synclinorium's Grow Log 2011

Otherwise known as my first attempt at growing hot peppers; probably a good reason to keep track of my plants' progress. My list isn't quite as hot as the others I see on here, but I'm still at the point where most of the hotter chinense varieties are beyond my appreciation. Hopefully this season will begin to change that.

I didn't properly research before buying my seeds/plants, so forgive my naivety with some of my supplier choices; I don't exactly have high expectations when it comes to most of these plants being true to type. Seeds were started intermittently between the first week of February and the second week of March (save the giant Datil plants seen in the photo below, those just recently arrived).

Current list:

Aji Cristal (Reimer seeds)
Aji Amarillo (Hirt's Gardens)
Cayenne (Hirt's Gardens)
Tabasco (Reimer seeds)
Unknown Thai variety (Livingston seeds, if I recall)
Rocoto (Reimer seeds)
Datil (from ebay)
White Lightning Habanero (Hirt's Gardens)

Soon to be arriving from Local Harvest growers:

Fatalii
Aji Limon
Bulgarian Carrot
Jalapeno

Here's my current setup. I've been using the LEDs for tomatoes, but it seems to be working fairly well for the peppers too.

 

[synclinorium]

Some of the plants have started taking off. This season is looking a little more hopeful after all.

Rocoto:

Aji Amarillo:

Tabasco:

2 Cayennes in the front, Thai in the rear:

And the rest of the gang:

If we can just have a few days without rain that would be swell. Right now my potting mix is moist enough to support mushroom growth and a fungus gnat infestation.

 

[synclinorium]

Finally, some nice weather.

 

[Siliman]

Coiled springs. Battle hardened. Saying to themselves in plant language, "Floods, hail, tornadoes, pestilence...Is that all you got?"

....

 

[synclinorium]

Coiled springs. Battle hardened. Saying to themselves in plant language, "Floods, hail, tornadoes, pestilence...Is that all you got?"

....

You're right about that. It's only been a few days and my older plants have exploded. The younger ones aren't quite big enough to take advantage of the glorious weather, but they'll be coming along soon enough.

Don't know what got into this Rocoto, but I must be doing something right. It might not be setting fruit anytime soon with this heat, but at least it should get to be a decent size for next season.

Store bought Jalapenos starting to branch.

Bells doing nicely.

Aji Amarillo, quickly turning into a bushy monster.

Cayennes having set their first pods, no signs of slowing down.

White Lightning Hab sandwiched between two extremely bushy Datils.

The (not so) little guys. From top left to bottom right, Bulgarian Carrot, Aji Crystal, White Habanero, Limon, Fatalii, Tabasco, Thai, and Ring of Fire Cayenne.

The unknown "ass-blasting" pepper. A chilehead acquaitance had a few extra peppers started from gift seeds, he gave me one of them. The friend who gave him the seeds is pretty sure it's a superhot, but nobody really seems to know. Not sure how I feel about this.

And for posterity's sake, my tomato plants have exploded. I'm going to have a tomato hedge by the end of June.

 

[AceDeuce]

Great pics. Love to see them.

 

[JoeyK]

What munched down on that ass blasting leaf?

 

[synclinorium]

What munched down on that ass blasting leaf?

Nothing, that's a combination of sun bleaching and hail. Apparently it wasn't fully hardened off, but it has recovered.

So far I've had very few pests on my peppers, save a few stray aphids, but now there are ladybug larvae patrolling the area so I think I'll be okay.

 

[JoeyK]

Man I wish we could buy lady bugs, can't find them for sale anywhere in Oz

 

[tonyscoots84]

plants look good! question about the grow panel, which one do you have and how do you think the growth would rate to a reg. full spectrum bulb. thanks sync

 

[synclinorium]

I was using a 14 Watt GlowPanel from Sunshine Systems. My experience with it is kind of weird. The plants definitely weren't leggy while using them (at least, not using it on established plants, I haven't tried starting things from seed with it), but the growth did seem to be slower as compared to a high-output T5 bulb. If I were to buy one again I'd probably go with the 45 Watt version or above and only use the 14 Watt as supplemental lighting.

If you want to see actual results using the higher-powered panel, here's a thread looking at a couple options.

 

[synclinorium]

A little annumm pod pornage.

Bell pepper I failed to notice until now. I should probably remove it, but I'll let it go for now and see how its growth compares to the rest of the plants.

The first of many Long thin Cayenne pods

And the Bulgarian Carrot, which seems to be setting pods on virtually every bloom in spite of its relatively small size.

 

[naganumbness]

your plants are looking great. ass blaster huh? that's a new one on me! hope it doesn't really do that!LOL

 

[Siliman]

your plants are looking great. ass blaster huh? that's a new one on me! hope it doesn't really do that!LOL

Some of them will and it's part of the fun....

 

[synclinorium]

Urg, I ordered some plants from CCN and the tracking information says "Out for Delivery," but the UPS truck just cruised by my house. I hate it when they do that. Those are live plants, bub, and it's 93 today and 95 tomorrow and I'm sure as hell it won't be good for them to be sitting in the back of a truck through all of that.

 

[SRBII]

pods are looking great syn

i know right i hate waiting on ups the 1 time i needed somethin i seen him stop at the house next door and not mine i went out and said hey where is my stuff he said i took it to the local post office as per the shippers request so i called there and sure enough it was jsut sittin there waiting for the next day to be delivered i said no ty ill come get it today

 

[synclinorium]

Plants came in from CCN yesterday. They're doing very well in spite of the heat.

I already had a pot with mix in it so I went ahead and planted the Chiltepin:

The rest will either find a home in the garden or go into the couple buckets I have left. About half of them are eggplants of various kinds, but I have such an extensive flea beetle problem at this point that I'm waiting for my nematodes to arrive before I bother planting them. On the pepper end these are mostly sweet pepper varieties, along with a Del Diablo and another Chiltepin variety.

This Rocoto is having flea beetle problems, surprisingly. So far none of the others have been bothered. This was an extra that I planted in total shade as an experiment. Aside from the flea beetles, it's doing very well.

First flower on the mystery pepper.

The Aji Crystals are starting to shoot up.

Some of the peppers are starting to get irregular leaves again. I just gave them some CalMag + a couple days ago, so I'm wondering if it's either a moisture or pH issue...

Thai pepper exploding.

Cayenne is definitely winning the race though.

 

[synclinorium]

Now that the fungal issues have cleared up, I feel comfortable putting my plants closer together for now, if only for convenience. I'll probably have to shuffle them around later as they get too big to work around.

Some are taking a really long time to grow. I probably should have potted the smaller plants in gallon containers before moving them into their final homes... I'm guessing their root systems are having trouble playing catch-up.

 

[mmcdermott1]

Very nice looking pepper sync....Interesting tomato setup. We use the florida weave. How exactly does your setup work?

 

[synclinorium]

Very nice looking pepper sync....Interesting tomato setup. We use the florida weave. How exactly does your setup work?

I'm also using a Florida weave, but instead of using rows I decided to make an X-shape with 5 posts to give them some added stability against the straight-line winds this area is prone to. It seems to be working well, though at the rate they're growing the tomatoes will be higher than the posts by the end of June...

Here's a few shots of the setup and the plants. I would say I should have ripe tomatoes soon, but it's so hot at this point I might need to buy a shade cloth for them to facilitate the process...

 

[mmcdermott1]

Nice. I might need to figure out something because I only have X amount of Tposts and wife planted like 250 tomato plants...which means i would have to buy more..and those suckers are friggen $$$$$$ now