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]

Thanks all for the support
 
I have been cleaning the largest section of the roof terrace. The first image shows about half of the growing bags that I have discarded. I transferred the compost/perlite content to the large white bags where it will remain until disposal. The terrace was swept clean and now waits for its chlorine bath I also separated the tree branches that I used as support and will return them to the woods where I collected them. There is a mobile taco vendor there who gathers wood who I believe will be very happy...
 

 

 

 
Most of the plantlets are doing OK, with a few exceptions. I think that, at times, they receive too much direct sun, so I have moved them a bit. The first photo shows a succulent with three TAM Jalapeños. The succulent is a cutting I took from a bush (easily 1.5m high) in Querétaro. It grows in hot and semi-arid; hopefully it tolerates humidity. The jalapeños suffered a red spider attack and I'm afraid the middle plant is not going to make it.
 

 

 
There was also time for a new sowing batch. Seed sources: CaneDog (CD), Welsh Dragon Chilli (Fowler), TexasHotPeppers (texas), Vertiloom, Badskins.
 

 

• Piri Piri African Devil (CD): I didn't know this variety until CD sent it as a gift. It quickly rose on my "interesting varieties" list as I continued searching information PaulG considers(ed?) it a "wild", so fingers crossed that everything goes well and I'll appear in the Wilds thread as well.
• Peppadew (red): Sent with my order from Chris Fowler as a courtesy. Peppadew somehow never really appealed to me, though I have never grown this variety, but as I recently read up on it again, I decided I should give it a fair try.
• Benxi (vertiloom): Sweet pepper, Chinese heirloom. I was attracted by its looks and taste profile, but I don't know what to expect really.
• Hangjiao 3 Solar Flare (vertiloom): One of the Chinese Space chilies. Here I do know very well what to expect. I had two plants that succumbed to disease. A rather prolific yielder of yellow/orange peppers (cayenne-type) with good (but not exceptional) taste. We like to use them as low-pungency fillers in pickled peppers.
• Miscucho Colorado (vertiloom): A chinense from Peru that appealed to me. Apparently dries easily.
• Big Jamaican (vertiloom): I don't know what to expect, but I liked its looks.
• SB7J (texas): I like Scotch Bonnets and this one sparked my curiosity.
• Petenero (badskins): A Habanero-type chile from Guatemala. I expect a habanero, let's see what it gives
• Piment d'Espelette (Gorria; badskins): A variety from the Pays Basque with AOC label. Various forum members are very happy with this peppers, let's see how it likes the tropics.
• Peperoni di Senise (badskins): A heirloom from Lucania that is used dried and lacks pungency.

 

 
Some non-pepper notes. Moss curled parsley is finally gaining momentum.
 

 
Basil grows like a weed here... Fresh seed germinates in 2 days!
 

 
Aloe vera, which grows slower then most weeds, but is also difficult to get rid of. I wanted to tidy up some of my plants, but accidentally cut the stem instead of the lower leaves and had to cut of everything. It took a while, but now suddenly the root has formed a lot of new growth. I still haven't decided how I will proceed with this plant. The plant would have looked like the one on the left, which is now forming its first flower. This offset is two or three years old, I think. I am growing it in a bucket for a year, and  judging from its size, I guess it already was one or two years when I "found" it.
 

 
I also found an old friend in a drawer, under the dust... I'm sick and tired of my Junkorola that insists on taking the photos it believes it should take, rather than executing my commands.
 

 

[PaulG]

Terrace looks great. That's a lot of soil in
those white bags. Do you acquire new soil
every year?
 
Your terrace must look like a jungle when your
grow is full-on.

 

[ahayastani]

Terrace looks great. That's a lot of soil in
those white bags. Do you acquire new soil
every year?
 
Your terrace must look like a jungle when your
grow is full-on.

 
Jungle is perhaps exaggerated, but forest... yes
 
It's my first year here, and also the first time I'm growing in containers. It certainly was not my intension to change all the soil. I was going to sift out the perlite and reuse it with new compost, and the spent compost I was going to use for other purposes. Now I often re-use the same grow bag for two or three successive plants, beginning with a nutrient-demanding plant and ending with an ornamental, or herbs like basil.

