Guru's Garden - Traveling the World in Search of Peppers

Pepper-Guru · Feb 7, 2016

dubG said:
Pepper Guru,

Just curious, what kind of plant spacing do you use for your pepper plants in ground:

-Spacing between plants within a row?
-Spacing between rows where you don't plan to be walking?
-Spacing between rows where you need a walking path?

I was thinking of spacing plants within a row 24", with 24" between each row that I don't need to walk down, and 36" between each row that I do plan to use as a walkway. Any thoughts on this plan based on your experience?

Sounds about right. I just go 2 foot spacing all the way around. Sometimes wider for in between rows if I'm growing large spreading varieties. This spacing seems to help later in July when the branches get heavy. They can all lean on eachother and I see less branch breakage. But some years when the soil and weather are just right, you can't help it.

ronniedeb said:
Beautiful guitar. Look forward to your 2016 Glog. You still brewing beer?

Yep, still Brewing! Recently brewed an all chestnut ale with Native American bittering herbs in place of hops.

Pepper-Guru · Mar 3, 2016

OK boys and girls, here goes 2016!

Keeping it down to one tray, 16 varieties. May the strongest seedling prevail.

The list:

Bad Datil
Bhut Assam Raja
Black Naga
Cardi Yellow Scorpion
Vietato
Virgil T Ainsworth Rooster Sour
Orange Thai
Coyote Zan White
Florida Wild
Yellow 7 Pod
Growdown 2016 ( Peruvian Serlano)
Peruvian Smuggle ("Pene de Mono" long white)
Peruvian Smuggle (Red Roccoto GIANT)
Peruvian Smuggle (Aji Limon long yellow)
Peruvian Smuggle (Aji Charapita red)
Peruvian Smuggle (Aji Charapita yellow)

Here is a visual reminder of the peruvian varieties I brought back.

The small round red and yellow ones are Charapita. They are served with nearly every meal in every cafe, restaurant, street joint etc, as a garnish along side lime wedges. The long white ones reminded me of the caterpillars I grew many years ago, so I made sure to get some of those. One local in the Belen market told me they were called "Pene de Mono", so I'll just let you figure that one out. The Roccoto peppers there were mutant sized everywhere. The Aji Limon were in every grocery store and everyone's gardens. Should be fun times trying to grow them

I'll update when we get hooks!

stc3248 · Mar 3, 2016

Very cool...Can't wait to see what a giant you grow from those Rocoto seeds!

grantmichaels · Mar 4, 2016

oohhhh aji charita yellow looks the closest i've seen to my mystery pepper!!!

do i eagle-eye pumpkin-like vertical striations, though? mine did not have, were smooth ...
taste fruity/citrusy, immediate quite hot up front, settle in like 45-90 seconds, never really upsetting the back?

Pepper-Guru · Mar 4, 2016

stc3248 said:
Very cool...Can't wait to see what a giant you grow from those Rocoto seeds!

Dude, they were all ginormous. Most times as big or bigger than pomegranates!

grantmichaels said:
oohhhh aji charita yellow looks the closest i've seen to my mystery pepper!!!
do i eagle-eye pumpkin-like vertical striations, though? mine did not have, were smooth ...taste fruity/citrusy, immediate quite hot up front, settle in like 45-90 seconds, never really upsetting the back?

For the most part they were smooth, every now and then they would have a random striation down the sides, like a pumpkin. Both varieties were similar in taste with the yellow having that citrus burst and the Reds having that cheesy creamy aroma going on. Both no hotter than your average White Bullet or Gold Bullet. Perfect peppers for meal time! Great with ceviche!

grantmichaels · Mar 4, 2016

i think the Mystery Citrus will likely turn out to be this yellow charapita ...

:cheers:

Datil · Mar 5, 2016

A very special good luck for this season Rich! Your list makes me happy

Cya

Datil

pa1966stang · Mar 6, 2016

Especially excited to follow along with you this year. Your grow logs are always a joy to watch.

Pepper-Guru · Mar 6, 2016

grantmichaels said:
i think the Mystery Citrus will likely turn out to be this yellow charapita ...

if so, you're in for a treat!

Datil said:
A very special good luck for this season Rich! Your list makes me happy
Cya
Datil

thanks man! Majority of the seeds you sent got squished and broken but two packs were fine. From the other ones, there looked to be about 1 - 2 seeds intact, so we will see!

pa1966stang said:
Especially excited to follow along with you this year. Your grow logs are always a joy to watch.

Thanks! Hope I don't mess it up before it begins!
Looked in the germ chamber today and saw some white web fungus beginning to colonize! Watered with a 9:1 peroxide solution and sat outside to air out a bit. Fingers crossed...

Datil · Mar 6, 2016

Pepper-Guru said:
thanks man! Majority of the seeds you sent got squished and broken but two packs were fine. From the other ones, there looked to be about 1 - 2 seeds intact, so we will see!

Sorry for that, italian postal service may be pretty rude... I should have used more padding!
Well it's survival of the fittest

fingers crossed!

