maxcaps 2014 grow: avoiding the freeze!

maximumcapsicum · Jul 28, 2014

AZ-Mason said:
Love all the pod pics. All of those kitchen experiments sound dangerously good! Keep the updates comin'!

Thanks man! And welcome to the site! You got any peppers growin?

HillBilly Jeff said:
Excellent on your peppers. Great about getting your peppers in a restaurant. I have had my burgundies at a local place. They are served in a Devil's Omelet.

Love the pepper shots. You are doing well there.

Thanks HJeff. Just following all the advice of the folks at THP.

I don't think I'll produce enough to regularly provision anything, but it'd be nice to send a couple out for token hot dishes. Some of these pods got some pretty interesting and rare flavors, and the local eating thing is really big around here. Can't get more local than the asphalt downtown.

stickman said:
If the yellow 7s grew true, the pods should be hurting you more than that... last year mine had about 10-12 seconds of sweet, fruity flavor before they stuck an ice pick in my tongue, but mild and tasty has a charm all its own. Maybe it is a Bonnet cross.

If you do make pepper oil, just make sure you dry the pods first to prevent mold issues, and use the best-tasting vegetable oil you can get. Try to use it up fairly quickly too, because unused oil will go rancid.

That was my suspicion. It's also possible that they'll heat up a little later. The plant is looking like it's going ot be crazy prolific. Definitely no ice pick. I'm going to try a yellowbrain tomorrow and see how that goes.

Will do on the pepper oil. Gives me an excuse to find a nice veggie oil.

OCD Chilehead · Jul 28, 2014

Great pod shots and review. I hope you get some peppers to the local biz. That garden is out of control, in a good way. Keep doing what you do. Thanks for sharing.

Trippa · Jul 28, 2014

All looking very good bro ...

Just throwing my opinion in here....In my experience they don't look right for Yellow 7 pot/pods ... and with the mild heat I would be even more doubtful. I know some pod shapes vary dependent on environmental factors but the shape and skin texture still look a little off. In my experience you should expect a more dimpled gnarly skin texture then that and a different shaped pod ... this is THSC version I grew a couple of seasons ago

Should be a fire cracker in your mouth ... hotter then a Fatalii easily and hotter or equal to a bhut Jolokia Assam ...

AZ-Mason · Jul 29, 2014

Good to be here. Hardly any, just a couple jalapenos and habaneros. Only three varieties total, but hoping for a much bigger grow next year if i can find the right seeds.

maximumcapsicum · Jul 29, 2014

OCD Chilehead said:
Great pod shots and review. I hope you get some peppers to the local biz. That garden is out of control, in a good way. Keep doing what you do. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks man! So do I. Ironically my pull yesterday was much smaller than they had been, most the plants seem to be between "pulses." Still, it doesn't take a lot of supers to make a dish, and the organization that is working on it is one worth helping out.

Trippa said:
All looking very good bro ...

Just throwing my opinion in here....In my experience they don't look right for Yellow 7 pot/pods ... and with the mild heat I would be even more doubtful. I know some pod shapes vary dependent on environmental factors but the shape and skin texture still look a little off. In my experience you should expect a more dimpled gnarly skin texture then that and a different shaped pod ... this is THSC version I grew a couple of seasons ago

Should be a fire cracker in your mouth ... hotter then a Fatalii easily and hotter or equal to a bhut Jolokia Assam ...

Thanks Tristan! Thanks for weighing in. I suspect what I got is something like this guy from Judy:

trinidad_large_7pod-yellow.jpg

My brainstrains look alot like the ones you show. I am looking forward to the firecracker effect, that's for sure. Can't wait to give it a whirl... maybe later today. I'd suspect most superhots should be pretty wrinkled... the folds hold capsaicin and other delicious flavors. Fleshier pods tend to be a little less on the blinding heat side and more on the heavier flavors... florals, woods, sours, etc.

AZ-Mason said:
Good to be here. Hardly any, just a couple jalapenos and habaneros. Only three varieties total, but hoping for a much bigger grow next year if i can find the right seeds.

