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]

Well Got back from a weekend with a few old mates at a music festival and I looked at my chilli's and they are looking rough. Apparently they had extreme winds down here on Saturday and it has absolutely stripped my plants ... and not to mention broke off 3 pods which I had crossed !! Friggin wind and weather has my chillis looking awful ... ahhh well .... thems the breaks I guess

 

[Mezo]

"Aaargh there be more shit weather on thee way me shipmate Aaargh"

Mezo.

 

[3/5King]

Sorry to hear Trippa. It's a war out there past the garden's edge....lol. I hope for better weather in your future buddy!

 

[megamoo]

It's a war out there past the garden's edge.

It is.

Got to take the good with the bad.

 

[Trippa]

Yeah more rubbish wild weather looks like its coming over the next couple of days and the next wave is coming in from the sea in about an hour by the looks .... gutted to lose my crossed pods (as well as quite a few immature pods generally) as I had high hopes for them ... took a long time to get them to take as well and they were probably only 2-3 weeks away from maturity.

Also looks like my organic slow release ferts have run their 3 month course in the 4.5litre pots with a noticeably pale yellow hue to almost all of my plants in the past 1-2 weeks. Will have to scratch a bit more under the mulch and then give them a liquid boost in the mean time

Will have to try crossing a few more after this latest wild weather runs its course

 

[Mezo]

One of the lads on my forum from up the Sunshine Coast said were potentially in for up to 400 mil`s in the next three days, according to the latest bulletin, i know where your coming from i just applied fish & kelp last week.

Mezo.

 

[Trippa]

Big Fert dose tonight .... lets hope they enjoy it and can get through the next few days and start putting some condition back on (ie vegetation and flowers) although I don't think I did them much of a favour in getting pods to set as I went quite nitrogen heavy to try to get the green back in the leaves and also to help them grow new leaves quicker after losing so many over the past few days ...we will see I guess

 

[Mezo]

I gave mine there second dose of fush & kelp today Trippa (like that eh)

Mezo.

 

[stickman]

Hi Trippa
I thought you might appreciate a couple of pics of your Douglah offspring at week 7. I think they're growing really well!

Sorry to hear about the wind damage to your plants... hurricane season can be such a bummer that way. I hope they perk up soon!

 

[Trippa]

I gave mine there second dose of fush & kelp today Trippa (like that eh)

Mezo.

yeah they certainly enjoy the old fush alright

Hi Trippa
I thought you might appreciate a couple of pics of your Douglah offspring at week 7. I think they're growing really well!

Sorry to hear about the wind damage to your plants... hurricane season can be such a bummer that way. I hope they perk up soon!

They are looking top notch Rick!! They must be loving the treatment they are given at your place.... I hope they continue down the path they are on happy and healthy!!

Thanks for the thoughts ... I guess everything happens for a reason so you just have roll with it... doesn't make it any less frustrating though. My main annoyance was the cross pods which I lost as they were a bit of a project focus in my grow for next season I still have one of the 5 crosses attempted which made it through as I harvested it 2-3 weeks ago. Still enough time to try 1-3 more I think before

Time is up on this grow I guess

 

[StupidJerk]

Sorry about your weather issues, but I'm sure you'll bounce back strong.

How much longer is your season?

 

[Trippa]

All Year ... slows down from May to Mid August though ... but the weather at the moment is just causing havoc ... too wet and humid ... means fungal issues and leaf drop ....

 

[PeriPeri]

Good luck mate, sorry to hear about the crap weather. Here's wishing you some african sunshine!

 

[stc3248]

Sorry about your weather Trippa...sucks. Fingers crossed for success in the next cross attempts.

 

[Trippa]

Thanks.... Shiite happens I hope I can rescue the end of the season ....

 

[Jamison]

Damn Trip, I've totally neglected your glog and I am the only one that suffered from it! Awesome , amazing, beautiful! The pics and pods are spot on my friend! Wonderful job!

 

[Trippa]

Damn Trip, I've totally neglected your glog and I am the only one that suffered from it! Awesome , amazing, beautiful! The pics and pods are spot on my friend! Wonderful job!

Thanks Jamison!! Yeah things were going pretty well for me in the latter part of the glog .... and now things aren't looking so great.... however I will see what I can salvage this weekend ... maybe its not the end ... just a major check ...

Also should mention over the past few weeks have received some much appreciated seed care packages from Rick (stickman) and Dave (gnslngr) .... obviously the new chilli seed customs rules are really working well

Thanks a bunch you two!! Some great varieties !!

 

[Mezo]

You got some rain heading your way bro, no need to water.

Mezo.

 

[Trippa]

You got some rain heading your way bro, no need to water.

Mezo.

Funny thing Mez I had watered/fed about 2 hours before the storms hit ... some amazing lightning right overhead for a good hour or 2 not much wind at all to speak of and the rain was pretty steady but never exceptionally hard . How did you fair mez??

 

[Jandek]

Beautiful pictures