Stupid Jerk's stupid grow log for jerks

I think it is safe to say that my girlfriend now regrets bringing home a cayenne plant this July. It sparked an interest in me that has lead me to spend countless hours reading about gardening, filling the windows and balcony with plants and seedlings, purchasing a grow light, and ultimately joining a community garden. I've decided it is time I start documenting my journey.

Grow list:
7 Pot Congo Yellow (Denniz)
7 Pot Douglah
7 Pot Jonah (Denniz)
7 Pot Primo (socalchilehead)
7 Pot Red (Denniz)
7 Pot SR Congo (socalchilehead)
7 Pot Yellow
Bahamian Goat Pepper (socalchilehead)
Biker Billy Jalapeno (ajijoe)
Black Pearl
Black Cobra (smokemaster)
Bhut Jolokia
Butch T (Denniz)
Butch T x Douglah (Denniz)
Carolina Reaper
Cherry
Chile Tepin (socalchilehead)
Chocolate Bhut Jolokia
Chocolate Bhut x Yellow 7 pot (socalchilehead)
Chocolate Habanero (ajijoe)
Datil
Fatalii
Fresno (Grocery Store Pod)
Jamaican Hot Chocolate (Pogeys)
Morouga Scorpion (Denniz)
Purple Jalapeno
Red Habanero
Scotch Bonnet (Turns out to be an Anuum, so we'll call these Notch Bonnets)
Scotch Bonnet Foodorama (socalchilehead)
Scotch Bonnet Tobago Yellow (socalchilehead)
Scotch Bonnet Tobago Red (socalchilehead)
Surprise Hot Mix (ajijoe)
Thai (Grocery Store Pod)
White Bullet
Yellow Brainstrain (Denniz)



These are plants that I have obtained as adults:

Aji Yellow (smokemaster)
Habanero (home depot)
Peach Bhut (smokemaster)
White Pearl (smokemaster)
Yellow 7 Pot (smokemaster)

I have a limited amount of space, so most varieties will only have one plant in the ground.

Here is a before picture of the garden:

It's a 400 sq foot plot and over half of it was filled with nutsedge. I have since pulled out the nutsedge and hopefully most of the roots. Filled a massive wheelbarrow with all that I pulled out. I tried eating one of the tubers because I read they were edible, but I wouldn't recommend it. It was the consistancy of an almond, but the taste of a dirty pine needle. Maybe they are good roasted.


Growing in the ground is going to be a new adventure that I am no way prepared for. I suppose I need to do a soil test before I attempt to amend the soil. Completely organic is the plan, but I've seen a few tiny green balls in the soil, and as far as I know that means slow release Miracle Gro. On the positive side(I think?) there is a bark mulch that is mixed through the entire garden that has started breaking down throughout. You can see some of it near the pavement in the first picture. Not sure what kind of wood it is.

If anyone has any advice, feel free to chime in. I built a fence with 2x8's around the bottom. I plan on having a 2' wide 8" raised bed around the perimeter along with 3 raised beds in the center. The ones in the center may have to wait a while unless I find someone getting rid of some wood. In the mean time I plan on just mounding the ground up in those areas. I see a lot of my neighbors still have chili plants with ripe or ripening pods on them, but I think I'm waiting until mid January to early February to plant them out.(edit: planted out in March) It hasn't frosted since I moved here, but I supposed it is possible.(edit: It happened this year)

 

[DocNrock]

This is all looking fantastic, Carson. With your plants being in-ground, they are going to shoot past mine in about a month I would bet. I'm pulling for ya, here! Love the little praying mantis, and you have pods a coming! Very nice!

 

[stc3248]

Looking outstanding Jerk! I didn't stake them all last year, and to be honest some didn't need it, but others I wish I had staked. I lost a lot of branches loaded with pods. Several plant started tipping too, so I had to try staking them later on. This year I just staked them all at the beginning to prevent any issues later on.

 

[Dot Com]

your plants are looking good w/ all that growth near the base ESPECIALLY in, like you said, full 13 hr Cali sun.

 

[StupidJerk]

Not a lot is happening, mostly just watching plants bush out.

That's just under 2 weeks worth of growth on that Datil. Things are growing, but it is getting HOT.

The thermometer at my garden read 97f when I was there. Hopefully I get some pods before it starts getting consistently hot enough to drop flowers. The beds I have mulched well are staying wet and cool much better than the others. I don't have any more of those wood chips available, so I think I'm going to try to find some straw. I think I know of a feed store I can go to to get some.

These Cherry should be turning red soon.. Never knew they got this big.

This Bhut got overwatered at some point and it stopped growing up. Now it only grows out. You can see those yellow leaves on the top staying the same size while everything else grows in the 1 week between these pictures.

That Black Pearl is going to be impossible to harvest at some point. It is sort of in the center of the bed, the only one I did that to for some reason.

A crazy person spaced my garden.

I thought putting tomatoes in the center of that bed would help shade the pepper from sun for part of the day in the hottest parts of summer, but they are growing much faster than I thought. I'm starting to regret putting them there.


I think the yellowing on this reaper was also due to overwatering:

It pulled through fine and I think it is going to be a great producer.

 

[WalkGood]

Aarrr Captain hard about I see Cherry Pods, come to a full stop so us pirates can raid dem peppers and toast our riches with a mighty fine grog, hehe … nice shots & update mon!

 

[DesertChris]

Looking great!!!

