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PIC 1's............Pod-ography.............2013

  Good Eve-ning, and Welcome to my bog...glog !

Hey folks sorry for the late glog-up I'm a month behind last years startup,...... :rolleyes: ...... I still have 12+ weeks (plenty of time) before I can start think about hardening off the plants outdoors.

First off I'd like to give a shout out to those who followed my grow last season. Thanks for all the comments, thoughts and ideas. The chuckles we shared......there were some good laughs...(and especially all the criticisms........ :liar: .......hah)

To those who are new, I try to follow a "weekend update" format with photos and captions. Although if anyone has questions or replies that needs and answer or response I'll get back during the week. I hope to keep this interesting and entertaining...

and away we go!


Garden Rewind


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Here's my 1st garden (1986)...it was modest but what we grew we used in our kitchen. I had a couple of dual bulb 4ft T12 fixtures in my basement. A couple grow-lux and daylight color temp bulbs. The indoor grow was far superior to the vegetable starts sold at the local nurseries.
My Italian neighbor couldn't understand why his bell pepper starts only had flowers while mine had golfball size peppers very early in the season.....The hot varieties I grew back then were the cayennes, orange habaneros, and a few different type or thai-birds. Things have changed but I still grow those varities.

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Here's a shot from last season. I grew around 150+ pepper plants in two different sections of the garden. Plants were grown in raised beds and containers from 5 gal up to 20 gal

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A typical weekend harvest shot from later in the season when the gardens at full swing.

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This is one of my seed catalogs, the c.chinense....the seeds that invade our gardens every year...
This book and other seed catalogs are kept in a tupperware container container on a shelve in the corner of the basement.
No elaborate system needed, The seeds are kept in 1.5" zip backs. I have seeds that are as far back as 2007, and still germinating without a hitch....theres no need to pitch. Speaking of pitching theres some old baseball card to display the size of the pages used.

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These are what I use to get the seeds on their way. I take 1/4 bag of each, mix that into a 5 gal bucket and moisten with water. The spagnum peat give fluff to the texture also helps indicate when the mix need to be re-moistened but the lighter color it displays. The vermiclite helps with water retension while letting the air and moisture through. The seed starting mix also has fine grain perlite to keep drainage and airflow moving.

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Ha..........I knew this chop stick would come in handy someday. Once the seed medium is moistened I'll make a hole with the stick 1/4" down .
The seeds will be planted at the same depth. That helps when misting the top with water. Seeds that are planted too high may dry out or seeds planted to deep may rot.

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I use two 2ft x 4ft germinating mats. Enough area to warm 8 seed flats at once...

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I don't bother with a thermostat for the mats. I run them through a timer, 2 hrs on, 1 hr off...continous. The average temp of the soil stays at +/-85 deg

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This is the main grow room. I built the 2 tier shelving units 8ft long x 2ft wide. 8 flats fit underneath the lighting units. Here we have four narrow spaced T8 4 bulb fixtures with 6500k bulbs and one 8ft TF twin bulb tight spaced fixture with 4100k bulbs. I have 4 identical systems in the room with an addition of three 400w mh fixtures with 7200k lamps. The room has 2- 20a dedicated circuits and 1-15a to split the current draw..

more photos in a few minutes....thanks for looking!
PIC 1's......Pod Pornage.............2012

















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Humpday update.........
 

 
Storms just passed through. We really needed the rain, I just thought I'd snap a few photos before the next cluster roll through.
 

 
Hawaiian "Pele" chili's. I'll let the peppers sun dry on the plant. The plant is just out the back door from the kitchen, so when I need a couple for the wok they're a few steps away.
 

