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.
 

 

[ahayastani]

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

 
The grasshoppers that I know normally don't grow beyond the 2 cm mark, so this one put "grasshopper plague" into a new perspective for me. And I suddenly started worrying about the El Salvador plague arriving at my pepper plot

 

[ahayastani]

About a month ago, I showed a photo of a Buena Mulata pepper with non-withered flower petals, even though the pepper was already quite big... Today, I harvested that same pepper. Its flower petals were still there, intact.
 
I have never seen anything like this before. Anyone of you? So far, it is the only pepper on that particular bush that shows this kind of behaviour. Perhaps a single "freak of Nature"?
 

 

 

 

 

[ahayastani]

About a month ago, I showed a photo of a Buena Mulata pepper with non-withered flower petals, even though the pepper was already quite big... Today, I harvested that same pepper. Its flower petals were still there, intact.
 
I have never seen anything like this before. Anyone of you? So far, it is the only pepper on that particular bush that shows this kind of behaviour. Perhaps a single "freak of Nature"?
 

 
Both peppers shown in the previous thread made it to the tummy today
 
The "normal" pepper was added to an omelet. Taste was good, hotness in line with what I expected.
 
I removed the seeds from the pepper with non-withered petals. Stamina were still intact below the petals. If you look carefully, you can also see that the stigma is still present on the pepper's apex. I recuperated 14 seeds, but 2 of them are smaller than the rest. I assume they have not matured completely. I normally should be able to get 20 decent seeds from one Buena Mulata pepper.
 
The taste test was something of a surprise: subjective hotness was considerably higher than other peppers of this cultivar. It was also a tad sweeter and had all by all a more complex taste. I'll be sowing a new batch of pepper plants in a few days, and I'm quite sure seeds of this pepper will be present at the party
 

 
Edit: Added photo of the "dissection".

 

[ahayastani]

Harvest time
 

 

1. Carolina Reaper
2. Buena Mulata
3. Scotch Bonnet Beth Boyd
4. Scotch Bonnet Beth Boyd, supposedly...
5. TS Moruga Yellow or 7-pot Yellow Brain Strain
6. Chinese Chilli pepper (unknown which one)
7. Roger's Habanero Giant Orange
8. Pusa Jwala
9. Nagabrains Yellow
10. Reaper x SRTSL
11. Red Savina (mine looks caramel though)

Number #4 is picked from one plant, a very productive one. SB Beth Boyd is supposed to be yellow, but you can see for yourself that this is not the case here... Form, however, agrees well. So far I'm inclined to believe it's a red pheno. Let's see what the children say Anyway, it is a very tasteful pepper and hotness is somewhere in the upper habanero range.
 
Red Savina does not seem "correct" to me. I would certainly not label it as Red, rather as caramel. I have never grown this cultivar, so I have to rely on photos.
 
The Chinese Space Chile is supposed to be Hangjiao 3, an orange pepper. Form of my peppers appears to be correct but the colour is definitely red. Some orange is discernible during fruit ripening though.

 

[Tybo]

Nice harvest.  I too am growing the Beth Boyd bonnet and I thought they were supposed to be yellow.  Mine are the prettiest red color!  I don't remember right off the top of my head where I purchased the seeds but WHP sounds familiar.  I'll have to check.
 
I think you should try the "enlightenment" tip you gave me and try one of those reapers!  Let us know.   

 

[ahayastani]

Nice harvest.  I too am growing the Beth Boyd bonnet and I thought they were supposed to be yellow.  Mine are the prettiest red color!  I don't remember right off the top of my head where I purchased the seeds but WHP sounds familiar.  I'll have to check.
 
I think you should try the "enlightenment" tip you gave me and try one of those reapers!  Let us know.   

 
Great news about the Beth Boyd For me, at least They are quite tasteful!
 
Enlightenment will come, rest assured My kids are pushing me as well

 

[Mr.joe]

 
Great news about the Beth Boyd For me, at least They are quite tasteful!
 
Enlightenment will come, rest assured My kids are pushing me as well

Nothing wrong with posting a video of that enlightening.

 

[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

Here are some young Purple Haze pods:

That Caramel Savina: ¡Muy Boníta!
(Google Translate for this. Lol.) ¡Me encantan los pimientos de color caramelo!

When we get a trade going, will you have seeds for the Savina? I would be most appreciative of you could save some!

