Pulpiteer's grow log 2012

stc3248 · Jun 20, 2012

3/5's right about stress causing small pods...but their color shouldn't be wrong. There is a Red Douglah though, so maybe!?!?!

romy6 · Jun 20, 2012

What be up Andy? Hope all is well at the home front. Looks like your garden is in full swing. I can see the harvest shots already :dance:

Funny thing about the Douglah. My first plant produced red pods as well. But I know my seeds were from my buddy Wayright so no telling what they crossed with. Either way a very hot and tasty pepper just like yours. :party:

Great way to enjoy a superhot. But man you ate the choc bhut and brain all at once. You really go all in or not at all. Keep on keeping on bro :fireball:

Sethsquatch · Jun 20, 2012

Sorry to hear about the rough patch. The passing of loved ones is never easy. At least they have you to help guide them and offer solace! So, it's difficult but worthy. You can help them see meaning in what often seems meaningless. Our culture is very strange when it comes to death. We hide it away instead of recognizing it as a natural pattern. We take people that have passed and make them up for artificial display. As tough as it is, I often wonder if we have lost our sense of the preciousness of life by hiding death in our culture.

Anyway, the advice of King on eating the peppers with some kind of stomach buffer is solid. I worked my way up to supers and didn't just jump right in. I used to have stomach issues (read run to the bathroom) with hot wings and cayenne pepper sauce! Since I have been eating supers, powders, sauces and such though - MY STOMACH IS CURED! It's weird and counter-intuitive but has worked for my particular biophysical disposition.

Plants look good. I laughed at your comment about the daughter and the will. Hang in there. Be the rock.

seaman · Jun 20, 2012

fantastic pods and love the cooking recipes, I would try to cook something like yours as the season keeps going and I have fresh pods... but the part about your stomach pains doesn't incentive me so much

highalt · Jun 20, 2012

The Veggie Tales placement was a nice touch!

Dshlogg · Jun 20, 2012

Andy your grow is amazing! Another fine pepper review as well. You're a mad man for eating a brainstrain as your next super. I tried a red ts scorp and it felt like bees stinging the back of my tongue. I only lasted a minute or two before chugging about four glasses of milk. Keep up the good work man!

Pulpiteer · Jun 21, 2012

stc3248 said:
Holy pods Pulpiteer! *insert rolling red laughing emoticon* Looking great! What was your seed source for your Douglah? Obviously a cross of some sort??? Sometimes those surprises are good though! I got a few surprises out there myself that initially I was disappointed in, but once I saw and tasted the pods I got over it quick! If you really like it that's all that matters! Hope it grows consistent for you from seed for next year!

I got the Douglah from Aji Joe - and he does say that *most* will grow true to form. He threw those in free with an order. The pod shape looked right, just color and heat were off. I've got 3 other douglah plants in, so hopefully one will grow true to form. If the other pods on the red one taste like these first ones, then I definitely love the plant regardless of what it is. If it does that, then I may try to overwinter it.

3/5King said:
Ok, pulp...I just took the last hour catching up on your glog. You are one cool pastor! I have a lot of points and topics to hit on. Your garden's the beezkneez,

Thank you, thank you.

that college boy is going to find a whole new reason to pray once you have some ripe pods,

That would be fun. I won't ask him to eat anything I won't. That's fair, right? He's a good kid, it'll be fun.

I'm curious about this permaculture you mentioned and will have to investigate,

I'm reading Gaia's Garden by Toby Hemenway - here's a link. Sepp Holtzer also has stuff and there is a lot of material via podcast. It's fascinating stuff.

holy BrainStrain! I just ate my first fresh one as well. The stomach needs to be primed for things this hot...make sure to eat carbs and fats beforehand. (like noodles, fried foods, cheeses, avocado) they will line your stomach and diminish, if not eliminate any stomach issues. (most times) although I've eatin them were I felt great but three hours later I got some cramping (think it was do to too much carbonated beverages.) the brain does have a great flavor to it, it is very fruity, with a sharp sour note.

The one I just ate in the potatoes was on an almost empty stomach - that probably didn't help... any excuse to eat cheese and I'm for it btw.