 
Mystery Red strain from Brandon (Big Cedar)
 

 
Primos starting to ripen
 

 
Gnarly SB7J's
 

 
UBSC (red)
 

 
Here's the start to a basic Hot Sauce. Very simple, no layering of ingredients. About 12 lbs of a mixture of 7 Pots and Naga's with a few Habs ,Garlic, Shallots, Ginger, Hawaiian Strawberry Papaya, Pineapple, Salt and Aged Vinegar. The highlights of the sauce are the red fleshed Papaya and the Vinegar which has been aging for 3 months with dried super-hots. I used my VitaMix to pulse all the ingredients. The mix was placed in a stockpot with enough water to cover. The mixture was brought to a boil then reduced to a low simmer for 1/2 hr. The pot was covered and removed from the heat. 12 hrs later the ph was checked and the necessary Vinegar was added to keep the ph at 3.7ph.
(More Vinegar was added back to the peppers in the Gallon bottle) for the next round of red.
Woozies were cleaned and sterilized, the sauce was brought back to a boil.Xanthan and GuarGum were added to stabilize and suspend the ingredients. 
 

 
Here's the final bottled product... "Red Fury"..........48 bottles worth. Tried some on a Deep Dish pizza last night. Nice amount of heat, the added spice from the vinegar kicked it up a notch. A few weeks of mellowing the flavors with make it just right!
Thanks for checking the glog out, there may be random processing shots as the garden slows down while the hot sauce making and the pickling picks up....
 
later,
Greg
 
Those Pele chili’s are simply beautiful and so are the pictures of the rest of the pods. A lot of wrinkly and gnarly lookers … loving da pics!
 
Ingredients for your Red Fury sound fantastic, I’ve yet to use any of my pineapples in a sauce but have thought to include them sooner or later. Can you still taste it there and does it add sweetness if overly ripe?
 
Fantastic shots, keep da updates coming … have a great Thursday and weekend!
 
Hi Greg, It looks like your into the swing of processing this year's bounty, and there's just so much of it... Think you'll still be at it by the end of October? It's been another big growing year for you, and I'm looking forward to seeing the many ways you prepare the harvest through the fall and winter. Cheers!
 
PIC 1 said:
Humpday update.........
 

 
Storms just passed through. We really needed the rain, I just thought I'd snap a few photos before the next cluster roll through.
 

 

 
Here's the final bottled product... "Red Fury"..........48 bottles worth. Tried some on a Deep Dish pizza last night. Nice amount of heat, the added spice from the vinegar kicked it up a notch. A few weeks of mellowing the flavors with make it just right!
Thanks for checking the glog out, there may be random processing shots as the garden slows down while the hot sauce making and the pickling picks up....
 
later,
Greg
Love that walkway! That's got to be a nice stroll - everything looking so vibrant and alive. And the sauce looks killer!
 
That was a nice quickie,got a light? Are the pele chiles an annuum? It's hard to tell from the picture. SB7J looks like it needs the bicycle pump,very cool pod. Are your primos always late to ripen? Last couple years they have been for me. I get more pods on the outer branches,usually I get more on the interior with other varieties in our short season. Always taller than other chinense,and a lot of purpling at nodes and up the branches. Weekend is finally here,have a great one.
 
Portuge said:
Very nice, your hot sauce looks killer...
Thanks,
The sauce turned out nice...has a delayed kick to it.
WalkGood said:
Those Pele chilis are simply beautiful and so are the pictures of the rest of the pods. A lot of wrinkly and gnarly lookers loving da pics!
 
Ingredients for your Red Fury sound fantastic, Ive yet to use any of my pineapples in a sauce but have thought to include them sooner or later. Can you still taste it there and does it add sweetness if overly ripe?
 
Fantastic shots, keep da updates coming have a great Thursday and weekend!
Thanks,
The Pele is a nice little chili. One of Hawaii's finest.

The red sauce is pretty basic, but the pineapples do have their place in it. Not sure about the over ripe ones. I like the Dole Golden pineapples out of Maui, but I haven't seen any around lately. The ones available are from Costa Rica, and are probably picked under ripe. I'm all for the sweetness not the tartness. I'll never use canned in a hot sauce.....those give off a "hot tin roof" taste to the final product. I actually used 6 pineapples in the sauce, I didn't want to overload the photo...lol
Pineapple juice works as well as other fruit juices. Ya just need to use a thicking agent to slow the pour...glop,glop,glop..

I falling behind on the glog's again, hey thanks last night (Thursday) was a blast, although today my stomach is turning, too many slices of different peppers tried.