 

[ahayastani]

Also, the fungus that resembles frogeye leaf spot is carried over through the soil. I attempted to get rid of the fungus by removing all foliar growth of the plants, but the fungus returns. In some plants, I repeated this up to three times, to no avail. What I learned from this, is that annuum (in my conditions) tolerate the removal of all foliar growth, but only one time. Chinense is generally more resilient, and settled plants recover even after two or three 'shaves'. Baccatum behaved very much like annuum.

 

[PaulG]

You have a well-thought out system, Dieter.
Looking forward to following your grow
throughout the Summer.
 
Is that a Sony camera designed for the
Russian / Soviet market?

 

[ahayastani]

A small sowing batch today (rare = rareseeds; THSC = The Hippy Seed Company; texas = texashotpeppers):
 

 

• Cubanelle (rare): I already have plantlets, but they are "acting weird" after a red spider mite attack. I sowed a few extra plants, just to make sure...
• Carbonero (THSC): my original intention was to sow this variety early last year, but that was before I knew that seeds from THSC take 3 months to arrive in MX    Not THSC's fault, of course. I had sown a few plants that succumbed to disease, so I hope they now succeed.
• Aji Ayuyo (texas): sown previously but plantlets died...
• Aji Strawberry Drop (texas): same story.

 
New growing bags arrived today, together with some seeds. I purchased these on mercadolibre, a Latin American online marketplace. The seeds are packed in an airtight plastic baggie, excluding light. Is anyone familiar with this particular system?
 

 
 

 
Is that a Sony camera designed for the
Russian / Soviet market?

 
Certainly not It's a NEX-5, the first generation of Sony's digital mirrorless cameras. It can be used with virtually any lens if you have the correct adapter. I prefer to use it with lenses from the former Soviet Union, such as a collapsible Industar as shown in that image. At the time, I bought a lot of glass for little money, including stock that never got sold during the Soviet era. I've used it with many different systems though, not only with Soviet optics.
 

 

[MarcV]

The THSC seeds may have arrived late because of the corona crisis. Normally, when I order from them, seeds arrive within 2 weeks time. But the seeds that I ordered in 2020 took months to arrive. There was simply no mail transfer to/from australia...
 
Looks like a lot of fun, experimenting with the old lenses on that camera!

 

[ahayastani]

Today was a "Mexican day": I sowed only traditional Mexican chiles today
 
Various sources: rareseeds (rare), Semillas las huertas (huerta). The latter is an online vendor of seeds on mercadolibre. It's the first time I buy seeds there. We'll see how it turns out. The chile seeds looked to me as if they were removed from dried chiles, so I'm worried about the chile morita (which is dried and smoked).
 

 

 

• Chile chocolate (local): this is a heirloom from the Chiapas coastal region. I bought a handful from an itinerant street vendor (see second photo). Not much published information available... I asked the vendor and she says this variety was used before instead of jalapeño. Our city is quite isolated, and there actually is only one decent highway that connects us to the outside world, and this highway is also relatively "recent". Before people apparently relied more on local produce and products. For what I've read, its name (chocolate) is not a reference to its appearance, but rather to its use. It apparently is an important ingredient of a local atole (cornflour drink) with cacao (Soconusco cacao is of good quality). Its taste is somewhat peculiar... I've isolated seeds from chiles in the photo and sown a handful, just to make sure something germinates... I haven't found a scientific description of this variety... I guess it will be annuum, but it might be frutescens as well. I have seen one photo on the WWW and the fruits point upwards. We'll see
• Chile catarina (huerta): a heirloom from the North of Mexico that is grown semi-commercially. As far as I know, it's only used dried. I don't have any particular expectations of this variety; I'm merely curious.
• Chile morita (huerta): a heirloom from Central Mexico. It's used mainly to make chipotle, which is what I want to make
• Pico de paloma (own stock): semi-wild variety from Chiapas-Tabasco (some cultivated but also harvested in the wild). I had a few plants last growing season, but you know the story. I have a stock of dried peppers that were harvested when there was no disease and I took some seeds from there. Fingers crossed... To remind you: I purchased this pepper from a street vendor in San Cristóbal de Las Casas
• Serrano tampiquiño (rare): Serrano is still my favourite traditional Mexican pepper to eat green.
• Chiltepín (local): an untended plant grows at a block of our house. I collected a pepper last week and let it dry. I counted eight seeds, all covered by soil now

 
Two ornamental plants :
 

• Brugmansia suaveolens (huerta): child memories... My dad had a plant in a huge container, but the plant became so big he couldn't move it anymore and so it froze to death. As a child, I found this quite an impressive plant. Should do well in this climate.
• Adenium obesum (huerta): desert rose, a plant that is new to me. I bought some cheap seeds (traditional pink variety) to see how it grows. I'll buy some more peculiar (and costly) varieties when I know the plant a bit better.

