Chilli Pepper Thread

[pixel_ninja]

Hi Guys,

Are there any people out there growing peppers? I ran a google search on here and found the odd article about them. I am looking to make this the official MyBB Pepper thread. I will be sharing some pics of my growlog as well as pics of the meals they become (and the odd taste test I'll get of willing volunteers hehe - some okes are quite hard okes boet! (they will cry.)

This is my first year growing peppers, so my growlist is small:

5x Carolina Reapers
3x Trinidad Moruga Scorpion
2x Bhut Jolokia (Ghost Pepper)

I actually started my seeds in winter earlier this year and they are now bearing fruit, so I have a couple pics already to share:

Trinidad Moruga Scorpions:

These popped up really fast with near perfect germ rates.

Red Bhut Jolokia:

These have been a bit slower however they are only just starting to pop now and are harder to spot(eg: 3rd row, 3rd column)

Unfortunately I do not have any images of my Reapers as seedlings as I only started taking photos afterward I have repotted them.

My rudimentary hothouse for winter:

I had a couple panes of glass lying around in my garage that fitted the shelves perfectly so I went over to the pet store and got some of those reptile heater mats and sandwiched them between two panes of glass. worked like a bomb. - Seedling propagators are like 1.5k

The reapers had already been repotted and were quite a way ahead of the other two strains:



After a while, my reapers were suffering from "bubbly" shaped leaves and slightly yellowing too. I figured this was as a result of some nutrient deficiency as I had potted them into coco coir, whereas the younger (Moruga/Bhuts) peppers that were potted into a good compost mix werent having any issues. so I needed to get them planted out as spring was less than a month away (Around August at the time).



A request was put through to the finance minister, who also happens to be the minister of backyard forestry to repurpose they middle of our back yard with two 3mx1m raised garden beds. While the application was still pending I had already purchased and started going ahead with the filling of the beds (Our local nursery delivers compost by the truckload, which is precisely 97.4% cheaper than buying them bagged.) So when they delivered I was actually struck down by serious flu and so they dumped it out front.

Great, arsehole then had to cart 1.8 cubes to the back that weekend. Who needs a gym contract anyways ;p

(I need to make a new post in order to attach more pics..)

 

[semaphore]

I had a bunch of seedlings going, but they got oblierated in the hail the other day. Will need to start from scratch. Nice progress on yours, yes that does appear to be nutrient lockout, could be your ph is off and locking out magnesium and/or calcium.

 

[Kornhub]

Awesome! Are they really hard to grow?

 

[semaphore]

Awesome! Are they really hard to grow?

No, but you need decent heat to trigger the ultra hots.

 

[pixel_ninja]

Now to plant out the peppers!

Reapers Rootball:

Glad I managed to plant them out before becoming rootbound.

Freshly Planted out:

Excuse the long grass.. it had been raining alot by then (Around September). The row on the right are all Reapers, while the row to the left are 2xBhuts, then 3xMorugas further away.

I was then set back a bit as the younger plants seemed to have been hit by aphids/over fertilization/too much sun:


The leaves of the Bhuts/Morugas were all deformed with slowed growth.

October:

The plants really shot up last month, with the other two superhots outgrowing their stunted leaves somewhat.

The reapers had also started bearing flowers a month into spring!! Most other growers I know were only just planting out their seedlings into pots at this stage! So I am hopeful of atleast a second flush of fruit this season.

(I cant quite find my pics of the flowers but I'll upload em when I get home so I'll reserve the attachment for that here)

 

[pixel_ninja]

I had a bunch of seedlings going, but they got oblierated in the hail the other day. Will need to start from scratch. Nice progress on yours, yes that does appear to be nutrient lockout, could be your ph is off and locking out magnesium and/or calcium.

Yeah so I actually went to the pharmacy to buy saltpeter which is like pure magnesium, at R20 a box it was a hell of a lot cheaper than buying a Mag supplement from the nursery! Bonemeal was the only supplement I had put into the compost mix while filling it up so that took care of the Calcium side.

