HabaneroHead Glog 2012 - Better late than never - Picture Heavy

Hi PepperHeads!

It's been a while since I posted anything about my peppers, but it does not mean I was not following what's going on THP. As usual I did not only get inspiration, but also useful hints and kindness from the team members. And on the top of that, I managed to infect some of my friends, my family and my girlfriend with this addiction.

Anyways, ling story short, last december Jack and Ela (aka Superhot and Ela on this forum) was so kind and sent me a batch of seeds (thank you for that, again):
- Bhut Jolokia Indian Carbon
- Fatalii Red/Yellow
- Tobago Seasoning
- Naga Morich
- Trinidad Scorpion CARDI Yellow

Unfortunately I could not make the Fatalii and Tobago Seasoning germinated, probably I cooked them with my reptile heat mat.

So the varieties I have now:
- Bhut Jolokia Indian Carbon (6)
- Naga Morich (4)
- Trinidad Scorpion CARDI Yellow (4)
- Bishop's Crown (2)
- Golden Habanero (6)
- Red Habanero (8)
- Aji Lemon Drop (7)

I was not taking into consideration the overwintered red habs, since I am not sure how they will perform, but I was giving them a chance, and they are trying to do their best in the ground.

Let's see some pics now!

6th of March 2012

Store bought Golden Habanero, i was taking out the seeds. Out of 10 seeds, 8 germinated, and now I have 6 healthy plants

My Bonchi, which I was making to my girlfriend, and it successfully survived the winter:

1st of April 2012
My babies having sunbath

Bhut doing weird things, I thought the stem may stay in this shape (what a Bonchi!), but in few weeks it straightened.

Superhots are doing well

Aji Lemon Drop: tall, but has strong stem. They were getting the same light, ferts etc, but they are a little bit of leggy.

 

[HabaneroHead]

Yes. I think we've had two of the wettest months on record in the UK (April and June) it's basically been cloudy and/or raining about literally 90% of the time since April started. I'm hoping for a clearer end to the summer!

Hi Matt,

Then we are the two ends of weather. In the last 3 weeks there was not even a drop of rain here... You should send some

Everything looks so green and healthy. Congrats on those delish looking peppers

Thank you, I am trying to do my best. However this distance-gardening is not the best: my parents just simply don't pamper my babies so much I would do. There is only one solution: to buy my own house (well, 60% should be paid by the bank...so it would be a house I am allowed to live in ) with at least a small garden, so I can deal with veggies.

Enjoy your vacation. Those plants are loaded. Be ready to harvest when you get home. But pics first!

Hi Brent,

Thank you, it was realy good! I just made some harvest, it is kind of 'save the pods from the heat, and additional juice loss'. Now trying to count to how many people I promised to give sample.

Hi Balasz
I was watching the women's 500m canoe sprint on TV with a client (I'm a home health aide), and we saw the Hungarian athlete Danuta Kozak take the gold medal in the event. Cool!

Hi Rick,
That is really good. I was not following the events, but as far as I know we won 17 medals: 8 gold, 4 silver and 5 bronze. That is not too bad compared to the size of the country (93k square km) and its population (10 million), and of course the money spent on sports.

Balázs

In the last couple of weeks (I think 3) there was no rain in the village where my parents live. My younger brother kept watering my plants in every second day, but it seems it was not enough. My OW plants which were producing pods like crazy, started to ripen the fruits in hurry, but due to the small amount of water, the pods are not so juicy, rather papery, which makes them even hotter. The same is going on with the rest of the plants, smaller pods than they should be.
Next year I have to invest a drip irrigation system...and shade cloth...and fresh soil...
So I returned home from my vacation (I am still on holiday, but spending the last couple of days with my parents), and checked my plants, and harvested some pods. My Mom harvested some, too, but she put the Naga Morich and Bhut Jolokia in the same box...so I cannot recognize which is which :-)

Bhut Plant in the ground

Bhut pod

Golden Hab - lonely pod: I put poor bastard into a pot...but used garden soil...

