• Blog your pepper progress. The first image in your first post will be used to represent your Glog.

PaulG 2012

I'm chomping at the bit to get started with some new chilli varieties this coming Spring. So far I've just scratched the surface with Poblanos, Jalapenos and Serranos, all of which I really like. I've been egged on by a new Second Generation Mejicano neighbor as we've talked about hot chillis over the back fence! He helped me make some Pico de Gallo with my Serranos and Early Girl tomatoes and has some great recipes from his mother and grandmother. Hopefully I'll be able to share some of them on this forum in the future. I need to grow more Cilantro. Oh yeah!

I've ordered seed from several sources which received at least a few good comments on this forum (6/12 - items crossed out did not germ, or weren't planted this year):

US Hot Stuff:
Bolivian Rainbow
Yellow Peter
Nosegay
Trinidad Scorpion (from Spankycolts)
Devil Tongue

The Hippy Seed Company: Seed Packet Mixes
NuMex Twilight (from Siliman)
Yellow Jellybeans
Tom Thumbs
Wild Texas Tepin

Refining Fire: Seed Packet Mix
Scotch Bonnet
Chocolate Habanero
Jamaican Red Mushroom

New Mexico State University:
Chiltepin
Omnicolor
Red Carribean Habanero
Orange Habanero

Pepper Gal:
Aji Yellow (request from a Peruvian friend of ours!)
Thai Hot

Peppermania:
Inca Lost
Fatali
White Habanero (from Spanky)
Red Savina (cross with Fatali, from Spanky)
Bishop's Crown
Inca Red Drop
Orange Rocoto
Congo Trinidad

I doubt I will be able to try all of these out this year, but I have saved my seeds in small glass jars with tight-fitting lids for storage over the next year. I have been saving seed from other garden produce and have had good luck with germinating them after two or even three years. The jars are stored in boxes in the garage for a cool dark location for them. I have ordered several compact varieties with an eye toward trying to winter over some of my plants this year. Since I didn't even know peppers were perennial, I can say I've already learned something from this forum!


I purchased a small greenhouse from One Stop Gardens (via Harbor Freight) for $300 four years ago. This is one of the greenhouse kits I've noticed in the greenhouse advertsing bar at the bottom of some of the pages on this forum. This picture is from Spring/ Summer 2011. You can see my tomato and pepper starts on the sheves. I winter over some bonsai trees and jade plants as well as geraniums, begonias and Gerbera Daisies. In the winter, I use a small space heater (visible on ground in the picture) to keep the temp at 40F during the few cold weeks we experience here. So far it has worked pretty well. If overwintering pepper plants becomes a reality I'll be making more room in the greenhouse! I've started a thread in the Grow Tech forum to discuss issues which crop up with these units.

greenhousepan11a.jpg


January 14, 2012:

Composting:

Okay, I need to do something outside. I know, I'll dig out a compost bin. We've had a little dry cool weather, so the worms have burrowed down, and the compost is crumbly, if a tad wet.

DSCN3318sm.jpg


The first step - dig out the bin and sift the material. I use a homemade frame with a layer of 1/4 inch plastic hardware cloth backed with a layer of one inch mesh poultry netting. The fine stuff goes into the wheelbarrow, the coarse stuff into an adjacent compost bin we're still building up.

DSCN3316sm.jpg


The bin on the left is covered to keep the leafy material dry and fluffy. The dry leaves are an important layer in the compost 'cake'. The bin on the right is the one I'm digging out. Nice, dark and crumbly with lots of worms! The sifter is on the wheelbarrow, and some of the coarse stuff is already on the active compost bin in the middle. The bin in the back is resting for several of months. It has a black plastic hardware cloth cover to keep out squirrels and racoons.

DSCN3321sm.jpg


The bin is all dug out. I left about two inches of broken up compost on the bottom of the hole to create a space for the worms to move into. You can see the bin in the middle has a layer of coarse stuff spread out on the top.

DSCN3323sm.jpg


The last step is to put a nice deep layer of dry leaves on the bin we just dug out. Now that bin will rest for a at least several months or more while the earthworms move into the compost/earth interface and do their work. That will make a great base for the next cycle of composting in this bin. I put a thin layer of leaves on the middle bin, too. Now there's a nice layer cake of dirt/compost, leaves. kitchen scraps. All small yard clippings except grass go into the compost bins, even tomato vines and pepper branches and twigs. I don't even chop stuff up too much. I try to have at least 10 or 12 layers of stuff built up before I cover the bin with a layer of dirt/compost and let the worms work for several months. I'm getting about 12-18 cubic feet of compost from these bins a year. My goal is to become 'soil self-sufficient' at some point, perhaps only having to procure horticultural pumice or vermiculite and some peat moss every so often.

