Lespaulde's 2020

Good day to all my fellow pepperheads out there. Given that 2020 is well underway, I figured it's time to get my new glog going. I'm hoping this year's will be full of delicious peppers, learning moments, new things to try out and last but not least, a lot of fun growing these tasty little devils together with the awesome community that makes THP the mecca it is.
 
I'm almost exclusively growing new varieties this year, which is not due to the fact that I didn't like last year's peppers, but rather taking the opportunity to create the illusion of making a dent in trying the many cultivars that have found their way onto my bucket list. I've sourced seeds from various places including Semillas and South Lincs Chili boys, and am forever grateful for the awesome trades I got to do with PaulG and Dr. Cane McDog, which have shaped this and even next year's grow already.
 
So now to the good stuff, the peppers. The list (thus far, after lots and lots of back and forth in Google sheets) looks as follows:
 
Autopot
Sugar Rush Peach
Numex Pumpkin Spice
Numex Lemon Spice
Numex vaquero
Jalapeño Zapotec (CaneDog)
Jay's Peach Ghost Scorpion
Paper lantern
Dorset Naga Orange

Fabric bags
Rocoto Cristobal
Jamaican yellow hot
Hyper Pube (CaneDog)

Buckets
BJ hybrid-2 (PaulG)
7 pot burgundy (PaulG)
Aji Amarillo (PaulG)

Indoor / Tent
BJ Purple x Aji Mango
Aji Lemon x BJ Purple
B. O. C. crosses
Early Jalapeño
Bahamian goat
Rocoto Oculto
 

For those of you that remember my glog from last year, Sugar Rush Peach is the only cultivar I'm repeating, which is because it was a huge hit at home, with both me and the missus enjoying it on lots of different dishes. Sweet, but still with a nice kick, especially when added to a hot meal. Other than that, there are lots of Jalapeno varieties as this must still be my favorite type, and I took a "why not try them all" approach, which I hope to continue over the years. Seeds will be planted in 2 batches, with the first batch having been put in the rockwool just before New Year's:
 
Jay's Peach Ghost Scorpion
Paper lantern
Dorset Naga Orange
Rocoto Cristobal
Jamaican yellow hot
Hyper Pube (CaneDog)
PaulG's BJ hybrid-2
7 pot burgundy (PaulG)

I'm extremely excited to be able to grow some Rocotos this year, so thanks for edging me on to that, CaneDog and others in the forums. I have a feeling they will like the Danish climate which tends to have cool nights even during the summer, and will be grown fully outside, not in the greenhouse (space limitations).
 
I had already started a small winter indoors grow consisting of my own Aji Lemon x BJ Purple cross (F1), which has been making good progress.

Oct 11th:

Nov 14th:

December 5th:

Today (bear in mind it was on a non-sunny windowsill for 3 weeks during the holidays in order to not let it dry out under the intense lights, where it also aborted its recently set first fruit):

Once the other seedlings made their way outdoors, I will expand the indoor grow according to the plan above (yeah, right! xD) and keep that going too, simply just to get as many peppers sampled this year as possible. 

So at the start, the tent looked as follows:

Soon after, I moved the bulk of the seed starter rockwool cubes into a heated dome, and am transferring the cubes to the tent as the seeds pop. Currently, the JPGS, Jamaican Yellow and PaulG's BJ hybrid have already popped, so let's see how quickly the others follow. From seed to seedling in basically a week is as good as I could have ever asked for.

As always, thanks for reading and any input/criticism/feedback you may have, and I will try to keep it saucy in terms of pictures and taste reviews etc.... Happy 2020!

 

[PtMD989]

Your grow is looking great [emoji106][emoji16]. Thai seeds, along with the others ya sent me are doing good [emoji16]. I should have some Spanish Jalapeño seeds soon. The peppers are small but the first couple packed a punch[emoji16]. Stay safe brother [emoji16][emoji106].
Did you get your cukes figured out [emoji848].

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[lespaulde]

Your grow is looking great [emoji106][emoji16]. Thai seeds, along with the others ya sent me are doing good [emoji16]. I should have some Spanish Jalapeño seeds soon. The peppers are small but the first couple packed a punch[emoji16]. Stay safe brother [emoji16][emoji106].
Did you get your cukes figured out [emoji848].