Have a great weekend !
FreeportBum said:
Love your pics, everything looks great. The Mystery Red strain looks like  :hell:  and nice kitchen   :P 
Thanks,
I tried a ripe Mystery Red last night, plenty of placenta and oil. I road out the burn for awhile but had to take a swig or two of beer. That made it worse...lol
stickman said:
Hi Greg, It looks like your into the swing of processing this year's bounty, and there's just so much of it... Think you'll still be at it by the end of October? It's been another big growing year for you, and I'm looking forward to seeing the many ways you prepare the harvest through the fall and winter. Cheers!
Hi Rick,
I'm trying to stay ahead of the future harvests which are slowing down, to a crawl. The weather here has been great, the plants look perky even though the light intensity has dropped. I can see some more pickins at the end of Oct. Between now and then I'm going to start yanking out plants that have no chance to produce. I'll post more photos of preserving as it happens.
Thanks for stopping by.
Pr0digal_son said:
That was a nice quickie,got a light? Are the pele chiles an annuum? It's hard to tell from the picture. SB7J looks like it needs the bicycle pump,very cool pod. Are your primos always late to ripen? Last couple years they have been for me. I get more pods on the outer branches,usually I get more on the interior with other varieties in our short season. Always taller than other chinense,and a lot of purpling at nodes and up the branches. Weekend is finally here,have a great one.
Hahah...and I do have a light..click.
I'm assuming the pele is c.frutescen since it has the shape in both the chili and plant similar to a Tabasco.
I brought back those seeds along with some skinny thai chili seeds from farmers mkt pods along the "Road to Hana" drive while in Maui.
The farm stand was in front of a home owned by a "hippy" that still had the 60's look going on. He had all kinds of things for sale...

Bicycle pump sounds about right, the last round of pods all have that look but oddly enough none are soft.

My primos were late to ripen last year also, not like the typical 7/Pots. I believe the photo may have been from seeds taken out of pods you sent me last yr. The Reapers are also dragging their tails.

The Trinidad varities get taller than the bushy Indian Naga's. It could be color temp change and less light this time of year...the plants seem to stretch and reach for the sun.

As far as I consider, the weekends already here....oops, back to work
 
PIC 1 said:
… The Pele is a nice little chili. One of Hawaii's finest.
Been so long since I tried them out there that I’d be lying if I said I remember the taste. The night we visited a Hawaiian family (related to a girlfriend I grew up with) that had an awesome grow we all drank too much, lol.
 
PIC 1 said:
… I like the Dole Golden pineapples out of Maui, but I haven't seen any around lately. The ones available are from Costa Rica, and are probably picked under ripe. I'm all for the sweetness not the tartness. I'll never use canned in a hot sauce.....those give off a "hot tin roof" taste to the final product. I actually used 6 pineapples in the sauce, I didn't want to overload the photo...lol … …
A very good friend there told me that Dole still maintains the pineapple plantation on Oahu on the Kamehameha Highway just south of the north shore only for show to the tourists (Haole’s, lol). They closed down all the huge grow they had going, moved farms to Costa Rica and tried to sell the land but no one’s interested because the government will not allow a zoning change from farm land and Dole wants top dollar. AFAIK they now have all their production grown in Costa Rica but they could be using other central or south American farms IDK.

Greg everything looks sensational! Don’t feel bad about falling behind, I have the same problem and it only looks to get worse for me too :/

Arrr I hope you have an awesome weekend brethren ^_^

 
 
 Weekend update............does time fly (?)......!
 

 
I came home Thursday to find a care package in the mail. These wonderful perfectly timed harvested pods were sent out by Brian (Justaguy).
Chiliheads are the best ! ...Before the holidays I'll be sending out some sauces and other jars of goodies.......Brians on the list...thanks, again dude !
I used a couple of these pods for Thursday evening Pepperology gathering........Here's what I made with them...
 