That Reaper makes my Reapers look tiny...lol

 

[stc3248]

Its gonna be crowded...but that's ok! You can always shape, prune and trim things to keep some paths open. Looking good!

 

[Devv]

I say go for it! This is a learning year no?

If my plants were at the stage yours are at I would be mas pleased!

 

[StupidJerk]

Aarrr Captain hard about I see Cherry Pods, come to a full stop so us pirates can raid dem peppers and toast our riches with a mighty fine grog, hehe … nice shots & update mon!

Its gonna be crowded...but that's ok! You can always shape, prune and trim things to keep some paths open. Looking good!

I say go for it! This is a learning year no?

If my plants were at the stage yours are at I would be mas pleased!

Looking great!!!

That Reaper makes my Reapers look tiny...lol

Thanks guys. I am definitely happy with the progress so far. I've still got to put a couple plants in the ground, but the heat and sun have been so intense the last few days that hardening off is going even slower than usual. I can at least be happy that the garden isn't on fire in the literal sense.

 

[DesertChris]

Thanks guys. I am definitely happy with the progress so far. I've still got to put a couple plants in the ground, but the heat and sun have been so intense the last few days that hardening off is going even slower than usual. I can at least be happy that the garden isn't on fire in the literal sense.

Heck yeah, the fire planes are taking off and landing constantly out here (their base is less than 2 miles from me)
I think there arw a ton of fires going on all over the southern california area!
Shoot, it is even a bit smokey here, and the fires are down by you and also North of us...

 

[StupidJerk]

I just got back from staying at a friend's cabin in Big Bear, where for the first time ever I saw "FIRE DANGER: LOW!" on the sign coming in to town. Anyway, after washing my clothes to get rid of the campfire smell I walk outside and everything smells like campfire. My friends with the cabin live in Camarillo(near one of the fires) and they're heading back home today. They don't think they are under evacuation orders, but we'll see what happens when they get home. The fire burned down 10,000 acres last I saw. There was another smaller one in Glendale today.

Yesterday I was driving down the 101 and saw a fire truck just sitting in the shoulder with the fireman sitting on lawn chairs chilling. I don't know if they were there to deploy rapidly or if they had some car trouble. They were from all the way down in Torrance and this was probably in Tarzana.

Anyway, people need to stop being clueless around fire, tossing cigarette butts out of windows and things like that.

 

[Nightshade]

I agree people need to stop being careless

 

[stc3248]

Gonna be a crazy year for sure...Hope we all stay safe. Back in 07 my unit helped evacuate folks. We were driving between the fires smoke so thick you could barely see the congo line of fire trucks in front and behind. Hope we don't have another season like that one...

 

[StupidJerk]

I forgot to post the picture of my first harvest! I pulled a White Bullet and a couple of Black Pearls off before heading up to Big Bear.

Now there are a few more ripe ones on the plants, just need to pull them off.

I also forgot to post the pic of the Scotch Bonnet anuum starting to pod up, so soon we should know what it really is:

Does anyone know if there is an app for iPhone to allow manual focus of the camera? To get pod shots I have to hold the camera close to a leaf, hold my finger down until the AE/AF lock activates, then try to get the camera the appropriate distance from the pod to be almost in focus. I guess I could fix my problem by using an actual camera instead of a 3-year-old phone.

 

[DesertChris]

Gonna be a crazy year for sure...Hope we all stay safe. Back in 07 my unit helped evacuate folks. We were driving between the fires smoke so thick you could barely see the congo line of fire trucks in front and behind. Hope we don't have another season like that one...

Yeah, that was an insane fire season! I lived in Northern California back then, but I remember traveling to see my parents in San Diego during all that.
I heard about a guy I went to school with that refused to evacuate, and fought the fire off his home in the mountains himself with well water and hoses....crazy guy to say the least.

And the house I had rented around the year 2000 with some some friends in Julian (1.5 million dollar place) was burned to the ground in that one too....

I am just thankful the fireplane base is practically next door to us! They will never let fire get close to them!

 

[stc3248]

Great pics...they sell clip on Macro lenses for the iphone that will take great shots.

 

[StupidJerk]

Does anyone know what this is?
Edit:Maybe a soldier beetle?

Was hanging out on a tomatillo. Friend or foe? I left him be, looked like he might be a good guy.

Trinidad Scorpion Moruga Blend

I was contemplating pruning this leaf on the Bahamian Goat Pepper when I noticed a lacewing egg attached. I took that as a sign to leave the plant alone. I saw lacewing eggs all over the garden today. That makes me happy.

The mystery anuum is starting to take shape. The pods keep growing, so I'm still not sure what they are.

This plant was so small when those pods formed on the Purple Jalapeno. They are almost touching the ground.

This thing is covered in flowers, buds, and pods at all stages. I have two of this plant, grown from pods I bought at an Asian grocery store. Some should be turning red soon I think.

My biggest chinense pod is this chocolate hab from Aji Joe:

This reaper is going to start flowering soon. Buds everywhere.

Same with this Chocolate Booty:

PSA: Don't space your anuums only 12" apart. This is what happens rather quickly:

Glad I gave 24" for most of the chinense.

 

[StupidJerk]

I decided to do some pruning experiments under the lights since I didn't need them for seedlings any more. I topped this Butch about 1 week ago

Here it is today

Really incredible in my opinion.

 

[stc3248]

Great looking stuff...except for the cucumber beetle. Definite foe!

 

[DocNrock]

Coming along great, Carson! Glad to see you have Green Lacewings around. They are the most commonly found predator here. Keep it up!