The Good, the Bad and the Spicy
We are thrilled to share that since opening our stand, we’ve seen incredible success with twenty five pepper bags sold already. We honestly did not anticipate this level of enthusiasm from everyone, but we are working hard to keep up with the high demand.
As the saying goes, we have some good news and some bad news to share with you today.
The Bad.
We have been dealing with a rough outbreak of thrips and spider mites lingering since last winter. While we previously thought we defeated them, they managed to stage a comeback and unfortunately killed a lot of our plants. For those who might not know, these pests will destroy the plant foliage itself, but they do not actually affect the safety or quality of the food grown. They are notoriously difficult to fight when you grow indoors because there are no natural predators inside your home to keep them in check. To turn the tide, we have ordered another round of beneficial insects from NaturesGoodGuys.com to combat the infestation naturally. Our new defense team includes:
Beneficial Nematodes
Orius insidiosus - Minute Pirate Bug
Special Blend Predatory Mite Mix
We also had to tear down and destroy some of the heavily affected plants to prevent the spread to the rest of the garden. Managing pests gets especially tricky when you have multiple plants crowded together inside the grow tents. To add to the gardening hurdles, our initial batch of Ghost Pepper and Jalapeno seeds failed to germinate because of an experimental soil mix we tried out. We’ve already started a brand new seed batch to replace them. The only real upside to losing plants to pests is that it clears up valuable real estate in the tent for brand new varieties.
The Good.
Despite the setbacks, plenty of our peppers are thriving right now. Ancho Poblano Chillies are looking huge, and we are just waiting patiently for them to turn a rich red color. Serrano plants have produced a massive harvest, and we are also just waiting on those to ripen fully to red. Joes Long Cayenne peppers are doing exceptionally well, and we’re going to start letting them grow buds now that the plants are big enough.
We also faced a major unexpected test recently when our local grid suffered a five hour power outage. In an indoor grow setup, losing power for that long can quickly turn into a disaster for temperature control and lighting schedules.
Thankfully, our backup solar battery kicked in immediately and kept absolutely everything running smoothly without a single hiccup. Our plants never even noticed the blackout, proving that our investment in reliable backup power was worth every single penny.
Looking ahead, we will be drying some more habaneros and santaka/thai peppers soon. These remain our main crop because they’re always producing waves of peppers. Stay tuned for more updates as the red peppers start ripening and our new seeds sprout.