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:

 

[Sawyer]

 
Hey Eric! Thanks so much for doing that, and thanks everyone here for your continued interest in Erin's wonderful pepper. Yes, those plants were OP, but there were 12 of them together, in a whole other area of the garden, so I'm thinking the seeds should be reliable. I would love to do a big isolated grow of the Papa Dreadie, but I am already committed for a couple of big iso grows of our beloved Louisiana varieties this year. I will be watching y'all's progress with great interest though!!!

I worry about the genetic impact of saving seeds from a single plant year after year.  I recall a paper authored by Bosland et. al. that claimed a minimum of 60 plants was necessary to maintain the genetic viability of a strain in the long term.
 
In principle, I could achieve that here on my tiny place, but BBM is at the top of my list for this year.  I am trying to persuade a few landowners I know to grow isolated patches, maybe as many as 500 plants per.

 

[Tybo]

I had to go back and read post #1 to find out about this.  RIP Erin Mason.  
I like Scotch Bonnets and would be happy to grow out one of these Papa Dreadies if you have anymore seeds to share.  Let me know if you do and I'll post info in a PM.  

 

[Sawyer]

I had to go back and read post #1 to find out about this.  RIP Erin Mason.  
I like Scotch Bonnets and would be happy to grow out one of these Papa Dreadies if you have anymore seeds to share.  Let me know if you do and I'll post info in a PM.

Cool beans, Tybo, send a PM.

 

[PaulG]

You've got 'em, Paul.
       Thanks, pal!
 
Thanks for your interest, Risto.  I will ask about options next time I'm at the post office.

You can send a packet of seeds in a letter-sized
envelope for one global forever stamp (under an
ounce). I have had no problems doing that.
 
Just regular first class mail. I've done it many times.

 

[windchicken]

I worry about the genetic impact of saving seeds from a single plant year after year.  I recall a paper authored by Bosland et. al. that claimed a minimum of 60 plants was necessary to maintain the genetic viability of a strain in the long term.
 
In principle, I could achieve that here on my tiny place, but BBM is at the top of my list for this year.  I am trying to persuade a few landowners I know to grow isolated patches, maybe as many as 500 plants per.

 
Agreed John! For our iso grows we always try to do at least 60 plants of any one variety, to ensure genetic diversity. It's not practical to use netting in our climate, so we rely on at least 2 miles of physical distance between grows to provide isolation. As you said, I would love to see more growers doing this, and we could simply share our produce amongst ourselves so we could all have several different varieties to taste...

 

[windchicken]

I had to go back and read post #1 to find out about this.  RIP Erin Mason.  
I like Scotch Bonnets and would be happy to grow out one of these Papa Dreadies if you have anymore seeds to share.  Let me know if you do and I'll post info in a PM.  

 
Thanks for checking that out Tybo. There were some real good photos in the original post, but the links are now broken because my image hosting service went away...Considering the continued interest in this thread, I would love to put them back, if I could figure out how to do it without signing up for another service...

 

[Mr.joe]

 
Thanks, Joe, send me a PM with your details if you want some seeds.
 



Thanks, I actually ordered p.dreadie seeds last year when I seen this thread, but they didn't turn out. I'm gonna sit this one out because I've already got more than enough to grow this year. I would love to revisit this idea next year.

 

 

[PaulG]

Wow, great to see so much interest in the P. Dreadie!
 
Getting excited for this! 
 
@windchicken - you gots some awesome ideas, buddy!

 

[windchicken]

Wow, great to see so much interest in the P. Dreadie!
 
Getting excited for this! 
 
@windchicken - you gots some awesome ideas, buddy!

 
Thanks Paul! I'm excited too, and beginning to feel a little jealous that I can't grow Erin's pepper this year! It's good to hear from you bro!

 

[PaulG]

 
Thanks Paul! I'm excited too, and beginning to feel a little jealous that I can't grow Erin's pepper this year! It's good to hear from you bro!

Likewise, Gary! Don't be a stranger!

 

[Downriver]

Man, I keep struggling with this one. I would love to grow Erin's pepper, but I have sooo many on the plate already. But, I really wanna grow it....if i only had the room. BUT, it's just one more variety and I love SB's, sooo.....
 
This is painful I tell ya!
 
I'll keep chewin on it lol.
 
Good on ya for doing this Sawyer. Best of luck to all those who give it a shot this year!

 

[Tybo]

Man, I keep struggling with this one. I would love to grow Erin's pepper, but I have sooo many on the plate already. But, I really wanna grow it....if i only had the room. BUT, it's just one more variety and I love SB's, sooo.....
 
This is painful I tell ya!
 
I'll keep chewin on it lol.
 
Good on ya for doing this Sawyer. Best of luck to all those who give it a shot this year!

 
 
I have a pretty full grow list myself and already had some bonnet varieties on there.  I'm just gonna drop one variety and add the P. Dreadie.  Pretty painless for me that way.
Hope you can find room.  It will be interesting watching everyones grow.  

 

[PaulG]

I sort of thought that this is the Community Grow thread 

 

[Sawyer]

I sort of thought that this is the Community Grow thread 

Me, too.  Just to remind folks of that (since it has started reading like a seed thread) and inject some new color into the thread, I managed to locate some of my old images.  This pod is from 2018:  

The G2 seeds offered above are collected from this pod and its siblings, though they weren't all as well shaped.
 
This is the original G1 plant that pod was harvested from.

It was co-potted with a dwarf marigold.  I thought they might make good potmates, but the marigold took advantage of the situation.

 

[Sawyer]

Five THPers have spoken up for seeds. If you're one of those five, I've sent you a pm with my email address. Please make note of it in case the website goes down for the update. Send me your email address and I'll be able to keep you updated on progress.

Five Four stamps remain unspoken for. If you want to request some seeds, do so soon and please include your email address with request.

PS - This is in reference to this post:
https://thehotpepper.com/topic/58705-p-dreadie-memorial-group-grow-2016/page-40#entry1708101

PPS - And this one:
https://thehotpepper.com/topic/74599-site-update-info/

 

[PaulG]

Thanks, John!

 

[Sawyer]

Six envelopes with seeds went out in yesterday's mail. If you haven't received a pm confirming that, we may have crossed wires, so get in touch.

Someone is a getting a double dose of seeds. I somehow managed to stick two pieces of bubble wrap with attached seeds into one envelope. Whoever gets them, do with them as you see fit, pay it forward, plant them, save them for later, whatever.

You can send a packet of seeds in a letter-sized
envelope for one global forever stamp (under an
ounce). I have had no problems doing that.
 
Just regular first class mail. I've done it many times.

I was more concerned about the legality of sending seeds to Finland. I think Australia and New Zealand are sticklers about that. But the clerk at the Post Office looked it up and Finland is okay with seeds. Live plants and animals aren't allowed, but seeds are okay.

 

[PaulG]

That's good info, John. I think my seeds
get through mostly because they are just
like a regular first class mail letter, so don't
draw any attention.

 

[PaulG]

Seeds landed here safe and sound, John!

Thanks a million, buddy!
 
Soaking tonight, then into the AeroGarden tomorrow:

 

Going to try to start four G3 2020 and three G2 2018.
Will decide what to do with them later:

 
Good luck to everyone participating in the P. Dreadie 
community grow this season!

 

[DontPanic]

Ooooohhh!
 
That AeroGarden is riced up nice!
 
Mirrored privacy barrier, boosted air pump...
 
Those P. Dreadies will be crawling out of that AeroGarden before your ready to plant them out.