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Thanks Bryan! Glad to hear the new plants are doing well for you, and the same here. I suppose we should be able to get a ripe pod or 2 out this year still, and then I was probably going to overwinter them. Curious to hear how your Spanish Jalapeños will turn out, always nice to grow peppers with a story! And of course the fact that they have good heat is already a bonus!

Cukes are good, thanks for all the tips everyone. I guess I was mainly just underwhelmed by the variant I'm growing as I was expecting a similar experience as with tomatos, in terms of store-bought vs. home grown. These just aren't very exciting, so will definitely try another type next year if at all... Good thing this forum is about growing peppers hahaha!

Stay safe too my friend, hopefully we don't need to keep our heads down for too much longer!

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[lespaulde]

Of course the day after I wrote my last update, I'm seeing a bit of colour on CaneDog's hyperpube!

PaulG's Aji Amarillo is also finally starting to pump out more than the 2-3 pods I had so far, curious how their flavor will be:

Dorset Naga Orange being a productive fella:

NuMex Jalapeño Vaquero also churning out the goodies, hoping for some nice poppers out of these!

And lastly, the cross I'm probably most excited to grow out besides the purple pineapple I have to get moving on: a Zapotec x Purple Lantern. It took on the first try and I'm hoping for a nice mix of the two. Although truth be told I have yet to taste the Zapotec, but I trust Mr McDog's judgement on it being an awesome pepper hahaha! Also borrowed his idea of marking crosses, using wire insulation instead of a straw...

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[CaneDog]

Good stuff, LP.  Great to see how well that greenhouse is doing for you.  Seems like the extra heat really helps.
 
And happy to see your JZ cross took.  I couldn't guess what the flavor will be like, but I bet it will have some kick!

 

[lespaulde]

Yeah! With the temps we've had this month (20C / 68F on a good day), it is clear that it was the right choice of having only the rocotos (+ Jamaican hot yellow) outside as I don't think many of the plants would have produced outside of the GH.

I must say the paper lantern had a wonderful sweetness, none of the chinense skunk and should hopefully produce a nice spicy and sweet Jalapeño. But of course that's me just dreaming, and am currently also still seeing how I'm going to grow out multiple plants inside the tent - will probably mimic an aerogarden setup with 6 slots or something. As long as I get ripe produce before next season's starts need to get going it will be fine.

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[lespaulde]

Some random closeup shots of the plants:

Sugar rush peach:

NuMex Lemon Spice on the left, and pumpkin spice on the right:

And.... Drum roll.... First ripe Zapotecs! Can't WAIT to try these, and am looking for something nice to pair with them this weekend!

CaneDog's Rocoto hyperpube sideshot:

And the Cristobal:

And the Jamaican hot yellow:

The indoor jaloro got pretty massive, and doesn't seem bothered it's sharing its footprint with a brother in the same pot, will keep this in mind for next year as its only a 5gal pot, if even that:

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[lespaulde]

Time for a little update as the weather's picked up again the past 2 weeks. The first harvest is now a fact and it's been fun sampling some new varieties.

Top row, left to right:

Rocoto Cristobal, Hyperpube x, SRP

Middle row:

Dorset Naga Orange, Jamaican Yellow Hot (orange in this case), NuMex Lemon Spice

Bottom row:

Paper Lantern, Jalapeño Zapotec

Both rocotos are very delicious with a good heat; more of a glow rather than a burn and I think I'm sold on the rocotos in terms of flavor! Jamaican Yellow orange is also truly a nice pepper, the numex LS a rather mild but tasty Jalapeño, but nothing compared to the Zapotec - what an awesome Jalapeño: hot, sweet and juicy, so thanks again CaneDog!

They look nice in a bowl as well, even my better half appreciates them this way

The Haskorea is looking happy after about a month, and is beginning to bud now:

Good news of the day is that the Oculto got rid of the spider mites after weekly hosing down with neem. I moved it into the tent to get some new leafs and it seems happy again:

That also means the Chocolate Ghost and Jaloro moved out, with both having lots of fruit loaded up:

Jamaican Yellow Hot ripening pods on a weekly basis:

PaulG's 7 pot pecan has also set pods now, so I'm stoked to be able to sample this one by the end of season, woohoo!

