NH Jalapeños 2018

 
This is Runty (photo taken on 6/26/2018). Runty is the smallest of a flat of six starter jalapeños we bought from the local garden store. Because he was so small I planted him straight into a 6" self watering pot. I don't use the self watering feature, it's just a pot I had on hand. I've found self watering leaves salt deposits on the surface of the soil and I don't like that. If you look close you can see a visiting grey tree frog among the punky wood mulch.
 
A few weeks before this photo was taken something cut him in half. I suspect a particularly bold chipmunk that was hanging out on our deck. I topped the other Jalas we bought in mid June and was gonna let Runty run free, but apparently the chipmunk had other plans.
 

 
This is runty today (no frog this time). I'm focusing this glog on Runty for now because he is going to win the bloom race. I made some critical drainage errors with my other Jalas and they seem to be a week or so behind. I'll take pics of them and pics of the seriously hurting mystery peppers and seriously hurting Hungarian Hot wax I'm growing as well. But those will be later updates.
 
My goal, other than delicious jalapeños, is to collect seeds from plants that can handle New Hampshire's annoyingly short and unpredictable growing season. So far we've had nights in the high 30's in June and a 7 day heat wave in July, followed immediately by a night in the 40's. The upcoming week is looking perfect. Highs in the 80s, nights around 60. I figure the first plant to bloom and set fruit will be the one I collect seeds from for this project, and Runty is in the lead. I have to keep reminding myself that we still have most of July, and all of Aug and Sept. October is kind of a wild card.
 
He's on our deck which gets about 5 hours of direct sunlight and then dappled for the afternoon. We've had success with plants on the deck in the past even with the short light. I've placed 4 of the other Jalas in the front yard which gets 7-8 hours of direct light and one in the back yard which gets closer to 4 hours. Figured I'd just see how they do even though I think I can guess. What I do know is we've had better results with peppers the size of Jalas / Hot Wax or smaller. Anything bigger and we're lucky to get one or two peppers on a plant.
 
I think that's it for now. Just wanted to get the glog started. I'm really impressed by all your grows! I won't be going as big or as hot. Jalas are about my heat limit.

 

[peppamang]

rad. jalapenos are one of my favs. homegrown always tastes better

 

[timegoat]

Alright, just zipped out for some pics of the rest. First up, Front Yard Jalapeños #1-4. They're short but budding well. All of these were bought as starter plants from the local garden store.
 

 
 
Front Yard Mystery Peppers. They're just starting to show bud sign. I started all the mystery peppers in an Aero Garden and hardened them off properly. They got off to a great start then my drainage failure started to take effect. I re-potted everything in late June to address said issue. The Jalas are recovering much better than the mystery peppers.
 

 
 
Hurting Hot Wax #1 (left), and 2 hurting mystery peppers on deck. Hot wax were started in Aero Garden and we not hardened off at all. Lessons so very learned, but Hot Wax is showing buds. No pics of the other three Hot Wax... they're just too sad.
 

 
 
The last 2 hurting mystery peppers on deck. (That's Runty in the front left corner of the first pic).
 

 
My drainage issue was dumb. The years I've been successful I'd blocked the holes with window screen allowing water to flow freely. The last couple years I got 'clever' and just jammed small stones into the gaps thinking it would be good enough. When I re-potted these guys this year the bottom of the soil was mud. I won't make that mistake again. This year I blocked the holes with coconut coir and we are free draining once more. I'm already planning next year's grow with this year's lessons in mind.
 

 

[timegoat]

rad. jalapenos are one of my favs. homegrown always tastes better

 
Don't they? I freaking love 'em.
 

 

[timegoat]

And I almost forgot. Two of the mystery peppers were behind the rest so I just kept them in the Aero Garden. They're looking amazing.
 

 
And the seed packet with no color code to tell me what is what.
 

 
 

 

[timegoat]

I wasn't going to post an update till Runty bloomed, but then this happened yesterday afternoon. Taken out my front window. This explains the bear sized hole in our blackberries. They're not even close to ripe yet!
 

