Super Hots Canada - Grow 2014-2015 (Starts on Page 12) - I have a greenhouse now! YAY! :D

I suppose rather than starting a new topic each time I update you all on my progress, it's better to stick to one...
 
So to begin with, I just have a small update for today:
 
My largest Cayenne (which I just pruned back in the past couple of weeks) is finally growing it's very first flowers. This is one of six Cayenne's that I originally bought as seedlings. This one has taken off the best. The rest seemed to have struggled to grow.
 

 
One of my young Jalapeño (I believe) plants is also starting to flower. This is one that I started from seed and it's showing a good many more flowers than the Cayenne, shown above, even though it is far smaller and younger.
 

 
Seeing them start to flower, I decided to add some more Tomato mix (5-7-7) to all my plants to hopefully help them along the way.
 
I water my plants with a 20-20-20 plant feed every couple of weeks, occasionally I'll spray them down with an epsom salt mix and if the roots start to show I'll add some 3-in-1 (or 4-in-1) soil blend to top them off.
 
How often ought a person add tomato mix/bone meal/soil to their planters (indoors) to keep them growing and healthy - any suggestions?

 

[Super Hots Canada]

Here is why I really need to get some more large planters very, very soon..  I transplanted this Naga Jolokia tonight and just look at the roots..  Took a LOT of work to shake the dirt loose from them:
 

 
 
Oh, and here was my concoction I made for supper tonight:
 

 
.. That's onion, green bell pepper and a couple Naga Jolokia all chopped up in that bowl. I diced up some pork chops because I don't have any beef, lamb or veal to work with right now. And I was going to use this store-bought "Asian 5-Spice" stir-fry sauce but partway through cooking I decided I wasn't in the mood for it.. So used that same plastic bowl to mix together lime juice (about 1/3 of the bowl in depth), a teaspoon or two of Vanilla Extract (artificial is all we have right now), a hefty dash of hot chile powder (store-bought), hot Indian curry powder and a dash of Cumin.
 
The burn hit pretty hard with each bite, but oddly dissipated very quickly.. But it was definitely a unique taste. Wasn't bad at all!

 

[Miniac67]

those pictures just made me hungry

 

[Super Hots Canada]

I finally picked up a heat pad!
 

 

[Super Hots Canada]

My very first Jalapeno (which started growing somewhere around early December, I believe) is FINALLY starting to turn red!
 

 

[allaKAZAAM]

I transplanted this Naga Jolokia tonight and just look at the roots..  Took a LOT of work to shake the dirt loose from them

 
Not sure if this a good suggestion or not...
Next time instead of shaking the plant, get a bucket of water and let the water "soak-out" the water. Then you will have all the root and no damage to them or the plant.
 
Mark

...NICE looking plants & peppers AND FOOD!

 

[Super Hots Canada]

 
Not sure if this a good suggestion or not...
Next time instead of shaking the plant, get a bucket of water and let the water "soak-out" the water. Then you will have all the root and no damage to them or the plant.
 
Mark

...NICE looking plants & peppers AND FOOD!

 
Thanks!
 
As for that idea - I'm not sure how well that would work. I think soaking like that might loosen up the soil & roots a bit, but it sounds like it would also be the same as over-watering and I don't want to risk that
 
When I shake them out I do it as gentle as possible to limit harming the roots. With the one in that picture above it was rather difficult because the roots were so bound up that they basically locked in the soil, but I do my best to transplant long before they get like that. My trouble right now is that I'm short on larger planters, but I'm hoping to resolve that soon. 

 

[allaKAZAAM]

I do not think it will harm the plants...
Pepper Guru (I believe it was him or in one of his posts). It was mentioned that when you want to over winter your plants, you would need to remove a portion of the root system. Then you would need to clean them thoroughly to get rid of any bugs/nasties. The person then stated they would soak the plant whole on water mixture to do this.
I know with Orchids, I have done this A LOT. It will not affect the plant at all with the soaking (unless you leave the plant in the water for extended period of time...).
However, if you feel better doing it the way you do.
GREAT
Ultimately, I was just giving a suggestion that may help expidite the process for yah.

Mark
 
...still your plants look GREAT! Gonna start mine soon!

 

[Super Hots Canada]

Ultimately, I was just giving a suggestion that may help expidite the process for yah.

