Wesker95 - 2nd Grow Season 2014 - Container Garden

Last year I grew a bhut and an orange habenero plant.  This year I expanded to 15 plants and I probably should have posted this months ago.  Regardless, I wanted to share some pics with you guys, which were taken this morning.
 
It's been a bummer.  I've had a wicked aphid and spider mite infestation across multiple plants that I did not have to deal with last year.  Think they were brought in with some brussel sprout seedlings I picked up from Lowe's.  
 
It's my first time combating pests since picking up the hobby and they're driving me nuts.  Some of the plants have been damaged pretty badly.  I've tried to prune and top the hell out of the damaged growth and now I am onto insecticidal soap.  I'm going to continue growing until either the plants die or the insects die.  I plan on it being the latter and not the former.
 
Grow list:
 
7 Pod Brain Strain (transplant bought from CCN)
Bhut Jolokia  (grown from seed)
Red Savina (transplant bought from CCN)
Chocolate Scotch Bonnet (transplant bought from CCN)
Orange Habenero (grown from seed)
Chiltepin (transplant bought from CCN)
Datil (transplant bought from CCN)
Thai (grown from seed)
Takanotsume (transplant bought from CCN)
Korean Hot (transplant bought from CCN)
Cayenne (grown from seed)
Australian Lantern (transplant bought from CCN)
Mystery Chinense 1 (grown from seed)
Mystery Chinense 2 (grown from seed)
Poblano
 
Anyhow, here are some of my babies:
 

 
Australian Lantern (Cross Country Nurseries) - Probably the best looking plant in the bunch.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed nothing happens to it.  
 

 
Orange Hab (the offspring of last year's plant) - This guy was one of the worst hit by the aphids and spidermites.  The plant used to be much bigger and better looking, but I pruned and topped most of the damaged growth away after it became infested.  As you can see the leaves are still looking a bit haggard.  
 
 
 
 

 
Cayenne (grown from seed)  - I topped and pruned this plant to experiment with the techniques.  Eventually it too got hit by the pests and the leaves don't look well to me.
 
 
 
 

 
Poblano (grown from seed)  - This was also badly infested.  Had to prune and top the damaged growth away, but the leaves still don't look well to me.
 

 
7 Pod Brain Strain (Cross Country Nurseries) - This guy is one of my favorites and is doing well so far.  Can't wait for it to produce.
 

 
Datil (Cross Country Nurseries) - I was looking forward to trying the Datil pods, as I've heard they have the perfect mixture of heat and taste.  Unfortunately, this has been topped and pruned to extreme degrees to clear out damaged foliage.
 

 
Red Savina (Cross Country Nurseries)
 
 
 
 

 
Chiltepin (Cross Country Nurseries)
 

 
Chocolate Scotch Bonnet (Cross Country Nurseries)
 
 
I was looking forward to good yields this year, which is what I had last year, and I was really looking forward to the chiltepin, brain strain, datil, and chocolate bonnet - I'm hoping the plants that need to will recover and that the others won't get infected.  Damn addictive habit; ask my fiance and she'll tell you how obsessed I am - but then again, you already know.

 

[Wesker95]

Didn't have time to post yesterday, but many of the plants are beginning to pod up.  My Red Savina, Thai, Takanotsume, and Australian Lantern are all producing fruit.  All other plants are flowering.  
 
There are absolutely no pest problems to report, except for warped leaves on my Datil and Brain Strain.  The Brain Strain seems to be outgrowing the damage, so I'm very happy with how the plants have bounced back.  Right now it is extremely humid outside and raining like crazy.  Sure the plants will love it.
 
Here are some pics.  Hit the plants with some fish emulsion the day before these were taken.
 
Chiltepin
 

 
Orange Habenero
 

 
Thai
 

 

 
Poblano
 

 
Red Savina 
 

 
Bhut Jolokia
 

 

[Verivus]

Wow, looks great!

 

[Wesker95]

Some pod pics (ignore the white residue on the leaves; someone did not dissolve the epsom properly before spraying):
 
Takanotsume
 
Takanotsume is podding up like crazy.  This picture doesn't do it justice because the foliage conceals many of the pods.  The pepper's Japanese name translates to "Eagle's Talon", which is an accurate descriptor.  I tasted some unripe pods and they have a nice flavor.  Looking forward to these ripening.
 

 
Australian Lantern
 
Popped a couple of these pods, which are still unripe, and i was immediately hit with the habanero flavor we all know, slightly higher than Jalapeno level heat, that quickly subsided.  These have potential for a nice powder once they ripen.  You can see the many green pods forming in the pic below.
 

