maxcaps 2014 grow: avoiding the freeze!

Hello All,
 
New here, but feeling right at home. I figured I'd go ahead and get my glog started, though I may wait a few weeks yet before starting anything.
 
I'm pretty new, not totally new. I had a small grow last year, mostly in containers, bringing up plants that I hoped would make cool overwinter bonsai's (bonchi's). I ordered a handful of different varieties from http://fataliiseeds.net, all  95% of which sprouted nicely, though something must have gone wrong because many never grew true leaves. I think my house was too cold... I've moved now and now have an excellent heating system. I also kept the seeds by a window that I think got too drafty. 
 
I did have a handful of chinenses survive, including a wonderful Red Habanero from fataliiseeds, and some chiero roxa plants that produced a handful of tasty purple pods. I purchased some local Scotch Bonnett starts from a small scale nursery, and grew jalapeños and serrano starts from a local nursery. It's safe to say I am now addicted, as all these fire worked its way into my family's weekly diet. I have a 12'X8' plot begging for plants, and I may do some extra in containers...
 
Enough background. Here's the plan. As jalapeños (salsa, roasted, and canned) are not a staple, I want to grow a handful of varieties. The chinenses have amazing flavors, so I'm going to branch out with two or three new varieties (though sadly I did not save any scotch bonnet seeds from the last season... what is wrong with me?). Last year I tried some super hot varieties... none lived. I am going to try again! I actually ordered most of these seeds before stumbling upon this wonderful community. In any event, here is the lineup:
 
Chinenses:
 
Red Habanero (seeds kept and OW bonchi (thanks fatalii)
Chiero Roxa (seeds kept, may use OW bonchi, haven't decided)
Scotch Bonnett (forgot to keep seeds, but I can replant OW bonchi)
White Habanero (seeds from Pepper Joe, should arrive soon...)
Chocolate Habanero (seeds from Pepper Joe, should also arrive soon)
Fatali (from pepperlover.com)
Big Sun Habernero (from pepperlover)
 
Superhot Chinenses:
 
Carolina Reaper (seeds from PuckerButt)
Naga Morich (seeds from PuckerButt)
Bhut Jolokia (seeds from PuckerButt)
Dorset Naga (seeds from PuckerButt)
7 pod (from pepperlover.com)
 
Other Superhot:
 
Tiepin (seeds from PuckerButt)
 
Annuums:
 
Poblanos (from Pepper Joe... growing to Acho's to use as powder base)
Giant Jalapeño (from Pepper Joe)
Early Jalapeño (from Pepper Joe)
Black Jalapeño (from Pepper Joe)
Purple Jalapeño (from Pepper Joe)
Fresno Pepper (from Pepper Joe)
 
Wish I had found you guys sooner, I'd have added some douglah's to the list. I am also on the fence about adding a couple more chinense varieties. 
 
Also growing some companions. Planning on putting in a couple tomato plants, garlic, cilantro, and carrots (had a lot of luck with tasty fat purple carrots... atomic purple I think they were called)
 
Will post some picks of my OW bonchi's tomorrow, and start going into techniques. On the fence about coffee-filter germination versus sowing in a tray.

 

[Devv]

Nice reviews Adam! A Reaper and a Primo in one day? Can you say a gluten for punishment?
 
Glad to see your garden is still kicking them out. You've done really well this year! You'll be  a force to be reckoned with once you plant in dirt!

 

[maximumcapsicum]

Schedule is filling up. Got a bunch of deadlines this Fall.
 
The plants are huge now, but they're slowing down a bit. I've noticed that the bhuts tend to stress themselves out in a pulse, yellowing new growth while the pods hit max size and then greening up again.
 

Mystery green x datil & not cream fatalii (no heat red guy).

 
Sure was tasty either way! Need to do some more tasting soon! Summer is running out.
 