 
 

The THSC seeds may have arrived late because of the corona crisis. Normally, when I order from them, seeds arrive within 2 weeks time. But the seeds that I ordered in 2020 took months to arrive. There was simply no mail transfer to/from australia...

 
I placed an order before the pandemic broke loose in Australia and it took 3 months. I ordered during the pandemic, and it also took 3 months. The problem lies with our local postal service. Mind, not the national Mexican system, but the local. I placed two orders in Belgium in December, and both were shipped with tracking on the same day. Both arrived three weeks later at my locality (date stamps on back of envelope), but one order was delivered the next day, and the other one another three weeks later. Why? ... 
 

 

[MarcV]

Smoke dried seeds may or may not germinate. I have seeds from smoke dried pods that germinate without problem and others that do not or very difficult. It all comes down to at what temperature they were smoke dried I guess...

 

[ahayastani]

There is good news, and there is fantastic news
 
The fantistic news is that Fushimi is the first of the re-sown batch (4 Feb) that has appeared   Now I can start    around like PaulG
 
The good news is that the local post office must have heard my lamentations and they delivered two rareseed orders placed in early December. The arrival of these orders was highly anticipated, so I did not delay the sowing
 

• Blot (Klyaksa): sweet pepper that got my interest because of its looks.
• Habanada: I'm growing Habanada because I need more peppers of low heat. Combining a chinense taste profile with low heat looks promising.
• Tobago Seasoning: same line of thought.
• Craig's Grande jalapeño: Jalapeño = essential; big ones for filling.
• Pimiento de Padrón: I heard positive comments and its taste profile seems like I might like it.
• Zapotec jalapeño: this pepper ranks very high on my "must-grow" list of this season. It triggers my curiousity, especially since it is very difficult to find a non-hybrid jalapeño here in MX.

 
 

 

[PaulG]

Oh, goody, Christmas in February!
 
The Padron peppers are great sautéed or deep
fried with a sprinkle of salt and a cold beer!

 

[ahayastani]

Lots of activity
 
I made three sowings. Images and descriptions below; seeds from The Hippy Seed Company (THSC), Texas Hot Peppers (texas), Badskin (badskin), Semillas La Palma (SLP), CaneDog (CD), Vertiloom (vertiloom), Rareseeds (rare), Welsh Dragon Chilli (Chris Fowler), local or own stock.
 

 

• Biquinho Iracema (THSC): I wanted to try a biquinho and THSC had this one in stock when I placed an order. Its taste profile and looks appealed to me. THSC describes it as "ravishing rare", and even though this board's search engine returns some hits, it doesn't seem to be commonly grown. Google returns tons of hits from Brazil though, including seed sachets of agro-industrial companies, which gives me the impression they are commonly cultivated and used there. I wanted to know the origin of the name Iracema, but haven't found anything conclusive yet. I suppose it is a geonym, though there are various localities named Iracema in Brazil. Second sowing; the plantlets of the the first sowing perished.
• Mako Kokoo Yellow (THSC): I like its looks, and I like habanero Second sowing.
• Bhut Shaped Reaper (THSC): Looks interesting As always, THSC has a video on its site.
• Ají Margariteño (texas): Heirloom from Isla de Margarita, Venezuela. Described as mild with good taste. A plant adapted to semi-arid and higher-than-average salinity (island) growing conditions. We'll see
• 7 Pot Mustard Gigantic (texas): I was impressed by Big Mama Mustard last season and want to know other mustards.
• Pimenta Puma (texas): Its looks got me hooked.

