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Turbo 2014 Pepper Growing: An Anecdotal Methodology

2014 season came to an end...planning for 2015 grow season
 
I'm trying to work out my final list of peppers for the 2015 season.  I keep adding and removing peppers from the list weekly.
 
In 2014 I planted 16 pepper plants in my one  8' x 3' bed, and by Sep the plants are pretty full, I think its too crowded.  The plants are all healthy, but there definitely is very little room for air circulation, the potential for disease is probably pretty high, harvesting is also a pain, and some plants are completely covering others, so very little sun is getting down to them.
 
For 2015 I'm going to build one more 8' x 3' bed, and I'm only going to plant 12 plants per bed and see if that spacing works a bit better.
 
I also only have one t8 light fixture, so there is limited space for seedlings, and I'm pretty sure its close to 24 plants (and getting another light isn't an option)
 
With a hard cap at 24 plants, I was having a hard time deciding if I want more varieties or more plants of the same variety.  I think this year I'm going to go with way more varieties, and only 1 or 2 plants per variety.
 
Update 11/25/2014: Well crap...PepperLover sent me some free seeds in my seed order that I just couldn't turn down.  Had to edit the list to make room
 
Peppers I will grow next year (this list is pretty much changing weekly)
 
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Another cold wet day in the Pacific Northwest another decent pull.  The bulk of my aji lemon are starting to show yellow now.  If they continue to ripen, I'll have a ton in the freezer. 
 
My plants in pots are not happy about this weather at all.  They are wilty and sad and dropping leaves.  But the plants in my raised bed keep growing and ripening.  What's even crazier is my Big Hab Sun and Trinidad Scotch Bonnet are putting out their third round of peppers.  They are full if big green pods, the biggest of the season.  We'll see if they can hang in long enough to get some ripe pods.  This winter is supposed to be a Super El Nino here in the Pac NW, which means warmer and wetter than usual.  This sucks if you are a skier (which I am), but it may help drag on my pepper season into November.
 
 
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We had a break from the rain yesterday with a beautiful sunny day, with temps in the upper 70s.  The pepper plants are still loving this. 
 
Below, my Aji Lemon are turning yellow.  I hope I get enough to make another batch of pepper jelly!
 
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I didn't touch my plants for about 5 days, and went out this morning to do a pick.  Nice fatalii and aji lemon haul.  The peppers in the middle are paper lanterns from Pepper Joe.  I'm pretty sure these aren't pure paper lantern...they look like they were cross pollinated with a peter pepper or something.  The two at the bottom were from my Trinidad Scotch Bonnet's third growth of peppers which are just now starting to ripen up.  It had one pepper that was huge, about the size of a racketball ball, but a slug got to it and ate a hole through it.  I hope it hurt!
 
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I was planning on growing 24 pepper plants next year, but that was based on what I thought my pepper harvest was going to be like this year.  Fortunately the fall has been really amazing and I'm still getting a lot of pods each week, almost more than I know what to do with.  I may need to re-visit my grow list for next year and trim it down to...20?
 
Turbo,
 
For next years grow, ratchet it up and do the whole yard!  That way you will not need to mow!  Think of it as a trade off!  LOL
 
I'm a programmer and tech geek, so I'm always playing with new apps.  Facebook released a new iPhone app called Rooms, so I created a new "room" for pepper picture porn.  Join if you'd like and share the heat!
 
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About a week ago I pulled off all peppers from my plants, green or not and put them in brown papers bags with a banana in each to get as many to ripen as possible.  After 4 days, I got this many Aji Lemons
 
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The rest of my Aji Lemon, I'll probably get a couple dozen more to ripen before the start to go bad
 
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This is a mix of all other peppers from my garden.
 
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turbo said:
About a week ago I pulled off all peppers from my plants, green or not and put them in brown papers bags with a banana in each to get as many to ripen as possible.  After 4 days, I got this many Aji Lemons
 
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Awesome pods, dude! Those aji lemons look neat...
 
I've enjoyed reading through your glog. I followed you here from mention of it in a Bonchi thread. So how about an update on the Bonchis? :P
 
Any tips on trimming, watering, ferts, or soil types? Thanks!
 
I had 4 bonchis going, but they got hit by a massive aphid attach.  I got rid of 3 of them and did my best to clean off the 4th, a thick stemmed MOA.  I pulled it out of the pot, washed the roots, sprayed the leaves, filled a bucket full of water and swished it around totally submerged for about 5 min, scrubbed the bonsai pot, then replanted it.  Might have been overkill but I didn't want aphids inside since I'll be starting my 2015 starts soon.
 
Bonchi tips:
  • Bug proof your plants before you bring them inside (very important!)
  • Use well draining soil, with lots of bark and pearlite mixed it.  The water should be able to run through when you water
  • Since the soil wont hold a lot of water, water every 3-4 days (adjust as needed)
  • Use a tray of clay pebbles under the bonsai pot.  When you water, the water will run through and collect in the clay pebbles.  As it evaporates it'll help keep the soil from getting to dry
  • Don't fert for 2-3 months after planting.  The soil should have enough natural nutrients to last that long.  After that fert about every 3-4 weeks with a nitrogen rich fert that promotes green leafy growth
As far as trimming goes, just follow your heart.  Try to see what it has the potential to be and start trimming in that direction.  I haven't played with wiring the branches yet.  Just trying to keep it healthy after the traumatic cleansing it got a month ago.
 
Geonerd said:
How did the Aji Peruvians turn out? They were on my short-list for this year insanity.
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I've got the Aji Peruvian on my grow list for 2015, but this year will be my first year growing them.  I heard they take a long season to grow, so who knows how they'll do.  Keeping my fingers crossed!
 
turbo said:
 
I've got the Aji Peruvian on my grow list for 2015, but this year will be my first year growing them.  I heard they take a long season to grow, so who knows how they'll do.  Keeping my fingers crossed!
Click to expand...
 
Cool.  It's good to see others growing baccatums!
 
Ugh... aphids. I noticed a ladybug on one of my bonchis last weekend. Not sure how she got inside, but left as mysteriously as she came before completing the job.
 
Thanks for the update and tips. I found this handy bonsai growing guide (pdf) the other day. A couple takeaway tips from it...
  • Wait a day (or maybe more in our case) without watering to allow the plant to get thirsty before wiring. The stems and branches will be more flexible.
  • Don't repot in the winter when plants are dormant unless you can keep them in greenhouse conditions. The roots are more likely to get bacterial infections while not growing new ones to replace the diseased ones.
 
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