BPWilly's 2014 grow

Devv · Oct 6, 2014

You mentioned the magic word retirement, 5 more years for me, but I'm ready now! I'm at the point where work interferes with my fun...well than again it always has :shh:

Me too on growing milder peppers next year, still gonna grow some supers but a lot less than this season.

I broke up 4 large heads from this seasons garlic haul and planted those, the first ones are popping. Here garlic is a 9 month project. Onion seeds went in the boxes yesterday, goal is January 15th plant date.

bpwilly · Oct 7, 2014

Some days, I think I need to un-retire, just so I can take a break from all the work I am doing around the place! Guess it is making up for all the times I procrastinated on doing some maintenance. But it does feel good to get things taken care of. Have a long-low barn that has some broken rafters that needs to be taken care of before I have a accident. Previous own had put insulation on the inside ceiling with no vents, so everything got damp and rotten. Will have plenty of repair to keep me busy, but since this is not something I have much experience in, it will be a new adventure as well!

Anyways, peppers are taking a lot longer to ripen now that the evenings are cooler. The Bhuts, etc are not getting that dark red like earlier in the year, but there are plenty of ripe ones. I started picking late yesterday evening, but then had to stop because the football game started. Go Hawks!

Will get some pictures of this pull as soon as I have it finished and sorted. Some of the plants are starting to look a bit worn out, and I assume it is due to the temps.

Still got to get those Garlic beds prepped and planted, so no lack of things to keep me busy.

bpwilly · Oct 10, 2014

Well, I finally got the peppers picked and seeds pulled from the ones I still needed. That sure adds a lot of time to the process time

Here are some shots of the pull this time. Looks to be the largest I have got this year. plenty more unripe pods but we shall see how long the plants hand in there. Some are losing a lot of leaves, while others have not missed a beat. The Manzano's and Rocoto's have actually kicked it up a bit, with the fruit gaining in size about 3 times faster than earlier this year.

Have been doing a lot of taste testing to see if I can tell the difference between various peppers but smell and taste. It has been interesting, as the Black Congos are very hot this year, while the Chocolate Habs and Hand Grenades are very mild. The yellow congos are also very hot, and several have small tails like a large scorpion.

The Jays Peach as well as the Peach Bhuts were not very productive this year, but did grow a few nice pods. Guess I will have to try them again to see if it is me or the plants.

The Naga's were very productive. This is the first time I have grown them, and they sure have a nice fruit smell when I open the bags containing them.

Anyway, here are the pictures that I have finally gotten around to uploading.
The reapers have not done very well this year and are not growing true to shape. I only saved seeds from the pods that had the best shape last year, but who knows. Interesting that one of the plants is putting out Burgundy colored pods, but not a true Reaper shape that I expected

The Bhuts have been producing well, except for the Whoite and Peach. Git a few, but very poor compared to the red or yellow Bhuts. Lots of color here, and great smell.

The Bahamian Goat and Lemon Drops are great producers, but I think I need less Lemon Drops next year. I am going to have to check the flower and see if these are really Lemon Drops, or Aji Lemons. Seems to be called either, but I know there are 2 different species (Baccatum and Chinense) Need to nail down which these really are. This is the first time I have grown the Trinidad Smooth, and they are quite productive as well and put out some nice sized pods. Thicker walls than the Habs and nice heat. Might be good for sauces.

7PotCongoGigantic-TrinidadSmooth-BahamianGoat-Lemondrop_zpsa5a7daea.jpg

Have been getting some peppers off the Blue Mystery pepper from Pepperlover. Nice heat that fades fairly quickly.

Also some peppers from the Cumari. They have loads of unripe peppers, but are slowly ripening. They sure get soft when they ripen up, so need to be very careful when picking them, else they get squished.

Got several different 7 Pot species. The Chaguanas are from some seeds that I harvested last year from a couple of the plants that had a tendency to grow purple leaves and stems. These peppers are dark purple until just before they ripen.

The Yellow Brain Strains did not grow as prolific as last year, but they are still a favorite pepper to grow. The plants take a long time, but really do get large is allowed to stretch out.

Slow but steady on the Manzanos. I don't think I will grow the Biquinos again, Fun, but nothing real special about them. The Jays Peach as I mentioned did not produce a lot, but did grow a few nice sized pods.

