Trippas Organic story of 2012/2013....things could be worse ...

So far my season has gone like this ... goood ... average ... great ... bad .... things are on the up ... and today .... pretty f&^%king annoyed and frustrated ....so many pests ... and the plants are looking much worse then this time last season (when I had no pests to speak of). I had aphids early on during winter ... they were easy to clear off and didn't bother me too much ...

but I have since been having major issues with thrips and broadmites?? (some sort of mite anyway) tiny little buggers which are about the size of a spec of flour (smaller then two spotted or spider mites). So My plants lurch from looking good to looking really terrible and then they bounce back for a while only to be hammered all over again.

Anyway through all of this I am getting some pods to eat so that is a bonus I suppose.

My grow list is as follows

7 pod/pot "Primo" (Junglerain)
Cili Goronong (Junglerain)
Jalapeno "HTM" (Sourced myself)
Prik Luang (Junglerain)
Fatalii (Pepperlover)
Trinidad Seasoning (Pepperlover)
Kerinting (Pepperlover)
Kerinting (Accidental Hybrid Unknown??) (Pepperlover)
2 x Mystery Superhots (1 maybe Trnindad Scorpion "Sunrise"? From Jungle Rain)
Chocolate Bhut (Bonchi)(THSC)
Yellow 7 pot/pod (THSC)
Super Chilli (THSC)
Explosive Ember (THSC)
Trinidad Scorpion Morouga Blend (Junglerain)
Scotch Bonnet TFM (Bonchi)(Junglerain)
Pimenta De Neyde (Soon to be Bonchi)(Junglerain)
Bhut Jolokia 'Assam' (Junglerain)
Bahamian Goat Pepper (Junglerain)
Habanero Chocolate (Bonchi)(Junglerain)
NTR's (THSC)
Douglah 'Alphanerdz strain' (THSC)
Wild Brazil (Pepperlover)
Birdseye HTM (Sourced myself)
Serrano (THSC)
7 Pot (Large) (Pepperlover)
Naga Morich (Pepperlover)
Bonda Ma Jacques (Original seed from THSC but this seed from saved pods from last season)

All of them are strictly organically grown in soil in containers in the limited space of my apartment balcony ...

I am not much of a wordsmith so I usually like to post plenty of pictures of pods (if I have any in the coming months!!) so come and enjoy/share the frustrations of growing in the most pest ridden area in the world ... I will post a few photos I shot today later this evening ...

Also thought I would link to my old glog as well just for posterity and self indulgence

http://thehotpepper.com/topic/26495-trippas-20112012-grow-log/page__st__240

 

[Trippa]

Wow, looks like some serious weather you all are having down there. Hope it passes soon!

Thanks doc!
I kind of enjoy the wild weather (as long as no one gets hurt in it) myself. Actually I always have ... the worst of it seems to have passed now but still high winds and the local tidal canal is nearly overflowing

Damn weather. Plants and pods are looking mean!

Thanks Jamison!! Luckily for me my plants were fairly well protected so seem to have escaped the worst of the buffeting

Dave was going away somewhere from memory? read his last posts he does say where but i forget now.

Were over it here now, did have some strong gust & ive lost some pods but no broken limbs i think? power tripped out at 1.30am so i had to go reset the RCD or id loose all the food in the fridge, water has gotten in somewhere.

Rivers still high though, draining off the mountains still.

Mezo.

Thanks for the info mez!!
Most of the rain has stopped here still getting moderate patchy falls but the winds are pretty strong still. Glad to see you pulled through relatively unscathed !!

 

[Trippa]

My plants are taking a real battering at the moment from this freaking wind .... coupled with being water laden and top heavy I hope I don't lose any of them!! My TSMB is the one I currently hold some fears for as its an upright single stem with a four way branch pattern at the top so its like a mini tree ... I don't have it staked and its laden with some near mature pods making it even more top heavy.

My douglah is also taking a beating along with everything else ...

 

[Mezo]

Your still getting winds? i had to steak three Brain Strains this morning as they were laying flat on there side.

Mezo.

 

[Trippa]

Your still getting winds? i had to steak three Brain Strains this morning as they were laying flat on there side.

Mezo.

Yeah winds still fairly high and gusty ... seems to be coming slightly more from the north now as well which is why my plants are still getting hammered and still getting plenty of rain although it seems to have eased off in the past 10mins ... forecast has changed again and now states windy and heavy rain for until 3am tomorrow morning but the wind will be dropping back to under 50kms an hour by this evening ... i don't mind the rain at all as it doesn't really do any long term damage but the wind is so gusty its nasty. Just went out and my back up primo was blown off the area where it was pot and all and 2 of the 3 main stems snapped clean off .... and this just as it had finally started coming through and recovering from the mites a month or 2 ago ... and it had just started to flower as well so lost a few flower buds to boot ...
I have just staked my TSMB but i am not sure if it is too late already as the base of the stem seems to be at a strange angle now ... I have my fingers crossed that is hasn't had its roots snapped just below the surface of the soil ....

pouring with rain again now ...

 

[Trippa]

Man the rain and wind just hasn't let up ... its is teeming down .... plants are a mess and meant to be another 7 hours of solid rain yet

 

[PIC 1]

Tripp,
As crappy as the weather is right now will probably be offset by many sunny days ahead.

 

[romy6]

Sending good vibes your way Tripp. Keep us posted mate

 

[Trippa]

Tripp,
As crappy as the weather is right now will probably be offset by many sunny days ahead.

Well Greg you are quite correct!! Woke this morning to a blue sky and sunshine which last night seemed as plausible as pigs flying ... the kids school is open for the first day of the term today (there are a number which aren't opening due to storm damage) so took the day off work and will be taking them this morning ...

