seanw first glog (2013) - Racing the End of the Season...

SeanW · Sep 13, 2013

Awesome! Did you isolate any seeds from the urfa biber? I ffigured out which plants were mine. Tons of green pods on them, but no buds that were closed, so I couldn't cover them. Hopefully they ripen soon, I may not need your seeds (but will trade other stuff, if you are interested).

Small harvest today, some more yatsy, Cheiro and hot chocolates, as well as what I believe to be aji limon
I'll get a pic up soon.

I have loads of green peppers out there, I am hoping that the weather holds.

stickman · Sep 13, 2013

Yup, if you need Urfa Biber seeds, I've got your back. Only a few pods, but lots of seeds, so no problem sharing. If this turns out like most years, you'll probably get a week or so of warmer weather than we do... I hope it's enough. Think you'd be interested in trying some of the pods I've grown this year? I could send out a few Yellow 7, Douglah and Aji pods... I've still got quite a few of those.

SeanW · Sep 14, 2013

stickman said:
Yup, if you need Urfa Biber seeds, I've got your back. Only a few pods, but lots of seeds, so no problem sharing. If this turns out like most years, you'll probably get a week or so of warmer weather than we do... I hope it's enough. Think you'd be interested in trying some of the pods I've grown this year? I could send out a few Yellow 7, Douglah and Aji pods... I've still got quite a few of those.

We've hit the low 40s a few times, but nothing below that. I'm hoping that'll hold for a couple more weeks. I've got a fair number of green pods out there, so...come on weather. I might be able to move a couple of the bagged plants inside at night, but that'll be limited to a select few plants, they are not easy to move.

The hottest peppers that I have that actually seem to be podding up are my yellow bhuts - my doughlah and scorps are duds. If you've got pods you're trying to rid yourself of, the ajis and douglahs would be great. If what I have green out there actually ripens, I'll try and hit you back.

I have a pile of peppers in the dehydrator - priks, almapaprika, hot chocolates, a couple yatzy, and maybe something else. They are drying up nicely.

A couple harvest shots:

hot chocolates, yatzy, cheiro recife, san marzano toms and some aji limon

Here's some more beans and what is supposed to be a cherry pepper - kinda funky shaped for a cherry, but that's the first pod I got off that plants, so who knows.

I need to step back for next year, and get a core handful of plants. I'm thinking Fresno, Aleppo, Urfa Biber, Cheiro Recife, mini bells and probably a couple others - likely things up in the hab to bhut heat range, and probably a cayenne or paprika. Nice small list that keeps growing. The Yatzy plant I have has a billion green pods on it - great for powders, if they ripen. I like the little thai guys, but they are SO much work. I might save seed from them just to keep around as ornamentals, they are a nice looking plant. And...gotta get them outside faster. Our season is short enough here.

stickman · Sep 15, 2013

+1 on an earlier start this far north. I never had a good harvest until I did. I strongly recommend putting down black plastic mulch too. It warms up the soil underneath it to where the Solanaceae and Cucurbits like it early in the season when the ground is still pretty cold, and it speeds up growth so the plants blossom much earlier. I've done that for 2 years running and it's made all the difference.

If you're interested, I have lots of heirloom Sweet Paprika seeds... Kurtovska Kapija, Douglah and Yellow 7 seeds as well. I'd also recommend Korean Gochu peppers as well. The Gochus are a Cayenne variety that make great powder with a well-rounded blend of heat, flavor and rich aroma. They're prolific producers and grow well in our local climate. They're hybrids though, so you'd do better getting seeds from a commercial source like Peppergal or the place where I get them... http://www.evergreenseeds.com/hotpephybkor.html

SeanW · Sep 15, 2013

stickman said:
+1 on an earlier start this far north. I never had a good harvest until I did. I strongly recommend putting down black plastic mulch too. It warms up the soil underneath it to where the Solanaceae and Cucurbits like it early in the season when the ground is still pretty cold, and it speeds up growth so the plants blossom much earlier. I've done that for 2 years running and it's made all the difference.

If you're interested, I have lots of heirloom Sweet Paprika seeds... Kurtovska Kapija, Douglah and Yellow 7 seeds as well. I'd also recommend Korean Gochu peppers as well. The Gochus are a Cayenne variety that make great powder with a well-rounded blend of heat, flavor and rich aroma. They're prolific producers and grow well in our local climate. They're hybrids though, so you'd do better getting seeds from a commercial source like Peppergal or the place where I get them... http://www.evergreenseeds.com/hotpephybkor.html

What does the plastic mulch do the soil quality? I've heard that landscaping fabric can really keep nutrients from the soil, but I'm assuming the solar mulch is okay because you remove it and add amendments every year. I was thinking of putting the solar mulch (or...black trashbags

) down next year. Does it also help extend the grow season into the fall, or do you pull it off when temperatures get higher?

