2020 Pepper Season: Week 7 Update
In keeping with the every-other-week updates, here is the latest bit of news on the pepper plants. Before we get into the details, however, there are a good number of photos below. You have been warned.
The early season rains have held off in recent days as the heat has crept to a consist 85-92° F range. And the plants appear to be loving the heat as all but a handful are sporting a decent amount of immature fruit and still blossoming like crazy. We don’t have anything near ripe as of yet, but that shouldn’t be too far off.
Raised Bed #1
This bed is affectionately known as “Wonka’s Nightmare” due to the chocolate superhot varieties that are its residents. Of the eight plants here, only the Chocolate Primo and the Chocolate Reaper are a step behind with only a couple of pods between them. The Bhutlah, Ghost Jami, Kraken and Caramel Scorponero, as you will see below, are just packed with little fruit.
I can only imagine the pain that is coming my way after checking out the little fellas slowly growing on this set of plants. I mean just look at the Chocolate Bhutlah and Chocolate Ghost Jami in the next two photos.
While those two plants have plenty of young pods on them, the number does not compare to the amount of fruit sported by the Kraken and Scorponero plants. These things are just packed!
Pots and Raised Bed #2
We’ll move on to a couple of stand-alone pots that are framing bed #2. The next two photos are of the Burgundy 7-Pot and the Mini Olive Rocoto. The pods on the first are just gnarly looking while the Rocoto is still one of my favorite of the season in terms of its looks. From the leaves, to the purple blossoms, the plant looks amazing.
The eight plants in bed #2 are at a variety of stages. The Bih Jolokia and Bhut x Neyde plants are the furthest along in terms of production and growth. My Bih Jolokia x Sugar Rush Peach and Pink Tiger x Bhut are at the opposite end of the spectrum, having just recently started producing blossoms. Below are the standard Bih and the Bhut/Neyde cross (which looks awesome, by the way).
Bed #3
This bed houses our Hatch, Jalapeno, Yellow Murupi, Lemon Spice Jalapeno and a couple of color variants of the Bonda Ma Jacques. The Hatch and Jalapeno varieties took the early lead with growth and production as expected for plants of the lower-level heat ilk. The Murupi just started coming on strong recently and the two Bonda Ma Jacques plants just started blossoming. Below are, in order, the Hatch, Craig’s Grande Jalapeno and Murupi.
Self-Watering Buckets
It’s hard to believe, looking at the next photo, that there are ten plants under that canopy. The plants here are spaced about 8-10 inches apart and form a dense jungle of leaves.
Of the plants here, most have, at the least, a couple of small pods hanging from their branches. Others, like the Ghostly Jalapeno has gone through some serious blossom drop issues. I’m not sure what’s going on there, but it’s starting to hold onto them more. Below you can see the CGN 21500 and the appropriately named Apocalypse Scorpion.
All in all, despite the late start to the season, the plants are looking good. They are now growing at a good rate and starting to produce some serious looking pods. Now, I just need to be patient and let them do their thing for the rest of the season.