The Bhut Jolokia

[Mojo Jojo]

that actually sounds very good, just something u threw together or was a recipe involved? i can't bake for shit but i love to cook. i might have to try it out

No recipe. I came up with the idea about 16 years ago as an attempt to illicit a nice endorphin response by combining two products known to trigger its release. I never actually noticed a response, but the flavor was quite nice. At first, I was putting the peppers directly into the brownies and not using any icing which was ok, but I had a random thought one day while having some german chocolate cake, that the habanero has a flavor that seemed like it would compliment the coconut in the german chocolate icing and I think that pairing was successful.

 

[GartenSpinnen]

I decided I was going to risk shock to my plant and causing it to drop flowers by transplanting while the flowers are just starting to come on. Went to the store on a budget with the mission of only spending 10.00 on a new larger pot and organic soil.

So my first stop was this farm store called Rural King. I went in there looking at pots trying to find something adequate, but all the larger pots were like 12.00 for a cheap piece of crap on up to something way out of my budget. I must do this cheaply...

So while I was walking around trying to find something on sale I walked past a shelf of buckets that were on sale for 2.99! 5 gallon bucket should be adequate was my thoughts. So then nobody was home that I could borrow a cordless drill, so I went ahead and took the Dremel to it and drilled out a bunch of 1/8" holes into the bottom so that there was drainage. I am not satisfied with the holes I drilled though, so I am going to go back in and drill some 1/4" holes throughout the bottom to increase drainage and help aerate it a bit.

I was telling a friend of mine real proudly that I had thought up using a bucket as a cheaper source for big pots, when he told me that white buckets allow sun penetration which is bad for the roots. So he offered me a black bucket he had laying around. So I dropped the white bucket into the black bucket and it sits about 1" off the ground now because the bucket was higher. Bigger holes drilled into the bottom so air flow is increased.


So here is hoping that she loves her new digs in the 5 gal, and I did not stress her out moving her. I think the added height of being like she is is going to help because it will only mean more light for her.


Here is a pic-

It is just about ready to flower, I counted all the flowers coming on and between the two plants they have 30 flowers starting :O I doubt I will get that many... but heres to hoping? :?

The plan is to possibly have a bhut jolokia x-mas tree this year. Even if I have to put it under some flourescents

---------- Post added at 10:44 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:38 PM ----------

I am growing Orange Hobenaros, and I have eaten two, sliced very thin with melted cheese on a tortilla...was amazigly hot in the mouth, burned my lips for minutes, but had great flavor, and shockingly no "other end effects" shockingly enough. I did feel great for about 24 hours though, also have some chillis outside.

Wow very nice! :clap:

If that is grown indoors, what kind of lighting are you using?

---------- Post added at 10:45 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:44 PM ----------

I used to enjoy dicing a habanero really small and mixing into german chocolate icing and putting on some brownies.

I was reading the other day about adding habaneros to chocolate, before then I had never even thought about pairing habaneros with anything like that. Sounds interesting, I am gonna have to try it out sometime.

 

[J Morningstar]

---------- Post added at 10:44 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:38 PM ----------

[/COLOR]

Wow very nice! :clap:

If that is grown indoors, what kind of lighting are you using?

I have it right next to my carnivorous plant terrarrium, atop which sits a 150-200 watt florecent bulb then over them then are two 36" or so bulbs one sunlight, one full spectrum.

 

[GartenSpinnen]

My plant has gotten huge since putting it in a 5 gal bucket! I think it has at least doubled in size, its pretty darn big. I have a bunch of flowers coming on but unfortunately all have dropped so far

Any tricks for getting them to not drop the flowers? ::

 

[J Morningstar]

My plant has gotten huge since putting it in a 5 gal bucket! I think it has at least doubled in size, its pretty darn big. I have a bunch of flowers coming on but unfortunately all have dropped so far

Any tricks for getting them to not drop the flowers? ::

This is not one of those sarcastic answeres, but, don't transplant them while blooming. There is not much you could do if you had to move it. Plants do not like repotting or at least it encourages root growth first then plant growth, if your plant does not go into shock. You could have tried keeping the entierty of th dirt intact around the original root ball and put it back in the same location and hoped for the best but even that doesn't work sometime. My hobanero plant seems to produce new blooms every few weeks to a month. If you see more blooms wait till they do their thing, then pinch back the plant a few leave stalks in all over and see if that doesn't encourage a flush of activity.
BYW great looking plant

 

[GartenSpinnen]

Fixed my flower drop issues and the plant went through very very minimal stress due to transplant. I always like to use some fish emulsion after transplant because I believe it considerably lessons the stress due to the transplanting.

My plant is enormous now, I really cannot believe how big it has become. I did some pruning on it last week trying to get rid of some of the bottom growth to increase ventilation around the base of the plant. I also went through with a small paintbrush and hand pollinated all the flowers that were open. I had around 20 open and they all appear to be turning into peppers now

I counted all the flowers that are coming on and counted 40 :biggrin:

If the plant does not develop its peppers all the way by the time it starts to get cold, it will be going under a 1000 w HID until next spring.

