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A Pepperhead glog: Pickling, Saucing, and Powdering

Okay Chiliheads,
At the end of the month I will begin my crop for this season, as it seems the hard core chilis take a while to germinate. Then it got me thinking...Why not run a few experiments to see what germination method works best. People seemed to have some issues with the Reapers so I figure I'll start there and do the same with some other superhots and compare the results.
I'm going to try three methods of germination: Overnight soaking in a solution, scarifying the seeds then overnighting in a damp towel, and for a control just straight into the dirt.
For the solution I'm going to experiment with a vinegar base, I'm thinking equal parts vinegar and water and a little H2O2. I'm trying vinegar off the animal digestive tract transportation and deposit theory. Let's see if the vinegar acidity breaks down the shell a little.
I'm going to use a matchbook to scarify the seeds for the damp papertowels.
I will do my best to post temps, soil conditions, water amounts, etc.
All results with some pictures and colorful graphs will be posted.

I know this forum is full of smartypants, many with much smarter pants than me, so I actively encourage ideas and constructive criticisms to make this as scientifically accurate as I can make it. Perhaps a recommendation for the vinegar solution?

What this Glog is: Hopefully fun and educational for the Glogger and the reader.

What it is not: A forum to whine about the seed suppliers. Even the slightest grumble about any of the suppliers of my seeds will get you reported. My Glog, my rules.

So give me some ideas and the last week of January I'll be ready to go! Enjoy!
 
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So it's been about a week since I've updated, but the past 2 days have brought beautiful changes.  And now...Picture time!
 
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First harvest! This guy has been sitting on the plant and has probably got as red as he's going to get. 
 
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The seeds from this bhut came in the same pack as the seeds from the above red bhut.  That red bhut ripened from red orange to red.  These appear to be starting yellow.  Are they yellow bhuts or will they eventually turn red the long way around?
 
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The first bhut plant that turned red has anotherone reddening on it, and the one with the yellows had one slightly yellow for a week, then overnight there were a bunch of them.  Same with this Dorset.  One day they were green then overnight they were yellow.  This photo is a day old, and today these are more orangeish than in this picture.  It's like my garden just exploded with color!
 
Soon I will have pods for my Bubblegum as first buds are just starting to show.  I used to have only 2 Primos on a little plant, but now my bigger plant has a few new pods to go along with my Brain Strains which have finally set some pods.  I have also had an invasion of some sort of pepper boring insect, which has left holes in several of my pods.  I've cut those pods up and found no caterpillars or anything.  Several pods on my 7 Pots have been victimized.  I need to exact revenge soon.  Squirrels have been at my corn as well.  Grrr.  If anything goes for my watermelons, I'm going nuclear.
 
Congrats! The boring insects may be earwigs. Do you have mulch near your plants? I found a bit of Neem spray keeps them at bay.
The yellow bhut is odd. Usually, they go orange to red. I would leave on plant to see if anything changes. If no changes in color occur after a while, eat em! You may have a yellow bhut.
 
No mulch.  Today things look more orangey than yesterday.  I'm not sure I want them to turn red now.  If they do then I have bhuts in 3 shapes and 2 ripening patterns.
 
Next year I will be conducting new experiments, with hopefully better record keeping.  I think one experiment will determine if I can keep track of all my plants. 
I've been woefully negligent in my botanical genetics homework so honestly I don't know enough to make an educated hypothesis of the results.  Here is a rundown of the experiments I will be running, the results being just to see what happens, then go from there:
 
1) I have one Bhut jolokia with a single pod that is squat and stingery.  It's very cool looking and I'm going to forego all my other ghost seeds for this one to try to breed more of them.  I am aware that mother plant genetics may trump pod genetics, but I'm hoping that a straight line breeding will eventually produce a stingery strain of bhut.
 
2) I have two different shapes of Reapers, Hab and stingery.  I'm going to plant two sets from each to see if I get stingery from habby and vice versa.  With results posted here someone will probably know better how to interpret the outcome.  If I plant a stinger and get habby or naga shaped results, even from such a small example, I'd be more inclined to lean toward unstable.  If pod shapes appear consistent from one generation to the next, I'd be willing to believe A) Someone slipped some habs into my initial seed pack or B) there is a "habby strain" of the pepper which could simply be bred out.  If anyone has a naga shaped Reaper I'd like to trade for a pod or some seeds from one of those.
 
I'll probably do some pruning Vs. non pruning experiments with some of the varieties I didn't grow this year.  We'll measure yields and such.
 
All my stuff is OP, and it will be a small sample group so probably The New England Journal of Science won't be knocking down my door for the results, but it'll be fun and the results should be interesting.  I think this round will be simply plant, grow and observe, and figure a hypothesis next year.  Can anyone educate me on layman plant genetics which may give me a clue as to how to properly interpret my results?  Does pod shape more or less stay the same one generation to the next, or will the mother plant's genetics trump.an individual pod?
 
