Aussie's 2014-2015

PaulS · Dec 8, 2014

Looking forward to see how that turns out.
Thanks for sharing

Devv · Dec 8, 2014

Very nice Aussie!

One can never have too many plants

Aussie · Jan 1, 2015

Happy New Year everyone!

Here is our first ripe F1 hybrid, a Chinese 5 colour/Joe E Parker cross. The pods start off green but show darken quickly in sunlight. The top right hand pod shows this. As the pods mature, they lose the darker coloration and return to green (as you can see in many of these pods). The final ripe pod coloration is this beautiful scarlet. The pods are a uniform size and conical shape and about 3-4 inches long. They taste good, too: similar to Joe E Parker only spicier.

You can see that a tagged pod is now starting to ripen, which is good news, since this is from a hand pollination flower and will give us some seeds for the much more interesting F2 generation. Hoping to get these to the ripe pod stage by early winter.

Found this pretty redback spider in a drip tray (Latrodectus, same genus as North American black widow). There seem to be more redbacks here than usual this year. The markings on this one show white banding, typical of a juvenile female.

Bites can be nasty but no one has died from a redback bite for over 50 years.

organic pepper · Jan 1, 2015

Aussie said:
Happy New Year everyone!

Here is our first ripe F1 hybrid, a Chinese 5 colour/Joe E Parker cross. The pods start off green but show darken quickly in sunlight. The top right hand pod shows this. As the pods mature, they lose the darker coloration and return to green (as you can see in many of these pods). The final ripe pod coloration is this beautiful scarlet. The pods are a uniform size and conical shape and about 3-4 inches long. They taste good, too: similar to Joe E Parker only spicier.

You can see that a tagged pod is now starting to ripen, which is good news, since this is from a hand pollination flower and will give us some seeds for the much more interesting F2 generation. Hoping to get these to the ripe pod stage by early winter.

Found this pretty redback spider in a drip tray (Latrodectus, same genus as North American black widow). There seem to be more redbacks here than usual this year. The markings on this one show white banding, typical of a juvenile female.

Bites can be nasty but no one has died from a redback bite for over 50 years.

Yet! Just kidding!

PaulS · Jan 1, 2015

Happy new year.
I saw a few of these when I was in australia, gave me a shock when I sat next to one on a bench!

Best of luck for your 2015 season

Aussie · Jan 1, 2015

PaulS said:
Happy new year.
I saw a few of these when I was in australia, gave me a shock when I sat next to one on a bench!

Best of luck for your 2015 season

Thanks Paul. All the best for your 2015 grow, too.

A few more pics. Here is the first pod from a white 7 pot (PL) plant. This is a monster pod, roughly spherical and about 6 cm diameter. These pods have a glossy surface and appear to be quite thick skinned. This is my first time growing a white 7 pot and I am looking forward to tasting them.

An immature yellow brainstrain pod (PL), showing some nice surface "brainy" texture:

From around six 7 pot Chaguanas (PL) seedlings, one plant was noticeably different from the others. I decided to grow this one out - just for fun - to see what happens. I am sure that I have not mixed up labels and this looks like nothing else that I am growing this year. The impostor is much faster growing that the other Chag plants. Here is a side-by-side pic (what I believe is the true Chag is on the right):

The presumed hybrid showed a lot of purple coloration on stalks and leaf veins. The tips of the (otherwise white) flower petals are also purple.

Based upon the speed at which this is growing and the shape of the flowers, I suspect that this might be a chinense-annuum hybrid. Any suggestions? I will post pics of the pods when they appear.

Aussie · Jan 4, 2015

Here is our updated 2014-2015 grow list. Most overwintered plants are now in the ground (I will post photos soon), except the ones that are destined to be bonchis in the near future, and the three favourites from last year, which were potted up into 30 L tubs. The new starts will stay in smallish pots for the rest of the season. I will overwinter no more than ten of these, and these will be exclusively chinenses and pubescens, i.e. the ones that take the longest time to reach maturity.

If I have time, I will try some grafting experiments later in the season, once I have harvested enough pods. I like the idea of saving space by grafting branches from different plants to the same main trunk and rootstock.

Chinense
7-pot Jonah (SLP)
7-pot Jonah (from non-isolated seed, an experiment)
7-pot Jonah yellow (SLP)
7-pot Jonah 2009 (from Butch T)
7-pot original yellow (SLP)
7-pot Barrackpore (SLP)
7-pot Primo red (PL)
7-pot Primo orange (SLP)
7-pot Douglah (SLP)
7-pot white (PL)
7-pot brain strain red (PL)
7-pot brain strain yellow (PL)
7-pot Congo SR gigantic (PL)
7-pot Chaguanas (PL – kept 2 phenotypes)
Jonah’s yellow brain (PL)
Trinidad scorpion yellow CARDI (SLP)
Trinidad scorpion large (JR)
Trinidad scorpion chocolate (JR)
Trinidad Moruga scorpion yellow (SLP)
Butch T Trinidad scorpion MS strain (from Butch T)
Nagalah (SLP) brown pods – should be red according to SLP website!
bhut jolokia Assam (JR)
bhut jolokia red (PL)
bhut jolokia Indian carbon (JR)
bhut jolokia red (SLP strain 1)
bhut jolokia red (SLP strain 2)
bhut jolokia yellow (SLP)
bhut jolokia chocolate (SLP)
bhut jolokia white (PL)
bhut jolokia peach (PL)
bhut jolokia peach SS (PL)
white Naga (PL)
Naga viper (SLP)
big bang chocolate Naga (SLP)
Bahamian goat (JR)
chocolate habanero (Chili Factory)
H2PPB (SLP)