I've learned a great deal about growing this plant, and next year I intend to have a much better go at it. I am only going to keep the plants I have going in the 5 gal though, and instead going to concentrate on some other varieties. Here is an updated pic of the plant, it was grown all natural mostly organic means. I used fish emulsion, Magnesium sulfate, bone meal, organic slow release fertilizer, and crushed egg shells. Soil was an all organic mix of composted barks, chicken manure, vermiculite, pearlite, and a few odds and ends. NO sand, I learned to stay away from it... For pest control I only used some spiders, assassin bugs, and the egg shells, absolutely NO insecticides or chemicals ever! I especially prefer to use jumping spiders on my plants. Whenever I find them I place them in a plant and many times they would stay there, I have a couple small orb weavers living in there too!


Here she is-

(Excuse the crappy pic, all I have is a crappy cell phone cam)

---------- Post added 08-12-2011 at 01:07 PM ----------

My pruning rule is this-

If the leaves touch the dirt or the top of the bucket they get plucked. Normally transplanting can cause a lot of stress and shock to plants, especially these because they hate being transplanted. But when you do it correctly, which involves a method I was taught by a friend, it can be done with very minimal issues. Its hard to explain the process I use to do this, but one key aspect of it is to make sure you transplant at night when it is cooler and never during the day. And make sure your plant is placed level in the new pot. Fish emulsion again is something I absolutely adore, even though it is smelly. Peeeeeeeeeeee ewwwwwwwwwwwwwww

 

[J Morningstar]

I,ve been hand pollenating as well, I have had some success as I have 3 peppers on my plant right now. Also I have about 25 -30 flowers starting so I am excited!!

 

[Mojo Jojo]

I put my habanero and demon red plants outside a few days ago after repotting them in a larger pot and I noticed that their leaves get really wilted while under direct sunlight but then perk completely back up once they've gone back into shade. The cayennes that I have been growing don't do that but they are mature plants from last year while the habanero and demon reds were started in the late spring and are fairly immature. Normal?

 

[J Morningstar]

I put my habanero and demon red plants outside a few days ago after repotting them in a larger pot and I noticed that their leaves get really wilted while under direct sunlight but then perk completely back up once they've gone back into shade. The cayennes that I have been growing don't do that but they are mature plants from last year while the habanero and demon reds were started in the late spring and are fairly immature. Normal?

Usually my plant wilts when too little water, do you water them in the evening? Also mine does that above 85 degrees I have to water quite frequently in the very hot weather. But it's pot is way small.

 

[Mojo Jojo]

I do water them in the evening. I kinda think it was a shock to them to go from a small pot inside to a large plant outside.

 

[J Morningstar]

Maybe try watering before the sun is out or before they are in the sun, this may sustain them throughout the day...

 

[codykrr]

Mojo, just so you know, you should always if possible water in the mornings. That way the plants have time to absorb water during the day. Watering plants in the evening is a good way(especially for potted plants) to promote root diseases.

bacteria in soil is most active at night, and if the roots are wet going into the evening this can cause root rot, and other problems.

 

[Mojo Jojo]

Oh. I guess my older plant had just been way more established when I had put it out compared to these smaller plants. The past few days the rain has just taken care of the watering though. Also, the potting mix I created for it is a blend of about 1/3 Miracle Grow Cactus Potting Mix and 2/3 Miracle Grow Orchid Mix, which is quite different from your typical Orchid Mix. The stuff looks like soil, just a bit more coarse, but it doesn't have peat in it but the cactus mix did. I wanted something with good drainage, but without too much peat.

 

[Drakk]

My mom is big on peppers and all kinds of plants....
Sometimes if you grow things indoors the leaves wont take direct sun so well....have you tried putting them in indirect light or direct just a few hours a day until some leaves have been produced under the new light intensity?
Im no expert just a thought!

 

[Mojo Jojo]

I moved it under the small awning over my back porch. It will still get plenty of direct sunlight, but not as much as before and should be a bit more protected from the elements (over watering from the rain).

 

[Drakk]

Cool.
I hope they do really well for you and enjoy some of those fiery lil devils for me when the crop comes in ^^

 

[Mojo Jojo]

I took the tray off the bottom of the pot this morning when I watered it to make sure that all the excess water is able to fully drain. I didn't notice the plant wilting this afternoon.

 

[Drakk]

Very nice!
Sounds like there gonna do just fine.

 

[GartenSpinnen]

My Bhut Jolokia plant now has over 100 flowers on it and over a dozen large peppers . Yay! I am really hoping that all the flowers turn into peppers, and so far it seems like they are. No more flower drops! I have been hand pollinating them every day, wheew what a chore when you start really getting them on there. Anyway, now I might be able to finally start thinking about making some salsas and such

 

[Drakk]

This thread makes me wanna grow some now....haha gratz on your plants you two hope u get awesome harvests.