 

[ahayastani]

That Caramel Savina: ¡Muy Boníta!
(Google Translate for this. Lol.) ¡Me encantan los pimientos de color caramelo!

When we get a trade going, will you have seeds for the Savina? I would be most appreciative of you could save some!

 
Well, thus far the Carolina Reaper and the Savina have not been consumed All the rest has already made it to tummyland
 
Seeds of the Savina will be saved and I plan to sow them soon. They were bought as "Red Savina" from FB Jayrseyshore. I have two other plants but the fruits are not ripe yet, so I can't compare colour. I can't say whether the colour will be transferred to the next generation... I can only hope so. In any case, I will save you some seeds Also, their colour has darkened a bit more during storage in the fridge. 

 

[ahayastani]

"Red" Savina was turned into an omelette
 

 
Two eggs (beaten), one bacon (chopped), one clove of garlic (chopped), one Savina pepper (chopped), one slice of cheese (shredded), some salt: garlic to oil in skillet and add bacon and fry (slightly), then add shreds of cheese and chopped pepper. Add eggs when cheese begins to melt. Tadaaa... Savelette Could use some cilantro. My family "evacuated the premises", but I can't say I felt discomfort when adding peppers to the skillet.
 
I like the taste of this pepper. Manageable hotness, rich and full taste that lingers. Seeds saved and drying
 
Also part of the breakfast: local avocado (not Hass), fried plantain, pickled chiles (contains chiles numbers 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 from the harvest pic I posted a few days ago) prepared according to Miss AHayastani's family recipe - de-li-ci-ous!
 
 

 

[Bhuter]

"Red" Savina was turned into an omelette
 

IMG_20200731_084124873.jpg
 
Two eggs (beaten), one bacon (chopped), one clove of garlic (chopped), one Savina pepper (chopped), one slice of cheese (shredded), some salt: garlic to oil in skillet and add bacon and fry (slightly), then add shreds of cheese and chopped pepper. Add eggs when cheese begins to melt. Tadaaa... Savelette Could use some cilantro. My family "evacuated the premises", but I can't say I felt discomfort when adding peppers to the skillet.
 
I like the taste of this pepper. Manageable hotness, rich and full taste that lingers. Seeds saved and drying
 
Also part of the breakfast: local avocado (not Hass), fried plantain, pickled chiles (contains chiles numbers 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 from the harvest pic I posted a few days ago) prepared according to Miss AHayastani's family recipe - de-li-ci-ous!
 
 

That Savelette is.......¿Como se dice.....Mmmmmmm? (¿"Se ve delicioso", verdad?)
Sorry. Still trying high school Spanish. (You can most likely tell. Lol)

I like this line:
"I like the taste of this pepper. Manageable hotness, rich and full taste that lingers. Seeds saved and drying "


Avocado trees........!!!!!!!!!
I'm from Southern California and we had a little, I don't know if you would call it a "farm", (or some dudes house who had horses), right behind us when I was growing up. A two-track driveway was right next to that farm, and it was shaded by 10-20 feet tall Avacado trees. At least an acre of them. We had to walk this two-track (that never turned to a driveway, or anything) for about 500 feet until it ended on an old, paved backroad. Our bus stop was that way, if we didn't mind climbing the cinder block wall/fence dividing our back yards. It was a shorter way.

In fall, when school would start and if I went that way, my new shoes would be slathered in guacamole precursor and my feet themselves hurt right up THROUGH the arches from stepping on their golf ball-sized, hard-a$$ seeds (not to mention the heavy bombs that fall the aforementioned 10-20 feet down, right on top of your head). Smelly, rotten lemons filled the air with their skunk-like aroma........or it WAS a skunk.

California.........where you can relax.........

 

[ahayastani]

I have sowed pepper seeds today Labels on the right are from THP (Texas Hot Peppers) and those in the middle are from THSC (Aussie Hippies). The labels on the left are my own seeds. "X" indicates "issues": a Red Savina that is caramel, Buena Mulata where the flower petals don't whither during fruit development, and Scotch Bonnet Beth Boyd that spawns out large numbers of red peppers where yellow ones are expected.
 

 
Five or six seeds are sown in each pot. I hope to have at least two plants of each cultivar.
 

 
I sowed SB Beth Boyd and Buena Mulata (my own seeds) last week to sell small plants on the local market.
 

