Am i the last to know?

[mikeref]

Seems i've been living under a rock! For the Australian and New Zealand people basically, What happened to Orford Australia?? Economy is not so good at the moment but for this large refrigeration company that basically competes with Skope NZ for commercial production of refrigeration equipment, What gives ? .. Mike.

[mad fridgie]

I know the Skope factory (production) in Christchurch is not that busy, but the design side is (also in Christchurch), working its socks of for Haier in China. I wonder how long Skope will stay in refrigeration production in NZ.
Skope are not just into refrigeration, maybe their diversity will keep them in the production game.

[mikeref]

Lets hope Skope can battle on. Near all the shops have Orford or Skope single or 2,3,4 door displays here. Sigh.. A sign of the times i guess.

[mad fridgie]

The fact is that both companies have boring units, nothing to advanced, good quality, too expensive. I think they have sat on the history for the sales. I think they both needed a clean sweep of their design engineers. Not that the engineers are bad or anything like that, they just become comfortable and stayed.

[mikeref]

The fact is that both companies have boring units, nothing to advanced, good quality, too expensive. I think they have sat on the history for the sales. I think they both needed a clean sweep of their design engineers. Not that the engineers are bad or anything like that, they just become comfortable and stayed.

Boring units?? Never thought of it that way. No doubt you have something in mind to improve performance. Must say that i don,t have any vested interest in either company, but breakdowns help me keep bread on the table .

[paul_h]

Seems i've been living under a rock! For the Australian and New Zealand people basically, What happened to Orford Australia?? Economy is not so good at the moment but for this large refrigeration company that basically competes with Skope NZ for commercial production of refrigeration equipment, What gives ? .. Mike.

You must be, it was announced 10/05/2011
http://www.thechronicle.com.au/story...ion-toowoomba/

Didn't bother me, being in WA I've only seen one orford cabinet. It's mainly skope in WA

[mikeref]

Yeh thanks for that. BTW, where have you been,Paul-h? How are thoes chillies comming along? Thought you would have been in the thick of it with chillerman 2006 and install monkey. .Mike.

[install monkey]

everyone is welcome,by the way if youve got a problem,no one else will help,as long as you have a fridge/ac background-and you can fit compressors that last for over 5 minutes-then welcome to the funhouse

[Magoo]

Hi Mike Ref., and Mad Fridge.
I beleive Skope was part of the Stewart / PDL clan that sold their soul to Schneider Inc.., or similar Euro Company., another NZ company that bailed out and took the dosh., arzoles. There VSD 's were cool and practical but no longer available of course, just the schnieder shyte. More jobs for NZ ers lost

[mad fridgie]

Hi Mike Ref., and Mad Fridge.
I beleive Skope was part of the Stewart / PDL clan that sold their soul to Schneider Inc.., or similar Euro Company., another NZ company that bailed out and took the dosh., arzoles. There VSD 's were cool and practical but no longer available of course, just the schnieder shyte. More jobs for NZ ers lost

Skope originated from the Stewart clan, and is stil lowned by the family, not the euros.

[Magoo]

Hi Mad.
thanks for the re-assurance, but ckeck Sir James estate, Skope are possibly fractionally owned offshore. Capital based . I hope not, you never know these days who owns who and whose up who and not paying. A bit like Chilerman and his wife.

[paul_h]

Yeh thanks for that. BTW, where have you been,Paul-h? How are thoes chillies comming along? Thought you would have been in the thick of it with chillerman 2006 and install monkey. .Mike.

Busy in June/July.
August is always the completely dead month though. I just do a few jobs a week and do all the paperwork/taxes, and start my hobby up. Last few years was home brew, but as you know this year is chillies.
Got most of them going but it's a trial by fire for this black thumb.
I started of:
7 pot brain strain
7 pot red
7 pot yellow (PRF)
7 pot yellow (THSC)
aji amarillo
bih jolokia
bonda ma jaques
carribean red
cayenne
choc trinidad scorpion
choc bhut
congo black
czech black
dorset naga
fatalii
habanero red, yellow and orange
hungarian hot wax
jalapeno
kempsey red
marouga red
PC1 naga
peruvian white
scotch bonnet
takanotsume
Thai birdseye 6/4
trinidad scorpion Butch T

...in the last few days, while continuing to kill the older seedling I planted in april/may.

Found an old peltier fridge with digital t/stat that heats as well as cools, so that's set to 28C to try germinate seeds, plus went out and bought a 400W MH lamp. Working out my own seedling and potting mixes by combining heaps of different products.

[mikeref]

Yeah, Not much happens in August. July through to the first hot day in September is soooo slow here. Thought winter was nearly over then last night and again tonight, it's turned cold. I see you've had some cold nights over in Western Australia, so a/c's will be used for heating to keep away the brass monkey syndrome. last night, i was plastered and fell onto the keroscene heater while trying to warm up . A few years ago, i tripped and fell into a camp fire while under the influence, now that woke me up in a hurry .. I don't know anything about chillies but i've got a plant under the steps that grows orange and red oval shaped items about 2cm long and are seriously hot, but neighbours like them so i keep watering the damn thing. Jalapeno in your list? Brings back memories of "ring of fire",Think i'll pass thanks.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxgE4MZkJV4

[paul_h]

Jalapeno is the least hot one.
Trinidad scorpion BT is the hottest
http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/...hottest-chili/

"rated at 1,463,700 Scoville Heat Units (SHU)"
jalapeno is about 3000 to 5000 SHU.

I do actually like the one's not so hot, like jalapeno or habanero. The crazy hot ones are because if you have limited space or so bad a gardener you only get 6 chillies a year, then the really hot chillies you can use less of, like 1/4 of a single chilli in a snack/dinner, instead of using 2 whole chillies and run out of them all the time like I did in summer when only growing jalapenos, czech blacks, habaneros etc.

[mikeref]

OMG!! Then i've seriously got no tollerence to chillies. Garlic on the other hand, i can deal with. Trinidad Scorpion at that value ? Sheeet, now that's snake venom. Found this vid, not very nice. Read comments. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9vQ2...eature=related

[paul_h]

Yeah bhut jolokias were previously the hottest chilli at ~1M, but trinidad scorpions are slightly over that.
When I bought my seeds from the Hippy seed company they gave my some dried bhut jolokia. I've been sprinkling that on everything, YUM.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tRq8ExAHzk

But that guy can't handle chillies seriously. Look up the proprietor from the hippy seed company on you tube, he's eaten whole every chilli he sells.

[SeanB]

You will have better germination and grow out using a 400W HPS lamp instead of the MH lamp. Buy a lamp and replace the one you have. The orange colour is better suited to the needs of the plants.

[paul_h]

Chillies aren't light sensitive, either works. HPS is more for getting buds for the other famous indoor crop.

Lights have nothing to do with germination, though orange lamps may STOP germination, as some studies show incandescent bulbs (which are yellow/orange) may prevent germination. All my germination is done with no light as it's done in a 20L reverse cycle pelter fridge set to 28-32C heat mode as it's winter here.

Lastly some lights can run both HPS and MH. The lamp requirments are different and some are only one or the other, but some are switchable between MH and HPS mode.
Pretty sure mine's not though, so I'm stuck with MH.