The Congos as usual, produced well this year. The Yellows and Black for some reason seem very hot this year. Nice dependable producers.

This is my first year of growing the chocolate Habs, and I ended up with 3 different types from what I can tell. I have some plants putting out the round pumpkin shape, other ones produce the long narrow shape, and then there is the one that I called the Choc Hand Grenade, since it seems to look just like pictures I have seen of these. Very distinct shape, almost like a plumb bob. Cone shape with a pointy end.

Well that is the limit for pictures for tonight. If I can get a bump, I will post the rest tomorrow

turbo · Oct 10, 2014

Wow, that's an awesome pull Bill! Amazing looking peppers.

Let me know if you find some definitive pictures of Lemon Drop and Aji Lemon flowers. I'd be curious to know as well. The plant you gave me was labeled Lemon Drop, and I planted one this year who's seeds were labeled Aji Lemon Drop. I planted the two side by side and the plants and peppers look identical to each other. So I'd be interested in figuring out what I have

Spicegeist · Oct 10, 2014

Lot's of color, so many pods! Nice work.

Devv · Oct 10, 2014

Wow!

Just fantastic harvest there! As mentioned plenty of color, and the pods look great.

You mentioned the work around the place. When I wanted to add on to the house I knew what I wanted to do, but didn't really know how to do it correctly. What I did was visit new home sites and look at the various stages they were in and how they did things. The rotted rafters may be a challenge. Can you tie in new ones next to the old ones? I guess that depends on what kind of roof material was used. If they need to be replaced figure out how to support it properly. If it's metal on top of plywood the plywood is probably bad too. If that's the case, it will be a ton of work and expensive!

bpwilly · Oct 11, 2014

turbo said:
Wow, that's an awesome pull Bill! Amazing looking peppers.

Let me know if you find some definitive pictures of Lemon Drop and Aji Lemon flowers. I'd be curious to know as well. The plant you gave me was labeled Lemon Drop, and I planted one this year who's seeds were labeled Aji Lemon Drop. I planted the two side by side and the plants and peppers look identical to each other. So I'd be interested in figuring out what I have

Turbo,
Will do. I know I have seen some identification pictures, I just need to take the time and work through it. I will keep you posted.

Spicegeist said:
Lot's of color, so many pods! Nice work.

Thanks for the compliments. Sometimes things work out for me, and I end up wondering just what was it that I did right. Well, in this case, I will just be happy with the results this time around. The colors and smells are great. I have been processing these for a few days and taste testing as I go. Needless to say, I have been lite up a few times so far. And enjoying every minute of it. Will be glad when I have my quota of seeds, as that makes the processing go pretty slow.

Devv said:
Wow!

Just fantastic harvest there! As mentioned plenty of color, and the pods look great.

You mentioned the work around the place. When I wanted to add on to the house I knew what I wanted to do, but didn't really know how to do it correctly. What I did was visit new home sites and look at the various stages they were in and how they did things. The rotted rafters may be a challenge. Can you tie in new ones next to the old ones? I guess that depends on what kind of roof material was used. If they need to be replaced figure out how to support it properly. If it's metal on top of plywood the plywood is probably bad too. If that's the case, it will be a ton of work and expensive!

Thanks Devv. This harvest did come out pretty well, and I am surprised at the colors as well as the differences in the same type of pods, off of different plants. Lots of variance.

As for the barn, I should be able to pull this off, even if I do not have any real experience at this sort of thing. I have a brother-in-law who has some experience, and likes to show me the ropes. The plan is to tie new boards alongside each of the rafters as we go from one end to the other. We have to raise it about 3 feet in the worst spot, but I figure we will just raise it a bit at a time to help the stress settle out. It is just galvanized metal panels on top of rafters for the roof, so I figure I will re-nail and seal them 1 at a time as we work down the length. I need to take the ply wood off the walls to see what shape the side wall studs are in. May need to replace many of them as well, but as long as I can brace it up I will have time to work it. I can see that my retirement is going to keep me plenty busy outside, which after many years working in a office will be good for me.

I like your idea of looking at buildings as they are going up, to get a idea of how and in what order to do the work. I figure it is just another of my nutty adventures. Somehow I will pull it off!.

anyway, here are the rest of the pictures. Hope I am not boring anyone, I was just very pleased with how this year actually turned out. I will say that my experiment of growing a couple of the peppers in root bags was a disappointment. Neither of the plants grew as well as the ones next to them in plastic pots.