I'll check out the gochu - the one you gave me sadly got broken in the wind, so I didn't get to get anything from it. Are they prolific producers? The yatsufusa I'm growing looks like it'll put out a ton of pods if you give it the time, and it's another cayenne type. I'd love to check out some of your paprikas, Are the Kurtovska Kapija good for powders? Those pods look huge, they look awesome for stuffing. How did the douglah and yellow 7 do up here? None of my supers got enough time, it looks like.

I'm working out how I'm going to get my 2014 grow started, the spot where my greenhouse lived has been replaced by a freezer. I'll figure something out, even if I can just get a couple of the long growers started really early, I'll be in business. I'm not planning on any cucurbits next year - while they were doing great until the Great Drying killed them, I need to consolidate and build out slower. That, and find a way to keep the friggen rabbits out. This was an awesome learning year, I just overreached and took too long to get things going. If we can hold off first frost until middle of october, I should be rolling in pods, but we'll see. I probably can easily swing 20 pepper plants, along with beans, tomatoes and some lettuce, in my garden, so I'll shoot for that. As we clear out the jungle area further, I'll be able to stick more in, but I really need to cool it

The pots I used worked well, but I didn't place them in a great spot. I'm thinking of sticking with mostly the prolific powder types, and a few for salsas/sauces and fresh usage. I'll round it out with one or two supers, and then the urfa biber and aleppos. Hopefully I'll get some decent stuff from them next year, I'd like to get them going to the point that I can hand them out to folks, which really just requires a couple good pods.

SeanW · Sep 16, 2013

If I had realized how terribly out of focus the shots I took of my dried peppers were, I would have tried again. Ugh. I dried my jamaican hot chocolates, a couple cayennes, my thais, cheiro recife and almapaprika. I still have some fresh pods left, I'll put them into a quick pico de gallo type thing, if I get a bunch more before frost they'll get frozen or made into sauces...or dried...or whatever.

I picked up an el cheapo coffee grinder last night. I have to do my grinding and drying on the porch, my wife won't let me do it in the house (I've "smoked" her out just sauteeing jalapenos).

Come onnnnn season, don't fail me now. They are calling for the first drop into the 30s tonight, not good.

and, to double post myself ('cause that's how I roll)...

I'm noticing that a bunch of my plants aren't producing the pods I think they should. I know my labels are screwed up, but those should just be missing, not WRONG. My jamaican hot chocolates look nothing like the ones you are producing, Rick, mine go right to red, and are longer and smoother than yours (edit: they actually look exactly like the hot chocolate cross you posted on your glog page 92). My cherry also came out wonky. Maybe I just got stuff backwards somewhere, who knows. That's another tip for me to take into next year...better labeling.

SeanW · Sep 16, 2013

I moved a bunch of the potted guys out front where they will get more sun, and wrapped all of my plants in a clear plastic drop cloth. I'm hoping I'll get a mini greenhouse effect.

I actually managed to name most of the plants while sorting, and found a couple of the missing tags. I've got quite a few supers podding up, but I suspect most of them won't make it. I have red and yellow bhuts producing green pods like mad, but no color on them yet. My primo and butch t are bums, but there's a single pod on the moruga, also green. My douglah has a handful of green pods, one is just showing color - I'm hoping it'll hold out long enough.

Basically, I need another month of summer.

Tried a datil tonight. Tasty, but I wasn't expecting it to have any real heat. Got a bit of a shock, and I was handling it pulling seeds off bare handed, and managed to feed my wife some oiled up cheese, and I scratched an itch and got oil on the edge of my nostril. Yeouch.

stickman · Sep 17, 2013

SeanW said:
What does the plastic mulch do the soil quality? I've heard that landscaping fabric can really keep nutrients from the soil, but I'm assuming the solar mulch is okay because you remove it and add amendments every year. I was thinking of putting the solar mulch (or...black trashbags ) down next year. Does it also help extend the grow season into the fall, or do you pull it off when temperatures get higher?

He Sean! The plastic mulch doesn't add or detract from soil quality... in addition to warming the soil, it keeps down weeds since water rolls off the plastic and the combination of lack of water and strong heat kill off everything but grass, and you'll pull that up when you spade in the amendments in the spring. To keep the plants well watered that I planted in the plastic mulch I cut the bottoms off of half-liter water bottles, removed the caps and buried one next to each plant, leaving about an inch above the surface. When watering, I just filled each bottle, and that was enough for the plants. I think the solar mulch does help extend the season into the fall since the cold snaps we've had so far haven't seemed to affect the pants. If I set up the low row cover I could probably string things along even further, but I got more than enough of a harvest for the free time I have, and I'm ready for a break... Lol!

