Refining Fire Chiles Blog

Trinidad Butch T Scorpion

2011-10-14T00:02:00.000-07:00

For Seeds, Plants and Fresh or Dried Chiles go to www.superhotchiles.com
Well it's 2011 and harvest is almost over so I thought I would share all my photos of My Trinidad Butch T Scorpions. But first lets clear some things up. Butch Taylor is a wonderful man who shared so many Scorpion seeds with so many people and never charged a dime for them. He put his name on these packets of seeds he gave away. Great guy! But the Butch T is not a new variety or strain. Yes I can trace back my Scorpions to people who got seeds from him so I call mine Butch T Scorpions. But they are not anything but Trinidad Scorpions. Back in 2002 Butch got seeds from a hobbyist in New Jersey. A few years before that the guy in New Jersey got seeds from a nursery in Maryland. The couple in Maryland got their seeds from vacations they spent in Trinidad. Butch is a hobbyist and a sauce maker. Not a botanist, horticulturist or scientist. So some media reports that Butch genetically created this new World Record Pepper. Well I have a bridge in New York for sale too. Anyways here are my 2010 and 2011 Trinidad Butch T Scorpion photos for your enjoyment!

My 2010 Chile Garden Journey

2011-02-16T21:52:00.000-08:00

It has been months since I have written and some of you may wonder why. Well it's been busy. In 2009 I grew a little over 400 plants for fresh chiles and about 30 for new rare seed stock. I also sold about 400 plants. So what happened in 2010 that got me so busy? I planned growing of over 40o plants for seed stock on 18 separate properties. Then grow over 800 plants for fresh chiles. So it was a little increase over 2009. Also managed to grow and sell over 1,000 plants. So I know it's 2011 and I am already germinating seed but let me show you the 2010 growing journey.

First the germinating

What you see here is a large heated Reptile cage with grow lights. Since my garage gets cold I had to create a warmer environment. Here are two more photos.

So whats in these seed trays for 2010.

Black Habanero- A medium heat long chocolate habanero type with a raisin like flavor.

Black Stinger-Another small chocolate habanero type that has a small little tail or stinger.

Aji Chombo-A nice very hot Habanero type from Panama.

Ugandan Red Habanero- A very hot red variety from Uganda, Africa.

Trinidad Moruga Scorpion-Some say this is the hottest Trinidad Pepper. We shall see.

Trinidad 7 Pot Jonah-A larger red 7 Pot variety that has heat like a Bhut Jolokia and a nice fruity flavor.

Trinidad 7 Pot CARDI or SR strain- Some say this is the true original strain and it's deadly hot.

Yellow Bhut Jolokia-A nice yellow variation with more heat than other elongated varieties like the Fatalii.

Trinidad 7 Pot Doughlah-Finally the rarest of the 7 Pot chiles. Nice chocolate color too.

Orange Scorpion-Actually this is not a true Scorpion but probably a cross between a Congo Yellow and Trinidad Scorpion.

Roatan Pumpkin Habanero- A fruity but extremely hot orange Pumpkin looking habanero type from Roatan Island, Honduras.

Congo Yellow Trinidad- The dark yellow smoky flavored Congo Pepper from Trinidad.

Pinquita De Mono-They say this is the hottest Aji type from Peru.

Giant White Habanero-A large white variety. Pods get huge!

Devil's Tongue-Looks like the Fatalii but has a sweeter flavor and more heat.

Also some favorites we grew in previous years like Trinidad Scorpion, Chocolate Habanero, Fatalii, Scotch Bonnet, Naga Morich, Antillais Red Caribbean, Bhut Jolokia, Chocolate Bhut Jolokia, Trinidad 7 Pot, Jamaican Yellow Mushroom, Jamaican Red Mushroom, Peter Pepper Red and ChiliTepin.

Here are some pictures of the chile plants in late February in my cage that I converted into a indoor greenhouse.

These are not the only plants I have a whole bunch in trays under light in other areas of my garage. This group in my garage now is my first wave and consists of just under 1,000 plants total. The next two pictures you will see are these same plants but further along in late March.

Well that's all for now. My next post will show you the large garden of over 800 plants I grew for fresh chiles. Later posts will showcase some of the newer varieties like Trinidad Moruga Scorpion and 7 Pot Douglah.

Trinidad Yellow 7 Pod-Yellow 7 Pot

2010-07-08T21:41:00.000-07:00

Growing a garden of 1,400 plants scattered on 18 properties can take up ones time. Especially when I am a single parent that also has a full time job and is active in my Church. So now I post pictures of my Yellow 7Pot from Trinidad. Also called the Yellow 7 Pod. It has a very high heat level but not quite as hot as the red 7 Pot or Chocolate 7 Pot also called Douglah. The pepper pods can get up to a half an ounce or 14 grams. I like the amazing shapes myself. The Trinidad Yellow 7 Pod has a nice pineapple like flavor. I don't think anyone could fail to make a good hot sauce out of this one. Currently I only have seeds but might sell plants next year. Well here are my 2009 Trinidad Yellow 7 Pod pictures. I hope you all enjoy them. My next post will be showing you my growing pictures from this year.

This was the first picture taken around Christmas 2009. I planted my Yellow 7 Pot plants late so I had to make a mini greenhouse to protect them from cold. Believe it or not I harvested pods from these plants up until February 2010!

Don't Forget to click on the pics below for an enlarged close-up view. Use your back button to navigate back to blog.

Another picture from December 2009
Same chile but a different view

Now the Yellow 7 Pod is getting bigger as January 2010 begins!

Trinidad Yellow 7 Pot
Another large Yellow 7 Pod

Nice fat pod!
Notice the ant stuck to the pod. He was probably assisting aphids to eat my plants. Die ants Die!!

See how the leaves have fallen off the plants due to aphids and cooler weather.

This Yellow 7 Pod weighed about 13 grams.

Now you see the wrinkly texture in the skin of the Yellow 7 Pot that is more common in the red variations of 7 Pot chiles.

Trinidad Yellow 7 Pod

Nice picture of color transition in Yellow 7 Pot.

A green pod that will be awesome once it turns yellow.

These pods ripened about mid-January 2010.

Nice close up of Trinidad Yellow 7 Pod. Notice the 7 Pod texture.

Another nice picture of the color changing on a Trinidad Yellow 7 Pot.

Trinidad Yellow 7 Pod
Trinidad Yellow 7 Pot

One of my best photos showing the skin texture of a Yellow 7 Pot. And this was done with a 6 megapixel 5 yr old kodak!
Same pod as above but a different view.

Another large Trinidad Yellow 7 Pot

Nice pair of Trinidad Yellow 7's

Another close-up Yellow 7 Pod

Same chile as above

Nice bowl full of Trinidad Yellow 7 Pod

Here is one of the Yellow 7 Pots that was almost a half an ounce!!

And finally my Trinidad Yellow 7 Pods hot peppers that I picked in early February 2010!

By the way if your are local I just might sell a few of these pods here and there. Take care everyone! Upcoming blogs will show you my 2010 growing season but I may stick in some chile highlights from 2009:)

Chocolate Bhut Jolokia

2010-05-24T22:14:00.000-07:00

It has been awhile since I last posted anything. Seed sales have kept me so busy and after that I had to germinate a few thousand plants. Now I am almost finished setting up over 800 plants for fresh chiles and another 380 plants at isolated sites for seed production. So time to take a breath and show you my next featured chile from 2009 the Chocolate Bhut Jolokia. I have plenty of seeds for sale and may part with a few plants in July. This Bhut Jolokia has a much lower germination rate than the Red Bhut Jolokia or Bih Jolokia. But the flavor is out of this world!!! It has Bhut Jolokia heat but also a sweetness lacking in the Ghost chile. I am growing plants from 4 seed sources this year in the hope of getting a strain that will have better germination results. Wish me luck! Enjoy the pictures:)

Nice Texture in Chocolate Bhut Jolokia
Notice the plastic in background. It allowed me to harvest the Chocolate Bhut Jolokia in January!

Notice the nice Chocolate look to the Chocolate Bhut Jolokia. It almost looks like real chocolate!
A nice close up of the Chocolate Bhut Jolokia
A Trio of Chocolate Bhut Jolokia

This Chocolate Bhut Jolokia has a smoothe texture like a Chocolate habanero.
Nice group of Chocolate Bhut Jolokia

Another Group of Chocolate Bhut Jolokia

A huge Chocolate Bhut Jolokia!

Chocolate Bhut Jolokia another big one
Chocolate Bhut Jolokia

Chocolate Bhut Jolokia

A nice delicious bowl of Chocolate Bhut Jolokia!

A cut away view of the inside of a Chocolate Bhut Jolokia.

Chocolate with Chocolate Bhut Jolokia! Mmmmmmmm!

More Chocolate with Chocolate Bhut Jolokia!

