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Post by hwinpp on Oct 14, 2009 8:09:40 GMT
About two months ago I decided we needed our own chillis. So off we went to buy pots and earth and plant them with some dry chilli seeds we'd collected. They started growing fairly quickly and this was the progress they made in the last 6 weeks: This was supposed to be a quiz at first, with me posting a picture every couple of days until someone would recognise what it was and then win some kind of a prize, like a cyber kiss or so. Unfortunately catastrophe struck first. That's for tomorrow though
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Post by Deleted on Oct 14, 2009 10:38:23 GMT
So this is the mystery plant quiz I've been waiting for. What is in that very last pot to the right hw,the tall guy?
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Post by hwinpp on Oct 14, 2009 11:08:52 GMT
YES! And it went complete pants!
The mystery plant on the right is doing fine even if it looks bare. It's kaffir lime, we grow it for the leaves only. That's why on some pics it has a lot and on other pics it has few leaves. All in all it does look a bit mangy, doesn't it?
Would you have recognised the others as chilli plants?
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Post by Deleted on Oct 14, 2009 11:51:39 GMT
YES! And it went complete pants! The mystery plant on the right is doing fine even if it looks bare. It's kaffir lime, we grow it for the leaves only. That's why on some pics it has a lot and on other pics it has few leaves. All in all it does look a bit mangy, doesn't it? Would you have recognised the others as chilli plants? oh pity. I was looking forward to. Yes,I would have recognized as peppers after probably when a few leaves were in evidence. The kafir lime I probably would have guessed citrus family but not specifically the Kafir. I have tried to grow this twice,it went "complete pants" on me. Too humid here I think,not sure. Now I want to try again. The leaves are divine and I fancied I could do some serious bartering with them. Do not despair hw. keep trying. (or maybe I ought to wait for the rest of the story before I say this ) Now the thread is shrouded in a whole different mystery;what happened to hw;s perfectly healthy pepper plants?
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 14, 2009 14:28:37 GMT
They look happy and healthy in the pictures. I await the rest of the story with dread.
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Post by spindrift on Oct 15, 2009 15:59:09 GMT
The seedlings looked so promising that I was thinking of trying growing some myself. But now I'll wait to hear about the catastrophe.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 15, 2009 22:45:28 GMT
C'mon hw, give it up!
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Post by hwinpp on Oct 16, 2009 10:43:49 GMT
Sorry, I completely forgot! More tomorrow.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 16, 2009 10:46:44 GMT
Incorrigible tease you are hw!
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Post by hwinpp on Oct 17, 2009 2:40:53 GMT
Here's the pitiful end: We've been thinking about what happened. At first we suspected birds or ants. So we moved the pots to the other side and put them into plates that we filled with water. The nibbling of the buds stopped but the leaves at first turned dark brown, then fell off. Too much water perhaps? So we raised the pots out of the water and my girlfriend planted a stalk of lemon grass in each pot to 'help' the chillis along. And there seems to be hope again. There are new green buds on the chilli plants and new plants are just now turning up in the earth. Who's got a very green thumb and can give us advice?
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 17, 2009 3:11:43 GMT
The poor things were waterlogged, HW. Those plates filled with water created mini-swamps with sour soil in the bottom of the pots. Get rid of the plates and let the pots set right on the bricks.
When the new plants have a couple of sets of true leaves, gently transplant them into individual pots. Nice as the peppers looked at first, there are far too many in one pot. Each one should have its own.
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Post by hwinpp on Oct 17, 2009 4:16:04 GMT
What, that's the explanation?
I've lifted the plant pots out of the water, so they must be drying.
Quite an anti climax, your explanation, Bixa... I was hoping you'd come up with mystery bugs and equally mysterious techniques in combating them!
Ok, ok, nothing to see, move on people...
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Post by Deleted on Oct 17, 2009 10:36:36 GMT
You guys did the right thing by having the bricks under the pots to allow for adequate drainage but the saucers underneath when filled up with H20 created a bog. A pretty good rule of thumb about watering is to make sure a plant never completely dries out nor stay constantly moist. There are exceptions to this but a fairly common constant. The pepper plants were very forgiving I see and want to stay around. If there's any brown or piqued looking stems,don't hesitate to just snip them back.They will regenerate new growth. The lemongrass should be planted separately as the root system on those guys will crowd the peppers. They'll be fine hw. P.S. do you know what kind of chilis these are?
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 17, 2009 13:57:01 GMT
To see if your pots need water, dig the first section of your forefinger into the soil. If you don't hit any moist dirt, go ahead and water.
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Post by fumobici on Oct 17, 2009 17:01:17 GMT
Most watering issues are overwatering or poor drainage issues rather than underwatering in nature. I say most plants don't mind being dry to the point of the leaves even losing some turgididity- in fact I consider that a reasonable signal to water. Rather than poking a finger into the soil to assess its state, I recommend picking the container up and making the call based on the weight. Sometimes if the drainage is at all compromised, the top few inches of soil can be dry to the touch but the soil in the container bottoms can still be waterlogged. Also once any overwatering/drainage issues have been diagnosed in a container plant I strongly recommend repotting with fresh soil as those can damage the soil's microbiota, wash away any water soluable nutrients and/or unacceptably lower the soil pH.
