AHayastani's ГЛΟГ

I have an urban "garden" on the roof of a house in tropical Chiapas, Mexico. It's the first year that I'm growing plants - mostly Capsicum - in this location. I lived in a temperate region of Europe before, and the adaptation to different growing conditions is not without setbacks. Another issue is that not all material that I would like to use is commonly available here, so at times I have to be more creative than I actually want to be. That being said, it is also unbelievable (for me, at least) to see how some plants manage to grow in this climate even in adverse conditions (despite my bad treatment, that is).
 
I have obtained seeds from various sources (abbreviations in parentheses will be used in this glog): White Hot Peppers (WHP), Towns-End (town), Jayrseyshore Peppers [FB] (jay), Vertiloom (vtl), Badskin (bad), Juan GA [FB] (jga), Semillas La Palma (SLP), Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds (rareseeds).
 
I arrived at this house in january and started my first sowings in february. This glog, however, begins in early June and I will just treat this as "the beginning".
 
 
I re-sowed a few cultivars end May since most or all of my plants of that specific cultivar had perished... My 3 plants of Jay's Peach Ghost Scorpion seem to have succumbed to a virus infection, which might have been seed-born. I will soon find out... My Brazilian Mango and Aji Mango Long plants looked depressing, so I sowed the backup seeds. Serrano... I had forgotten to sow them    Trinidad Beans Chocolate, because two out of three plants seem to be reluctant to grow and enter adulthood... Takanotsume is old seed I purchased on ebay, and I'm surprised that anything gets up. Pimenta Moranga and Monster Gum Multicolor (jga) are two cultivars that I was going to sow on March 20, but I somehow lost the seeds... but they recently resurfaced Germination is still OK, even though the seeds were "stored" outside 
 

 
 
I sourced some pequin/chiltepin from the local market, one fruit per tray:
 

 
 
A box of failures... The seed is already old though and has not been properly stored. Cumari Pollux (SLP) is an exception though, and I will await its germination to officially declare the rest as "lost".
 

 
 
Sowed today: Capsicum galapagoense Long (SLP).
 

 

 
 
I had some fun with tomato suckers as well... I put two suckers in water to make them grow roots (cultivar Madagascar) and gave them a baggie of dirt today and placed them with the rest.
 

 
 
I removed some more suckers and put them in water. Hopefully they will make it to tomato plant Three are Midnight Tiger and another Madagascar. The three shoots in perlite below are Aji Tapachula.
 

 

[PaulG]

Yeah, Dieter is the clone king!

 

[ahayastani]

I like the attention you give to the cloning process. I see it as free plants

 
 

Yeah, Dieter is the clone king!

 
There are several advantages, but there is also one important disadvantage: impoverishment of the gene pool. Nonetheless, it is a very interesting tool, one that I didn't really "know" because I had no use for it in a limited growing season. But that has changed now... I will certainly keep playing with the cloning technique, and time will tell whether I'm to be Clone King or Clown King
 
I have been observing a peculiar pepper for the last few days. As you can see in the image below, the pepper has still some of its flower petals in place. This is something I have never witnessed before. The scenario I am familiar with, is that the petals will dry and are dropped as the pollinated flower grows to become a pepper. In some cases, the dried petals remain stuck at the tip of a pepper. But the petals in "flowering mode" while the pepper is growing, that is something I have never seen before. I noticed it four days ago and the petals remain. As you can see, it's no small pepper either... The plant is Buena Mulata.
 

 
Capsicum galapagoense Long (SLP), now at 100% germination (11/11). The last one is appearing at the bottom left.
 

 
Interesting observation from the pequines. I think it is obvious that the pequin seeds sown in the middle pot are more vigorous than their brothers from the right and the left. Yesterday already seven seedlings had emerged, and today 10/10 has become a fact. At the right, 3/7 has emerged today, while on the left there has emerged 1/7 seedlings (hardly visible in this image).
 

 
The cuttings in the photographs below were taken on 31/05 and allowed to form roots. The first image represents a cutting of Scotch Bonnet Beth Boyd (seeds: WHP), which was put in water. The cuttings in the last image are Scotch Brains (seeds: WHP) and were placed in moist perlite (second image). Not all of the perlite could be washed off, but since the dirt I planted them in also contains perlite, I really don't see why I'd risk damaging the roots to remove the perlite.
 

