• Blog your pepper progress. The first image in your first post will be used to represent your Glog.

JJJ 2013 Glog- C'est fini. -awmost.

So,I may as well grow them, eh?

I started back gardening last year, but I left it to my co-gardener mostly to come up with pepper plants. We had some Bells, and Cayenne, a Carrot pepper, a black Jap, Hungarian sweet, maybe a Bullnose, Then I bought a 4 pack each of Anaheims and Jimmy Nardellos. I set out a little Shoshito start in July and it had a lot of fruit considering. Nothing here to write home about. The Jimmy's did ok. 2 of the Anaheims weren't true (and a cow at half of one of them), one did ok. The last one I planted in a new asparagus bed and the first week some sucky bug drilled it right in forehead and wilted the top. I started to pull it out, but thought, "no harm to leave it to see what would happen". I pinched the wilt off. That pepper forked an by frost it had held its own with the asparagus which hit about 6 foot. I pulled the whole plant day before frost, and it had about 50 nice peppers on it. I blistered and smoked them all.
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But this year I'm gonna be pepper pro-active. Thanks to Durham Bull, I have a treasure house of Capscium genes -Bhuts, Scorpions, and the likes -none of which I'd ever heard of a year ago. The generosity of this community seems to only be matched by it passion for peppers. I dig it. Plus I was in at another site with an online seed blind swap and ended up with some mildly hot goodies.

Well I've never grown a pepper from seed. Never. So yet another new door. Bought a heat mat, I've got onions about to come off it now. After Spicy Chicken's glog, I liked his grow station and thought I'd buy some shelves and put overhead fluorescent on them. I had a domestic conversation about where to put the shelves and lost amicably. So I guess I'll have to finally clean out my toolshed after only 4 years to make room.

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It has a skylight about, 30" x 96", but no heat, no electricity. But I think I can get by with an extension cord, and will have to pick up a little propane heater to knock the chill off. Peppers aren't safe outside here until mid-May.

Yesterday, I got my shelves assembled with one light installed - a 4x4' T8 fixture w/ 6500ks.

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Plan is to wire them on to a gang of light switches, maybe a timer, cover it with Reflectrix movable curtains, some small fans.

I'd appreciate any advice, especially since I'm in the early build phase.

I'm shooting for about 100-150 plants if there's room -some to wind up in rows, some in beds, some into containers, some to share

A friend is sending me some more seeds today I believe, so I'll be closer to a final grow list when I see what that brings.

Thanks for reading and for any words of wisdom you can share.
 
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Side yard bullets ....
  • Beautiful little varmints look even better dead IMHO ;)
  • Whoa holy SW Virginia … dat’s one huge colorful and beautiful harvest mon!
  • Canned Aji Dulce and 7 Flaming look great
  • Very cool looking bread oven and it’s a wicked picture mon, did you make it?
  • Keep up dat awesome work mon, soon you’ll be resting with your feet kicked up drinking a cold beer and eating picante appetizers ^_^
  • Dat muchacha Annie is one generous woman and great grower … I say we all pass here da hat \o_
  • Hab a great weekend brethren \o/
 
I did build the oven back in 2009, Ramon. I documented the process on my blog (which was more active then) on the sidebar called Earth Oven News. Took a few months to round things up, stages of drying out, and as much work as it was fun.
We christened her Breadzilla. 
 
My buddy from outta town showed me a trick with Padron peppers, 
Heat a skillet of hot oil about as hot as you can get and toss in several peppers per batch (dry the water off of them if washed) finger linger or less is best.
When they hit blister stage, sea salt liberally and drain on paper towels.
Cool a little and eat,
Simple and fantastic.
 
JJJ that red is to sorta be feared, not bad. 7 Pod Brown x Naga. Great flavor smoked or some smoked and some not, fermented. Glad you enjoyed. Between my father's surgeries, students, "customers," desktops dying--one at home getting replaced with new; uni got me replacement needs to find way into lake as euthanasia. And of course garden, processing ferments, etc. Oh yeah, if you have some apples remaining not spoken for--cider looking good--Bill turned me onto bourbon fatalii apple butter hot sauce. Great stuff. Here's link if interested: Last one. Can make it hotter or whatever but since I'd canned apple butter (lots of apple butter), went for a glaze on milder side. Like your Tabs too! Might just be regional or nostalgic--grandfather--but got ferment of that going. Gonna add to the ferment later, still have enough to pickle, smoke, and powder.
 
Loved the story, "Poe." lol E.A. wrote that the "most beautiful thing in the world is a dead woman." As he said . . . poor Birgit. Dang. My mother read us Poe as bedtime stories. :rolleyes: Anyhow, although not huge fan of Wordsworth among the Romantics, every time I make something mo better and kill it, I hear his line, "We murder to dissect." Hmm.
 
Love, love Breadzilla! :party:
 
You went with Peas and Oats? Good. Beats "Sara Smile." ;)
 
Have an easy Sunday, if that's possible in this wonderful gardening weather!
 
Thanks, guys and gals.
Yes, I just may try the fatalli apple butter. Won't be back in the picking and cidering until after my son's wedding next Sat. Yeah the peas and oats have taken holt good.
Yes, Poe makes great GREAT bed time stories  :rolleyes:. I read a lot of Poe, 40 years ago. Went to the Poe museum in Richmond and got a raven hand puppet -can't wait for the grand-babies.
 
Whatsup?
I'm back from the wedding / family reunion
Started harvesting wholesale- picking peppers by the roots.
Two possible frosts early next week and I've gotta be gone next weekend.
So, busy weekend-week coming up.
 
