Stickman's 2013 Glog - Time To Pull The Plug on 2013

I'm pulling things together to get ready for my next growing season. I bought NuMex variety seeds from Sandia Seed company in New Mexico, Hot Paper Lantern Habaneros and Antohi Romanians from Johnny's Select Seeds in Maine and Korean varieties from Evergreen Seeds in California. Due to the unbelievable generosity of a number of THP members I've also gotten seeds to a wide variety of chiles from around the world. Special thanks to BootsieB, stc3248, romy6, PaulG, SoCalChilehead, joynershotpeppers, highalt, cmpman1974, smokemaster, mygrassisblue, Mister No, chewi, KingDenniz, orrozconleche and most recently and spectacularly, Habanerohead with a great selection of superhots and peppers from Hungary!

There are eleven varieties of Hungarian peppers in here, mostly the early, thick-fleshed, sweet ones that range from white through yellow to purple and red.., plus Aji Lemon Drop, BJ Indian Carbon, Naga Morich, Bishop's Crown and TS CARDI Yellow! Now I just have to go through my seed bank and match the space available to what I want to grow. Thanks Balázs!

 

[Chaosbites]

I feel ya about the snow. We are hearing about a weekend storm of about 8 inches. We have had a few teaser days that make you itch to work I the dirt. I won't whine too much about the snow since we need snow for our water. They have been talking about water restrictions already.

That maya red sure is purdy. Hope my plants look that nice when they are more grown up.

Michelle

 

[Jamison]

Looking fantastic Rick! That habanero is something else man wow. We just got some more snow too. We're about 10-20 degrees below normal for this time of year which really sucks for us chile growers! Glad I stopped by!

 

[stickman]

Hi Michelle, and welcome to the zoo!

You sure know about cold and dry... I spent a tour of duty at Ft Carson back in the early 80s and I found out then. How much water is in Cheeseman reservoir about now?

 

[PIC 1]

Nice looking Hab, great wing span. Typical when the plants move into larger containers., that should be a great producer. I don't have any Mayan's but I hear they're very productive...........How's the root ball on the Douglah, Did you just pot i tup or is it due.

 

[stickman]

Looking fantastic Rick! That habanero is something else man wow. We just got some more snow too. We're about 10-20 degrees below normal for this time of year which really sucks for us chile growers! Glad I stopped by!

Thanks for stopping by Jamison. I don't know who to lobby to get the weather to warm up enough to plant, but if I ever find out I'll be right there...

Nice looking Hab, great wing span. Typical when the plants move into larger containers., that should be a great producer. I don't have any Mayan's but I hear they're very productive...........How's the root ball on the Douglah, Did you just pot i tup or is it due.

Hi Greg
Yup, it's due. I looked underneath the pot and could see about half a dozen root tips. There was also a sandy deposit of minerals on the underside of the leaves... Definitely time to wash out the roots and up-pot. Also picked up the other airpots to see how the plants in them were coming along, and found out that the pot with the Jamaican hot chocolate had gotten so dry that it shed it's leaves when I picked it up. The plant's still alive, and there are still the side shoots, so I'm not worried about losing it, but I've got it soaking in a pail of water right now to re-hydrate it.

 

[Chaosbites]

I haven't been up that way in a while. The news said we need 8 feet of snow in the mountains this month to bring our water levels back up. So even that I love the warm dry days we get here- I am still wanting a white Easter!
Michelle

 

[DocNrock]

Wow man, after seeing that picture I want winter to be over for you. Looks cold! Love the deep green of the plants...they're going to suck up the sun rays when the time comes.

 

[Devv]

Your plants look great! Sorry spring is taking forever.

I was raised up North and know how you feel!

Scott

 

[stickman]

I haven't been up that way in a while. The news said we need 8 feet of snow in the mountains this month to bring our water levels back up. So even that I love the warm dry days we get here- I am still wanting a white Easter!
Michelle

I hear ya Michelle... considering that the chiefest source of fresh water in your state is meltwater from the snowpack in the mountains, I'd be wanting that too! Lol...

Wow man, after seeing that picture I want winter to be over for you. Looks cold! Love the deep green of the plants...they're going to suck up the sun rays when the time comes.

Your plants look great! Sorry spring is taking forever.

I was raised up North and know how you feel!

Scott

Thanks Guys, I've gotten through it before, and will again this year. You know... you don't truly feel the joy of spring unless it's been a long, cold winter. I think that's why the Russians party so hard on May Day...

 

[Trippa]

Yeah those Chinense varieties will yellow pretty quick once they are well root bound Rick. Annuums seem to just stay small but keep relatively green comparatively when they are root bound.
Other then the leaf colour that douglah is looking super healthy still. I also noticed that my Douglah has never been a dark green either ...always been a lighter green compared with some of the Habeneros etc

 

[stickman]

Yeah those Chinense varieties will yellow pretty quick once they are well root bound Rick. Annuums seem to just stay small but keep relatively green comparatively when they are root bound.
Other then the leaf colour that douglah is looking super healthy still. I also noticed that my Douglah has never been a dark green either ...always been a lighter green compared with some of the Habeneros etc

Thanks for the input Trippa, that helps a lot! Once I got the pH back to neutral I foliar fed the leaves epsom salts and water. The green is slowly coming back, but as you said, it's a lighter green than the rest of the peppers. Greg put in another piece of the puzzle and suggested that the plant is probably rootbound about now, so I'll be up-potting this weekend as well as planting my Eggplant seeds... My favorite Italian Eggplant variety... Black Beauty and a new Thai variety called Masego, with white stripes on a green background... http://www.kitazawaseed.com/seed_325-33.html The Thai varieties tend to be green rather than purple, and much more firm than the other varieties... perfect for vegetable curries since they don't fall apart when you cook them.