Thanks for reviews Adam. I'm glad to see your still pulling pods. Your grow has been amazing. Especially what Mother Nature threw at ya in the beginning. You definitely deserve the fruits of your labor this year. Heres to many more bountiful grows.

Have a great weekend.

Oh that Silverback is amazing. Unbelievable the strength they have. Amazing creatures. I miss the San Diego Zoo. Wish I could see them in the wild.

 
Thanks man! The plants are tired but huge! They're still working for me. I've been aging or smoking most the reds so haven't done a ton of tasting, but there is a bunch of year left.
 

Nice reviews Adam! A Reaper and a Primo in one day? Can you say a gluten for punishment?
 
Glad to see your garden is still kicking them out. You've done really well this year! You'll be  a force to be reckoned with once you plant in dirt!

 
Thanks Scott! That really burnt me up. Had major cap cramps that day. They sure were tasty though. It'll be a while before I'm taking care of a permanent patch of dirt... will probably be in boxes for the next couple seasons too. Tons of time to learn though... one day my farm will look like yours   .
 
Sorry for quiet days... I've been pedal to the medal this week, and will be as much as I can. Did visit the plots today though (I get down there every day). Doing daily pulls now to prevent bursting pods and to streamline my garden time.
 

 
Got tons of greens on the plants now. Three or four nice branches of grade A MoA's. Hope they have time to ripen...
 

 
Chiero Roxa is toppin' 4' now. Beautiful plant, but they're competing for space.
 

 
Chintexle is growing on me. At first I was lukewarm on the taste of the pods, but I've been munching on these while I work in the garden and have aquired the taste. Thinking about drying them for sauce fixin's and pizza toppings.
 

 
Boxes are looking great. As you can see it's getting hard to get between them...
 

 
Yellow Bhut is the tallest. Up to my nose now. I think it's going to be taller than me in the next week or so.
 

 
Green Reapers. Taking their time...
 

 
Many of the plants have dropped leaves from the center. I've been keeping them clean as I can. I think it's an air flow/water issue, and there's no light hitting the bottom of the plants so why keep leaves down there?
 

 
Here is where we started on April 2 (plantout).
 

 
Here they are 2/3rds through August. Hard to convey in photos. Can't wait till the plants are too big for me to fit in between.
 
Got tons of sauce and seed drying projects coming up, but they'll have to wait for the weekends. May pickle some bahamian goats and treasures (this is a prolific plant Jason...). Got mold on top of one of my ferments...an onion floated to the top... I should be able to just toss that onion chunk and it'll be fine right?

 

[stickman]

Looks like your garden still has a lot of life left in it Adam... you'll be making pulls into October for sure as the weather cools down for ya. Cheers!

 

[OCD Chilehead]

The garden still looks great Adam. Did you top any plants or did Mother Nature do som work for you? I can't remember. Anyways looks like you still going to have some pulls left.

Thanks for sharing,.

 

[HillBilly Jeff]

Everything is looking great.  I will be feeling your pain shortly with massive pods.  It will be pedal to the metal here shortly too.  Going to be a 2 month blitz and then ripening in the house all the pods that didn't make the end of season cut off.
 
Looking forward to seeing your sauces!!!

 

[GA Growhead]

The Tobago treasures are a great producer! Still looking good.

My garden got beat down today. I ran out of stakes long ago. Many un staked plants were laying on there side. Had to break out the machete and turn branches into supports to get everything back up standing. Luckily I was home today, otherwise I wouldn't have got to them till the morning. It's not good seeing a pod loaded plant on it's side.
I did get plenty of needed rain though.

 

[maximumcapsicum]

The Tobago treasures are a great producer! Still looking good.

My garden got beat down today. I ran out of stakes long ago. Many un staked plants were laying on there side. Had to break out the machete and turn branches into supports to get everything back up standing. Luckily I was home today, otherwise I wouldn't have got to them till the morning. It's not good seeing a pod loaded plant on it's side.
I did get plenty of needed rain though.

