Trippaul Threat (PdN x BMJ) Community Grow

This is a dedicated grow log for Tristen's awesome cross, which I
have been growing out since 2014.  I'll start with a bit of history and
some photos documenting what's happened so far.
 
In January of 2014, Tristen (Trippa) sent me a little care package of seeds.
In the package were two generations of a cross he had made, which he just 
called 'Mystery Cross, F1' and 'Mystery Cross, F2'.  
 
Here's Trippa's Mystery Cross seedlings in February of 2014:

 

 
Both generations showing the purple foliage characteristic since the beginning.
 
Up close look at Trippa's Mystery Crosses, F1 and F2.  Both culled to a single
plant after the photo taken, so I only had one plant of each generation:

 

[PaulG]

Wow, Scott, really beautiful plants. The
color is gorgeous. That Texas sun will
turn them black!

I can see the flower buds. Awesome!

 

[PaulG]

I keep finding a new pod every day.
Two of the plants for sure have several,
and the others have lots of open flowers.

Have been feeding Alaska Fish Fertilizer,
MorBloom, and Silica Blast.

 

[PaulG]

Hello paul, I have enjoyed reading through this glog and would also like to grow out this cross with everyone, if you still have seed left.

 Forgot to welcome you to TheHotPepper, Jon!
 
And thanks for the kind words about this thread in your PM.
 
Seeds on the way 
 
 Cheers, buddy!

 

[SpeakPolish]

You know what these mean. Also Paul, how do you use the even and odd node method?

There are three flower buds.

 

[PaulG]

Yeah, buddy! Looking good, Aravind

As for pinching/cutting the flower buds,
consider the first fork as node #1. Pinch
the buds in the fork. Then, leave the buds
in the 2nd nodes. Pinch 3rd node buds,
and then the buds at the 5th, 7th, 9th nodes,
And so on. You will leave the flower buds on
all the even- numbered nodes. It is tedious,
but doable if you only have a few plants

 

[SpeakPolish]

Yeah, buddy! Looking good, Aravind

As for pinching/cutting the flower buds,
consider the first fork as node #1. Pinch
the buds in the fork. Then, leave the buds
in the 2nd nodes. Pinch 3rd node buds,
and then the buds at the 5th, 7th, 9th nodes,
And so on. You will leave the flower buds on
all the even- numbered nodes. It is tedious,
but doable if you only have a few plants

By first fork do you mean first fork from the ground or first fork from the sky. I'm assuming it's from the ground. Am I correct?

 

[Walchit]

Probably, Its the fist one that would exist, so...

 

[PaulG]

Think of the letter 'Y'.
 
Here is a diagram. 

 

[PaulG]

More pods. I am seeing two different
phenotypes so far, pointed and lobed.
Normal for this variety.

I have been thinking about the flower pruning.

I think that when you pinch the flowers at a
certain node, you remove a whole level of
flowers. So, the different levels of flowers
that remain have a longer time between
opening flowers at each successive level,
and thus more time for pod setting and
development before the next level of
blossoms opens up.
 
But, like MarcV
Says, I might be wrong...

 

[Mitzi]

I'll be interested to see whether you think it works or not.
 

 

[PaulG]

I'll be interested to see whether you think it works or not.
 

Hard to compare, since I'm not doing this with
other varieties at the moment, just the F7. Anecdotaly,
I see more pod setting at this stage (14 weeks) than
when I don't pinch the buds. Plus I am being super
aggressive removing leaves to let light into the bottom
of the plants. So far, I'd say 6-8 confirmed pods on two
plants, and some promising looking flowers on the other
two.

 

[Pepper-Guru]

 I just had to take a shot of the Pimenta de Neyde x Bonda Ma Jacques 
 Violet F6 Seedling:
 

 
 

 

[Spice4life]

Thanks again paul
Seeds arrived safe and will be getting a soak tonight. Hopefully I have some sprouts here shortly.

 

[PaulG]

Thanks again paul
Seeds arrived safe and will be getting a soak tonight. Hopefully I have some sprouts here shortly.

Great, Jon, I hope they do well for you.
 
Welcome aboard!

 

[PaulG]

I've been locating pods that have set by
looking for pollen sprinkles on the leaves:

 
Two of the F71 pods. The largest is about 11/8
inches long at this point.

 
Usually my plants only set a pod or two during the
indoor part of my grow, but the ones setting pods now
are continuing to do so. I expect pods to start show-
ing up on the F73 and 4 soon.
 
Funny, this has turned out to be an indoor grow for
the F7s. There are still 3 months to plant out, so there
may by more pods if this keeps up. Going to keep on
with the AK Fish Fert/MorBloom and Si Blast/Cal-Mag alter-
nate feedings.
 
F71 - 97 days from hooking:

 
F72 - 95 days:

 
F73 - 94 days:

F74 - 90 days.

 
As you can see, I have been aggressive about pruning leaves.
Yesterday, I also pinched off the 10th node from the four main
branch tips to keep the plants from spreading too far.  
 
Last season, all the F6 got was food and water for 6 months under 
the lights. No pruning or other care. If you saw the pics of them
last June, they had scraggly, long main branches and lots of
twisted, tangled small branches. Even at that, they set a few pods!

 

[Mitzi]

Im not totally convinced about removing leaves. Surely the more leaves, the more the plant can photosynthesise and generate energy.

 

[SpeakPolish]

Im not totally convinced about removing leaves. Surely the more leaves, the more the plant can photosynthesise and generate energy.

More photosynthesis is not always good. You want fruits not leaves, this is not weed or kale.

 

[Devv]

Very interesting thoughts here on the pruning..

 

[PaulG]

Im not totally convinced about removing leaves. Surely the more leaves, the more the plant can photosynthesise and generate energy.

  

More photosynthesis is not always good. You want fruits not leaves, this is not weed or kale.

  

Very interesting thoughts here on the pruning..

There are lots of different takes on this. My main
idea is to allow more light and air circulation
around the plants in the confined area of the
small table. During the summer, all the little
branches emerging now will grow up through
the canopy.

I will not take the same approach with my other
plants. I did it to the F7 plants because they will
have spent about six months in the garage before
heading outside and would get out of hand, and my
main interest for these is getting isolated seeds.

 

[Pepper-Guru]

Im not totally convinced about removing leaves. Surely the more leaves, the more the plant can photosynthesise and generate energy.

 
Very good. 

More photosynthesis is not always good. You want fruits not leaves, this is not weed or kale.

 
Huh? Maybe indoors to keep them small and bushy. Fruits come only from leaves being present. Weed or kale? Weed, the flowers are our crop, kale the leaves..so not sure what that means. 

  
  
There are lots of different takes on this. My main
idea is to allow more light and air circulation
around the plants in the confined area of the
small table. During the summer, all the little
branches emerging now will grow up through
the canopy.

I will not take the same approach with my other
plants. I did it to the F7 plants because they will
have spent about six months in the garage before
heading outside and would get out of hand, and my
main interest for these is getting isolated seeds.

 
 
Indoors its fine. Saves space, stalls the plant, mitigates stretch due to lower light intensity, does improve air circulation. Bunch of reasons to do it. Especially indoors or in containers. Simply put its a manipulation as a means to an end, temporary or permanent.