Trying To Make The Neighbors Jealous, But...(Landscaping With Chiltepins)

[Tim in Tucson]

Most of my neighbors will have no idea what a Chiltepin is. I live in a newer part of the Tucson area that is inhabited by older transplant retirees and Snow Birds. I do have a neighbor a few doors down who is from Hermosillo. Most of the Anglo retirees and transplants have no clue about chilies, let alone Chiltepins.

I have a lot of Chiltepin plant starts growing. However, most of those get sold to the hydroponics store I sell to. Also, Chiltepins are much more productive during their second year rather than their first. So after three great months of commissions from my job, I decided to purchase and plant a few Chiltepin plants that are in their second year of growth. I planted four near my mesquite tree (one is very difficult to see in the pictures), and two near the house. My front yard faces North, so it gets a lot of shade.

Five are of the Sonoran variety, and one is of the Sierra Madre variety. I believe I'll be able to harvest a few thousand seeds (not chilies, but seeds) later this year, despite the fact that the birds love Chiltepins. I've already had a pair of doves in my Mesquite tree fertilize one of the plants.

Check it out!

 

[JoynersHotPeppers]

Those pictures are massive! I am still trying yeah over year to get more chili's in the landscape.

 

[Nightshade]

Sounds really cool

 

[Tim in Tucson]

Those pictures are massive! I am still trying yeah over year to get more chili's in the landscape.

Two of them came in #5 pots, while the other four came in #1 pots. Regardless, they'll grow pretty fast now that the temperature is getting more comfortable for them. Chiltepins will die back in the Winter but grow back in the Spring (as long as the roots don't freeze). The same happened to three of my jalapeno plants. After two years, I thought this past Winter with the hard freeze we experienced had killed them. I cut them way back, and now the "stumps" are covered in leaves and blossoms. They, too, will grow in size over the next few months.

I plan on posting more pictures in the late Summer and the Fall when the Chiltepin plants start their heavy production of chilies (assuming the birds don't strip them first!).

 

[JoynersHotPeppers]

Not talking about the plants, the pictures are small and I cannot see detail. Try using medium at least from Flickr. Best of luck, I love my Chiltepins!

 

[Nightshade]

Maybe we can hit a trade later in the season I love chiltepins

 

[Tim in Tucson]

Not talking about the plants, the pictures are small and I cannot see detail. Try using medium at least from Flickr. Best of luck, I love my Chiltepins!

You're right. Now that I think about it, I'll take a few more pics tomorrow morning (I'm not at home right now) much closer up.

Maybe we can hit a trade later in the season I love chiltepins

Why wait? I still have hundreds of Chiltepin seeds I collected last year from all over Tucson. I'll PM you.

 

[ZenPepper]

lol you remind me of Borat

 

[Tim in Tucson]

lol you remind me of Borat

What the hell does that mean?

 

[armac]

how many years you been raising your chilitepins?

 

[Tim in Tucson]

how many years you been raising your chilitepins?

Two years. The first year was a disaster, as I put four Chiltepin plants in one of my raised beds next to some Native squash from Native Seed Search. The squash acted like Kudzu, and took over my backyard. The Chiltepins had been completely covered by the squash and pretty much smothered. I ended up pulling them in the late Fall.

Last year I had three Chiltepin plants in containers. They did great until about November, when one by one, they died. I have no idea what got them. I even took the last one to the hydroponics store I work with, and they couldn't keep it alive.

Now I grow starts and sell them to the hydroponics store. I just had the Retail Manager at Native Seed Search offer to buy flats of starts from me as well. This year I have not only the Sonoran variety, but the Sierra Madre, Amarillo, and Hermosillo Select.

Thanks to Joyner's feedback, here are some closeups:

 

[Vegas_Chili]

Very nice, what's the difference of those except the Amarillo of course.

