Got them separated now, enjoying their first day outdoors in dappled sunlight.

Plants are looking good Josh. Now they have room to shoot up!

Your peppers look awesome!!!

Thank you!

It was 32F overnight, but if it warms up today, I'll try to get them back outdoors for a few hours.

It's been raining here for the past few days.

Josh

Decided to get a new batch of hot sauce fermenting today.
This one is half Red Ghost and half Peach Ghost, along with elephant garlic and yellow onion. This should be significantly hotter than the Garlic Thai sauce I made last.

Update: March 3rd

Thai chiles are already making buds, which I will remove.

Also, we're at Day 10 of the Garlic Ghost hot sauce fermentation...this jar is bubbling from top to bottom and the escaping gasses smell heavenly. I can't wait to try it.

Plants are looking good Josh. Starting to develop laterals. Did you top them? The ferment looks painfully delicious!

Thanks!

No topping unless the seedlings grow too fast and I can't raise the lights.

Josh

Seedling update....took them out for the second time...

Looking good! The doubles at the bottom the Thai's? You gonna separate them, or leave as twins?

Rdback, those are Thai's, indeed, but they are singles...they've just split into that 'Y' growth pattern. Growing super fast, already hitting the lights.

Josh

I potted my seedlings into their final container yesterday, since the weather has been so nice...and, being Earth Day, I figured why not jump on that novelty bandwagon. I potted the Thai chiles in the same container, as I usually do, and I sprinkled Sluggo on each pot to hopefully prevent the overnight pests from marring my perfectly pristine plants.

Plants look nice and healthy Josh. Now it's explosion time!

Yes! This week we have been hitting 79F every day!

Next week I will resume fertilization, and that should kick them off big time.

Josh

Thanks, Black Star!

I'm pretty sure that I overheated the Hungarian seeds when I dehydrated the pods...oops! Anyhow, I just bought 3 starter plants from a local nursery, so I will be growing Hungarian's after all. They are nowhere near as developed as my own starter plants, but they're C. annuums so they will grow quickly and catch up.

I'm thinking I'll do the first fertilization (since repotting) today. I also need to make more mix and get these Hungarians into containers.

Josh

Almost forgot!

My brother in law gave me some Chiltepin seeds a couple weeks ago, and asked me to start some (even though it's late in the season). I'll keep one seedling to grow, and he can have the rest. They will be overwinters for sure.

Josh

Happy May Day!

The first Thai chile of the season has set!

Hey Josh, I remember your posts from way back in the early 2000s here on Gardenweb. I think you were the first one that I saw that would bury your pots in the ground or grow them in mesh milk crates in the ground. Do you still do this at all or just regular containers? Also what kind of mix were you using for the small seedlings? Looked almost like pure wood. Thanks!

Hey, K M! Thanks!

I don't grow peppers in the ground anymore, just not worth it. So, yeah, all in containers now.

I'm basically using the same bark-based mix for my seedlings that I use in the final containers. By using the same mix, the transition is really stressfree for the plants. My mix is 70% bark, 15% perlite, and 15% potting mix.

I am growing some watermelons in a half-buried container this season. I thought this would be helpful keeping pests from messing with my melons. I plan on growing the vines up the fence, and then tying the melons in fabric cradles. I also some pots sunk into the ground for my basil plantings and a few of my tomatoes.

These are the Chiltepin seeds I started late April. Got them into an hour of sun today, and I've begun fertilizing, so I'm hoping this warm weather will help them put on growth. If there are any aphids in the area, they don't stand a chance!

@greenman28;

"I don't grow peppers in the ground anymore, just not worth it."

Why not? (I grow all of mine in containers too, because I live on a clay slope full of redwood roots. )

Hello!

I gave up in-ground growing because the soil remains too cool in the Spring, and would delay my start by nearly a month. Containers are much warmer, so the rootzone of the peppers is much happier much sooner. I also like to rotate my peppers and move them around for sun exposure if need be. And lastly, there are lots of gophers here that undermine plants. If you remember, I used to plant in buried pond-baskets to combat the gophers, but it's just not worth all the hassle.

