synclinorium's 2012 Grow Log

I haven't actually started seeds yet, but it will be happening in the very near future... this year's growing season will almost certainly be cut short for reasons I won't go into, so I'm trying to avoid going crazy seed starting... think of this as a healthy start on my overwinters for the year.

I've narrowed down my grow list to the following for 2012. With a couple exceptions I only plan on doing 1 or 2 of each variety, and some might be cut for space reasons, TBD. The superhots will be going into the trays as soon as I get my supplies, with the rest following shortly afterwards. My setup is slightly less ghetto than last year, but don't expect anything too fancy. Anyway, the selection, including any overwinters that make it to plant-out:

7Pod Brain Strain Yellow
Aji Amarillo (3 strains)
Bonda Ma Jacques/Datil/Fatalii
Chocolate Bhut Jolokia
Cumari/Cumari Pollux/Cumari o Passarinho in some combination
Jalapeno
Limon
Prik chee fa/Prik ki nu
Red Rocoto
Tepin/Pequin
Trinidad Scorpion BT
White Habanero
Wiri Wiri

Considering the fact that this growing season will be short, I didn't really want to bother with more pubescens or baccatums aside from my overwinters, and the wilds and superhots I'm just doing for fun. I'll probably do several more Aji Amarillo plants than the rest, as they are mild enough that my housemate uses them on a regular basis, so I won't feel bad about leaving plants with her.

I'm also open to suggestions for other varieties. I'd like to have as broad a flavor profile as possible without turning my entire backyard into a pepper garden (not that I would have an issue with this if I owned property, but I don't think my current landlord would appreciate it...)

 

[Eephus Man]

That's the upside to living in Austin. Hard to overwater starting in May and through mid-September.

 

[synclinorium]

Haha, this is true.

On the overwinter front, I just noticed that one of my White Hab overwinters has leaf spot again. Knew this would come up at some point since *all* of my plants had it last year. I'm going to blame the elevated humidity as of late, it's been pretty dry in the grow room until recently. I came home the other day and the humidity was at 68% inside. Yeesh.

It completely trashed many of my plants early in the season last year, but they all pulled through eventually.

 

[Eephus Man]

I wonder if swings in humidity are the culprit for this? I mean, peppers thrive in S. Florida, Houston, Xalapa, etc. Really high humidity areas. But it is fairly consistent humidity in those areas. Of course, that's outdoors, too.

 

[synclinorium]

Just realized that you can google image search by dragging images into the search area, which will then search for similar images. You can also add some text with the image (for example, "Datil pepper"). Easy way to find out if anyone has been using your images without your permission.

*coughs*Hirt'sDoesThisShitAllTheTime*coughs*

 

[synclinorium]

Some pornage for you all...

The Datil OW is going nuts. Not many pods have set (thankfully), but not for want of trying..

On the other hand, the Limon OW continues to spit out pods... I just got a couple ripe ones off it yesterday.

On the seedling front, the White Habs have been flowering for a while (and have also been setting pods, pinch pinch pinch), and the Tepin is about to join them.

Oh, and I just repotted my other Mini Mini... hopefully it will perk back up. One little pod on it:

 

[synclinorium]

Taking advantage of this nice weather by "taking the plants for a walk" as my housemate would say. Some of the overwinters and citrus are joining the Rocotos outside for the week (before anyone gets too concerned about burning the plants, most of these have been exposed to sunlight. I'll be keeping an eye on the citrus and dragon fruit, but where I have them now only gets a couple hours of morning sun.

This Datil looked ready for potting up, but the root system is still not as strong as I would like... seems to be the case with many of the plants. I need to watch my watering, I think I drowned a couple of the plants at some point. They'll recover in time...

This is what happens when you're an idiot and accidentally perform a fan-assisted topping of several seedlings. You can see some more evidence of the damage on the leaf... fortunately, this Cumari is already starting to bush out, so it'll recover:

I'm always impressed by the White Habs. I will be curious to see if the children are the same as the mothers, as I got them from Hirt's and the pod shapes were inconsistent between the plants.

And lastly, I planted a few Asparagus crowns last year and the first shoots are starting to poke out of the ground. I don't know why I've never grown these before, they are incredibly low maintence:

 

[S.S.Tupperware]

dragon fruit is lookin nice, mine are growin like weeds, musta went 6 in on 2 new tips in <20 days or so...

 

[synclinorium]

Haha, yeah, I just removed the really sad looking flimsy growth... once it's warm enough to leave outside all the time it should start taking off again.

