HM's Second Attempt for 2020

OK,
 
Last grow was decimated by broad mites. It's been 3 weeks since I got rid of all the plants, so that should have been long enough to kill any remaining stragglers that might have fallen off the plants in the grow room. Now, since I'm WAY behind in 2020, I'm starting plants that are good producers - nothing fancy, nor too ambitious - I just want a decent harvest to get some redemption.
 
Here's the list:
 
Lemon Drop (superhotchiles.com) - always been interested in this one, never had a chance to grow it.
Jalafuego (tomatogrowers.com) - our favorite Jalapeno. We only tried a sample of pickled jalapenos earlier this year, we want more.
Pepperoncini (tomatogrowers.com) - Another one for pickling
Chichimeca Jalapeno (tomatogrowers.com) - I've had these seeds for a while and never grew them. Wanted to compare these to the Jalafuego.
 
My wife also wanted some tomatoes, so I'm going to be growing a determinate variety in a 5 gal kratky, along with some basil. We'll see how that goes.
 
All seeds were pre-soaked for 24 hours in a 0.15% H2O2 solution.

 
 
They are now in rockwool cubes on the heating mat.

 
Now the waiting game begins...
 

 

[HeatMiser]

 
Absolutely agree MF.
 
Now you watch, HM's gonna love em raw.

 
Haha, well we tried the first ripe pod
 

 
And I can totally understand why people find it "soapy", but we didn't find this to be unpleasant or off-putting. Heat-wise I found them a bit tamer than the Jalafuegos I'm growing, which is cool because as Paul mentioned, this would be great for people who don't have that much tolerance to heat... 
 
There are more pods ripening now. I'll be busting out the dehydrator and turning them into flakes/powder as recommended here.
 

 

[PaulG]

Nice duck, buddyI
Perfect for the PNW!
 
Kudos for ripe pod!

 

[HeatMiser]

Things are starting to ripen up around here...
 
The Lemon Drop has been hard at work during this week. Quite a few more pods ripened in a matter of days. I really dig the bright yellow color of these pods - I think I'll pick whatever's ripe next weekend and start making some fancy pepper flakes

 
And finally, some Jalafuegos are starting to turn too! These took quite a while to fully ripen - it will be interesting to see if there's a difference in taste compared to the green ones we like a lot

 

[CaneDog]

Those are definitely great-looking yellow pods on the lemon, HW. 
 
And I'm looking forward to hearing how you like the red 'fuegos and feel they're different.  I've always been partial to red-ripe jalap's myself - not that I'd disparage green-ripe ones.  Do you have a feel for how much extra time's involved in waiting for them to turn red versus when you'd normally harvest for green?

 

[HeatMiser]

Those are definitely great-looking yellow pods on the lemon, HW. 
 
And I'm looking forward to hearing how you like the red 'fuegos and feel they're different.  I've always been partial to red-ripe jalap's myself - not that I'd disparage green-ripe ones.  Do you have a feel for how much extra time's involved in waiting for them to turn red versus when you'd normally harvest for green?

 
Thanks CD, and I agree, those yellow pods look super cool. I will definitely grow them again sometime.
 
I'm also looking forward to trying them fully ripe, and those are some interesting questions. Let's see
 

• Seeds sowed around July 25th
• Germinated and moved under grow-lights around Aug 16th (this was a very weird germination and I think I baked some seeds)
• First pod set around Oct 24th ~ 3 months from seed sowing and 2.5 months from germination
• Harvest on Dec 19th ~ 2 months from first pod set
• Started ripening around Jan 9th ~ 3 weeks from harvesting green pods and ~ 3 months from first pod setting.

 
So I think it might be an extra month or so considering they are not fully ripe yet. Is this in line with what you experience?

 

[CaneDog]

So I think it might be an extra month or so considering they are not fully ripe yet. Is this in line with what you experience?

 
That does seem in line with my experience, except maybe for outdoor peppers at the end of the season when ripening can really slow down.  It's interesting that I've perceived your indoor growing times as being materially fast than mine (in soil), but that's not really the case.  There's a big difference in that you're growing bigger plants than I am in a similar time, but the maturity timeline seems fairly similar.

 

[HeatMiser]

 
That does seem in line with my experience, except maybe for outdoor peppers at the end of the season when ripening can really slow down.  It's interesting that I've perceived your indoor growing times as being materially fast than mine (in soil), but that's not really the case.  There's a big difference in that you're growing bigger plants than I am in a similar time, but the maturity timeline seems fairly similar.

 
Yup, I agree with your observations from my limited experience growing in soil. It seems like the nutrient availability will boost overall vegetative growth but won't impact the time it takes for the fruit to ripen (or for the plant to set flowers). Vegetative growth seems to be environmental while time to maturity seems to be genetic. After all, one of the most common questions I see asked in forums like this one goes along the lines of "this plant is already flowering but it seems too small, should I remove the buds or let it flower?"

