Chilli Growing 2012


Growing Diary 2012
This year is the turn of the Hottest in the World varieties along with some old favourites. Growing year >>>

Morouga Scorpion Yellow: (Capsicum chinense) The Trinidad Scorpion Morouga chilli originates from the Caribbean island of Trinidad. It is thought to a cross between scotch bonnet or Red Savina and the Trinidad Scorpion. The plant can grow to a height of around 100cm and roughly 100 cm wide. The pods turn from a green to a yellow from mid-late summer. Naga Morich "King": (Capsicum chinense) Originates from Nagaland, the plant grows at the height of 120 cm bearing up to 150 fruits. The flowers are white, 2-3 at a node, and fruits are blood red in colour, conical measures about 60 cm in length and1-2 cm width. Heat Value 1,041,427 Scoville Heat Unit. The Naga Morich 'snake or serpent chilli' is one of the world's most respected hot chilli peppers. Naga Viper: (Capsicum chinense) Another strain of the Naga, still to be stabilized as a new strain but regarded as one of the hottest in the world. Crosses of the the Bhut Jolokia, with two other varieties, the Naga Morich and Trinidad Scorpion, gave this variety. The Naga Viper record is set at 1,382,117 Scoville Heat Units (SHU) Trinidad Scorpion "Butch T": (Capsicum chinense) Another strain of the Trinidad Scorpion coming from a Butch Taylor of New Jersey, where the pods were more consistent in shape and most had well defined Scorpion tail. This Trinidad Scorpion record is set at 1,473,700 Scoville Heat Units (SHU)

Feb 5: Was contemplating starting them off today, but after 4-5 inches of snow overnight I think it can wait. The Vitopod needs a clean and disinfect, but far to cold to go and get it and clean up, next week may have another go, back to logging to keep the fire going. Feb 19: Seeds have been sown into plugs and set in the Vito Pod to germinate. Temp set at 25C but won't be able to hold that at night at the moment. Few extras are Padrons, Serrano's, Lemon Drop, Medusa, Aurora and Habanero Trinity.	Feb 25: Signs of life today for all the varieties, King Naga and Naga Viper first to show. Even though we had a frost again this morning and a very cold conservatory the Vito Pod keeps them warm dropping to about 18C at the lowest. March 17: All this years new seed varieties had germinated in 5-7 days and now on first true leaves, while some of our year or 2 year old packets and saved seeds have taken up to today which is just about 4 weeks.	plugs into 3 inch pots
March 18: Horrible wet day outside so in the greenhouse potting on most of the plugs into 3 inch pots. As there is no root disturbance with these foam like plugs the plants do not wilt when transposed. A bit of loose soil can be washed off the leaves as they are given a slight watering and back in propagator as nights are now frosty again. Greenhouse Sensations have these 3 inch rockwool caps this year and should keep the tops of the rockwool from getting too grotty, pest and diseases at bay, and moisture in.	Cube Caps	plugs into 3 inch rockwool cubes
April 19: Can't wait any longer, NFT filled up, pump cleaned and descaled after a stuttering start. Amazing little pump still going after many years and takes only 6W. Rest of plants now greenhouse bound, dreaded whitefly on soil of a couple but they look dead (the whitefly), too cold for them as well.	April 29: Been cold and wet now for 2 weeks and there's hardly any progress on plants, even the small amount of whitefly has died and fallen to the soil from the leaves. Hydro NFT is looking even worse as there's been no progress on these small plants, should have left them in soil and washed off for NFT when much bigger.	2 month old and slow growing
GS NFT Hydro System ( GS200 5 plants)	3 x 20 watt LED strip lights	May 06: Still no let up of the cold wet weather so have decided to add a bit of light at the end of the day with these 20w LED strip lights from GreenLightsLED and have put them on a timer. Was going to pot on all the plants today but have decided to leave another week as forecast is more rain for 4 days and a frost tomorrow morning.
Quadgrow	June 1: Plants all potted on into a mixture of good compost and perlite. The quadgrows all contain the hot Naga strains as does the NFT 5 planter. Other favourites include Lemon Drop, Serrano, Fatalli, Anaheim and Padron. Not much watering to do at the moment as the weather is so cold.	July 19: Plenty of grey sky and rain for almost a month now which isn't helping growing. Whitefly and greenfly now a massive problem even with constant soapy sprays, will end up doing a aphid wipeout with Provado soon. GreenHouseSensations quadgrows are doing well for foliage growth as the NFT was slowed by persistent aphid attack on the Nagas. Time to put a few strings in to hold the plants up now as they are getting to the lean over stage.
Quadgrow	NFT	First of the croppers are the Padrons and the Serrano's which are growing in pots, so have started taking the Padrons before they get too big for a quick tapas snack. July 26: We've just had a week of sun now and all the plants have come to life, all the Naga strains are flowering and have small fruits starting to develop. The Quadgrows are now consuming at least 10 litres of nutrients a week and NFT just had a complete bath change. Aug 2: Weather turned back to grey and rain, time for a greenhouse tidy
Padron	Serrano	Aug 11: Just picked a load of Padrons, Anaheims and Serranos which are best picked green. I think a few Serrano's will go in a home made guacamole, while the Anaheim's can be grilled and stuffed. Among the hotter types the Trinidad Morouga Scorpion Yellow iis doing the best for size with plenty on the bushes. Lemon Drops are doing their usual and starting to flop all over the place so plenty of tying up on these to be done. Watering is daily now and filling up nutient tanks every few days with the warmer weather and thirsty big plants.
Serrano	Lemon Drop	Morouga Scorpion Yellow
Sep 10: Slow month a few sunny days but generally gloomy as there is plenty of foilage growing like mad but slow fruiting. First to ripen are the Morouga Yellows and the Lemon Drops. Soon to time to start de leafing a bit to get more air and light through the plants.	Morouga Scorpion Yellow	Lemon Drop
Naga Morich "King"	Naga Viper	Trinidad Scorpion "Butch T"
Fatalli	Oct 10: This has to be one of the slowest years of growing for us. The only ones that have done really well are the Vitpod plants which have a constant source of water and nutrients below their soil pots. The NFT has suffered from poor starting roots and then aphid attack so has not really recovered. Pots plants have done well. and are now harvesting from all plants now. One last time top up and deleafing to help with light levels, better circulation and trying to keep damp and mould at bay for as long as possible.	Medusa
Aurora	King Naga	Naga Viper
Morouga Scorpion Yellow	Trinidad Scorpion "Butch T"	Lemon Drop