 

[synclinorium]

Saw a ladybug on one of the plants this morning... flew off before I could grab a photo. I did have another defender move in on the Mini Mini, tiny little spider:

My Aji Amarillo (small strain) are ready to go... still got about a month until plant-out. I think I'll try potting a few of these up soon. I wasn't too impressed with the root systems last time I looked, but by now they should be well enough along...

 

[synclinorium]

White Habs are in full production mode... I haven't been pinching buds, don't see the point. At this point, if they want to set pods, they can set pods.

I will, however, pinch the buds on the Aji Amarillo, at least until they go into their final pots... they're spending some time outside to just open up the grow area a bit. I'm hoping the moderately cool temps at night will help to slow their growth.

Datil, on the other hand, doesn't seem to mind... still putting out more pods, I'm debating about just potting it up soon. I don't see it coming back inside unless the temps drop back into the low 40s.

 

[Eephus Man]

I can't wait to try some Datils this year, but your plant has struck me with envy. Mine are tiny. I'm hoping to get at least a few pods before it gets really hot. We'll see...

KUTGW, sync. Looking really promising.

 

[PaulG]

Hey, Synch, your plants are awesome as usual!
I'm diggin' seeing what's comin' for us folks up
here. The peppers just look so happy outside!

 

[synclinorium]

Thanks guys. I'm hoping for a good early season, as I'll need to move the plants in late July. As far as the Datil goes, I've been lucky that one of the overwinters survived... had a bumpy start with mine originally but I still got a lot of pods out of it by season's end. I had mine produce all through summer... it likes heat and humidity. If the temps exceeded 105 I usually just put the plant in some dappled shade and it kept setting pods.

Apparently getting drunk and starting seeds is a thing, so now I have some Malagueta, Prik chee fah and Prik kee nu. The lack of frutescens in my grow list was bothering me... don't expect them to do anything before I leave but I'll call them an early start on next season.

 

[MGOLD86]

Looking pretty great Sync, that Hab is like a little cocked diesel mofo. Looks incredibly strong. You should consider using it as a hedge.

 

[synclinorium]

Looking pretty great Sync, that Hab is like a little cocked diesel mofo. Looks incredibly strong. You should consider using it as a hedge.

Would be a very small hedge... growth is nice and compact. I've seen the overwinters being larger but they don't get more than a couple feet in their first year.

 

[synclinorium]

So I finally got around to cleaning the screened in porch/sunroom thing out almost a year and a half after moving into this place... don't know why I didn't do it earlier, it's a great spot to keep the plants in incliment weather. I think part of the reason my plants had such a shoddy start last season is because I left them out to get the full force of spring rains... doesn't for a happy pepper make. I just flushed the soil on most of the plants because I've been absentmindedly overfertilizing again. I really should start writing these things down on my calendar...

This spot is also nice because it's east facing, so it gets a few hours of morning sun. I think I'll use it while I harden the plants off... here are the lot of them (so far) waiting for summer to come, a mix of early and late starts, and a few overwinters.

Aji Amarillos (small strain) that I couldn't bring myself to get rid of when they all sprouted... most of these will be placed in a good home eventually.

And the rest:

 

[synclinorium]

A few updates. All but the youngest plants are outside now, the temps are expected to stay above 50 at night until at least the 28th. It looks like we might get a bit of a cold snap, which makes sense since our last frost date isn't until April 9th. I might need to take them inside at night if it gets cold again. Kind of a pain, but I don't want to stunt them too much, especially when they're doing so well now...

My possible Trinidad Scorpion cross. I'll see if I can get any of the F2s to set pods, but when the F1 peppers are ripening they remind me more of the Scorpions. I'll often have reds, oranges, and greens all present on the pods at the same time.

Wiri Wiri looking strong. Right now the flowers look pendant, but that might change by the time the pods set.

Datil reaching for the sky:

And finally my 7Pod, which isn't looking as good as it used to. It has also been suffering from edema and I'll need to hit it with some Cal-Mag during its next watering, the new leaves are so puckered and wrinkled that they actually broke in places. It'll perk up in time:

 

[PaulG]

Hey, Sync, your plants just look better every time I stop in!
How's that porch workin' out?

 

[synclinorium]

So far so good... plants get a few hours of morning sun and in the afternoon I move them out to a spot that gets more ambient light and a bit more wind. Soon they'll be ready to move out into the sun a bit more... I can just place them along the front of the porch since the roof hangs out quite a bit, so they get sun until noon or 2 depending on how far out I put them.

We're getting storms over the next few days so I might try moving them out there on Sunday so I can watch them.

 

[PaulG]

Sweet. You're getting close!