 

 

 
Yeah, I kind of noticed too late that the labels are wrong

 

[ahayastani]

Time for some updates
 
I begin with the non-chile part. I have been sowing some delayed stuff while most of you were watching parades I sowed two types of basil (basilic marseillais, seeds from Vilmorin; and Purple Ruffles, of which I can't recall the source), which is a perennial bushy plant here. I already had sown some basil (Mexican supermarket seeds), but its taste was very different from what I remember from Europe. I still don't know the reason for this: different varieties/cultivars or other climate.
 

 
Also some flowers  and foliage plants for the garden I hopefully will soon have (the links go to pages with some basic information and images):

• Dianella ensifolia "Madagascar" // flax-lily
• Musa johnsii // orange banana from Papua New Guinea
• Afromomum angustifolium // Madagascar cardamon
• Aloe petricola // rock aloe
• Curcuma sessilis // siam tulip
• Kniphofia citrina // torch lily
• Kniphofia uvaria // torch lily

 

 
Follow the peppers... The pequines I recently transplanted are not that pequeño anymore... They also seem to show a strong tendency to branch from early on.
 

 
I am rearranging the position of the plants that now have their final grow bag. The plan is to put something in-between two different pepper plants, to avoid I'll be packing them too close to each other. I won't be using "spacer plants" if two (or more) are of the same cultivar. I'm also trying to alternate species (annuum - frutescens - annuum - chinense - etc.), to limit the possibility of cross-polination. I have various self-sown horticultural plants to use as spacers. The following images show a palm in front (not sure which species, but its parent looked like a date palm), followed by two Hangjiao 3 plants, after that a Tradescantia spathacea plant, followed by a Black Habanero, another palm (Dypsis lutescens), and a Poblano pepper.
 

 

 

 
Monkey Face Yellow (seeds: SLP). The white spots on the leaf are indicative for red spider mites.
 

 
To my surprise, my neglected C. chacoense (seeds: town) plants are showing some fruits!
 

 
Scotch Bonnet Beth Boyd (seeds: WHP).
 

 
Elysium Oxide (seeds: SLP)
 

Buena Mulata, my favourite pepper for emotional reasons It was the very first pepper I cultivated in Europe, and it also was the first one to give me peppers in Mexico. Still the same seeds...
 

 
In San Cristobal, I bought a small bag of peppers which they locally know as pico de paloma (dove's beak). A mexican research article classifies this pepper as C. frutescens, but it remains to be seen whether my pico de paloma is the same one as described in the article. This plant is presumably of a cultivar that will give red fruits. The current grow bag ~ 1 gallon; an update is planned... The plant was hit by a red spider mite attack, hence the many leaves with discolourations.
 

 
The following images give an impression of the fruit and where the name pico de paloma comes from. Flowers are white, and fruits have a dash of purple near the calyx in the early phase of development. The peppers have a pointed apex that sometimes (often?) is curled, as shown in the last photograph. The name pico de paloma originates from this form.
 

 

 

 

 
 
I notice my attachment MBs allowance is nearly used up 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

[PaulG]

Impressive, indeed. Nice variety of peppers, all looking 
healthy and robust. Good work, Dieter!

 

[ahayastani]

I have a plant of Pusa Jwala (aka Finger Hot Pepper; seeds: vtl) that suffered during a heavy thunderstorm last week and received a hard blow - literally... Plant was knocked over but didn't appear to suffer, so I delayed required "maintenance". Today, I made a cage from iron wire and plastic tubes to help the plant grow "straight" again. I messed up the germination and have only one plant, so hopefully it will all end well
 

 

 

 

 

 

[CaneDog]

Nice work with that.  It looks like you could get some solid production volume from just that one plant, alone! 
 
Pusa Jwala was a "maybe" on my grow list for this year, but didn't make it.  Yours is a bushier plant than I expected it to be and looks like it could get big.  I think P. Jwala's getting upgraded to "probable" for next season 

 

[ahayastani]

Nice work with that.  It looks like you could get some solid production volume from just that one plant, alone! 
 
Pusa Jwala was a "maybe" on my grow list for this year, but didn't make it.  Yours is a bushier plant than I expected it to be and looks like it could get big.  I think P. Jwala's getting upgraded to "probable" for next season 

 
You could be right about production. You can see the plant in a 4 gallon grow bag, but up to four weeks ago it was growing in perhaps an eighth of that. Therefore, I presume that the amount of pepper that you can see here is limited compared to its full potential. These are its first peppers and I suspect/expect I won't have to wait for much longer for a second round of flowers.

 

[Mr.joe]

Looks like you saved that plant. You should at least have some seeds for next year.

 

[ahayastani]

Looks like you saved that plant. You should at least have some seeds for next year.

