Yes, this morning I applied the anti-bacterial...

...fertilizer. I expect it will be a few days before I know any results.
I won't even consider the bone-meal until this is resolved; and I'm ready!
So counting; December 4th I'll dose a second time...
Cheers...

Fail! The Worst Results Yet...

...and if I weren't persistent; I'd quit!
I lost all 5 orange Habanero plants in 2 days; and every pepper on the Costa red has rotted and fallen to the ground. Some have worms, but most don't. The leaves are looking very bad on the red and the orange Habs just collapsed.
That's the bad news. 
The good news is; after much traveling and asking, a friend and I found a shop today, which is about 55 kilometers away in Damnoen Saduak (of floating market fame) which has everything; and I mean everything!
Bone meal, lime, and a soil treatment for the root rot which is killing my plants.
The owner speaks English and is very knowledgeable about plant and root diseases. He explained the soil in our area is very bad and described exactly what was wrong with my plants. I of course knew about the bad soil (which has been discussed here a lot) and had gotten Chitosan for the bad bacteria/fungus/nematodes.
Well, Khun (Mr.) Suthep said Chitosan doesn't work; and he's right! But I had to give it a try, no?
That's the very good news.
Tonight I start the soil treatment; and will apply a second treatment in 2 weeks and once a month after that. When I'm satisfied with the results I'll apply a healthy amount of bone-meal. 
I feel I need to move one step at a time so as not to confuse which application did what. If this soil treatment actually works I may well be on my way to finally growing Habaneros in an ongoing process.
I had far better luck growing in pots but they have they're own unique problems; thus my wanting to plant in the ground. Last years rainy season did in my potted plants with gross over watering for months.
My plants made it through the rainy season this year and then went down. Frustrating to say the least.
That's the encouraging news. Cheers...

Calcium, Magnesium, & Bone Meal...

I have never understood why bone meal is nowhere to be found here in LOS. Drove many kilometers yesterday in search of either bone meal and/or a calcium supplement.
The biggest fertilizer store I've found is 20 kilometers from home and when I asked about bone meal; mai me (don't have). Then I asked about calcium supplement; mai me again.
Upon further inquiry and questions they finally came up with a big jar of some kind of foliar chemical powder.
Persistence paid off this time; they had what I wanted but didn't even realize it because Thais don't question the way we westerners are prone to do. It's just too common a growing adjunct not to have in a huge shop like this.
The second largest ingredient was calcium oxide preceded by magnesium and followed by potassium.
Bingo! It also has copper, zinc, boron, molybdenum, and iron.
Yes, I have the Bison organic fertilizer w/bone meal, but I can't find it anywhere, so when I run out (which will be soon) I have nothing else to substitute; now I do and enough to last for a year or more.
The pods are still dropping but I expect next week this will stop as there is nothing else to cause problems at this time.
Another thing that is different this time around is the leaves; they are flat and healthy looking, unlike last year with them all curled up. Now that's headway IME.
Cheers; the adventure continues...

Never a Smooth Road to Growing Habaneros in LOS

The plants are fine as the pods grow, mature, rot, and fall; 30+ pods lost to the never ending rain.
Despite my best efforts, the constant soaking is taking it's toll on the pods.
The irony is thick; I quit planting in pots for the very reason of water logged soil because of the monsoons.
But this year has been an especially wet one and even though the plants are doing okay, the pods are not maturing before the rot settles in and they go to ground.
The Costa reds are producing huge quantities of pods; but alas, for naught.
We're coming out of the rain as the year advances; we've escaped the floods, but not the rain. So be it; I'm confident the winter will bear fruit; pun intended.
Cheers and good growing to all...

Dropped 9 Pods in a Week? Ouch!