Well I am getting a craving for Chocolate now and I just happen to have some Chocolate Bhut Jolokia in my freezer too! Hope you enjoyed the pics. I'll surprise you all with the next post. Coming soon I am growing 14 new varieties some never before offered in the U.S.

Trinidad 7 Pot a Rare and Delicious Pepper

2010-02-15T21:34:00.000-08:00

In this post I will share information about the Trinidad 7 Pot or also called the Trinidad 7 Pod.. The Island of Trinidad has 2 superhot chiles. The Trinidad 7 Pot and the Trinidad Scorpion. These peppers are related but the Scorpion chile usually has a defined tail. But it is not uncommon to find a little tail at the end of a Trinidad 7 Pot pod sometimes. Trinidad is an island just northeast of Venezuela. The markets of Trinidad are full of peppers like the Congo peppers and Bird peppers. To find the Trinidad Scorpion or Trinidad 7 Pod you have to go inland to the countryside. Trinidad 7 Pots are called 7 Pot because it is said they have enough heat to flavor 7 pots of stew! 7 Pots can come in a variety of shapes and colors. The photos in this blog will feature many pod shapes but I will show the Yellow 7 Pot and Chocolate 7 Pot in other blog posts. Well here are my 2009 photos of the Trinidad 7 Pot.

Here is a picture of Trinidad 7 Pot in my hydroponic system

As you can see the Trinidad 7 Pot can get an almost Naga shape to it.

Now we see a more rounded shape in the Trinidad 7 Pot pepper pod.

This 7 Pot pod really has a weird shape
This Trinidad 7 Pot chile definitely looks Naga Morich in shape and size

I like the shape of this pod!
Now we are getting closer to the true shape of the Trinidad 7 Pot

This Trinidad 7 Pot pod cannot make up it's mind if it's a Naga or 7 Pot!

Trinidad 7 Pod

Trinidad 7 Pot!

Trinidad 7 Pot

This pod has a nice point at the end
Trinidad 7 Pod

Trinidad 7 Pot Plant

A nice bowl full of Trinidad 7 Pot peppers!

The Trinidad 7 Pot has a strain that grows larger more rounder pods. It is called the 7 Pot Jonah

A Trinidad 7 Pot Jonah on the plant.
7 Pot Jonah

Trinidad 7 Pot Jonah

Another view of the same pod

A nice large 7 Pot Jonah chile

A Trinidad 7 Pot Jonah can get larger than a golfball and weigh up to a half ounce!!

Another view of the same pod
Can you see the face of an old man in this Trinidad 7 Pot Jonah? Look closely.....

Well I hope you enjoyed my Trinidad 7 Pot photos. Next post we might just give all of you a glimpse of the Chocolate Bhut Jolokia.

The "Naga Morich" or Serpent Chile Is it as hot as the Bhut Jolokia or Trinidad Scorpion?

2010-01-21T10:46:00.000-08:00

The Naga Morich is from the Country of Bangladesh. Bangladesh is south of Northeast India where the famous Bhut Jolokia comes from. It is related to the Bhut Jolokia but the pepper pods of the Naga Morich are smaller and ripen from a dark green to a dark red. The flavor in my opinion is fruitier and more pleasant than the Bhut Jolokia. So what is the hottest pepper in the world? The hottest pepper on record is the Bhut Jolokia.....But I have tasted all the superhots and in my opinion based on pain and suffering I think the Trinidad Scorpion or Naga Morich is hotter. There is a variant of the Naga Morich called the Dorset Naga. The pods are larger in width and color is lighter but again in my opinion there is little or no difference in heat or flavor. So now as promised here are my best Naga Morich photos from my 2009 garden!

Sometimes the Naga Morich pods will come to a point like these first two photos.

A Naga Morich pepper almost fully ripened.

NAGA MORICH

A group of Naga Morich

NAGA MORICH PLANT

NAGA MORICH

Another Naga Morich chile about halfway ripened

NAGA MORICH

Naga Morich Plants

Naga Morich

A nice larger Naga Morich chile pod. This one resembles the Dorset Naga shape.

Naga Morich
Notice the dark green unripened Naga Morich pods in the background in this photo.

Naga Morich Pepper

Nice grouping of multiple node of Naga Morich

Naga Morich Plants

Naga Morich

Look at the pimpling texture of the skin on these naga morich pods. You will see this on the other superhot varieties like the Bhut Jolokia, Trinidad 7 Pot and Trinidad Scorpion.

Nice group photo of Naga Morich chillis

Naga Morich Chilli pods

Naga Morich

Naga Morich

Naga Morich Plants

Naga Morich-The Serpent Chile

So now you have seen my Naga Morich photos from 2009. I have plenty of Naga Morich seeds available at my site www.superhotchiles.com. I should have some Naga Morich plants ready to sell in April 2010 and fresh Naga Morich chiles in September 2010. My next post will most likely be on the Trinidad 7 Pot. Take care for now!

The Trinidad Scorpion

2010-01-04T21:28:00.000-08:00

Well my growing season is almost over. I still have peppers ripening on my Chocolate Bhut Jolokia plants and my Trinidad Yellow 7 Pod plants. Amazing to have chiles ripening in January. Temperatures are in the low 40's in East County San Diego but my small homemade Greenhouses are keeping the plants alive. These small greenhouses were first made to keep bees out to prevent cross-pollination and then later to extend my growing season. I will be planting seeds soon for next years crop. For now I will blog about my 2009 chile pepper crop and share the photos with all of you. This post will feature the Trinidad Scorpion.

The Trinidad Scorpion is one of the Hottest Peppers in the World. Trinidad is a large Island northeast of Venezuela. The people of Trinidad love cooking with hot chiles. The Trinidad Scorpion though is not usually found in markets. In fact it is so hot many locals never use it for cooking. It's primary use is for military grade mace. It is also used in marine paint to keep barnacles from growing on the bottoms of boats. But the Trinidad Scorpion is still a favorite of chile heads around the world. Not just because it has the heat of a Bhut Jolokia. But it also has a great flavor as well. Just keep in mind you only need a small amount in whatever you cook. In my opinion it is hotter than the Bhut Jolokia. At least when I tasted it I had more pain than I felt with the Bhut Jolokia pepper. I will be growing plenty of Trinidad Scorpion plants this year for chiles and starter plants for the chile gardener. I have seeds almost all year long unless I sell out. Anyways here are my Scorpion photos. I hope you enjoy them!

Here is a Nice Red Trinidad Scorpion

Trinidad Scorpion in planter pots

Trinidad Scorpion in Hydroponics

Here is a group of Red, Orange and Yellow Trinidad Scorpion. The Yellow one was taken from a plant that produced all rare Orange Trinidad Scorpions. I will plant the seeds this year to see if they produce Orange Trinidad Scorpions again.

Now here is a rare site. A real poisonous Scorpion with Trinidad Scorpion chiles. I wonder what has a more potent sting?? The Scorpion of the Scorpion peppers!

Another Scorpion with Trinidad Scorpion chiles

Now this is a more dangerous Scorpion with the Trinidad Scorpion chiles. At the pet store he would not sit still. His bite would make your arm swell up for at least two weeks. I managed to get at least one good picture and here it is.

The Trinidad Scorpion Chilli is nice when colored and ripened but still is beautiful when green.

Another beautiful green unripened Trinidad Scorpion chile. Wonder what color it will become?

A nice group of red ripened Trinidad Scorpion Chilli peppers

Another nice group photo of ripened Trinidad Scorpion chiles

Now for a treat! The rare Orange Trinidad Scorpion

Orange Trinidad Scorpion

If you look you can see the plant wilting. Fortunately many pods turned color before it died in late October and I got some pictures. Well I was supposed to do a blog of the Naga Morich. I will soon. But i just wanted all of you to experience the Trinidad Scorpion first. Is it hotter than the Bhut Jolokia? Maybe you should grow it and find out for yourself! What is the Hottest Chile in the World? For now it is the Bhut Jolokia. But maybe next year it could be the Trinidad Scorpion!

World's Hottest Chiles Bhut Jolokia

2009-11-16T20:10:00.000-08:00

Well it's been awhile since I last posted. I know Thanksgiving is almost here but my growing season is still not over. Thanks to my friends Don, Chuck, Diana and Mark I still have plants growing at 4 separate locations. These are my seed production plants for Trinidad 7 Pot, Malaysian Goronong, Chocolate Bhut Jolokia and Trinidad Yellow 7 Pot. So now its time to show you some pictures of my chiles from this year. I will focus on 1 chile per blog post. Today you will see pics of the Bhut Jolokia. A question always asked is What is the Hottest Chile? Well currently the Hottest Pepper in the World is the Bhut Jolokia. Did you know people actually make desserts using a Hot Chile Recipe using Bhut Jolokia and other chiles. You can make Chocolate Chili Cookies even a Chocolate Habanero Torte! I am selling Bhut Jolokia seeds at www.superhotchiles.com You can E mail me directly at jpdherb@cox.net if you want to buy some. Some of these Bhut Jolokia pics will go up on my site. For now enjoy the beauty of the Bhut jolokia!

