Dawn's Pepper Pot Deux - GH RainForest (10/14/2017)

[drbanks]

This is a continuation of the former KinderPepperGarten, but refocused from growing recently sprouted plants to being a permanent home for a much smaller set of plants.


This bucket has 21 grow sites for small plants, but it's now transitioning to 6 grow sites for mature pepper plants.  I have moved the four most mature pepper plants to two other planters.


Carolina Reaper planted 08/19

Cayenne planted 08/22

Tabasco, planted 08/25

Korean Hot, planted 08/25

There are still four straggler small plants in this: Hinkelhatz, Fish, Black Betty and one other (I forget) that should be moved out sooner or later as space elsewhere becomes available.

[drbanks]

Carolina Reaper (Capsicum Chinense)


Purchased from Baker Creek Seeds

Believed to be the hottest pepper in the world, the Carolina reaper is a serious scorcher! For those extreme pepper eaters, Carolina reaper is a must-- for those less adventurous, they make a great conversation piece in the garden. These devious little peppers are fiery red with a little scythe shaped tail at the base of each fruit, hence the name reaper. The heat rating on these monsters is 1,569,300 Scovilles, in comparison the spicy habanero is a mere 100,000 scovilles!

Size of Plant: 5 ft. tall x 4 ft. wide

Size of Fruit: 1" to 3" tall with stinger x 1" to 3" wide

Days to Maturity: 70 to 90 days

[drbanks]

Cayenne Pepper (Capsicum Annuum):

The cayenne pepper, also known as the Guinea spice, cow-horn pepper, aleva, bird pepper, or, especially in its powdered form, red pepper, is a hot chili pepper used to flavor dishes. It is also sold whole or crushed as red pepper flakes.


Cayenne chiles are generally sold dried. The majority of cayenne chiles are used to make cayenne pepper. The word cayenne seems to come from kian, the name of a pepper among the Tupi Indians in what is now French Guiana and was named after either the Cayenne River or the capital of the country, Cayenne.

Days To Maturity: 55-80 days

Fruit Size: 2-4 inches

Spread: 24-36 inches

Height: 24-36 inches 
SHU: 20,000-60,000

[drbanks]

Tabasco (Capsicum Frutescens)

From the "Book of Knowledge" (aka Wikipedia):

The tabasco pepper is a variety of chili pepper species Capsicum frutescens with its origins in Mexico. It is best known through its use in Tabasco sauce, followed by peppered vinegar.


Like all C. frutescens cultivars, the tabasco plant has a typical bushy growth, which commercial cultivation makes stronger by trimming the plants. The tapered fruits, around 4 cm long, are initially pale yellowish-green and turn yellow and orange before ripening to bright red. Tabascos rate from 30,000 to 50,000 on the Scoville scale of heat levels, and are the only variety of chili pepper whose fruits are "juicy"; i.e., they are not dry on the inside. Tabasco fruits, like all other members of the C. frutescens species remain upright when mature, rather than hanging down from their stems.


Personally, I say they're rather reminiscent looking of Aerogarden's "Red Fire Hot"/"Thai" peppers except that we now know that the AG peppers are Numex Twilights (capsicum annuum).

Fruit size: 1½ to 2 inches

Matures: 80 days

Plant spacing: 18 to 24 inches apart

Plant size: 24 to 36 inches tall

Scoville heat units: 30,000 to 50,000 (hot)

[drbanks]

Korean Hot (Capsicum Annuum)

Purchased from: Refining Fire Chiles

Korean Hot Pepper-(Capsicum annuum)-This is the traditional style Korean pepper used in Korean cuisine. They use in many dishes and it is the pepper used to make Kimchee. It is similar to cayenne but has more flavor and less bite or burn. The Korean chile peppers are slender and smooth and 3-4 inches in length. They are used in stir fry, sauces and pickling. If you ever wanted to make authentic Kimchee with Cabbage or Cucumbers then this is the pepper to grow! The Korean Chile pepper plants are 2-3 feet tall and are very bushy and compact. Ideal for growing in pots!

SHU: 10,000 (meaning not really that hot for something with "Hot" in its name)

[drbanks]

Carolina Reaper:



Cayenne:


Tabasco:


Korean Hot:

[drbanks]

it's been two weeks since the last dump & refill on this one.  I guess I'm getting lazy.

In any event, it was four gallons down, and looked like it was getting to the low water line.

well, it was due, and I finally have all the pumps and hoses I need to drain and refill the thing without spilling water all over the place.  Still had to carry three 5 gallon buckets of water from the tub to my nute mixing station, so that was still heavy, but draining the pot and refilling was about as difficult as plugging pumps in to the wall

[drbanks]

[MaryL]

Those look great!

[drbanks]

I think I've completely lost control of these plants.  They're growing like weeds!  One of them, I think the cayenne, has sent a runner off a foot to the side and has turned vertical again from there.  The tabasco is completely dense, and I can't tell where it leaves off and the Korean Hot starts.

I've had to raise the light on these a few times this week.

[drbanks]

Dump & Refill day

Sent from my SM-N950U1 using Tapatalk

[MaryL]

The ugly underbelly of hydroponics :/.  I don’t like doing the rinse and refills.  I admire your tenacity with this chore.

[drbanks]

Maybe I've bit off too much.  Just heard a rustling noise, and now I see that the Cayenne plant just committed suicide.  seems to have snapped itself off clean at its base.  There's just one weak leaf remaining.

Sigh.

I guess that frees up some space.

[drbanks]

[MaryL]

Oh bummer.  That’s happened to me before, both in AG and outside.  But not with such a mature plant.

[drbanks]

Surprisingly, there's a piece of it growing back already.

[drbanks]

When I say "the plants really want to grow":  Three days ago, the Cayenne sheared off at its base.  I thought it was a total loss.

Here it is three days later:

[Shawn]

Not bad!

[drbanks]

I assume it has a pretty robust pre-made root system.

[drbanks]

well, starved of light, the Cayenne finally died completely, even after is valiant attempt to re-sprout after the main trunk committed suicide.

The Black Betty plant is starting to blossom, and the... I think Hinkelhatz (too crowded to see the label) is blossoming all over the place.  As are the Carolina Reapers and tabasco.