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[ahayastani]

Jalapeño Zapotec... noted on the list, thanks
 
My other half also appreciates it a lot when I arrange my harvests in a treat for the eye. 

 

[PtMD989]

Looking good [emoji106][emoji106][emoji106][emoji16].


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[lespaulde]

Jalapeño Zapotec... noted on the list, thanks
 
My other half also appreciates it a lot when I arrange my harvests in a treat for the eye. 

Haha yeah it's a nice bonus of harvest season, that she finally seems to understand where my madness come from lol. She's also taken a liking to the Aji Lemon flakes so slowly but surely the pepper passion seems to be coming through

The Zapotec is a true winner in my opinion, let me know if you need a hook up

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[PaulG]

Good  progress there, LPD. I know what you
mean about the rocotos taking so long to ripen
up. Seems like the pods stay green for months.
 
Glad to see the 7 Pot Burgundy Pecan getting
a few pods going.
 
My Zapotec Jalapeños look like oversized
Serrano peppers. Yours don’t seem so long and pointy.

 

[lespaulde]

Back from a quick summer break of being tourist in home country and enjoyed what seems to have been the last proper warm spell of the season. Hopefully I can get another month or so of ripening, as most of the Jalapeños are still green and am still due quite some Chinense. Worst case a plant or two will come indoor, but I'm hoping with the ok daytime temps in the greenhouse that things will turn out fine.

What I've learned so far this season:

Paper Lantern is one hell of a producer, even in a cold climate and has very tasty, and very hot pods. Easily will harvest 100 pods from a single plant and I'm going to dedicate many of them to my first ever fermentation trials for hot sauce. Definitely growing these again next year.

Dorset Naga Orange comes in second place in terms of production, and it's blisteringly hot. I will also try to make some fermented hot sauce with these, as their perfumed aroma is a bit too strong for my liking.

Next year will need to put all plants in cages as their weight, once loaded with pods, becomes to heavy to bear by themselves (a good thing I suppose )...

Now time for some pics:

The green house in all its current glory:

Sorry for the bad pic, but the Dorset Naga Orange is loaded with probably 40-50 pods at the moment:

First nice stinger on a JPGS; the initial troubles this year really put this plant back and I will likely have to bring it inside to get some production. If I like the pods, it will be over wintered for next year:

Sugar Rush Peach is living up to expectations from last year, with now the 2nd decent harvest:

The super sweet 1 million tomatoes are killer sweet and will definitely be grown again. They're almost as sweet as grapes and make for great snacking straight off the plant!

Inside, the BJ Chocolate has now ripened most of its pods and will retire soon. Nice to have a stock of pods and seed to last a while, and the first pod I sampled was delicious. Its the left plant here:

And I love the color of the pods in contrast to the greenery around it:

The Rocoto Oculto has made a nice come back, but no pods have set yet so let's see if we can make some magic happen still this year. On the left of it is the Haskorea, which is getting ready to bud. Excited about this one too!

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[lespaulde]

Good  progress there, LPD. I know what you
mean about the rocotos taking so long to ripen
up. Seems like the pods stay green for months.
 
Glad to see the 7 Pot Burgundy Pecan getting
a few pods going.
 
My Zapotec Jalapeños look like oversized
Serrano peppers. Yours don’t seem so long and pointy.

Thanks Paul! I'm hella jealous of CD who is already able to enjoy the flavor of the 7PP, but I'm hopeful in 2-3 weeks I'll be able to join in.

Rocotos definitely need a long season and will move them into the greenhouse after the others are done, so they can hopefully survive the winter. Will definitely grow them again next year, and especially the Montufar which Skullbiker is praising to the heavens hahaha... Got my first seed stock of the ones I grew this year which was most important, and I absolutely love their flavor and heat profile.

Interesting about your Zapotecs, how hot are they? My indoor ones were truly spicy (guess around 50k SHU), the outdoor ones more like 10-20k but both with excellent flavor. My Vaqueros look a bit more like you describe, with an estimated 8-10k SHU like a standard Jala. Tasty too though but not convinced I'll grow them again next year.

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[PtMD989]

Looking great there [emoji106][emoji16]. Those maters are money [emoji106][emoji16]. Hope things are going better over there, than over on this side of the pond [emoji16].