Thanks man! That's how it starts. I still got the first hab I grew from seed growing as a bonchi. Hopefully I can keep it going... speaking of which I need to start markin' this years plants for bonchi.

stickman · Jul 29, 2014

Trippa said:
Just throwing my opinion in here....In my experience they don't look right for Yellow 7 pot/pods ... and with the mild heat I would be even more doubtful. I know some pod shapes vary dependent on environmental factors but the shape and skin texture still look a little off. In my experience you should expect a more dimpled gnarly skin texture then that and a different shaped pod ... this is THSC version I grew a couple of seasons ago

Should be a fire cracker in your mouth ... hotter then a Fatalii easily and hotter or equal to a bhut Jolokia Assam ...

I expect you've grown them longer than I have Tristan... the only variety I've grown is Judy's large-podded yellow 7s, and they were pretty similar to what Adam pictured barring size, so it looked OK to me. No argument about the firecracker on the tongue though!

Trippa · Jul 29, 2014

stickman said:
I expect you've grown them longer than I have Tristan... the only variety I've grown is Judy's large-podded yellow 7s, and they were pretty similar to what Adam pictured barring size, so it looked OK to me. No argument about the firecracker on the tongue though!

I am no expert Rick ...far from it and I don't normally pay to much credence to skin texture identifying pods alone ... however coupled with the fact he described the heat as mild I think it is a little strange and the shape of the pod itself seems a little off to me (again only based on THSC genetics I grew out and a couple of others I have seen on here) ... I could be very much mistaken

Devv · Jul 29, 2014

Things are looking great Adam!

Gonna chill, travels have sucked my brain into a new dimension...

maximumcapsicum · Jul 29, 2014

stickman said:
I expect you've grown them longer than I have Tristan... the only variety I've grown is Judy's large-podded yellow 7s, and they were pretty similar to what Adam pictured barring size, so it looked OK to me. No argument about the firecracker on the tongue though!

Trippa said:
I am no expert Rick ...far from it and I don't normally pay to much credence to skin texture identifying pods alone ... however coupled with the fact he described the heat as mild I think it is a little strange and the shape of the pod itself seems a little off to me (again only based on THSC genetics I grew out and a couple of others I have seen on here) ... I could be very much mistaken

Just tried the 7pot Brainstrain. Whew... yeah the yellow is a bonnet-level heat... the brainstrain knocked me over. Will try to get a review up tomorrow!

Devv said:
Things are looking great Adam!

Gonna chill, travels have sucked my brain into a new dimension...

Thanks Scott! Chill away... peppers seem to keep for around a week and a half to two! Welcome back... hope you still have your shirt!

GA Growhead · Jul 29, 2014

The smell of the yellow brains is so good. I get a tropical banana smell from them. And they have some heat. There is always one or two that just hurt me.
I had some yellow 7 from Judy last year that looked more like bonnets than 7s. They were still two to three times hotter than the bonnets.

maximumcapsicum · Jul 30, 2014

GA Growhead said:
The smell of the yellow brains is so good. I get a tropical banana smell from them. And they have some heat. There is always one or two that just hurt me.
I had some yellow 7 from Judy last year that looked more like bonnets than 7s. They were still two to three times hotter than the bonnets.

Ooo. Going to have to try another one and look for that banana. Reviewed one of these suckers... see below. Still need to get you downtown bud.

Okay, so either the higher temps or the intense week of rain seems to have slowed down pod ripening. That or the plants just wanted a break. This weeks pull was substantially smaller than the last several weeks. But the trends are good, and there is plenty of green waiting in the sidelines...

Did my pull on Monday (got knocked back from Sunday), and noticed I had some new helpers:

She's patrolling the Blondie.

She's got the Indian Carbone, MoA, and Bahamian Goats on lockdown. Also she's eating wasps (maybe that's what happened). I've spotted these guys twice... hopefully they stay with me through the season. The orb spiders seem to have moved on... I don't know if their life cycle was up or if they died, but they're gone now. This one is longer than my hand.

Here's the pull. 250 pods. A couple lbs. Not a bad pull, and some very nice looking pods in the mix.

Smokin' Ed's reapers. You got to love the shape of these pods. I am going to smoke a bunch of "reds," hopefully tomorrow.

Boxy datils. Loving these too... I've been munching on 'em.... Is this a common pod shape? Very neat looking.