, Vegas

 

[Portuge]

Yes the close ups help some But the picture size could be bigger... Currently viewing from my Htc phone and the pics are way small to view on my phone as well... Good info BTW Tim...

 

[Tim in Tucson]

Very nice, what's the difference of those except the Amarillo of course.

, Vegas

Of the six pictures above taken this morning, the third from the top is the Sierra Madre. The other five are all Sonoran.

As far as what I'm doing with my front yard, I want to grow enough Sonoran chiltepins to be able to harvest plenty of seeds for next year, and this is the variety that is native to Southern Arizona. Also, the Sonoran variety is easily spread successfully by birds eating the chilies and then "planting" the seeds with a bit of natural fertilizer. AND if the Neighborhood Gestapo Association complains, I can state that they are actually native plants to Southern Arizona.

The Sierra Madre produces chilies that are a little larger in size and hotter. That's never a bad thing!

The Hermosillo Select comes from the Sonoran city of Hermosillo. It produces a little larger chilies than the Sonoran, and requires more water.

The Amarillo produces a yellow Chiltepin, of course. It is a rare variety found in Mexico. Native Seed Search offered the Amarillo a few months ago, so I bought a packet. A week ago I stopped back in to order two more packets, only to discover from the Retail Manager that they might be out, as there were only fifty packets available this year. Yesterday I got the call that my two packets are there ready for me to pick up!

There is one or two varieties that are Texan, but I'm not familiar with those. But there are plenty of Texans on this forum that are knowledgeable about Texas Chiltepins.

 

[Nightshade]

Oh wow I have amarillo seeds and now I'm excited they are different from the others I also have seeds from dried unknown chiltepins I will be growing

 

[JoynersHotPeppers]

Every Chiltepin Amarillo I have ever grown is orange. I think someone did not know the Spanish word for orange when naming the pod.

 

[Tim in Tucson]

Every Chiltepin Amarillo I have ever grown is orange. I think someone did not know the Spanish word for orange when naming the pod.

From Native Seed Search's catalog:

"Amarillo Yellow-colored chiltepin. Chiltepineros (chiltepin harvesters) gather this variety from the middle of chiltepin country in central Sonora. The fruit are bright yellow when fresh, turning gold when dry. As hot as any other chiltepin!"

Link (includes picture): http://shop.nativeseeds.org/collections/chiltepines-wild-chiles/products/dc081

 

[wildseed57]

I had a 4 year old Trinidad Bird pepper C. annuum var aviculare and a true Arizona chiltepin that was 6 years old both were in pots.
I lost them a couple years back when I was in the hospital after suffering a heart attack and there was no one to bring them inside I hoped that they would come back but they had froze down into the root system. As I don't have any viable seeds left as I waited to long and the seed got to old I'm out of luck with them for now.
I really miss my trinidad bird pepper and the arizona chiltepin, they were really nice plants.
This year I'm again trying to get some other wild seeds to germinate, C.chacoense, C. cardenasii, C. eximium and C. praetermissum some of which may be to old, I'd like to get about ten or more seeds of C. galapagoense as I have tried several times and failed to have any germinate I think the seeds may have been to old and dried out or steril to begin with and I just had three or four seeds at a time to try and grow. I should be ok with the chacoense and praetermissum, but the rest I'll be real lucky if they germinate at all.
As much as I like growing them, harvisting the pods can be tirering and hard on the back so I now put a tarp down around the plants and give the bushes a good hard shake which causes most of the ripe pods to fall on the tarp if any stay on the plants i just hand pick them till I get tired and leave the rest for the bird to enjoy before I bring them inside. I had planned to just grow some super hots, but all the talk about growing chiltepins and other wild varieties got me thinking about the seeds I have and that they too were getting to old setting in the frig. So I decided to grow what I can and restock my suply of seeds for them.
You plants look great if the winter don't freeze the root yoy should be ok as they will come back, else wise they will grow into some nice size plants in a couple of years if you are in a no frost zone.