Nick's Outdoor Peppers 2019

[MaryL]

My, what a journey you’ve been on with these seeds!  Thank goodness you started so early or you’d really be in a jam by now. I have only just planted my pepper seeds, very late. No signs of life yet after 12 days. Your plants look great. Very healthy. 

My first year doing peppers in an EB I followed their recommendation of 6 plants per box but I don’t do that anymore. They were fine, but they grew long and skinny as they competed for space and light. I now only do 4 per box. 6 will work though, as they say. Just a personal preference for me. I’m sure the type of pepper plant could make a difference too.

[nick]

These are very happy in their EarthBox home! I managed to harden them and get them planted about two weeks ago so that they were outdoors while I was out of town.



On the top left is a Carolina Reaper. On the bottom left is a Golden Habanero. Top right is a second Carolina Reaper. Bottom right is the Aji Charapita.



Second photo is from the other side with the Reapers at the bottom.

ideal sunny location. great project,nick.

[Shawn]

Beauties

[nick]

Well it’s been a month since they moved outside and it seems like they might just like their EarthBox home.

On the closest left is the Golden Habanero. On the right is the Aji Charipita.



And here you can see the two Reapers which continue to grow better than any other plant I’ve planted thus far, indoors or out. So funny to me after all the trouble I had getting them to sprout.

[Shawn]

They look wonderful.  And yes, patience is key LOL

[nick]

The Aji Charapita plant has already produced a half dozen or so ripe peppers. On first bite they have a quick burst of heat but the flavor takes over immediately after. It’s a completely unique flavor to me. Never tasted a pepper quite like them.



Meanwhile the plants all continue to do well. I can see many peppers forming on the three other plants. I’m going to have Reapers coming out of my ears.

Here are the Hab and Aji plants.



And the Reapers.



I added the 3 ft. EarthBox trellis last week so I could tie them down a bit. Storms can get pretty serious here during the Summer months and I didn’t want to lose them to wind.

[Shawn]

Beauties

I love the growth, and I love the colors of your EB's.

[nick]

Jun 23, 2019 12:38:06 GMT -5 @cornne said:

I love the growth, and I love the colors of your EB's.

Thanks!

My wife is a purple person so I always go with purple when it’s an option on things I’m buying.

nick, for the EB, are you using the organic packets? I tried that and got fly maggots and was told it is the norm! It was so creepy!I just get the regular kits now. But your growth looks lush-organic.Nice sunny location too!!

[Shawn]

I should break out the EB but I need the mix and packets.  Ugh, maybe next year.

[nick]

Jun 23, 2019 20:38:13 GMT -5 @cornne said:

nick, for the EB, are you using the organic packets? I tried that and got fly maggots and was told it is the norm! It was so creepy!I just get the regular kits now. But your growth looks lush-organic.Nice sunny location too!!

I’m using the regular kit. I’ve got no preference when it comes to that sort of thing. Definitely would want to deal with maggots though. Gross.

It’s funny that you say it’s sunny there. It is, but it’s literally the one spot on our back patio that gets enough sun. Before the EarthBoxes arrived I spent a solid week using masking tape to mark off the location of the sun at various points during the day. The trees in the back yard keep most of it shaded for long stretches of the day. I found that the row of patio pavers they’re sitting on got about 6.5 hours of sun, so that’s where they went. The peppers seem to love it because they fall into shade around 3:30-4 every afternoon.

[nick]

I’ve got plenty of peppers on the way!

Golden Habaneros



Carolina Reapers



The Aji Charipita has started ripening in larger numbers now. These peppers are deeeelicious.

[Shawn]

Your plants are looking wonderful!

Just gorgeous, Nick!

[nick]

Quick photo updates...







So here’s an interesting thing you might notice from the last two photos. I had two plants from the Reaper seeds I got from Shawn. The plants have grown to very different heights and now that the peppers are ripe, I’m fairly certain only one is a Reaper.

The second photo above shows the mystery plant. The third shows a pepper from the real Reaper plant, which looks very much like a Reaper pepper. The peppers from the other plant are the red peppers in this photo (which also features yellow peppers from my Aji Charipita and eggplants from my Patio Baby):

[Shawn]

Everything looks wonderful!  

As for the reapers.  They were from two different vendors.  The first batch were Carolina Ed's.  The Second was a different vendor so can be different in shape and size depending on the batch of seeds they were harvested from.  At least that is what I have been told.

Regardless, looks GREAT!   MY reapers were loaded with peppers and looked like yours but since passed it on to people who are caring for it and using them, how I have no clue.

[nick]

I have made SO many sauces and dehydrated SO many peppers from these plants. Good grief. I’ve even shipped peppers to friends and family.

I love it. It’s been a lot of fun and I’ll probably stick to hot peppers outdoors next season.

The plants themselves got quite a bit bigger than I had expected. 😂



Loved watching the Reapers transition late in the season.



They end up looking so devilish and it’s completely appropriate.

deadly!