Siv's second time lucky? 2020 Glog

And so it begins:

 
From left to right:

1. Growdown Fatalii - Seed Savers Exchange
2. Kang Starr Lemon Starburst - Pepper Donkey [new for 2020]
3. Bahamian Goat - Pepper Donkey
4. Sugar Rush Peach - Pepper Donkey
5. Dorset Naga - Pepper Donkey [new for 2020]
6. Piri Piri - All Good Things [new for 2020]
7. Peppadew - THP seed train (I think) [new for 2020]
8. Turbo Pube - fataliiseeds.net [new for 2020]
9. Datil - THP Seed Train
10. White Ghost - Pepper Donkey
11. Purple Thunder - PaulG [new for 2020]
12. Leviathan Gnarly Scorpion - WHP (I think) [new for 2020]
13. Solid Gold But - saiias [new for 2020]

All the seeds look pretty good other than the piri piri which seem small and darker than expected. We'll see how it does. Overall, I think I have a good mix of heat and colour. Maybe I need to add something yellow as the growdown fatalii looks orange.
 
I'll put together another tray next weekend. Last year was easy as I had limited seeds, this year has been near impossible to choose what to grow as I have so many seeds thanks to the kindness of PaulG and the THP seed train.
 
I'm debating if I should do an Aji this year. Last year I got a ton of Aji Limo so perhaps I should try crystal, mango or pineapple - any recommendations?

 

[Siv]

Some pod pics:
 
Dorset Naga is growing some big ones!

 
Finally my throwdown fatalii has set a pod. He's a bit small now but I hope he grows up big and strong

 
Lots of purple thunder - hope these go a nice two tone as they ripen

 
KSLSB pod spotted but looks to be off-pheno. 

 
These Bahamian Goats look huge compared to last year

 
 
Piri piri looking to be small. I hope the taste compensates for the size

 
Solid Gold on the go

 
LGS turning. The bugs seem to like them on the soil side so I'm picking them red - the hydro ones will be left to see if it goes to that maroon colour

 
Orange Ribbon also turning

 
Tons of peppadew but they're not liking the heat and lots are dropping. These seem to take a long time to ripen also

 
One Datil has a bunch of red pods. The other is still green. These aren't as hot as I'd like but may make good pickling peppers

 
And finally the SRP - definitely growing these again next year

 

[ahayastani]

All nice peppers, but somehow the Orange Ribbon caught my attention more than the others

 

[Siv]

Wow, Siv, you're killing it this year! 
 
That lizard at the top of the page is a handsome fellow.  Is it an anole?
 
You've got that same weird spotting I get!!  Post #111.  What is it, do you think?  I see it to some extent on all my outdoor 5g Kratkys.  It got so bad on one of my plants last week I cut it down.
 
Also, my lone rocoto is showing very much the same yellowing as your indoor guy, except far worse.  I think mine doesn't like my version of Kratky - he's seemed off since almost the very beginning.
 
BTW, it looks like your buckets are all tilted back with a piece of lumber under their near edges.  Tell us about that?

 
Thanks E. I have no idea what that spotting is but I tend to ignore anything that's on old growth. You can see from my pics that there are plenty of older leaves that have yellowing or patterns and many fall off leaving the bottoms of the plants bare. I just pay attention to the new growth/young leaves and as long as they're good, I don't worry. The only one that's a concern is the Aji Amarillo - he has a problem with something which you can see in post 45. I've been plucking off any new growth that shows this and the bulk of the plant looks fine but now some of the pods are getting black spots.

 
Same with the indoor pube. He's looking pretty good if you ignore the yellow edges on the older leaves. Look how many damn flowers there are! But not a single pod set.

