• Blog your pepper progress. The first image in your first post will be used to represent your Glog.

2023/2024, wiicek, Let's Make BalcoJungle!

Hi!
Oh, I love watching that kind of stuff...
I am not too experienced in growing peppers, I used to grow some tomatoes but since I moved out from my family house, I didn't have space to grow anything. I bought allotment garden (I think that's the word, english is not my native language) but I can't seem to find time to care about it full time from march to october, it's not as near my flat as I'd want it to be but maybe one year I will make my life a little bit less messy and take make it work.
Now I live in the apartment with a balcony, it is at western side and in the summer the heat is kinda out of control. I think it will do! Oh, I dream of the jungle here!

This year I bought some chillies from the supermarket and, as I often do, I put some seeds into the ground. Don't know the variety, but I have a picture.

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I don't have one with ripen peppers but it was red. One of them is actually orange, and one (or two - I don't know, it was not fruiting at the same time and I was constantly picking it) are sweet, also supermarket type - one is hanging on the bottom left there. It is 3 liters container and there is 6 of them in it, so harvest was small, but peppers beautiful and tasty. I ate a sauce made out of them already.

So, yea, I kinda wanted more, so, I picked some seeds, bought different types of chillies from supermarket again and gathered some seeds. I know I have a jalapeno, piri-piri and that's it from the names I know, but other than that I have 2 or 4 different types of hot ones (maybe cayenne and serrano) and one sweet one (on the picture), I don't remember if I sow a bell peppers also. I also found some ornamental ones and sow them too:

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The purple one died after I sprayed all of them with soap - aphids. Orange and yellow are still alive but aphids and soap made them look miserable... But they're coming right back!

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I don't know if I should take and shower them, they still have white stains from the soap and have sticky places from aphids. I still constantly get rid of them manually, it seems like there is always more to kill but less and less with every day. I do this daily or every other day now.

There are my seedlings!
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They were sow so long ago, from one to two months but they didn't have enought light to grow. I've had them under blue light (grow light with two flexible sticks) but it seemd like it was too weak for them, so I added one with threee sticks and it started to grow rapidly.
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After watering them and ordering them by height (and two days), the thingy looks like that:
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Yesterday I repotted guys from the first picture earler.

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It is 3 liters container and there were, ekhem, SEVEN of them in it! I dried them and made my first sauce (and from other chillies I bought for seeds then) and it was amazing! I think some of them are in my fermented sauce also. It was not a big harvest but yea, seven. I did use them good. One pepper is still hanging there, hah. It's a sweet one.
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The last one was starting to wilt one week ago, I took it out but it was too late. I had my hopes but it probably is not coming back.

So yea, I have a station with blue (and red turned off) light and above it two one-foot shells which I light up with four (two for each) 2k lumens, 4k kelvins light bulbs. It seems like too much for my eyes but plants like it.

I planted everything into special mix for special plants (Cana terra), they will love it, I'm sure. I water it without fertilizers right now but normally I have my hydroponics mix for tomatoes and for every liter of solution I add half a liter of water because I've read that peppers like less of it. I'm in the middle of making my nettle solution for nitrogen, so they will be happy. For now I let them eat what is in that rich mix.

I am making them a station but for now there is nothing to show.

I LOVE IT! Aphids can f*ck themselves (and they surely do,s all the time, but I am coming for their children with baking soda mix if it will be necessairy), I am rolling now and it's gonna be amazing!


Edit. Oh, I forgot.... I was feeling adventurous and didn't put any labels on my trays, so now it is all the mistery! I really think I was tired and stupid then but it is what it is now, lol.
I bought some Sugar Rush Stripey, Thunder Mountain Longhorn, Fatali Habanero, Aji: Lemon Drop, Pineapple and Melon; and El Oro Equador seeds! Forst three came and are in the mix now, Lemon came with 0 seeds, that was weird, I wrote to the shop but they didn't answer, I bought some more somewhere else.

Let's make BalcoJungle!
 
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Lol, ok, soo...

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Not many fails at this jurney 🤣🤣🤣

I must have set higher temperature than I wanted somehow, probably doing something else.
I did grab the oven knob by mistake before this day and I thought to myself "ok, but don't do this roasting peppers".


Brain doesn't know word "no", people. Remember.
 
Ok, don't judge me, I tried to salvage what I could! 🤣🤣

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Those were my only Fatalis!

I left some brown as I though it would look like normally but after mixing there is still some black floating there.

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I don't know, I will put it through a sieve or just fish for it.

Do Fatali taste like Dorset Naga or did I fucked up and there was one inside? And it is so hot. So hot.

But I don't taste charcoal, that must be good...
 
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I have put Wild Brasils, Dark Thai Italias, FVs, few small Cayennes and Black Moltens into the oven set for around 50-60 Celsius.

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They were there for around 2-3 days (I did 3 turns, so oven was going for over a week!)

