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...)

 

[PaulG]

You've got some pod heaven there, synch!
Your plants look healthy and robust, you
must be doing something right! You have some
interesting varieties growing!

 

[Spicegeist]

Mystery Tepin cross looks cool

 

[synclinorium]

Figure I'll post a few more pics while the weather is nice...

Datil is going off now... I'm convinced on the merits of overwintering from this plant alone.

I really need to get the Rocoto into the ground soon, I might do that this afternoon...

Tomato volunteers are going crazy.... thinking about dividing them and putting them around the yard. Can't go wrong with too many tomatoes.

I love how some peppers start off horizontal... must be an Aji thing.

Mini Mini started popping today

New growth on the Makrut Lime

 

[synclinorium]

Haha, I'm 0/2 on the Tepins, I think the second one is a cross too... lessons in why you should at least try to isolate a few pods toward the end of the season. At least this one is still tepin-shaped, but they're slightly more prolate and growing horizontally. I'll watch it for any changes, but I haven't a clue who the father could be on that one...

My three superhots... Trinidad Scorpion BT on the left, Bhut Jolokia on the right, and 7Pod yellow on the top. They certainly have a distinctive growth habit, don't they.... I also have some Chocolate Bhuts started, but they're so small right now I don't expect them to do much this year.

Note to self: I definitely did not need to start the baccatums in January. The Aji Amarillos are setting pods like crazy, and with the temps cooling down now I don't plan on potting anything up for at least a couple weeks. You can also see a lone Mini Mini pod in the foreground. Right now it's kind of an orange-red, but I'm assuming they ripen to red so I'll just leave it be for the moment.

Excited to see what the Cumari is like. My plants are bushing out like mad, the one on the left had a pod set. I've decided I'm not going to worry about pinching buds, most of the peppers I'm growing are so small that I doubt that leaving them on the plant will slow their growth all that much.

 

[synclinorium]

I know some people have been curious about the Amish Bush pepper Judy has, I started seeds for the heck of it... well, it's now at fruiting size at a grand ol' 3 inches tall. They also have some of the tiniest flowers I've ever seen. This plant amuses me...

 

[dvdpfstr]

I have started several of the Amish Bush pepper also. So far the ones I have are doing very well.

 

[synclinorium]

So here's my two Tepins... that aren't tepins, probably. The first is very obviously a cross, I'm guessing with a Jalapeno but I'll wait and see how it tastes. The second... well, it more or less looks similar to the regular tepin except the pods seem a bit more elongate and the pods grow horizontally. Odd.

Some cause for celebration. My first superhot blossom! The 7Pod Brain Strain Yellow popped today.

I've also seen several of these guys scurrying around. Granted, there are frosts in the forecast for the next few days, so I'm hoping this doesn't hurt the ladybug population... everything is running ahead of schedule, this could end very, very badly if we get a bad frost.

 

[jsschrstrcks]

Those are interesting looking "not-tepins".

I wonder if the horizontal growth is genetic incomplete dominance between a dangler, and a plant with an upright growth habit.

 

[synclinorium]

Those are interesting looking "not-tepins".

I wonder if the horizontal growth is genetic incomplete dominance between a dangler, and a plant with an upright growth habit.

I was kind of curious about that too. You would expect a wild population to have the greatest genetic diversity, but in the wild I imagine upright pods attracts the attention of birds best.

Side note- anyone know why a branch would suddenly just die? I'll post a pic in a second, but one of my Datil branches started turning brown at the node and it lost all of its leaves beyond that point. I don't see any signs of external damage.

 

[Eephus Man]

Reading these glogs as a baseball fan, they remind me of a MLB season. Even the most promsing teams suddenly start having players drop to injury for no apparent reason. Fascinating, frustrating, and character building.

 

[synclinorium]

Haha, yeah, seriously. Compared to this time last year this season has been a breeze, so I've been waiting for something to pop up.... having an entire branch die for no apparent reason is probably not a minor issue. You can see how the peppers are trying to ripen now, but I don't think they'll make it. For now, the rest of the plant appears to be healthy.

Guess I'll throw in a few more poddage shots.

Cumari

Wiri Wiri

Mini Mini

Red Rocoto

7Pod

Unknown Aji, podding up fast

And the Tepin cross, which is starting to look even more Jalapeno-like with its nice tan. Not saying the Jalapeno is definitely the father, but at this point I'd say it's most likely.

 

[Eephus Man]

Jalamini

Jaltepin

 

[synclinorium]

Jaltepino?

The funny thing is that pod I'm holding was crossed with a White Hab before I knew I was already dealing with a cross. I'll have to isolate a few of the blooms when they start popping up...