I've been eating mass amounts of superhot powder...so when I eat peppers, I can taste them better. It scorches your throat though! Yikes, I am right there with you....I could feel it when I was watching you lol. It's almost like getting instant strep throat! So much fun though....and scary....but fun.....did I mention scary....I love it....and fear it....Hahahaha good times.

That's a good description. It hurts so bad, but yet I still want to eat them.

Your plants pumped out and matured those little pods due to stress. Sometimes when pepper plants get stressed really bad, they will pump out a bunch of small pods that mature quickly. Kinda cool. All those leaves falling off gives way to some bushy bushy plants! I had the same thing happen and now they have jumped back and puffed out like blow drying a cat. In conclusion, you rock...keep rockin it and rock on.........rocker. Lol ttyl pulp

Thanks - yeah they are filling out more now that they've been in the ground for awhile. I think my biggest problem as I look ahead to what I've learned this year to apply to next year is to avoid getting them root bound. I'll probably have to start them later. That should be easy enough, right?

stc3248 said:
3/5's right about stress causing small pods...but their color shouldn't be wrong. There is a Red Douglah though, so maybe!?!?!

Yeah, I don't know. They're from Aji Joe, I think he'd indicate if they were supposed to be reds. I'm guessing it's a cross or the plant did something strange in the midst of the stress of the move. Not sure. Either way, if they all taste like the first pods, the plant is a keeper.

romy6 said:
What be up Andy? Hope all is well at the home front. Looks like your garden is in full swing. I can see the harvest shots already

Funny thing about the Douglah. My first plant produced red pods as well. But I know my seeds were from my buddy Wayright so no telling what they crossed with. Either way a very hot and tasty pepper just like yours.

Great way to enjoy a superhot. But man you ate the choc bhut and brain all at once. You really go all in or not at all. Keep on keeping on bro

Yeah, maybe it wasn't so bright doing both in one meal, but I had some making up to do. I'm sorry to say the yellow scorp succumbed to mold, which sucks because I was looking forward to that, but I just could nor foresee the way my last two weeks have been. I think I still have the mystery pepper and the naga left, so I'm thinking of ways and times to eat those... And thanks for the advice on how to eat the brain strain - that was definitely better than raw :mouthonfire:

Sethsquatch said:
Sorry to hear about the rough patch. The passing of loved ones is never easy. At least they have you to help guide them and offer solace! So, it's difficult but worthy. You can help them see meaning in what often seems meaningless. Our culture is very strange when it comes to death. We hide it away instead of recognizing it as a natural pattern. We take people that have passed and make them up for artificial display. As tough as it is, I often wonder if we have lost our sense of the preciousness of life by hiding death in our culture.

Anyway, the advice of King on eating the peppers with some kind of stomach buffer is solid. I worked my way up to supers and didn't just jump right in. I used to have stomach issues (read run to the bathroom) with hot wings and cayenne pepper sauce! Since I have been eating supers, powders, sauces and such though - MY STOMACH IS CURED! It's weird and counter-intuitive but has worked for my particular biophysical disposition.

Plants look good. I laughed at your comment about the daughter and the will. Hang in there. Be the rock.

Thanks Seth. I totally agree with you in regards to grieving in our culture. We've lost something, and you are also correct, I think, in noting that doing death wrong takes away from our understanding of the preciousness of life.

I'll keep plugging away to build a stomach tolerance! I had some of Jamie's powder tonight on some fried potatoes. It was delicious... And when I was putting the powder on, my daughter was once again concerned. She's well on her way to favorite child - and good for her!

seaman said:
fantastic pods and love the cooking recipes, I would try to cook something like yours as the season keeps going and I have fresh pods... but the part about your stomach pains doesn't incentive me so much

Thanks for stopping in seaman - the taste is wonderful - the stomach pain, not so much.

highalt said:
The Veggie Tales placement was a nice touch!

Thanks Bonnie - with three young kids in the house I have an excuse to have much more interesting place mats (among other things) so there's a rotation of pixar, veggie tales, elmo, and Dora, I think.

Dshlogg said:
Andy your grow is amazing! Another fine pepper review as well. You're a mad man for eating a brainstrain as your next super. I tried a red ts scorp and it felt like bees stinging the back of my tongue. I only lasted a minute or two before chugging about four glasses of milk. Keep up the good work man!