Early Bhut Jolokia plant, Pods are getting ripe. Hottest Pepper in the World!
Another view of a Bhut Jolokia pepper pods ripening. Hotter than Habanero Peppers!

Here is a closer pic of Bhut Jolokia peppers ripening
These Bhut Jolokia peppers look a little different. Shows you pods can vary in
shape and size

Nice close up picture of ripe Bhut Jolokia Peppers in one of my chile bowls. Hottest Pepper on Earth.

Here is a picture of more Bhut Jolokia Chiles ripening on plant.

A closeup of Ripe Bhut Jolokia Chillis on the plant in October.

This group of Bhut Jolokia peppers is transitioning from orange to red.

Finally a nice picture of the "Ghost Chile" or Bhut Jolokia in my pepper bowl with the guy who ate too much.

Next blog I will feature the Naga Morich or Serpent Chile. Hope you enjoy the beautiful Bhut Jalokia pics. I enjoyed growing them. Seeds are available now and plants should be ready in March.

New Chile pics from 2009 Trinidad 7 Pot, Bhut Jolokia, Trinidad Scorpion and Naga Morich

2009-09-30T20:00:00.000-07:00

Well it's nearing the end of the chile season. I have good news and bad news. First the bad. I added too much of Bloom Nutrient the 3rd week of September and lost over 50% of my garden. The excess bloom nutrient caused a toxic reaction. I did not know what was going on until it was too late. Now the good news. I still will have some plants producing into mid-November. And all my plants in pots are doing well. I should have plenty seeds from those. Kind of hectic driving around to over 7 locations but when I mean that I isolate my seed plants to avoid cross-pollination I really mean it!! Here are some pics of some of my early chiles. Some are already up on my website www.superhotchiles.com

TRINIDAD 7 POT

TRINIDAD SCORPION

NAGA MORICH

BHUT JOLOKIA

BIG SUN OR YELLOW SUN

ANTILLAIS CARIBBEAN HABANERO

FATALII

RED ROCOTO

Well I hope you enjoy the pictures. I still have lots more to take and more I will post later. Stay tuned for more pics of Trinidad 7 Pod, Trinidad Scorpion, Bhut Jolokia, Naga Morich and also hope to have pictures soon of Chocolate Bhut Jolokia, Malaysian Goronong, Trinidad Yellow 7 Pot and White Habanero. I can't wait to start germinating more seeds in December!

World's Hottest Chiles Pods are Forming!

2009-09-12T21:44:00.000-07:00

It is now September 5th. Thought I would take some pics of some of the chile pepper pods forming in my Hydroponic NFT Chile system. I also snapped a few shots of my plants in pots. Some I am growing for fun and some are for seed production. Flowers were starting to form on my Chocolate Bhut Jolokia and Trinidad 7 Pot plants so on this day I moved them to isolated locations to avoid cross-pollination to ensure my seeds have genetic purity for my customers. Here are some of the pics.

ANTILLAIS RED CARIBBEAN HABANERO

GAMBIA HABANERO

FATALII

JAMAICAN RED MUSHROOM

The following plants are the ones I am growing in pots for my consumption and for fun. I may sell a few Red Rocotos if I get enough pods though. Look closely and you will see the dark green Red Rocoto pepper pod.

Here is a night time picture of the Red Rocoto plant.

HERMOSILLO CHLITEPIN

Now here are pics of two of my seed production plants. The Chocolate Bhut Jolokia and the Trinidad 7 Pot. A few flowers are starting to form so today I am moving them to separate isolated locations. This will keep cross-pollination from happening.

CHOCOLATE BHUT JOLOKIA

TRINIDAD 7 POT

World's Hottest Chiles Huge Hydroponic System

2009-08-26T21:12:00.000-07:00

This will be brief. I just got done installing racks above my chile plants to support them today August 27. Growth is at a fast pace now. Now I pray for tons of flowers that will turn into lots of chiles. Getting to this point has not been easy. First the weather has been extremely hot this summer which slowed down the transplant process. Also it took too long to build this system so majority of my planting was in late May through mid-June. Normally I have plants ready and in the system by end of April. So I was constantly replacing plants that were dying because they were too young to take the heat. In mid July I solved the heat problem by putting in a fogger misting system above garden on a timer. It worked!!! My water and air temps dropped and now my baby plants were thriving. But the cool wet environment brought an aphid infestation. I sprayed with organic neem spray but every day the residue washed off the leaves so the aphids were still doing too much damage.

So I ordered thousands of predatory insects like Trichrogramma wasps, Lacewings and Lady Bugs.
This was the first week of August. Now the Aphids are under control but I will release more predatory insects just to make sure. We had a drop in temperature for about two weeks. This also made my plants happy. So I turned off the misting system. The pic you see was taken August 20th 2009. I thank all my friends for praying for this project. I also thank the following people for coming out to help me a few times. Whenever a person expands his business 3 x the size you have to expect issues. But the Blessings of God and friends got me to this point. Without them it never would be where it is right now. Regardless of how many bad days I had my friends and family were always there!

Larry Bridgeforth and Family (their whole family dug holes, moved stuff and wife Robin got our Greenhouse put together...She would make a great foreman)

Marty Switzer and family (Marty's Blood watered the soil while installing greenhouse framing, metal edges are sharp, Marty said no bad words and if he did Jesus forgives him)

Don Denniston and family (Don moved a ton of dirt...His wife makes good lemon bars too!)

Tom and Linda Schaeffer for letting me grow on their land

Mark and Margie Short (Margie is a lucky wife because Mark prayed a lot for us and for her too!)

John and Terry Daniels (He came out one time to pray with Mark and Don and we appreciate that)

Chuck Hicks and family (my partner in our produce greenhouse but also he and his wife Kim keep an eye on my chiles. I thank his little girls for all the time they gave up during this adventure.

My son Danty for all his support and help he is so special to me

Also the prayers of those that live far away. My friends Jim Wright and Jonathan Payne for their web work and prayers. Jonathan builds my site and Jim does the SEO work.

John from Aspen Vinyl Fence El Cajon, CA. He gave us a great deal on all our Hydroponic tubes you see. And drilled all the precision holes in them!

Now not everyone's whole family physically helped. But each and every wife and child in that family gave up time with their husband or father because that man took the time to come out and lend a hand. So I thank the entire family for this. Now I do not have a harvest yet. But I should have lots of chiles by end of September. Here is the pic I promised

TRINIDAD 7 POT
Probably one of the first of these ever grown in California

So heres what is in the System from left to right
Rows 1& 2 Trinidad 7 Pot, Yellow 7 Pot, Jamaican Red Mushroom, Bhut Jolokia (India) and Naga Morich (Bangladesh)

Rows 3, 4 and 5
White Habanero (Yucatan & Peru), Chocolate Bhut Jolokia, Mustard habanero, Big Yellow Sun Habanero (Africa), Naga Morich, Safi Red (West Africa)

Rows 6 and 7 Trinidad 7 Pot, Chocolate Bhut Jolokia, Bhut Jolokia

Rows 8, 9 and 10 Trinidad Scorpion, Gambia Habanero (Africa), Red Savina Habanero, Peach Habanero and Antillais Red Caribbean Habanero

Rows 11 and 12 Jamaican Chocolate Habanero, Fatalii (Africa), Neon Yellow Habanero

Well as chiles grow and turn color I will post them to my blog. God Bless!

Cloning Update Naga Morich and Trinidad Scorpion Aug. 12,2009

2009-08-23T13:54:00.000-07:00

As of August 6th most of my cloning attempts of plant cutiings has been successful. I started out with a little over 80 cuttings of Naga Morich, Trinidad Scorpion and a few Red Dominica Habanero plants. About 60 of them developed roots and now have been transplanted into small nursery pots using a pro soil potting mix. To further stimulate root growth each plant soil mix was given a dose of mycorrhizae root fungi. Mycorrhizae helps root development and also increases drought tolerance. It is very cost effective and since I buy in quantity I always have extra to sell at an extremely low price. All of these plant cuttings were cloned in an aeroponic propagator machine that I purchased from GreenHouse Sensation U.K. The roots you see now took about 6 weeks. I could have transplanted earlier, but wanted more root development so I gave it more time.

Trinidad Scorpion Plant Clones

Naga Morich Plant Clones

My next blogs will show you updated pics of my over 300 plant NFT Hydroponic System and what it took for me to get it this far. Also updated photos of my seed production plants in pots and more pics of chile flowers.

My Potted plants for seed 7 Pot, Scorpion etc July 25

2009-08-18T15:50:00.000-07:00

I am still trying to get caught up with my blog. Here are some pictures of plants I am growing in pots for seed production. Also some
I am just growing for fun!