 
That's a shame man. One of the advantages of being crammed in two little boxes is the plants keep each other standing. I think I would have lost a couple of annuums if they weren't so packed together. What's your September looking like?
 

Everything is looking great.  I will be feeling your pain shortly with massive pods.  It will be pedal to the metal here shortly too.  Going to be a 2 month blitz and then ripening in the house all the pods that didn't make the end of season cut off.
 
Looking forward to seeing your sauces!!!

 
Thanks HJeff! I am hungry for some peppers. I need to decide what to do with this pile of mixed reds I got going. Probably going to keep it basic, but I got to get saucin'.
 

The garden still looks great Adam. Did you top any plants or did Mother Nature do som work for you? I can't remember. Anyways looks like you still going to have some pulls left.

Thanks for sharing,.

 
Thanks Chuck. It's keeping me busy. I didn't top any plants but I did strip almost all of them below the fork. I think it really helped. I also think it's something the plant will do naturally sometimes to keep its leaves in light-y places. I've noticed the crowded plants tend to drop them from the center sometimes.
 

Looks like your garden still has a lot of life left in it Adam... you'll be making pulls into October for sure as the weather cools down for ya. Cheers!

 
I think it does. It's getting hard to keep up!
 
Had a bunch of routine changes in my life. It's all good, but the long and short of it is classes are back in session and my son is in daycare. I have more time to focus on research than I've had in quite some time, and I am using every second. The downside is I no longer have the downtime to spend in the garden that I had over most of the summer. I made some changes... I've been doing little pulls every time I can rather than doing a really big pull once a week. I've also been doing a lot of freezing and refridgerating. But I haven't been able to update and catch up on glogs as much as I'd like.
 
The garden is a goliath right now. The Yellow Bhut and 7pot Bubblegum are almost as tall as me (5'11") now, though the bubblegum really doesn't make a ton of pods. Also interesting, the bubblegum took a bunch of damage in the April freeze, so it's interesting that it reached such a huge size anyway.
 
Here are some pics:
 

 
Here is the bubblegum with it's tomato buddy.
 

 
More yellow 7's ripening. Tasty bonnet-like pods.
 

 
Sunburned Choco Moruga.
 

 
Grade A MoA's. Hasn't been a super productive plant, but the pods are a nice mellow bonnet.
 

 
If you forced me to pick, I probably like these TFM Bonnets more. This one is huge, thick, and gnarly. Pods are more aromatic, but about the same flavor. Slightly more heat than an MoA. Plant is not very productive.
 

 
Goat's Weed. My favorite flake. Thanks again Jamison. Looks so good I should move it to my balcony.
 

 
Mean looking red bhut with tons of angry warts. My red bhut and indian carbone look about the same. Carbone pods might be a little narrower. Flavor is the same.
 

 
Reaper row. Carolinas, Funkys, and JA habs.
 

 
Bhut row. Tons to pick in there but I'm having wasp issues again. They love the jalapeno plants.
 

 
I've seen three nests down in there. Been knocking them over with a hose in the late evening/early morning then running like hell. It's getting a little old.
 
Pepper Projects:
 
Okay, so my freezer is full and I got a tub full of mixed red pods in the fridge. I've got three ferments going (though there is mold on top of one of them), and unfortunately I don't have time to smoke them. I am thinking about roasting the mixed reds (reapers, bhuts, bb7's) and throwing them in a huge batch of sauce with carrots, onions, and garlic. Does that sound good? 
 
I am hunting good sauce recipes for the yellow and white habs. I may do some more tropical sauces, maybe even give coconut a go. Anyone got any favorite recipes/tips? I am also thinking of just drying a huge batch, but I am hesitant because I am out of smoking time.
 
Thanks for reading!

 

[HillBilly Jeff]

I sure feel ya on the no time aspect of things.  One day off a week keeps me humping.  I too am looking for some sauce recipes and have some ideas of my own too.  Do you ferment any peppers you have frozen ever?  Wondering if that would work ok.  
 