I didn't plan this, I just had too much of them lying around and getting drier and drier...

Black Moltens smell soo different! So sweet!
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Wild Brasils are just yellow balls of hell seeds. I did try one and was crying for a moment, contemplating bad choices in my life.
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Green FVs taste nice, I was expecying more bitterness in those picked as purple. And maybe they had a little but nothing too bad, hot tho.
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Now, I am kinda scared of the mold. I know some of Wild Brasil I saw naturalny drying were getting darker inside and in some of them there was mold.

How do I know if those I dried in the oven are all good? There are some darker than other but I think it may be they got a little more heat, they smell like they were a little baked (omg, so goooooood)...
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Should I open all of them before mixing for flakes? Well, of course I should.

And the seeds, they have so many, I dont know if drying them was a good idea...

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Sorry for the overexpodsed photo...

So yea, I want baked pepper candle.
 
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I've done it both ways. Cut in half, and cut off stem... Opened and dried and also just thrown in whole. Just know it will take a lot longer to dry as a whole pepper. I usually pluck off the stems when dried (when I do it that way) prior to grinding up. But it is about what you like :) (and of course how much time you want to have drying). Keep up good work!
 
Yes. I usually open them before dehydrating 😉

Well, we live, we learn! To be fair and a little in my defence, I didn't taste Wild Brasil at all this year, didn't look what's inside 🙃 Biting in it drieds made me cry. Not the experience I had after eating Dorset Naga, the one that gave taste to some of my jam, but it was something - way way WAY more than I was expecting, for sure. And seeds stuck in between the teeth, tongue in pain while I was trying to take them out, what a heeeell.

(Tongue is the reason I hate it too hot. I breathe so so soo slow to not feel that pain in the tongue, I kinda make my body go in an anxiety mode and then all bottled up feelings are crushing dooown like crazy, that part is very interesting)

I think I like growing more tham eating and tasting. Everything taste better with a chillie but superhots are not for me yet. Habanero from the jam was really nice tho (that's why I felt I can handle Dorset Naga that evening... and stomach sensations the day after).


Well, that was chaotic comment to your answer was't it? 😂


I've done it both ways. Cut in half, and cut off stem... Opened and dried and also just thrown in whole. Just know it will take a lot longer to dry as a whole pepper. I usually pluck off the stems when dried (when I do it that way) prior to grinding up. But it is about what you like :) (and of course how much time you want to have drying). Keep up good work!

Yea, I didn't care too much about the time tho. About the preferences, there is so much I have to try first to know what I like more, it's kinda scary. I still have to grind them and learn something!
Thank you so much <3

TIP: If you're going to dry whole pods, prick a few holes in them with a pin. They'll dry a lot faster. :cool:

Nice, so water go out faster. I think I did it to the biggest of them but I know doing that to peppers I was drying hanging last year, made more of them get mold. It is the matter of drying time tho. I have now bad opinion about drying bigger peppers hanging inside and oven does it so fast even without all the help I can give it.

Thank you all for the informations and tips! <3 It's awesome!
 
Another TIP: If you can keep the temperature at 45C or less when drying, the seeds will still be viable. :cool:
 
Another TIP: If you can keep the temperature at 45C or less when drying, the seeds will still be viable. :cool:

Thank you, it's nice to know,.

I heard that after fermenting seeds are also viable and even faster to grow but I don't know if that's true.

I say that because...
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Lol xd

I finally got to play with one of my big jars! First one, from september. It was Dorset Naga mixed with all kinds of peppers I harvested and some garlic. I didn't add anything else.

It was 1884g of fruit!

And now!
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Isn't that colour just beautiful!?
Like, wow. I'm aleays in the same awe making sauces.
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And I have so much of brine here, what do you do with this stuff? It's kinda tasty like it is but too hot for me like that for now xd Maybe you do have some nice ways of using it?
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It will go back to the jar for now.

I broke mixer's pot doing my own tahini-liked something, it was hot and the pot was making noises from time to time and I didnt know what is that till the red juice started coming out of it today ;<
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I roasted fes cloves of garlic and mixed them with sauce. Don't know if I wanna add anything else, I am scared to break all of it.

It is the biggest batch I ever did at once. Friends are drooling over it for some time already and I don't wanna screw it up :pray: // added one and a half teaspoon of salt and two table spoons of linden honey (my favourite!), because I saw poeple do this a lot and I felt good about that risk.
 

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I heard that after fermenting seeds are also viable and even faster to grow but I don't know if that's true.
So it seems.. 🙂
"Lacto-fermentation removes the germination-inhibiting substance on the seed coat, that gooey gel sac that surrounds each seed. Fermenting also kills certain seed-borne diseases (as good bacteria overtake bad bacteria), which helps promote the health of seedlings and the vigor of mature plants."
If you try to sow them let us know!
And I have so much of brine here, what do you do with this stuff? It's kinda tasty like it is but too hot for me like that for now xd Maybe you do have some nice ways of using it?
You could use it as a quick starter for a new batch, or to thin out some sauces.
 