 
A few days later and the plant is still doing fine Four peppers are ripening to red now  I was actually hoping for a bit more than "some seeds for next year". Hopefully I will have a surplus to trade and sell (nationally).
 
 
I upgraded the grow bags of a few plants and had to open a new bag of compost. Mushrooms liked the compost, I suppose... The high humidity of the rainy season probably helps as well.
 

 
 
I upgraded two Monkey Face Yellow plants. They look rather sad in this picture because I restrict watering of plants before transplanting.
 

 
They have several smaller pods, though one has already reached a mature size. I don't recognize a "monkey face" though.
 

 
I have seen several instances of joined leaves among my plants, but never did I come across three joined leaves. Both following images are of the same Monkey Face Yellow plant.
 

 

 

[ahayastani]

I spend some time today with potting some cuttings.
 
The first is Aji Tapachula. As happens too often, I did not write down the date on a label because I was going to remember it anyway, and as such I can't really tell when I made the cutting. I guess I made the cutting a month or 1.5 month ago. It was "planted" in perlite and kept relatively moist. I like the perlite method because the cuttings can't move around and/or bend. One considerable disadvantage, in my opinion at least, is that root development cannot be visually checked without disturbing the plant.
 

 

 
The second cultivar is Pimenta Berinjela. Cuttings were taken on 22 June, as detailed in a previous GLOG post. One cutting developed considerably more roots than its brother. Also note the purple colour of the roots.
 

 
All happy together
 

 
Let's return to Pimenta Berinjela for a moment. The plants has grown quite a bit, and now I just happen to notice that I did not capture the top of the plant The bottom leaves are about the size of a hand. The fresh top leaves still have to catch up. The first flowers started to appear a few days ago. The plant will be moved to an area with more direct sunlight, which - I assume - will cause the purple pigment to become more pronounced.
 

 

 

 
I harvested my first aubergines today (cultivar Kamo).
 

 
Combined with a few pods of Buena Mulata
 

 

[Bhuter]

Nice work with that.  It looks like you could get some solid production volume from just that one plant, alone! 
 
Pusa Jwala was a "maybe" on my grow list for this year, but didn't make it.  Yours is a bushier plant than I expected it to be and looks like it could get big.  I think P. Jwala's getting upgraded to "probable" for next season 

It REALLY IS a good choice if you like stir-fry or any Spicy Asian dishes in general. I grew them in 2014 and it was a crazy, productive little bush. The only downfall for me was the critters liked the ripe fruits of that plant. Pusa Jwala was the ONLY plant that I've ever had the tips of ripe pods nibbled on or ripe pod completely destroyed. I started picking those a little green (which are awesome, too!)

  

I spend some time today with potting some cuttings.
 
The first is Aji Tapachula. As happens too often, I did not write down the date on a label because I was going to remember it anyway, and as such I can't really tell when I made the cutting. I guess I made the cutting a month or 1.5 month ago. It was "planted" in perlite and kept relatively moist. I like the perlite method because the cuttings can't move around and/or bend. One considerable disadvantage, in my opinion at least, is that root development cannot be visually checked without disturbing the plant.
 

 

 
The second cultivar is Pimenta Berinjela. Cuttings were taken on 22 June, as detailed in a previous GLOG post. One cutting developed considerably more roots than its brother. Also note the purple colour of the roots.
 

 
All happy together
 

 
Let's return to Pimenta Berinjela for a moment. The plants has grown quite a bit, and now I just happen to notice that I did not capture the top of the plant The bottom leaves are about the size of a hand. The fresh top leaves still have to catch up. The first flowers started to appear a few days ago. The plant will be moved to an area with more direct sunlight, which - I assume - will cause the purple pigment to become more pronounced.
 

 

 

 
I harvested my first aubergines today (cultivar Kamo).
 

 
Combined with a few pods of Buena Mulata
 

¡Magnífico! ¡Muy Bonita!
Great looking stuff, my friend! I have a Purple Haze that would go great with your Buena Mulata!!!! (2 live plants.......could they make it there?!?!?!?! )
I went ahead THIS year and applied your cloning wisdom to my garden. I "needed" extra tomatoes in an area and pulled 2 suckers off of my Dancing With Smurfs tomato. A week and a half later, I believe they took. I really don't know because I did not root them first. Just straight into the soil in 90°+ sun, covered with a piece of garden fabric.

Under that piece of fabric on the left

This is the other one. Too much sun that day. But the cherry tomato in the middle, starts (rootball is buried) on the left. It was about 1.5 feet tall, I took off all lower leaves and stems, buried it on the left, and laid the stem down, burying it in the dirt........with the top standing up in the middle.