My Costa Rican Reds:
The first 2 were showing signs of rot before they dropped. Over the course of a week 9 hit the ground including 1 that was almost ripe.
Fertilizer; check.
Magnesium; check.
Calcium; none.
Hmm, BER (blossom end rot) is a sure sign of a calcium deficiency, especially if the plants are getting a proper dose of magnesium.
I applied an organic fertilizer I found here that includes bone meal (calcium source) and within 4 days the pods stopped dropping and no sign of BER.
It's now 7 days and the pods are looking good and haven't lost any more.
So, a heads-up out there regarding the importance of calcium.

My Orange Habaneros:
I lost one orange Habanero plant to....something? I could not see any insects on the plant.
I've been treating with Chitosan and the other 5 are looking fine. They are budding up and will be producing in a week or 2.

State of The Garden; Such as it Is...

Progress at last as the red Habs produce some monster pods (for here) and the orange Hab seedlings are growing quite well. Some pictures from this morning;

A 5.5cm dia. red Hab pod;

My most productive plant so far;

The Red Bed;

And my Orange Bed; remember these little guys?

So far so good; it might be worth noting; the orange Habs are 1st or 2nd generation Thai and the reds are 3rd or 4th generation Thai. I'm hoping over time they will fully acclimate to the soil and basic weather (temp/humidity/sun) here in the LOS.

I made a delicious salsa fresca using of the first two red Habs. They were the perfect heat for about a liter and a half of finished salsa. Very spicy but leaving ones head intact, so-to-speak.

Cheers.

Applied Chitosan Again Sunday Morning...

...because the plants are starting to exhibit leaf curling and some yellowish looking leaves.
The pods are growing huge and all of the red Habanero plants are now producing.
The 6 orange Habanero plants look very healthy and are doing quite well at this point. It will probably be a couple of weeks before they'll start flowering.
I haven't yet tried the first pod yet; got a small batch of salsa coming soon that it will go into; maybe tomorrow...

First Costa Rican Red Habanero...

Today the first red Habanero from the new crop was harvested. It's a monster @ 4+cm in diameter;

This is so encouraging; I had all but given up. 

The 6 orange Habanero seedlings are planted in their new bed and seem to be okay; we'll see... 

Skipped the Chitosan this week...

...because there doesn't appear to be anything wrong. I applied it as a prophylactic due to previous problems. I will however apply it at the very first sign of trouble.
The one huge pod is turning red and may be fully ripe in another 3 days. In all there are 8 pods set on 3 of 4 plants. 
I'll be putting the 6 orange Hab seedlings in the ground by Saturday; the bed is almost ready and so are they.
Cheers.

What's Growing Now!

Here's a few pics;

A blurry (sorry) shot of the 4cm red Hab w/hand for relative size;

The 4cm is on the right below with another coming on as well;

The six orange Habanero seedlings;

These will all go into the ground as I'm a bit put off by container growing based on last years failures.

cheers.

Chitosan; second treatment...

...today, Sunday the 14th. (Even though the blog is dated, I'm on the other side of the date line, thus the different dates depending on the time I post) The rain has been spotty at best so today I applied roughly 2 - 3 liters of the diluted mixture (10ml/5+ liters of water) per plant in the garden.
The 4 Costa Rican Red Habaneros are doing extremely well so far. One plant has the biggest Habanero I've ever seen with my own eyes; it's over 4 cm. in diameter. I will post a pic of it soon. All of them are podding up with very little flower drop.
My sick chocolate Habanero is not worse; that's the best I can say at the moment and it got a dose of Chitosan also (2nd for it also).
So, it's actually only been a week and I'm hoping to see definite results in the next week or so.
I have 6 more orange Habanero plants in thumb pots which will go in the ground sometime this week if they harden up enough so the birds don't eat the tops.

Chitosan; a soil treatment based on seafood waste...

I applied the first treatment of Chitosan today (Sunday the 7th here) to one chocolate Habanero (a very sick plant) and the 4 Costa Rican Red Habanero plants (they are healthy so far).
The reason I delayed is because we are in the rainy season here and it's been pretty wet the last 2 weeks. Finally got a 3 day break, so applied it @ about 1 liter of dilute mixture per plant. I used 10ml Chitosan to 5 liters of water.
I'm hoping this will break the cycle of my plants demise after a year of growing.

