Canedog Offseason Season 2022/23

Well, shoot. I don't know that I should start a new glog with as poor as I was about updating my last one, but here it goes. My offseason season started late, with most of my plants being probably four to six weeks old now. I'll start by posting a few of the newer ones.

This guy is an Oxkutzcab/Oxkutzcabian Orange Habanero. I have three of these growing and a couple Caribbean Red Habanero that are smaller. The Oxkutzcab seem to be out-pacing the reds, but they've also been around a little longer. In this pic I particularly like the transition in the stem at the cotyledons.

@HeatMiser sent me some of his wild texas tepin seeds - what, a couple years ago now? - and I've been trying to grow the variety to production ever since. The seeds were collected off a wild-growing bush in 2014 and still sprout just fine. I have three of the plants growing that I've overwintered, but it's been a very long-season variety for me here in the pnw and between that and the impact of an aphid infestation last winter I haven't yet gotten any of them to ripe pods. I started this new one with the idea of getting it well-established inside and hopefully it will be mature enough to produce by next season. I may just keep it inside until it does.

Aji Guyana. I've grow this variety for a couple seasons now after Wiri Wiri shared seeds with me. I always end up topping it, so I got that out of the way early this time. I'm hoping once will be enough, but if it gets unruly it may end up seeing the scissors again. Great production out of these and pretty early for a baccatum.

This is a second generation (with me) ollantaytambo amarillo rocoto. I was hoping the parent's pods would be more pale that they were, but it produced great-looking yellow pods this summer, which I thought had great flavor. I'm curious whether this next generation's pods will be unchanged, plus it's likely getting crossed with one or two other rocotos I have growing now that are close to the same age.

Uvalde Pequin, from @CraftyFox - thanks man! It looked a little rough when it first came up, but it's looking much stronger now.

I'm working with several mexican culinary varieties, growing given varieties from multiple sources and in different variations to find out what I like best. Pasilla Oaxaca, Pasilla Negro Bahia, and Guajillo are among them. These guys are the most recent sprouts. The others have been growing a while and are more established.

Guajillo

Pasilla Oaxaca

Pasilla Negro Bahia

I'll close with this guy. I thought I'd run out of the orange arequipa rocoto seeds I'd acquired a couple years back, but I found one scraggly seed in the corner of a seed baggie and that scraggly seed has turned into this scraggly young plant. When it germinated I thought the roots might not be strong enough for it to survive, but I've tried to water it just right and it keeps getting stronger day-by-day. If it keeps improving like it has it might make a good match for the ollantaytambo amarillo rocoto.

 

[CaneDog]

I pulled my first really strong pepper harvest from the community garden today. Enough to keep me in peppers for a while. Conditions for pictures were better today, so I stuck around longer to take a few.

I have 4 different Chile de Arbol varieties this season. These are de Arbol "Baha." I haven't tried them before and am planning to get them into a salsa here in the next few days.

This is Sandia's be Arbol. Smaller pods than the "Baha" and upright versus pendular.

Er Jing Tiao. I have two EJT plants and one is shorter/bushier with shorter pods and the other taller with longer pods. Not sure if it's nature or nurture. I'll try to remember to do a side-by-side tasting to see if there's any discernable difference.

I have 4 different Mirasol varieties this season. These are Trade Wind's entry into the mix.

Mulato Isleno. I was late with these this year and they didn't develop into the big trees they have before, but the pods have gotten pretty chunky nonetheless.

My only poblano has chunky pods as well, though they're buried pretty well under the foliage.

I was late transplanting the Pasilla Apaseo too, but they've cranked out good numbers of pods. Hopefully they'll manage to ripen before the season ends.

This is my outdoor Scarlett's x Poblano. The plants not all pretty, like the indoor ones, but the pods sure are.

Thai Spezzanos, sporting day-glow pods.

Thai Orange SSE, with a few malinalco tomatillos photobombing from the left. I found a couple dozen ripe orange thai pods in the center of the bush, but they're almost completely buried from view in the picture.

I got a better picture of the Chile Tuxta pods today. They're definitely not what I expected as far as their coloration.

Two of the three Hot Wax plants were looking ready today; which yielded 34 pods in total. I harvested the banana peppers today too - that's one in the upper right, below, which yielded almost as many, but slightly bigger pods.

Last up is this Zapotec. I pulled about 10 red-ripe pods from the two plants today, which will hopefully get others ripening sooner. I'd love to get a really big batch of these at one time.

Cheers!

 

[ahayastani]

Congratulations with your harvest!

I got a better picture of the Chile Tuxta pods today. They're definitely not what I expected as far as their coloration

The colours are as they should be, don't worry

 

[CaneDog]

Congratulations with your harvest!
The colours are as they should be, don't worry

Thanks. I hadn't really thought about it ahead of time, but I suppose I was expecting standard green.

