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AHayastani 23 > 24

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I know, I'm a bit late to enter the party 😬

I will be growing peppers during the dry season this year, which means more work (watering) but less pests (in theory). Fingers crossed 🤞
 
Those are some great looking pods!

They had recommended me a good place to buy dried chiles ☺️ Oaxaqueño in the Central de Abastos. Have fun finding it - I only found it de puro milagro. Central de Abastos is huge, few visual cues that can be used as reference because everything looks alike, and all businesses have similar names (Oaxaca, Oaxaqueño, la Güera, ...).

Chile de onza is another traditional variety from Oaxaca. Its story is very similar to that of chile tabiche: I selected the best looking peppers, isolated their seeds and threw some seeds on a bit of dirt. Germination was quick (6 d) and I stored a good amount of seeds in the fridge. I transplanted four seedlings yesterday, hoping to end up with at least one or two plants.

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I want to live in Chiapas!

You sure? Because the weather is becoming chilly ☺️

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I bought quite some dried peppers from that vendor... enough for the owner to ask me whether I was a professional chef 🧑‍🍳. Off course... I bought 100 g of dried "chiltepín", which clearly contained a mixture of phenotypes. The vendor sources most of the peppers from the Sierra de Oaxaca.

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I selected two types for growing. The first type is more rounded, with a blunt apex. Seeds were isolated from six chiltepines and a few were germinated. The first seedlings popped up after 10d. I transplanted two seedlings, hoping to end up with at least one plant. I nickname this type "Sierra de Oaxaca" (after their alledged origen) to differentiate it from two other chiltepines I'm currently growing.

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I also selected a second type, but I haven't made the time yet to process and germinate its seeds.

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Chile costeño can refer to various Mexican chiles. In Oaxaca, they have a costeño rojo (red) and amarillo (yellow). The chile from this post is costeño amarillo, although the dried peppers look pretty red... I used them in several preparation and the salsa colour always was yellow-orange - as should be the case with this pepper.

Again, I selected a few healthy-looking peppers and isolated the seeds. Their germination rate seems to be good enough ☺️ I transplanted four seedlings, hoping to end up with one or two plants. I still haven't germinated the red version though...

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I should do something about the infrequent updating... 🥸 There is a long story, but the short version is:

Code:
lots_of_pests + horrible_weather := no_plants

I currently have 3 plants: chile blanco, chilhuacle (red), and a chiltepin ("Norteño"). Chile blanco is used for pickling in the area around Tuxtla Gutierrez (capital of Chiapas), but it can be found in other parts of the state as well. I assume this variety got its name from the colour of the immature fruit. I've come across various phenotypes - some with a dash of purple and others not even "white" - but the phenotype I'm currently growing is the one I wanted: (greenish) white when immature and no purple mottling.

My plant looks like 💩 (the old leaves are scarred by consecutive mite infestations) but considering the circumstances, I should be very happy. I'm allowing all peppers to ripen on the plant and save seeds to build a seed stock. The peppers of the next harvest(s) will be picked green.

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Edit: the picture below is the "seed source" ☺️

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Chilhuacle (rojo) also survived. It only carries four peppers now, but the phenotype is just about perfect. This is the second fruit I've picked. Sadly, the first one rotted soon after picking. I hope to get some seeds to build a small stock, because germination of seeds saved from pods bought in Oaxaca was very poor (all chilhuacles gave very poor germination).

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Dried peppers bought in Oaxaca in Oct 2023:

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Chilhuacle (rojo) also survived. It only carries four peppers now, but the phenotype is just about perfect. This is the second fruit I've picked. Sadly, the first one rotted soon after picking. I hope to get some seeds to build a small stock, because germination of seeds saved from pods bought in Oaxaca was very poor (all chilhuacles gave very poor germination).

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Dried peppers bought in Oaxaca in Oct 2023:

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WOW that looks like a cross between a Scotch Bonnet rojo & a Peter pepper. 🤣
 

I only buy fruit/vegetables in grocery stores that is not grown locally (like lettuce), or which is not easy to find because it's not part of the local cuisine (potatoes, for instance). Local markets are almost always (much) cheaper. I buy bananas in the street at M$1/banana, but Walmart wants M$30/kg for the fruit of something that basically grows like a weed down here.
 
I want to show some peppers I found on the local market. I hoped they'd ripen in the fridge so I could save some seeds, but they started to rot. I saved what I could.

I previously showed some snapshots of chile blanco. My plant produced whitish peppers that turned red upon ripening. The photo below is also chile blanco, but the peppers have dashes of purple when unripe. I asked the vendor (also the grower) whether it was chile blanco or siete caldos (which looks very similar but is a bit smaller), and the answer was chile siete caldos blanco 🙄

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I also found this cute pepper... It is slightly bigger than cobanero and is white/purple when unripe. The vendor referred to it as siete caldos, but it clearly looks different. My guess: natural cross of chiltepín x siete caldos, who knows how many generations ago. It was slightly crunchy, not really a typical characteristic of chiltepín, but its seeds are smaller than typical annuum seeds and look more like chiltepín seeds.

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I put both on my to-grow list.
 
Congratulations, ahayastani and good luck with the closing process. How does the property look for gardening opportunities?

About 120m2 available for gardening (ornamental + vegetables + fruit), obviously not enough for my needs. But it's located in the city, and it isn't easy to find something big enough without sacrificing a kidney. The house, however, has a big roof terrace, so I might continue growing peppers in containers, on the roof ☺️
 
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