Annuum
Albanian red hot (PL)
farmer’s jalapeno (PL)
palmyra (PL)
cinnamon bell (PL)
bell of Gollu (PL)
Billy biker (from Bob_B)
sukari (PL)
tomato pepper (PL)
Sante Fe grande
Hungarian hot wax
giant jalapeno (PL)
cayenne (Bonchi)

Pubescens
giant rocoto (SLP)
brown rocoto (SLP)
canario (renaissance herbs)
red manzano
giant Mexican rocoto (PL)

Baccatum
kaleidoscope (SLP)
aji habanero (PL)
aji Amarillo (PL)
dulce sol (PL)

Our own hybrids
giant (F) x brown (M) F1 hybrid rocoto*
Chinese 5 colour (f) x Joe E Parker (m) F1 hybrid*
Chinese 5 colour (f) x Jimmy Nardello (m) F1 hybrid*
Chinese 5 colour (f) x pimenta de Neyde (m) F1 hybrid*
*Note – all hand pollinated.

edit: removed a double paste of the list

Aussie · Jan 19, 2015

Here is an update on my Chinese 5 colour x pimenta de Neyde F1 hybrid. It retains all the pod colours of the C5C, with a darker leaf colour (not as dark as PDN) but has a growth habit more like a PDN (i.e. huge). Annuum taste to pods. No bitterness but no chinense flavour, either!

Whole plant (5 feet tall in tiny pot):

Pod colour starts dark purple...

...then lightens to white(ish)...

...then to yellow (this one is a little past the yellow phase)...

...then to orange...

...and finally to red.

F2 should be interesting (if it is fertile).

Spicegeist · Jan 19, 2015

Fun cross... great list too!

Aussie · Jan 31, 2015

The last month of summer has begun in Australia. Most of the plants have been in ground for a month now - it took me longer than expected to get around to doing this and I will aim to put all my plants in ground by early November next year.

Pod ripening is almost complete on all (chinense) overwintered plants and the first pods are ripening on the fresh starts. I will harvest most of the pods from overwintered plants over the next week or so, in the hope of a second crop before the end of the season. The first frost will most likely hit us in around 3 months, so it will be close. I am thinking about extending the season in ground by covering the plants through the winter... Ideally would grow straight through the winter in ground but I'm not sure this will be possible. The (chinense) fresh starts will only give us one crop before the winter.

Here are some pics of pods and plants posted today from other threads:
http://thehotpepper.com/topic/52512-7-pot-brain-yellow/
http://thehotpepper.com/topic/52507-best-7-pot-to-grow-for-flavor/page-4#entry1110866

Today’s post is a story about our experiences with the 7 pot Jonah. This was the first superhot that we grew and tasted. We were blown away by the flavour and aroma of the fresh cut pods. The seed was from SLP and the thread is here:
http://thehotpepper.com/topic/37728-7-potpod-jonah-ts-yellow-cardi/
I was expecting pods with the “classic” 7 pot shape, i.e. roughly oval, with folds, etc. but most of the pods on our plant were roughly spherical with 3 or 4 sections in the main body and a defined, blunt tail at the base. We grew 2 more plants from the same SLP seed stock this year, and the shape of the pods are the same as the original plant. The SLP website photo shows a pod with the typical 7 pot shape. Just to be clear: this is neither a criticism nor a complaint. I am very happy with the plants and peppers from them! (We tried to overwinter the original SLP Jonah but alas the plant died – probably due to too much watering on my part.) This year, just for fun, we grew 3 or 4 plants from un-isolated seed collected from our original SLP Jonah. The plants are similar to the original, with similar pods, although one of the plants is producing pods with a more bumpy “braininess” than any other plant that we have grown. Here is a pic showing a pod just starting to ripen:

Jonah 2009. This is a plant in its second year, from seed generously gifted by Butch T, from his stock of original seed from 2009. We will be drying these pods very soon and testing them for capsaicin content. Butch sent the seed, along with some of his own Butch T MS strain, after reading our threads about testing the SLP Jonah (which came in at 900,000 Scovilles):

http://thehotpepper.com/topic/39407-capsaicin-analysis-jonah-and-butch-t-fresh-pods/
http://thehotpepper.com/topic/39666-capsaicin-analysis-butch-t-jonah-ts-yellow-cardi-and-rocoto-peppers/

The Jonah 2009 plant from Butch’s seeds is medium sized, the pods start off pale green and with a matt finish, ripening through orange and finally to deep red with a glossy finish and with many pointy bumps over the surface. These pods need a longer-than-usual ripening period. An average fresh pod weighs 6 g and measures about 4 cm long and just under 3 cm at its widest point. Pod shape is uniform. Interestingly, this plant dropped a significant number of pods before fully ripening.