A lot of stories to these green window boxes.

Thank you for the great sucker-using ideas!

 

[ahayastani]

It REALLY IS a good choice if you like stir-fry or any Spicy Asian dishes in general. I grew them in 2014 and it was a crazy, productive little bush. The only downfall for me was the critters liked the ripe fruits of that plant. Pusa Jwala was the ONLY plant that I've ever had the tips of ripe pods nibbled on or ripe pod completely destroyed. I started picking those a little green (which are awesome, too!)

¡Magnífico! ¡Muy Bonita!
Great looking stuff, my friend! I have a Purple Haze that would go great with your Buena Mulata!!!! (2 live plants.......could they make it there?!?!?!?! )
I went ahead THIS year and applied your cloning wisdom to my garden. I "needed" extra tomatoes in an area and pulled 2 suckers off of my Dancing With Smurfs tomato. A week and a half later, I believe they took. I really don't know because I did not root them first. Just straight into the soil in 90°+ sun, covered with a piece of garden fabric.

Under that piece of fabric on the left

This is the other one. Too much sun that day. But the cherry tomato in the middle, starts (rootball is buried) on the left. It was about 1.5 feet tall, I took off all lower leaves and stems, buried it on the left, and laid the stem down, burying it in the dirt........with the top standing up in the middle.

A lot of stories to these green window boxes.

Thank you for the great sucker-using ideas!

 
I'm happy somebody found a practical application for it  I prefer to put the suckers in water because it is easier to visually check root development. But if you just stick it in the dirt, then you have to worry less I have done more experiments with tomatoes and one of the following days I'll post a summary. I basically chopped down several plants to check which parts form roots and can develop into a new plant.
 
I didn't know Purple Haze, but the photos google shows me make me think of a cute version of Buena Mulata I would be very surprised if live plants would make it from the Great Lakes State to Southern Mexico. It would also raise a few red flags if custom officials would decide to do their job properly that day But if you are offering seeds for trade later in the season, we might come to an agreement

 

[Bhuter]

I'm happy somebody found a practical application for it  I prefer to put the suckers in water because it is easier to visually check root development. But if you just stick it in the dirt, then you have to worry less I have done more experiments with tomatoes and one of the following days I'll post a summary. I basically chopped down several plants to check which parts form roots and can develop into a new plant.
 
I didn't know Purple Haze, but the photos google shows me make me think of a cute version of Buena Mulata I would be very surprised if live plants would make it from the Great Lakes State to Southern Mexico. It would also raise a few red flags if custom officials would decide to do their job properly that day But if you are offering seeds for trade later in the season, we might come to an agreement

If you know of some kind of way of teleporting, I'd definitely be on the sidelines watching them go. But if not, I am DEFINITELY in for a seed trade. ESPESCIALLY any local peppers and tomatoes.

I'm that same way with root progress, especially in the beginning. I use the paper towel method for starting seeds, only starting the number of seeds I need (usually 1).......watch it germ or not, then plant or discard. I don't put new seeds straight in the soil because I have no clue what's going on. A lot of wasted time waiting......and I'm not the one for culling. I want to try and keep them ALL alive. I don't know......weird ways we all have. Lol

 

[ahayastani]

If you know of some kind of way of teleporting, I'd definitely be on the sidelines watching them go. But if not, I am DEFINITELY in for a seed trade. ESPESCIALLY any local peppers and tomatoes.
 

 
I'm sure something can be worked out later I found a different type of chiltepin today but I lost the peppers They were extremely tiny... I will go and collect some more tomorrow.
 
I collected a mini-harvest of Aji Mango Long today. Taste was quite good, somewhat fruity and sweet with a soft burn. I fried four of them with some onion and taste was quite good, though so far I prefer them raw. I also tasted an unripe (green) pod, which was actually hotter than the red pods and lacked the fruity taste.
 

 
The plant was still growing in a 0.5 gallon grow bag, so I gave it the upgrade it deserved.
 

 
Some tomato news  The following two images are Peach Keen (seeds: vtl). The two suckers on the left exhibit decent root formation (3 week period), but the sucker on the right has a lot of roots! It is, however, not a sucker but rather the top of a plant...
 

 
The next image is also Peachy Keen. It is (was) a part of the plant's main stem. I removed all leaves save for one, at the place where a small sucker was beginning to develop. This small sucker definitely took a hike and root development gives a healthy impression.
 