Chitosan is supposed to be very effective in eliminating bad soil bacteria as well as the bad nematodes while leaving the healthy stuff alone. A simple google search will bring up loads of data on Chitosan, cheers.

New Crop on the way...

As may be remembered, I dehydrated about a kilo of reds, chocolates, and orange Habaneros. I gleaned seeds from those pods and to my surprise they are germinating. There are 4 reds in the garden and they are doing well so far.
My wife has been making compost for almost 2 years now and we've added it into 3 large beds as well as individual plantings.
I recently met an Aqua-culture scientist who told me about a product which is a bio-cide/fungicide soil treatment made from the waste of ocean products (fish, etc.) and I will post more information as I can get it as well as a product name.
I'll post pics as appropriate and try to update on a regular basis. Cheers and Happy Trails...

Update (07-23-11): re: my previous post in April, Dang (the scientist) indicated the soil was the problem in-so-much as harmful bacteria and nematodes in the soil are the problem with my plants. Chitosan is the treatment he gave me for the problem; time will tell if he's correct, but it's certainly worth a try. More later as things develope.

Well here I am; all my plants have expired...

...and the worst of it is: I don't know why.
It seems they do well through their first crop and steadily go down from there. I've got 6 seedlings (Costa Rica Red Habaneros) ready to plant in the next week. I'll follow that up with some Orange Habaneros and possibly a few Chocolates after that.
My dream of ever-bearing C. chinense here are tempered by a different reality; so be it.
Cheers.

Soil, Mine; the continuing saga...

Well, the blisters are almost gone and the "soil project" moves forward. Wednesday the 19th Ajarn Oot will come over and shepherd me through using an auger (1-1/2" dia.) to bore many holes in the garden area. We will then fill the holes with water which should then flood the sub-straight, thereby softening the soil. At least in theory.
Frankly, the few square meters I've dug up already are the most difficult (translate=hard) soil I've ever worked and I'll take all the help I can get.
More later. Cheers.

Soil, Mine, Continued...

Last Sunday we had a master gardener and his wife (our friends) over for early morning coffee and cornbread.
Visiting my raised beds Oot (his nickname) squatted down and picked up some dirt and immediately said it was no good. No surprise there; but he had/has a remedy.
Early that same afternoon we went over to his house which is located on a few acres (4 - 6 rai) of beautiful property. He does everything organically and mixes his own dirt. It should be noted here that in our area the "dirt" is riven with clay and when it's dried out is as hard as concrete. That said; his diagnosis of my problem is the clay and I haven't broken it up enough and thoroughly mixed it with humus. So, when my beds dry out they become raised concrete/soil beds. The result is the roots have no where to go. I confirmed that last week when I dug up and re-potted 2 of my bedded plants (2 Costa Rican Reds). They appear to be recovering in their new "homes".

Oot's formula for dirt is as follows:
1. Dig down 1 foot and break up the hard pan. Make it as fine as possible (nothing bigger than course salt).
2. Mix in an equal amount of milled cow manure and an equal amount of milled coconut coir.
3. The ratio of dirt, coir, and manure is 1:1:1.
4. The raised bed should go down 30cm (1 foot) below ground level and extend about 12-15cm (6 in.) above ground level.
5. Make the beds about 2 meters wide for planting a double row. Capsicum roots tend to spread out as opposed to going deep; so it's important not to make the beds too narrow.

I've started digging up my first new bed and even with the ground wet, it's still quite a job. I've got to toughen up my hands again; blisters are us. It's slow going at the moment.
I've laid in all of the supplies (milled manure and coir) and dug up about 2 sq. meters of bed.
It seems odd to begin all over again after 14 months of growing; but I'm confident I'm finally on the right track. Oot's capsicum are looking great (as they should) so I know he know's what he's doing.

I'll be following up on this thread as things develop and will post pictures where appropriate.
It's a new year and time for some new challenges. Cheers and Happy New Year.