 

[Downriver]

Plants/pods are looking great CD. I think you'll have a lot more picking to do, lol.

 

[CaneDog]

Plants/pods are looking great CD. I think you'll have a lot more picking to do, lol.

Haha. And no shortage of those bushes of little peppers that are so much fun!

 

[CaneDog]

It's been raining like crazy here all week, so I haven't been out to the community garden recently to check on things. Hopefully pods have continued to ripen despite the cruddy weather. It's supposed to turn around this weekend though and next week's forecast doesn't look too bad.

Here's a couple indoor pictures of the south room table, which is dominated by a couple large frutescens on the perimeter; a Prik Khi Nu and a Prik Kaleang. I dont have any extra space right now, but I figure I'll be able to cull a few plants once their current pods ripen so I decided to sow a few seeds. New starts went 8/8 (yeah, suddenly it's perfect germination when I don't really need it ), with 2 each of Primotalii, Trepadeira Werner, and 2021 and 2023 Pasilla Negro.

This is the Prik Khi Nu. I took a long time to produce and seemed to need to be potted up into a full 1 gallon container to do so. It's on it's second full round of pods now and seems to just keep cranking them out. The Prik Kaleang also took forever and refused flower until it got a 1 gallon pot, too. It's just starting a round of flowering now and looks like it's going to be a solid producer.

 

[CaneDog]

The forecasted here is for temps around freezing the next few nights with tomorrow expected to drop below, so it seems the season is coming to an end. Lots happening on the inside tables though, where things are warmer and the days are still long.

This is the first pod from a couple Antep Aci Dolma x Tekne Dolmasi F1's I have in Solo cups. The creasing of the AAD is showing up nicely.

Among the frutescens, the vietnam tear jerker has been flowering profusely.

I notice the pods are pretty small though, so I did a quick cross with a prik khi nu, which is also producing now and has bigger pods.

Continuing with the frutscens, Prik Kaleang is also getting busy.

As did this Cabai Burung Ungu, but for only 1 pod then it stopped flowering. Hopefully it will start again soon. Very cool pod color in these.

The bhut is also producing, so it seems I'll have ghosts this Halloween.

This is the new gang of most recent starts. I have PC-1 frutescens, PC-1 Annuum, Diente de Perro (ahayastani's seeds), Kanthari White (seeds from Jesse), Vera Cruz (also Jesse), Hot Thai Spezzano, Aji Guyana, and some thai basil photobombing.

A little farther along are these Pasilla Bajio Negro. I grew some beautiful very dark pods from some Sandia seeds I acquired some years back and didn't save seeds. Every time I've grown Pasilla Negro since they've ripened red, including Sandia seed packs from two different years and 2 or 3 other sources. I'm trying again with Sandia seeds from 2021 and this year and hoping one of them will finally grow true. The pods were truly awesome the one time they did.

Last pic for this post is a couple Trep Werner from Baker Creek seeds. I planned to grow only one, but I'm not sure now I'll make that cut.

 

[CaneDog]

I'll start this next post off with these Mazateco, a chile de agua pepper local to Ahayastani who send me the seeds. I decided I had room to grow out only one of the two sprouts, so I left the other in a solo cup on the windowsill. It managed to put out a good-sized pepper, which is ripening at the same time as the larger plant's.

The giant red arequipa has been the slowest of the rocoto to produce, but looks like it's finally getting around to it.

I believe these are Aji Oro and De Seda rocotos living happily underneath the canopy. I know both are down there and have pods, but they tend to get intertwined and look fairly similar.

Paul G's Jamaican Mushroom. The other one I grew definitely was hybridized. This one I'm not sure about, but they're very nice looking peppers.

Group shot of the south table

Hot Thai Spezzano ripening

ScarPo - Scarlett's Chili x Poblano. This one grew a little slower at first, but is the best looking of the 3 in my opinion.

That's it for now. Cheers!

 

[Bou]

It looks like your indoor grow will keep you warm for a while! Nice job sir and +1 for that gorgeous ScarPo

 

[ahayastani]

I'll start this next post off with these Mazateco, a chile de agua pepper local to Ahayastani who send me the seeds.

The shoulder (around the calyx) of the Mazateco has a squarish appearance, and the apex is usually blunt. Chile de agua types from Oaxaca have more rounded shoulders and mostly have a pointed apex.

Congratulations. I hope you like their taste

Edit: The name Mazateco is derived from Mazatán, Chiapas (adjective form) where this pepper is cultivated.

 

[DWB]

I pulled my first really strong pepper harvest from the community garden today. Enough to keep me in peppers for a while. Conditions for pictures were better today, so I stuck around longer to take a few.

I have 4 different Chile de Arbol varieties this season. These are de Arbol "Baha." I haven't tried them before and am planning to get them into a salsa here in the next few days.