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[PaulG]

 
 

Thanks Paul! I'm hella jealous of CD who is already able to enjoy the flavor of the 7PP, but I'm hopeful in 2-3 weeks I'll be able to join in.

Rocotos definitely need a long season and will move them into the greenhouse after the others are done, so they can hopefully survive the winter. Will definitely grow them again next year, and especially the Montufar which Skullbiker is praising to the heavens hahaha... Got my first seed stock of the ones I grew this year which was most important, and I absolutely love their flavor and heat profile.

Interesting about your Zapotecs, how hot are they? My indoor ones were truly spicy (guess around 50k SHU), the outdoor ones more like 10-20k but both with excellent flavor. My Vaqueros look a bit more like you describe, with an estimated 8-10k SHU like a standard Jala. Tasty too though but not convinced I'll grow them again next year.

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Hey bro, just wanted to say that your SRP and
Aji Benito are rockin’ the pods this season!

 

[lespaulde]

Looking great there [emoji106][emoji16]. Those maters are money [emoji106][emoji16]. Hope things are going better over there, than over on this side of the pond [emoji16].


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Thanks Bryan! No complaints on the garden side of things for sure. Regarding COVID19, we are being imposed a few extra restrictions again both at work and private, but nothing too drastic yet luckily. How are things on your end? How are the NuMex OS trucking along? Still no buds on Haskorea, but counting on some pods before Xmas somehow...

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[lespaulde]

 
 
Hey bro, just wanted to say that your SRP and
Aji Benito are rockin’ the pods this season!

Yeah I saw those insane grow tips on your glog, holy moly they like what you're doing to them! Hope you can stock up your freezer and mason jars with them for a year or 2, they make for pretty good eating I'd argue!

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[PaulG]

Yeah I saw those insane grow tips on your glog, holy moly they like what you're doing to them! Hope you can stock up your freezer and mason jars with them for a year or 2, they make for pretty good eating I'd argue!

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I haven't been doing anything special, just been
lucky to have those great seeds to plant!
 
We are now into a 36-hour high wind episode. It
has already messed up a few plants, and destroyed
one of my big tomato cages. I hope they don't lose
too many pods in this wind (up to 45-60 mph gusts.)
 
Dang.

 

[PtMD989]

Sorry it took me a long time to get back with you. Things are starting to get less restricted in my neck of the woods, so Covid is still hanging around and spreading [emoji15]. The” babies “ are doing fine, the SRP is setting pods the NewMex OS and Thai are lagging behind, probably cause SRP is in a bigger pot than the other two.


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[PaulG]

Thanks Paul! I'm hella jealous of CD who is already able to enjoy the flavor of the 7PP, but I'm hopeful in 2-3 weeks I'll be able to join in.

Rocotos definitely need a long season and will move them into the greenhouse after the others are done, so they can hopefully survive the winter. Will definitely grow them again next year, and especially the Montufar which Skullbiker is praising to the heavens hahaha... Got my first seed stock of the ones I grew this year which was most important, and I absolutely love their flavor and heat profile.

Interesting about your Zapotecs, how hot are they? My indoor ones were truly spicy (guess around 50k SHU), the outdoor ones more like 10-20k but both with excellent flavor. My Vaqueros look a bit more like you describe, with an estimated 8-10k SHU like a standard Jala. Tasty too though but not convinced I'll grow them again next year.

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Haven’t had a chance to try a Zapotec, yet,
Erv. Waiting for a tinge of red here and there
before picking. The big pods might make good
pickled rings. They are just so much bigger than
normal jalapeños, way too big for poppers! Maybe
stuffed and baked? 10-20K is hot enough for me.
Over the top for my spouse!
 

Sorry it took me a long time to get back with you. Things are starting to get less restricted in my neck of the woods, so Covid is still hanging around and spreading [emoji15]. The” babies “ are doing fine, the SRP is setting pods the NewMex OS and Thai are lagging behind, probably cause SRP is in a bigger pot than the other two.


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Thanks for posting the SRP pic. 
 
After seeing that, I will wait a bit longer before
picking any. Your Aji Benito is just crazy active!
 
Will post an update pic in my grow log. Both of
those seeds produced great plants.