Datil

philosophiser · Mar 7, 2016

Three seasons of very inspiring glog posts, an amazing resource for us all, thank you. After seeing how well your collard greens do, I've decided I must make room for one this year too.

A couple of questions if you don't mind:

1. Is all humus and compost good for the garden, or are there certain types to avoid? I don't compost (dense neighborhood, don't want to piss off neighbors or attract pests, but maybe I should) but I do get piles of leaf litter at the end of the driveway every year, and I usually scrape up the best parts underneath and dump it in the garden. I'll also bag wood chips from construction lots in the neighborhood if they grind a stump or something and use it as mulch. Scavenge whatever I can. Good idea or no?

2. Any advice for close-proximity growing? I know you harp quality vs quantity, but it's impossible to resist the urge to plant more after seeing glogs like yours. I want to maximize the very limited space we have, like 9 pepper plants in a ~4'x4' bed.

Cheers

millworkman · Mar 7, 2016

DUDE! That massive rocoto is amazing.

Pepper-Guru · Mar 7, 2016

philosophiser said:
Three seasons of very inspiring glog posts, an amazing resource for us all, thank you. After seeing how well your collard greens do, I've decided I must make room for one this year too.

A couple of questions if you don't mind:

1. Is all humus and compost good for the garden, or are there certain types to avoid? I don't compost (dense neighborhood, don't want to piss off neighbors or attract pests, but maybe I should) but I do get piles of leaf litter at the end of the driveway every year, and I usually scrape up the best parts underneath and dump it in the garden. I'll also bag wood chips from construction lots in the neighborhood if they grind a stump or something and use it as mulch. Scavenge whatever I can. Good idea or no?

2. Any advice for close-proximity growing? I know you harp quality vs quantity, but it's impossible to resist the urge to plant more after seeing glogs like yours. I want to maximize the very limited space we have, like 9 pepper plants in a ~4'x4' bed.

Cheers

All good ideas. Composting shouldn't have to be icky, gross, or offensive to start doing, even in the prudest of close living quarters neighborhoods. If you can fit a trash bin on your property, you can have compost. If it used to be living and no longer is, throw it in. It's compost.

As for close proximity growing, if it's all the same variety, then one plant allowed to utilize the entire space, will grow larger and produce more than ten packed into the same spot. However, if you must pack tons of plants into small growing space, then I'd go no less than 1 sq ft per plant.

millworkman said:
DUDE! That massive rocoto is amazing.

I HOPE I get them to germ! The seeds made a pretty gnarly journey through the Salkantay in nothing but paper tea bag wrappers to protect them. We shall see!

Pulpiteer · Mar 7, 2016

Yep, that mutant Rocoto does look amazing! Same great taste I'm assuming? I hope they germinate for you as well!

Pepper-Guru · Mar 10, 2016

Pulpiteer said:
Yep, that mutant Rocoto does look amazing! Same great taste I'm assuming? I hope they germinate for you as well!

Awesome flavor and nice strong heat actually!

Well...... HOOKS

First to germ:
Orange Thai
Coyote Zan White
Aji Limon from Peru

Just under 7 days

OCD Chilehead · Mar 10, 2016

Congrats!!

Pepper-Guru · Mar 10, 2016

OCD Chilehead said:
Congrats!!

Thanks! I was a bit worried because the seed starting mix I picked up this year looked sketch, to say the least. I usually mix up my own. When i first opened the bag up, there were micro critters and bits of mycelia that had begun to sweat exudates or metabolites. I used it anyway. Glad i did

Just gotta keep an eye on humidity levels. Took the dome off and things seem to be going well.

OCD Chilehead · Mar 10, 2016

Pepper-Guru said:
Thanks! I was a bit worried because the seed starting mix I picked up this year looked sketch, to say the least. I usually mix up my own. When i first opened the bag up, there were micro critters and bits of mycelia that had begun to sweat exudates or metabolites. I used it anyway. Glad i did Just gotta keep an eye on humidity levels. Took the dome off and things seem to be going well.

I'm not that confident in premix starting mixes this time of year. Especially in the Rockies. I stick to paper towel/ heat pad method. I've started seeds using your method before. 50/50 chance of hooks. I think I didn't watch the humidity close enough. Rot.

Good luck with the rest.

Are you still using the green house?

Coup · Mar 10, 2016

Loved reading through this glog - started on page 1 and worked my way back. So freaking awesome!

Pepper-Guru · Mar 10, 2016

OCD Chilehead said:
I'm not that confident in premix starting mixes this time of year. Especially in the Rockies. I stick to paper towel/ heat pad method. I've started seeds using your method before. 50/50 chance of hooks. I think I didn't watch the humidity close enough. Rot.
Good luck with the rest.
Are you still using the green house?

I've started em just about every way there is. I usually use a fairly nutrient free, ph balanced medium. A make a simple peat, verm, and perlite mix as a base. I always know my moisture retention levels due to knowing my aerator ratios. This stuff apparently has no problem holding water. Ha
Still have the greenhouse. Need to order some real uv material to replace old painters plastic.

Coup said:
Loved reading through this glog - started on page 1 and worked my way back. So freaking awesome!

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it. Things will start getting interesting pretty soon!