Windchicken 2013

meatfreak · Jun 21, 2013

Awesome pods shots, Gary. Thanks for the pic of the Doux très Long des Landes, good looking pods. I'm glad it keeps producing, must have been the weather over here last year. I had the plants outside, temps were low and lot's of rain. Now some Madame Jeanette pod shots please, sir

Devv · Jun 21, 2013

Like what you're doing with your soil. It's really great to see everyone making do with what they got, and of course improving upon it!

I'm working back from the other end, I have sand and add heavy soil, manure, and compost. I do have a free resource for the wood chips...but will have to drive the tractor 5 miles to get it....once it cools

Really liking the pod porn!

windchicken · Jun 24, 2013

meatfreak said:
Awesome pods shots, Gary. Thanks for the pic of the Doux très Long des Landes, good looking pods. I'm glad it keeps producing, must have been the weather over here last year. I had the plants outside, temps were low and lot's of rain. Now some Madame Jeanette pod shots please, sir

Thanks Stefan! Plenty warm here—The Doux Très Long don't seem to mind the heat and humidity...I was a little concerned about them, because I've only ever tried to grow one other French pepper—Piment d'Espelette—It did not seem to like the climate here at all.

I've had one ripe Madame Jeanette so far...It was delicious! Very tasty chile! Thanks so much for the seeds :dance:

Devv said:
Like what you're doing with your soil. It's really great to see everyone making do with what they got, and of course improving upon it!

I'm working back from the other end, I have sand and add heavy soil, manure, and compost. I do have a free resource for the wood chips...but will have to drive the tractor 5 miles to get it....once it cools

Really liking the pod porn!

Thanks! Sounds good Scott! It's definitely too hot right now to try anything too ambitious!

Devv · Jun 24, 2013

Interesting zig-zag with that pretty yellow pod!

GA Growhead · Jun 24, 2013

Nice pod!

Peptacular · Jun 24, 2013

Looking boss Gar. And osmocote? OSMOCOTE!?! I thought you were mister au natural!!

Just kidding man, everything looks great and your new row is beautiful! Awesome looking plants.

MGOLD86 · Jun 24, 2013

Great looking pod Gary!

KiNGDeNNiZ · Jun 25, 2013

outstanding color changes gary.. always a pleasure looking at your grow.. hows that bonda X?

meatfreak · Jun 25, 2013

That looks very tasty, Gary. Not as gnarly as they should be but it sure is elongated enough :lol:

very bright yellow color also, beautiful! I managed to save 2 MJ's myself but they are still quite small, will take a while before they start to produce. Good to hear the Doux tres Long doesn't mind the heat to much, hopefully you like how it taste

PaulG · Jun 26, 2013

Hey, Gary. finally got a chance to catch up on your grow.
Your garden beds are awesome, for sure. They look like a
spa for pepper plants! But, you always do things the right way.
I knew I'd find great pods and garden shots when I finally made
it here!

windchicken · Jun 26, 2013

Devv said:
Interesting zig-zag with that pretty yellow pod!

Thanks Scott!

GA Growhead said:
Nice pod!

Thanks Jason!

Peptacular said:
Looking boss Gar. And osmocote? OSMOCOTE!?! I thought you were mister au natural!!

Just kidding man, everything looks great and your new row is beautiful! Awesome looking plants.

Thanks Taylor! Probably fish or seaweed would work just as well...But I wanted something that would stand up through the N2 tie-up period, which can take several months...Ideally I would have built the new beds out last fall, and they would have been ready to go with no additional ferts at plant-out time...

MGOLD86 said:
Great looking pod Gary!

Thanks Matt!

KiNGDeNNiZ said:
outstanding color changes gary.. always a pleasure looking at your grow.. hows that bonda X?

Thanks Denniz! Getting some pretty scary looking pods on those Bonda x Y7 plants...all still green right now....

meatfreak said:
That looks very tasty, Gary. Not as gnarly as they should be but it sure is elongated enough very bright yellow color also, beautiful! I managed to save 2 MJ's myself but they are still quite small, will take a while before they start to produce. Good to hear the Doux tres Long doesn't mind the heat to much, hopefully you like how it taste

Thanks Stefan! I burned up one of the Madame Jeanettes with my over-zealous use of Osmocote, but I've still got 5 healthy plants...If they can just make it through the next 5 or 6 weeks I think I'll have some real nice production...I really like the flavor of that chile, by the way...I believe it's one of my favorites...

The flavor of the Doux Très Long is excellent, and it's a huge hit with my co-workers. The bed those 4 plants are in is a perfectly mature RCW-and-native-soil row I built last year...Absolutely no fert additions this year, and the plants are loving it—big, thick canopies of dark green leaves and pumping out the sweet pods: 4 Doux Très Long, 3 Ashe County Pimento, and 2 California Wonder.

PaulG said:
Hey, Gary. finally got a chance to catch up on your grow.
Your garden beds are awesome, for sure. They look like a
spa for pepper plants! But, you always do things the right way.
I knew I'd find great pods and garden shots when I finally made
it here!

