The Story of a Soldier

Continuing on with the post titles coming from songs/lyrics, it had to be the one from The Good, The Bad and The Ugly......

 The Good: Everything is moving along nicely.

  

 The Bad: This humid gloomy weather that is plaguing us....I was almost nervous when the sun appeared today. "What is that?" 

The Ugly: The BOM released their Qld Seasonal Outlook 2010/11 today. Some pundits are suggesting that is a similar situation that occurred around the 1974 Brisbane floods (where parts of the city were under 2m+ water). But, as I live on higher ground, and this is a chilli-related blog... I can be selfish...

 Two seasons ago I grew (with a great degree of difficulty) my first ever 'superhots', the Bhut Jolokia. We had a reasonable storm season, but nothing that harmed the chillis. Til' the day I was working out past Goondiwindi in Western Qld, and in the afternoon, whilst on the laptop, saw on the BOM radar these ugly storms destined for Brisbane....carrying hail.

  

 I rang my wife and suggested she might be able to form some kind of temporary shelter and she baulked. I secretly hoped she'd be happy to stand there with a solid barrier to protect the plants, but I didn't dare ask.

 Returned two days later to find every pod obliterated, every leaf was now mulch and the stems were scarred.

 They all died within around 3 weeks, never producing another leaf or a pod. 

So.

  

I was recommended a product made by Growth Technologies in Western Australia by a Sandgroper from the hotpepper.com forum, and looked into it today. I spoke with their chemist, Carl, who provided me with not only the tech advice, but some general chilli advice that has completely turned about my train of thought.

I'm going to use their 'Herb Focus' 1lt (which can be bought from Bunnings in the liquid fert section) whilst they are seedlings and in pots, and then their 'Chilli Focus' 20lt

Given that I'll keep 2 of most varieties, I may as well experiment?

I was looking at huge pots, soil, and a heavy, cumbersome system, with some plants in earth at my brothers, and my ex-wife's (bless her)...yet I should be able to get a good result from a sort of outdoor hydro set-up that will allow me to have complete control over their well-being.

And eliminate storm damage.

So I'm going to experiment with a few varietals  - one in soil, one in a coconut peat mix with the Growth Tech products. If, one way or another I lose a few pods? Hell, I was never going to be able to store all the pods anyway. Its experimentation time, which makes it more fun!

Well this has been a waffle. 

 Potted a fair few new varieties today. My older 7Pot Yellows , came up finally (obviously too deep in the Jiffys) and most of the newer ones are up too. Put down some Red Habs and 'Big Red' that I think are on steroids. 100% with both. I want these varieties as good bases for sauces.

Got a couple of 7Pot 'Jonah' too. Few bits and pieces to come up, no White Habs (not fussed) and my Yellow Bhuts from Ajijoe that I will give all the time in the world...

...and these Peri Peri that trounce the competition. Lots of lateral growth and the best stems of all..

The story of a soldier..

Sunshine and Lollipops...

A few days of good sunshine is really making a difference....

This Naga is just powering along, as is the Red Congo below;

 I had some seeds arrive from AjiJoe in Pennsylvania (cheers mate!) yesterday too - some Yellow Bhut and another Im not 100% sure of yet. This week could also herald the arrival of some seeds from Patrick in Nebraska, and I'll call it quits at that.


Put down the Yellow 7Pots that Dave gave me last week as a back-up, as I hadn't seen anything from the originals I put down late August, and of course....yesterday one of the originals came up and another today!
It only leaves the White Habs to go (plus the newly planted seeds.
Happy days.

Sunshine and Lollipops - Lesley Gore

Grey skies above....

The weather is still mostly miserable. Grey gloomy days and a good amount of rain... the sprouts dont seem to mind tho', and there's some obvious growth.

 Most have their first 'true' leaves and some on their second set.

With these conditions, Ive noticed a brown fungus appear that I'm not too concerned with at the moment, but I'll look into it anyway.

Above the grey skies - Stone

Rollin' rollin' rollin'...

...and so it is. I was at the point where I felt everything was established enough to start 'culling' some. Not killing them, but giving them away.

Met Dave (Sci) from thehotpepper.com and had a great chat and shared some info - this was the main reason I wanted to give some stuff away, so as to get to meet chilliheads local to me. Dave brought me some 7 Pot Jonah and Yellow 7's (which I still haven't managed to raise from seed thus far) so Im grateful.

I also received some seeds from Moshman, incl. some monster Reds that are pretty mysterious!

On the growing front, its rollin' (as the title suggests). No sign of any Yellow 7s nor White Habs and Ive managed just two Barrackpore 7 pots...

 Elsewise, most seedlings are getting their first 'true' leaves and there's marked growth. Ambient temps around 25c of a day, a fair bit of rain. I'm looking forward to the next few weeks!

Rawhide - Dead Kennedys

Ya gotta keep 'em separated...

Basically, I am a cheap bastard. Well, not so much cheap as just downright broke.

Rather than sticking to the golden rule '1 seed per pot', I bought less Jiffy Pots and stuck 2-3 in each...and I suffered the consequences.

And did I mention I'm heavy-handed too?

Some of the pots pushed as many as 5 seedlings up...and they kept on coming....
There's lots of debate as to when the best time to separate is, I couldn't reach a decision and so I figured I'd experiment yesterday morning.
Found that most strains were still attached to the husk (which to my mind suggests safety, as transplant shock results from damage to/or exposure of roots.

Having said that, the Douglahs already had a good root system, and the Nagas... they gave me a headache! 1 big tap root that ran the depth of the jiffy.

So I did the rest of them this morning!

But I was gentle, patient and calm...haha ... some were not even sprouting fully and at last glance this afternoon, they were up and getting the twin leaves about to appear.

I'm happy...80 odd plants in total...with a few possibly coming through...but no White Habs yet.. and only one Barrackpore 7Pot.

Can't complain about that ;)

  

Come out and play - The Offspring

....back in 1965

Well I wasnt born in 1965, but I did get all the new sprouts into pots today. Bit early?

Nah, outdoor temps around 24 and full sun has these taking big steps..

Tray 1

Tray 2

 Tray 3

Just noticed a B'pore 7 is coming through in the tub, so only the White Habs to make an appearance.

Happy days....

Let There Be Rock - ACDC

In the beginning...

I started with 12 varieties this season, all of them chinense with one exception.
The seeds were sourced from Novacastrian and Aji Chombo from thehotpepper.com
Also have some pre-existing  pubescens, baccatum and chinense from last season, but I wont focus on them.

All seeds planted into 'Jiffy Pots' (3-4 per pot) on Monday 30 August, into 20lt tubs, and over a 4m heat cord designed for reptiles.

Tubs/cord were insulated from the cold ground with newspaper and the tubs themselves covered in it, whilst allowing ventilation.

Pots kept moist, ambient temps from 13-26C (55-78F), but with the heat cord, I was maintaining a fairly level 28C. Tub was humid and warm.

Tuesday 7 Sept saw the first Naga rise.

 Plus a few Douglah and a lone Red Congo....

Over the past few days, most has come up (close to a 90% success rate per pot), and only the Barrackpore 7s and White Habs yet to make an appearance.