So I told my neighbor I would let him try some of my superhots when they're ripened.  I had a newly ripened bhut and let him try a PK.  He said the bhut wasn't too bad, a lot less than he expected.  The PK on the other hand, he couldn't get past the first bite.  Two things learned:  Can't wait to try these after the contest and I think I'm overwatering my bhuts.  Gonna have to stress them out some more now that hey are ripening.  Leave them on the plant longer?
I had one in the freezer that I picked and and shaved a bit of of that one.  Put a piece in my mouth and it seemed pretty hot.  It was hard to judge for such a small piece, but it was pretty hot.  I gave another sliver to my neighbor and he said it was hotter than the last one I gave him, but my PK was still hotter.  We'll have to cut way back on watering, although I can't stop the rain.
 
Pepperhead said:
1) I have one Bhut jolokia with a single pod that is squat and stingery.  It's very cool looking and I'm going to forego all my other ghost seeds for this one to try to breed more of them.  I am aware that mother plant genetics may trump pod genetics, but I'm hoping that a straight line breeding will eventually produce a stingery strain of bhut.
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You only have one pod on the plant?  Are you going to overwinter the plant too?
 
Picture time!  Went out to the garden today to take some pics and do a little harvesting. Picked a dozen or so yellow and red Bhuts. Unfortunately my harvest photos didn't make it to Photobucket, so you're left with some of the garden pics.
 
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So the Dorsets are a nice orange color now.  Looking back at previous pictures they were definately much yellower (is that a word?)  Do these go red eventually?  Taking a long time to get there that's for sure.  Can't wait to try these.
 
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Reapers are coming along.  This is my tallest pepper plant and it's producing a lot of pods like this.  Very happy with it.  The other Reaper is a healthy plant, albeit very habby looking.  You wouldn't recognize them as the same variety.
 
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Here is a gang of Reapers.  Again, so far very productive and mean looking.
 
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A couple of my first little Brain Strains.  There are between 8 and 10 pods on this one.  Starting to produce nicely.
 
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This guy was my mystery, unlabeled pepper.  Looks like grocery store habs to me.
 
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More Gangstas.  These are a few of my Butchies.  I only have one of these plants, so I'm happy it's making lots of little monsters.
 
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This is a little Primo that I'm very excited about.  It's in a bucket next to my Butchies (hell of a cross if they take a liking to each other)  I have a Primo in the garden with 2 gnarly pods on it, but it and a few others have been fighting watermelon and cucumbers.  That one is fighting the good fight though.  It has reached up above the vines to gather some sun, but hasn't produced any more pods.  I have a ghost fighting that same fight, and it has a few pods under the vines and shot up some branches reaching for the light.  Pulled a Reaper out of that same cluster and put it in a bucket, as there was no way it was going to win.  Another Reaper is still buried in there, along with a non producing Primo, but they'll just have to fend for themselves. I can only save so many, and the one I pulled practically came back from the dead.  It was more or less just a stick with no leaves for a few days, but it's a nice short little bush now.
 
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Here is a little 7 Pot.  Spiteful as they are, they are attracting some kind of boring insect, just on this plant, to frustrate the hell out of me.  I've had to deep six 3 or 4 pods so far.  Found another tiny hole in one today.  Cut it open to see if I could find the culprit, and even green you could smell it from 3 feet away.  No bug, though.  I put it on a paper towel and the oil left a couple of decent wet spots.  I really want some of these to pull through to ripening.  My big 7 Pot plant is finally producing as well so hopefully these little pod monsters will overlook it.  I sprayed some plants down with an aphid mix I found online.  It was some combination of alcohol, vinegar, a couple of boiled peppers and garlic, etc.  Sprayed a few plants down and hopefully that will keep these little buggers at bay.
 
Edit: A small part of my original experiment alllll the way back in January was to compare the Primo to the Reaper.  Most things being equal (not all things) they look different to me.  The Reapers are much pimplier and squat than the Primos so far.  I'll know more when there are more mature Primos, but even the two that have been sitting on my garden plant are different looking than the current Reaper crop.  We'll do some side by sides after everyone starts ripening.
 
Frustrating, isn't it? Yesterday I made some discoveries. Gnarly Reaper reddening! And my jungle garden Primo has been sporting a third pod that was apparently completely hidden. Todays inspection discovered habby Reapers ripening and reddening Jonahs. And last, but not least, a carribean red hab finally turning.

It's getting hot in here!
 
Ripening update! I think the carribean red is almost fully ripe. One of my jungle Primos is starting to turn red and soon for the harvest...Butch T!
On a sadder note, with all the rain we've had, I lost 2 pumkin vines to vine rot. The vine rotted near the base and I lost everything on them. Luckily I have two vines left with decent pumpkins on them. I also lost two watermelons to BER. Oh, well, stuff happens.
 