 

 

• White Bhut Jolokia W Strain (texas): Who doesn't want to grow white ghosts...
• Ají Cajamarca (badskin): A local variety from Peru, I suppose from the Cajamarca region (high and dry). THP's search engine gives quite some results, but relatively few recent hits. I like heirlooms, and its looks appealed to me.
• Habanero Ivory (SLP): I was cleaning up a drawer of my desk and found some seeds... I don't know how much time these seeds have been lying there, but certainly conditions are far from optimal. I've sown everything (SLPs typical 10+1) and I keep my fingers crossed for at least one seedling.
• El Oro de Ecuador (badskin): I don't know what to expect, but if I can believe the descriptions of its taste profile, it might be a pepper I'll like a lot.
• C. frutescens "wiri wiri" (CD): Gift from CD. I've spotted a few colleagues who've sown this variety as well this year (2021): Tybo, PaulG. I don't know what to expect, but some voice in my head told me I had to try it
• CM Scotch Bonnet Red Gigantic (texas): The only thing better than a Scotch Bonnet is a Gigantic SB
• Ají Charapita (texas): I'm very curious about this one. Also, I'd like to see how the birds will be responding to it Second sowing.
• White Hot Lime (texas): Apparently discovered by WHP. I'm curious about its taste. As I was going to remove a few seeds from the grip bag, I noticed that it had a lot of crumbled/crushed material inside. I decided to sow everything, as I became worried about physical damage to the seeds. I checked the package and noticed that the seeds at its right and left side also suffered physical damage, though to a much lesser degree. I assume it must have happened during transport.
• Matador PI260560 (badskin): It is touted as a chile that can be grown in hanging baskets, and that is what I want to do It's a baccatum from Bolivia. THP's search engine returns some hits, but nothing recent.
• Ampuis (vertiloom): French heirloom of low heat from Ampuis in the Rhône valley. Appreciated for its taste. Promotional video:

https://vimeo.com/203832360

• Venezuelan Tiger (texas): I don't know what to expect from this one. TexasHP describes it as lower heat with tremendous flavor. We'll see Second sowing.
• Melrose (vertiloom): USA heirloom with Italian roots, sweet pepper. I found the seeds cleaning up my desk. I sowed everything... Can't imagine it's a good place to store seeds.
• non-pepper / New Zealand Spinach (rare): I don't believe "true" spinach will grow well here, but New Zealand spinach does well in my climate.
• non-pepper / Thyme (local): I'm not sure it will grow well here, we'll see. I'm worried about the high humidity.

 

 

• Stavros (vertiloom): Heirloom from Stavros (Crete). One of the peppers I found while cleaning up my desk... Covered everything I had with some dirt.
• St Lucia Gros Islet (texas): Scotch Bonnet from St Lucia. I like its looks, and I like SBs
• Swiss Chocolate (texas): I don't know what to expect. Its looks attracted me Second sowing.
• Bhut Jolokia Yellow Assam (texas): This is the first season I'll be growing ghost peppers. I'll have red, white, and yellow.
• Kraken Scorpion Orange (THSC): I don't know what to expect, but the description of its taste profile sounds interesting.
• Chocolate Primo Reaper (texas): Sounded like a nice throat antiseptic
• Ají Criolla Sella (badskin): Described as a great producer. I'm attracted to its taste profile.
• Stuffing Scotch Bonnet (texas): Same reason as for CM Scotch Bonnet Red Gigantic
• PC-1 (CD): I don't know what to expect from this pepper, but I'm going to sow it instead of Jwala. If it dries well, I'll make salsa macha with it
• Georgescu Chocolate (vertiloom): Sweet pepper heirloom that hails from Dacian lands. I like its colour and its form.
• Elysium Oxide Mustard (own stock): This is one of the very few plants that survived. I took a dried pepper and planted all its seeds. Even though I wouldn't categorize it with the "exceptional" peppers, it was a plant that I liked a lot, somewhat more fruity than a standard habanero and slightly higher heat. It was also a good yielder. I originally got seeds from SLP, which still offers it.
• THSC Chocolate Trinidad Scorpion (THSC): This is what THSC has to say: The pods go from green to a nice chocolate colour when they are mature. They can get to the size of a tennis ball and are thin walled and light in weight. Heat-wise it takes the burn awhile to kick in, but when it starts, it will get hotter and hotter. The burn is deep and insane, and when you think “It can’t get any worse?” it starts to radiate throughout the body. One of the hottest we’ve ever tried. Seems my kind of burn.
• Red CARDI Scorpion (texas): Apparently, this pepper is what CARDI thinks what a Scorpion should be. Curious...
• Datil (texas): Basically, I want to know what the hype is about But that aside, it looks like a nice snacking hottie.
• Peppapeach (Chris Fowler): Developed from Sugar Rush Peach. I was attracted by its looks.
• Buena Mulata (own): I had two plantlets but euthanized one of them because of subpar performance. I would like to have 3 plants.
• BBG7 Midnight (texas): I don't know what to expect; I felt attracted by its looks.
• Pippin's Golden Honey (rare): The taste profile description is a good match for what I'm looking for. Looks nice as well.

