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Next to My Chair

Been thinking about it.. pretty sure I'm growing peppers because I'm bored.  Like, deeply, existentially bored.  Plus, a little harmless pain never hurt anybody, right?  Hell, it's probably even good for you.  We'll see if those are good enough reasons, I guess.  I bought me some "Scotch Bonnet Orange" seeds from Amazon before I found you fine folk, lurked around here for a while, then planted them anyway along with other, infinitely less suspect seeds I ordered from far flung places around the globe(!) as recommended by the very venerable Vendor Vault.  I've got them growing here by my chair.  I sit here and read. (The wall to my right as I took this picture is lined with bookshelves I'm slowing filling as I try to forget the world each afternoon.  Mostly scifi the last few years.)  It would be distracting to have a big boxy tent looming over me, so I've just got them sitting there on a cardboard box.  I hope to replace the box with a little table here soon.
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My rig consists of something like a quarter of the full Amazon Indoor Garden of Tomorrow-orrow-orrow-orrow ®.  This LED light I got is something else, man.  It's REALLY bright!  Paper towel germination, used a few Jiffy pellets, stuck some seeds straight in some old Miracle Grow I had, kept them in the Jiffy box there until they sprouted.  I'm glad to be rid of that Jiffy dome now; it was a pain in the ass.  Ahh.. let's see.. I'm mixing CNS17 Grow into RO/DI water, testing and adjusting up with GH pH kit, pouring it over my little darlings there in about 3:1 coco:perlite.  Just culled and potted up today to 3.5 inches.  All seems to be going well except for some slight canoeing of leaves, which I'm ready to blame on the 24% humidity (We wake up half mummified in the winter.  I know - grow tent.) and a few early spills on my rug.  Trying to keep it simple and not drive myself crazier futzing with dozens of parameters here, so I'm not going to sweat it unless things turn worse.  I'm not!  Worry verges on religion with me, so this will either be therapeutic or turn out to have been a bad idea.. 
Any and all comments or criticisms are very welcome and I thank you all most warmly for having me and schooling me and reading my noodlings! 
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P. Dreadies and MOAs.
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'Twas precisely a pound of Dreadies. 
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Chili peppers, onion, garlic, salt. Saute. Add water. Cook. 
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Cool. Blend. Add vinegar and sugar. Blend again. Looks like baby food. Tastes amazing. My first hot sauce! 
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stettoman said:
I grew a Papa Dreadie one year that looked like these, between Windchicken and I we determined it was a Dreadie/Bonda Mahalla cross...One VERY aggressive aroma!
 
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I recognize that scale. Mine is uglier. It's been used at least twice a day, every day, for the last 12 years. I wish wally had another one just like it.
 
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Lemon Drop.  He's quite large.
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Orange bonnet.  The heat wave a couple weeks ago was really hard on him.
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Orange bonnet pods.  Doesn't really show in the picture, but there are SO many.  Will have to take them down and process them soon.
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Yellow bonnet.  Gave these away because I just couldn't.  Friend who took them says he sucks at gardening, but likes to make fermented sauces.  The cooked sauce I've made from them is really tasty.
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This is the clone of the brown DouglahT vole plant I kept.  Not sure I'll get pods from this guy.
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Taking down bowlfuls like this.
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I've got more oranges than I know what to do with.  They make delicious powder.  I made one batch of sauce from them (WAY hotter than the yellow bonnets) and have dried all the rest for powder. I sat for three hours seeding and slicing last weekend.
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Haven't been around much; haven't had much to say.  A little blasphemy: I'm really enjoying the powders and sauces I've made, but I'm getting sick of growing and processing chili peppers.  I just bit off too big a bite for my first go at this.  I will scale things back considerably next year.
 
Hope everybody's well.  Thanks for stopping by.
 
Uncle_Eccoli said:
Haven't been around much; haven't had much to say.  A little blasphemy: I'm really enjoying the powders and sauces I've made, but I'm getting sick of growing and processing chili peppers.  I just bit off too big a bite for my first go at this.  I will scale things back considerably next year.
 
Hope everybody's well.  Thanks for stopping by.
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E, I know exactly how you feel. I used to go out and check my babies every day but now all I see are pods that need harvesting and then I need to decide what to do with them. It's also too damn hot outside and I come back drenched with sweat. I hope that in a few months, it's cooler and I have more appetite to fiddle with the plants.
 