I'll check out the gochu - the one you gave me sadly got broken in the wind, so I didn't get to get anything from it. Are they prolific producers? The yatsufusa I'm growing looks like it'll put out a ton of pods if you give it the time, and it's another cayenne type. I'd love to check out some of your paprikas, Are the Kurtovska Kapija good for powders? Those pods look huge, they look awesome for stuffing. How did the douglah and yellow 7 do up here? None of my supers got enough time, it looks like.

The Gochus are definitely good producers, especially early in the season. After that, if you want a continual harvest, you'll need to fertilize weekly when you water the peppers (I use a mix of molasses and Tiger Bloom), and some shade netting during the hottest part of the summer would be helpful as well. According to MisterNo, the Kapias make an excellent sweet powder, but they're so thick-fleshed that you'll need a dehydrator to do the job without the peppers molding. The Douglah and Yellow 7 both did well here when I started the seed in January and planted outside the end of April with the solar mulch and a low row cover to keep in the heat. By the second or third week in May I was able to take off the low row cover and just let them go.

I'm working out how I'm going to get my 2014 grow started, the spot where my greenhouse lived has been replaced by a freezer. I'll figure something out, even if I can just get a couple of the long growers started really early, I'll be in business. I'm not planning on any cucurbits next year - while they were doing great until the Great Drying killed them, I need to consolidate and build out slower. That, and find a way to keep the friggen rabbits out. This was an awesome learning year, I just overreached and took too long to get things going. If we can hold off first frost until middle of october, I should be rolling in pods, but we'll see. I probably can easily swing 20 pepper plants, along with beans, tomatoes and some lettuce, in my garden, so I'll shoot for that. As we clear out the jungle area further, I'll be able to stick more in, but I really need to cool it The pots I used worked well, but I didn't place them in a great spot. I'm thinking of sticking with mostly the prolific powder types, and a few for salsas/sauces and fresh usage. I'll round it out with one or two supers, and then the urfa biber and aleppos. Hopefully I'll get some decent stuff from them next year, I'd like to get them going to the point that I can hand them out to folks, which really just requires a couple good pods.

Do you have a dog you can tie up near the garden? You could set up a run with a steel cable strung between 2 trees or posts and a pulley threaded onto the cable with the dog's chain attached. That'd keep the Rabbits away from your garden I bet. Talk to me about seeds you need for next year and we'll work something out.
Cheers!

SeanW said:
My jamaican hot chocolates look nothing like the ones you are producing, Rick, mine go right to red, and are longer and smoother than yours (edit: they actually look exactly like the hot chocolate cross you posted on your glog page 92). My cherry also came out wonky. Maybe I just got stuff backwards somewhere, who knows. That's another tip for me to take into next year...better labeling.

I think the JA Hot Chocolate might turn out to be a Maya Red Habanero... in which case it's my bad. I wondered why I had 3 Choc. Habs and ony 1 MRH instead of 2 and 2. Was it the earliest Chinense variety to ripen, and go from a lime green to red?

SeanW · Sep 17, 2013

I'll have to check out the solar mulch stuff. I saw that you had good luck with the red ones on your tomatoes, and that you're using black on your peppers.

We don't have a dog, ours passed away at the ripe ol' age of 18 last October. She was probably the sweetest dog you'd ever meet, but she was a terrible guard dog, and the rabbits would literally sit 5 feet from her. We're not yet ready for another dog, but someday. We had the same setup - long cable running across the yard, with a rope and a pulley for her leash attached, though towards the end we just let her wander free, she would never go far, and we kept an eye on her.

I wish the coyote, bobcat and stoat I've seen would handle the situation...

stickman said:
I think the JA Hot Chocolate might turn out to be a Maya Red Habanero... in which case it's my bad. I wondered why I had 3 Choc. Habs and ony 1 MRH instead of 2 and 2. Was it the earliest Chinense variety to ripen, and go from a lime green to red?

That'd be it. Looks like that kind of pod, too. No worries, I got 5 or 6 pods from it so far, one of the most of any of my plants, and they got run through the dehydrator. If the weather holds, I'll get a bucket of pods from it. Low 40's tonight, they were calling for a frost warning but it is looking like it'll be warm enough to be okay. I swear, if the weather stays warm enough I'll be able to scrooge mcduck it, but that's not likely (that...and capsaicin burns over my whole body doesn't sound pleasant). Hopefully the maya you still have gave you enough pods.

I'll pull together a list of what seeds I have in the next couple days, and we can work out a swap. I'm still sorting through my brain about what I want to grow next year, going to try and limit myself to 20 plants. Granted - I was limiting myself to less than that, this year, and ended up with waaaay too many.

Keep thinking warm thoughts.