Here are the Devil Tongues. I have a couple of different plants of the yellow ones, and they sure have 2 completely different shapes and color. One is almost orange and the other is very lemony yellow, plus the shape is quite different. The Choc version is really gnarly.

And last are the Jonahs, Nagabons and Naga's. The Naga's have a good amount of heat, where as the Nagabons are pretty mild more like the Congos or Bonnets. The Jonahs have a lot of heat as well (at least for me). I also got a good harvest of several unknowns that seem to be Congo like in color, shape and flesh. Will be doing a better side by side taste test tomorrow to see how close they are to Congo's. One is red and the other is yellow.

I did get a small harvest off my lone Butch T, and after tasting that tonight, I am glad I do not have to many, as it sure does light me up. The Douglah is putting out a nice harvest as well, so I will have plenty to try out and see if I can handle them.

Also got a few Mustard Habs as well as Big Sun Habs.

My White Habs are not ripe yet, but between the two plants I have, one is turning from green to yellow while the other one is slowly turning from light green to white. The Yellow one looks a lot like the Big Sun Hab, so I may have a labeling error. Duh!

Anyway, that is all for now. Still have more pods turning, but I don't think it will be much longer, except for the Manzano's and Rocoto's They seem to like the cooler nights and the pods are really growing fast compared to how slowly they changed earlier in the summer when it was warmer.

Now to start thinking about what next years grow will consist of. Might be fewer supers as I have so much already made into Puree. I did have fun growing the Cumari this year, so maybe a few more wilds to see if I can do it. My Tepin has not put out a ripe pod yet, they are all very green and I do not think they will get ripe before the cold moves in.

Devv · Oct 12, 2014

Very nice pods Bill, and glad your still pulling. Hmm labeling issues? I had my share this year

I'm with you on less supers next year, powder and hot sauces-puree's I have!

Roguejim · Oct 12, 2014

Wow, BP! This is one of those glogs I have to kind of fast-forward through...pod saturation! Very impressive, indeed. Can you tell me a bit about those chocolate hand grenades? They're habs, right? I have some seeds from aji joe, but haven't planted any, yet. I think they will be in next season's grow list. Stunning poddage here.

bpwilly · Oct 12, 2014

Devv said:
Very nice pods Bill, and glad your still pulling. Hmm labeling issues? I had my share this year

I'm with you on less supers next year, powder and hot sauces-puree's I have!

As much as I try to keep everything organized, I still get a few surprises. On the bright side, at least the mislabeled plants are producing something worthwhile. I have been burning myself real good the past 3 or 4 days processing these and pulling seeds, but now that I think I have most of what I wanted to save, the processing should go a lot faster. It is fun to be able to compare smells and taste between various pepper types. My red Congos seem very mild this year, but that may be because I was also tasting Morugas, Douglahs and Bhuts! But I think I will focus on milder kinds and spend a bit of tie developing a few sauces that I like. I have made plenty of sauces, but only a few that I would make a second time again.

Roguejim said:
Wow, BP! This is one of those glogs I have to kind of fast-forward through...pod saturation! Very impressive, indeed. Can you tell me a bit about those chocolate hand grenades? They're habs, right? I have some seeds from aji joe, but haven't planted any, yet. I think they will be in next season's grow list. Stunning poddage here.

Jim, Yes to the best of my knowledge they are a type of Habanero. They were not labeled Choc Hand Grenades, but they looked just like ones I have seen pictures of in the past, and they all have the same shape, so it does not seem like mixed up Choc Hab pepper. They sure are a solid and firm pepper. If you grow Bahamian Goats, they are the same way, very crisp feel to them and crunchy when eating, or cutting.
Here is a link I looked up to find a picture of them today. http://www.tasty-peppers.nl/hchg/en

I would also swear that I think AjiJoe is connected with the Choc Hand Grenade. He may have bred it. All I know is that I may have gotten it in a seed train.