So I posted a harvest picture in the Pepper ID forum.  It was the first time I picked any of my Dorsets.  Upon looking at them while I was picking I couldn't help but notice that they were very Habby looking.They stayed orange when fully ripe and I just couldn't shake that "Dammit I mislabeled another one" feeling.  Most everyone who responded seemed to think they were habs and the evidence seems to bear that out.  Hopefully my other Dorsets will grow true to form, the small pods already look different than that one.
 
So, if I were to guess what happened I might look at past mislabeling errors.  I planted Bhuts in my garden, thinking they were habs, I planted Habs in a bucket, thinking they were Dorsets, and I had a mystery pepper that looks like it will be habs. 
 
Possibly, since I know Bhuts and Dorsets are closely related, my jungle garden Bhuts may be Dorsets.  We'll see how they ripen.  The Habs that are producing from my "Dorset" plant are nice and big so it's not a total loss.  It's kind of Ironic.  Last year I bought Burpee orange habs and what grew from them were Hungarian Wax. 
 
And this morning I picked my stingery yellow bhut, and took some pictures, before deseeding it.  Tried a sliver and it was hot.  Whole tongue lit up.  The plan is to grow this one to F4, then distribute the seeds to those who would be interested in helping to create a new strain.  No cross breeding, just simple pod selection breeding.  Ideally I'd like a strain of bhut that I'm calling...well that's a secret until I think it's stabilized.  When I can get reliable pod shape from every grow then I'll give it an official name and give the seeds away to whoever wants them.
 
Questions: Is this first pod F1 or would the first offspring be F1?  I'll be growing these bhuts exclusively (no other bhut varieties) for a while, so does it make sense to pollinate from one plant to the other, or since it's not a crossbred but selective bred, should I just let it self pollinate naturally?  And, will pod selection by shape eventually lead to a plant with all or most of the pods the shape I want?  It is strikingly different than a regular bhut pod. 
 
I'll post pics of the pod tomorrow and you can all ooh and ahh over it then.
 
Okay, so this guy was growing on my yellow bhut plant (it's 2 pictures):
 
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So that's what I'm fussing about.  Kinda 7 Pot-ish, right?  Hopefully, it's offspring will develop similarly.
 
Also picked a few more:
 
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Two orange habs and a raisin hab.  Actually it's a Primo, but the color was close.
 
No pics today but with everything ripening I figure now is a good time to let whoever is reading know what I have for trading at the end of this season..  Some stuff may be more likely to have been accidentally crossed, but we can work those out at trading time.  I can say with high confidence (nothing is 100%) that there are a few with very small chance of being crossed.  Nothing is isolated, but some plants are in closer proximity than others.
 
Here we go.  What I will have available:
 
  1. Red Brain
  2. Yellow Bhut
  3. Red bhut
  4. Primo
  5. Butch T
  6. Jonah
  7. Orange Habs
  8. Red Carribean Habs
  9. Dorsets
  10. 7 Pot Regulars
  11. 7 Pot Bubblegum
  12. Reapers (Regular or Super Hab)
I will be growing some of these next year, some not.  I have a stash of seeds I didn't try this year that I got from MegaSpokaneman that I didn't attempt yet, so those are on the list for next year.
 
What I'm looking for:
;
  1. 7 pot Rennie
  2. Fatali
  3. Golden Cayenne
  4. Shua Shua (or Shabu Shabu)
  5. Chocolate or Congo Habs
  6. Any super hot yellow variety
I'll probably have a stash of giveaways put aside as well so any of you beginners who are starting out next year, or have a different growing season than mine, feel free to get a hold of me this September, when I will be saucing, dehydrating and deseeding in earnest.
 
Are the seeds from frozen pods still good?  I have two baggies full of pods for sauce later that still hold a treasure trove of seeds.
 
Plants and pods are looking great, maybe an early Fall for us up here.
 
Gotcha covered on a few of those, will be in touch. Will snag some of the Bubblegum seeds.
 
Sweet.  It was 47 degrees here last night.  47!  I've lived most of my life in New England and don't remember it that low in August.
 
Pepperhead said:
So I told my neighbor I would let him try some of my superhots when they're ripened.  I had a newly ripened bhut and let him try a PK.  He said the bhut wasn't too bad, a lot less than he expected.  The PK on the other hand, he couldn't get past the first bite.  Two things learned:  Can't wait to try these after the contest and I think I'm overwatering my bhuts.  Gonna have to stress them out some more now that hey are ripening.  Leave them on the plant longer?
I had one in the freezer that I picked and and shaved a bit of of that one.  Put a piece in my mouth and it seemed pretty hot.  It was hard to judge for such a small piece, but it was pretty hot.  I gave another sliver to my neighbor and he said it was hotter than the last one I gave him, but my PK was still hotter.  We'll have to cut way back on watering, although I can't stop the rain.
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The thing I've found about Bhuts is the Reds get hotter towards the end of the growth cycle, and the first ones that ripen are not nearly as hot. Let them go another 6 weeks and what is left hanging will drop anybody that tries them:)
 
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