 
C. galapagoense Long is finally beginning to grow... I had the impression they were taking off slowly. The image shows galapagoense with some local pequines.
 

 
The next pepper supposedly is Jalapeño White. I recognise the jalapeño, but not the White. Is it my climate or does the vendor suck? Or am I missing something?
 

 
Tomato Peechy Keen is growing some fruit! Finally... It's the only cultivar that sets fruit so far, it still is too hot during the night. But not for Peechy Keen
 

 
I transferred the basil seedlings to large growing bags. The last in the row is New Zealand "spinach", which grows surprisingly well in my climate. I also harvested some sweet potato - my very first harvest of this tuber
 

 

 

[Edaxflamma]

Looks like a great list!
 
I'm curious how that one variety under the habanada would go over if sold on the local economy 

 

[ahayastani]

Looks like a great list!
 
I'm curious how that one variety under the habanada would go over if sold on the local economy 

 
Interesting question... What would sell well here: sex, God, and superstition. Any name that can be categorised within one of these three groups attracts positive attention. But a grosería like Hijo... is often frowned upon. That's more something for the North

 

[ahayastani]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSYV7PC8E1c
 
I made a riplette (Reaper omelette) today Ingredients: one bacon (chopped), slice of cheese (shredded), one clove of garlic (chopped), some ginger (salt), small reaper (chopped), two eggs (beaten). Add garlic and ginger to oil in skillet, fry bacon (slightly), toss in the cheese with pepper and add the egg as the cheese begins to melt.
 

 
Tadaa... a riplette. I was going to add a tomato to the omelette, but I decided otherwise during the procedure
 

 
This was my first encounter with a reaper. The experience brought back memories from my first trip to Mexico in the early 2000s, and my first exposure to chiles. Even chipotles were hot back then
 
This experience was really special. I haven't tasted anything that comes close... The evolution of hotness at my first bite was truly pleasant: first the lips, then the mouth, followed by the throat, and from there it went upwards and for some reason triggered Michael Garrison to play a song Absolutely amazing, especially because eating a handful of habanero won't trigger this effect even though its SHU might be similar. Anyway, tomorrow a bigger pepper in my riplette  This indeed is a tasteful pepper, but what really added some taste kicks to the omelette was the ginger (which, like capsaicin, activates the TRPV1 receptor).

 

[FarWestPep]

Your urban garden really puts mine to shame, I'm definitely envidioso    Have you been putting extra perlite on the surface of your grow bags or is that just the mixture ratio you're using?

 

[ahayastani]

Your urban garden really puts mine to shame, I'm definitely envidioso    Have you been putting extra perlite on the surface of your grow bags or is that just the mixture ratio you're using?

 
My mixture is 1:1 compost:perlite. Compost is of very good quality but is easily compacted, hence the perlite. We have water issues in the tropics...
 
After watering a few times, it always appears as if there is a lot of perlite on top and no soil. I don't know why that is. Perhaps the reason is that perlite floats on water and compost not, and after watering several times the compost settles while perlite forms a top layer. 

 

[Siv]

 
My mixture is 1:1 compost:perlite. Compost is of very good quality but is easily compacted, hence the perlite. We have water issues in the tropics...
 
After watering a few times, it always appears as if there is a lot of perlite on top and no soil. I don't know why that is. Perhaps the reason is that perlite floats on water and compost not, and after watering several times the compost settles while perlite forms a top layer. 

 
I was just thinking that this is not necessarily a bad thing. More perlite on top will mean more air and hence more air roots forming up there which is good since that's the place with the most air contact. More compost on bottom will mean more moisture and nutes for the regular roots. Also, I would imagine that any potential nasties would have a harder time living on perlite than in compost so your effective perlite mulch could have another potential benefit.

 

[Essegi]

Really nice peppers, also various omelettes look mighty fine! Riplette is a good one!

 

[FarWestPep]

 
My mixture is 1:1 compost:perlite. Compost is of very good quality but is easily compacted, hence the perlite. We have water issues in the tropics...
 
After watering a few times, it always appears as if there is a lot of perlite on top and no soil. I don't know why that is. Perhaps the reason is that perlite floats on water and compost not, and after watering several times the compost settles while perlite forms a top layer. 

 
Ah that's interesting, I haven't seen any mixtures like that with 1:1. Makes sense with what you have on hand and clearly it's working well for you. I might have to give that a shot the next time I pot up