 

 
I cut up 3 large Red Onions and 3 Shallots. Sweated the onion mix with 2 tbl Butter, Salt, Pepper,   the lid on the pan for 30 minutes. The lid was removed and a tbl of Sugar and splash of Lemon juice was added. Heat was turned to high to carmelize the mix, (constant stirring needed). Once the mix looked rich enough I added 2 oz of Rum and flambe'ed ....At that point I added 1 chopped Yellow 7, ...1 Red Brain, and half a Jimmy Nardello..( I ate the other half raw...yum). The lid was placed on the pan and removed from the heat. I didn't want the spice to run through the entire mix, so They'll slightly steam and stay crunchy tender...Besides its always fun to bite into that random chunk of pepper in an appetizer.
 

 
When you think it's over......it's actually just beginning....... :D   More layering of flavors happening.
The pan mix was added to a bowl with Brie, Manchego and Asiago Cheeses, Chopped Smoked Turkey, Bacon, and Cilantro
Packaged Puff Pastry was rolled out and cut into 2" circles. Dough was placed into mini muffin tins, filled with a tsp of mix and baked in a 375 deg oven until golden.
 

 
I ended up making a few dozen of these.........cheezy/tasty.
 
now for a few garden shots
 

 
I'm always looking under the plants for hidden ripe pods..........only one Yellow Congo, and a few unripe.....some spiders, also
 

 
These are pods from two different plants, both are the "Scotch Bonnet Long" ...the regular size pods are from an in ground plant. The smaller ones were from a 10 gal container plant........ Just a coincidense, container plants still produce normal size pods.....this was a fluke.
 

 
Dorset Nagas are still producing
 

 
The shady side of the house garden..............pods here and there. Some of these plants don't have a chance and will get the wack, soon
 

 
An overwintered Pimenta De Neyde
 
a few more photos with a bump...
 
 
 
 
thanks...
 

 
The plants are still hanging in. The temps in the 70's during the day and 50ish at night. No sign of frost...quits yet.
 

 
I've started to prune off branches that don't have pods on them The plant will generate energy into pod and ripening production. No threat of sunscald, the intensity is quite low this time of year.........1st day of fall tomorrow, Will I put my summer clothes away and take out the sweaters and sweat shirts..?......Heck no, ...We're going to New Orleans for a week next month and I know it's pretty hot there.... !...food and all
 

 
Back garden, the tomatoes are still rockin, peppers are doing fine, I let my Hari Covert Beans get to  large and out of hand.......I'll strip them off tomorrow and use them in soups and stews.
 

 
another shot , different angle of this tomato bed. These are pushing 6ft plus. I grabbed a bowlful worth for tomorrows breakfest. I like to stew a small pot up with Oregano, Garlic Powder, Salt and Pepper. Pour the mix into a bowl, top with a couple of sunnyside up eggs and mop up the remaining bowl juices  with some crusty French Bread. 
 
I thought I had more shots, but apparently not....lol
 
Thanks for taking a look...
 
 
No Brains here lol, but the Morougas do look similar. I love sending things your way because you say thank you by making me drool with the great meals.


:clap:
Loving the garden shots. The big F is approaching unfortunately, but we can all use a break right??? Without one we would have too much garden space??? :rofl: who am I kidding!!!
 
Dear Lerd, Greg! Wow. Just wow. I see the B H&G interest.
 
Agree on the canned fruit taste: can never get that metallic taste out of a sauce if use it. I made good buddies with guy in produce long ago . . . actually, used to date in h.s. Chick trick: bat eyes, look helpless; he cuts up/cores pineapples for me if I buy them.
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But they aren't overwhelmed with work and he always adds a buck to each pineapple round, much easier. I messed up my best sauce last year because like idiot, used canned pineapple (I have to call him day in advance, got in hurry; stoopid.) Our papaya around here taste like crap. "Red Fury" looks amazing! Esp. with that aged vinegar! :dance:
 
Anyhow, per usual, killer cheese/"kicker" pastry, yum. Go Brian!
 
And so interested in <blink, blink, hint, hint> scotch bonnet long seeds. I slow dry seeds and will be getting you some as we mentioned soon. Just got my father back from hospital yesterday; he's not supposed to drive for 2 weeks. Riiiiiiiiight.
 
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