DSCN3322sm.jpg


The good stuff. It will go into a plastic, vented storage bin for at lest eight weeks to cure a bit. Then I mix it with a little peat moss and some vermiculite or pumice for aeration. In my large containers, I add 2 or 3 inches of compost worked into the top of the container only every year. I try not to mix up the soil layers in the big containers very much, letting the nutrients percolate down through the soil as in a natural setting. As the blog continues this summer, I'll include photos of the irrigation system and containers I use to grow my tomatoes and peppers, and a few other things.
 
Thanks, bro!

The Fatali finally sets a pod:
IMG_9576a.jpg


A small harvest:
IMG_9579a.jpg

Romaine lettude, Sugar Sprint Peas, Red Sails lettuce in back.
Left to right, top to bottom:
Poblanos, Early Jalapenos, Hungarian Yellow, Congo Trinidad, Fatali x Red Savins,
Cayennes, Omnicolor, Inca Red Drops,
black Pearls, Pointed Yellow Habs.
Not astounding, but it's a start!

Okay, Shane egged me on. If this goes teats up, it's his fault!

Decided to smoke some Poblanos in the Weber; used Oak and
Mesquite chips, water soak two hours:
IMG_9580a.jpg


Made a little ring to contain the small fire:
IMG_9581a.jpg


Ready to go:
IMG_9585a.jpg


Pan of wateradded:
IMG_9586a.jpg


Cover off for inspection:
IMG_9587a.jpg


Finished up:
IMG_9588a.jpg


Will dehydrate those today - in the fridge overnight since my buddy
with the dehydrator is out of town. Need to get one this morning.

Couple of more pepper pics. Cayenne rista hanging in the
greenhouse:
IMG_9583a.jpg


Omnicolor, whole plant:
IMG_9584a.jpg
 
Nice pull Paul! :clap: Those smokey Poblanos will be wonderful as a powder. One pointer...I would nix the foil and either go directly on the grill or use a disposable screen. You'll get better smoke circulation in there without the added barrier. Can't wait to hear how it tastes...I bet they smelled wonderful fresh off the grill.
 
Nice pull Paul! :clap: Those smokey Poblanos will be wonderful as a powder. One pointer...I would nix the foil and either go directly on the grill or use a disposable screen. You'll get better smoke circulation in there without the added barrier. Can't wait to hear how it tastes...I bet they smelled wonderful fresh off the grill.
Thanks for the tip, buddy, i'll do that next time. I was afraid they'd fall
through (the smaller ones). I also want to make some kind of little pan
with a hardware cloth bottom so the small coals don't just drop into the
bottom of the kettle. But the Weber worked pretty darn well for a small
amount. The peppers are in the dehydrator as we speak! Will post a
pic of the finished product later.

Had a great dinner last night; kobe beef with a Fatali x Red Savina and a Congo
Triniad. Both pods were small, about the size of my thumb tip, but they had great
flavor and heat. I had a pretty good burn going and even a little nose run as the
meal progressed. I'm not sure which was hotter, as I ate them mixed up. When
the mature pods start forming, they are going to be kickin' heine! Unfortunately,
I must have accidently deleted the pic, cuz it just ain't in my folder. Dang. They
looked so good quartered on the beef!

Thanks for checking in, my friend. Can't wait to see what you have cookin' this weekend!
 
Paul, things are bangin' over there! I love the look of those cayennes, so wicked half ripened. Glad to see things on the up and up!
 
pods and plants looking great love the Poblanos
On the pepper smoking, cold smoking will give you better taste it's probably easier too
 
Paul, things are bangin' over there! I love the look of those cayennes, so wicked half ripened. Glad to see things on the up and up!
Thanks for checkin' in, King! Those Cayennes are gnarly lookin' for sure.
I think they will be almost all red by the time they dry out. The further we
go in the season, the bigger those dudes get!

Good growin', bud.


pods and plants looking great love the Poblanos
On the pepper smoking, cold smoking will give you better taste it's probably easier too
Hola, Lando. I don't know anything about cold smoking.
This is the first time I've smoked peppers. We actually
have a real smoker for bbq, but it's overkill for a handful
of peppers!

Hope your season is progressing nicely.
 
Thanks for the tip, buddy, i'll do that next time. I was afraid they'd fall
through (the smaller ones). I also want to make some kind of little pan
with a hardware cloth bottom so the small coals don't just drop into the
bottom of the kettle. But the Weber worked pretty darn well for a small
amount. The peppers are in the dehydrator as we speak! Will post a
pic of the finished product later.

Had a great dinner last night; kobe beef with a Fatali x Red Savina and a Congo
Triniad. Both pods were small, about the size of my thumb tip, but they had great
flavor and heat. I had a pretty good burn going and even a little nose run as the
meal progressed. I'm not sure which was hotter, as I ate them mixed up. When
the mature pods start forming, they are going to be kickin' heine! Unfortunately,
I must have accidently deleted the pic, cuz it just ain't in my folder. Dang. They
looked so good quartered on the beef!

