Capsidadburn 2013 Less is more

Hello everybody!
This year I will be growing much less than previous season's. I have been reducing my pepper growing for a couple years now. I am germinating under 20 varieties and a month later than last year. I have between 25 and 28 overwintered plants that are out currently, but not to far from the back door. I think I put the first plants in the ground last year late Feb. and early Mar. I do not expect to exceed 50 to 75 new starts this season. Along with my daughter I am growing some veggies, herbs, flowers, and a few fruit trees. I will do my best to keep the grow log lively and entertaining. As always lots of pictures of plants and pods, but also some cool nature, and a few extra distractions from time to time.

Hope everyone has a great season!

Germinating:

All from saved seeds except store pods and Mini Mini from Finland THP member

Cumari do Para iso
Yellow 7 pod (Brain like)
Douglah cross F2 (small red uniform)
Chocolate Hab
Yellow Scorpion CARDI
7 Pot White
7 Pot Barrackpore
Chocolate Bhut Jolokia
Douglah cross F2 (red)
Quintisho
Douglah cross F3 (Brownish- maroon with bonnett-habish shape)
Chocolate Trinidad Scorpion iso
"Funky" orange habs from HEB
Manzano from Fiesta pods
Super Chilli
Trinidad Congo Red
Purple Flash
Smiter Q pequin like pods
Mini Mini

I will list my overwinters soon, can''t remember.

Here are some pics;
Germinating began Feb. 3rd. The three cells in the corner were all up on day 6. Douglah cross F2 small fat red pointy. I might post a pic from last year to show their shape. All my crosses are accidental nature.

Meyer Lemon bloom smells a lot like Jasmin

Coming out of hibernation, overwinters

Found this guy in a Mountain Laurel by my driveway. Western Screech Owl I believe

Owl be back!

 

[capsidadburn]

I found myself in heaven recently while shopping at Austin Homebrew supply! Beer Wine and Cheese! I will pass along your absolvement to my wife when I start procurring supplies so that you are in the clear!

 

[Bigoledude]

Mike, are you refrigerating your pepper ferment? I never saw where RocketMan recommended refrigeration for a ferment. I didn't refrigerate mine and it came out fine. Salty and not hot enough but otherwise, fine. But, I don't think you need to tie-up all that fridge space.

I just sent a lady in the Dallas area some fig cuttings in a trade for some "Gumbo" onions that her grandparents brought to Texas when they immigrated from Louisiana back in the 30s. I had never heard of them before. The "Aggie" folks say she is just North of what they consider the "safe" zone for fig trees. I told her we have a certified, full-blooded expert who uses Christmas lights under a cover to protect plants during winter. Or, was that his heat-source for starting seeds?

My wife thought she would pretty-up my Meyer lemon tree this past Sunday. By the time I realized what she was doing, there were about 100 tee-ninetzee baby lemons on the branches that she had cut off! I've hidden the lopping shears since.

Gunslinger posted that almost all of his plants survive winters outdoors with no protection. My climate is identical to his. That is soo cool for me! Other than the Chitepins/Tepins do you leave any of your plants outside over the winter?

Your photos are awesome Mike!

 

[capsidadburn]

Mike, are you refrigerating your pepper ferment? I never saw where RocketMan recommended refrigeration for a ferment. I didn't refrigerate mine and it came out fine. Salty and not hot enough but otherwise, fine. But, I don't think you need to tie-up all that fridge space.

I just sent a lady in the Dallas area some fig cuttings in a trade for some "Gumbo" onions that her grandparents brought to Texas when they immigrated from Louisiana back in the 30s. I had never heard of them before. The "Aggie" folks say she is just North of what they consider the "safe" zone for fig trees. I told her we have a certified, full-blooded expert who uses Christmas lights under a cover to protect plants during winter. Or, was that his heat-source for starting seeds?

My wife thought she would pretty-up my Meyer lemon tree this past Sunday. By the time I realized what she was doing, there were about 100 tee-ninetzee baby lemons on the branches that she had cut off! I've hidden the lopping shears since.

Gunslinger posted that almost all of his plants survive winters outdoors with no protection. My climate is identical to his. That is soo cool for me! Other than the Chitepins/Tepins do you leave any of your plants outside over the winter?