CHOCOLATE BHUT JOLOKIA
TRINIDAD 7 POT

TRINIDAD SCORPION

SURINAM YELLOW or MADAME JEANETTE

ORANGE BHUT JOLOKIA

TRINIDAD YELLOW 7 POT

HERMOSILLO CHILITEPIN

HERMOSILLO CHILTEPIN FLOWERS

RED ROCOTO (Peru)

RED ROCOTO FLOWER

Next posting on my blog will be an update on the plants I am cloning (Trinidad Scorpion, Naga Morich & Red Dominica)

The World's Hottest Chiles are Growing (Bhut Jolokia, Naga Morich and Trinidad Scorpion)

2009-08-07T16:48:00.000-07:00

Back in early July I was starting to lose chile plants in my Outdoor Hydroponic system. The leaves were curling downward and getting a plastic like look to them and then yellowed. My plants were also not growing. I frantically started replacing them. I had grown many plants to sell so this helped me. Then I figured out the problem. My water temps in late afternoon were getting a little over 90 degrees. So fist I put up 50% grade shadecloth inside the greenhouse to block more of the sun's rays and heat. It helped a little. Then I blocked the sun from hitting my water pipes in the back of my greenhouse and put a 70% shadecloth on the sidewall to keep sun from directly heating tubes that faced the northwest. This also helped very little. I also put foam insulation around every pipe that came up out of the ground and every feed line. All of these measures were not enough but they did keep my supply water below 90 degrees for a longer period of time. As we started to face days of 100 degree temperatures I finally put in drip irrigation line above my system with fogger mister heads. Finally I had sucess! By running the foggers for 2 hours a day my air temps dropped almost 15 degrees and my water temps were now below 80 degrees on days of 100 degrees outside. The following pictures show my plants responding and getting green again.

OUTDOOR HYDROPONIC SETUP JULY 25. 2009

In this setup are Fatalii, Jamaican Chocolate habanero, Gambia Habanero, Red Savina Habanero, Peach Habanero, Neon Yellow Habanero, Trinidad 7 Pot, Trinidad Yellow 7 Pot, Bhut Jolokia, Naga Morich, Chocolate Bhut Jolokia, Big Sun Habanero, Mustard Habanero, Yucatan White Habanero, Antillais Caribbean Habanero and Trinidad Scorpion.

FATALII

NAGA MORICH

CHOCOLATE BHUT JOLOKIA

BHUT JOLOKIA

YELLOW SUN HABANERO

TRINIDAD 7 POT

TRINIDAD SCORPION

YUCATAN WHITE HABANERO

Later next week I will post pics of some of my potted plants that I am growing to produce for my chile seed business!

Cloning Results July 25th Trinidad Scorpion, Naga Morich and Bhut Jolokia

2009-08-03T22:23:00.000-07:00

I took so many pics on July 25th, 2009. So it will have to be divided into a few posts. Thought I would show you the partial results of my cloning of chile cuttings. I started out on July 18th cloning the cuttings of Naga Morich, Trinidad Scorpion, Red Dominica Habanero and Bhut Jolokia. This was on July 18, 2009. What you are seeing is the results on July 25 after the cuttings were in my Aeroponic system I bought from Greenhouse Sensation U.K. The pics are both Trinidad Scorpion clones.

Now here is a pic of the Naga Morich clone. You see more root growth on the Scorpion cuttings but if you look closely you see the small root starting to form at the base of the stem. So I am starting to have some success with this now. As the roots continue to develope I will take more pics before I transplant into pots.

Bhut Jolokia, Trinidad Scorpion, Trinidad 7 Pot and Yellow 7 Pot ready to move.

2009-07-27T13:06:00.000-07:00

The following 5 pictures are my 2nd to last batch of plants ready to move outside into greenhouse and outdoor NFT Hydroponic system. You are seeing in these pics plants with nice green growth inside a Greenhouse Sensation Vitapod system. This system is a large temperature controlled tabletop greenhouse. It is made of durable plastic and the heating element is enclosed and controlled by a state of the art thermostat. I use this system to germinate chile seeds but now also to get my starter plants ready for outdoors.
Since I grew a lot of plants this year I also lost a lot of plants. But I learned from my mistakes. I learned not to take an indoor Aeroponics plant and put it outdoors right away in the Southern California sun. Maybe indirect sun, but not half-day or full day sun. So I put the plants back in small soil pots into the Vitapod. Then I moved later on to outdoors. Did it work?? Well less plants died but most died. So then my next step was move them under 50% grade shade cloth before going out into more sun intensity. Well more lived and less died.

Still not satisfied with results I tried an experiment. My lighting above the Vitapod Greenhouse is a flourescent 2 bulb fixture. It does not have the intensity of a sodium or Halide 1,000 watt plant light. So what if I gave the plants more light exposure??? I decided to leave my low wattage light on 24 hours a day. Well my plants got healthier and stronger. Leaves got a darker green. Then came the ultimate test. After 1-2 weeks under 50% shade cloth they had a 100% survival rate in partial sun with air temps averaging high 90's farenheight. A week after that they were moved into more sun with minimal shock. I am now happy with the results. In future blogs you will see some of these outdoors. Right now enjoy my starter plants. In the 5 pics in this post I am growing the following:

Trinidad Yellow 7 Pod

Trinidad 7 Pot Jonah

Bhut Jolokia

Trinidad Scorpion

Orange Bhut Jolokia

Malaysian Goronong

Safi Red Scotch

Maya Pimento

Naga Morich

Chocolate Bhut Jolokia

Next post will be updatedphotos of these plants in pots and my NFT Hydroponic Greenhouse System.

Cloning Naga Morich and Trinidad Scorpion

2009-07-26T22:31:00.000-07:00

It is July 18 and I have just finished doing some maintenance in my backyard 120 Plant NFT Hydroponic system. I was pruning the lower branches off of some plants. I do this because the lower branches do not produce many chiles and this also encourages the plant to grow taller and larger. So what do I do with all these branches I cut off?? Well last year I just threw them away. Now I clone them into new plants! Here is one of the Naga Morich cuttings I start with.

Cloning is a way to make more plants out of a few plants. And it's fun too! Now that I have an Aeroponic Hydro Propagator from Greenhouse Sensation U.K. I can really clone. But don't let not having this equipment stop you. Because you can always clone in soil or even in Rockwool. So lets start at the beginning. This next pic is a group of Naga Morich cuttings. Notice ends of stems have diagonal cuts. Use a sharp knife or razor blade knife to do this first step. Notice also that some leaves on plant cutting have sections cut out of them. This allows more energy to go to root development instead of sustaining lots of leaves.

The next step is to dip the end of the cutting into a rooting powder or cloning root stimulant gel like "Clonex". Gels stay on better so thats what I use. Pic below shows cutting with cloning gel on it.

Now I gently place cutting in foam holder which holds it in place so Aeroponic spray can mist it to encourage root growth. This foam holder will go into plastic net pot which will then be placed into system. Now if you clone in soil or rockwool make small hole in center or dirt or rockwool. Then try and place end of cutting into that hole without removing root gel. Once cutting is in place press soil or rockwool gently around cutting and keep it moist.

This next pic is a group of Trinidad Scorpion cuttings ready to go into system.

And finally we place prepared cutting into Aeroponic Propagator. This evening we set up 12 Naga Morich plants, 16 Trinindad Scorpion plants, 1o Red Dominica Habanero plants and 4 Bhut Jolokia plants. Will post pics to a later blog so you can see the cuttings develop their new roots!

Catching up Early July Trinidad Yellow 7 Pot Pepper

2009-07-20T22:33:00.000-07:00

Well here we go finally catching up with my blog. Here are some early July pics of some of my chiles. What you see below are the Trinidad Yellow 7 Pot and Orange Bhut Jolokia in pots. These are at a location miles from my home. Once they start to flower they will be separated from each other to avoid cross pollination. My seed stock plants are in non gardening neighborhoods at my friends homes. Some are housed in small greenhouses to make sure no other peppers will cross-pollinate with them

I have my seed stock plants in 15 gallon pots in a pro mix soil. The two mixes I use are Sunshine Growers Mix #1 and Premier Horticulture PGX mix. Both are the best on the market and both come from different companies. The difference is PGX mix is ideal if you raise a seedling in soil and decide later to move into Hydroponics. Because it washes off the roots real nice. Both mixes drain well but are balanced so they retain moisture. A well draining mix allows oxygen to get to roots. Roots love oxygen! It helps them to absorb nutrients. Here's how it works. When you water the water drains through the soil quickly. As it goes down it pulls air along with it that contains oxygen. Sort of a vaccumn effect. But also a pro-mix soil has enough moisture retaining properties so it holds onto the water but does not get soggy.