Thanks for checking in, my friend. Can't wait to see what you have cookin' this weekend!
Geez... go away to visit relatives for the day and I miss this! Really cool Paul! I'll be doing the same when I get some red ripe jalapenos because I want some Moritas to put away for the winter. Cheers
 
Great harvest Paul I am also going to start smoking peppers soon. Can not wait to see your entire ceiling filled with Cayenne rista now that is an awesome site to see.
 
Geez... go away to visit relatives for the day and I miss this! Really cool Paul! I'll be doing the same when I get some red ripe jalapenos because I want some Moritas to put away for the winter. Cheers
I feel your pain, Rick. Things seem to be happening awfully
fast on the forum! You miss one or two days, and you're a
week behind :crazy: and your glog is on page three :D

Moritas? Not sure what that is.

Keep up the great grow, gochu man!

Great harvest Paul I am also going to start smoking peppers soon. Can not wait to see your entire ceiling filled with Cayenne rista now that is an awesome site to see.
Hey, Fernando! My harvests are small for the time being, but I
hope the next month sees the habs, pubescens, and supers
really take off and pod up. What kinds of peppers do you like
to smoke up?

I love the look of a rista. Seems so 'country' somehow : )

Your grow is really looking good, my friend!


Looking good PaulyG! All them fresh veggies look amazing man. Eating good by your house eh!
Hey, Jamison! Gotta love the summer. When I think back six months,
everything looked so bleak. Now we're in the 'grow zone', and I'm happy!

Enjoy what's left of the weekend, bud.
 
I haven't decided other than creating a cayenne thick powder, as it taste awesome by itself outside of that not sure going try each superhot by itself which should be fun and painful.
 
Nice on them poblanos Paul. Hope they go well for u. JW. How are your clones. I'm
Sure well see more
Pod porn in. Your future. And if u eat more fresh peppers. Pls do YouTube it. Heheh.

Denniz
 
I haven't decided other than creating a cayenne thick powder, as it taste awesome by itself outside of that not sure going try each superhot by itself which should be fun and painful.
Yeah, seems sort of strange to see those two words
juxtaposed: fun; painful. Almost sounds illegal!

Will be looking forward to your analysis of the various
pods you try.


Looks like you've got a great thing going there. Great variety and peppers forming. Looking forward to shots of the ripe white habs.

Brent
Hey, Brent, thanks for visiting! Comparing the two White
Habaneros (Peruvian and Giant) should be fun. I've eaten
a couple of the little peruvian firecrackers, and they have
pretty good heat for little pods, and it's still early in the
season! I'm not sure about the Giant White Hab; if the
'giant' refers to the plant or the pod :rolleyes:

Good growin' down your way, Doc!


Nice on them poblanos Paul. Hope they go well for u. JW. How are your clones. I'm
Sure well see more
Pod porn in. Your future. And if u eat more fresh peppers. Pls do YouTube it. Heheh.

Denniz
Dude, the clones I have left (I gave almost all of them away - they looked great when they left my yard!) are kicking it pretty good. The Congo Trinidad is in a gallon pot and loaded with pods, and the Chocolate Hab is in a three gallon container and starting to set pods as we speak (4 or 5 so far). The Choco Hab totally outperformed it's germinated cousin. I'll post a couple of pics.

Here's a look at the chipotle Poblanos. First try at this, so if they
don't look right somebody let me know! They were in the dryer
for about 3 hours at 135F. Now to score a grinder to powder them
up. They taste pretty good (I just nibbled a small chunk to see
what it was like):
IMG_9589a.jpg


Cheers, Denniz :cheers:

BTW my YouTube video isn't working - says 'not available'. I don't
know why. I didn't touch it after I uploaded it, and after 36 views,
it just became unavailable. So, I am hesitant to waste time on
You Tube with more vids. I don't like You Tube, Facebook, and
all those kinds of sites; They just seem like marketing vehicles to me.
THP is the only social network worth a darn, IMHO. But what do
I know :silenced:
 
How are your clones.
Denniz
Okay Denniz, here ya go, bro.

Congo Trinidad in a #1 pot:
IMG_9590a.jpg


Chocolate Habanero in a #3. I posted pics of the pods on this one
before:
IMG_9591a.jpg


One of these days, maybe I'll visit the folks who got the other clones
and shoot a few pix.

This is the Wild Brazil from seeds Shane sent. A late starter
with the Manzano and Goat's Weed he also sent. This one
took 19 days to germinate:
IMG_9592a.jpg


Hope everyone had a great weekend. good growin' to all!
 
Nice Pauly! I tried smoking jalapenos,and dehydrate after. Turned into black taffy. Harder to do those in my opinion than supers or thinner walled pods. Thinking I forced them along too fast.
 
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