AHayastani's GLOG 2022

Welcome to my GLOG!


I have a small urban terrace garden where I grow mainly peppers in containers. My location is Chiapas, Mexico. The local climate is tropical with pronounced dry and rainy seasons. The temperatures can sometimes be too much for the plants to bear (especially around Easter), but in general they manage. The climate makes that I can grow peppers year round, although pest pressure is really high. Especially mites are a problem... I apply neem oil copiously, but it does not always work...


This GLOG will follow my 2022 pepper endeavours. Enjoy

 

[PaulG]

Stellar capsicum grow, Dieter! So many interesting
varieties, and all doing very well. The Primo x Butch
T Scorpion should produce some stunners in the
pod department! Did you wind up chucking the
c. pubescens?

BTW good on ya for feeding the pajaritos!

 

[ahayastani]

Some images from SRP Stripey. A lot of flowers and some peppers as well.

​

Did you wind up chucking the
c. pubescens?

BTW good on ya for feeding the pajaritos!

The pubescens is still alive, but not for long anymore... I'm waiting for the moment at which looking at the plant hurts more than killing it.

Food is becoming scarce. For birds, mango is the only abundantly available crop at the moment. I visited a local place in the weekend where they currently were having a lot of problems with iguanas. Like birds, they have to feed on the little that is available right now. At that place, iguanas had dug up shallots and garlic, and had nibbled at all leafy plants. Much like rabbits... The owner was now praying for the mangoes to ripen so that the iguanas could climb up the tree and leave alone his vegetable patch.

SRP Stripey stem was broken off a few days ago. I think a bird tried to sit on it...

​

 

[PaulG]

Okay. Hungry birds are bad enough, but
hungry iguanas? I now have less desire
to live in the tropics!

SRP Stripey looking good. Sorry about
the break. Was it the fork or a lateral?

 

[ahayastani]

Bih Jolokia Caramel. Something tells me this will be a superplant. I estimate ~1.5m tall.

Some flower & fruit pr0n:

​

Okay. Hungry birds are bad enough, but
hungry iguanas? I now have less desire
to live in the tropics!

SRP Stripey looking good. Sorry about
the break. Was it the fork or a lateral?

It was a fork, at the top of the plant.

Iguanas are considered a delicacy here among older folks. Now the species is protected and it is illegal to hunt them. My impression is that iguanas are/were poor people food, and that they were hunted when there was nothing else to eat.

 

[PaulG]

It was a fork, at the top of the plant.

Iguanas are considered a delicacy here among older folks. Now the species is protected and it is illegal to hunt them. My impression is that iguanas are/were poor people food, and that they were hunted when there was nothing else to eat.

Bummer . I have had a few like that over the years.
It's like losing 50% of your plant. Although I did have
one that roared back to be an incredible plant. I'll bet
the same will happen to your Stripey.

Iguanas and guinea pigs. Toss in a few fish and you
have a pretty good protein diet Especially aug-
mented with a few capsicum!

 

[ahayastani]

A genuine question: do you think the plant of this post is annuum, or frutescens, or something in-between?

It is Siete Caldos SC (San Cristóbal strain). Photos were taken on 19/2 and 16/3. The interesting of this plant is that it shows some purpling and ripens from green to red (some turn yellow before ripening to red). Fruit shape seems very regular to me.

Tell me if you need a photo of a particular detail.

​

 

[thoroughburro]

I would say annuum… the flowers are pure white on my screen, and I think the calyces would be less toothed if frutescens (less confident about that)?

The fruit looks to all be one per node, albeit with some very close node spacing. Pr0digal_son has shown that there can be very small nodes which are misleading.

 

[ahayastani]

The fruit looks to all be one per node, albeit with some very close node spacing

Yes, seems like one per node. Nodes can be adjoined, but I haven't found a convincing example of two (or more) flowers per node.

 

[PaulG]

Also, the frutescens anthers should be purple.
Can't see them clearly in your flower pics. And
their flowers often have a greenish tint. Info
gleaned from @Pr0digal_son.

 

[ahayastani]

A respectable harvest Hots (habanero and more) to the left, mild peppers to the right. I combined the mild pepper harvest of this week with that of last week end ended up with 900g. I'll be making some pickles this evening

The superhot harvest included quite some Scorpions. Those are damn hot... Good looking too. God Stopper has already been picked bare and has begun flowering again.