First really big harvest, excluing the ones my Mom picked during the week. From left to right, starting from the bottom: Red Hab (112), Naga Morich (29), Golden Hab (1), TS CARDI Yellow (17), Lemon Drop(127), Bhut Jolokia (36)

I selected the most handsome ones to save some seeds for the next season.
Side note: I did it once, and my experience is that the TS has lots of seeds, while the Bhut and Naga has very few. I mean very few within the pod, and even less healthy.

Thanks for stopping by!

Balázs

 

[stickman]

Hi Balázs
How was Paris? I'll bet it was plenty hot and you spent most of your time outside at night when it was cool.
It looks like your babies gave you a good welcome when you got back!

 

[Sanarda]

Great looking pods and your parent's neglect will give you better pods. I left my husband with my plants for one week. I had pods and twice as many buds. With supers, it's funny, in the beginning it seems more is necessary, and when they mature, it's seems less is more. Remember, these grew in the wild. Human intervention is not their strong suit. I am going to put seeds in the ground next year and see what happens with no germination routine and no intervention except making a plot. I am also (of course) going to germinate some. After all, I am human. Aahahaaa

 

[DocNrock]

Nice looking haul there, HH!

 

[HabaneroHead]

Hi Balázs
How was Paris? I'll bet it was plenty hot and you spent most of your time outside at night when it was cool.
It looks like your babies gave you a good welcome when you got back!

HI Rick,
It was wonderful! Well, I expected the same, but everybody told me, that Paris is colder than Budapest...and they were right. We had a good 27 Celsius during the days, which was a remarkable change compared to the 38-40 in the previous weeks in Hungary. You know I used to call these city visits like 'training camp', since we wake up early, getting home late, and we are just marching during the day.
I am going to use this harvest for seed saving and present giving purposes. Hopefully everybody will like them... I grew the Lemon Drops just because 'they are not so hot', but they are freaking hot...maybe because of the heat and the lack of the water.

Great looking pods and your parent's neglect will give you better pods. I left my husband with my plants for one week. I had pods and twice as many buds. With supers, it's funny, in the beginning it seems more is necessary, and when they mature, it's seems less is more. Remember, these grew in the wild. Human intervention is not their strong suit. I am going to put seeds in the ground next year and see what happens with no germination routine and no intervention except making a plot. I am also (of course) going to germinate some. After all, I am human. Aahahaaa

Hi Pia,
Thank you, in fact everybody is trained in the family how to take care of the plants,just nobody is interested. When I was a child, my father scracthed a whole chili into his soup, which was so hot for me, that I stealed a spoonful and spiced up my soup, which became barely eatable...here is how it began. :-) Now even my father says that these peppers are not for consumption...so I am technically growing them for my fun and for giving them to my friends.
You are perfectly right, when they are mature, they require less caring...though a shade cloth and regular watering would be beneficial.
The grandfather of my finance'e (look what happened in Paris :-) is pre-germinating the tomato seeds and puts them straight into the ground at the end of May. No greenhouse, no polytunnel. And it works for him. It is a good idea, if you have plenty of seeds. If you have only 5 or 10, you are rather a safe-player

Nice looking haul there, HH!

Thank you, hopefully my season will end later than it is expected, so I can repeat it. The plants are just pumping out the buds like crazy, I have a Naga Morich plant which was so tiny before, and was barely alive, and now it has more flowers and little pods, than leafes!

 

[stickman]

HI Rick,
It was wonderful! Well, I expected the same, but everybody told me, that Paris is colder than Budapest...and they were right. We had a good 27 Celsius during the days, which was a remarkable change compared to the 38-40 in the previous weeks in Hungary. You know I used to call these city visits like 'training camp', since we wake up early, getting home late, and we are just marching during the day.