Mark
 
...still your plants look GREAT! Gonna start mine soon!

 
Thanks for the suggestion (and the further explanation)!
 
At some point I just might need to give it a shot - when I'm not feeling quite so scared of screwing it up. lol
 
Sorry if I sounded condescending - certainly wasn't my intention. I apparently have a bad habit of doing that without even realizing it.

 

[Super Hots Canada]

    
 
So as I recently posted, I've planted 2 pots each of 007 Red and 7 Pot Bubblegum (both from Buckeye). Well, last night one 007 Red and one 7 Pot Bubblegum started to poke through the soil!
 
This afternoon I checked again and the 7 Pot Bubblegum hasn't poked through all the way, but the 007 Red has.. only problem is that it doesn't have any cotyledons.
 
I've ran searches on Google and on here. Most info indicates that it still has a chance, though it may grow much slower until it gets it's first leaves (if it survives). So I'm going to have cross my fingers good and tight. *firm nod*

 

[Super Hots Canada]

I've been dealing with these red/pink-colored aphids for months now and I've kept under control, reasonably well - or so I thought... Then I check one of my Habanero plants today (which I already sprayed a couple times in the past few days) and I end up spotting the largest horde of these damn things I've ever seen - and they weren't there a couple of days ago..
 
I ended up having to trim the plant down
 

 
 
My Super Chile was right beside this plant and it was FAR more bushy (and still is) and I've checked it over and it's go next to none (and those I found, I sprayed)... No clue how they could suddenly just swarm like that.

 

[Super Hots Canada]

My Brown Naglah first poked through the ground on December 30th, 2013.. It's been just over a month and week since then and this is how he's doing now:
 

 

[Super Hots Canada]

My Naga's are (mostly) starting to fill out quite nicely after having pruned them back at the end of January - just over 2 weeks ago - and some are even starting to flower again. No photos of those just yet - thinking I'll give it a couple more weeks.
 
My Reaper is filling out even better after having pruned it down not long after the Naga's:
 

 
It is starting to show signs of growing flowers again.. I just hope that this time around they might actually pollinate.
 
 
My Cayennes & Jalapenos, on the other hand, are doing GREAT! Between my 2 largest Cayenne plants and 3 smaller ones I think I have around 70-90 pods growing at the moment. And between my two largest Jalapeno plants (I have one other small one that I recently pruned back), there is around 20-30 pods growing - most of which started just in the past week!
 
Here are my two largest Jalapeno's:
 

 
 
And last, but not least, is my Brown Naglah. He's just around a month & a half old and doing great. Look at the size of the leaves on 'em:
 

 
.. you can just barely see his original two leaves near the bottom of the stem.

 

[Devv]

Plants look really good!
 
What do you spray for the bastiges Aphids?

 

[Super Hots Canada]

Plants look really good!
 
What do you spray for the bastiges Aphids?

 
Thanks!
 
The Jalapeno's are really surprising me - back in December my first couple pods started growing and they took around 2 months to mature and now, suddenly, both plants are flowering & producing like crazy.
 
As for the aphids.. I've been using this:
 

 
I was almost out, so I refilled it with water.. Apparently there's still enough in the bottle that it still works alright.
 
I just wish I could figure out where they hide their eggs/babies so I could somehow kill them and be done with them. grrrr
 
Green aphids were gone within a week or regular soapy water. Soapy water doesn't phase these red evil things in the slightest.

 

[Super Hots Canada]

Here's a panorama of how (most) of my space looks at the moment:
 

 
Most of my Naga's are starting to fill in again at their tops and many are filling a bit better along the stems. And in the past couple of days I've noticed that most are starting to branch out more and starting to grow buds.
 
My Brown Naglah is around 11 inches tall, already, at only around a month & half old or so -and- he's finally starting to fork out at the top. So proud
 
 
And here are some of the pods growing on my 2nd largest Cayenne (which I recently moved out from inside the bookshelf):
 

 
.. This plant is currently growing the longest pods I've gotten yet.. Longest one so far is around 4 inches. Is that good for a Cayenne?

 

[Spicegeist]

I've been dealing with these red/pink-colored aphids for months now and I've kept under control, reasonably well - or so I thought... Then I check one of my Habanero plants today (which I already sprayed a couple times in the past few days) and I end up spotting the largest horde of these damn things I've ever seen - and they weren't there a couple of days ago..
 