Good luck on your pepper dilemma...perhaps a quick trip to the store for a 5 cufu dorm freezer for the garage? 

 

[MeatHead1313]

Everything looks outstanding Adam! That red bhut looks like it'll be one mean SOB when it's ripe!
Seems a lot of us are in the same predicament, lots of peppers but no recipes lol. I'm in the same boat with my fatalii and yellow bhuts and 7's.

 

[Devv]

I apologize for missing an update Adam, everything is still cranking I see!
 
I think the wasp's like how thick your grow is, mine's more spread out and I've yet to see them try to make a nest in there. But I'm always watching! LB says they like to nest in our Crepe Myrtles that surround the pool...
 
Frozen pods work just fine in a ferment, just let them reach room temp first.
 
Keep it green buddy!

 

[stickman]

+1 on Scott's comment... freezing doesn't hurt the pods if you're gonna ferment 'em, it just makes them flabby when they're thawed since ice crystals puncture the cell walls and the cytosol leaks out... wear gloves when handling them though, since you'll burn otherwise.
 
If time (and smoker availability) is limited, why not make some cooked rather than fermented sauces or dry and grind your pods for powder blends?

 

[OCD Chilehead]

Looking good Adam. I love that Goat Weed plant. Looks like your still getting a lot of color. Nice pics.

Thanks for sharing

 

[maximumcapsicum]

Whoa, almost two weeks. Sorry for the slow replies guys, I have been pulling 6 day weeks. It's cut into pepper time something fierce, but I've managed to keep everything alive and growing. Plants are flooding me actually.
 

I sure feel ya on the no time aspect of things.  One day off a week keeps me humping.  I too am looking for some sauce recipes and have some ideas of my own too.  Do you ferment any peppers you have frozen ever?  Wondering if that would work ok.  
 
Good luck on your pepper dilemma...perhaps a quick trip to the store for a 5 cufu dorm freezer for the garage? 

 
That's the situation. It's good though... things are moving forward at high speed, and I'm still getting a good daily capsaicin fix.
 
I've got some ferments going. They got some mold on the top, but I'll just scrape it off. They smell great.
 
I am going to start drying yellows en mass and get some more sauces going.
 

Everything looks outstanding Adam! That red bhut looks like it'll be one mean SOB when it's ripe!
Seems a lot of us are in the same predicament, lots of peppers but no recipes lol. I'm in the same boat with my fatalii and yellow bhuts and 7's.

 
Thanks Chris! Your package was wonderful man. Your MoA's are a little gentler than mine... your plants must have been pampered. Pod shape is perfect too. Great job man!
 

I apologize for missing an update Adam, everything is still cranking I see!
 
I think the wasp's like how thick your grow is, mine's more spread out and I've yet to see them try to make a nest in there. But I'm always watching! LB says they like to nest in our Crepe Myrtles that surround the pool...
 
Frozen pods work just fine in a ferment, just let them reach room temp first.
 
Keep it green buddy!

 
Wow, no worries man. Things are moving too fast, but I am still growing! Need to make some more time.
 

+1 on Scott's comment... freezing doesn't hurt the pods if you're gonna ferment 'em, it just makes them flabby when they're thawed since ice crystals puncture the cell walls and the cytosol leaks out... wear gloves when handling them though, since you'll burn otherwise.
 
If time (and smoker availability) is limited, why not make some cooked rather than fermented sauces or dry and grind your pods for powder blends?

 
Thanks man! I actually found a fun way to process a ton of peppers into sauces. I based the sauce below on your red recipe, just simplified and cooked a long time.
 

Looking good Adam. I love that Goat Weed plant. Looks like your still getting a lot of color. Nice pics.

Thanks for sharing

 
Thanks man! Yeah Goat's Weed grows like a weed. Hah!
 