 

[CaneDog]

Hope he doesn't like Jalepenos. I doubt Runty could survive a bear-sized hole like the blackberries.
 
Indoor plants are looking great and hopefully lots of fresh Jalep's in your future.  Post 'em up when they show up!

 

[timegoat]

Hope he doesn't like Jalepenos. I doubt Runty could survive a bear-sized hole like the blackberries.
 
Indoor plants are looking great and hopefully lots of fresh Jalep's in your future.  Post 'em up when they show up!

 
I'm kinda hoping one of the mystery peppers is sweet and hot. I'd gladly sacrifice a pod if it makes the bear think twice about messing with my plants. Indoor plants have reached capacity and I think I see a hint of ripening on the little one. Once ripening begins I'll take a photo and ask for an id. I'm 99% certain that the little one is not represented on the package.
 
No open buds yet on the Jalapeños, but I took some better pics:
 
First up, Runty's biggest bud.

 
Jalapeño #1 (J1 - Front Yard. I don't think I topped this one.)

 
 
Jalapeño #2 (J2 - Front Yard)

 
 
Jalapeño #3 (J3 - Front Yard)

 
 
Jalapeño #4 (J4 - Front Yard)

 
Moving along slow but steady. Can't seem to get my camera to focus on #5 in the back yard, but when I can, I'll post a pic. With the least light, #5 is definitely behind the rest. Waiting for the fist blooms to open is the part that tries my patience. Oh well.
 
p.s. I'm gonna start earlier next year and I'm already taking some seeds for a test drive for my planned starting ideas. I want to start them in plastic cups, in dirt, under the Aerogarden lights. Time will tell.

 

[timegoat]

And we have a 4 way Jalapeño tie! But only pics of three of them since my camera's auto focus is not behaving. Anyway...
 
Runty!

 
#3

 
#4

 
#1 is the 4th to open today, but like I said, auto focus issues. This is perfect, if my notes are correct it's about a month from bloom to ripening so we should be blooming for the rest of the month+ which puts ripening at the end of Aug+. I typically only get one harvest so getting the timing down is important. Going to let nature take it's course and collect seeds from the first ripe pods. The mystery peppers are all a week or so behind so no worries about cross breeding.
 
Ahhhh.... all is right with the world.

 

[timegoat]

After that last batch of pics I screened some compost and gave everything about a 1/2" top dress and watered them well. 2 days later we got an inch of rain, the plants are looking better than ever.
 
Runty

 
Bonnie Plant Havasu rescued from hardware store beginning of July.

 
Hurtin' Hungarian Hot Wax #1. I basically tried to kill this when I did everything wrong. If it could put up with my nonsense and our weather, then I want it's seeds.

 
Jalapeño #5. Moved this one up to the deck from the back garden.

 
Jalapeño #1. Going nuts. Untopped, best of the bunch.

 
Jalapeño #4. Topped. Also going nuts, but a little behind #1.

 
Mystery Pepper, Red Seed #1. Smallest seeds in the packet, biggest plant, small buds, fine hairs on new growth. No clue what it is, but looking forward to finding out.

 
Things are moving along. Nothing compared to the forests you guys are growing, but moving along. Should have a handful or two of something this year and that's better than nothing.

 

[timegoat]

So... is it normal for a jalapeño to have a flower with 5 petals, one with 6, and a third with 7? I've never really paid too much attention to petal count until I saw this.
 

 

[timegoat]

Good news / Bad news.
 
Good News: Everything not only survived 6+" of rain in six days but they all seem to be thriving.
 
Bad News: The Jalapeños I bought from the garden store are not pure Jalapeños. I don't know what they crossed with but I will post photos when the pods develop further. Runty appears to be the exception and is the most Jalapeñoish of the bunch.
 
p.s. (added in edit) Also in the Bad News file, lightning took out both my 9 pod aerogardens. Moved the Probably Tobasco and I Think It's Cowhorn into pots and put them outside. We'll see if they survive.