Your photos are awesome Mike!

Ray, Thanks for pointing this out to me! I'm not sure how I came to this conclusion or where I thought I read this. I think I misunderstood moving it to a dark space with putting it in the fridge. I did find that fermetation is best at 20C/ 68F. So I have probably put my bacteria to sleep for a day or so since I put it in yesterday. Hopefully they will wake up after I remove them at lunch time today.

Every season I leave a lot of plants out overwinter once I've moved in the varieties I want for next year. Probably 100 to 150 plants left out last season with about 20 volunteering to come back this season.
I will keep the photo's rollin in.
I'm glad you were paying attention Ray!

Cheers Mike

 

[windchicken]

I found myself in heaven recently while shopping at Austin Homebrew supply! Beer Wine and Cheese! I will pass along your absolvement to my wife when I start procurring supplies so that you are in the clear!

Lol...Forgot to mention that I also made plenty of mead...And some variations of it, like an old-timey English farmhouse drink called cyser, which was pear juice fortified with honey, then fermented, aged, and bottled with "primings" like homebrew. The result was fizzy and quite wonderful...

Referring to Ray's post about fermenting in the fridge...I've not studied the post(s) y'all are talking about, so I may be missing the point, but it's actually possible to ferment with just about any type of yeast in the fridge...Even ale yeast will remain active at around 40ºF or so, just way slower than at room temp. You get less of the estery/fruity by-products of fermentation, more like a lager type ferment...Just depends on the flavor profile you're shooting for. However, I don't believe you're use a yeast culture in a chile mash? But I imagine whatever bacteria it is will still remain active in the fridge...just way slower...

 

[Bigoledude]

You're exactly right Gary, it's not a yeast we want. It's mostly lactobacillus that we are trying to culture. Most folks try very hard to avoid a yeasty fermentation. But, then again, that horse has been beaten to equine pate'!

I did however, manage to grow the furriest, nastiest-looking patch of Kahm yeast on top of my mash... You're also probably right about the lacto growing in the fridge. I just don't have room in my "ice-box" for my mashes.


It does not look like you are that much further north than me Mike. There must be a fine climate-line here that we straddle. We have had some extra-mild winters the last few years. I bet if we got a few freezes here, our survival rate would drop?

I'm sure there's a gang of folks here who'd love to save 20 or so plants without having to take any measures to protect them!

 

[capsidadburn]

I removed the mash from the fridge and it's in the pantry with a brown bag covering all but the air lock.

While shopping at Austin Homebrew in my haste I bought two one gallon glass containers that I thought later I could not use cause they would not fit in the fridge with the air lock making it to tall. So I've been eyeing them sitting there waiting for me. Thinking about making beer but don't have a clue how it works. Probably way to much stuff to buy right now.

The mead sounds cool Gary!

Ray, one of my problems is that I tend to rob the little plastic markers signs that I use for each plant early when I'm germinating. If a plant comes back later then I'm stuck wondering what it was. Some are obvious but not always.

It seems like lately I complain about the direction our summers have been heading, but there is no complaning about winter!

Mike

 

[windchicken]

Equine paté... ...We certainly do that sometimes here on the dear old THP.....

Maybe before I chime in I should do a little research...

Fig trees flourish in North Louisiana, FWIW...In the older neighborhoods most every house has one...

Mike, your comment brings back memories of black plastic trash bags covering 5 and 7 gallon carboys...Haven't thought about that in years...I know I've got some pix somewhere...

 

[capsidadburn]

Since there is not yet enough non pepper related stuff in my grow log; My son volunteered his and my services to his biology teacher for this frame and base to hold an articulated Bos taurus (domestic cow) skeleton. The skull in the pic is actually mine from the 80's in which I fabricated bondo horns and red light eyeballs. Youthfull energy I guess, combined with my love of photography! He has been begging me to learn to weld for years now.


Also I am trying to sequence the double helix genome of this cross to find out it's unknown father using an old CD rack.


Have a great day!

 

[Bigoledude]

You think you could determine the father of the puppies my female Jack Russell Terrier will have? She was knocked up while out for a pee outing.

That rack'll probably help lead us right to the perpetrator!