 
And finally, these plants are all set up on the walkway by the pool and it has drains set in the middle so the path slopes down from either side. Since it's not level, I didn't want the buckets to start tilted forward, especially since the plants tend to grow forward towards the sun and I was worried about them toppling over. So the wood is just to try and keep the buckets a bit more upright. Since all the buckets are connected together I'm paranoid about one falling over and then pulling all the rest with them. Another thing I have done this year is keep the nute level high - last year I let it drop and maintained nutes in only the bottom couple of inches of the buckets - now they're kept full t just below the net pot bottom which adds to the weight considerably and should ensure stability.

 

[Uncle Eckley]

And finally, these plants are all set up on the walkway by the pool and it has drains set in the middle so the path slopes down from either side. Since it's not level, I didn't want the buckets to start tilted forward, especially since the plants tend to grow forward towards the sun and I was worried about them toppling over. So the wood is just to try and keep the buckets a bit more upright. Since all the buckets are connected together I'm paranoid about one falling over and then pulling all the rest with them. Another thing I have done this year is keep the nute level high - last year I let it drop and maintained nutes in only the bottom couple of inches of the buckets - now they're kept full t just below the net pot bottom which adds to the weight considerably and should ensure stability.

 
Ah, I see.  Cool.

 

[Siv]

Today I saw someone post on a facebook group about germinating seeds in some kind of gel and that took me back to high school biology and growing stuff on agar plates. I had actually bought a huge lot of agar agar years ago for making jellies and still have tons of it left so I decided to give it a go for some fun. I made a 2% agar solution (boiling water and agar agar by weight) and poured it into one of those microwave safe takeaway containers a few hours ago. I turned it out onto the lid just now and it's a nice firm gel.

 
I got some bonus rocoto seeds from an earlier purchase so I thought I'd try them out since they'd be easier to see.

 
And in the gel they go.

 
I put them just below the surface with some tweezers and stuck them under my germination lights. Let's see what happens!

 
Apparently some citric acid will make the jelly clear - I'll have to try that tomorrow.

 

[CaneDog]

What an awesome post, Siv.  Great to see all the pod activity.
 
Dorset Naga doesn't get a lot of press, but it's always been a workhorse for me.  Puts out good numbers of really good pods.
 
I tried my first ripe piri piri pods just the other day.  Not sure exactly how to describe them, but a good clean taste with reasonable heat.  Looking forward to hearing what you think of yours.
 
And that indoor rocoto is just ridiculous 

 

[Tybo]

Nice post Siv.  I especially like the LGS!. Gnarly looking and like an upside down flame shape.
The agar experiment will be interesting to follow.

 

[Siv]

I was doing my morning inspection of the hydro plants and noticed that a LGS had a small broken branch. I pulled it off and there were three reasonable green pods on it and it still looked alive. So time for another experiment!
 
I made another batch of agar:

 
I cut up the branch, dipped the ends in rooting hormone and stuck them in. Most of the rooting hormone seemed to wipe off at the top as I was inserting into the agar. I've left it by a sunny window and we'll see what happens!

 
The seeds in agar aren't showing any movement yet...

 

[PtMD989]

Cool experiments. [emoji106]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Uncle Eckley]

Siv's going mad scientist on us, guys.

 

[skullbiker]

That agar reminds me of this gel stuff that I used many years ago. They had a lot of complaints as many people did not seal the top around the stem and it would dry out. You also had to watch for old stock as it would be partially dryed.
 

 

[Siv]

So clearly this is no magic bullet solution. Thanks for the info SB - I'm now to watering the agar!
 

 
Since the oil & gas market has taken a pummeling, I've been asked to take vacation. I have enough to take every Friday off for the next couple of months (and it's not like I can go anywhere anyway) so that's what I'm doing. Gives a lot more time for experimentation!
 
And more time for inspection. I took a wander and spotted a few things.
 
First ripe piri piri. I grabbed the far one and stuck it in my mouth. Big mistake - instant stomach cramps. It's a nice pepper and it would be nice to pickle a bunch but there were a fair amount of seeds in the pod so not something snackable. If I get a ton then I'm definitely pickling them.