 
Some plantlets, mostly Criolla de Cocina, Lemon Drop and Bhut Jolokia...
 

 
...and Sugar Rush Peach and Ají Jobita
 

 
About half of what I've sown so far.
 

 
I also transplanted the first pepper plant of the season to a 5g bucket: a galapagoense Some photos will follow later this week, when I've found the *#@!% cable (kids steal my cables to recharge their stuff  ). For now you can enjoy an ornamental pineapple, started from a fruit exactly one year ago.
 

 

 

[chocolatescotchbonnet]

Thanks for showing that you are growing.

 

[chocolatescotchbonnet]

I bought my Lipstick pepper seeds from [Baker Creek].

 

[CaneDog]

Wow.  Lot's of activity - both planting and typing!  Great to see everything you have underway and so many interesting varieties to follow.  Just to pick one, the Stuffing Scotch Bonnet is a variety that's interested me for a long time.  I'll be curious to see how it does for you and what you think of it.
 
A couple things to share...  The wiri wiri were provided to me by our own WiriWiri, who I believe obtained them directly from Guyana - so the real deal.  High culinary value with those, but, of course, they make you work for it in the harvesting.  The PC-1 I got from CTB after looking for that specific type for a good while.  They're supposed to be very hot for an annuum.  DownRiver later mentioned that they're a great variety to dehydrating into power.  I didn't try that last year, but plan to this season.

 

[skullbiker]

It’s like plantasia.
Good job man. [emoji1303]

 

[ahayastani]

Lots of activity Mostly good news, some negative notes here and there, though so far nothing that heralds calamity.
 
One of several trays:
 

 

1. chile chocolate: only one seedling has emerged so far. I still have some other chiles in the fridge to repeat the sowing, if required. I'll return to this chile at the bottom of this post.
2. chile morita: nothing... as I feared. Probably no more seeds from mercadolibre.
3. chile catarina: nothing... same as previous.
4. ají ayuyo: doing well, but... I'll return to this pepper below.
5. ají strawberry drop: germination 1/3 and seed helmet was stuck. I tried to remove it, and I have now the impression that the seedling has taken off well.
6. pico de paloma: I had recovered seeds from dried peppers which I had harvested before diseases kicked in. I initially wasn't sure it was going to work, but now there are plenty of seedlings to choose from
7. serrano tampiquiño: enough healthy seedlings to choose from. I hope for two, or possibly three adult plants.
8. chiltepín: so far two have germinated. One of them still has its helmet stuck on the photo and is barely visible. I believe I successfully removed it this morning. The next few days will point out whether or not my believe was correct.

Let's return to ají ayuyo:
 

 
It is the pepper in the left upper corner. Germination is 4/4, so no reason to complain there. As you likely notice, the seedling within the orange ellipse has purple cotyledons. Their colour has changed considerably compared to when they just emerged from the dirt: initially, they were a dark purple, though they now have lost a great deal of that pigment. Its first true leaves seem to be green. The other three seedlings have green cotyledons, and their first true leaves appear to be green as well. I wasn't sure what was happening and asked Pepper Merchant if he could check the colour of his ají ayuyo seedling, and it was green. I checked photos from a previous sowing and there seedlings appeared with green cotyledons as well.
I'll be following this little bugger from close-by It emerged a full three days before the others, so I'm not sure whether it's the Wandering Milkman Gene Syndrome, or just a "lost seed".
 
 

Wow.  Lot's of activity - both planting and typing!  Great to see everything you have underway and so many interesting varieties to follow.  Just to pick one, the Stuffing Scotch Bonnet is a variety that's interested me for a long time.  I'll be curious to see how it does for you and what you think of it.
 
A couple things to share...  The wiri wiri were provided to me by our own WiriWiri, who I believe obtained them directly from Guyana - so the real deal.  High culinary value with those, but, of course, they make you work for it in the harvesting.  The PC-1 I got from CTB after looking for that specific type for a good while.  They're supposed to be very hot for an annuum.  DownRiver later mentioned that they're a great variety to dehydrating into power.  I didn't try that last year, but plan to this season.