Thanks Paul! Wow...I really love to hear that!

I've got all my Aji Amarillo plants in a row of containers on my patio...Yours is looking nice and lush, and keeping pace with my "old-timers". There's plenty of blossoms, but I don't expect to see pods until it cools off later on...

PaulG · Jun 26, 2013

The Aji Amarillos do take a while to pod up and ripen, at least the ones I had last year.
I hope yours turns out to be as productive as they were! They were worth the wait.

windchicken · Jul 2, 2013

For anyone who's been considering amending their soil with hardwood chips, a.k.a. RCW, a.k.a. shredded hardwood bark mulch, etc., and adding extra ferts in the first few months to offset the effects of nitrogen tie-up, as I have previously recommended in my glog, and have been practicing for several years now, I now have a few more thoughts that you may find helpful...

(These comments are specific to amendment, i.e., actually mixing the wood chips into the first several inches or couple of feet of soil. Using the chips only as mulch, i.e., layering it on the surface of the soil, does not create the potential problems I'm about to discuss....)

Apparently the decay of the wood chips that takes place in the first several months after amendment is an exothermic process...It creates heat...And the more wood chips one uses, the more heat is created. Add to that large amounts of potent fertilizer, like Osmocote 14-14-14 (as I do), plus the summer heat of Louisiana, and the roots of one's plants are literally stewing in the ground... In the past I have always built my beds in the early spring, when the weather was still cool, and I never had a problem. But this year I am rebuilding two of my 50-foot beds, and it's taking much longer than I had anticipated...

The first of these two rows was completed and planted out on May 31, by which time the ground was already far too warm...There are 6 MoA Scotch Bonnets (STEVE954), 6 Bahamian Goat Pepper (FadeToBlack), 2 Bahamian Goat Pepper (JungleRain via capsidadburn), and 3 Congo Trinidad (PIC1). (I also threw in a Hippy Yellow 7 just to keep things interesting.) In the 4 weeks since plant-out the plants haven't really grown much at all, but they are, amazingly, setting blossoms and pods. By 9:00 or so, when the sun hits them, every one of the plants droops hard, as if they need water.....Later on in the evening, when they are back in the shade, they perk up and look just fine...The next 3 months (July-September) are the hottest months of the year here...If I can keep them alive until October they will spring back into action and begin to flourish...

The whole point of this post is that if you're considering the RCW amendment, and you are thinking about offsetting the effects of nitrogen tie-up that occurs in the first few months by adding extra ferts, be very judicious with the N2, use some shade cloth...or even better, just give the beds 6 months or so to settle down...

Building forest soil with hardwood chips is the way to go, but it's still possible to make some mistakes that can really harm your plants. Hopefully I can make them for you, so you don't have to go through this... :dance:

Here's a pik of one of the MoA Scotch Bonnets in the bed mentioned above. It's amazing that these babies continue to produce, in spite of my "care":

Here's an update on the Bonda Ma Jacques x Yellow 7 cross from Spicegeist. (These plants are in 7-gal. nursery containers):

millworkman · Jul 2, 2013

Good thoughts Gary. Im busy building a couple now that wont be in use till next year ao I am not worried about the mixing. Cant wait to have a nice pretty setup like yours.

windchicken · Jul 2, 2013

Thanks Noah...You've got more sense than I do!

I accidentally sprayed my superhots bed (30 months since amending) with termite poison Saturday morning...After I realized what I'd done I gave them a real thorough fresh-water shower...Rylee here could tell I was worried, and he was looking at the plants with me to see if they were going to be okay:

millworkman · Jul 2, 2013

So you've got a pet rat?

Devv · Jul 2, 2013

Have you set a thermometer in the ground to register the temps?

BTW, Like the yellows

windchicken · Jul 2, 2013

millworkman said:
So you've got a pet rat?

What can I say?...I live in Louisiana, only a stone's throw from Mile Bayou and a huge pecan orchard—everything a rat could want...

Devv said:
Have you set a thermometer in the ground to register the temps?

BTW, Like the yellows

A good scientist would have certainly done that...but I never do what I'm supposed to do...

Thanks for the kind words...

Indiana_Jesse · Jul 2, 2013

Termite poison? Accidentally on plants? I encourage you to PM me about your strategy, as I want to make sure you're not getting sold "snake oil". I've been working in pest control for a long time, and I am more than happy to help. Pretty much, the only products that actually work for termites, only licensed professionals can use/apply. Also, all termiticides must be either injected into the soil, or infested wood, never broadcast on top of the soil or wood. I'm not criticizing, just want to help, I'm sure you understand.

compmodder26 · Jul 2, 2013

I've done a brief search on here without finding an answer to my question, so figured I'd just go ahead and ask you directly, Gary. You say you buy your RCW in bags. Do you get it from a big box store? If so, what is the brand. In the doc you've linked to before it says to stay from coniferous trees, yet most of the mulch I see sold at big box stores are made from conifers. Do you hold to that thought as well?

Edit: Found this at Lowes. Seems like what you are referring to? And at ~$1.17/ft3, seems pretty budget friendly to me.