And I have so much of brine here, what do you do with this stuff? It's kinda tasty like it is but too hot for me....

Add it to tomato juice and enjoy as is, or continue on to make an awesome Bloody Mary!
 
@SatanicFlatIron I don't know if bacteria would survive all year without food waiting for my new balcony harvests tho... I always like to use it as a starter, was thinking about it already but read yesterday that they die after few months. Adding to a sauce... I will, probably, to everything 😅

And that reddit image, gold 🤣 I guess now I am sure xd

I won't sow them, I have everything growing already, I can't. No. NO.

Maybe few random seeds, I guess I can give them away as the mystery ones...

Ok.

@Downriver hmm, Bloody Mary, you say. Hmm.

Do you think it will be safe for long, if I use it from time to time? It is a brine...

I am doing some more jars today and I have added some to it but there was a little of that white yeast we all don't like too much but I don't think it can colonize everything without food, right?

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Ok. Look!


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I jumped on 3 small jars from 1.09 today (I just can't get enough) there was 513g of fruit before fermenting.

I wanted to do 3 small batches with different spices but after blending one of them I wasn't satisfied with the amount, so I mixed all 3 of them.

Tumeric, Sweet smoked pepper powder, salt, cynamon, some cayenne powder, ginger powder, garlic powder and curry powder. // And apple cider vinegar. I keep forgetting about writing about that one.

And my fresh basil.

So, I went crazy here and it is very tasty! And still hot as hell!
 
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End product of yesterdays fun
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But it is not the end!

<boss music starting to play>

Today on the right corner there is anther Dorset Naga Mix from September 2024! With garlic and thumb of ginger fermented alltogether!

<people cheer>

Two 800g jars out of 5 (there were not 800g each, but what stayed could be a half out of everything)!

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On the left corner 4 cloves of garlic, one handfull of dried tomatoes, few bigger leaves of fresh basil and half tablespoon of dried basil!

<somebody screams and faints, people cheer>
(Dont have picture here but pretend it is here)

What an interesting and wonderful blend that was!
Tasted like garlic, so I didn't add more (believe me, I wanted at the beginning) but added more dried tomatoes and basil.

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And then half a cup of apple cider vinegar... now it tastes less interesting but I hope the full taste will eat through.

What a time to be alive!

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I have a question I forgot yo ask: should I cook it before putting into jars and then cook them again to pasteurize them?

I sometimes cook sauces before to make them thicker but those are good as it is.

Is cooking jars enough? They have ph less than 4, so, I would think it is but asking always is a good idea.
 
Still have some jars fermenting there...

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Big one is the last one where I mixed Dorset Naga with every pepper I harvested and also carrots.

Smaller ones from the left:
  • Red Habs with Ramiro;
  • Yellow Habs with Bell Pepper;
  • Dorset Naga with Ramiro;
  • Cayenne with Ramiro, tomatoes (tomatoes were fermenting everywhere except those three listed above, I didn't write it, I'm sorry) and pumpkin;
Behind them is one thin jar of bought peppers from the beginning of august when I thought I will do a sauce before everything explodes on the balcony. And as it turned out, I had not enought will and time to process and eat it before xD
And there are also two jars of sauce I did today, so nothing else fermenting except those 6 jars.

And another 2 0.5l inside one cabinet - Shishito & Jalapeno fermenting with pumpkin with both of them. And some tomatoe jars.
So 8 jars of pepeprs giving me probably 7 batches. Hyhyhy. Nice.

Those 3 jars out of 5 from earlier today, I already used with cranberries, billberies, ginger and cinamon. :fire: :fire: :fire:

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I knew I cut those 5 in half!

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I think this is going to be the end of my jar making feever fun for some time now but who knows, this is addicting.

I still have cherries freezed. And a lot of billberies. //OH MY GOD, VANILLA + CHERRIES FOR THE NEXT ONE, HOW CAN I STOP MAKING THOSE...!?!?!?

Am I the only one looking at the sauce's colour each time and thinking "this is different, let's take a picture!" and generally being in awe of the differences? 😍

HAVE A GREAT DAY/EVENING/NIGHT/WHATEVER YOU HAVE NOW! <3 :cheers:


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//I have a plant to make all the jars in this topic and then finally end the afterseason once and for all. I don't wanna write jar making news in the 2025y topic because it's just not right. I want to have a summary here - how much did I get from the balcony, what did I manage to do etc. It won't be precise but I generally I have pictures xD

Like, for now I had over a liter of SRS/SRP jam, 7l of different sauces, one 0.5l jar of pickled jalapenos and half a liter of blended pickled red habs.
I think it's a nice amount! And still around 4 liters to process!
Ahh, and some dried peppers in a jar, I need to make flakes out of them.
 
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