 
Well, Stuffing Scotch Bonnet as well as CM Scotch Bonnet Red Gigantic have germinated I'll probably be the only one in my household who'll be stuffing and eating it, but that's the least of my worries
The PC-1 has germinated as well. Jwala dehydrates easily, even when still on the plant, and I made a few salsa macha tests salsas that were heavy on peanut. They were absolutely delicious, but they lacked a little but of *oomph*. I hope PC-1 can solve that
 
I did some more searching for chile chocolate and found that it is quite a common chile in Guatemala, though mostly for local consumption. It is used green and dried. I found a PDF somewhere with some basic details:
 
View attachment chilechocguat.pdf
 
The bar chart indicates price, so if there is some economic logic in it, it would suggest that it is mainly harvested in August. Nevertheless, it seems to be grown year-round. The map tells that it is mainly grown in the South of Guatemala, though I've read in other places that it is a common chile in most of the coastal plane.
 
I also found a relatively recent youtube video. I know, they talk a lot, but that's how things go here... They take some dirt from the field, walk to their house (around 3:40) and start sowing (4:35). Their chiles are bigger than mine. Watering at 11 min.... You see, no need of fancy lamps down here

 
 

 

[PaulG]

Lots of activity Mostly good news, some negative notes here and there, though so far nothing that heralds calamity.
 
One of several trays:

1. ají strawberry drop: germination 1/3 and seed helmet was stuck. I tried to remove it, and I have now the impression that the seedling has taken off well

Good luck with that one, Dieter. My Aji Strawberry Drops had great germ rate and are very robust seedlings. Typical baccatum growth habit. Hope that one pulls out into a steep climb.

1. chiltepín: so far two have germinated. One of them still has its helmet stuck on the photo and is barely visible. I believe I successfully removed it this morning. The next few days will point out whether or not my believe was correct.

Having good luck with those this season here.
Wish my seedlings could grow up with you! Highlights
are a couple of wilds, one from Chihuahua, and the
other from Seguin, TX. We should swap some seeds
this Fall! Hope yours do well.
 
 
I also found a relatively recent youtube video. I know, they talk a lot, but that's how things go here... They take some dirt from the field, walk to their house (around 3:40) and start sowing (4:35). Their chiles are bigger than mine. Watering at 11 min.... You see, no need of fancy lamps down here

Great video. I guess a great climate has it's advantages!
 
continued success, bro!

 

[ahayastani]

Some more good news from St Lucia Gros Islet and White Hot Lime Germination seems to be OK, even though seeds were damaged. One of the St Lucia Gros Islet seedling might be a twin (within blue dashed ellipse):
 

 
Might, because I don't see well whether the cotyledons are well separated. Within the white ellipse are two not-separated cotyledons; I'm not sure about the cotyledon(s) in the yellow ellipse. I think I'm seeing two leaf tips, though this is not visible in the photo. I hope the difference becomes clear as the seedling grows.
 
CD's galapagoense a few days ago, basking in the morning sun and enjoying its 5g of dirt.
 

 

 

Having good luck with those this season here.
Wish my seedlings could grow up with you! Highlights
are a couple of wilds, one from Chihuahua, and the
other from Seguin, TX. We should swap some seeds
this Fall! Hope yours do well.

 
I would have liked to do some swapping last Fall, but I didn't count on it that I might loose my plants    The fact is that the rainy season is not a good time for saving seed, something which I witnessed myself many times. Perfect pods at the outside, but mostly black seeds at the inside... This year my strategy will be different, and I hope that by July I'll have saved something. According to the internet, Portland (OR) receives ~1200mm rain a year. At my place, we have 4000-4500 from June to November.
 
 

 

[ahayastani]

Two repotted TAM jalapeños baking in the afternoon sun:
 

 
The plant on the left is already flowering. I'm currently anxious to see what will happen with the first flower... It already is shrivelled and I'll soon know whether it will be dropped or grow to become fruit. I hope for the latter, but if the plant decides on something else, then there are various other buds that can enter the game The plants are enjoying the afternoon breeze. Temperatures are steadily rising, and we have arrived at the point where 33/34°C during the day is normal. It is also why the leaves are droopy.
 

 
I recontacted my local compost provider In your teens, when you were preparing to conquer the world, would you ever have entertained the thought that at some later point in your life, you'd happily pay for second-hand shit? I certainly didn't... Ten bags, good quality, somewhat overpacked as a special gesture. Local business is not doing well...