 

[capsidadburn]

This past weekend I completed potting up for the first island drip assembly and turned on the drippy drip as well as the raised bed section. So happy to have this done.



Here is my overwintered Quintisho that I did not think was going to make it.

Here is my latest mash fermentation effort. Yellow 7 pods and Yellow Trinidad Scopion CARDI, onion, garlic, pineapple, pears.

Have a great day THP folk.
Mike

 

[Sawyer]

Is that collards I see in that first picture?

 

[capsidadburn]

Is that collards I see in that first picture?

No sir, that is probably the Romanescu broccoli. Collard greens would be cool though. My Mother use to make me scrambled eggs and Poke greens as a kid. I loved them.

 

[windchicken]

Very nice grow, Mike! I love the nursery containers. And your overwinters are kicking ass!

Wow, poke salad. My East Texas grandmother made that a lot, along with those awesome cream peas and corn bread of hers. I miss that SO bad...

Anyway, she would boil the poke weeds and pour off the liquor 3 times to "get the poison out." I imagine any nutritional value they had were leached out as well, but they sure did taste good...

 

[Sawyer]

Ah, that Romanescu is pretty cool looking. I'm growing some this year for the first time, but the seeds are just now germinating. Have you grown it before? Never was a fan of poke; it always seemed like it was more trouble than it was worth to avoid the toxins.

 

[windchicken]

I let the poke weeds grow in my back yard a couple years ago, with the idea that we might run out of money and need them for food. They got HUGE—5 or 6 feet tall. We didn't run out of money, and like you, I was too afraid of them to actually try to eat any. If Grandmama would magically return and fix them, tho...oh heck yeah!

 

[Sawyer]

I have a few poke plants I let grow each year (they are perennials), mainly because the birds like the berries. I think the greens are only good when the plants first start sprouting, but I could be wrong on that. Or maybe if you get them young enough you don't have to go through all the hassle of leaching, or at least not as much. The red stems and purple berries make a nice accent in the fall.

 

[capsidadburn]

Ah, that Romanescu is pretty cool looking. I'm growing some this year for the first time, but the seeds are just now germinating. Have you grown it before? Never was a fan of poke; it always seemed like it was more trouble than it was worth to avoid the toxins.

No I haven't and I should say that simply my daughter and I fell victom to the pretty picture on the seed packet. I do love broccoli though. I doubt if my Mother was aware of any Poke toxins!

I let the poke weeds grow in my back yard a couple years ago, with the idea that we might run out of money and need them for food. They got HUGE—5 or 6 feet tall. We didn't run out of money, and like you, I was too afraid of them to actually try to eat any. If Grandmama would magically return and fix them, tho...oh heck yeah!

Yes that stuff can get quite large but the young ones were the only leaves we cooked. Love your logic referring to the money options!

Thanks for the comments guy's!

 

[PIC 1]

Mike,
The pepper plants look strong...reaching to absorb more light. Rockin in the Texas sun !
The OW is kicking in nicely, that crown will be filled up in a week or two.
Cool raised beds..........makes it easy on the back harvesting all the tomatoes and other crop.l
I like the combo of ingredients in the ferment..........yeast at the top ?

 

[Spicegeist]

Plants are looking nice, are they in 1-gallon pots? How long will you keep them in there? I'm tempted to leave a number of my plants in small pots this year...

 

[capsidadburn]

Mike,
The pepper plants look strong...reaching to absorb more light. Rockin in the Texas sun !
The OW is kicking in nicely, that crown will be filled up in a week or two.
Cool raised beds..........makes it easy on the back harvesting all the tomatoes and other crop.l
I like the combo of ingredients in the ferment..........yeast at the top ?

Greg that is some cheese cloth with a glass weight. I'm sure I might have some yeast at some point. I read that it is harmless (kahm yeast) but can effect flavor. I don't want to open the jar once I tighten up the lid after day 10.

Plants are looking nice, are they in 1-gallon pots? How long will you keep them in there? I'm tempted to leave a number of my plants in small pots this year...

Charles those are #5 pots mostly with an occasional #7. I should have some scale object in there. I have used the one gallon trade pots in the past though at this point though.

Thanks.