, red primo, and yellow brain strain. I also used up the last 15-20 seeds each of red rocoto and giant rocoto in a last ditch effort to get a couple of germinate.

So I decided to add in a few varieties that are not on my grow list just on the off chance that I end up with zero germination with one or two of them. You never know. Besides, I can always give them away or sell them if I end up with too many for the space I have.

Thanks for having a look!

 

[DocNrock]

Everything is looking great, Stefan. Love the pics of Sofia helping. She looks so intent, and content. I'll be interested to see if you get any sprouts from the Rocotos. I pulled a goose egg from those. The Red Rocoto that is finally starting to grow was from SocalChilehead. But I have some Orange Rocoto seeds from PaulG in the germinator.

 

[WalkGood]

Seedlings do look great, I see you are covering your bases with extra planting. Good idea or was that Sofia’s idea, lol. Tell her she did an excellent job on the new planting and labels, perfect penmanship FTW. What were you doing while she was busy working, let me guess ... kicking back, lifting up da feet and enjoying a cold beer or better yet a rum drink

 

[Stefan_W]

Everything is looking great, Stefan. Love the pics of Sofia helping. She looks so intent, and content. I'll be interested to see if you get any sprouts from the Rocotos. I pulled a goose egg from those. The Red Rocoto that is finally starting to grow was from SocalChilehead. But I have some Orange Rocoto seeds from PaulG in the germinator.

Thank you very much! The rocotos have been a pain so far. I had two pseudo-sprouts from the last batch that hooked but didn't leaf up. Between 20 odd seeds of one type and 15 of the other, if I don't get a hook I'll pretty much be done with that type of pepper.

Seedlings do look great, I see you are covering your bases with extra planting. Good idea or was that Sofia’s idea, lol. Tell her she did an excellent job on the new planting and labels, perfect penmanship FTW. What were you doing while she was busy working, let me guess ... kicking back, lifting up da feet and enjoying a cold beer or better yet a rum drink

Thanks! Yeah, there was a bit of kicking back involved. I definitely enjoy having her help out as best she can

 

[stickman]

The seedling are doing really well. The five on the left are tabascos, which were planted a couple of weeks after the others. The ones on the rights are aji lemondrops, except the big guy in the middle who is an early jalapeno.

Hi Stefan, seedlings are looking great! What are you using for your light source?

The yellow 7 pod gigantics have taken off far better than I expected with 6 seedlings and two hooks forming out of 8 seeds planted. That is an 8/8 for Judy's seeds, folks!

I had the same germination rate for that strain. Judy's seeds are definitely a superior product.

That could only mean one thing: seed planting time! I decided to get the last of the superhots on the go, along with another kick at the can for the rocotos. My daughter made up the little signs to keep everything straight.

Is your daughter going to pick out any seeds to plant for herself? I bet she'd be thrilled to have some of her own to look after.

So I decided to add in a few varieties that are not on my grow list just on the off chance that I end up with zero germination with one or two of them. You never know. Besides, I can always give them away or sell them if I end up with too many for the space I have.

Good luck to you there sir... I know how hard it is to put on the brakes when you're in full forward mode...

 

[Stefan_W]

Hi Stefan, seedlings are looking great! What are you using for your light source?

I am using 48" full spectrum lighting from lee valley, and I'll snap a pic the next time I have my camera out. http://www.leevalley.com/en/Garden/page.aspx?cat=2,44716&p=10549

Hi Stefan, seedlings are looking great! What are you using for your light source?

Agreed, definitely no complaints here!

Is your daughter going to pick out any seeds to plant for herself? I bet she'd be thrilled to have some of her own to look after.

I bought some Sofia Sweet peppers for her, and she got a kick out of it. At this point she likes helping grow them more than picking them out. Its funny, because when we were planting the Butch Ts I told her that these are the hottest peppers in the world and she was totally into that. I can see from that what she would be picking out.

Good luck to you there sir... I know how hard it is to put on the brakes when you're in full forward mode...

Brakes? We dont need no steenkin brakes!

 

[Stefan_W]

So this is what happens when I show the seedlings to my wife prior to transplant. All seven of the plants along the left hand side are yellow 7 pod gigantics. I wanted to keep three of them, but my wife complained about killing any of the extras off. Luckily I didn't show her the hook that would have been number 8. Anyway, I have no idea what to do with all of them now!

On another topic, are aji lemondrop seedlings supposed to be a bit on the viney side? When I take out the fan and blow air across the seedlings the lemondrops seem to get blown over easier than the others, and they are also not getting as thick as the other varieties. I know they are supposed to be on the viney side when they get bigger, but it surprised me to see them being closer to needing support than any of the other seedlings.

 

[PIC 1]

As a plant the Lemon drop has smaller tear drop shaped leaves. If they're getting leggy just add more soil to the pot or dampen the soil and push the seedling down. No harm done either way.
Don't kill any of the extra's off. That's like giving away the last of the seed stock, only to find out you really needed them.

 

[megamoo]

Hate thinning out or discarding extra seedlings.... so sad

 

[Stefan_W]

Wow, everyone is siding with her! I am completely outnumbered

 

[STEVE954]

happy wife happy life!

 

[GA Growhead]

Don't do it! Let them live!
Im going to side with your wife too. I don't like to kill any off. I will try to save any and all plants i start and try to find them a new home if i can. If not, the extras can live in small pots or be planted off to the side, crowded with the other leftovers. If they only make one pod, it's one more than i would have had, so thats a good thing.
Are your yellow 7 gigantics the same as yellow 7 LRGs?
Alway enjoy your updates!

 

[Stefan_W]

happy wife happy life!

Ah, there is wisdom in your words. Thank you for stopping by!

Don't do it! Let them live!
Im going to side with your wife too. I don't like to kill any off. I will try to save any and all plants i start and try to find them a new home if i can. If not, the extras can live in small pots or be planted off to the side, crowded with the other leftovers. If they only make one pod, it's one more than i would have had, so thats a good thing.
Are your yellow 7 gigantics the same as yellow 7 LRGs?
Alway enjoy your updates!

Darn, I knew I was wrong and now I'm going to have to face the music

The yellow 7 pod gigantics are from Judy at Pepperlover, and it is my first time growing them so I can't speak to whether they are similar to anything else. Where do you get LRGs?

It wouldnt surprise me if the same plant had more than one name.

 

[southerncanada]

I just joined after lurking aroung for a while, and now I can finally give you props for being an awesome pepper growing mentor its really awesome getiing families involved in gardening. Its nice to see the sucess of another canadian especially with as many varieies as you have in a realitively small space. When do you usually get to do the final plant out?

And on a more relative note I think not wanting to thin your seedlings is a female thing I myself find it very hard to cull plants even if they are runts with a pinched leaf from the seed coat not separating properly. From a horticultural standpoint only keeping the strongest plants is a more sound practice but its hard not to wanna let them live. A point on your side is that you have space management in mind it is always better to have a little extra space for things to grow into.