Aji Dulces -one of three plants.  One in row garden, one in raised bed, one in a 25gal container Row did the best by far.

 
Only planted one( in the Jungle)

 
Generally, the plants did well in the Jungle but pods were slightly fewer. 20x24 space is a little tight, but this was the first year on this soil so maybe it was not up to speed.
 
Thought this was going to be Ecuador Lemons

 
I had only two to germinate. Seems to have been enough.
Taste is very close to a Fatalli, not quite as hot.
 
 
 

 
This plant was in an older bed by it's self sorta. Very productive. I think it was a Bhut cross based on pepper shape, but I speculate a lot.
 
 
This is what came off those two plants.

 
Which needs tending to...gotta run.
 
Thanks for reading,
ChowChow
JJJ
 
JJJessee said:
Maybe Annie can decipher the avatar ;)
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Nice poddathon smoke, Carl. Like the method: pull and pull. Or that's what I do, not yet though. Letting some habs ripen, so they don't split in brown p. bag; sad to see go and a month or two away from "Gentlepeople, start ya engines."
 
Statue with hat is not Poe, is not Faulkner, is not that ghastly Tommy Wolfe, not Mark Twain, not Aaron Burr, not Carson McCullers, not Julia Kristeva, not Jacques Derrida, is not Toni Morrison, not Betty White, not Zora Neale Hurston, not Wilson Harris, not Derek Walcott, not Jamaica Kincaid, not John Steinbeck, not Yogi Berra, but I'd take that hat and stick in on Wolfe's angel next time ya in A-ville. I give. No wait: Calvin Cool.
 
annie57 said:
Statue with hat is not Poe, is not Faulkner, is not that ghastly Tommy Wolfe, not Mark Twain, not Aaron Burr, not Carson McCullers, not Julia Kristeva, not Jacques Derrida, is not Toni Morrison, not Betty White, not Zora Neale Hurston, not Wilson Harris, not Derek Walcott, not Jamaica Kincaid, not John Steinbeck, not Yogi Berra, but I'd take that hat and stick in on Wolfe's angel next time ya in A-ville. I give. No wait: Calvin Cool.
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Devv said:
Yeah I googled Poe statues for 30 minutes the day he changed his avatar. Not Poe...
Click to expand...
 
Wait you guys missed one, it isn’t no Halloween spooky clown :D
 
Looks like Harpo or Groucho marx, lol
 
Well, I can't swear it is E.A. Poe, but it suppose to be Poe  (don't know who posed for it) but the picture is my hat on a bust of someone at the Poe Museum in downtown Richmond VA. Cal Cool :D
 
PIA, you and me both are behind.
 
I've been  uberpepperwhelmed, but yes, already looking forward to dropping some seeds in mid Jan 2014 WoooooHooooo!
I have a better handle on what needs to be started early and and what can wait. Hopefully I'll put that info to praxis
 
Thanks again for all the support from seed-advice-knowledge-encouragement- actual peppers you guys are the bestest!
 
At the end, I lost a few peppers to a freeze last weekend that snuck up on me, but c'est la vie. 
 
And I still have some harvest that has yet to be presevered, but I'm still plugging away at it.
 
a few pics and thoughts
 
Chocolate Scorps ready to dry:

 
Some Aji Chinchi Amarillos too

 
 
Da Ghosts

Four Bhut Jolokias in the The Jungle made a little over 4 lbs. Some are fermenting some are smoked and dried.
My little chocolate bhut that I direct-seeded last spring, had soil issues that it slowly overcame and was small but covered in pods, never made a ripe one before frost got it. I may try again. Generally though, it seemed the chinenses ripened more fully and quicker than my bacctums and frutesence (sp?).
 
The Jungle (RIP)

I turned it to a forks-depth+ getting ready to put in garlic before Thanksgiving. First I'm going to till in a yard of compost.
 
Pros and cons of the Jungle Method.
I put 42 plants in a 4'x30' area. It was a new bed that had been in sod until the prior fall when I sowed it in rye, tilled it in with some compost and sand, then top dressed it with compost as mulch. 
 
Pro -Practically no weeds. I got a few out early and the canopy took care of the rest.
Con- The Habs and Bonnets seemed to get over-powered/shadowed by their more robust Nagas, 7 Pots, Bhuts and what-have-you cousins.  
Con- I think they may have set more pods with more space. Could've be a P and K competition, and that might be remedied with some amendments.
Pro - I did a minimum of staking and the plants seemed to support each other pretty well.
Pro -The plants certainly got lush with virtually no pests on the greenery.
Cons - Hard to pick pods without messing up plants.
Con - seeds are more likely to be crossed with neighbor plants.
Con - Plant ID unless tall markers are used, they tend to be hard to see later on. If mixing varieties the way I did, its best to put plants with sharply contrasting pods next to each other because the plants overlap branches to a great degree and it can be hard to track what you're picking, unless you pull the whole plant.  :rolleyes:
 
I know there seem to be more Cons than Pros, I'll probably Jungle again in 2014 with a few tweaks.
Some of the "row" plants did fine, but need good staking, mulch, and groundhog protection.
Containers - didn't work for me, maybe I wasn't holding my mouth right, but the plants were small and not especially "pod-digious"  I may use the containers next year for herbs and eggplants which didn't seem to get flea beetled so badly. 
 
 
I loved the variety and the quantity, but 30+ varieties and 120+ plants was just too much. (I need to focus more on maters)
So on peppers, I'm cutting back next year to 25 varieties and and a 110 plants tops.
;)
I hope to pick up some organic potting soil this weekend in AsheVegas and start plotting on the 2014 glog.
 
Thanks for reading,
 
JJJ 
 
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