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:

 

[D3monic]

Awesome to see this thread still kickin!

 

[Inoks]

I'm gonna grow some p. dreadies next year, going to give them a try! going to go hydro for the first time probably!

 

[PaulG]

Pulled a few of the pods from the Papa Dreadie 2018 (I believe.)
There are some great phenotypes still on the plant. Really hoping
they ripen up.

 

[PaulG]

More from the Papa Dreadie 2018 in the #10 container.
Some of the more on-phenotype pods are starting to
ripen up. Will save seeds from the better pheno pods.

I hope everyone participating in this iteration of the Papa Dreadie
memorial grow is having good luck with them. Still waiting for some
nice, ripe pods from the 2020 plants.

 

[MarcV]

Of the four scotch bonnet varieties I'm currently growing, I like the Schneider farms and the Papa Dreadie best. They have a slow building heat and a taste that I can appreciate. I have even managed to eat a whole pod directly from the plant . But in my case that could mean that their heat is not what it should be...

I'm also growing Foodarama yellow which is growing only tiny pods and has a habanero-ish taste that I don't like, and Freeport orange which is way hotter that the others with a heat that hits directly, and in my opinion has a bad taste.

 

[PaulG]

Got any pics of those Dreadies, @MarcV?

 

[MarcV]

Sure, wanted to wait for the sun to come out... but here you go!

Pic of the whole plant. It is a bit unbalanced because of a branch that broke of at some point...

Some pics of the fruits...

 

[PaulG]

Alright @MarcV, things are looking up
there in Schoten. I like the 'golf ball' shape some of the
Dreadie pods have.

 

[MarcV]

The pod shape has changed somewhat over time. In the beginning the pods had a more stretched shape. The "true" bonnet shape is a minority. Most seem to have this golf ball shape...

 

[PaulG]

The pod shape has changed somewhat over time. In the beginning the pods had a more stretched shape. The "true" bonnet shape is a minority. Most seem to have this golf ball shape...

My experience as well, @MarcV. This season with hot days
and much warmer nighttime temperatures caused the
plant to set more of the ‘real’ pods. True of the Scorpions
and Fatalis, as well as the Beth Boyd Scotch Bonnets.

 

[PaulG]

These pods from the 2020 strain. In general the pods
on the 2018 plants are showing more of the true bonnet shape.

 

[PaulG]

The Papa Dreadie pods are ripening quickly,
I may even get them all before the cold weather
starts to set in for real.

Left, the 2020 seed pods, right, the 2018. Pretty
much shows the general differences between the
two in the latest round of ripening.

 

[PaulG]

Some rain in the weekend forecast, so pulled a bunch of the Papa Dreadies.

I left a half-dozen 2018 pods on the plant to ripen up a bit more.

The pod on the right has a few of the little ’spikes’
that I saw on one of the pods in one of the previous
posts.

 

[MarcV]

Little harvest of today... Schneider Farms on the left, Papa Dreadie on the right... they have a reasonably good bonnet shape now.

And my first bonchi attempt. This one is a Freeport Orange scotch bonnet. I'm planning to do the same with the Papa Dreadie as soon as there are no more fruits to pick

 

[PaulG]

Looks like a little bit of bonnet heaven there, @MarcV!

 

[MarcV]

Yep, I'm really starting to like them. Didn't expect that actually. I was always an "annuum guy" . Not anymore!

 

[PaulG]

Yep, I'm really starting to like them. Didn't expect that actually. I was always an "annuum guy" . Not anymore!

I guess you can teach an 'old dog' new tricks

 

[PaulG]

Final pulls from the P. Dreadies.

2018 - best of the phenotypes so far.

2020 pods.

 

[MarcV]

Picked a large one today and decided to eat it whole... Took out just a little bit of the placenta just to not have all the seeds in my mouth.

That was a HOT experience! About as hot as I can handle I guess. My tongue was really on fire . Luckily it faded rather quickly...

 

[MarcV]

Trying bonsai for the first time... Papa Dreadie on the left, Freeport Orange (from my previous post) on the right. The third one, a Schneider Farms bonnet plant, is not on the photos.
The Freeport Orange does look a lot nicer. It was also much better shaped to create a bonsai from as it has more low branches.