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glog 2025 Late start

Started seeds late this year. Usually I start too early so let's see how this goes.

Seeds started March 20, 2025:
Trinidad pimento (family favorite pepper)
7 Pot Jonah (This year is my first time growing a super hot. Debated if I should grow a scorpion or a 7 pot for my first.))
Freeport Orange
Orange Spice Jalepeno (Lemon spice has been one of my favorite peppers, so it is time this year to try growing the orange and pumpkin ones too)
Lemon Spice Jalapeno
Pumpkin Spice Jalapeno

Seeds started April 4, 2025:
Jaloro jalapeno (I haven't seen much discussion of this variety, but it seems to have some ornamental value.)
Mucho Nacho jalapeno (ready to try a hybrid jalapeño. During prior seasons, I wasn't impressed by Craig's jalapeño or Zapotec)
Second lemon spice jalapeno (was afraid my initial seeds might not germinate)

Tomatoes started March 20, 2025:
Brandywine
Anna Russian
Aunt Ginnys Purple

Freeport Orange picture 4-13-25
IMG_0715.jpeg
 
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Does it have anything special about the flavor, other than the color?
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Compared to standard jalapeño, lemon spice has been superior due to compact growth, higher productivity, and quick ripening of peppers.
The peppers ripen to the brilliant yellow color while remaining fully crisp. Standard jalapeños for me tend to soften before ripening.

The flavor is very good, slightly different than standard jalapeño, but what is special to me is the abundance of fully ripe fully crisp pods. The heat level is inconsistent, but has been more consistent than Craig’s or Zapotec.
 
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Trinidad pimento is a heatless chinense which in Trinidad is added to nearly everything they cook. My wife’s family is from Trinidad.

I have grown Grenada seasoning, aji dulce (red and yellow), aji cachucha, and Venezuelan tiger. These were all nice, but family wouldn’t use them for cooking, due to lack of familiarity.

Trinidad pimento has relatively thick walls (for a chinense) and good productivity. Flavor is good either green or ripe. Most of the other heatless chinense varieties were a bit bitter when green.
 
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Nice list SC. Be careful with that 7-pot Jonah. Got my original seeds from Butch Taylor (@Tigahb8). The only pepper I've eaten that put me on the floor, choking to death, lol.

Funny, I just went back and looked at your list, and I've grown everything you're growing, EXCEPT the Trinidad Pimento, lol.
 
spicy.curry said:
I have grown Grenada seasoning, aji dulce (red and yellow), aji cachucha, and Venezuelan tiger. These were all nice, but family wouldn’t use them for cooking, due to lack of familiarity.
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Thanks for the explanations. I already have aji dulce rojo, venezuelan tiger and granada seasoning on the 2026 list 😂 along with Trinidad perfume. I have no idea which of these is the best, or which is worth growing, but I have always liked the mild chinense. I'll definitely add Trinidad pimento 🙂 I found the aji cachuca to be good, with a sweet and fresh flavor that reminded me of a red baccatum like bishop's crown
 
Happy with my progress so far. Weather forecast looks ok such that I can start hardening off and transplanting as soon as I find the time.

A few pepper seedlings are small still. I might try starting peppers a week earlier next year to allow for the slower germinating ones to get going.

I will try to start the tomatoes around the same time next year. They grow much faster than peppers.

https://imgur.com/sv2YOM4
https://imgur.com/qofuRda
 
I have been working on getting the plants outside. Everything is outside now other than my culantro.

Tomatoes are in 5 gallon buckets, lids on, growing out of small holes in the sides.

I have the six jalapeños, 5 different varieties, going into 2 vertical Mr Stacky towers.

The chinense peppers are now in my usual pots with 50:50 coco perlite.

Photos here show the work in progress. Pots and buckets haven’t been moved to my final garden area yet.

https://imgur.com/gCzxImt
https://imgur.com/y09aWHw
https://imgur.com/qP98RDz
https://imgur.com/Vp6MUGO
 
My basil and culantro roots had matted together in the coco seed starting pods.

Usually I remove the netting from these.
I already removed the netting from all my pepper seedlings.

It seems apparent that the netting is not restricting the roots. In the future, I won’t bother with removing the netting.

I guess I was skeptical because one year I started my seedlings in jiffy compressed peat pots, and the roots never grew through.

https://imgur.com/PEKfyzg
 
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spicy.curry said:
It seems apparent that the netting is not restricting the roots. In the future, I won’t bother with removing the netting.
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When I used Jiffy #7 pellets many years ago, I thought the same thing SC. But then, I had one plant struggle all season. Stayed small, didn't produce much, etc. All the others were doing great. At the end of the season, I thought I'd pull the sickly plant up to look for clues. Here's what I found:

Jiffy Pellet - Root bound 2.JPGJiffy Pellet - Root bound 3.JPGJiffy Pellet - Root bound 4.JPG

I actually quit using pellets after that, lol.
 
Got my culantro outside and transplanted into a Mr Stacky recirculating tower, in full shade, under a tree.

I had several extra culantro plants and put a few into my jalapeño Mr Stacky tower, drain to waste, in full sun.

They have done very well indoors. No flowering at all yet and they are good sized. They might prefer my indoor setup with consistent temperature and 16 hours of light, more than US Midwest outdoor conditions.

I might consider starting the culantro early next year for some indoor harvest.

May has been colder than average.

https://imgur.com/VCAAmeL
https://imgur.com/qPPkkIV
https://imgur.com/VplLD0O
 
Plants survived a colder than average May and a hailstorm. The new jalapeño growth in the twin towers is looking perfect. Some of the old leaves look rough.

The chinense peppers in my larger pots are doing ok, but the new growth looks less perfect. I’m hoping it’s just the cool weather. My Trinidad pimento actually looks pretty good. I have T posts up and the pimento plant supported with twine. Still waiting for my other two chinense plants to grow more before I support them.

My grow 2 years ago , in 100% perlite, was extraordinary. Hoping to match that this year with some huge and productive chinense plants. This year is my test of 50:50 coco perlite. If it goes well I will probably continue with this same ratio and setup.

I got busy and neglected my garden last year. I have pampered my plants for the most part this year. I actually brought my chinense plants into the garage right before the hailstorm came a few weeks ago.

The little strings I have supporting my pepper plants on the Mr Stacky proved their worth during the hailstorm. Some leaf damage, but no broken branches or blown over plants. And the storm was strong enough to blow a piece of siding off of our house.

https://imgur.com/a/zWNeoPd
https://imgur.com/a/dRNh41d
https://imgur.com/a/fTBKwqN
 
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7 pot Jonah pictured here. Some distorted new growth, lightly colored (not very green), in a somewhat irregular pattern. It is already looking somewhat better this week compared to last week. I thought about herbicide drift as a possibility, but mild enough that I’m not too worried. I do use a lawn company that periodically sprays for weeds, as do the neighbors.

That could be an advantage of my vertical towers - higher up and less like to get herbicide intended for the grass.

If the jalapeños do well this year, maybe I will try growing chinense in the tower. Most of my jalapeño varieties are described as “compact”, so it made sense to start with them.

My neighbors use a company to spray for mosquitos. Enough blows over into my garden that I haven’t needed to spray for aphids or other pests since I started gardening in this location last year.

https://imgur.com/a/qoi8JyY
 
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