TRINIDAD YELLOW 7 POT
ORANGE BHUT JOLOKIA
Finally I leave you with a few pics of my final group of Jamaican Chocolate Habanero's
just before I removed them from my Greenhouse Sensation Aeroponic Hydro Propagator. Look at how nice the leaves look! If you live in the UK or Europe I highly suggest their products. There is a link to them on my website.

JAMAICAN CHOCOLATE HABANEROS

Well time to go to bed now. Next post will show you all step by step process of cloning Naga Morich cuttings.

Big Hydroponic Garden Late Update (Trinidad7Pot and Scorpion)

2009-07-19T22:10:00.000-07:00

This post should have been written awhile ago. But when you undertake a large greenhouse Hydroponic project expect problems and lots of work. My greenhouse has all chiles but the other one that I own 50% in has tomatoes, French Strawberries and lettuce. In this first picture you will see the veggies greenhouse around June 21, 2009.

In the middle you see Heirloom tomatoes. We have Red Brandywine, Green Zebra, Black Krim, Pineapple, Yellow Grape and Red Grape. These are thriving in the heat out here. But the Strawberries to the right are not. Apparently they are not a summer berry so this was our first mistake. We will plant again in February. Next pic you will see the awesome root growth of an Heirloom tomato plant.
Notice how white and clean the roots are. This is because of the high level of oxygen the roots are receiving in the Hydroponic system. The next pic is my greenhouse of just chile plants. Not all the plants are in yet. Some were not ready and I was so tied up with building this project and getting plants sold I lagged on getting other things done.

Right now you see on the right side tubes Jamaican Chocolate Habaneros and Fatalii (central Africa). On the inside right side tubes we are growing Antillais Caribbean Habanero (Dutch Antillais Islands), Gambia Habanero (Gambia Africa) and Trinidad Scorpion. In the center tubes we are growing Bhut Jolokia, Trinidad 7 Pot and Chocolate Bhut Jolokia. In the inside left side tubes we are growing Mustard Habanero, Safi Red Scotch (West Africa), Yellow Sun (Africa), Naga Morich, Yucatan White Habanero and Chocolate Bhut Jolokia. No chiles yet in far left tubes. On top of the far left tubes are baby chile pepper plants. Some I bought from a wholesaler and some I grew myself. The following pic of these chiles in plastic tubs has the following plants:
Jamaican Chocolate Habanero, Bhut Jolokia, West Indies Caribbean Red, Mustard Habanero, Trinidad Scorpion, Trinidad 7 Pot, Naga Morich, Yucatan White habanero, Fatalii, Cleo's Dragon Habanero, Neon Yellow Habanero, Red Savina and Peach Habanero.

I still have lots of plants for sale but if they dont move soon I will plant them! Next 2 pics are my Peruvian Rocotos growing in pots. They can live outdoors all year long even with temps in low 40's. I have them in partial sun because they do not like too much heat. They grow in the Andes Mountains and summers there do not get as hot as Southern California. In these pots I am growing the Yellow and Red Rocoto. They are a hot chile that looks like a small apple and has a thick flesh. Nice flavor but hard to germinate and grow.

The next pics you will see here are seedlings just transplanted from my Aeroponic Propogator. These species are some of the first ever grown in the United States. In other words I am one of the first people to grow these here. I am sure I am not the first but one of the few anyways. Observe 6 each Trinidad Yellow 7 Pot plants. I only had 7 seeds but got 6 plants! Next pic after this one is the Orange Bhut Jolokia. Now I planted 20 seeds but only got 7 good seedlings. More than 7 came up but not all were strong enough for transplant.

TRINIDAD YELLOW 7 POT
ORANGE BHUT JOLOKIA
Well it's bedtime now. Upcoming posts will show you these seedlings transplanted outdoors and their growth progress. I will be isolating both species to avoid cross-pollination so I can produce genetically pure seed for my clients and customers. Other future posts will show cloning of Naga Morich cuttings and updates on chile plants and Hydroponic garden.

Big! Big! Garden! and Transplanting of Trinidad 7 Pot, Trinindad Scorpion and other habaneros

2009-05-23T10:31:00.000-07:00

I have been so busy building the new chile greenhouse and Hydroponic system. That is why I have not had time to post. Most of my blogs have been about germinating, transplanting and growing of exotic and rare hot chile peppers like the Trinidad 7 Pot, Trinidad Scorpion, Bhut Jolokia and Naga Morich. If you go back in earlier posts you will see my sucesses and failures. Now you are going to see a commercial sized operation in progress. Certain details will be left out. I get paid for doing consultations so I am not going to give everyone step by step plans on how to do a commercial Hydroponic garden. But you will see an insiders view that otherws have not seen. I am currently selling plants now and have seeds of these rare chile species. But limited supply so contact me soon.

First lets take a look at my Aeroponic Hydro Propagator from Greenhouse Sensation. I want you all to see how much plant growth happened since my last post.Thse photos were taken May 9th before transplant into commercial system. Most plants pictured are Trinidad 7 Pot and Trinidad Scorpion. But some are Naga Morich, Bhut Jolokia and Chocolate Bhut Jolokia.

Now these plants above look great. But there is one problem. I have this system getting shaded partial sun. So when I put them straight into an NFT system in full sun I lost 18 plants! So crazy as it may seem I am putting remainder of plants into a soil mix and gradually getting them used to the elements before doing final transplant. So I germinated in dirt then got growth in Hydro then condition in dirt and finally go back into Hydro. There is probably an easier way. Most likely next year I will put a high intensity grow light above system so plants will have less shock when going outdoors. For now I have to do what I have to do.

So here are pics of Hydroponic NFT tubes going up in commercial sysytem. These pics were taken April 30, 2009.

Now this next pic is the second Greenhouse that will be growing Heirloom Tomatoes, French Strawberries and other veggies.
Now these pics were taken May 6th, 2009. The view in the first pic shows our water feed tanks below. Off in the distance is my Chile greenhouse. Pic was taken from inside tomato greenhouse.

Next picture below is the unfinished Chile NFT system.

In this pic I am in the Chile Greenhouse facing the Tomato greenhouse.

These next 2 pics are showing an operational NFT system with some chiles already transplanted. These pics were taken May 15, 2009. Notice plants to left are a lighter green. These are the Trinidad 7 Pot and Trinidad Scorpion plants that came out of the Hydroponic propagator. They could not handle the sun intensity so I lost over 20 plants. But I have plenty more plants to replace them.

Keep coming back for future posts because i will be transplanting chile plants in here over the next 3-4 weeks. After that I will show plants progress and hopefully lots of Beautiful chile photos. Here is a list of what will be in this system

Trinidad 7 Pot

Trinidad Scorpion

Yellow 7 Pot

Naga Morich

Bhut Jolokia

Chocolate Bhut Jolokia

Orange Bhut Jolokia

Fatalii

Antillais Carribean

Red Savina

Gambia Habanero

Jamaican Chocolate Habanero

Publish Post

Safi Red Scotch Habanero

Mustard Habanero

Jamaican Red Mushroom Habanero

I will be selling fresh chiles of these varieties in September! Talk to you soon!

April 21st Hydroponic Propagator Results (Trinidad Scorpion, Trinidad 7 Pot and Naga Morich)

2009-04-28T18:00:00.000-07:00

It is April 21, 2009. Time to take a peek at my plants in my Hydroponic Propagator that I purchased from Greenhouse Sensation U.K. Before I put up the pics let me tell you I put some real pathetic seedlings in this system I put some good ones in but also some bad ones. A few of the bad ones died and that is to be expected. But majority of these plants got bigger, healthier and stronger.
Now let me give you some background on this machine. I shopped online for a unit that could do lots of plants and clone lots of cuttings. The pricing on units here in the U.S. was crazy. Hundreds of dollars for small units that had about 30 plant sites! But I saw on the chileman's website a journal called Julian's Journal. In this chile growing journal was equipment from the U.K. company Greenhouse Sensation. So I went to their site and found a Hydro Propogator that had 105 plant sites for under $200 U.S. dollars plus shipping. The total cost was about $300. Now I did not use their pump because of Europe power conversion. So instead used a 1,200 GPH Maxi Jet pump to replace it that runs on U.S. power. So when I order another unit it will be less because I will just get a pump here in the U.S.. Same thing with the water heater. I picked up an aquarium submersible heater here for a few dollars.

I will be getting two more units soon. Even with the high cost of overseas shipping it still was a better bargain than buying one here. So I can talk and talk about how great this works in getting your seedlings started but pics will show you it all. I germinated my seedlings in Fox Farm Warrior soil mix in my Vitapod Germinating unit. It can be seen in earlier posts. Then when seedlings had a few leaves I rinsed off the soil and gently dipped bare roots in Clonex root stimulating gel. Then I put plants in foam inserts in net pots. After that I placed in Hydro Propagator. See earlier posts to show these steps. Here are the pics!!! Go to www.greenhousesensation.com to see more info on the products.