 
The following image is Green Zebra. I sacrificed the one plant that I had and divided it in several parts. Both parts in the image below looked similar in the beginning: a part of the main stem with a tiny sucker that was beginning to emerge. All other (mature) leaves were removed. The part on the left developed roots on the main stem, but the part on the right grew roots on the sucker itself. The main stem is decaying.
 

 
I have, in general, seen quite some versatility. The only scenario that doesn't seem to work is a stem without leaves, which just rots away.

 

[ahayastani]

 
I found a different type of chiltepin today but I lost the peppers They were extremely tiny... I will go and collect some more tomorrow.

 
Since tomorrow is today:
 

 

 
The plant had only two red berries. They contained one and two seeds, which might explain their tiny size. Unripe green pequines were equally small. I can't tell yet whether this is a characteristic of the plant or not. The leaves were also very small, much smaller than my (still young) pequin plants (link to my previous post, with photographs of other pequines sourced locally). I have sown all three seeds, so believe that in a month or so I will be able to determine whether it is the same or a different pequin from the one that I am already growing.
 
Edit: I forgot to add the most important: taste was OK, not extremely pungent, nice burn that quickly dissipates. A tickling by the whip.

 

[PaulG]

So cool to be able to harvest wild peppers!

 

[Bhuter]

Since tomorrow is today:
 

 

 
The plant had only two red berries. They contained one and two seeds, which might explain their tiny size. Unripe green pequines were equally small. I can't tell yet whether this is a characteristic of the plant or not. The leaves were also very small, much smaller than my (still young) pequin plants (link to my previous post, with photographs of other pequines sourced locally). I have sown all three seeds, so believe that in a month or so I will be able to determine whether it is the same or a different pequin from the one that I am already growing.
 
Edit: I forgot to add the most important: taste was OK, not extremely pungent, nice burn that quickly dissipates. A tickling by the whip.

 
Wow! Itty bitty! That is very cool! Thank you for searching!
 

So cool to be able to harvest wild peppers!

Wouldn't it be, Paul? I guess we get bittersweet nightshade. Not edible, but pretty. Lol

 

[ahayastani]

I have two plants of CAP 1546 (C. annuum, introduced in an earlier post about a month ago). They are relatively compact plants but they are not grown in optimal conditions. The plant in the following picture receives very little direct sun.
 

 
It has many little peppers. They start out as egg-shaped purple fruits that change colour to white, and further to orange and red. Taste varies with ripening stage, and I found the red peppers didn't taste bad for being an ornamental pepper. It had a bit of sweet but also something of acid. Its burn was short and very manageable. I'd say comparable to Serrano, but of shorter duration.
 

 

 
This pepper is not going to obtain the highest score for taste, but I somehow felt that it might be worthwhile to pickle them. So I picked a small amount of peppers, making sure all colours of the ripening state were represented. The row at the bottom of the following image shows the ripening colour sequence.
 

 
I tossed in a few other ingredients and voila...
 

 

 
Some of the purple pigment is lost, but enough remains to still recognise it. I like the visual impact of this colourful mixture. Taste was also OK We'll see over the next few days how taste develops.
 

 

[ahayastani]

Taste-wise, the pickled CAP 1546 turned out to be somewhat of a disappointment. Not that taste was bad, but it never went any further than "OK  " After a few days, taste was (became) dominated by vinegar and the other ingredients, which is not what I am looking for
 
I believe this Reaper x STRSL is as good as ready Its stinger is not that large, but it looks like a stinger on a stinger. I will show some close-ups when I pick it.
 

 
One of WHP's freebies was a TS Moruga Yellow / Yellow Brain Strain Mix. Anyone who can tell me which cultivar is on the photo? The yellowing is because the plant was recently molested by a red spider mite gang.
 

 
Scotch Bonnet Beth Boyd. I picked one fruit and cut it with a red onion to eat with tacos. Quite tasty and a good burn. The miss said the onion by itself was already hot enough for her
 

 

 
Red Savina. All three peppers are on the same plant. The third image shows a Red Savina with some sort of stinger. I can't really say whether this is to be expected with this cultivar, or perhaps a neighbour injected some of his pollen...
 

 
Basil, sowing date: 4th of July. Two different types, as well as two different seed sources. There is quite a difference in seed quality, as you can see for yourself...
 

 
I went out for a walk and nicked a few plants en route I encountered the following psychedelic critter:
 

 
Larger than the palm of my hand... There currently is a plague in El Salvador, destroying crops of cereals and corn. 
 
 

 

[skullbiker]

I have just recently ended the lives of several Eastern Lubber grasshoppers. They are big and are voracious eaters. Luckily they have only been attacking the flowers in front of my house.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romalea