Josh

@greenman28 NorCal 7b/8a, I see. Not sure if that was a call out. I am really trying to make some good choices this season. I have so many frozen and dried hots, the only superhot I'm growing is an overwintered scotch bonnet from my MIL "Jean's '' seed. I am trying some Aji Amarillo's I liked last year, and keep working on a 4.5 year old overwintered rocoto.

Nice!

I gave up on overwintering plants, although I will be carrying these Chiltepin plants through the winter. I think they'll do better than the hot varieties. Rocoto and Manzano really do overwinter well, given that they prefer cooler conditions.

For the past half-year I've been offloading my old stock of dried peppers, starting with saucing a bunch of pods, and giving lots away to friends so they could make their own powders.

Josh

First Hungarian Wax pod spotted today...probably going to pop this one off....

Double-potted container:

Single-potted container:

The Thai is taking off, and the Ghosts are plodding along at their usual pace.

My seedgrown plants are 3.5 months old now.

"The Thai is taking off. Hungarian Wax pod spotted today. .........probably going to pop this one off" Why do you want to pop that one off?

Nice growth spurt Josh. Plants are looking great!

Thanks!

We had a heatwave for a week, then a few days of cool weather....overnight of 43F.

Now we're back to upper 70F's, so hopefully the plants will resume growth.

Josh

Nanelle, I removed that first pod to encourage the plant to grow bigger first. Now I am letting the pods set.

I missed this pod on a Golden Ghost pepper plant!

Very excited to have superhots setting so early in the season. I'm a full month ahead of last year.

The Golden Ghost pepper plants are absolutely loaded....

Very nice @greenman28 NorCal 7b/8a

Thank you! It's been a great and early season so far!

Plants are looking good Josh! You'll be picking pods in no time.

Hey! Been picking some nice pods, and soon I'll be overwhelmed with pods!

Had my first ripe Ghost on the 22nd, which is a record for me.

{Edit: forgot to post the Ghost!] So, the "Golden Ghosts" did not hold phenotype, so it looks as though I'll just be swimming in Red Ghosts this season. These will be good to make into sauce or give away to friends and enemies. They are also smoother than my other Ghosts, not fit for seed harvesting.

Hungarians are loaded as never before, and beginning to ripen.

What will you do with them? I tried to control myself this year, at least for the hot ones. Here's mine. For some reason one of my Fresno plants has peppers that aren't hot. Same with Hungarian Hot wax. Those were going to be "hot enough".

My not so hots

Nanelle, I'll be making lots of hot sauce, some more jam, and then freezing and drying peppers. I've been trading my backstock of dried peppers for beef jerky and honey, which is a great trade I think. The Thai chiles will become Garlic Thai hot sauce, and will also be used in Asian dishes. The Hungarians will all be smoked and ground into smoked paprika.

Josh

Nice trade! The Hungarians are hot wax? I've been trying to figure out if thick or thin walled "paprika type " make a better paprika for drying.

Yeah, Hungarian Hot Wax peppers. These ones are thinner in general, so they smoke and dry better. But for shear bulk, using some thick walled peppers make sense.

Pulled another Ghost this evening.

Ghosts are loaded and ripening fast now....

Hungarians are loaded and ripening....

And I finally have some of those late-start Chiltepin pods setting.

What a season....

I pulled 30 ripe pods off one of the Ghost pepper plants a couple days ago.

Oh my ( blink , blink). May the devil have horns.

HU

It's going to be a nightmare!

Nice pickins Josh!

Today I harvested the last Ghost pepper plant, which yielded 82 peppers, bringing my overall Ghost pepper total to 306 pods. I pulled another round of Hungarians, too. 20 more pods to be smoked and powdered. I still haven't done anything with the Thai chile, but I did eat my first Chiltepin pod today, and it was gawdamned hot.

Your pepper plants look fantastic and so productive for a smallish container. Do you add any fertilizer or dolomite to your bark based mix? How do you like to fertilize during the season?

Thanks for help. I also prefer a bark based mix for peppers. Now I am trying to figure out the best way to fertilize.