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...)

 

[synclinorium]

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.

Haha, good to know.

Yeah, my housemate mocks me and says, "That's what you get for growing organic!"

I'll have to see what alternatives there are locally.

 

[synclinorium]

I've started getting around to packaging up some of my saved seeds, and I keep running across varieties I thought I lost... I need a better organization system...

 

[stc3248]

I've started getting around to packaging up some of my saved seeds, and I keep running across varieties I thought I lost... I need a better organization system...

I bury them all in the backyard for safekeeping!

 

[synclinorium]

Per my housemate's request I picked up some "normal" peppers today (Jalapenos and Serranos). I guess I never realized that Serranos had pubescence, so that amused me at first... they look pretty good for store bought plants, now I just need to find a spot for them...

Also spied that they had some monster tomatillo seedlings for just 3 bucks, so I snagged the last set... no idea where I'll put them, and I've never grown them before, but I can't imagine they're much different than tomatoes (besides being more or less self-incompatible)...

 

[Eephus Man]

Only real difference on the tomatillos is that you'll need at least two plants to get pollination, unlike tomatoes. Tomatillos are some of my favs. Great for green sauces/salsas.

 

[synclinorium]

Yeah, I'm spying a spot in the back I might stick them. Since I can sort of train them up, I don't really need to worry too much about taking up room, just the stakes required to rig up a trellis of sorts. My garden is going to be ridiculously overcrowded this year, but I think it'll manage.

 

[synclinorium]

Well, we did get a frost last night, and it looks like most of the plants pulled through. I figured something like this would happen, they weren't calling for one when I left for a party last night, and by the time I got home and checked the forecast I was too drunk to worry about anything, so I just brought in my few overwinters I would hate to lose and left it at that.

Really the only plants that show any signs of damage are two of my Aji Amarillo plants, whose leaves are limp characteristic of cold damage, so I stuck them in the shade for now... I wouldn't be surprised if they lose all of their leaves, but they might live. The wind prevented much frost from accumulating, but unfortunately this meant the wind chill dipped into the high 20s. I'm actually shocked that it was just these two plants showing signs of stress, this being the case... its brothers look fine, and they were all right next to each other in a line. Guess they're better stock.

 

[PIC 1]

I here ya, were back to the 30's at night here in Chicago. I 've got my tomatoes in the cold frames, out of that darn wicked spring wind we get off the lake. I've never planted peppers before May 1st and I don't see this year being any different. I have had tomatoes in the ground before the 1st. But that's because I strip all but the top cluster and trench plant them. If the temp were to drop into the 30's I cover them with buckets. The soil is now problem because its already warmed up . But I'd rather plant everything a week later than a week too early.......sometimes plants don't recoup when exposed to extended cold periods.
Good luck with your weather down South

Greg

 

[synclinorium]

Tomatoes are easy, like you said, plant 'em deep and cover them with buckets when frost hits. I did at least learn from last year not to pot up the plants until they were established, as that really slowed them down at the beginning of last season... I have yet to move the vast majority of the peppers into their final containers, aside from the overwinters which are taking off anyway in spite of the weather.

It looks like those two plants perked back up. I'll keep an eye on them.

 

[synclinorium]

I brought the Tepin crosses in again tonight because it has become apparent that they don't like cold (shock). The second one still amuses me. In addition to the pods growing more or less horizontally, the calyxes look a bit off, but I have no idea what it would be crossed with if it is a cross.

(I find I'm not very good at taking caring of the tepins. Last year too, the leaves were often yellow on the plant. I think I need to stop treating it like I do the rest of my peppers)

 

[Eephus Man]

They're not big fans of too much water in the wild. Then again, you CAN kill them without it. Seen that personally. They're pretty tough lil' plants, though.

 

[synclinorium]

That's what I figured. They don't seem to take to our frequent spring rains very well. Not that the other peppers do either, but these even less so. I might just need to bring them inside when they're calling for rain so I can control how much moisture they're getting.