Hi Balázs
Glad you had an enjoyable trip! How was the food? What's in season in Paris? Things are starting to cool off a bit here and the days are noticeably shorter. We've gotten enough rain that the plants have mostly perked up and put out a few more blossoms, but there's still enough pods on the chiles that they're concentrating on ripening instead of putting out flowers. Cheers

 

[HabaneroHead]

Hi Rick,
It was really good, visited many places, not only Paris, but also Versailles and Disneyland of course And the food? Hmmm...aparting from the sandwiches we ate, tried a local restaruant only once, and was pretty good: I ate onion soup and some beef with black pepper sauce. It was delicious. I wanted to try out the escargot...but I was not brave enough.
My fiance'e is mad about the cakes, cookies, desserts, and she tried out some local sweets, like macarons.
The weather is getting cold here, too. Night temperature is around 10-14 Celsius now, compared to the last month 18-25. My garden peppers are pumping out the flowers and the mild wheather experienced in the last two weeks caused some serious podding. I hope that the following 5 weeks will be enough for them to mature. There is an 'also ran' category among my pepper plants, since I had some plants which were so weak, I was not even sure if they could survive the planting out. There is a Naga Morich plant among them, which is full of with flowers and small pods now. Fingers crossed.

Balázs

Fresh pics, for your pleasure :-)

Terrace plants, from left to right: Golden Hab, Naga Morich, Bhut

TS CARDI Yellow and a Red Hab

Not pepper, but I think it is worth to show, a mandarin tree, I germinated it during the winter:

 

[HabaneroHead]

Hi Everyone,

Small update on peppers :-) I made 11 surprise packs out of the above harvest and give them to my friends. I regret doing that... I do not want to kill anybody :-) Two days ago I was brave enough to try out the Naga Morich. I choose a small pod, and cut a really tiny piece of it and tasted it. And the surprise came! There was no delay in 'feeling the flavours first for a couple of seconds, then suffering from the heat'...no...it was only the heat...with other words: the pure pain! It was like chewing flame! I was clever enugh to buy some milk prior this experiment, so I got saved. Guys, this is insane This weekend I will try a ripe Bhut, so pray for me!

Balázs

 

[stickman]

Hey Balázs
Glad to see you're getting your looked-for harvest after such an extreme summer. Your description of the sensation of eating a piece of a Naga Morich reminds me of a similar recent review where the guy said it was like sucking on a soldering iron!
Stay crazy you nut!

 

[DocNrock]

the guy said it was like sucking on a soldering iron!

Sorry for the slight threadjack, but I too saw that quote and not only lmao, but also definitely stole it!

 

[HabaneroHead]

Little update.
I had 3 main harvests so far, the first was basically given to friends, the second got dehydrated, and the third was used for making a basic sauce based on Alabamajack's recipe (see in the Hot Sauces section). Making this sauce gives me some time to figure out/find recipes for making my own sauce. I have made two types: one from Red Habs and Bhut Jolokias (10-15%) and one from Trinidad Scorpion CARDI Yellow.
Enjoy the pics!

1st of Sep 2012

Aji Lemon Drops are ready to go to the dehydrator

First harvest from the colouring pepper

Red Habs and Bhut Jolokias are awaiting their destiny

 

[DocNrock]

Lucky friends! Good looking pods in that first pile. How did the dehydrated pods (presumably for powder) and the sauce turn out?

 

[stickman]

Really nice pulls Balázs! Your chiles are giving you lots of love. I've also been giving away lots of the chiles meant to be eaten fresh, but I'm hanging onto most of the powder!
What variety of chile is the one you call the coloring pepper? Is that a sweet paprika?

 

[HabaneroHead]

Lucky friends! Good looking pods in that first pile. How did the dehydrated pods (presumably for powder) and the sauce turn out?

Thank you! The dehydrated pods are crispy and just waiting for their destiny. I would like to have them powdered right after the sweet colouring peppers, just to keep everybody happy in the family. The sauce is great, but also nucelar. We have two kitchens, and I have been proscribed to the outer one with with all the doors closed...my Mom cannot does not really like inhaling the pepper fumes :-) I have tasted the Scorpion one (which exactly looks like peach-jam, so I have to label the jar), and my mouth was in flames for 2 hours. It is a serious staff!

Really nice pulls Balázs! Your chiles are giving you lots of love. I've also been giving away lots of the chiles meant to be eaten fresh, but I'm hanging onto most of the powder!
What variety of chile is the one you call the coloring pepper? Is that a sweet paprika?