And here. The big, bad, 7 pot brain strain. Ripply looking yellow pod, and quite a good size too. Golfball, I believe around 12 grams... quite heavy for a super.

Yum. This one was hot. Nothing like the 7 pot yellow. The flavor had a mix of yellow chinense floral, very strong citrus (for me anyway), a "fresh" taste I'm not sure how to describe, and a good crunch. I actually thought I had it under control, so I ate the whole thing.

Heat was up there. I'd say the second hottest I've had (behind the moruga). Intense, long-lasting throat burn. I was pacing the apartment, and got hit with a wave of cap cramps that frankly, I deserved for eating the whole pod.

Delicious. Definitely a good powder in those.

Here is my first handful of dried Goat's Weed pods. Hoping to get a good stock of these... love 'em on pizza. Also dried some red bhuts and indian carbones (unsmoked) for oil, and a chocolate moruga just to experiment with the flavor. Maybe I should take a bite out of that and review it, lol.

I have so many different ideas for the reds it's hard to settle on one. I want to get a couple more ferments going, but I think I am going to try to smoke a batch again. Cherry wood, for powder and for the finishing touches on some sauces I am thinking out. Hopefully the plants keep producing.

I've been tabulating the data from the harvests, and some of the production curves are starting to look interesting. Here is one the data is starting to get good for:

Yellow bhut production with a polynomial trendline (though a rolling average would be more appropriate here, it's not as pretty). I am hoping there will be another spike in there. It looks like there is about a month between pod set and pod ripening on the mature plant. The big spike is obviously when the first wave of pods above the "Y" mature. There is easily enough time for the next wave to ripen. In short, I think I'll have plenty for more yellow sauce/powder. I am also hoping the reds and carbons follow a similar curve. This plant is probably getting overwintered.

I think most of the bhuts are following a similar curve. My first impression is that the 7's and morugas are much slower to mature/produce, but we'll see. Funky reaper is on par with the yellow bhut... the carolina reaper seems to produce more slowly.

Rough first impression from my disjointed thoughts on the data: Funky Reaper may be your best heat productivity per time.

Plenty waiting in the wings. These are MoA's. Should probably shamelessly send that pic into the other thread.

Thanks for reading!

Spicegeist · Jul 30, 2014

My Yellow Bhut has also been a great producer. I'm a little disappointed in the shape consistency though. I have a few nice looking pods, but mostly I wasn't pleased with the shape of most of them. The color and the flavor however have been quite nice. I have saved seed from different pods off of a mother plant that was perfect, but I don't know if I want to bother growing out a bunch of different yellow bhuts to find the winner to stabilize...

Devv · Jul 30, 2014

Dang Adam, ate a whole super? You have balz

But then again you're young...LOL

I can "sample" and enjoy doing that. bhut a whole pod means...well let's not go there..LOL :shh:

Glad the Funky, is doing what it does best. It just grows and spits out pods, regardless of the weather conditions. I've yet to see another super come close to it's performance.

Keep it green my friend!

OCD Chilehead · Jul 30, 2014

Nice pull indeed Adam. I like the Mantis patrol. Thanks for the data. Very organized and thorough. The garden is definatlly reflecting those skills. Thanks for the 7pod review. I don't eat them whole anymore. I just sample quarters. For taste and heat scale. It doesn't burn my mouth that bad but my stomach. Ouch! I'll cook a serving of something with a halve to whole pod. Just not raw. How does that Goat Weed taste dried?

Thanks for sharing. Very informative.

MeatHead1313 · Jul 30, 2014

Awesome pics as usual Adam! Enjoying the reviews ad well. My experience with yellow bhuts this year are similar to both yours and Charles. Very productive early on, but they've slowed right down now, which could either be from the heat here, too much rain or not enough fertilizer on my behalf. New pods are setting though so should get some more decent harvests. Similar to Charles, pod shape on mine varied too. Some had a perfect bhut shape, aND others were all over the place. Flavour and heat have all been consistent though.

maximumcapsicum · Jul 31, 2014

Spicegeist said:
My Yellow Bhut has also been a great producer. I'm a little disappointed in the shape consistency though. I have a few nice looking pods, but mostly I wasn't pleased with the shape of most of them. The color and the flavor however have been quite nice. I have saved seed from different pods off of a mother plant that was perfect, but I don't know if I want to bother growing out a bunch of different yellow bhuts to find the winner to stabilize...

