MarcV 2021

OK guys, I know I'm not much of a writer on this forum but I do read it daily. Maybe it's time to try a glog again...
 
I started my seeds on the 1st of February. These are the ones I selected for my grow this year...
 
Jalapenos:

• Farmers Market Jalapeno
• Rayados Jalapeno
• Zapotec Jalapeno
• Jalapeno Dieghito
• Telica Jalapeno

Scotch Bonnets:

• Foodarama Yellow
• Schneider Farms
• Freeport Orange
• Marabella Market Yellow
• Papa Dreadie

Bhuts:

• Bhut Jolokia Caramel
• Bhut Jolokia Peach

Misc:

• Ancho Poblano
• Piment D'Espelette
• Gochugaru

At first I wanted to make this a Jalapeno only season with 10 Jalapeno varieties + Piment D'Espelette and Gochugaru. But then I thought... the Scotch Bonnet season that I wanted to do in 2019 turned out into a fiasco, maybe I should give it another try? So I selected a couple of bonnets and added them to the list.
 
I have also always wanted to give bhuts a try. I have the seeds for quite some time now but never actually gave them a try. I hope they are still viable. I guess we'll see soon...
 
As for the miscellaneous varieties... The Piment D'Espelette is one I grow every year. I just love this chili. Not very hot but great taste. I have plenty of seeds that come from an actual Espelette farm so they are as true as they can be. Plants always grow very strong and are very early producing.
 
The Gochugaru is one that I am growing for my daughter. She loves Korean cooking and asked me to grow a Korean variety, I got the seeds from Super Hot Chiles (Jim Duffy).
 
The Ancho Poblano is "just another one" I would like to give a try. I saw some pictures of it on the facebook page of Fatalii Seeds and they looked so tempting I couldn't resist getting the seeds.
 
So here we are... 
No hooks yet...
 

 

[MarcV]

Foodarama Yellow Scoth Bonnet : Large plant, lots of flowers but until now, as with all my scoth bonnets, flowers just fell of after flowering. But it looks like they are now starting to set fruits...

 

 
Freeport Orange Scotch Bonnet : nice bushy plant with lots of flowers and maybe already a well hidden young fruit growing...

 

 
Papa Dreadie Scotch Bonnet : Quite large and bushy plant, plenty of flowers and just starting to set fruits...

 

 
Schneider Farms Scotch Bonnet : probably my largest scotch bonnet plant. Also just starting to set fruits.

 

 
 

 

[MarcV]

Gochugaru : Nice large plant growing some good sized chilies...

 

 
Jeromin : one of my personal favorites. Good sized fruits, early ripening, manageable heat, no bitterness, perfect for use in the kitchen

 

 
Piment D'Espelette : another one of my personal favorites. Good producer, early ripening

 

 

[MarcV]

I also recently did a test germination of some seeds of smoke-dried Ñora chilies. I was happy to find that they did germinate, although only one out of 3 seeds did germinate. I kept the 2 strongest plants, although one of the plants had a little accident in the mean time... 
 

 
I know ñora seeds aren't hard to find, but these are from an original source. It is my belief that, when plants are grown and regrown from self harvested seeds and away from the original gene pool, they will somehow start to divergate from the original variety. I will try to find original seeds for whatever variety I like and always grow from these seeds instead of harvesting my own seeds.

 

[PaulG]

Things looked great back then, Marc!
 
I hope this season has continued to be
good for you. Should have some colorful
pods On the vine by now!

Nice selection of jalapeños.

 

[MarcV]

Actually that was less that 2 weeks ago But they've grown quite a bit since then and production is really taking off!
 
In the mean time I'm already thinking of next year's grow. I got a few interesting local Mexican varieties from Dieter (ahayastani) that I definitely want to try but that's too late for this season.

 

[MarcV]

As usual I quit updating when things become more interesting... at those times I spend more time with the plants and less with the forum

What I have learned from this season's grow is that chinense varieties seem to work much better for me than annuums. While the annuums set a lot of fruit, the fruit just doesn't want to ripen. This was especially true for my jalapeños and poblano. The chinenses on the other hand produced like crazy and didn't hesitate with the ripening. And I'm not even growing my plants in a greenhouse...

So now it's time to start thinking about the 2022 season, although it is still way too early to start sowing. I definitely want to try the poblano again, they really taste delicious when ripe! But that's probably the only annuum that I'll be growing next year. The scotch bonnets were a big hit this time, I'm certainly going to grow a couple next year. Also thinking about growing BOC and maybe one or two "regular" bhuts, scotch brains, bahamian goat, carbonero. But it's still too early for a final decision...

 

[PaulG]

@MarcV - Interesting that your chinenses ripen faster
than the annuums. My experience is the opposite here.
Go figure. Sounds like you have a plan for a hot grow
next season. Enjoy the winter down time, my friend.

 

[MarcV]

Gonna be a long winter

 

[talas]

MarcV yep same here with Chinense they've always done remarkably well over the years and Annuums/Baccatums are the slower ones in the u.k.
Must mention frutescens which doing fantasticaly well to as do Pubescens.

 

[MarcV]

I should give some frutescens a try, never grown this before. Which do you grow?

 

[talas]

Bradley's Bahamian,Jindungo,Guam boonie,Thai Burapa,Prik KHI Nu,Malagueta.
Also don't forget Orange Thai an annuum yes but with some frutescens genes,prolific/tasty and grows really well in most climates.

 

[MarcV]

I have grown Small Thai Orange SSE in the past from gifted seeds. Those are hot little pods and one plant grows plenty! Great for powder as they are very easy to dry.

Since my bonnets did so well this year I re-read my scotch bonnet glog of 2019 and I feel like I may give a dedicated SB season another try! I still have plenty SB varieties available. I hope the seeds are all still viable . Of the SB7J I only have 3 seeds left. I used to have a variety called Black River Red but I can't find those seeds back in my collection anymore...

I know it is still way too early to make a final decision on what to grow and this is already different from my planning from a week ago but one has to keep busy...

This is the list of varieties in random order that I assembled today, not including the 3 bonnet plants that I'm overwintering...

• Jamaican Long SB
• SB7J
• MOA Red
• Scotch Brains
• Chocolate SB
• Elysium Oxide SB
• Bahamian Goat
• Cappuccino SB
• Falmouth SB
• Walton Farm SB

I have more varieties but I really need to limit the number of plants...

 

[PaulG]

Good luck deciding what to grow next season, Marc!

 

[MarcV]

Made some chili powder (mainly) from my Freeport Orange scotch bonnets. The powder in the jar is from about half of the dried bonnets.
Taste is very good and packs some serious heat!

Now I need some inspiration for a label!

 

[Downriver]

OW!

 

[MarcV]

Just received some KSLS seeds in the mail. This will very likely replace one of the varieties in my grow list for next year! Let's find out what the hype is all about (and hope for the correct phenotype...)