Thanks Dan! I've got plenty of plants in my garden from your peppers and seeds - the Thai Dragon is doing great and I gave a few of those away as well. You'll be pleased to know one of my parishioners called me up after trying one and was just dying on the phone. It was wonderful! I'm curious how a scorpion tastes. I think I'll have quite a few, just not sure what I'll do with them.

Ok - some more grow pics and stuff. First, my youngest is my buddy any time I go out to check on the garden. She loves it. Here she is getting through the broccoli and cabbage and into the tomatoes.

Alright, I mentioned earlier that I am trying to fill in spots that would get weeds with other things. Here are some herbs growing between my tomatoes (which are spaced out 3 feet on each side from each other). It is not without weeds, but the dill is kicking in, basil is growing now, and so is cilantro. We'll see how it all turns out. Companion planting.

Another method is an old one - wood chip mulch. These chips I got from my parents after they had a huge tree removed. I laid down newspaper, then covered that with the wood chips. It's not just for weeds - it's for dampness and to encourage fungal and bacterial growth higher up in the soil. These are my bell peppers, btw, a little small, so I wanted to encourage their growth. Also - a question - I have the newspaper layer in between the wood and the soil, but does anyone know if this will throw the carbon/nitrogen ratio out of whack? I'm planning on doing some feeds as I can, probably some fish emulsion. Just curious.

I planted garlic between a lot of my pepper plants - supposed to keep the pests away. Plus if I get some cloves of garlic, awesome!

Finally, as 3/5 King mentioned above, the plants will get bushy. Well, here are a couple of Fatalis that have done just that. Most of my plants are going this route, although I still have a few stragglers.

Thanks for stopping by!

Pulpiteer · Jun 28, 2012

The garden is poppin now! I have had to fend off a neighborhood dog who has been digging up my mulch. I sprayed with some hot pepper tea last night, so we'll see how successful that is. The plants are rockin' though. Nice, dark green and sturdy. I just went through and checked them - lots of pods coming along and overall very healthy. I love it. There are just a couple of stragglers, but overall, a great start to the season.

So video updates take forever for me. Our internet out here in rural usa sometimes functions like dial up in terms of speed, so I did this video three days ago, saved it as a windows media file, uploaded it on youtube - and it took forever. Anyway, here it is - a walk through of the garden

The Peach bhut I show towards the end is this one pictured below:

And the pile of wood chip/mulch is here

Finally, I received a nice treat from Karl (Hendrix1326) in the mail yesterday! Here it is:

It's a powder mix made from 36 different dried peppers - I had some on my pizza tonight and it was wonderful! Also he sent along a pepper medley jelly. I love pepper jelly and I just enjoyed some on a piece of bread just a moment ago. He said it included some Mexican habanero types, poblano, anaheim, serrano, fresno, and jalapenos. Just a bit of heat and a sweet, very pleasant taste. Plus he sent it in the jar that I sent him last fall with my hot lemon pepper jelly for him to try. Cool! So thanks Karl! And it's stuff like this that makes this website so great to be a part of!

Thanks for reading!

Sethsquatch · Jun 28, 2012

Nice update! Love the pepper jellies too. RedHawk makes one fiery pineapple spread and that stuff goes on ANYTHING. Burgers, sandwiches, whatever. If it has bread it gets the slather or it gets the hose again...

Plants are looking healthy. Love how your herbs are taking off. I think that's a good strategy and I honestly might do that next year. Stuff is going to grow there anyway, right? A lot of your plants look like mine. Just in the little bush mode. That covers most of my chinense plants at least. I have seen the end of season trees they become though and have faith mine will stretch soon.

Keep growing!

Pr0digal_son · Jun 28, 2012

Just catching up here Andy. This place is great to be a part of.Life is easy when we have the feeling and action of gratitude. A couple years ago I never would have thought there were people sending produce in the mail!!! Heck,I remember talking to a pepper loving friend of mine a few years back and him being all excited for this "red savina" pepper. Orange hab was the only pepper hotter than a jalapeno to me at that time. Now here I am,and there are people at work,and others asking me.. "Is it as hot as a habanero?" Haha.... I enjoy enlightening them,and it surprises me the interest they have. Glad to see you and your plants are well. Take care

Pulpiteer · Jun 29, 2012

Sethsquatch said:
Nice update! Love the pepper jellies too. RedHawk makes one fiery pineapple spread and that stuff goes on ANYTHING. Burgers, sandwiches, whatever. If it has bread it gets the slather or it gets the hose again...

