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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:
pwhDt.jpg

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)
 
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I've had some major issues with hardening off too. Nasty sunburns on a few of my dudes, wilting leave like you said. I'm about to go out of state for a week or so and I don't think they will have time to harden off enough for full sun. I think I'm just going to leave them on a part of the balcony that only gets full sun for about an hour or two a day.

I have several plants in the ground that I had hardened of a little earlier in the year. They seem to all be taking to it fine.

The yellow 7 pot adult plant I had never bounced back. It kept putting out new leaves that would then whither away. It did it for months and months. Today in a last ditch effort to save it I cut it back even more, dunked it in a bucket with a solution of dr bronner's soap, neem oil, and water, and then repotted it as a bonsai. I hope it survives because it turned out looking pretty cool.
XQkWu3l.jpg

yo7sxwE.jpg

I'll see if I can find a picture of what it used to look like later.
 
Don't give up on him :)
A jalapeno overwinter did that too...start to put out some green, then it would wither.
It now has several spots growing...started at the base, then slowly more up higher, and higher....

My overwinter "Sticks" are starting to come back to life....this warm weather in the last week seems to have done it.
So far 6/18 are growing leaves....finally...
 
It has been an eventful week! Went on a vacation across the country to see family, got engaged to my girlfriend, and came back to some happy plants! The girl that fed our cats and watered our plants did an amazing job. There was not one casualty, capsicum, orchidaceae, or felis. It's quite satisfying to come home to all of the new growth.

I also stopped by the garden, but didn't have enough time to snap pics. I'll get some tomorrow hopefully.

The plants that were hardening off on the balcony I have now pushed all the way into the brightest part of my balcony. I'm thinking they go to the garden tomorrow or the next day:
ABVQvMN.jpg


Tossed these guys onto the balcony to start off their hardening process. They are smaller than I hoped, but everything out in the garden is doing so amazing that I'm working on getting them out there ASAP:
LwCzWkr.jpg


Black Cobra is about 18 inches tall and looking happy. It's one of the plants I'm keeping on the balcony, the fiance really likes the pods they put out:
KYcJbos.jpg


It's starting to get a little sparse under the light:
QE2kxWO.jpg


The big one is a White Bullet Habanero that I'm keeping under the light as long as I can. It's in a little 1 gallon pot and it has over 100 buds on it. I guess I might move it to a 3 gallon soon, but is there any need if it has that many buds?
6hBpNlj.jpg


The Black Pearl under the CFL on the dresser is starting to pod up. The pods that aren't black were hidden under a leaf last week.
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Below are non-pepper pictures. Be warned.

Here is one of the two big beds right after mulching This is around two weeks ago, so a lot has changed since then.
XAELBzr.jpg


The day before we left I harvested the lettuce and arugula that was starting to bolt:
PxvTyXe.jpg

That is a mammoth sunflower seedling behind them.


And here is the oregano that has lived on the balcony for over a year. It survived the winter, but looked kinda crappy, so I cut it back and it looks pretty awesome these days:
zBQqR1X.jpg


I am certainly glad to be back in SoCal. During my vacation I had enough snow for the rest of the year. It certainly makes me appreciate our weather.
 
Congrats to both of you!

Plants are looking great.

Question.
If you transplant the WB Hab at this stage, would it be at risk to dropping those pods on account of stress?
 
Congrats on the engagement! Plants look great! I would transplant the hab. They often start to bud up if they get root bound. I think that plant would've started budding either way...looks ready to rock!
 
Congratulations on some fantastic plants.... they look like they are ready for the freedom of the outdoors ..... and congratulations on your engagement .... I hope you are ready for the increased rules of Marriage :rofl: ;) just joking bro ... nice work ....
 
Thanks everyone!

Shane: I'm still debating whether I pot up or not. I'm not worried about the plant getting bigger, more about getting some pods off of it. I plan on keeping it under the lights for at least few more months. I would like to get a bunch of isolated seeds for this and the black pearl. Will it be able to handle a full load of pods in a tiny pot? My worry is that, like JJJ said, all of the buds will drop if I pot it up.

I planted out a bunch of my dudes today. It was overcast and should be for the next week, so it seemed like the perfect time. I was in the garden for over 8 hours. I got a ton of weeds pulled, about a dozen peppers and 4 tomatoes planted out, and a nasty sunburn.
gUJYmya.jpg

Big bed #1 planted out. Well, it's big by my standards.
 
I am curious about the potting up answer too.
It seems to me, that if you were very gentle doing a transplanting, that the plant wouldn't really get stressed.
But I await the answer too :)
 
Cherry Pepper plants are starting to pod up:
zo97IeV.jpg

As are the Thai:
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And in non-chile news the Tomatillos are making babies as well:
a5cWqwi.jpg


Trippa said:
Congratulations on some fantastic plants.... they look like they are ready for the freedom of the outdoors ..... and congratulations on your engagement .... I hope you are ready for the increased rules of Marriage :rofl: ;) just joking bro ... nice work ....
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I hope there aren't any new rules! I should be safe, we've been living in sin for 4 years, so the only real change is that we're bringing the law into it.
 
Looking real nice! It's going to be a tight squeeze in that part of the garden...will look really cool, there will be a giant canopy of peppers. As far as the blooms dropping, if you go easy on it and water well afterward I wouldn't think you'd drop too many. If just getting a few isolated pods is the goal, it will produce in that little pot and you can pot up once you have all the seeds you need. May be at the expense of the plant growing to its potential though. Hope you're right about the rules too...I have been married 19 years and the rules are still changing!
 
stc3248 said:
Looking real nice! It's going to be a tight squeeze in that part of the garden...will look really cool, there will be a giant canopy of peppers. As far as the blooms dropping, if you go easy on it and water well afterward I wouldn't think you'd drop too many. If just getting a few isolated pods is the goal, it will produce in that little pot and you can pot up once you have all the seeds you need. May be at the expense of the plant growing to its potential though. Hope you're right about the rules too...I have been married 19 years and the rules are still changing!
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Yeah, I think I'm going to be doing a lot of crawling under plants this year. I guess I need to start thinking about how I can support them. I haven't staked any yet, but I suppose I'll need to when they get a bit taller.

I'm making sure that I have a few isolated varieties. I have so many varieties so close together that I need to at least isolate a few of my less common ones so I can trade them once next season comes around. I don't want to have to buy a ton of new seeds, and I know I'm going to have a lot of unintentional crosses. I guess that's part of the fun, though. As long as the crosses taste good and are hot I won't be too upset.

Speaking of crosses, I am growing out the seeds from the smooth reaper with no tail that Lock sent me. I planted on Feb 2nd. Behold the 2nd generation(after launch) non-true Carolina Reaper:
IkJQ9Zw.jpg
 
That will be cool to see what comes from lock's reaper seeds that were from those smooth pods!

If they come out gnarly, bumpy, with a tail, that would be kind of cool :)
 
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