 

[stc3248]

Rick...don't over think that Douglah...it's a tad off color but will be fine until plant out then take off. I have a couple that were like that, but once out in the sun they greened right up.

 

[georgej]

Hope the Epsom salts work out bro.

I'm hoping it exists here. It's in my dictionary at least.

I'm having all sorts of leaf problems. A few tips are burning away, becoming a flat edge instead of a pointed tip I think that's from having a tower fan on them too hard is to blame.

On top of that I've got yellowing leafs and curl. So irritating as 5 days ago they looked happy as Larry, and I dunno what brands to buy here.
Watering day tomorrow, so I have a gallon of water with under a tablespoon of Magnesia lime soaking in it waiting for tomorrow.

Try a few plants first, might give a few ferts and some as a control.

 

[stickman]

Rick...don't over think that Douglah...it's a tad off color but will be fine until plant out then take off. I have a couple that were like that, but once out in the sun they greened right up.

Hope the Epsom salts work out bro.

I'm hoping it exists here. It's in my dictionary at least.

I'm having all sorts of leaf problems. A few tips are burning away, becoming a flat edge instead of a pointed tip I think that's from having a tower fan on them too hard is to blame.

On top of that I've got yellowing leafs and curl. So irritating as 5 days ago they looked happy as Larry, and I dunno what brands to buy here.
Watering day tomorrow, so I have a gallon of water with under a tablespoon of Magnesia lime soaking in it waiting for tomorrow.

Try a few plants first, might give a few ferts and some as a control.

Well.... I managed to shock the Douglah in the solo cup by messing around with it too much. The same thing happened to the Jamaican hot Chocolate in the airpot upstairs. They both dropped their leaves. Both plants are alive and have side branching to carry things forward, but this will set them back quite a bit. I up-potted both with fresh soil, so when they've adjusted, I hope they perk up. It looks like they're going dormant ATM. The Hot Chocolate was in a corner that was hard to get at and stressed out when it didn't get enough water. The soil was still moist in the solo cup with the Douglah, but it must have been chemically shocked by my attempts to deal with its color with amendments. I think it's the pepper most sensitive to pH that I've ever grown.

The rest of the peppers and garden veggies are doing well.

Kurtovska Kapia peppers are between 6 and 10 inches tall (15 to 25cm) and blossoming..

Some of the later Annuums to sprout... Ochsenhorn and Chinese 5-Color

 

[georgej]

I'm hesitant with foliar spray, cause leafs are fragile. I figure roots only take what they want and are a little more selective, that's my hunch

 

[stc3248]

Dang Rick! Sucks about your Doogie...A couple pics from my stuff last year for ya...

Pics of the same plant 11 days apart...had a whole table full of ones that looked like this. They all pulled through! So keep the faith brother. Plus...you got so many more that look just plain BA! No worries brother...

 

[stickman]

I'm hesitant with foliar spray, cause leafs are fragile. I figure roots only take what they want and are a little more selective, that's my hunch

Maybe so G... It sounds plausible anyway. I've never had a problem foliar feeding with epsom salts as long as I diluted enough... a teaspoon per quart (a scant 2 g per Liter) of water seems to work well for me.

This pic was taken just before I made this post... after 3 days of misting twice a day with the epsom salts solution the older, lower leaves haven't changed much, but the newer leaves are all green and looking much better. They're still a lighter green than the plants around them, but from what Trippa says (and Shane's pictures show) I don't have to worry about that.

Dang Rick! Sucks about your Doogie...

Keep the faith brother. Plus...you got so many more that look just plain BA! No worries brother...

No worries Shane. Like I said, it's all part of the learning process. Next year I'll do some things much differently!

On an unrelated side note... I made Cajun Blackened Pork Chops for supper last night...

 

[Trippa]

Sorry to hear about your small speed bump Rick! Let's hope they pick back up asap for you. On another note have you managed to get any of the hot fish peppers to pop yet??

 

[stickman]

Sorry to hear about your small speed bump Rick! Let's hope they pick back up asap for you. On another note have you managed to get any of the hot fish peppers to pop yet??

Not yet Trippa, I planted a few more when the first lot didn't sprout. Nee's Macedonians didn't sprout yet either. I only had one Jamaican Hot Chocolate and one Douglah go dormant on me, so no worries. I'll just keep them inside and comfortable until it warms up outside and I can plant them there to break their dormancy.

 

[georgej]

A few soldiers are expected to fall in love the war. Hopefully we'll see some medal vets by the end! Looks like this platoon is gonna be all medals!