Plants are looking healthy. Love how your herbs are taking off. I think that's a good strategy and I honestly might do that next year. Stuff is going to grow there anyway, right? A lot of your plants look like mine. Just in the little bush mode. That covers most of my chinense plants at least. I have seen the end of season trees they become though and have faith mine will stretch soon.

Keep growing!

Nice Silence of the Lambs reference :lol:

I don't know if you ever watched Monk, but it blew my mind that the police chief was Buffalo Bill. Anyway - thanks. They are in "little bush mode" and as I look back at my pictures of my garden last year (which was much smaller and with a lot fewer peppers) I am so far ahead it's crazy. And last year my aji lemons got to be about shoulder height and I had to prune them back, so it's coming. Herbs, radishes, beans, yeah stuff's going to grow there anyway so why not make it good stuff. Plus there is a lot of information about companion planting out there and it's such a cool thing to have the plants helping each other.

Pr0digal_son said:
Just catching up here Andy. This place is great to be a part of.Life is easy when we have the feeling and action of gratitude. A couple years ago I never would have thought there were people sending produce in the mail!!! Heck,I remember talking to a pepper loving friend of mine a few years back and him being all excited for this "red savina" pepper. Orange hab was the only pepper hotter than a jalapeno to me at that time. Now here I am,and there are people at work,and others asking me.. "Is it as hot as a habanero?" Haha.... I enjoy enlightening them,and it surprises me the interest they have. Glad to see you and your plants are well. Take care

Yeah it's been fun to talk to people about what I'm growing and tell them "they are probably 3-4 times hotter than a habanero" which blows them away. It's like a whole new world and a lot of fun. Thanks for stopping in!

stc3248 · Jun 29, 2012

I like the flavor of the Orange and Yellow Manzanos better than that of the reds....they are all similar, but there is a tiny bit of bitter aftertaste with the reds for me. The Ornange/Yellows are pure sweet goodness. Say the word and I can send you as many seeds as you would like.

PIC 1 · Jun 29, 2012

Hey Andy,
I'm just getting a chance to catch up on the 1st page glogs. You have a well rounded garden with a nice variety of crops. Theres nothing like having a well stocked kitchen when it comes time to cook. Peppers are a big part of it but having some herbs, tomatoes, root and vine crop just seems to do the trick.
Your plants are starting to get full, those Fatalii's will start bustin soon. That's a great pod. I grow both the Yellow Bhut and Fatalii, the Fatalii has a much better flavor raw. Yellow Bhuts seem to be more favorable powered.
The newspaper is fine underneath the wood chips. I use strips of it in the compost pile as the brown material. It breaks down pretty fast.
Enjoy the rest of your grow, looking forward to seeing some hot pepper shots...

Greg

Pulpiteer · Jun 29, 2012

stc3248 said:
I like the flavor of the Orange and Yellow Manzanos better than that of the reds....they are all similar, but there is a tiny bit of bitter aftertaste with the reds for me. The Ornange/Yellows are pure sweet goodness. Say the word and I can send you as many seeds as you would like.

I've only been able to taste the oranges that I bought from a produce store about an hour away and I loved them. Wonderful flavor. Hooda sent me some yellow seeds - and those are doing great, but I haven't been able to get any seeds from the oranges to grow, so I'd love some orange ones. Thanks! I'll PM you.

PIC 1 said:
Hey Andy,
I'm just getting a chance to catch up on the 1st page glogs. You have a well rounded garden with a nice variety of crops. Theres nothing like having a well stocked kitchen when it comes time to cook. Peppers are a big part of it but having some herbs, tomatoes, root and vine crop just seems to do the trick.
Your plants are starting to get full, those Fatalii's will start bustin soon. That's a great pod. I grow both the Yellow Bhut and Fatalii, the Fatalii has a much better flavor raw. Yellow Bhuts seem to be more favorable powered.
The newspaper is fine underneath the wood chips. I use strips of it in the compost pile as the brown material. It breaks down pretty fast.
Enjoy the rest of your grow, looking forward to seeing some hot pepper shots...