Thank you, Rick! Making powder and this simple sauce are the best ways to preserve peppers. The coloring pepper is coming from the grandfather of my fiance'e, and they are supposed to be sweet. Well, I tried and some of them are rather mild, than non-pungent. Interesting, that I cut some of them into half to save the seeds, and the juice of them colored my hands...I am curious to see how they will perform as powder compared to the supermarket-bought ones.

 

[stickman]

Making powder and this simple sauce are the best ways to preserve peppers. The coloring pepper is coming from the grandfather of my fiance'e, and they are supposed to be sweet. Well, I tried and some of them are rather mild, than non-pungent. Interesting, that I cut some of them into half to save the seeds, and the juice of them colored my hands...I am curious to see how they will perform as powder compared to the supermarket-bought ones.

I'd be curious to see how they compare too. If they work for sweet paprika we'll have to made a swap. They look really good.

 

[HabaneroHead]

Hi Chile Heads,

It's been a while since I posted everyhing on this forum.
I've been busy with a serius project:we are just about to buy a house, with the small garden (of course), so I will go to ground from pots next year!
The only sad story is this was the hottest and the most dry year I have ever seen... No rain for 2 months... This caused some issues in the garden. Most of my peppers became midgets: the Aji Lemon Drops, Bishop, Naga Morich and Bhuts are effected the most. They produced, but the pods were small, and due to the heat the flower drop was really an issue, and they were just started to recover...and it is almost end of the season, when I have to plan OW project.
Anyways, if I am lucky, I am still have 3 more weeks from the season.

Let's see how my peppers look like now:

Aji Lemon Drops:
big bushes, lots of buds, flowers, and small, dropping pods. The dry summer, and the lack of the nutritients supply did not help them to form big fruits...next year I am going to setup a dripping system...

Bishop's Crown

Golden Habanero:
I do not really know if I am going to keep it for the next period...I am not impressed by the productivity

Naga Morich: one of my favourite. This is the biggest bush in the garden among the peppers, it is almost 1 meter wide...and the funny thing is that it is pumping out the flowers since the heat is gone...I wish I had 2 more months from the season...

Naga Morich: terrace plant.
This one is hungry for Nitrogen, I am going to fertilize it tomorrow. On the other side, the fresh leafes and buds are healthy...the cold weather has its advantage on the superhots.

Thanks for watching,

Balázs

 

[stickman]

Hi Balázs
Granted, I didn't grow any superhots this year, but what you showed looked alright to me for growth. I'm sure you'll do much better next year if you have your own garden. We're pulling for ya on this end!

 

[Mezo]

Hey Balázs,

That Naga Morich is impressive, ive got several in pots ready for the raised beds, also Dorset Naga`s.
The worlds weather is certainly screwed up right now? UK was the wetest year in 100 years but started in drought?

Is it just me or is Aphids the big thing right now? have you had any pest Balázs?

Mezo.

 

[HabaneroHead]

Hi Balázs
Granted, I didn't grow any superhots this year, but what you showed looked alright to me for growth. I'm sure you'll do much better next year if you have your own garden. We're pulling for ya on this end!

Hi Rick, thanks for the kind words, hopefully everything goes fine with the house... Superhots are real badass...my father eats Naga Morich every day, even if he is suffering from it. In my opinion it is 'only' a spice, so you have to be aware of the quantity you are using in your food.

Hey Balázs,

That Naga Morich is impressive, ive got several in pots ready for the raised beds, also Dorset Naga`s.
The worlds weather is certainly screwed up right now? UK was the wetest year in 100 years but started in drought?

Is it just me or is Aphids the big thing right now? have you had any pest Balázs?

Mezo.

Hi Mezo,

Naga is my favourite, it is nucelar, you have to take it seriously.
Aphids...well, the dry weather is good for them. My father kept them under control, only the peach-trees were infected, but looking at the fruit-production they just did not care. The peppers did pretty well..only the lack of rain and the hot weather caused me bad days.

Balázs

 

[stickman]

Hi Balázs
Did you make your pork stew with the gochu powder this weekend? If so, how did you like it? Hope you had a good weekned!