2025 - LEAVE OR DIE

CHAPTER #01 - LIKE REPTILES

It's never too early to say "it's never too early to get started" so this year, to counterattack a possible fake summer effect like in 2024, I started 3 months in advance (18th of december).

Chiltepin cappuccino - 2024

I sterilized the seeds with a 9:1 water/bleach solution, and presoaked them for 24h, then I put them on paper towel on every heater of the house.

As soon as the roots emerged, I put them in soil (instead of waiting for the cotyledons to open on the paper, that maybe was causing more stress to the roots).
My friend gave me reptiles heatmats and a reptile UV lamp, that I'm using to heat the soil filled pepper cups (my apartment is cold, now I have 5C degrees more).

Soil is a brand new one, no more fungus-filled recycled one thanks!!

So, everything seems to be better and working well, apart from a big problem... I decided to go all-in and grow 130 varieties, even if I only have a small balcony. I couldn't choose what to remove, so I thought of putting 2-3-4 plants per pot. That's for two reasons: the first is that I'm insane the second one is that, having only 4 hours of sun per day, I realized that for my environment it may be better to grow small plants: I'll expect competition among them, and hopefully many small tastings.

I started with 60 varieties: wild ones, pubescens, and a mix of chinense and frutescens; to be fair, after all this babysitting I've already got the pepper burnout. Also, I'm already out of space! Time to mount a twin structure.

The wild ones I chosed are:
C. lanceolatum
C. chacoense
C. rhomboideum
C. tovarii
C. galapagoense
C. eximium
C. cardenasii
C. flexuosum
Also, a couple of C. rabenii, a couple of C. annuum var. glabriusculum, a C. baccatum var. baccatum, a purple flowered baccatum and some wild chinense/frutescens.

On late january/february I'll start with C. annuum and C. baccatum ones; mutants, variegated and F1 to F4 crosses included.
Some friends are trying to overwinter at home some of my last year's cultivars that couldn't set fruits (especially F1 and C. rabenii), anyway I sowed them again.

C. lanceolatum seeds surprised me because they are black and way smaller than any Capsicum seed I've had, included C. eximium.

I will also radically change the way I grow them outdoors, from the composition of the soil to the way I'll manage insects; but this will be told on march .

 

[SatanicFlatIron]

I started repotting a few C. annuum. It's getting very crowdy it's like hitting pinball multipliers

RPFH rocoto is a beast, maybe the biggest one. Here it needed to go to the bathroom before the transplant...

jokes apart, I repot plants in the bathroom (in the shower) because my house is very small. Every year growing pepper is a challenge here, and the current one is above all. So much work every day and the back hurts.. but every time I open my bedroom and see the plants, I'm really happy

The tallest ones are C. chacoense (the twins in the upper part of the pic), followed by C. cardenasii. Their way of growing is very different from the domestic species

I like the next little crowdy forest: C. chinense above, C. annuum var. glabriusculum on the right, purple flowered baccatum (C. baccatum x C. rabenii) below

having so many species is an open door to the admiration of different types of leaves.

NW chinense cross:

Some weird ones: a mutant

and the next one thinks it's an ostrich... it started growing firmly downward in the soil. I won't touch it, it's funny

 

[wiicek]

What a nicely looking bunch! I am jelaous of rocoto there, so big already!

but every time I open my bedroom and see the plants, I'm really happy

This. I was feeling weird having them in my bedroom when I was writing about it or talked with someone about that... like it wasn't something everybody could benefit from. xD

Excited to see how your jungle will expand there, grow and spread, taking the corner by force...

 

[SatanicFlatIron]

This. I was feeling weird having them in my bedroom when I was writing about it or talked with someone about that... like it wasn't something everybody could benefit from. xD

Thanks wiicek! I always joke with friends that I sleep with 300 girls (plants are females in italian)
Someone asks if they aren't bad for your health due to carbon dioxide, but I think it's not relevant. I just find the windows fogged up in the morning

I really hope rocotos will set fruits this year. And Red pepper from hell matches my username lol

 

[ahayastani]

I just find the windows fogged up in the morning

My windows would be too if I'd sleep with 300 girls.

 

[SatanicFlatIron]

push it to the limit... transplant progress: 80%
I had to move the bed to a corner
But I see the light at the end of the tunnel

These days I'm getting rid of all the frozen sauces, as well as making new ones. This year I would like to level up and start bottling them, especially the fermented ones, since the fermentation of raw sauces proceeds slowly in the freezer.

I cooked the "bollito misto" (very traditional northern Italian stew), pairing it with 9 sauces (the green sauce is the most used, I made two of which one with kiwi and habanero), and the American-style baked ribs with a red rub made at the moment (aji panca, chipotle, pimenton de la vera, garlic, date sugar, etc....). The ribs paired very well with a white chinense tangy jam made with the lemons I picked from a friend's tree, the tkemali (plum ketchup) and a lactic + alcoholic guajillo mole-type sauce.