Jonah 2009 plant:

Jonah 2009 pod:

Jonah 2009 cut pod:

Note the points on the surface. I would describe the flesh as medium thickness. I very much like the flavour. Around 1/3 of an average-sized pod on one half of a thin base 30 cm pizza is about right for us to enjoy the experience and not (temporarily) annihilate our taste buds.

Aussie · Feb 2, 2015

Today’s post is about the 7 pot Jonah yellow. Our plant is in its second year now. The seeds are from Peter at SLP. I just checked his website and he now calls this “7pot Orange-Yellow” but you will find the pepper if you search “Jonah” from his homepage. Our pods look different from the ones on Peter’s website in that they have a matt finish when ripe. They also have a very regular 7 pot shape that lacks much folding. The flesh is thick – thicker than our red Jonah. The plant is of small-medium size (smaller than the red Jonah) and is a prolific and early producer. The immature pods start off pale, develop a dark streaky purple “tan” in the sun and mature to orange. Here is a photo:

We like the heat level and flavour of this pepper very much. The peppers have a strong 7 pot aroma and the heat is not overwhelming. The yellow Jonah is significantly milder than the red 2009 Jonah described yesterday.

I will update this post with pod weights and dimensions later.

Aussie · Feb 2, 2015

A typical Jonah yellow has the same dimensions as the Jonah 2009 (4 cm x 3 cm) but weighs 9 g. The heavier weight is due to the thicker flesh. Here is a pic of the cut pod. The same spikiness seen with the Jonah 2009 is visible on the left hand edge.

Aussie · Feb 2, 2015

Primo orange. Our seed source is SLP, who calls this “7pot Primo Orange” and on his website, Peter says:

“One plant in between a row of normal red Primo showed pods with orange coloring. Very hot with excellent taste (Capsicum chinense)
Attention: Seeds are sold for experimental growing, it may happen that in the next generation a strong splitting may be observed, if it´s a hybrid and not a natural mutation in color synthesis!”

Grant (JungleRain) has previously offered (currently sold out) what he calls “7pot/pod Primo Yellow”. Grant says:

“This strain originated in 2012 from a single plant amongst other 7pot/pod Primo which were planted in our chilli gardens in 2011, we believe it to be a simultaneous occurring mutation from isolated seeds obtained from another reliable grower in 2010. This Yellow 7pot/pod variety has a very lumpy distorted shape and sometimes will have a very long twisted Scorpion like tail. It is extremely hot and has a nice citrusy flavour. The plants have very dark green foliage and grow on average around one metre tall and having pods 4-5 cm in size.”

Our SLP seed stock plants are shorter than 1 metre and are prolific producers of yellow pods that have a surface that is smoother, glossier and waxier-looking than those on both Peter’s and Grant’s websites. This might be, as Peter suggests, due to variation on account of this being an unstable hybrid. It might also be due to different growing conditions. Here are photos of some of the biggest pods from last year’s crop. They average around 10 g and about 4 cm x 4 cm.

Here is a link to more information and photos of our plant:
http://thehotpepper.com/topic/52507-best-7-pot-to-grow-for-flavor/?p=1110866

Heat level is around that of Jonah yellow. Hot, but not superhot.

Confusingly, our "Primo orange" pods are yellow in colour. This contrasts with the "Jonah yellow" pods from yesterday's post, which are clearly orange, when placed next to a yellow pod! Here is a side-by-side pic, with the Jonah on the left, Primo on the right:

Aussie · Feb 8, 2015

Finally picked our first ripe 7 pot white fruit (PL seed):

As you can see, the pepper is pale yellow rather than white. I posted a pic earlier of the immature pepper. The colour changes are unusual. It starts very pale green, then turns darker green, then finally turns pale yellow. The flavour is good and the heat level is perfect for us. We place this at the habanero level. This pepper was huge (26 g), medium thickness flesh. I had a bunch of seedings but grew out only the most vigorous plant. I've seen a lot of pics of 7 pot white peppers from other growers and their pods look much paler. The plant is huge (about 5 feet tall and only in a small container) with lots of fruit. I don't mind if this is not a true growing plant. I have already decided to keep this one over the winter!

The "brainiest" looking pods this year are from non-isolated SLP Jonah seed (see Feb 1 post). Here is a pic of the ripe fruit:

KrakenPeppers · Mar 1, 2015

Nice pods mate

Trident chilli · Mar 1, 2015

Awesome pictures and pods ...

Bumper · Mar 20, 2015

The 7 pot white pod looks almost too good to eat.

...

Almost..