 

[HeatMiser]

I couldn't wait any longer and decided to pick all the ripe pods from the Lemon Drop:
 

 
I got a nice little harvest - definitely not the numbers we see from other members on here, but this will do for now. There are more pods on the plant that should ripen soon.

 
They went into the dehydrator and will be turned into flakes. I'm following Paul's advise to dry them at 95-105F in order to preserve their color:

 
We really liked these peppers. It's a shame I'll be replacing the plant in a bit, but I'm also excited for what's coming in the new grow. We'll definitely grow these again, and keep the plant going a bit longer.

 

[PaulG]

Nice looking Lemon Drops!!
 
They will make a very nice flake.

 

[HeatMiser]

Nice looking Lemon Drops!!
 
They will make a very nice flake.

 
Thanks Paul, the flakes turned out awesome...
 
It's always a little shocking to see how much things shrink when they come out of the dehydrator:

 
It's more shocking when you find out that they all fit into a single spice bottle:

 
And once you crush them, well:

 
I must say, these are the best damn pepper flakes I've ever tasted. The smell is amazing too. The "soapy" smell and taste is gone after drying them, giving them more of a fruity scent.

 

[PaulG]

Wow, beautiful Finish on those Lemon Drops, HM.
That yellow is fluorescent   !
 
My non-chili head friends felt the same way!
 
Have you used up the flakes, yet  ?

 

[HeatMiser]

Wow, beautiful Finish on those Lemon Drops, HM.
That yellow is fluorescent   !
 
My non-chili head friends felt the same way!
 
Have you used up the flakes, yet  ?

 
I was really pleased with the color Paul, thanks for the tip on the correct temp to set the dehydrator - I had always dried them at the recommended temp for peppers printed on the dehydrator (~150F IIRC).
 
We just tried the flakes by themselves, we are brainstorming what to cook during the week to make use of them

 

[PaulG]

Pizza, for sure!

 

[HeatMiser]

Well, this will be one of the last posts I make about my Jalapenos. Things have been quite busy around here and the 2021 plants should be ready for their 5 gal buckets within the next 2 weeks or so, so I'm just trying to spread things out as much as I can... this means I have to get working on getting these buckets ready for their next tenants.
 
These are the 3 Jalafuegos I'm growing - all 3 of them under a single HLG100. They seemed to do OK, so I will repeat this arrangement for the 2021 grow. At some point during the past couple of months I forgot to change the nutes, so the two plants at the front show some signs of deficiency which they have since recovered from. Also, these two plants were topped when it forked, the plant in the back was never topped.

 
There were quite a few peppers on the plants. Here's a shot of one of the branches of the untopped plant:

 
One interesting thing is that the peppers on this plant were different from the other 2. There was considerably more corking, and Jalafuegos are supposed to be smooth. Perhaps this is a different variety of jalapeno, but all the seeds came from the same package:

 
So I picked all the peppers from the 3 plants. This is about 3lbs:

 
In case anybody is interested, here's the total yield from each plant:
Topped (2 plants):  ~1lb each.
Untopped: ~2lbs
You can reach your own conclusions with this data, but since these seem to be different varieties, I don't think we have an apples to apples comparison.
 
I got busy this morning and pickled most of the peppers. This is going to last a little while:

 
There were still some peppers left. I think I'll make a hot sauce with them.

 

[PaulG]

Gorgeous bowl of jalapeños!

 

[Downriver]

Nicely done HM!
 
If you're going to make a hot sauce, think about sriracha. It's a quick ferment and makes a tasty product.

 

[Inoks]

As you were wondering what to cook with lemon drop, I highly suggest salmon with salt and lemon drop power, its god tier!

 

[HeatMiser]

Gorgeous bowl of jalapeños!

 
Thanks Paul
 
I guess I can now call this grow a success after the train wreck that was my first grow of 2020. It's definitely been a rewarding grow, and a way to stay sane given we're mostly cooped up at home. 

 

[HeatMiser]

Nicely done HM!
 
If you're going to make a hot sauce, think about sriracha. It's a quick ferment and makes a tasty product.

 
Thanks for the tip DR! Do you have any specific sriracha recipe you recommend?
 
I've been brainstorming recipes with my wife and we're settling on a sauce with grilled pineapple, lime, cilantro and possibly garlic. We eat tons of fish and pork so the sauce should go well with those.

 

[HeatMiser]

As you were wondering what to cook with lemon drop, I highly suggest salmon with salt and lemon drop power, its god tier!

 
Hmm, I like where this is going... 
 
 
Whenever we have sockeye salmon, we make some awesome sandwiches called BLAST (Bacon, Lettuce, Avocado, Salmon and Tomato). I think those pepper flakes/powder would add a nice zing to them!