 

[synclinorium]

A shot of some of my late starts... I decided to bring them back inside since the temperature swings and storms were hurting their progress. They've already started putting out new growth since yesterday. Sheesh. I also stuck a couple plants from Refining Fire Chiles back under the lights for the time being, as I'm not comfortable planting them out yet.

There's a couple of my Chocolate Bhut Jolokia and a Naga Morich starts in there, but most are the (possible) F2 Scorpion/Devil's Breath seeds I picked out of my miscellaneous seed bag- the remains of one of my sauce batches. I tried to grab everything with a bit of red on it, but there's a chance there's a few Fatalii or Datil plants in here too. Considering none of these were isolated, I will be very curious to see what pops up here... mystery seeds are always fun, doubly so when you're dealing with unstable crosses.

I don't have any expectations for developing the cross, especially with so few starts. I just liked the fact that it was ridiculously productive and the F1 still had some semblance of the Scorpion form.

 

[synclinorium]

Woohoo! I finally have pod set on the Rocoto. At least, so long as the temps don't spike too much. Ha. If it stays in the 70s-80s for a while, I think I might get a good early summer crop.

White Hab overwinters leafing out nicely.

Wiri Wiri and 7Pod soaking up the sun.

Datil overwinter loaded up with pods

(as you may notice, my cheap camera doesn't work very well in high light conditions, so I apologize for the overexposure)

 

[synclinorium]

Well it seems my saved Aji Amarillo seed is true. I guess I'll keep calling it an Aji Amarillo, though they are much smaller than the commercial variety and start off lime-green in color ripening to orange. The plants are ridiculously productive, as you can probably already tell. By the end of the season the stems would start to droop without support.

I have two Mini Mini overwinters, one has black stems, one doesn't. They're probably going to be beastly.

Tex16 sent me some Chile de monte pods. I need to stop munching on them so I can save the seeds...

 

[stc3248]

Mmmmmmm! Wild Tepins and Pequins! I sure miss Texas! Enjoy them! Your plants are looking pretty BA as well! Way ahead of the game with those overwinters!

 

[synclinorium]

Yeah, I'm definitely sold on overwintering. Some of the growth on my Rocoto has shot up nearly a foot in the past week... Next year I think I'll experiment with cuttings from my overwinters. Paul has me inspired...

In other news, the Butch T I picked up at the store (still can't believe anyone was selling them here) is doing exceptionally well. I haven't even been paying much attention to it and it's doing better than some of my own plants, suggesting once again I love my plants too much... ah well, I'll get it right eventually.

In further other news, I'm on antibiotics for a while because I have some sort of tick-borne illness. I'm supposed to stay out of the sun... lame.

 

[Eephus Man]

Hope you feel better, buddy. Lyme disease? No fun.

 

[synclinorium]

Hope you feel better, buddy. Lyme disease? No fun.

Eh, that's what they suspect. Fortunately, I found the tick shortly before symptom onset, so at least I caught it early.

 

[synclinorium]

I feel like I picspam with how often I update, but I guess you can't really spam your own glog...

My first superhot pod, 7Pot Brain Strain Yellow

The Wiri Wiri is going to be ridiculously bushy. It's putting out new growth at every node faster than it's growing upward.

One of my White Hab overwinters wants to be a topiary. It put out a mass of stems from its base that are quickly turning into a dense hedge. I am almost tempted to prune it, but I think I'll let it go for now and see how it makes out.

Speaking of White Hab, first ripe pods from my starts for the year. This is what I get for starting seeds in late December...

C. eximium C01225, seed came from smokemaster, I believe. Can't find much information on it, will be curious to see how it turns out...

I need to get this Aji Amarillo in the ground. All of the pics I've been posting so far of the Amarillos are of the small strain I grew out last year, I started some seeds for the larger commercial variety and they ended up a bit stunted, so they're lagging behind a bit... hoping I can get some ripe pods out of them this season.

Last but not least, a peak up the Datil overwinter. Pods galore.