Back in the 80's there was a nice lady street taco vendor in Rincon de Guayabitos who made her sauce/salsa from arbol peppers. That stuff was to die for.. Obviously, unforgettable.

 

[ahayastani]

Back in the 80's there was a nice lady street taco vendor in Rincon de Guayabitos who made her sauce/salsa from arbol peppers. That stuff was to die for.. Obviously, unforgettable

Something like this? (salsa macha, personal fav... often prepared from de arbol peppers).

 

[DWB]

Yes indeed. Something just like that.

 

[CaneDog]

It looks like your indoor grow will keep you warm for a while! Nice job sir and +1 for that gorgeous ScarPo

Thanks, Bou. I have some hotter ones too, which will be great for making sauces during the colder months

The shoulder (around the calyx) of the Mazateco has a squarish appearance, and the apex is usually blunt. Chile de agua types from Oaxaca have more rounded shoulders and mostly have a pointed apex.

Congratulations. I hope you like their taste

Edit: The name Mazateco is derived from Mazatán, Chiapas (adjective form) where this pepper is cultivated.

I'm looking forward to trying them and expect it to be soon as fast as they're ripening. Is there any particular way you suggest using them? Most of what I've seen about these suggests fresh uses.

 

[CaneDog]

Back in the 80's there was a nice lady street taco vendor in Rincon de Guayabitos who made her sauce/salsa from arbol peppers. That stuff was to die for.. Obviously, unforgettable.

I bet! It's too bad those recipes aren't available. There are plenty of restaurants and vendors I used to frequent that had amazing stuff, but they end up lost to time and there's no way to recreate them.

I pretty much plan on using all the arbols in salsas, though a sauce sounds interesting now that you bring it up. I have a couple other arbol varieties growing inside now and I'm trying to narrow it down to the best 1 or 2 varieties to grow going forward. The inside ones are looking very good with traditional shape/size pods, but I've yet to actually taste them.

 

[ahayastani]

I'm looking forward to trying them and expect it to be soon as fast as they're ripening. Is there any particular way you suggest using them? Most of what I've seen about these suggests fresh uses.

Fresh, yes. There is the quick-and-dirty unorthodox way. If your abuelita is from Mexico, you won't tell her you did it this way: remove the calyx, seeds, chop up the chiles, saute with onion and liberal salt. Ready.

However, every traditional Mexican preparation will peel the peppers before using them. After peeling, they are often stuffed (chile relleno). In the video below, Doña Angela shows you how do it (subtitles available, if necessary).

In Oaxaca, I ate several dishes that were topped with peeled chile de agua (seeds not removed). They make a delicious side dish, although peeling them can take some time.

 

[CaneDog]

Cool, thanks. Yeah, she goes all-out with the preparation. Quick-and-dirty variations might be necessary. Gives me a chuckle to see her working with the authentic old-time gear then suddenly the circa 1998 Hamilton Beach blender comes out.

 

[ChilliCrosser]

I'll start this next post off with these Mazateco, a chile de agua pepper local to Ahayastani who send me the seeds. I decided I had room to grow out only one of the two sprouts, so I left the other in a solo cup on the windowsill. It managed to put out a good-sized pepper, which is ripening at the same time as the larger plant's.

Just caught up here, great work yet again and nice mix of things.

As for nesting different colours of solo cups, it's almost as if the quote "Don't cross the streams!" means nothing to you.

 

[PaulG]

Finally caught up with your grow, CD! Everything looks
just great, the kind of season I’d like to have someday!

 

[CaneDog]

It's about time for another sporadic post, I suppose. Here's a few pic's I took recently.

The Jamaican Mushroom Red are ripening a second round. Great looking pods. Thanks to Mr. Paul G for putting these on the train a while back.

My favorite phenotype of the 3 scarlet's x poblano I have growing is ripening finally - and going through some cool color changes along the way.

The Vietnam Tear Jerker continues to flower like crazy, but the pod sets have been relatively few and the ripening pods are pretty small. I potted it up from a 5.5 to an N1 in the hopes that would help.

I had only some OP seeds and 1 original seed left for the African Bird Orange. Fortunately, after this summer's plant proved hybridized, this one grew true and has ripened a couple peppers, now. I managed to sprout the final original seed too, so it seems I won't lose this varietiy.

On the subject of not losing varieties, after giving away the last of my Yaki Blue seeds only to find that the plant I was growing and depending on for future seeds was a mislabeled Pimente de Neyde, I got bailed out by a fellow THP'r (thanks @dragonsfire) who sent me seeds of the same original source, and this sprout looks dead-on pheno. Happy to have this one going again.

A couple non-peppers.

Sacred Basil Purple is one of a few basil I have growing now. I'm not sure if the wavy fringed leaves are normal for this variety, but they seem healthy.

And a little culantro. My outdoor plants bolted quickly this summer, so hopefully I'll have better luck with these indoors.

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