Fixed em right up! Sorry to hear about your seedlings, what did you have on the grow?

Awesome! Are they really hard to grow?

Hi Kornhole, surprisingly not hey, the most difficult part is the germination. I am growing Tomatillos & Tomatoes (amongst other things) and let me tell you, those things can be a bitch! Black Leaf Spot wrecked a couple plants, whitefly absolutely love Tomatoes as well as the fact that all other veg seem to wilt very easily. With peppers those bad boys dont seem to be affected by pests and can take a beating in the sun without giving in.

No, but you need decent heat to trigger the ultra hots.

Will post pics of the pods my reapers are putting out in a mo, just need to shoot to the shop

 

[semaphore]

Will post pics of the pods my reapers are putting out in a mo, just need to shoot to the shop

I got close to about 100 pods from my reapers last year, I had about 8/9 plants. I mostly growing white bhut's and yellow trinidad scorpions this year around.

 

[biena]

Start planning how you are going to keep the birds away, they love chilli's. Soon as the fruit starts to show some colour they think it is dinner time.

 

[semaphore]

Yeah so I actually went to the pharmacy to buy saltpeter which is like pure magnesium, at R20 a box it was a hell of a lot cheaper than buying a Mag supplement from the nursery! Bonemeal was the only supplement I had put into the compost mix while filling it up so that took care of the Calcium side.

Salt peter is not a source of magnesium, its a source of nitrogen and pottasium. You want to use epsom salts for magnesium.

 

[semaphore]

Start planning how you are going to keep the birds away, they love chilli's. Soon as the fruit starts to show some colour they think it is dinner time.

I never had those issues.

 

[biena]

I never had those issues.

First year I did not have problems either, second year birds learned/remembered where the plants were, end of Feb this year they were eating the majority of the harvest.
These buggers http://www.mousebirds.com/speckled.html

 

[semaphore]

First year I did not have problems either, second year birds learned/remembered where the plants were, end of Feb this year they were eating the majority of the harvest.
These buggers http://www.mousebirds.com/speckled.html

That sucks, I been growing for about 4 years and no issues Maybe i'm just lucky. But i do get nasty aphid infestations time to time.

 

[AstroTurf]

Nice thread.

I planted some seeds around a month ago but sadly have not had time to plant them out yet.

They are still seedlings, I planted them in a mix of coco peat and perlite so that they don't get burned by nutes and the currently have no nutrients in the substrate so they are just sitting there.

Hopefully I will get some time this weekend to plant them into the garden

 

[Zook]

Very cool - much more successful with the hot ones than I am. I tried various things to keep them warm (e.g. put on DSTV decoder) but failed miserably. Maybe time to try again, with this excellent inspiration.

However less-hot ones I've done ok with. Biggest issue is keeping them separated enough that the bees don't cross-pollinate. If you have them all next to each other the chilli's will come out looking like the elephant man.

 

[pixel_ninja]

Start planning how you are going to keep the birds away, they love chilli's. Soon as the fruit starts to show some colour they think it is dinner time.

Yeah I have constructed a very basic circular tunnel to keep the birds/monkeys away from the fruits and veg.

It seems to be working a treat!

Salt peter is not a source of magnesium, its a source of nitrogen and pottasium. You want to use epsom salts for magnesium.

Sorry you're 100% right, It was epsom salts I bought!

So after flowering they the pods started swelling:

This was supposedly a reaper, though it looks nothing like it. It was first to fruit and is rather quite prolific.

I was actually quite anxious that I had been duped, and sold the wrong seeds. So at this point I was checking my flowers for pods everyday in the hope that the other ones come true. This mystery fruit looks to me like a Habanero but we will see when the fruit is properly ripe.

Mystery Plant: 6 November:

The Mystery plant is starting to show some colour, looking more and more to be an Orange Hab.

Mystery Plant 18 November:

After waiting a couple weeks 2 of the remaining 4 "Reaper" Plants had set pods, which thankfully appear to be the correct phenotype!