Pic above is view of Trinidad 7 Pot, Trinidad Scorpion, Naga Morich and Chocolate Bhut Jolokia plants in Hydro Propagator. Next pic shows you the top and bottom at same time. Look at those roots!

If you look closely you can see the water spraying the roots giving them loads of oxygen and nutrients!

This next pic gives you a closer view of the roots growing through the net pots. This plant is a Trinidad Scorpion.

And here is another pic of an individual plant. This one is Trinidad 7 Pot.

Now things do not always go good. This final pic are the plants in my homemade Hydroponic Cutting board system. They do not look as good as my other plants in the Hydro Propagator for two reasons. First the Hydro Propagator is a better unit. Second reason is we had 3 days of 100 degree heat. And I turned of the heater in the Hydro Propagator but not in the cutting board system. So this caused me to lose some plants and damage the others. Oh well I learned from that!

From Dirt to Hydroponics (It can be done!) April 16, 2009

2009-04-19T01:03:00.000-07:00

Here is a post showing all of you how I take plants grown in dirt and transfer them into a Hydroponic system. I will always buy some plants as backup. And even if I germinate plenty I can always sell the extra plants for a profit. Better to have a backup plan than no plan at all. This way I can make sure my customers get their chiles! Here is a pic of a Naga Morich chile plant in small dirt pot. It is about 8 weeks old.

This is a pic of the dirt washed off the roots by using my garden hose water.

Now I place plant in net or mesh pot. I gently pull roots through bottom openings in net pot and then place small rockwool cubes around roots to stabilize. Rookwool is spun from volcanic rock and holds water. I do not pack it too tight around roots or it will slow down root growth and aeration around roots.

Now I place them in some water that has some B1 anti-shock formula. This helps prevent transplant shock. After I get 10 plants ready i move them into system. But before I move them I fill remainder of pots with Hydroton clay pellets. These keep algae from growing on moist rockwool. I use these for now but later will switch to pumice stone. It cost 1/5 the price and can be found in white or red colors at most gravel and decorative stone suppliers.

Now we move the Naga Morich chile pepper plants into my empty N.F.T. system. NFT stands for Nutrient Film Technigue. A thin stream of water carries nutrient through tubes continuously cycling 24 hours a day. This brings water, nutrients and oxygen to each plant that sits in the tubes causing vigorous growth. I purchased this system from IGS Hydroponics, Pacific Beach, California. It was not designed for chiles but I made it work with some minor modifications.
Here is the Naga Morich plant being placed into the NFT Tube.

Here are two views of the inside of the N.F.T. tube. See the water coming in and then see how a thin stream flows past the roots.

And finally you see 2o Naga Morich chile plants in the Hydroponic N.F.T. System. After this I transplanted 20 Bhut Jolokia and 25 Trinidad Scorpion Chilli plants. Later on I will move the Trinidad 7 Pot plants into the system that I grew from seed. I love growing Hot Chile Pepper plants Hydroponically. The World's Hottest Chiles taste even better this way!

Planting more Hot Chile Seeds April 6, 2009 Trinidad Scorpion, Bhut Jolokia, Trinidad 7 Pot and Naga Morich

2009-04-18T23:34:00.000-07:00

Well so much to do so I could not get this in my last post. After all my trials, failures and triumphs it's time to plant more seeds. I almost have enough plants to fill both my old and new Hydroponic systems. And soon some of my small plants will be ready to sell in Mid may. But I want more plants to sell and it also does not hurt to have more plants as backup in case some fail in the Hydroponic systems. So here is a pic of my 512 cell seed tray. Now when I first used this I added Foxfarm Light warrior planting mix. I got great germination rate but my only complaint is this mix has huge chunks of perlite that I had to sift out. So On Gurney's Nursery site they have a seedling compost that I switched to for this planting. Now I also took a larger 1 and 1/2 inch seed cell tray and mixed some Fox Farm Light warrior with some super soil and planted 50 seeds in that. And finally took my 120 cell Park Bio-Dome and planted 120 seeds in that. Some of you may not have read earlier posts. The Bio-Dome is a Min Greenhouse from Park Seed Company. It has bio-degradable foam plus that are a pain in the butt to re-use. I had to do it this time but ordered more new plugs. Because removing fragile seedlings from plugs sometimes kills the seedlings.

So here is what I planted:
512 Seed Cell with Gurney's Seed compost mix
Row#1 32 Jamaican Red Mushroom Chile Seeds

Row#2 32 Assam Bhut Jolokia Chile seeds

Row#3 32 Fatalii Seeds

Row#4 and #5 64 Jamaican Chocolate Habanero seeds

Row#6 32 African Gambia Habanero Seeds

Row #7 32 Red Dominican Habanero Seeds

Row#8 32 Naga Morich Chile seeds

Row#9 21 Malaysian Goronong Habanero Chilli Seeds, 11 Assam Bhut Jolokia Chile Seeds

Row#10 Chocolate Bhut Jolokia

Row#11 and #12 (no planting because stubborn Chocolate Bhut Jolokia are finally coming up!)
See pic below

Row#13 32 Red Savina Habanero Chilli Seeds

Row#14 5 Red Savina, 7 Yellow Trinidad 7 Pot Chilli Seeds and 20 Orange Bhut Jolokia Seeds

Row#15 2 Orange Bhut Jolokia seeds and 30 Trinidad 7 Pot (Jonah Strain) chilli seeds

Row #16 32 Trinidad Scorpion Chile Seeds

Here is what I planted in Park Seed Bio-Dome

Row #1 and #2 20 Bhut Jolokia Seeds

Row#3 and #4 20 Trinidad Scorpion seeds

Row #5 and #6 20 Trinidad 7 Pot (Jonah Strain) chilli seeds

Row #7 and #8 20 Naga Morich chile seeds

Row #9 10 Jamaican Chocolate Habanero seeds

Row #10 10 Central African Fatalii chilli seeds

Row #11 and #12 20 Yucatan White Habanero Chile Seeds

Finally the 1 and 1/2 inch cell seed tray filled with Foxfarm Light warrior mix (50 cells)

Row #1 and #2 20 Jamaican Scotch Bonnet Chile seeds

Row #3 10 Red Rocoto Chilli seeds

Row #4 10 Naga Morich chile seeds

Row# 5 10 Bhut Jolokia seeds

Here is a pic of the 512 seed tray. Notice the two rows of seedlings poking through. I almost dumped all of the dirt out of the cells before putting fresh soil in. But noticed a few days earlier some seeds were coming up. It just goes to prove that any Bhut Jolokia can take 4 or more weeks to germinate so do not give up!

2009-04-06T19:36:00.001-07:00

Okay lets look at these pics here and let me explain whats happening. In previous post I show you my transplanting and germination sucesses and failures. I also mention that the rockwool in my Cutting board system is keeping the roots too wet and they do not get enough oxygen. So in the first 3 pics below this text you see 3 steps.

Step#1 Wash dirt off seedling roots.

Step#2 Dip seedling in Clonex root stim solution gel. and place in soft foam rubber plug. (plug has cut through it into midddle, spread open cut and slide stem into center of plug. Then let plug hold seedling stem. Adjust stem so roots can get to water source but are also mostly exposed to air to get plenty of oxygen)

Step #3 Place foam plug with seedling into net or mesh pot.

I took all my seedlings out of rockwool and did them over this way and then placed them back into cutting board system. Some already had died from getting too soggy. And some may not make it. Then I took most of My Trinidad 7 Pot, Chocolate Bhut Jolokia and Trinidad Scorpion and did them this way also. But I put them into my new Aeroponic Hydro Propagator system from Greenhouse Sensation U.K. So let me explain the other pics.

Transplants here in my cutting Board system using foam plugs

Here are the Transplants in My Hydro Propagator

Here is the inside of My Hydro Propagator. Not everything is labeled. But I have a system!

And finally a nice shot of a Trinidad 7 Pot or as others say a Trinidad 7 Pod plant in my Hydro Propagator from Greenhouse Sensation U.K. (below this text) Now I am the first in the United States to buy from them. I had to get a 200 watt Power converter to operate my Vitapod Mini-Greenhouse. But with the Hydro-Propogator I bought a Maxi-Jet 1200 GPH pump and a 50 Watt Aquarium heater to avoid doing power conversion. Even with shipping this 105 plant site cloner/propogator was cheaper than U.S. Models. I suggested some improvements for this unit and have already gotten some feedback. Their customer service is great! Well here are some conclusions or my opinions. The Park Seed Bio-Dome is nice when you use a heatpad. But.....If you add too much water your seeds will get too soggy. I like it to germinate but when attempting to gently remove my seedlings from the Bio-Sponges I killed some plants. So it is better to transplant the whole sponge. But then you have to buy more to germinate again. And they are always on backorder. Now rapid rooter plugs are good but you have to have the bottoms of them (at least 3/8 inch) in water or they will dry out. Again just like the Bio-Sponges you have to buy more. Trying to remove the fragile seedling will most likely kill it. So I like my seed tray with soil the Best. Whether I use multiple trays in my Vitapod or use a cheap min-greenhouse on a heatpad I can always transplant with minmal shock into soil or Hydroponics. Vitapod is nice because i can keep the plants in it longer than I can a mini plastic greenhouse. Plus it is thermostatically controlled and will last years. I leave you all with a close photo of Trinidad 7 Pot Below in Hydro Propagator! In the back row there are some recently transplanted Trinidad Scorpions also.

