Growing and Collecting

AJ Drew

AJ Drew

I grow several peppers that never wind up in the online store or for sale anywhere.  These are usually weird sweet peppers or tiny hot peppers.  In the case of tiny hot peppers, some there is no way I* would want to sell them because the work seed saving something that small wouldnt make it worth it.  I do sometimes trade the seeds for things like that, but most often just do it for myself.

So the other day, my wife blurted out: You are a stamp collector.

I realized she was right.  I am a stamp collector only I can eat my stamps and regrow them if they get low.

Curious, does anyone else feel the same way?  Do you not just grow, but collect?  Even if it is photographs rather than seeds, are you driven to create a list of the peppers you have grown?
 
I think all of us who grow are also collectors (lesser or greater) - it comes with the package deal... it's automatic... goes with the territory. I don't think one can help oneself. Anyone who obviously enjoys fresh food & growing your own (be it vegetables to fruit trees, berries to even just herbs), when one discovers all that is available 'out there' besides the monoculture of things offered in most grocery stores, a flip is switched in the brain I think... you instantly want to try them ALL!! That's what happened to me when I came across my first catalog from the Seed Savers Exchange! I was in awe, filled with excitement, and even a little sad for being deprived of even knowing about the bounty of foodstuff that one could get to sample in a lifetime if they wanted to grow themselves. (my mind was blown of discovering that 1000's of tomatoes are available, hundreds of melons & not just 'cantaloupe and honeydew', that there was more than 1 type of okra - purple even! - all the kinds of figs and apples out there (and nearly cried when I learned 100's are extinct, never to be tasted again!) all the different flavors of mint or sage... and on I could go...)  
 
Ditto with peppers!
 
Do we not ALL (when we find something we like), want to try all the variations? The different color types (like with all the current Bubblegum colorations), different shapes, or those originating from a different locale across the globe. What about flavors- fruity, flowery, smoky, sweet, etc...etc... and of course the difference of heat. Some are attracted by the foliage, blossoms, structure of the fruit - thick, crunchy, thin, soft - and so much more. This is only scratching the surface - some 'collect' for fresh eating, others for drying, those for sauces or specific culinary aspects (like stuffing!). You get my point. lol
 
Those who are the dedicated 'creators' I think are certainly automatically collectors, it is the palate they paint with! The sauce, powders, or whatever is the canvas, they the artist, the peppers are the paint - and the greater diversity of 'color's' they have, the greater options they have to mix and match to create a masterpiece!
 
This goes with any food (or something one enjoys)- I love chocolate with a passion, there are 100's of bars out there (all the percentages of cacao, places of origin for the beans, etc..) & I collect the wrappers. Same with the insane amounts of cheeses available throughout the world... what about coffee or tea drinkers... wine collectors for sure... to cigar collectors - they all have that collectors switch turned on in their brain. Again, it's automatic- we want to sample them all!
 
So long post made short- yeah, I collect! I'd be surprised to see someone who DOESN'T collect in some way.
 
Now what are these 'weird' sweet peppers & tiny peppers you speak of, any specifics..? I'm intrigued (perhaps to add to my COLLECTION!!.. haha)
 
Yes sir!
My seed collection is massive.
Id have to tear out my whole lawn just to grow one of each.
Maybe I'll win the lotto and do just that.
Be nice to make a big tunnel and grow yearound.
Ahhhh pipe dreams.
What would be nicer is to win enough in the lotto to have someone build it for me.
I can totally picture it in my back yard. (Eyes mist over)
Maybe some day.


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At one time, I've had one of the largest cycad collections in the world. I've collected plants and all kinds of things all my life. I am for sure having fun putting a good pepper collection as well. I don't want to have everything though, I try to collect superior peppers of certain types, instead of just everything there is of any given type. On the other hand, I have gone a little crazy with chocolates recently. Tom
 
Wicked Mike said:
I stopped counting at seven hundred varieties. I definitely think of myself as a collector first and foremost.
 
So let me ask you a question:
 
Have you reached the point yet where you find yourself saying, "I have way more than enough that I haven't even grown out yet, I don't need any more seeds, but...well, those varieties he wants to trade are just too cool to pass up..."
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Yes. This is why I have friends. Who want to try pepper growing but only will eat a few, so I can have the rest. Cheers, M
 
Rymerpt, what you said about a big tunnel and growing year round, that is kind of the plan.  I am starting this year with 12' x 40' to see how much electricity I will consume to heat such a thing enough to keep it going.  I figure as long as the arch is the same, I can figure the electricity cost for larger structures based on this winter.  All round about, but at least I will have a clue.  Wife thinks I am nuts but having something growing in a high tunnel makes will make me feel even better than indoor stuff.  There is something about dirt.
 
 
I would like to give you the Newbie perspective.
 
I was very happy to grow Jalapenos and Cayennes for sauces and poppers . That must have been the bait.
 
After a year or to I wanted to know more and found this forum. It feels like the hook is set.
 
Now I want to grow every pepper I can find . I can feel the steady pull of being reeled in.
 
At a BBQ , we call it a braai, on Saturday night I could not leave without a small Mozambican piripiri Pepper to deseed and grow.
 
AJ, there are also ways to heat the greenhouse and minimize the cost. As one example, if you make box that lets the sun in just outside the greenhouse and fill it with mulch or compost, and tunnel a hole from the box to the GH, it can help heat the greenhouse as well as increase the carbon dioxide levels, which will make the plants grow faster. Tom
 
cycadjungle said:
AJ, there are also ways to heat the greenhouse and minimize the cost. As one example, if you make box that lets the sun in just outside the greenhouse and fill it with mulch or compost, and tunnel a hole from the box to the GH, it can help heat the greenhouse as well as increase the carbon dioxide levels, which will make the plants grow faster. Tom
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I am right there with you.  Compost box for a wee bit of heat.  Also thermal mass on back wall.  Its all an experiment which I think might be why i love it.  Sometimes a thing works out, sometimes not, but is all a learning experience.
 
I built a small 12 x 12 greenhouse as an experiment for blue Encephalartos plants. I buried a 55 gallon drum except for a few inches, and covered it with a half drum. I drilled 4 holes in the bottom drum right above ground level and a 3 inch square hole in the top. I filled the drum with about 40 gallons of water. The cold air sinks into the 4 holes and is heated by the water, which is heated by the ground. The warmer air rises through the top hole which creates a vacuum, so more cold air goes into the lower holes. It self circulates itself. I had a freeze of 15F and nothing in the greenhouse had any obvious damage. The bottom line on this is, 1 cubic foot of water will produce 65.5 BTUs. Figure out how many BTUs you need and adapt the basic idea to your increased needs.
 
I grew up eating peppers and other fresh veggies from our family garden. Since I can remember, I have always enjoyed the burn and flavor of peppers in my food. No matter how many cultivars of peppers I grow, there are always a few that I haven't tried. Ones That I want to grow and eat the following season. Since there are so many varieties out there, plus an ever evolving cycle of crosses, I can foresee myself enjoying growing and eating new and exciting chiles for the rest of my life.

As far as collecting. I make sure to store as many seeds as I can from what I grow. I have a decent collection, but not enough space to grow everything every year. I have tried with marginal success to get some friends into growing, but that usually involves gifting a well established plant. I have been able to share/trade/gift seeds to some people that really appreciate it though.

As with anyone else on this forum, I'm sure, I am always searching for that "perfect" pepper. That is to say THAT pepper that I grow that makes me not want to seek anything else.

Thank goodness THAT pepper doesn't, nor will ever exist. It will ensure my garden and dinner table will always have something to look forward to.
 
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