Carolina Reaper Pods:

Finally, the pods responsible for me putting in all this effort make an appearance!! So excite! Cant wait for them to turn bloodred! How scary do those things look!?

Moruga Pods:

The first Moruga plant to show some fruit, very strange way of turning colour too, very confused as to what this is.. Time will tell!

 

[AstroTurf]

View attachment 316981
The first Moruga plant to show some fruit, very strange way of turning colour too, very confused as to what this is.. Time will tell!

The chilly is rotting

Too much water?

 

[biena]

The chilly is rotting

Too much water?

Worm inside it, moth laid eggs when it was still a flower.

Or a brown one ?
http://store.puckerbuttpeppercompany.com/products/brown-moruga

 

[pixel_ninja]

That sucks, I been growing for about 4 years and no issues Maybe i'm just lucky. But i do get nasty aphid infestations time to time.

Yeah those buggers can be devastating, and the thing is together with thrips, they can move off before you ever see the damage, as they attack the tender shoots which you only notice once they've grown out. With the shadecloth around it, you can purchase ladybugs/aphid lions to hunt em, and they wont be able to leave your targeted plants

Nice thread.

I planted some seeds around a month ago but sadly have not had time to plant them out yet.

They are still seedlings, I planted them in a mix of coco peat and perlite so that they don't get burned by nutes and the currently have no nutrients in the substrate so they are just sitting there.

Hopefully I will get some time this weekend to plant them into the garden

Do they have a couple of true leaves yet? Usually I first pot em from a seed tray into a pot before planting them out, but that all depends on how big they are I suppose Still plenty of time left for em to grow!! Just do it!
(and report back! hehe)

Very cool - much more successful with the hot ones than I am. I tried various things to keep them warm (e.g. put on DSTV decoder) but failed miserably. Maybe time to try again, with this excellent inspiration.

However less-hot ones I've done ok with. Biggest issue is keeping them separated enough that the bees don't cross-pollinate. If you have them all next to each other the chilli's will come out looking like the elephant man.

For germination what I did was kept em in the ziplock bag they came in, filled em with a bit of water and left them on my decoder for a day. Then I put them into a seed tray, misted them over and clingwrapped them. I then put them on the heating mat I setup in the propagator, most popped within a week iirc.

Leaving em for a bit of a soak helps with helmet head where they germinate but cant quite break the sheath of the seed and the cotyledons choke.

Regarding cross pollination, I am planning on putting small mesh bags around the flowers to prevent it, the reason some of my plants arent setting pods true to type is because my supplier open air pollinates. First prize is for me to overwinter them for sure, but I will be saving some seed this way incase

The chilly is rotting

Too much water?

When I first saw it change colour I thought so aswell, however the fruit is firm to the touch so I'm not sure yet.

Worm inside it, moth laid eggs when it was still a flower.

Or a brown one ?
http://store.puckerbuttpeppercompany.com/products/brown-moruga

Yeah it could be a chocolate, but like the suspected orange hab, it is smooth rather than that dimply texture that reapers and morugas have so I'm not sure yet. Taste tests on the ripe fruit to confirm

 

[AstroTurf]

Do they have a couple of true leaves yet? Usually I first pot em from a seed tray into a pot before planting them out, but that all depends on how big they are I suppose Still plenty of time left for em to grow!! Just do it!
(and report back! hehe)

Just the seed leaves last time I looked (last week some time).

I'll likely just grow them in pots

Grew plenty years ago, I think there may still be some of my old chilly threads somewhere on this forum.

As for cross pollination, get several small paint brushes and just pollinate yourself manually as soon as the flowers open.

Even covering the plants in mesh won't really help as the pollen is also airborne.

 

[semaphore]

Yeah those buggers can be devastating, and the thing is together with thrips, they can move off before you ever see the damage, as they attack the tender shoots which you only notice once they've grown out. With the shadecloth around it, you can purchase ladybugs/aphid lions to hunt em, and they wont be able to leave your targeted plants

Where do you get the ladybugs from? i've been trying to find for ages.