Let the Transplanting Begin!

2009-04-06T17:59:00.000-07:00

Okay the last time I blogged you saw my first transplants in a rockwool substrate in my cutting board Hydroponic system. These transplants were from rapid rooter plugs germinated in my Vitapod mini-Greenhouse that was manufactured by a company called Greenhouse Sensation in the U.K. Also I transplanted some other plants from the Park Seed Bio-Dome mini-greenhouse. Now I lost more seedlings again. Well I packed the rockwool around my seedlings of Trinidad 7 Pot, Scorpion, Bhut Jolokia, Naga Morich, Safi Red and few Chocolate Bhut. The root systems stayed too wet so I lost some seedlings. But I saved many and will elaborate on that in my next post. The above pics show you my 7 Pot and Bhut Jolokia seedlings in my Bio-Dome. And my 512 seed tray filled with seed compost that I germinated in my Vitapod. I moved majority of seedlings into 2 and 1/2 inch plant pots with potting soil. Then I placed them into my 5 foot tall small outdoor greenhouse in trays of 32 and 50 each. The pic you see is a group of Bhut Jolokia transplants. Out of the Park Bio-Dome I transplanted about 20 Trinidad 7 Pot, 50 Bhut Jolokia and 12 Chocolate Bhut Jolokia. Now I will list what I transplanted from my 512 cell seed tray that I germinated in my Vitapod Greenhouse. I will also give you what was planted and what germinated. Keep in mind even if something germinated it still did not mean it was good enough for me to keep for transplanting. If the seedling looked feeble I tossed it. After all I want to sell quality Chile plants for my customers!

512 cell Seed Tray stats In Vitapod

Row#1 32 Naga Morich seeds 30 Germinated

Row#2 32 Bhut Jolokia seeds 30 Germinated

Row#3 and #4 64 Red Rocoto seeds only 12 Germinated

Row#5 and #6 64 Yellow Rocoto seeds only 10 germinated

Row #7 32 Maya Pimento seeds (Israel habanero) 24 Germinated

Row #8 32 Safi Red Scotch seeds (West Africa) 26 Germinated

Row #9 and #10 64 Fatalii seeds (Central Africa) 36 Germinated (old seed)

Row #11 and #12 64 Chocolate Bhut Jolokia seed 20 Germinated

Row #13 32 Trinidad 7 Pot seed 28 Germinated

Row #14 16 Trinidad 7 Pot seed 13 Germinated also 16 Trinidad Scorpion seed 12 Germinated

Row #15 20 Gambia Habanero seed 18 Germinated Also 12 Bhut Jolokia 10 Germinated

Row #16 32 Bhut Jolokia seed 24 Germinated

Now after transplanting most of course I blew it again. I put the tray of transplanted seedlings of Gambia, Fatalii and a few Bhut on the top shelf of my outdoor Greenhouse. Then we had a real sunny day and they fried. So I have plenty of Bhut Jolokia but will plant more Gambia and Fatalii later. Some of my transplants went into soil. A few into the cutting board system and finally I moved some into my new Aeroponic Hydroponic Propagator. I got this from Greenhouse Sensations U.K. (www.greenhousesensation.com) also. Will show pics of it and how I fixed my cutting board issue and also my step by step transplant into the Hydro Propagator. This and updated pics in my next post!

2009-03-29T22:31:00.000-07:00

Well I did not have time to write what else was going on last time. So also on March 10, 2009 I transplanted some of my plants to my Hydroponic cutting board system. I placed in 2 inch mesh or net pots some Safi Red, Naga Morich, Trinidad Scorpion, Trinidad 7 Pot and also some Bhut Jolokia. My system is a plastic tub filled with water. Sitting on top is plastic cutting board material with 81 2 inch holes for the net pots to sit in. In the water are two aquarium air stones that airate the water by creating bubbles. Also a submersible aquarium heater to keep that water around 80 degrees. I placed my seedlings into the net pots and packed rock wool around the roots. Rockwool is an absorbing material that holds moisture and is actually spun from volcanic rock.

I am using this system to prep my plants and get some growth on them before they are transplanted into my larger Hydroponic NFT system. I add nutrient to the water using a crystal fertilizer called Gro-More. The plastic tubs are about 13 gallon. So 1 teaspoon per gallon will be mixed with water and then added every week. Water will be high enough to barely touch bottoms of pots that stick into tub. Air bubbles from air stones oxygenate water to encourage root growth, mix nutrients and keep water from getting stagnant. Later I will add more seedlings to 3 inch soil pots and new aeroponic propogator. Will update blog when that happens. Hope I can generate enough Trinidad 7 Pot and Trinidad Scorpion chiles so I will fill my NFT sysytem but also have plenty of plants to sell to other chileheads. As it stands now it looks like I will have plenty of Bhut Jolokia and Naga Morich to grow and sell.

More seeds up Part two Trinidad Scorpion, Trinidad 7 Pot, Naga Morich and Bhut Jolokia

2009-03-25T17:44:00.000-07:00

Well I was happy with my seeds coming up in my Bio-Dome mini greenhouse. But now I am even more ecstatic about my 512 cell seed tray results that I have placed in my Vitapod Greenhouse germinating unit. I used a good organic soil mix. I have almost 100% germination rate on my Naga Morich, Bhut Jolokia, Trinidad Scorpion and Trinidad 7 Pot seeds. If you notice some empty rows in the seed tray they are the Rocoto's and the Chocolate Bhut Jolokia. Rows 3, 4, 5 and 6 are Red and Yellow Rocoto's. They have a poor germination rate. Row 11 and 12 are Chocolate Bhut Jolokia. So far out of 150 seeds planted in rapid rooter plugs, Bi-Dome and soil seed tray I have only had 24 Chocolate Bhut Jolokia come up. I planted 64 Red Rocoto's and 64 Yellow Rocoto's. The Rocoto chile seeds are coming up slow and are hard to see in this photo. When looking at the photo of this seed tray go from Row #1 on the right to row #16 which is all the way to the left when facing the photo. Here is the layout of the Chile seeds I planted.

Row # 1 Naga Morich seeds

Row# 2 Bhut Jolokia seeds

Row#3 and #4 Red Rocoto seeds

Row#5 and #6 Yellow Rocoto seeds

Row #7 Maya Pimento seeds (Israel Habanero)

Row #8 West African Safi-Scotch Red seeds

Row#9 and #10 Fatalii seeds (Central Africa)

Row #11 and #12 Chocolate Bhut Jolokia seeds

Row #13 Trinidad 7 Pot/7 Pod seeds

Row #14 16 each Trinidad 7 Pot seeds and 16 each Trinidad Scorpion seeds

Row# 15 20 Each African Gambia Habanero seeds and 12 each Bhut Jolokia seeds

Row #16 Bhut Jolokia seeds

More are coming up each day. I will update this photo after a week or so of growth. Hopefully more Chocolate Bhut Jolokia's and Rocoto's will be up by then. Next post will be transfer of late February seedlings to Hydroponic Cutting board system. I am hoping to have plenty of Hot Chile Pepper Plants to sell later on!

New Seeds up! Trinidad Scorpion, Trinidad 7 Pot, Naga Morich and Bhut Jolokia.

2009-03-25T17:35:00.000-07:00

It is now March 10. And I have learned from my failures. I took remainder of seeds from my paper towels and placed them in the Park Bio-Dome. Then I added a few rows of Bhut Jolokia to fill it up. Even though these seeds were given up for not germinating the Park Bio-Dome ressurected them. As you see I finally got a few Chocolate Bhut Jolokia to come up. Also some Trinidad 7 Pot seeds germinated and plenty of Assam Bhut Jolokia seeds too! I will transfer these into my Hydro cutting board system in a week or two. My Trinidad Scorpion seeds and Naga Morich chile seeds are germinating in my other Vitapod system.

Learn from Failures (Naga Morich, Trinidad Scorpion)

2009-03-15T22:40:00.000-07:00

Well in my quest to germinate these superhot varieties called Trinidad Scorpion, Naga Morich, Trinidad 7 Pot and Bhut Jolokia I have had some failures. I used good seed starter plugs in my Greenhouse Sensation Viatapod germinating unit. But never used plugs before. So I had many dry out which killed my seedlings and also kept some plugs too wet so those failed to germinate. So I lost majority of seeds planted in January.

