dash 2, 2014: You're Doing It Wrong!

The story so far...
 
     I guess we can call this my 2014 glog, but truthfully this started back in late December, 2011. That was when I started to get serious (lol) about gardening. Along with my in-ground garden of peas, tomatoes, chard, beans, squash etc., I had eight peppers planted in 5 gallon buckets, four of which I overwintered. Last year I expanded my garden (I have a REALLY cool landlord - as long as I feed his jalapeño jelly addiction). I added four 4'x8' raised beds and grew 40 pepper plants. Of those, I kept the same four from the year before and added another nine. Also, as an experiment, I started six seedlings in August to get a head start on this season.
     This brings us to today.
 

Back row (white bucket): red habanero
Middle row: anaheim (2yo), cayenne, carolina reaper
Front row: jalapeño (2yo), corno di toro, red habanero
 

Big pot: chocolate habanero, chablis, giant jalapeno
Other pots: 2 caribbean red habaneros (2yo), chocolate habanero
 

 
5 month old starts: Lemon drop, fatalii (x2), mustard habanero, 7 pot yellow, Numex big jim
 
I'm also in the process of starting WAAAY too many seeds. Most will go into the ground in spring, some will go into containers to be grown up for overwintering. 
 
de arbol
7 pot Chaguanas
hot paper lantern habanero
lunchbox red
prik chi faa
Numex Suave
Numex Big Jim
lemon drop
corno di toro
fatalii
cayenne
mustard habanero
caribbean red habanero
Carolina Reaper
7 pot yellow
Jamaican habanero
chocolate bhut jolokia
Trinidad scorpion CARDI
bishop's crown
Tobago scotch bonnet yellow
7 pot burgundy
Tobago seasoning
 
     Whew! So that's where I am today. Like most growers on THP, I find deciding which peppers NOT to grow to be one of the most difficult tasks in gardening. Add to that my aversion to throwing out perfectly good pepper plants come fall, and… I need a bigger garden! Luckily I still have about 15 pints of jalapeño jelly in the basement. 
 
 
 

 

[Hybrid Mode 01]

     Growth and flowering have slowed a bit with the cool weather. But the pods that are already on the plants are growing FAST!
 
 
Here's my Reaper OW. Lots of pods hidden in the dense foliage.

 
 
Caribbean red

 
 
Fresno. I don't know how this plant is standing up right now.

 
 
Hot paper lantern hab. I love the sound of pods bumping into each other when I shake this plant!

 
 
Bhut yellow. Tis the season for pod porn! 

 
 
7 Pot yellow. Really big pods.

 
 
TS CARDI. All of the pods on the plant look like this. Really pretty and consistent!

 
 
Anybody ever seen a tomato plant send up suckers from the middle of a leaf?

 
 
Some orchids that are blooming together. It turns out they like compost tea, too!
 

 
 
 
     Thanks for stopping in, everybody. More pics as stuff starts to ripen!

 

[PrimeTime]

looking good brother. You do see that big caterpillar in the tomato sucker pic right?

 

[Spicegeist]

Looking good!  The Yellow Bhuts are very straight.

 

[Hybrid Mode 01]

looking good brother. You do see that big caterpillar in the tomato sucker pic right?

Thanks, man! If we're looking at the same thing (just to the left of my thumb), I don't think that's a caterpillar. It's just a leaf that's curled weird. I'll check tomorrow, though.
 

Looking good!  The Yellow Bhuts are very straight.

Thanks. Yeah, there doesn't seem to be any discernible curve to them like their red counterparts. I have brown ones growing also, and they don't seem to be curving much either. (They're still pretty small, though.)

 

[PrimeTime]

could be the leaf, pretty crazy illusion, looks like a hornworm
 

 

[Hybrid Mode 01]

     I'm starting to finally see color on most of my plants. It seems like my plants have just been packing on the pods over the last month or so, and now they're all going to ripen at the same time. Bring it. I got my dehydrator out, I recently bought a 60,000 btu outdoor LP stove for canning, and I am SOOOOOO ready to start stinkin' up the 'hood with the aroma of roasted pods!
 
 
These Caribbean reds are ridiculous. This is their third and, by far, their most productive year. 

 

 
 
Here's a mustard habanero that has a really neat suntan on all of its topmost exposed pods. It's like an iridescent steel-blue. It's pretty much my favorite color right now.

 
 
This plant (same as above) was one of the first to pod up this spring. I'm getting sick of seeing green where there should be yellow!

 
 
Here is a bhut "yellow". I bought the seeds from Pepperlover last winter. (Judy, you got some 'splaining to do!  )

 
 
 
7 pot Chaguanas just about ready to pick.

 
 
Mortgage lifter tomato.

 
 
 
Chard, nasturtiums and malabar spinach next to the walkway. 

 
 
 
I picked my bush beans last week and turned them into 28 pints of dilly beans. Now I have to think of something else to plant there to keep the sweet potatoes company.

 
 
Here's what my back porch looked like last weekend when I made salsa verde. Onions (I picked a few early), Big Jims, jalapeños, serranos, tomatillos, garlic and limes (not pictured). Everything but the limes got roasted on the grill. Man I could just pour a glass of that stuff and drink it like vichyssoise!

 
 
 
     That's all I have for now. I hope you're starting to see some colors (besides green) in your gardens, too! Enjoy the rest of the weekend!
 
             -dash 2

 

[TrentL]

Looking good! 
 
The good news is once plants survive that herbicide crap, they go on to be real monsters.

 

[JoynersHotPeppers]

Hahahaha Get Judy! Grab the pitchforks and let's go!!! Those are some awesome looking bhuts regardless of color. Everything is looking great.
 
I have some explaining to do as well...my Jonahs are chocolate.