 

[CaneDog]

Better thriving unknowns than dead "I Know It's Jalapenos."  Sucks about the aerogardens though.
 
Still pulling for Runty.

 

[timegoat]

Better thriving unknowns than dead "I Know It's Jalapenos."  Sucks about the aerogardens though.
 
Still pulling for Runty.

 

True. I just hope they're not super hot. My wife and I are lightweights. Time will tell! As far as Runty goes, he's looking great:
 

 
Also, Hurtin' Hungarian Hot Wax is hurtin' no more:
 

 
If Runty's pod ripens I'll have seeds for next year. It was the first bloom on the deck. All the other first blooms were in the front yard on the other side of the house. I'm pretty sure the aerogarden plants are gonna make it too. Tobasco was in mid ripening and is looking good. Cowhorn had reached capacity and we're just waiting for ripening too. Got 4 ripe pods off Tobasco, snagged the seeds, and dried them up with a batch of jerky. We had a cowhorn on our pizza last night and it was pretty good. A little thin walled but taste and heat were nice.
 
Lots of learning this year... every year.

 

[timegoat]

Likely Serrano
 

 
 
Runty!
 

 
 
Hurtin' Hungarian Hot Wax #1
 

 
 
I may have panicked with the other Jalapeños. They're shaping up properly(?), I think they may just be a little wonky. I need to take some close up pics of them.  We've had several more inches of rain since the last post with more to come. I'm just happy that I got my container mix right so the rain doesn't seem to be a problem. Dunno what I'm going to do with the 40+ gallons of rain water I've collected, but as problems go, that's a good one to have.

 

[timegoat]

Wonky Jalapeños #1-4
 

 

 

[CaneDog]

Chili's are looking good.  Big changes over the last 6 weeks and still a good amount of time left in the season!  - how long does you growing season last?
 
A benefit of smaller plants is you can move then inside to finish up at the end of the season if needed and if any aphids come in with them they're easier to deal with.

 

[timegoat]

Thanks! And yeah, the improvement is great. Didn't think I was going to make it after stunting everything for all of June. Our reliable season lasts until about Mid-Sept, then things get unpredictable. Nights will start getting into the 40's late Sept - early Oct possibly even below freezing for a night or two. It's really a guessing game. Some years we can push it into late October, some years we can have a foot of snow for Halloween. So, I just bank on Mid-Sept and anything beyond that is bonus time. The way things are going we should have a good ripe harvest in time. This is why I bought the Aerogardens in the first place, so we could have something fresh during our long winters.
 
I plan on bringing Runty in for the winter and one of the other Hurtin' Hot Waxes is also in a 6" pot. I've got a stunted Cayenne that was started way too late that will be coming inside in a 6" as well. We've overwintered a Jalapeño before and had an aphid issue then. A bottle of some kind of insecticidal soap got the problem licked.
 
Speaking of the Aerogardens, here are the two rescues:
 
P. Tobasco
 

 
 
ITI. Cowhorn
 

 

[timegoat]

Ok, so I just wanted to get a clear picture of why I freaked about Jalapeños #1-4. In the picture below, #1 and #3 look the same. #2 is different, and #4 looks like a combo of the other 3. Runty and #5 are on the back deck so they're not included in this pic. I don't know why #2 is different but it was about a week or two behind the others and it's buds were significantly bigger than the others. All 6 plants came from the same seedling flat at the local garden store.
 

 

[timegoat]

Put a couple of the ITI Cowhorn Aerogarden rescues to good use last night. They. Were. Delicious!
 

 
Also, Now that I've got pods on Jalas both in front (~9hrs light) and back (~5hrs light) I can see the obvious. The plants out front are half the height with twice the pods than the plants out back. However, even though the plants out back are growing slower they also appear to be growing steadier than those out front. If I can figure out a better way to describe what I'm talking about, I'll post it.