I will say that with my other Choc Habs. I have 2 very distinctive shapes on the other plants. One is about as tall as it's diameter, and the other is about 2-3 times as long as it's diameter. They are not as hot as I would expect, but each year I get some that grow hot, and some that are less than I expected

PaulG · Oct 13, 2014

Wow! Awesome poddage, Bill! Congrats on such a great grow season.
You are doing your part to maintain the integrity of the PNW Grow Team "Grow, team. grow!
We can do it here, yeah :party:

I'm probably going to scale back on the supers a tad next season, too :liar

:
Maybe lean more toward thai, wild and bird varieties an expand the medium hots,
7's and Jolokias always have a warm spot in my heart, however

Good luck processing all that bounty!

bpwilly · Oct 14, 2014

PaulG said:
Wow! Awesome poddage, Bill! Congrats on such a great grow season.
You are doing your part to maintain the integrity of the PNW Grow Team "Grow, team. grow!
We can do it here, yeah

I'm probably going to scale back on the supers a tad next season, too :
Maybe lean more toward thai, wild and bird varieties an expand the medium hots,
7's and Jolokias always have a warm spot in my heart, however

Good luck processing all that bounty!

Paul,

Thanks, coming from you that means a lot. I have followed your glog and you have a pretty impressive green thumb!
My favorite suppers have to be the 7 pot Yellow BS as well as the Bhuts/Naga. This year I focused a lot on Chocolate and Yellow. Not sure why, just something different. But I have loads of red as well, since that seems to be the default.

Will have to start building a 2015 wishlist before to long. Weather got pretty warm for this time of year today. Forecast was for lots of rain, but it hit the low 70's while I was rushing to mow the yard. But the rains did get here this evening. Temps are about 10 deg warmer tonight than the past few nights. Goofy weather time!

I better think about getting out and doing some wild mushroom hunting soon. But will need to be pretty selective, since the freezer is full of peppers with more still ripening!

The processing is fun but does take a bit if tme. Even wearing nitril gloves, I still seem to get oils on my fingers, which end up on my face/eyes and other places. I never learn!

Devv · Oct 16, 2014

I feel ya about the hands, I've been rolling the placenta's I saved for seeds between my fingers, bare handed. The heat doesn't bother my hands, I'm wondering if it's because all the exposure to chems working on cars for 25 years. But I quickly learned that washing my hands 3 or 4 times really well does help. But still sometimes I remember why I should not rub my eyes!

turbo · Oct 27, 2014

Hey Bill, do you still have your pepper plants going? How did they handle the storm this weekend? We got some hail on Friday and 60 mph winds on Sat night.

bpwilly · Oct 29, 2014

turbo said:
Hey Bill, do you still have your pepper plants going? How did they handle the storm this weekend? We got some hail on Friday and 60 mph winds on Sat night.

Turbo
Still going, but I am getting ready to pull them soon. I only had a few branches break, all on my Chocolate Habs. They must be brittle, as I have had a few break on those plants. Several plants did fall over from the soil being so wet, but no breaks.

I did notice that the ripe peppers on my Cumari did fall off, as they pull free real easy when ripe. Since I have ground cloth down, it was pretty easy to pick them up OK.

The winds were bad, but I did not seem to get any hail, just lots of sideways rain.

Doing a final pull soon as I am out of space for any more peppers this year. Dehydrator is working overtime! Going to need to invest in a newer one soon, as this one is at least 15 years old. Afraid I might burn the house down from working it so much. I don't think it has been shut off for at least a month now.

I bet newer ones a quite a bit more efficient and faster.

Devv said:
I feel ya about the hands, I've been rolling the placenta's I saved for seeds between my fingers, bare handed. The heat doesn't bother my hands, I'm wondering if it's because all the exposure to chems working on cars for 25 years. But I quickly learned that washing my hands 3 or 4 times really well does help. But still sometimes I remember why I should not rub my eyes!

It is strange, sometimes the hands get human hot and other times, no effect at all. Lately it has been the underside of my forearms, as I sit at the table with a large cutting board and half and pull seeds. I find that I am resting my arms on the cutting board and really start to feel that later in the evening. Need to start wearing long sleeve shirts.

I have tried using auto hand soap and it helps, but I really have to scrub several timers to get it all out from the finger nail areas. I just need to keep my hands away from myself.