Okay, first things first. About a week ago I got a wonderful care package in the mail from Chris. Mail shenanigans gave them a little too much mailbox time, but they taste great! Had one or two a day with lunch, and popped some of the MoA's in the freeze for saucin'.
 

 
Were the long yellow ones aji's? They got a baccatum kind of flavor to 'em. Very nice.
 

 
Bhuts are tall as me these days...
 

 
Yellow Bhut is up to my neck.
 

 
Chintexle is looking great! They're growing faster than I can pick 'em.
 

 
Datils going into peach sauce...
 

 
Here's the daily pull.
 

 
About a week ago I made a cooked sauces building on some of the knowledge and advice I've picked up this season. Based loosely on Rick's red recipe:
 
8 oz reapers, bb7's, and red bhuts. Seeded.
8 oz carrots
1 large sweet onion
8 cloves garlic
1 tsp cinnamon.
1 tbs honey
1 tsp salt
2 cups of white vinegar
1/2 cup filtered water
 
Placed it all in the food processor then in a slow cooker for 8 hours. It cooked down and mellowed out quite nice. Added 3 cups of water, re-processed and let it sit in the fridge for about a week. Too much water, but great flavor. Going to try a similar recipe but with lots of bhuts to compare flavors.
 
Thanks for readin!

 

[Devv]

Been missing you Adam, bhut I understand. Life takes precedence
 
Garden is still looking stellar!
 
You've done a heck of a job this season. You get my award for best raised bed garden!
 
Keep it green man!

 

[HillBilly Jeff]

Looking good.  Bet that sauce was good too.

 

[AZ-Mason]

That sauce sounded great and those plants are growing crazy tall. Those daily pulls must be a pain, huh?   
Have a nice day!

 

[OCD Chilehead]

Thanks for the update Adam. We missed ya. Glad to see your still pullin. Sauce sounds great.

 

[maximumcapsicum]

Been missing you Adam, bhut I understand. Life takes precedence
 
Garden is still looking stellar!
 
You've done a heck of a job this season. You get my award for best raised bed garden!
 
Keep it green man!

 
Thanks man! I haven't had as much time down there as I'd like but the plants are still workin' for me. Tomatoes sure did give me a lot of trouble too. 
 
I'll cherish the devv award (Devvy? Scotty?), and keep on truckin'.
 

Looking good.  Bet that sauce was good too.

 
Thanks man! It's my favorite so far. Tangy and hot. My sister said it just tastes like hot, but I disagree. Just a couple drops on anything writes the ticket.
 

That sauce sounded great and those plants are growing crazy tall. Those daily pulls must be a pain, huh?   
Have a nice day!

 
Thanks man! I am hoping to get a couple more over my head before October. Daily pulls have become impossible, lol. I can get maybe a third of what the plants are putting out in an hour. Great problem to have though.
 

Thanks for the update Adam. We missed ya. Glad to see your still pullin. Sauce sounds great.

 
Thanks Chuck! I'll keep the updates coming. I am just looking for super efficient ways to take care of the plants and process the peppers until next season. And get seeds dried, counted, and shared.
 
Thanks for reading guy! Going to do some more sauces next week and get picks up. What do you guys like pairing with the brown morugas?

 

[stickman]

Very cool that you made cooked sauce with some of your pods... any chance of pics?
 
I hear ya 'bout the shortage of free time brother... it's crazy here too, but I'm sure you'll find a way. Keep on truckin'

 

[Essegi]

All is looking great!
 

Mean looking red bhut with tons of angry warts. My red bhut and indian carbone look about the same. Carbone pods might be a little narrower. Flavor is the same.

Mean for sure!
Looks like i missed an update!

I was suggesting (not that i'm a big sauce maker and i'm not satisfied of mines) to use an apricot (tride and i liked it) or some mango (someone here told me that it's great with peppers) on sauce then i saw you already make yours, it looks a good recipe!!