I've started making a few sauces because it's relatively easy - just bung peppers in a blender with a few other things and add vinegar to the desired pH. Although now they're starting to dominate the fridge - I bet my wife asks me to move them soon.
 
I'm awfully sorry I haven't been attending everybody's glogs; I am burnt out on chili pepper growing.  I've lost most of the light on the deck, seems most of my plants have given me their last flushes, will start breaking things down soon. 
 
I managed to drown my giant Lemon Drop recently - realized my mistake a few days before Peter posted his large Kratky refill video.  Felt pretty stupid, but I have so many Lemon Drops.  I hope they make good powder.
 
The only plant I'm really interested in anymore is this clone of my vole-killed DouglahT.  He's done really well since I got him in the bucket and outside.  Barring any disasters, I'm sure I'll get at least a few good pods.
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I grew too many plants this year.  I've been mildly disgusted with myself for getting to a point where I'm just sick of tending pepper plants, but that's been fading lately.  While I'm disappointed I wasn't able to maintain my enthusiasm through the entire season, I'm proud of all I've learned and what I've accomplished.  I've grown several varieties from seed to mature plants and ripe pods by a few different methods indoors and out, and have enjoyed my own homemade powders and sauces.  There is no doubt in my mind that I would not have been nearly so successful if not for the knowledge, guidance, support, and camaraderie I have found in you, the fine folk of THP.  A thousand gratitudes to all of you.
 
I will start later and limit my grow to four or five plants next year.  Right now I'm thinking a yellow bonnet for sauce, a superhot for powder (really enjoying my Reaper powder), maybe the Freeport Orange again (everybody loves that powder, too - I've given away a lot of it), and Sugar Rush Peach for sweet and snacky. 
 
I'll be looking for truly giant Kraty containers over the winter.  
 
I can definitely understand how someone can get burned out growing. Your grow has been successful and you have accomplished things I've never tried. As much as I like seeing tube massive grow operations on this site, most of us could never use all of those peppers. Good luck finishing off strong and next season as well.
 
I forgot to mention the red "DouglahT" pods disappointed me somewhat.  The fresh pods have an incredible aroma and flavor.  Cherry with a touch of rose.  Really strong, too.  Amazing.  That flavor wasn't preserved in the powder I made from them, so I made a sauce a couple days ago.  No dice.  The strong cherry flavor is undetectable in the sauce, too.  Bummer.  I saved seeds, but I doubt I'll grow them next year.
 
 
CaneDog said:
There's something to learn every season it seems. Hopefully next season, knowing what to expect now, your grow will be the right fit for you.  You don't seem to have any trouble getting strong production from each plant!
 
I'm curious, how did the transplant reaper turn out for your brother?
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I started so many figuring I'd screw up and kill half of them.  I screwed up, of course, but the plants turned out to be more resilient than I'd imagined.
 
So many pods.  I've become fairly proficient at seeding and slicing them.  Lots in the freezer, too.
 
The Reaper transplant never came off.  It stayed in the ground behind my house and was eventually almost totally denuded by a deer or hornworm or something.  It grew new leaves but the plant was never the same after that.  I gave my brother a few plants off the deck instead, which actually worked out better for everyone; he didn't have to dig a hole and we got to walk around on the deck again.
 
 
 
Mr.joe said:
I can definitely understand how someone can get burned out growing. Your grow has been successful and you have accomplished things I've never tried. As much as I like seeing tube massive grow operations on this site, most of us could never use all of those peppers. Good luck finishing off strong and next season as well.
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Thanks Mr. Joe!  No way I'll get through all this sauce and powder before next year's plants start producing.
 
 
 
Hey unc, that DouglahT sounds astonishing, too bad you can't extract the flavor in powder form or hot sauce... :(

Is it the cross that's often referred to as Sepia Serpent?

And I hear ya on the downscaling next year, although looking at my growlist this is already never gonna happen for me... ;)

Sent from my LYA-L29 using Tapatalk
 
Uncle_Eccoli said:
I forgot to mention the red "DouglahT" pods disappointed me somewhat.  The fresh pods have an incredible aroma and flavor.  Cherry with a touch of rose.  Really strong, too.  Amazing.  That flavor wasn't preserved in the powder I made from them, so I made a sauce a couple days ago.  No dice.  The strong cherry flavor is undetectable in the sauce, too.  Bummer.  I saved seeds, but I doubt I'll grow them next year.
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Hey Unc. High temps strip the sugars and change the taste bigtime. Try drying some at a really low temperature (like below 105) so they qualify as dehydrated raw.
 
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