I can't wait till this season is over so my wife feels I am safe to be around as well. :tear:

OCD Chilehead · Nov 24, 2014

Very nice pods Bill. Love the variety. Can't wait to see next years plot. Congrats. Have a happy thanksgiving.

bpwilly · Nov 24, 2014

OCD Chilehead said:
Very nice pods Bill. Love the variety. Can't wait to see next years plot. Congrats. Have a happy thanksgiving.

Thanks Chuck, You have a great one as well. Going to be a small one this year with only a few couples at the house, but that just means I get to relax more and watch the games.

Well, I have not been very active on this forum lately. Getting distracted by all the items needing to be done before we get to far into winter here. I pulled the last of the dead plants from the garden today and noticed that the plants that did not do as well as I expected seemed to be root bound in some cases and in others, the roots system was very small compared to the plant height or width. On the plants that did well this year, the roots seem to be just about as wide or as long as the plant is tall or wide. The plants that did not do so hot had roots that were about 1/10 the size of the plant. In some cases, they were root bound as they cam out of the ground in the same shape as the pot they were in before I planted them in the ground. Guess I needed to do a much better job in loosening them up next year. Plus I think I will start some of the Annuums (Jalapeno's and Fresno's) a bit later as they were the ones that got mature and started flowering while I still had them in the starting room.

Any way, lesson learned, now to make sure I follow through!

Got to share some pictures. Lately we have been getting plenty of rain, so I was kind of stuck in the house. I decided to make some jam to replace last years stash as well as have plenty available for gifts at Xmas time.

Since I was in the process of finishing up this years crops, I used Congos, Bahamian Goats and Scotch Bonnets (MOA).

Here are a few shots of what happens when I get bored and alone in the kitchen!

I made 4 different types of Jam and with one of them I made 3 batches with 3 different type of peppers. I started with the Habanero Gold recipe that is out there and made a batch with some Big Sun Habaneros that I grew from some seeds from Judy.

Then I made a batch with some Bahamian Goat peppers because they have a great color.

And finally I made a double batch using some Scotch Bonnets (MOA)

Then I made a version of the Cranberry pepper jam that was posted on the forum this year and I used Red Congos for the peppers.

Then I made a Fatalli-Pineapple jam that I had made last year also. This batch had promlems as it did not set up for me, so I will need to do some tinkering and redo it.

Then finally I made my Blackberry - Black Congo jam. Last year I made this and I just love it and was a bit stingy about sharing it, so this time I made plenty.

And last I read about someone making and canning some Jamaican Jerk sauce so I tried that as well. I normally just make a batch or two and freeze it, but my freezers are packed with peppers, so canning it was a great option. I have not tried it out yet, but I have it available for the next time I get bored in the kitchen!.

Stocked well for the winter. now to make a buch of home made bread and make some great toast!

I will be working on my 2015 grow list. It is always hard to whittle the list down, but I really need to as I have so darn many peppers in the freezers as well as dried.

Was trying to use up some powder and decided to grind some yellow brain strain and mix with some salt. This goes great on popcorn! Plus no one else will want to have any from your bowl!. They only try that once!

OCD Chilehead said:
Have a happy thanksgiving.

Chuck,

I forgot to ask, how is the job going? I know you had to be out of town a lot, so was wondering how things are doing for you?

Runescape · Nov 24, 2014

That pitch black jam looks awesome lol...

bpwilly · Nov 25, 2014

Runescape said:
That pitch black jam looks awesome lol...

It is good. I had a boatload of Blackberries in the freezer and since I needed to free up some space, I used a juicer to get Blackberry juice and I love the Black Congos, so it was just a marriage made in pepper heaven. Plus it is darn easy to make, I just modified one I found on the web that originally called out for Scorpion peppers and I made a replacement. Might have to made some with Scorpions some day, but for now I am a happy camper!

As you can tell, I like the Congos (Red, Yellow and Black), as they taste good and the plants always seem to very productive for me in this climate. This year my Yellows were quite a bit hotter tha the others, so I am thinking they might have crossed with something else I have been growing. I kind of went crazy with Yellows and Choc or Black types the past few years. Bhuts, Naga's, Congos, Habs, Fatalii, Devil Tongue, etc

Need to try a Red Scotch Bonnet someday.

Sm1nts2escape · Nov 25, 2014

Nice harvest! How do the mustard habs taste?And the cumari? Interested in some seeds if you want to trade some. I have over 60 varieties.