P. Dreadie Memorial Group Grow 2016

Long-time THP veterans mourned the loss last August of Amarillo, Texas musician/songwriter/silversmith/chilehead Erin Mason, known to us here on the boards as P. Dreadie. Erin was an enigma, one of the most interesting and creative, yet gentle and loving guys I ever knew. Many of us may be unaware that he played harmonica in one of the original Austin, Texas bands of the early 1970s "Cosmic Cowboy" era, Alvin Crow and the Pleasant Valley Boys. When Erin decided to step off of Alvin's perpetually-touring bus and return to Amarillo, he travelled to Jamaica, fell in love with the Reggae beat, collected the best Scotch Bonnet fruit he could find, and his alter-ego Papa Dreadie was born.

In 2013 Erin sent me a few pods of the Scotch Bonnets he had been breeding, carefully selected descendants of the original fruit he brought back from the Caribbean all those years ago. I harvested every single seed from those pods, and stored them away, as I focused increasing attention on other varieties. When his wife Liz gave us the news last August that Erin had passed, I knew what I had to do with those seeds: a community grow in his memory. I have already shared about half of them, and I will continue to share them with experienced growers of the Scotch Bonnet until they are gone.

Papa Dreadie Scotch Bonnet Select, grown by Erin in 2013:

Lifetime memories posted by Liz Mason on Erin's FB page. Liz is an extremely talented professional photographer:

The legendary bus:

 

[CMJ]

Can you post a pic of the calyx? It looks like some type of bonnet/bbg cross to me.

 

[Ghaleon]

It seems to me that some variant on the Scotch Bonnet is in every chilihead's top 10.

 

[Sawyer]

This is a 3 y.o. from the original seed Gary sent:

It's in a friend's fenced-in garden in a larger fenced-in yard with a rodent-killing machine roaming at will in the yard.

It was a little slow to get started this year, but is kicking it now. I'll cut out the dead wood next time I visit.

 

[ShowMeDaSauce]

Finally got podage!!!....and they are really starting to grow too. Tell you what though, there is no comparison to my 2 MOAs. Even some of my low heat/no heat chinense are producing better. The MOAs are just off the charts on pod production. One of them has so many i cant even count them all.

 

[Sawyer]

Here are some updated photos of the plant in my previous post.

It has at least two or three dozen pods on it. The close up is of the largest so I assume these are the first to set. Other pods are much more canonical in shape. I broke off the one I tried to get a close up of, so I figured I should quit while I was ahead.

I'm a little concerned about the wrinkled leaves, but given its rate of growth and the fact it's covered in buds and blooms, I'm not going to worry too much about it.

It's in an urban residential back yard and as far as I can tell, none of the neighbors have a garden. It's next to a large native bee balm plant and the only pollinators observed are bumblebees and they seem preoccupied with the Monarda. So there's a good chance the seeds from this plant will be isolated.

Fwiw, the plant is sharing its pot with a native jewelweed, some native blue-eyed grass, and a couple of dwarf marigolds.

 

[Sawyer]

Finally got podage!!!....and they are really starting to grow too. Tell you what though, there is no comparison to my 2 MOAs. Even some of my low heat/no heat chinense are producing better. The MOAs are just off the charts on pod production. One of them has so many i cant even count them all.

I see your first pod is kind of oddly shaped, too. Hopefully both our plants start producing the desired shapes soon.

I bet your plant will start loading up soon.

 

[ShowMeDaSauce]

I got 5 Dreadies and 1 decent pod to show for it atm. They are starting to kick in gear though. No flower loss just no flowers to speak of. My best one sorta stalled and i gave it a heavier shot of nutrients including some calcium nitrate. That snapped it out of its slump. The pic is of the 2nd best plant which pulled ahead during the slump. Ive got 3 more in another area much further away from other plants. I didn't see any flowers on them yet.

 

[CMJ]

Awesome looking plants! I got some Dreadies in an sfrb last year, but the seeds are turning out to be some sort of cross. Can anyone help a guy out with some seeds for next year?

 

[Sawyer]

Awesome looking plants! I got some Dreadies in an sfrb last year, but the seeds are turning out to be some sort of cross. Can anyone help a guy out with some seeds for next year?

Assuming no disasters, I should have plenty.

 

[Walchit]

I have a couple plants. I will have to hunt them down out in the garden and get you guys some pics. If they have pods I sure haven't noticed yet lol

 

[ShowMeDaSauce]

Yeah, i just a bit surprised how slow these are to produce flowers and pods considering ive got 2 MOAs, Ghost and a Naga in the same area. All of them are loaded with pods. Ive got a Aji Dulce though that just started too so.......
 
More than likely just genetics. The main stem on the Dreadies is beefy and its obvious they are all still growing. The others have slowed on growing and are much larger too.

 

[ShowMeDaSauce]

Checked them all just a minute ago. We had several days of cooler temps and rain. Biggest one with the pod is budding/flowering up nice. It probably even has some super tiny pods on it. Largest one (of the 3) on the lower patio is starting to bud but no flowers yet.

 

[Chewi]

I've got a second year plant from seeds Erin sent to Meatfreak.
Cut it back to a stub in December as you can see. Thought it was dead but there was a sliver of green so I saved it:
It is throwing early season pods which are always fun.
 
 
A favorite early season one is this:

 
As the season goes on they will be more traditionally shaped. Getting close now:

 

 
Sure they are out of order, but you get the picture.

They are very tasty and it I hope you guys enjoy them like I do!
 
Soon as these get ripe a few days I'll have seeds to share.
 
 
 

 

[ShowMeDaSauce]

My best Dreadie is starting to kick it in gear.

 
The 3 i have in another spot are growing good but still no sign of buds.

 
2 on the left next to the mystery "Naga" and a ghost...imgur is being a PITA about uploading too many at one time.....pics soon
 
Got it

 
 
 
 

 

[Thegreenchilemonster]

My P. Dreadie scotch bonnets are starting to pod up pretty well, now.

 

[Edmick]

I've got about 4 p. dreadies growing. This is one of them. Some giant leaves on this thing too.

 

[ShowMeDaSauce]

Mine are all podding up nice now. Not real heavy but not bad either. One pod is almost ready. Most of the rest are still on the smaller side.

 

[ShowMeDaSauce]

Welllllllll, it appears i may have spoken a bit too soon on the pod counts. I just went outside to view all the bounty the Lord has provided and........
 
Almost ripe, its still green on the other side

 
And yeah these bad boys just pod when they are damn good and ready to pod.

 

[Malarky]

finally got some good pods coming in the second wave
hoping that Dale's dreadie didn't cross with his reaper lol

 

[ShowMeDaSauce]

The 3 Dreadies i got on the lower patio have a better shape. Much more like a bonnet than the 2 i have on my deck. None of my CCN MOA yellows last year had much of a bonnet shape. Pretty much all the deck Dreadie pods look similar to last years MOAs.