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 17, 2009 17:58:33 GMT
I concur. Everything you say is absolutely true. I suggested the finger test as a sort of training tool to be more aware of how much water the plant is getting and how much it needs. One has to sort of develop a finesse for the weight test.
Some of the "rich black soils" sold as potting soils are almost guaranteed to hold too much water in the bottom of the pot where it can't be seen.
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Post by hwinpp on Oct 20, 2009 7:09:56 GMT
Ok, we're pretty level headed about this, knowing the solution has been found. I think I'll buy more pots for the other stuff.
Will post pics once I get the green light.
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Post by bixaorellana on Nov 8, 2009 2:03:57 GMT
Well? I'll show you mine if you show me yours. These are the seedlings from a nice little round hot pepper that volunteers in a friend's yard and does quite well. I put the seeds from one pepper in a pot, and now that they're turning into real plants, I'm potting them up individually:
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Post by hwinpp on Nov 11, 2009 10:03:57 GMT
Ok, one plant survived and is doing quite well. Will show you mine tomorrow.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jan 20, 2010 18:42:20 GMT
Well??!
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Post by Deleted on Jan 20, 2010 21:34:57 GMT
All my peppers "bought it' in the freeze. HW,you may be way ahead of us by now...Fortunately, I bought a bunch of those weird peppers that I posted in the market thread. If I could only remember where I put them. I'm also going to scope out seed sources in Miami. Maybe find something exotic I haven't tried.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jan 20, 2010 21:54:06 GMT
Casimira, if you find datil pepper seeds, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE get me some! I'll bet you'll find some great stuff in Miami. Will they let you take actual plants on the airplane?
About peppers and other plants in pots -- When I went away for nine days recently I knew most of my potted plants wouldn't survive in the dry hot winds we'd been having. Accordingly, I put all the ones that weren't in huge pots into the shower stall in my bathroom. There's a skylight there, so I figured they'd have enough light to survive in the time I'd be gone. I watered them well, and they all made it through nicely.
Oh, and HW ..................... Well???!!
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Post by imec on Jan 21, 2010 1:25:45 GMT
Maybe their last chillis...
Very hot chili lands teens in hospital 200 times hotter than normal By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Bookmark and Share
BERLIN - Officials in Germany say eight teenagers were hospitalized after a test of courage in which they drank chili sauce more than 200 times hotter than normal.
The Red Cross in the southern city of Augsburg says that 10 boys, aged 13 and 14, year drank the sauce Wednesday morning, apparently in school.
The German news agency DAPD quoted the Red Cross as saying the boys complained of feeling sick, and eight were taken to a hospital. They were to be kept in overnight for observation.
The Red Cross said that on the Scoville scale, which measures the hotness of sauce, the sauce measured 535,000 - compared to 2,500 for normal Tabasco sauce.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 21, 2010 2:47:27 GMT
WTF were they thinking?,jeez. Bixa,will look for datil seeds. I don't know about current plant transport regulations or not and kind of don't want to know....too dangerous a prospect. I think my husband is going to make me watch "Adaptation" before I leave .(sucky movie BTW) Anyone ever heard of jolokia peppers? An ad for is showing up on the top of the screen,"world's hottest peppers"
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Post by bixaorellana on Jan 21, 2010 5:47:45 GMT
Yeah -- jolokias are a type of habanero. Okay. After I confidently tapped out that sentence, I decided I'd better look it up. They're interesting because: "It is a naturally occurring interspecific hybrid originating in the Assam region of northeastern India. ... There has been disagreement whether it is a Capsicum frutescens[3] or a Capsicum chinense; DNA tests show it is an interspecies hybrid, mostly C. chinense with some C. frutescens genes." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhut_Jolokia_pepperget firefox -- get rid of the effing ads!Listen, if T. makes you watch Adaptation, you make him drink jalokia pepper sauce. That couldn't be any more painful than having to watch that horrible piece of cinematic swill. Actually, the capsicum could not possible damage those boys, although it probably made them extremely uncomfortable.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jan 21, 2010 17:59:06 GMT
Ok, one plant survived and is doing quite well. Will show you mine tomorrow. I am simply going to be forced to bump this thread until we get a gander at the Cambodian capsicums!
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Post by Deleted on Feb 1, 2010 18:51:56 GMT
I thought HW was going to start planting radishes instead.
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Post by fumobici on Feb 1, 2010 18:57:37 GMT
Radishes are pretty foolproof, not that chilies are that hard to grow in an appropriate climate.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 2, 2010 3:09:19 GMT
Radishes are pretty foolproof, not that chilies are that hard to grow in an appropriate climate. Yes,but with radishes you have to keep reseeding them after you harvest. A properly grown chili pepper plant will continue to fruit indefinitely.(At least here anyway...) Perhaps HW is out scouring the neighborhood for chili pepper plants to photograph. ;D
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 2, 2010 5:11:41 GMT
I believe he is still in Viet Nam, although probably champing at the bit to get home and transplant and photograph his pepper plants.
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