 
Red Savina
 
My favorite plant.  Can't remember which member on here called it when I first showed pics of the plant, but this thing is an awesome producer and an all-around good looking plant.  Since this is my first time growing the variety, I find it interesting how the pods start out a whitish green.  Some of the pods are absolute monsters.  Picked an unripe and used it to flavor an omelette the morning I took this.  Best damn omelette I've ever had.
 

 
Chocolate Scotch Bonnet
 
First pods.  
 

 
Bhut Jolokia
 
First bhut pods
 

 

[tctenten]

Nice pod pics, all of your plants look good. I ordered a bunch of plants from CCN as we'll. They have a great selection and all of mine are growing well for me.

 

[Wesker95]

Thank you for the compliment.  I agree about CCN.  Their selection is second to none.  Will be making a return trip next year.

 

[Wesker95]

Pics from last Sunday:
 
Australian Lantern Red
 
First pods that are ripening
 

 
 
Datil
 
This haggard little plant made it and is finally starting to produce pods
 
 
 

 
 
Cayenne
 
Proudly nursed this back to health and it is putting out a decent amount of pods
 
 

 
 
Red Brain Strain
 
First pod!
 

 
 
Thai
 
Putting out many pods.  
 
 

 
 
Bhut
 
Been experimenting with trying to cross with the Red Brain Strain.  Starting to get some nice production out of the plant.
 

 
 
Red Savina
 
Best producer.  As of tonight I see the pods beginning to turn red.  Can't wait to mix these bad boys in with some ground beef to make Savina Burgers.
 

 
I'll be back with more pics this weekend.  All 16 varieties are putting out pods right now.

 

[Wesker95]

Update here:
 
Pods have finally started to ripen.  Have spent the past week harvesting pods for drying, cooking, and seed saving.  
 
Plants are all doing wonderfully.  Here are some pics.  Leaf droop is due to underwatering to stress the plants out.
 
Chiltepin
 
Chiltepin is producing like mad.  All the stories about this plant's legendary production are true, as this plant is yielding hundreds of pods.  If you look closely you can see some of the pods are beginning to ripen.  
 

 
Unknown Red Habanero-type
 
One of the mystery Chinense is putting out small, red Habanero-type pods.  It is prolific and is absolutely not a Butch T or a Reaper as advertised on Amazon, lol.  I was leaning towards these being either Caribbean Reds or Antilles Red Habaneros.  They have a great flavor that I've used to make salsa, so this was far from a loss.   
 

 
Bhut Jolokia
 

 
My Bhut, grown from my own seed from last year, is producing nicely.  I have already chosen an evil-looking pod to save seeds from for next year =).  Since I grew these among 16 other varieties, I'm hoping for some kind of strange cross, but I'll have to wait until next year.  Used some dried out pods to combine with dehydrated Rosemary and Basil in a bottle of olive oil.  
 
Red Savina
 

 
The Red Savina is yielding tons of pods.  I haven't done much with this guy in the way of cooking, but I've dried out some pods.
 
Thai
 

 
My Thai plant is producing prodigiously.  I've been drying out the pods with the anticipation of cooking a stir-fry once football season starts.  Have also saved tons of seeds from this.  Each pods yields what seems like 50-60 seeds.
 
Datil
 

 
Here's my poor, sorry-ass datil I've written about at length.  Actually, despite its pathetic look, it's producing like crazy.
 
Chocolate Scotch Bonnet
 

  
 
 
This plant is a beauty.  Pods have begun to ripen to a deep, brown and I've harvested for cooking and seeds.  Tonight I blended up a jerk chicken marinade based on the below recipe:
 

 
Takanotsume and Thai Pods
 

 

[sp33d]

Nice plants man....love the porn your providing...

 

[Wesker95]

 Thank you very much.

 

[Wesker95]

Took more pics this morning.  Here's the Bhut with ripening pods:
 

 
And the good ole' Orange Habs

 
Brain Strains are extremely slow to pod up, but the plant wasn't doing well earlier in the summer.  Seems to have bounced back and is putting out some pods.  Also, you can't really see, but it started putting out buds all over the place beginning last weekend.  No flowering on those yet, but I anticipate a good deal of pods.  
 

 
Takanotsume
 

 
Chocolate SB
 

 
Noticing some leaf yellowing on some of the plants, which I attribute to nutes being sapped up by the plants setting a lot of fruit in mere containers.  Fed some fish emulsion with worm casting tea and the nitrogen boost seems to have greened things up.

 

[chilicheesebeard]

How fares the garden, wesker?