 

[PaulG]

Great pics, sync! The pods are beautiful, as are the flowers.
Great fun looking at your photos!

 

[synclinorium]

Finally got around to planting the Rocotos... well, some of them. It occurs to me that 5 Rocoto plants is probably more than enough for one person. The two largest are in the ground, the other three are still perking up from their overwinter slumber and are much smaller. Since they did so well in the shade last year, I decided to put one in a spot that gets only filtered light, and I moved the other a little closer to the edge of the house so it will get some morning sun.

This one is rather sunburnt, but it is putting out new healthy growth so I'm not worried. Since this time last year they were only 6 inches tall and didn't start flowering until almost a month and a half from now, I'm curious to see how large they'll get.

Granted, I'm taking a gamble here, as my housemate tells me she might renew her lease, in which case I have no problem with having them in the ground, as I don't see myself renewing this summer. I'll still be in the area, I'll probably just be squatting with someone until I finish my degree, as there's no way I can afford rent come fall. It's probably the lesser of two evils, as at least this way I can give them a chance to grow uninhibited, even if I do need to prune them back and dig them up in late July. It's not like they'll be doing much in the way of setting pods at that point...

 

[synclinorium]

Well, the Rocotos are showing no signs of transplant shock. In fact, since it rained last night everything looks perky today, and the Rocotos have burst into bloom. I'm hoping that I can get quite a few pods set before our summer heat sets in...

The cool temps are also faring well for the baccatums. I don't know how big Mini Minis get, but this plant looks like it would really take off if I stuck it in the ground at some point...

Of course, not to be shown up, my Aji Amarillo overwinter is catching up fast:

Datil will probably need to be potted up soon...

Looks like the first flower set on the 7Pod... I'm debating whether or not I should pinch it. The plant is still pretty small yet.

Think I can safely not worry about pod set on my Aji Amarillo starts. You can also see the Datil with pods in the background.

And lastly the Wiri Wiri, because it is a sexy beast (I'm starting to see what people say about the pods hiding under the leaves).

 

[synclinorium]

Some stupid animal went digging around in my pots last night... most of the damage was minimal, but I found the Tepin cross was completely tossed aside and looking terrible. I quickly repotted it and brought it inside, since these cool temps and moisture won't be doing any favors. I don't like to be optimistic, but it'll probably survive, albeit it may look like death for a while... in the interest of improving its chances I removed the existing pods, as I know they haven't been isolated as intended, and did an impromptu assessment of them.

The calyx detached easily from the pods even in their unripened state, I imagine they might fall off when ripe... problematic if the pods are pendant. All but confirming the father, the pods smell strongly of Jalapeno, are very seedy (something I'd try to breed out if I can), and the heat is above the typical jalapeno, even after removing the seeds/placental. Burn went straight for the back of the throat and then creeped up to the tip of my tongue. Heat plateaued quickly and then lingered for about 20 minutes. Flavorwise I couldn't detect any difference with a jalapeno, though it wasn't quite mature so the flavor wasn't spectacular. I imagine if these were ripe pods they would be pretty tasty.

Few more shots touring the garden. I decided to leave the first pod on my 7Pod and see what happens:

Curiously, many of the Datil pods are growing horizontally this year, showing some nice purpling too (it may look like they're being supported by the leaves, but there are many other mature pods that are freestanding):

I probably should have removed the first pod from this Cumari, as its brother is now surpassing it in growth. Oh well:

 

[stc3248]

Great stuff! Your photo skills are BA! About your tossed tepin, have you recently fed fish ferts? My dogs, rats, racoons and possums all line up to beat up my plants after a feeding. Finally got my dogs to leave them alone...but fed yesterday and have some ripe cherry tomatoes missing this morning! I'm sure it'll pull through! Great looking plants my friend, really hard to find the heart to pinch pods isn't it? I almost always just let them do what they do...slow down or not. I'll still have more pods than I can eat in the end either way!

 

[synclinorium]

Yeah, that's the problem. I realized that after the fact, I'm usually careful not to use fish ferts on any of the plants in small pots, but I wasn't thinking this time. Last year I had the same issue with bone meal, I amended the soil with it for my tomatoes and then came out the next day to find half of them destroyed. This year I amended the soil a few weeks before planting, so things have stopped digging around. Thankfully it rained recently, so that should solve the fish fert issue.

For the most part, I've never seen a problem with letting small podded plants do their thing. I still pinch on bell peppers, and maybe jalapenos, but anything smaller than that is fair game.

 

[Eephus Man]

Yeah, this is the exact reason I ceased with the fish, also. I use bird guano sometimes now, but it doesn't seem to attract the same crowd as the fish. Raccoon is good fried, though, FWIW. Possum is a little tough.