Sulsa's 2023 Glog

Here we go again!!!!
Looking back at the 2022 season i can only conclude that it has been a succesfull and very productive season, wich ofcourse fueled the pepper madness in me even more!
Fact is i grew way more peppers than i can possibly consume or give away under normal circumstances and it would be wise to cut down a bit on the amount of plants in the coming season. I decided to get rid of all the overwintering plants and start all fresh this year.
No plants to take care of this winter, no fungus gnats all over the place and in my humble experience the overwinterers did not outproduce the fresh seedlings but did need more space. Pound for pound the seedlings were more productive.
Plan was to cut down on the varieties too, but as we all know that's just not gonna happen.
I really didn't have to grow 12 Adjumas last year, wich resulted in over 10 kg of frozen adjuma mash in my freezer so cutting back on the amount of plants per variety it is!
I also decided to start sowing a few weeks later to prevent the plants being in need of repotting to the final pots before they can stay outside day and night. This will save me a lot of carrying in and out big plantcontainers every day.

This afternoon we had some rain and with not much else to do i dug up all my pepperseeds and sat down to make some decisions and make the provisional growlist of 2023

Chinense:
Aji charapita Iquitos (semillas)
Perola laranja (semillas)
Mako akokosrade (semillas)
Goronong (semillas)
Lemon starrburst (semillas)
CGN 21500 (semillas)
Fatali ( SineNomine)
MOA Scotch bonnet (SineNomine)
Papa dreadie Scotch bonnet (SineNomine)
Papa Joe's Scotch bonnet (SineNomine)
Nebru 7 pod (SineNomine)
Bahamian goat (2022)
Adjuma yellow (2022)
Bonda ma Jacques (2022)
BMJ x Adjuma F1 (hand pollinated cross i made last year)
Trinidad perfume (semillas)
Habanada (semillas)

Annuum:
Thai orange (semillas)
Cayenne #1 (2022)
Thunder mountain longhorn (semillas)
Jalapeno biker Billy (semillas)
Buena mulata (semillas)
Piquillo (2022)
Kapia (2022)
Ancho mulato (semillas)
+1 other sweet pepper i still have to decide on.

Pubescens:
Rio Hualaga (2022)

Frutescens:
Prik khee nu (semillas)

I still have a couple of weeks to decide the amount of plants per variety and wich varieties will be grown on open ground in the vegetable garden and wich in containers in my backyard. For now the waiting game has started and besides cleaning the growspace and other preparations only thing to do is dreaming of bountiful harvests!

Here's to a great season!

 

[SineNomine]

Nice growing list!
Good luck in the coming season!

 

[Ratatouille]

I'm tagging along for the ride. I think I can learn a thing or two from your glog.

It's a great grow list you have already. Enjoy the season!

 

[MarcV]

You're right about overwinterers... they grow larger and require more space but they don't really start to produce any earlier nor do they produce more fruits... but sometimes you grow a bond with a certain plant and don't want to give it up

 

[Sulsa]

You're right about overwinterers... they grow larger and require more space but they don't really start to produce any earlier nor do they produce more fruits... but sometimes you grow a bond with a certain plant and don't want to give it up

I always liked the idea of having a very old, thick and knotty stemmed chile plant that grows to enormous proportions every year, but since i don't have a heated greenhouse or tropical atrium in my house this will probably never happen.

 

[Mildfruit]

Good luck narrowing it down, I’m currently in the same process myself
It has also been my experience that overwinters can be a lot to manage without the extra bonus.
Also perhaps it’s healthy with a little winter break

But good luck! Even if it goes half as good as last season, it will still be a huge success

 

[Sulsa]

Alea iacta est!
Soaked most of the Chinense and the rocoto Rio Hualaga today, season 2023 has finally started!!!

 

[Sulsa]

why does it takes so long for peppers to germinate?

 

[MarcV]

These boxes should be suitable for microwaves. I'm sure if you put them in the microwave they will pop immediately. It works with corn anyway...

 

[Sulsa]

We have a winner!

Goronong on day 5

 

[Sulsa]

Goronong germinated 5 out of 5 within 6 days!
Also have some trinidad perfume, fatali, bahamian goat, mako akokosrade, papa joes sb and even some perola laranja popping well within the first week.

 

[Grass Snake]

Interesting to see Vermiculite being used by itself, seems to be working good for you.

 

[Sulsa]

Switched to vermiculite during my second sowing round last year and was pretty impressed by it's properties.

 

[Grass Snake]

Yeah holds water like crazy. It's really soft too, I can't help wanting to smear it with my finger.

 

[Sulsa]

I have that with those green blocks of floral foam... can't pass them by without at least poking my finger in it!

 

[Tinkerbelle]

pervert!

 

[Ratatouille]

@Sulsa I've read Diana (a regular Dutch gardener and blogger) has been using just vermiculite for her pepper and tomato seeds in this exact way.

It had me wondering, how long do you wait before transplanting? And have you noticed a longer or shorter or maybe no 'groeistilstand' at all after transplanting the seedling from vermiculite to regular soil?

Your hook looks lovely by the way!

 

[Sulsa]

I use a bottomlayer of mixed vermiculite and cocopeat 1:1 ratio and also throw in a tiny bit of aged compost and some crushersand. I start with a layer of this mix, just a few centimeters on the bottom. On top of that a few cm. vermiculite, than the seeds and after that i cover the seeds with 1 cm. of vermiculite.
You sure could use only vermiculite, but since some peppers take 1 week to germinate and others maybe even three weeks. I like the idea of some nutrient rich base layer for the early sprouters so they won't suffer any deficiency while waiting for the slow germinators. Once most have germinated i start repotting them to soil.
Besides the nutrients they are also exposed to some beneficial microbes and fungi out of this mix instead of the almost sterile vermiculite. This way i have the best of both worlds, a nutrient rich base they can tap into almost immediately (first root goes straight down) and a airy and non compacting germination zone with perfect water and heat retention. I didn't experience much delay or stagnation in growth opposed to normal soil based seedlings after transplant. They do take a few days to resettle their roots and getting adjusted to the lower temperatures (27C down to about 18C) and after that they just do fine. I also experience less rootdamage when transplanting them out of the airy vermiculite opposed to soil seedlings.

 

[Sulsa]

Has been almost two weeks now and most varieties have germinated

Rocoto Rio Hualaga 3/5

Bahamian goat 4/5
Bonda ma Jacques x Adjuma 4/5
Bonda ma Jacques 2/5
Adjuma 0/5
Nebru 7 pod 0/5
Papa Joes sb 1/5
Papa dreadie 4/5
Moa sb 3/5
Fatalii 4/5
Trinidad perfume 1/5
CGN 21500 3/5
Habanada 2/5
Goronong 5/5
Lemon starburst 3/5
Mako akokosrade 3/5
Perola laranja 5/5
Aji charapita 0/5

Guessing the charapitas and nebru will take their sweet time so i will continue waiting for them.
Think i sabotaged the adjumas myself by going with seeds from a very late season pod. Figured these were the most fresh seeds. The cold and wet conditions of autumn might have caused the seeds to be not so viable.
On the other hand maybe the universe is trying to remind me i got over 10 kg. of mash, frozen pods and 3 jars of dried adjuma in storage allready so maybe this is not a great loss?! (Still got plenty of other adjuma seeds though... )
Was aiming to keep three of each Chinense variety at the most so overall germination rate is just fine.
Will transplant most of them by the end of the week, need space in the germination station for the next round starring Annuums and Frutescens.

 

[PaulG]

Pretty decent germination results, @Sulsa !