I ended up having to trim the plant down
 

 
 
My Super Chile was right beside this plant and it was FAR more bushy (and still is) and I've checked it over and it's go next to none (and those I found, I sprayed)... No clue how they could suddenly just swarm like that.

 
 
Just checking in now... this aphid pic is going to give me nightmares .

 

[Super Hots Canada]

 
 
Just checking in now... this aphid pic is going to give me nightmares .

 
Thankfully that Habanero plant is starting to recover quite well, already and I haven't encountered another anywhere near that bad since! I've been more vigilant and spraying them more when I spot even one or two.

 

[Super Hots Canada]

One last small update for tonight..
 
My girlfriend sent me this picture about a day or two ago of her very first pod growing on the Super Chile plant I gave her for Christmas, which she named "Frank":
 

 
"Frank" was started somewhere around late November, if I remember correctly (earliest photo in my glog, I believe, is here). And not only did he survive the trip to her place (about 45 mins away) on a very cold day, but he's actually doing really well for having gone from growing under my HPS 1000w light to living in front of a window in her apartment. I feel very proud.
 

 

[Super Hots Canada]

Some time ago I tried planting a few of the 007 Red and 7 Pot Bubblegum seeds I got from Buckeye.. aaaand I completely blew it. I over-watered them and because I had them sealed with plastic mold grew on them. Then I took plastic off and the fungus gnats got in and in the end maggots or -something- ate the babies that -did- try to pop up.
 
I almost completely gave up, but then I decided to give it another shot - this time using the jiffy pellets (as I did with my Brown Naglah who is doing -amazing-). And I was -about- to give up again because I was sure I watered them a tad much and possibly over-heated them. BUT then on Tuesday, February 25, 2014 my 007 Red poked up! And then on Wednesday, February 26, 2014 my 7 Pot Bubblegum poked up!
 
The 007 is nice and perky and looks healthy, but I'm bit worried about the Bubblegum. His cotyledons don't seem quite developed and he's crooked - but I'm certainly hoping he pulls through!
 
Here are the babies..
 
7 Pot Bubblegum on the left, 007 Red on the right:
 

 
 
Speaking of my Brown Naglah, he's just a couple days or so short of being two months old! - And already he's branching out AND starting to push out buds. In fact, his first flower doesn't look to be too far away from blooming! Given the fact that he's so young, and the fact that none of my other Chinense's are producing yet when they're all at least half a year old or more, I don't expect him to produce just yet - but I am proud!
 
And I'm equally proud and amazed by him because in the past week or so he went from around 11" tall to now being over 18" tall! - and in that same time is when he started branching out and pushing out the buds!
 
Here he is..
 
The image on the left is a close-up of the buds forming at the top of his main stem, right where he is branching out (which is shown on the image to the right). The bud in the top-left of the close-up is the one closest to blooming:
 

 

 

[Super Hots Canada]

My 2nd-largest Cayenne plant is doing great at pushing out pods.. Below is a picture showing:
Left-side - An un-edited photo of one of the pods taken with my new Samsung Galaxy S III
Right-side - 3 dead pods that, for some reason, just fell off the plant.
 
I've never had half-grown pods just fall off before.. any idea what might have caused it?
 

 
 
Of the countless tomato plants I planted and/or received from a former friend back in the summer, I only have two left. Both happen to be ones that I planted and have never lived in any of my grow spaces with the other plants (except early on when they were first planted). Being a couple of the very first plants I planted back around late-Spring, early-Summer for the longest time they rather sauntered, but now they seem to be really taking off when it comes to pushing out tomatoes.
 
I'm actually impressed because they have been in a couple of basement windows since around mid-Fall and rather than freezing (those windows get mighty cold when the temps reach -20 to -30*C) they seem to be loving their new location..  And even more impressive because I often forget to water them. In fact, I went over a -month- without watering them and almost completely lost them. lol
 

 
 
Gotrox Mystery Seeds!
Planted in the ground only around a week ago, I took a look today and here's what I discovered:
 

 
.. I transplanted a couple so far and I'm going to check on the other's later today to see how they're progressing.
 
I'm rather impressed. I think I did much better with the watering this time (was very careful not to over-saturate) and this was my first time soaking seeds using Hydrogen Peroxide (left them overnight).
 
(thanks Gotrox!)