I hear ya. I was thinking of trying to grow them larger and wrinklier. Get slightly more pod but the same flavor, shape, and productivity. I may have the means to set aside 5 or 6 slots for yellow bhuts next season. Then again I may not, and there are tons of potential projects in the wings.

Devv said:
Dang Adam, ate a whole super? You have balz But then again you're young...LOL

I can "sample" and enjoy doing that. bhut a whole pod means...well let's not go there..LOL

Glad the Funky, is doing what it does best. It just grows and spits out pods, regardless of the weather conditions. I've yet to see another super come close to it's performance.

Keep it green my friend!

Lol, it always seems like a better idea than it is. Normally I eat the bottom of 'em and a side with some placenta, but I thought the heat on the brainstrain was going to be low so I went overboard. I did that with a moruga too and it literally knocked me off my feet. Strangely I haven't had the same experience with the reapers... the heat is much more balanced, though not necessarily less intense.

OCD Chilehead said:
Nice pull indeed Adam. I like the Mantis patrol. Thanks for the data. Very organized and thorough. The garden is definatlly reflecting those skills. Thanks for the 7pod review. I don't eat them whole anymore. I just sample quarters. For taste and heat scale. It doesn't burn my mouth that bad but my stomach. Ouch! I'll cook a serving of something with a halve to whole pod. Just not raw. How does that Goat Weed taste dried?

Thanks for sharing. Very informative.

Thanks Chuck. I am going to do some master graphs for overall productivity and compare it daily highs/lows. My gut is telling me the plants sort of "pulse," with waves of pods appearing after every fork. I'd like to know the timing of those pulses for planning my grow next year.

I agree with you... it's the throat/stomach pain that's worse with the pod sampling. I think I've killed a bunch of my mouth's heat sensitive nerves at this point.

Goat's Weed goes almost entirely on pizza. It's a "crushed red pepper" substitute around here.

MeatHead1313 said:
Awesome pics as usual Adam! Enjoying the reviews ad well. My experience with yellow bhuts this year are similar to both yours and Charles. Very productive early on, but they've slowed right down now, which could either be from the heat here, too much rain or not enough fertilizer on my behalf. New pods are setting though so should get some more decent harvests. Similar to Charles, pod shape on mine varied too. Some had a perfect bhut shape, aND others were all over the place. Flavour and heat have all been consistent though.

Thanks man! I still have a couple to review in the wings I think, and I need to start making some more pepper projects.

I had a big slowdown as well after the first pulse on most of the plants. I think it's a fert issue... as Rick said, the rain leached alot of the goodies out of the dirt. I sprinkled tomato tone and hit everyone with magnesium. Should probably put down some egg shells and a round of fish fertilizer probably wouldn't hurt. Maybe if I have time next week.

Spicegeist · Jul 31, 2014

Ok, well let me know. I have separated seed ready to go.

annie57 · Jul 31, 2014

Love the science/graphs of growth pulse . . . and esp. love "science" of just eating a ybrain, Adam!

(Cramps are horrible.) And indeed, Funky's now one of my favs for flavor, heat, earliness, and staying around after a big harvest! :dance:

stickman · Aug 2, 2014

Boy Adam, I'll tell the world you're a game 'un for eating a whole yellow Brain pod! Last year I made puree from my yellow 7-pots. If you really like the flavor of the yellow Brains you might want to try that. It's a good way to preserve them in a shelf-stable manner that doesn't require energy input beyond the initial processing, and it stores almost as compactly as powder. I got over a kilo of pods on my yellow 7 last year. I processed almost the whole crop that way, and I got 8 four oz jars of puree.
http://thehotpepper.com/topic/32602-making-some-puree-todaywill-post-pics-of-the-processits-easy/#entry661225

Keep on truckin'!

maximumcapsicum · Aug 2, 2014

Spicegeist said:
Ok, well let me know. I have separated seed ready to go.