Greg

Thanks Greg, I have a lot of fun growing all the different things. Plus I have to have enough veggies to do lots of salsa! I'm excited about the Fatalii's, I've heard they're quite hot, but also very tasty. As far as the newspaper.. I ran out and had to use individual sheets of paper from my office I was going to recycle, which worked well, but was more time consuming. I've not yet figured out a good way to keep the neighborhood dog from digging in my mulch however...
Thanks for stopping by!

MGOLD86 · Jul 1, 2012

Hey Andy! It took a while to get around to it, but everything is looking great! I thought about doin some mulch but have been so busy it is tough finding the time. I know it is great for the weeds (which I could have used after 3 hours of weeding today...), but it still takes WORK to get it down. So I applaud you for getting it down!

Keep the reviews comin, you are a natural.

Pulpiteer · Jul 2, 2012

MGOLD86 said:
Hey Andy! It took a while to get around to it, but everything is looking great! I thought about doin some mulch but have been so busy it is tough finding the time. I know it is great for the weeds (which I could have used after 3 hours of weeding today...), but it still takes WORK to get it down. So I applaud you for getting it down!

Keep the reviews comin, you are a natural.

Thanks Matt! I'm loving the mulch now. It did take some work, but the plants are responding well and it does seem to keep moisture in as well as help me avoid when my clay soil drys out and packs right down. I'm liking it thus far. Plus, just hearing you applaud me in my mind made it all worth it.

I took some pod pics the other day. They are really coming in now and it'll be even more exciting when the start to turn.

Not everything is super hot - here is a Golden Treasure, which was a free pepper seed from "Totally Tomato" that came with my seed order. Thus far I am very happy with their stuff, btw.

I still think my favorite pepper is the hot lemon/aji lemon/lemon drop. Such a great taste with a nice kick of heat. Here is one plant getting loaded up with them (these came from Dshlogg - Dan).

And speaking of loaded up, here is an orange thai that I got from Aji Joe, just packed with pods. When they turn orange this should look pretty cool.

Here is another from Aji Joe - a yellow scotch bonnet that I got from him in a give away of several types of seeds. I've been trying to grow a yellow scotch bonnet for years and for one reason or another it has not worked out. They are my white whale - so this looks awesome and I hope it turns yellow. Great shape to it though. Looks promising!

Masschilehead sent me seeds for a yellow 7 pot. Here is a young one. I really like the yellow 7's with the lobes that like like they are melting over. This one looks like it's getting that shape.

The Fatalii is from Totally Tomato and these have done well. They are one of the scariest looking pods I have in the garden right now. They just look angry. I can't wait to see what they taste like.

Another angry looking pod is my douglah. I have the one plant that put out red ones, which is wrong, of course. I was hoping it was just due to shock or something, but nope, it's a cross of something. It did taste awesome though, so it's a keeper. The thing that made it obvious is the shape of the douglah's coming out of the other 3 plants. They are weird and gnarly looking. Here's one example (these are from Aji Joe):

Finally, dill.

Thanks for stopping by!

PIC 1 · Jul 2, 2012

Andy, your plants look like they're well on they way to providing some great harvests.
The Fatalii has that mean appearence................it's going to be a hot one.
And the Douglah's are starting to get that puckered, twisted, gnarly look to them.............nice

Greg

Pr0digal_son · Jul 2, 2012

Nice Andy. You will like the yellow 7 taste. I like your description of their appearance. Some of my first ones were not shaped properly but now the are getting the convoluted folds.

Hendrix1326 · Jul 3, 2012

Fantastic pics, Andy! Your Thais are exploding with pods, can't wait to see how the plant looks when they turn color! Wicked looking true-to-form Fatalii, as well, those are one of my fave for flavor, with a nice bright C.Chinense taste that reminds me faintly of Bhut/Naga, but with a fruitier less-bubble-gum flavor, a little of the traditional Habanero flavor thrown into the mix, as well as a distinct sharpness to it that is awesome. Oh, and they are a most intense burn, but not sickening like the 7s/Nagas/Trinidads!

Great work, I'll be checking in as the updates are rolling!

romy6 · Jul 3, 2012

Love the video and pics of your garden Andy. Everything is looking really healthy and I love all the volunteers. Sorry a little late reply but better than never :onfire: