CaneDog 2019 Hirsute Pursuit – Rocotos, Wilds & Moar

So, here's the new glog for the coming season.  With the indoor grow culled pretty hard now I can focus more on getting ready for what's ahead.  Hoping for a great year, but I’m already a bit behind - the germinators are packed right now and I've still got a round of annuum seeds waiting for their turn.  I guess it wouldn’t feel much like pepper growing though if everything were going perfect.
 
My focus was going to be rocotos with a side of bonnets and some other stuff, but I found I kept planting more and more wilds. Eventually I just kinda went all-in with them and they took on co-main event status. 
 
I’ll start things off with some pics of some of the earlier pube’s.  There’s not too many at this point. Unfortunately, the vast majority just went into germination.
 
First off, Costa Rica Red.  This is the CRR with flattened triangular pods.  I also have an OW CRR that’s a 3-4 lobed “boxy” variety.  I didn't get true seeds off this one last summer, so I have a few of these growing and crossing my fingers they grow true.

 
Rocoto DeSeda.  These guys were from a bush I’d OW’d a few years in a row, but it didn’t make it through this winter

 
 
Rocoto San Camillo

 
 
Gelbe Reisen Variant.  These are from true seeds off a plant I’ve been growing for a few years that was supposed to be Gelbe Riesen, but the pods are more orange vs yellow, rounder/less boxy, and just a touch smaller. I don’t know if it’s a natural variation or it might have crossed with a Costa Rica Orange, but it's a great plant. I have a few of these started and am curious what comes of them.

 
 
Giant Yellow Rocoto.  Suppose I should pinch that bud off.

 
 
Recently hatched Gelbe Riesen sprouts (the parent plant has been a beast for me for a while now) and CAP 217 Hyper-Pube.

 
That’s it for the rocotos for now.  Will try to post up some pics of the early wilds in a little bit. 
 
CD

 

[CaneDog]

Thanks Wiri!  That container works perfect for the rocopica.  I really like the shape of the plant, but if it weren't for being elevated in a somewhat tallish pot its branches would be sprawling toward the ground. 
 

 

[CaneDog]

My hyperpube (CAP 217) has been killing it as a breeder, so I figured I'd post a few pics.  I keep many of my breed and seed peppers in smaller containers because they seem to fruit sooner and are easier to deal with.  This year they're overdue for a step up and currently a bit too small, but I hope to pot-up this weekend.
 
I'm doing several crosses with this guy and everything seems to take. 
 
Clockwork.
 
The good kind of flower drop...

 
Set (it's a hairy sob)...

 
And pod...

 

[CaneDog]

I've wanted to get a decent pic of the Tovarii starting to bud up, but the only thing I've managed in my last two attempts is to be inept. Nonetheless, at least it's doing it's job properly.
 

 
 
And the JZ is a prime example of needing to pot up. It's podding up like crazy, but the plant's so small it's mainly producing these button pods. I've been averaging only 1 seed per pod.  Definitely stepping this guy up this weekend and bagging the whole bush for the ensuing production wave.

 

[Devv]

Regarding the mention of the Chinense plants. They really seem to be hard to grow way up North and way down South, those that have done well here are few and far between. The PDN x Bonda is a killer example, along with the JA Hab, and the YBS. The earlier I start them the better. The Annuum's don't care about the climate (here). And I have recently found the Baccatum's simply love it here. My goal is to attempt to cross some Chinense & Baccatum plants next season, and see if I can find some crosses that perform here where the temps get crazy hot.

 

[Wiriwiri]

Nice photos CD...lots of buds on the Tovarii,can't wait to see them open...wow...great job as always.
You're really are fantastic with everything you touch.Sure you could grow a Piper N without issues,

 

[CaneDog]

Regarding the mention of the Chinense plants. They really seem to be hard to grow way up North and way down South, those that have done well here are few and far between. The PDN x Bonda is a killer example, along with the JA Hab, and the YBS. The earlier I start them the better. The Annuum's don't care about the climate (here). And I have recently found the Baccatum's simply love it here. My goal is to attempt to cross some Chinense & Baccatum plants next season, and see if I can find some crosses that perform here where the temps get crazy hot.

 
I've often thought that a b crown would be a good part of a baccatum x chinense cross. They grow into monsters here (plants and pods) with great taste, but absolutely no detectable heat to my palate.  But if you could add some chinense genes to spice them up a little, who knows?  Baccatum do well up here too, but really seem to take their time to ripen.
 

Nice photos CD...lots of buds on the Tovarii,can't wait to see them open...wow...great job as always.
You're really are fantastic with everything you touch.Sure you could grow a Piper N without issues,

 
Ha, thanks. I'm not sure how well P Nigrum would perform here in the great northwet.  Might be fun to try one next season if there's any reasonable chance of success.  For now I'll plan to watch you and CTB and see how yours do.  Hope they get it done for you.

 

[CaneDog]

Saw a few aphids on my cgn cardenasii several days ago. Despite the many varieties of peppers in close proximity on my deck, the (thankfully few) aphids I've seen have almost exclusively honed in on the two cardenasii varieties. Today I found this guy/gal still tucked in for a lazy Sunday morning. I assume they smell the aphids' honeydew on the plants and lay their eggs where a food source awaits the larvae...?
 
Click to enbiggen.

 

[Devv]

Saw a few aphids on my cgn cardenasii several days ago. Despite the many varieties of peppers in close proximity on my deck, the (thankfully few) aphids I've seen have almost exclusively honed in on the two cardenasii varieties. Today I found this guy/gal still tucked in for a lazy Sunday morning. I assume they smell the aphids' honeydew on the plants and lay their eggs where a food source awaits the larvae...?
 
Click to enbiggen.

 
It's always nice to see the good guys at work. Have you found any relation with the Aphids to Nitrogen? It seems here that, that is the case. They seem to go after the nicely fertilized plants.
 

 

[CaneDog]

 
It's always nice to see the good guys at work. Have you found any relation with the Aphids to Nitrogen? It seems here that, that is the case. They seem to go after the nicely fertilized plants.
 

 
Yeah, that's my understanding too, that they go after the nitrogen rich plants and I have been giving them fish periodically - plus there's lots of active growth tips on these.  But I've been giving everyone else the fish too and despite inspecting everything carefully at first and generally keeping an eye open I've literally seen aphids on only two other plants and only a couple bugs.  The cards have very soft tissue at the growth tips so are less densely fibrous which I think plays into it.  But man, for whatever reason the aphids really key in on them. Plus they seem to like to hang out on the actual flower buds as well as the growth tips, which I find odd.
 
I was getting ready to do a safe soap spray, but then the LB showed up and I don't like to spray with the good guys around.  I supposed I'll wait for her departure and then maybe give them a quick blast.

 

[dragonsfire]

When I try and put a ladybug on a pepper plant with Aphids, the LB does not stick around ???

 

[CaneDog]

When I try and put a ladybug on a pepper plant with Aphids, the LB does not stick around ???

 
That's funny (well, not funny haha, funny strange), because sometimes they stay and sometimes they go. I've purchased LB's before and one time I put them in an almost fully zipped grow tent with a bunch of aphid infested peppers and rather than stay with the plants and aphids they all just bolted and infested my garage and house.  Once I bought them and put them on the patio plants and they stuck around a while.
 
Who can understand the mind of a ladybug?

 

[PaulG]

.
 Who can understand the mind of a ladybug?

I do not even try

 

[CaneDog]

Time for a quick picture dump...
 
XL Brown Rocoto starting to flower - with pollen.

 
San Isidro Rocoto a little more colorful than usual, but flowering and starting to set copiously, like usual.

 
CAP 1491 setting well again and already producing some ripe pods.

 
But unfortunately, if you look real close on the lower pedals...

 
And the big usda card is starting to get busy after only sporadic flowers initially

 

[CaneDog]

Having some luck with crosses, especially on the CAP 217 Hyperpube and the Aji Lucento, which set pretty much everything.
 
Aji Lucento x USDA Cardenasii

 
 
Aji Lucento x Rocopica (USDA Card x UNK Rocoto)

 
 
Even this one appears to have set, although this plant sets so quickly I had to go after a very tight bud and I'm not sure whether it crossed or self-pollinated.  The anthers didn't appear to be producing when I cut it open, so I'm hoping.
 
JZ x Antep Aci Dolma - the little guy with the masking tape marker, upper rightish.

 
 
 

 

[CaneDog]

Lastly, the Tovarii are laying on quite a load of buds for not being big and bushy yet.
 
And the flowers are dropping pollen! - hear that CTB?

 
Some of 'em are funky looking

 
And as a total non sequitur, bonchi mahala has a couple ripe pods and quite a few green ones.

 

 

[CaneDog]

One more post, because the rocopica has just started to ripen.
 
Pods look very cool at this phase.

 
Most still haven't started to change

 
And it's still working on more!

 

[Wiriwiri]

Wow,so  great to see the progression from seedling to .flowers to pods these past few months....great photos as always.
All,moreso the tovarii and cardis require such skill & so glad you're being rewarded for your patience & all else you
put into growing such lovely plants...it shows.Congrats CD.

 

[CaneDog]

And another post, because I almost forgot I had the galapagoense seeds soaking and need to get them into planting media.
 
So, here we go again.  First, a HUGE thanks to wiriwiri for sending me an awesome seed package - http://thehotpepper.com/topic/45504-pepper-people-are-the-best/?p=1643621
 
I'm planting the galaps right away because they don't get any better with age and I'm really psyched for these and hoping I can get some to pop.  I've had them soaking 24 hours - I use this method generally for pre-soaking seeds - http://thehotpepper.com/topic/71125-hydrogen-peroxide-h2o2-and-seed-germination
 
In this case, wiri sent me 11 seeds total from two different sources (5 from her plants and 6 from a third-party source).  I decided to treat half the seeds with a simple 1:9 H2O2 / tap-water soak (a 0.3% H2O2 concentration) for 24 hours and the other half with an initial soak (for chemical scarification) at a 1:2 ratio (1.0% H2O2 concentration) for 3 hours, then diluted to 0.3% for the remainder of the 24 hours.
 
Each seed got its own container (except for 2 that got buddied up due to having only 10 containers handy) and I'll track performance of the sources and treatments to see what plays out.  I started with a mix of peat, perlite, and coarse sand to provide high drainage as would be expected for this variety.
 
Here's the soaking seeds and Dixie cups of media ready to go.

 
This is how I rinse seeds after H2O2 soaks

 
Seeds in containers.  I'll top them with a 100% peat mix because I want the "grab" of resistance against the seed coat to reduce helmet heads. Too loose and airy a media just doesn't have the same grab.
 

 
 
And everything ready to go into the Coleman germinator at +/- 80 F.

 
But where's ol' Matty to give me crap about my Jerry-rigged germinator?
 
Matty?
 
Damn it.  The 'leafs are hosers Matty!
 
Matty?

 

[CaneDog]

Wow,so  great to see the progression from seedling to .flowers to pods these past few months....great photos as always.
All,moreso the tovarii and cardis require such skill & so glad you're being rewarded for your patience & all else you
put into growing such lovely plants...it shows.Congrats CD.

 
Thanks wiri. Nature is doing the heavy lifting on these, but since we often don't get credit for things we actually do, I'll happily say "thanks" and take credit for these guys 
 
I'm really enjoying the grow this season and I'm psyched it appears I'll be getting seeds from some of the less commonly available varieties.  And maybe another in mix soon thanks to your generosity.

 

[DanMcG]

That's another great set of pic's CD, thanks for sharing them. By the black background can I assume you take your photos at night? or maybe a black back drop?