Thanks Romy!! Everyone I know came though OK so that's the main thing!! Still to check on my Chilli's though fingers crossed they survived the last efforts of the wind and rain last night!!

 

[WalkGood]

Been off line a lot lately and just caught up, it's good to hear you made it through unscathed and I'm hoping the best for your plants and pods.

 

[Trippa]

Been off line a lot lately and just caught up, it's good to hear you made it through unscathed and I'm hoping the best for your plants and pods.

Thanks WG!! Looks like minus 2-3 broken branches and a fair few stripped leaves and a good deal of water drenched pots I came through relatively unscathed ... thankfully. Although I need to get rid of the standing water around some of my pots so they don't get any funky fungal issues or root rot now. I am just lucky I never ended up watering and feeding them on Friday like I was going to as that would have been a big waste!! Suns out now though so the moisture should start getting evaporated off and all the nice dissolved nutes should give the plants a nice surge in health and hopefully flowering and pod set!!

 

[PeriPeri]

Hey Trippa. Awesome glog, amazing pods man! Freaky weather - hope things come right after the carnage... I always find growth spurts after a good rainfall (in moderation ofcourse)!

 

[Trippa]

Hey Trippa. Awesome glog, amazing pods man! Freaky weather - hope things come right after the carnage... I always find growth spurts after a good rainfall (in moderation ofcourse)!

Thanks bro!!

Well I deliberately have not given my plants a feed of any new nutes yet (they will be going in today) as I was just letting them have a good flush of any organic salt buildup etc and also allow the plants some alone time to see if it helped with pod set on some of the more fickle plants...seems to have worked a little but it is starting to show a bit in the last 3 days or so with some slightly pale leaves shining out and so I don't think I will let it go on any longer.

I did get a nice little flush of ripe pods after all the rain though ... around 30-40 Bahamian Goat Pepper pods (up to around 80-90 for the season so far) picked in the last week in two batches off my one plant which I am more then happy about.
And also a handful of other Douglah's , TSMB's, Primo,s, Bonda Ma Jacques, NTR's, Birdseye HTM's, my first tobasco's and Kerinting pods to throw in the freezer

 

[Trippa]

Ok thought I would post a few more pictures ... nothing much new here... looks like i might have to start branching into food photography just to keep things a little fresher in my glog .... trouble is my camera will end up getting dropped in the tandoori marinade or something stupid ... too much Guinness plus cooking and cameras sounds like a recipe for disaster!!

Anyway enough of the blah blah blah and on with the photos I guess ....

Start with One of the old favourites ... a yellow 7 pot/pod ... I love you Mrs 7 pot!!

My Mystery 7 pot/pod TSMB scorpion or something or rather .....

3 little primo pods ...

 

[StupidJerk]

Nice shots!

 

[Trippa]

sorry my colours and highlights on these shots are all over the show ... just swapped monitors/computers and the other one looked good ,.... this one looks terrible ... hmmmm

Nice shots!

Thanks ya JERK ...nah seriously thanks bro

Mr Douglah Alphanerdz ....

 

[StupidJerk]

If a few off highlights upset you, do yourself a favor and never look at any pictures from my grow log. They are taken on a 3-year-old cell phone and upload directly to imgur using an app.

 

[Trippa]

Living on the edge .... (Kerinting, Douglah and Bahamian Goat)

If a few off highlights upset you, do yourself a favor and never look at any pictures from my grow log. They are taken on a 3-year-old cell phone and upload directly to imgur using an app.

I don't look at other photos like that ... I am just critical of my own ... I wish I didn't care as much to be honest ... the more I look at my own the photos the more pi&&ed off I get with a lot of my photos so I usually just post and never look back

A different angle to annoy many I am sure ...(I know some angled shots really can bug me )

Could be a little rude to some .... Primo!!

BRAINY TSMB ....

 

[stickman]

Nice looking pod shots Trippa! That Douglah is one of my strongest growers. It's still only an inch tall, but it has some of the biggest leaves, and buds for side branching already. Definitely looking forward to harvesting them!

 

[Trippa]

Nice looking pod shots Trippa! That Douglah is one of my strongest growers. It's still only an inch tall, but it has some of the biggest leaves, and buds for side branching already. Definitely looking forward to harvesting them!

Thanks Rick!!

Good to hear the douglah's are doing well so far ... my douglah plant is a bizzare lopsided thing ... probably a result of its growing position and the fact I kept it stunted all through last Autumn and Winter in a tiny pot and it seemed to take a while to recover and seemed to sprout strongly from one side and not the other ... still I am getting some pods so can't complain....

Rude little primo ....

Mini Harvest from the flush brought on from the heavy rains (including tobasco, NTR's Douglah's Bohamian Goat Peppers, Bonda Ma Jacques, Kerinting, Birdseye HTM's, 7 pot Primo's, TSMB's and the Magic Mystery TSMB/7pot whatever pod .... still have a few more coming and then it will be a while before I get many ripe pods again as everything is seemingly back into flower mode without many pods

I also found another reason why my plants don't seem to produce very heavily .... the ants are farming Psyllids !! Found about 5-6 Psyllid's just on my TSMB plant which funnily enough is one of my better producers... ants farm them in the area where the flowers/pods join the main stem (nodes) .. gross looking things ... easy enough to spot and kill though compared with mites but quite damaging by all accounts if not caught early

 

[PIC 1]

Tripp,
You're never running out of ideas with the photgraphy.
I'd suggest something, but theres nothing to mention.............the stuff looks great!