Other mistake was this. I kept my seedlings in the dark too long. So when I did finally install a plant light they did not respond. The results were more dead seedlings. So it's not the fault of the equipment but the operator. So when you fall down get back up and try again. I recieved another germination unit called the Bio-Dome from Park Seed. It cost me $47 plus shipping. Little bio sponges sit in 120 styrofoam holes that sit in 1/2 inch of water. A clear plastic dome with vents goes on top to make a greenhouse like the Vitapod. I did not buy my Heat Propogation pad from Parks. I got one from my local nursery for about $10 less. I placed heat pad under Bio-Dome unit and planted my seeds.

Before I go further some of these seeds were already in the germination process. I had them in ziploc bags in moist paper towels. These I placed in my heated Vitapod. Some did germinate and I placed them in the plugs. The rest went into the Bio-Dome. I had about 10 Naga Morich, 8 Trinidad Scorpion, 6 Trinidad 7 Pot and 2 Chocolate Bhut Jolokia. These are the first Chocolate Bhut Jolokia's to come up. Since this seed is new I am one of the first to germinate them!

Okay lets get back to the Bio-Dome. So I moved remainder of paper towel seeds into Bio-Dome along with some new seeds. All together 120 seeds.

Planted the following on March 6, 2009
60 Assam Bhut Jolokia seeds

30 Trinidad 7 Pot seeds

30 Chocolate Bhut Jolokia seeds

Okay so you think I am done. No way! I paid a visit to my friend Bill at City farmer's Nursery in San Diego. I told him my issues and one of them was maximizing my space in my Vitapod Greenhouse. Well Bill showed me this seedling tray that was about 10x20 inches. It had little square holes about 1/2 inch wide and an inch deep. Best part was this tray had 512 cells for seedlings!!!! I could fit 3 of them in my Vitapod Mini-Greenhouse that I got from www.greenhousesensation.com!! So I got a good seedling soil and a tray to sit this tray in. Also purchased clear plastic cover to keep heat and humidity in. So here I was putting a mini-512 cell greenhouse inside a larger heated tabletop greenhouse (heated Vitapod). I planted 512 seeds. First I filled each cell with soil. Then gently placed a seed in each one. Then sprinkled soil mix over all the cells and used a spray bottle to moisten all the cells. Here is what I planted. Each Row is 32 cells.

Row# 1 Naga Morich seeds (32)
Row#2 CPI Bhut Jolokia seeds (32)
Row#3 and #4 Red Rocoto seeds (64)
Row#5 and #6 Yellow Rocoto seeds (64)
Row #7 Maya Pimento seeds (Habanero Israel) (32)
Row #8 Safi Red Scotch Habanero seeds (32)
Row #9 and #10 Fatalii seeds (32)
Row #11 and #12 Chocolate Bhut Jolokia seeds (64)
Row #13 Trinidad 7 Pot seeds (32)
Row#14 16 Each Trinidad 7 Pot seeds and 16 each Trinidad Scorpion seeds
Row #15 20 each Gambia Habanero seeds 12 each CPI Bhut Jolokia seeds
Row #16 CPI Bhut Jolokia seeds (32)

With me trying to supply a demand for Hot Chile Pepper plants I had to plant a lot. Because if I get these up soon and transfer to my Hydro Nursery I will have plenty Hot Chile Pepper Plants plants to sell In April-May. Here are pics of seed tray, Bio-Dome and rest of what I discussed.

Now the Growing Begins Part 3

2009-02-21T20:06:00.000-08:00

Well if I am to be honest her I have to write about the mistakes. First the good news. I moved all my plant plugs into plastic trays so they would not dry up in the peat containers. Then on Feb. 18 I had 3 Trinidad 7 Pot plants come up and 3 more Trinidad Scorpions too. Since my system is a mini greenhouse with lots of moisture I failed to keep an eye on my seedlings. So I learned the hard way by losing my Scorpions and a few Red Mushroom and Safi Red. I am now going to plant more tonight only not in rapid rooter plugs. Last night I soaked seeds overnight.

60 Trinidad 7 Pot
50 Assam Bhut Jolokia
32 Trinidad Scorpion
24 Naga Morich
12 Jamaican Red Mushroom
12 Safi Red

Now tonight I am going to follow the directions of my friends in the U.K. I wet paper towels with a Chamomile tea solution and placed seeds between them. Then placed seeds inside a ziploc bag after blowing air inside and sealing the bags. Then I placed these bags inside my Vitapod Propogator (mini greenhouse) to get warmth. After seeds germinate I will place into plugs that have been soaked in Chamomile tea solution. This solution should keep fungus from growing that causes a condition called "Dampening off" which kills seeds and seedlings. I knew about this but was too lazy to make the solution. Now that I have lost some plants I need to take every pre-caution so I get more healthy seedlings since my garden is expanding and I will be selling plants too. I will continue to water all my seedlings now with this solution and have also placed a grow light above Vitapod system now. Will keep you all posted on my next group of seedling germination. So far only species not up are Chocolate Bhut Jolokia. Will put another group of Chocolate Bhuts in ziploc bags tonight. As my seedlings develop I will move them over into rapid rooter plugs.

Now the Growing Begins part 2 Bhut Jolokia, Naga Morich, Trinidad Scorpion and Trinidad 7 Pot

2009-02-16T16:30:00.001-08:00

It is now January 29 and to my surprise the Naga Morich seeds from the U.K have sprouted first. So far 24 out of 50.

Now it is January 30th and 7 Trinidad Scorpion (seeds from Spain), 11 Jamaican Mushroom and 15 Safi Red (seeds from U.K.) have came up.

Now On February 1st 3 Assam Bhut Jolokia sprout. That is 8 days to germinate which is phenomenal for a Bhut Jolokia!!

Here are pics of everything so far in the Vitapod Germination Green house I purchased from Greenhouse Sensation U.K. (www.greenhousesensation.com) Pics you see of two green trays are the Naga Morich. Single tray with one small sprout peeking through is the Assam Bhut Jolokia. Single green trays with about 7 sprouts are the Trinidad Scorpion Chile. And plants you see coming up in peat trays are Jamaican Red Mushroom and West African Safi Red Scotch habanero.

Now the Growing Begins with Bhut Jolokia, Naga Morich, Trinidad Scorpion and Trinidad 7 Pot

2009-02-16T16:14:00.000-08:00

On the evening of January 24th I soaked my seeds in a saltpeter solution for one hour and then allowed them to dry out on plain paper towels. I planted one seed each in rapid rooter starter plugs of the following varieties in plastic trays and peat planter pots. I ran out of plastic trays thats why I used the planter pots. This is the list of what I planted:

50 Naga Morich seeds

50 Assam Bhut Jolokia seeds

50 Trinidad 7 Pot seeds

42 Chocolate Bhut Jolokia seeds

28 Trinidad Scorpion seeds

24 Jamaican Red Mushroom seeds (chinense variety of mushroom pepper)

24 Safi Red West African Scotch Bonnet seeds

I placed these into a Double Length Vitapod Propogator Germination machine manufactured by Green House Sensation U.K. that I purchased this year and set maximum temp at 30 degrees celcius which is a little over 85 degrees faranheit. You can find out more about them at www.greenhousesensation.com
Since the unit was close to my kitchen window I covered with a blanket to help keep heat inside.

The Rarest Hot Chiles

2009-01-16T17:35:00.000-08:00

It is so hard to find quality seeds for the rarest superhot chiles. The best sources are in U.K. or in Europe. There are some sources now finally for Bhut Jolokia here in the U.S. But try finding seeds for the Naga Morich chile, Trinidad Scorpion Chile or the Trinidad 7 Pot or 7 Pod chile and there is none here. The Trinidad 7 Pot, Trinidad Scorpion and Naga Morich plants all have a slight resemblance to one another. And the heat levels are very close to one another however I think the Naga Morich Chile is the hotter one. The Naga Morich seeds and Trinidad Scorpion and 7 Pot seeds can be difficult to germinate like the Bhut Jolokia seeds. However it is not impossible. My plans are to grow these all Hydroponically and make seeds, plants and yes fresh chiles available here in the U.S. I will use this blog and my website to take you all on the journey this year and hopefully get the Trinidad Scorpion, 7 Pod and Naga Morich seeds, plants and chiles into the homes of more Americans. I will also be growing the rare Malaysian Hbanero called the Goronong, An Isreali Habanero, thre African Habaneros and The Chocolate Bhut Jolokia. Pictures on this blog and later my website www.refiningfirechiles.com are copyright and from reliable sources of seeds and Hydro equipment. the pics are from fatalii.net and Greenhouse Sensation