Now... Primo x Butch T. I reported a few days ago on the miraclous growth of this variety. I think I have a good explanation for those miracles now I won't explain, I'll just show you a picture of the fruit.

 

[PaulG]

Great harvests, Dieter! Unusual to see SLP stock
so far off-pheno That warrants an explanation!

 

[ahayastani]

Great harvests, Dieter! Unusual to see SLP stock
so far off-pheno That warrants an explanation!

It seems to be a vigorous and prolific plant, so I'll keep it alive That being said, it was added as a courtesy sample and a given horse is not looked in the mouth. Even so, this kind of mistake shouldn't happen.

 

[ahayastani]

Peri Peri "African Devil" is spawning a few odd shapes. The plant develops the occasional deformed pepper (blunt instead of sharp apex), but now there are a few that have a "tail". Anyone has made this observation before (@CaneDog)? I was considering growing a second plant, so I might as well grow from the "tailed" version.

The first image shows a "normal" pepper, the next three peppers are "tailed".

​

 

[CaneDog]

I haven't seen that before - first frutescens I've seen with a tail, in fact. I've noticed they tend to have smoother, blunter pods when grown on my deck and more of an undulating surface and sharp apex when grown at the community garden. One of the plants at the community garden had light purple pods during ripening, but was otherwise true to phenotype, so there might have been a little variance in the original population. IIRC, the seeds I sent you were from a deck plant that produced early enough I didn't think it could have crossed. The only thing that comes to mind that was near it and might have created that look was a yellow moruga scorpion. I'll be curious to see how the pods turn out.

BTW, I had both Mazateco and Diente de Perro seedlings sprout last week and I'm looking forward to some Jwala any day now. Thanks for sending those seeds!

 

[ahayastani]

I haven't seen that before - first frutescens I've seen with a tail, in fact. I've noticed they tend to have smoother, blunter pods when grown on my deck and more of an undulating surface and sharp apex when grown at the community garden. One of the plants at the community garden had light purple pods during ripening, but was otherwise true to phenotype, so there might have been a little variance in the original population. IIRC, the seeds I sent you were from a deck plant that produced early enough I didn't think it could have crossed. The only thing that comes to mind that was near it and might have created that look was a yellow moruga scorpion. I'll be curious to see how the pods turn out.

The plant is more than a year old and must have given me hundreds of peppers already. It's a plant that is in continous production mode. I've never made counts, but most pods are true to phenotype (occasionally a blunt apex). My plant also yields the occasional pod with purpling, but I've noticed that it depends on the altitude of the sun. So there is very little purpling now, but I'm sure it will be more intense in Summer.

I hope I can beat the birds and save some seeds This fellow looks like a good candidate:

​

 

[ahayastani]

Time for an update, I guess

Very short version of the story: all plants died and I'm currently growing a few new plants.

Longer version: my plan was to get the plants through the hottest and driest part of the year. That plan failed... The weather this year has been very different from other years. The first rains already arrived in April (one month earlier than normal) and wrecked most of the pepper plants. During the rainy season, thunderstorms arrive by the evening and temperatures during the day drop to 30-32ºC. I've noticed that many pepper cultivars like the rainy season: warm but not hot, sunny morning, cloudy afternoon, rainy evening. This year, the first rains occurred around noon and were followed by full sun at 35+ºC. Plant after plant wilted and had to be trashed. However, some plants managed to get through this difficult period: Naga Dorset (ghost), Aji Dulce Rosita, Peri peri "African Devil", Maui purple, Fatalii. And then they fell prey to mites

Anyway, I've germinated a few varieties and it won't take long before I'll have my own peppers again (I hope). The following images are Maui Purple.

Maui Purple in a container with Cinnamomum verum and Aji jobito in the background.

Maui Purple in a container with Adonidia merrillii and basil ("Marseille").

 

[ahayastani]

Some snapshots featuring Aji jobito.

 

[Tinkerbelle]

I tried to grow Maui Purple last year, wasn't very successful but managed to get a few pods to scrounge some seeds from - what do you think of the peppers? Worth trying again?

 

[ahayastani]

I tried to grow Maui Purple last year, wasn't very successful but managed to get a few pods to scrounge some seeds from - what do you think of the peppers? Worth trying again?

They are beautiful, good taste, very productive, and dry easily (even on the plant). I'm growing them in containers that already have other plants but still have sufficient space for the coming months.

 

[skullbiker]

It's good to see you back and going after those peppers.