 

[Hybrid Mode 01]

Looking good! 
 
The good news is once plants survive that herbicide crap, they go on to be real monsters.

 
     Thanks, Trent. I don't know if there's a correlation, but this spring I saw the worst herbicide damage yet and so far my plants look better than ever. 
 

Hahahaha Get Judy! Grab the pitchforks and let's go!!! Those are some awesome looking bhuts regardless of color. Everything is looking great.
 
I have some explaining to do as well...my Jonahs are chocolate.

 
     Thank you! I was just about to light my torch and head over to Judy's place this afternoon, then I remembered that I actually regretted not planting a red bhut this spring. (Plus I have another yellow bhut that still may be correct phono.) I picked three of them today, even though they were still orange. Who know's maybe that's their mature color… I plan to have some of one on a burger tomorrow night, so I'll report back on the flavor. I'm going on a fishing trip though, so it might be a week or so!                

 

[Essegi]

Looking good!

These Caribbean reds are ridiculous. This is their third and, by far, their most productive year.

Yeah, that is productive!

 

[beerbreath81]

plants are LOADED nice job!! Last pics looks like the start to a nice salsa verde

 

[Hybrid Mode 01]

Looking good!
Yeah, that is productive!

 
 

plants are LOADED nice job!! Last pics looks like the start to a nice salsa verde

 
     Thanks, guys! Yeah, it looks like I'm one of the lucky ones this year. The weather here sure seems to be cooperating with the garden - as evidenced by the number of peppers and tomatoes on my plants. It almost makes up for the last three summers of heat, drought and insects. 

 

[Hybrid Mode 01]

     It's that time of the year again - where pulls like this...

…are starting to become routine! So I just had to post an update to show off.
 
 
Here's a horribly out of focus 7 pot yellow. 

 
 
 
This was supposed to be a 7 pot yellow. Whatever, I'm not bummed. The pods smell wonderful.

 
 
 
This is the bhut "yellow" I posted a pic of on 7/26. It appears that red is the mature color. They are delicious and really hot. I've never experienced a pepper that attacked one part of my mouth with such precision. The amount of pain it inflicted on the back sides of my brother's and my tongue seemed to drown out the heat everywhere else.

 
 
 
Here's one of my three Caribbean red OWs. These things never cease to amaze me. So tough and fast growing. So prolific. SO TASTY!!! I can pick about a pint of ripe pods every other day off of these plants.

 
 
 
     The way things are going, I'm going to have to fire up the Weber this weekend and roast a bunch of pods. I'm trying out a lower temp (115F instead of 125F) in my dehydrator this season, and it's really slowing things down. I think it's worth it though - my dried pods look just as brightly colored as the fresh ones. Hopefully the taste stays more intact, as well.
     My Caribbean reds are doing so well this year, that I've decided to do something crazy. The first member (with >100 posts) to post a reply to this update who has never tried a Caribbean red habanero before and is not currently growing them will receive a SFRB of them completely free of charge. The only catch is that you have to fire roast them and post a pic or video here of the finished product and let everyone know how delicious they are.
     This is completely on the honor system, so please no liars or dickheads. Disclaimer: If I don't have enough Caribbean reds to pack the box, I reserve the right to put a few TS CARDIs and Carolina Reapers in to fill the rest of the space. I just picked a heap of them today (see pic above), so the box ships tomorrow. Post here, PM me your address and kick back and wait for the mailman to bring you a little box of heaven. That's it! 
     As usual, thanks for stopping in to el jardin del dash-o dos. And good luck!

 

[Spicegeist]

I've got some isolated yellow bhut seed if you want to grow that in 2015.  Not the greatest pheno, but they're yelllow, taste great, and are very productive.

 

[Hybrid Mode 01]

Not the greatest pheno, but they're yelllow, taste great, and are very productive.

 
     But great taste and high productivity are the most important phenotypes!   Thanks for the offer, but I'm willing to bet it was just a fluke seed. Having said that, as a self respecting pepper head, I can't turn down an offer to trade seeds! PM incoming… Feel free to peruse my seed list and let me know what you want in return.

 

[sp33d]

Very nice man...can't wait to start harvesting like this...

 

[juanitos]

look at this guy giving away free pods. 
 
man your plants look nice. after my first big harvest i'm sad that i don't have as many pods again yet lol.

 

[Hybrid Mode 01]

Very nice man...can't wait to start harvesting like this...

 
     Thank you! Yeah, I know this season has been pretty rough on most folks in the CONUS. I'm feel pretty fortunate that my garden came together like it did this year. Having weather that isn't 170F and dry for once has really done the trick!
 

look at this guy giving away free pods. 
 
man your plants look nice. after my first big harvest i'm sad that i don't have as many pods again yet lol.

 
     Thanks, Juanito. I wouldn't say my plants look "nice". Those are just the ones I post pics of. A lot of them are looking pretty slug-bitten and chlorotic. But as long as I keep taking pics of the pods below the canopy, that'll be our little secret! 
 
 
     And in case any one else happens to stop by, the offer in post #53 still stands. (Serioulsy? No takers yet?!) I'm kinda leery about shipping pods late in the week, so get 'em while they're fresh!

 

[PrimeTime]

Nice offer and harvest dude! I think I qualify but live in a stupid condo so id have to fire roast with my stupid electric grill!
 
Honestly get em to somebody that might need some podage for real.
 
Very nice though brutha!

 

[Hybrid Mode 01]

Nice offer and harvest dude! I think I qualify but live in a stupid condo so id have to fire roast with my stupid electric grill!
 
Honestly get em to somebody that might need some podage for real.
 
Very nice though brutha!

 
     You're a big man. Thanks for letting someone else have a shot at them. I hope your season continues to be productive!