Thinklikeh20's 2011 Norcal grow log.

Hello everyone, I have decided to try and document my pepper season this year, and although I am a full time culinary student, I will do my best to update.
One of the weird things I have to deal with growing peppers in a place like Santa Cruz CA is our extremely mild climate, and our excess of microclimates. Due to this fact I will be growing very few Chinese's at my house and will focus on the Pubescent and Annum species, while all my superhot's will make their way around town to several warmer locations. Like a ranch in Scotts valley CA, And also my student garden in Aptos. I did get an early start however due to the mild weather as most of my seeds were sowed in late dec.
I will update with a genetics list once I count em all. Im also planning one more 72 seed flat before things really get started. Here is a picture of some of my babies enjoying the early February sunshine. They have been slowly hardening in the sun and spend every night inside.

up front is a Trinidad scorpion mourouga blend, middle is a Naga Morich, and last is a Barrackpore 7pod. All sourced from Judy at www.pepperlover.com . I am growing other genetics, but as mentioned before it will come a little later when I get my seed list together.

 

[thinklikeh20]

My 2 year old Ghost pepper, long story but its flowering now. This is pepperjoe seedstock.

more buds and flowers, this will prob be my first chinese to produce.

last but not least is my Cobindo-NMDUC. This thing is reaaallllyy tall and vine like, but the stems are tougher then nails. This has never been transplanted but I topped the pot off with foxfarm ocean mix soil and it shot off. Im hoping these flowers don't fall off

happy growing!

 

[thinklikeh20]

Update and slowly evolving into pepper porn. I'm hoping our summer holds out here, sometimes we can get good weather even into October so I'm hoping I haven't run out of time on several of my varieties. Allot of my neighbors are still planting in their gardens so It seems things should work out. Here is a bunch of photos from peppers on all sides of my house.


Potted Congo Brown (peppermania seed)

And some flowers.

My Locato likes double peppers at each node.(pepperlover)

I just wish they would ripen!

Here is my Wild Brazil(Aji Joe). This one keeps dropping flowers, idk why. Sure looks cool though. Definite bush with small leaves, growing out instead of up.

 

[thinklikeh20]

continued.


This is a shot of my potted garden. This is the sunniest side of my house and where I stuck all my C. Chinese. These are the ones im a lil worried about. I may have to try and overwinter a few.

My biggest and baddest Chinese is a Douglah (pepperlover). Its just now flowering but the roots are already growing out through the bottom of the pot and this is the biggest pot I have!

Here is a Hot Firecracker from pepperjoe. My seeds grew two different varieties , one purple and one green. This purple one seems to grow way taller than the rest and is flowering first. sure are weird looking peppers any idea on the genetics of this thing?

Here is a shot of my Ghost Pepper. The flowers keep dropping on this one too, but im hoping because there is hundreds of them some will take.

Yellow Jalapenos going nuts, just wish these would ripen too. Some are pretty big. Must be a sign of the cross.(AjiJoe)

fresno's starting to pop

Peperoncini fruit. Should I let these ripen or pickle green? I Kinda want to taste the difference between the two stages.

I have high hopes for this Chicago sport pepper. (pepperjoe) the stems are stiffer en hell on this one and it has a TON of flowers! Im hoping this will be another good pickle option. I have a friendly neighbor who is willing to help me pickle because there pretty darn good at it( ive been told its easy lol).

happy growing!

 

[ThePepperGrowingMan]

Nice update, you'll be buried in pods before you know it!

 

[thinklikeh20]

Nice update, you'll be buried in pods before you know it!

Thanks peppergrowingman.
I sure wouldn't mind being buried in pods after all the work!
One of my coworkers even inquired about what would happen if you were thrown into a vat of peppers. He would rather be burnt by fire lol.

 

[915river]

Nice plant ,pods & images.

 

[thinklikeh20]

Nice plant ,pods & images.

Thank you 915river. Ive been taking pictures along time but have struggled to deal with the digital takeover. Once my plants start really popping im going to bust out an old 35mm.

 

[thinklikeh20]

Some Ripe Locatos. Got allot of good seeds outa these guys. Im officially addicted to manzanos!

Happy growing everyone! More pictures to come soon.

 

[S.S.Tupperware]

Lookin great... nice plants ya have there...

 

[Dot Com]

very nice variety both potted and in-ground

 

[Noshownate]

nicework brochaco!

 

[thinklikeh20]

Thank you everyone for the kind words. This pepper thing is slowly taking over my life...


more pictures !!




Jaloro "ajijoe"

Ripe red Pepperoncini

Chicago Sport from pepperjoe. I have two pheno's here one grows straight up as advertised

and this one grows down

Douglah Flower

I have no idea what this thing is. Came up in a pepperjoe "hot firecracker" spot and is clearly not that. It grows like a tree with all purple stems then these thin walled peppers go from Lime green to purple, to a weird cream color, then vibrant red. Any ideas on this one?

Here is another mystery. Any takers?

ripe pod

Foliage

 

[thinklikeh20]

Yellow Habalokia

and a baby orange 7pod!

Last but not least is a sad site I have become all too familiar with this season. My Bhut still hasn't produced a single pod, and its over 2 yrs old.

 

[Spicegeist]

Last but not least is a sad site I have become all too familiar with this season. My Bhut still hasn't produced a single pod, and its over 2 yrs old.

That's just depressing. Forget about that plant, it just sounds like a dud. Get seed from a couple of different sources and start over in December. And who knows, if you stop pampering it maybe it will finally try to produce some fruit out of desperation ;-)

 

[nitwit]

for fruit to set?
not knowing your fertilizing strategy

first thing would try to add some trace elements

maybe calcium needed?

what are you feeding it?

good growing