 
This soil LGS plant is putting out red pods, not the maroon I expected. I don't want to leave them on the plant too long as the bugs seem to like them so I picked most. I'll see if the hyro ones turn maroon. I'd just call these gnarly scorpion, they're not leviathan in size.

 
 
Solid Gold baby! I'm super excited about these - I can't wait for them to ripen fully - the pods are huge!

 
Today's harvest - my first proper one of the season. The SRP and Datil are from hydro and the rest from soil. I'm gonna halve and ferment the SRP and Datil - the jars are in the dish washer right now.

 
Here's a comparison of the larger pods; L-R: LGS, Orange Ribbon, Dorset Naga & SRP. The Dorset Naga is a beast - the pod seems very firm and fleshy. I'm excited to try the orange ribbon - it'll be eaten tonight. The SRP is the largest pod I picked - most were smaller.

 

[Tybo]

Those "datil" look just like my Haskorea from PtMD989.

 

[Siv]

Those "datil" look just like my Haskorea from PtMD989.

 
 The pod shapes and size are identical to the Datil I grew last year, just annoyingly red! I was looking forward to these but I'll just have to make do with what I have. The second plant has ripened pods and they're red also. The Haskorea looks a lot larger.
 

 

[HeatMiser]

Nice haul Siv!

 

[Siv]

Now I understand why they use agar for growing mold. Into the trash it goes!

 
Of the cuttings, the one in the middle seems to be OK but the rest are looking very sad. I'll keep this going as long as I can - I'm watering it daily.

 

[ahayastani]

Agar agar is used for the cultivation of microorganisms (at least when I was still a student ), but we also added antibiotics to selectively grow certain strains. I assume that it can work if you add an anti-fungal to the agar.
 
Concerning the cuttings: I believe they are quite large. Note that many and/or large leaves mean a large water evaporation area, and your cutting doesn't have roots yet to compensate for this loss. You need a small leaf area to support the photosynthesis process required to generate the energy for the development of new roots. Once your cutting has some roots, it will grow new leaves. In the case of peppers, I have noticed it takes 1 to 2 weeks to develop (very) small roots. I have the impression that pepper plant side shoots form roots quickly, while any other twig is slower. 

 

[Siv]

I think my cutting experiment will be a fail - I'll give it a couple more days but I'm not hopeful.
 
Harvested a few more LGS today. Only one had the maroon colour. They're in the dryer - I'm yet to try them ripe but I think they'll make a good powder. They have some natural smokiness to them.

 
And a few KSLSB also in the dehydrator. The smell is good but yet to taste them properly

 
Finally, my first ferments for the year.

 

[PaulG]

You have a nice grow going on, Siv.
 
Ferments look great.

 

[Siv]

I pulled a few peppers from the hydro plants today:

 
Love those Bahamian Goats - they've gone straight into the dehydrator. They make the best powder I've tasted. I can see myself growing these every year. The only complaint is that many of the pods on the soil side fall victim to snails and other pests so I think this is one for hydro only.
 
My smallest LGS plant is putting out brown pods! Very surprising - and on another plant, the red pods have taken on that maroon colour that I expected when left on the plant longer.
 
The orange ribbon is a new favourite. It's very nice tasting and not devastatingly hot - I would say around habanero heat. But also, it's relatively thick walled and juicy. I'm definitely growing these again next year.
 
The pappadew is probably the biggest disappointment - the plants are huge and have put out a ton of peppers but they're ripening very slowly and seem to go wrinkly before they ripen. And while I was picking these probably 10-15 green pods just dropped on the floor. I suspect it's too hot for them here in Texas. Maybe when the weather cools, they may like it more. Little to no sweetness and not much in the way of flavour - I was expecting mush more from these.
 
And more red "datils". I kinda wanna chop these up and add them to the ongoing ferment but not sure if this is such a good idea. I guess I could experiment as I'm not really bothered if I lose this batch.