Will do Charles. These are great peppers. I a couple today just as a snack. Can't wait to try 'em all powdered. If everything stays the same, I'll probably grow out a team of these next year to see what their genetics are like.

annie57 said:
Love the science/graphs of growth pulse . . . and esp. love "science" of just eating a ybrain, Adam! (Cramps are horrible.) And indeed, Funky's now one of my favs for flavor, heat, earliness, and staying around after a big harvest!

Thanks Annie! That's my kind of science. The kind that if you take too many bites you end up laying on the floor for half an hour panting. Regretting. Why did I have just that one last piece? I had to get at the flavor!!!. Yes, I had never had cap cramps till I started eating supers. They're a thing, but in the end you're body is responding to a chemical trick... there's no actual damage going on. I just try to remember that.

Funky's are the way to go. I think they're my most economical red super, but the bhuts have all just really ramped up production so who knows. So many peppers, so little time.

stickman said:
Boy Adam, I'll tell the world you're a game 'un for eating a whole yellow Brain pod! Last year I made puree from my yellow 7-pots. If you really like the flavor of the yellow Brains you might want to try that. It's a good way to preserve them in a shelf-stable manner that doesn't require energy input beyond the initial processing, and it stores almost as compactly as powder. I got over a kilo of pods on my yellow 7 last year. I processed almost the whole crop that way, and I got 8 four oz jars of puree.
http://thehotpepper.com/topic/32602-making-some-puree-todaywill-post-pics-of-the-processits-easy/#entry661225

Keep on truckin'!

So far the flavor of all the 7 pots has really been top notch. Probably the strongest flavors I've had. The reapers have been a tad more balanced, and the bhuts are the most usable... for the normals that is. You red my mind on the recipe... I was thinking about setting aside some purées. I am still dragging my feat on bhut oil... got the dried pods all read but haven't found a veggie oil I think deserves 'em yet. Did make this:

A mix of red bhuts, cabons, and reapers, all smoked on the grill for about an hour with cherry wood. As you said, it really softens up the flavors and opens 'em up. Dried them overnight then ground them in the food processor. Sadly the seeds didn't blend all the way... I could remove the seeds before processing for a neater powder, but I was also going for heat. It's a mean powder. About 3 dozen pods gave me a couple oz, so maybe I need more production than I thought I did! Luckily it had some serious kick... a sprinkle of this on my eggs made the hottest omelet I've tried so far. Still plenty to learn, but I'm having fun.

The big news is Santa Jason (GA Growhead) came by the other day and we got a couple hours in hanging out and talking peppers. I showed him my plots... a fishtank next to his rows I'm sure, and he brought me some gifts! A great CGN 23257 that'll get a new pot this week and a whole slew of pods, some really cool new crosses.

Gonna try to get through these this week. Luckily only about a half dozen are supers (try not to do more than one or two of those a day). The rest are pretty reasonable. Got to race the mold (seems to be what happens when I leave them out too long... do you guys ever fridge peppers? does that trash the seed?)I tried two today.

A crown jewel. Jason's BB7 cross. Looks much like a bubblegum, but it's got some serious girth.

And some serious gnarliness.

Look at that red calyx. Too much heat for just the pod... the whole plant was lit.

There ya go. Oil galore. I popped that first slice in my mouth and chewed for a good long time. Heat was crazy, but balanced. That or my mouth went numb (starting to thing this is happening to me a bunch). I definitely got a sweet, red richness with a lot of depth. Plenty of hearty fruitiness, like cherries, and a little pungent, maybe like aniseed. I thought I had it under control... my mouth was burning, but pleasantly. So I chopped off the bottom of the pod and tried it too. Definitely a sweet pod, but not candy sweet like the 7 pot yellow. Richer, with a pretty good ranged.

Now I'm overconfident. I think "can't let this wonderful pod go to waste" so I chomp the other half. Too much. The throat heat hit. Then the stomach. Then the cap cramps. Luckily nothing that knocked me over, but I probably should have stopped at the second bite.

Today with lunch I also tried this guy:

Pimenta de Neyde cross. Fantastic flavor on this guy. Obviously those red genes dominate, but the heat was maybe a low hab, or thai. Very tasty. I think I'll have the other one while I write up my notes tonight.

Got a ton of these guys to get through. Racing the mold. Wish me luck. Thanks again Jason! And thanks to all of THP for being awesome.