Sky's 2010 season.

[Skydiver]

Pics above were yesterday's harvest I forgot to upload.
Here's today:

1:Cherry tomato. I planted that thing once, and that was maybe four or five years ago. No matter how diligent I am it always seems to sneak a few seeds into the ground and another pops up the next season. Not complaining, it makes great sauce.
2: My first Yellow Jubilee tomato of the year.
3: More Cherry Chocolate Habaneros. (yes, my name sounds a bit corny but it's all I could think of)
4: Antillais Caribbean-ish peppers.
5: First fruit from the PK Paul's Purple Indian. It's very similar to the Black Pearl in coloration and how the pods look, but it's not as bushy and the fruits are more oblong than round. I like it. Pretty plant to look at.
6: Super Chilis that I managed to not eat before taking a pic of. I love that plant. Soooo tasty.
7: Black Pearls. Another plant I love the looks of. Very pretty. The fruit isn't that bad, actually. Had to remove the seeds to taste it but it's kinda yummy.
8: Red Savina. Yay! Finally!


Yellow Scorpion CARDI.

Beautiful work SD! A 5 inch Bhut is wicked!!! Would like to get a few of those seeds if you have some to spare. Grow some heirloom maters next year and I think you'll change your mind about fresh maters.

I'm isolating a few unopened flowers on it, I can hook you up when they get all red and burny.
Here's what they're looking like at the moment:


I have Cherokee Purples and Brandywine Reds in the ground. Not sure how heirloom-y those are, I mainly planted them because I wanted to see if it would make better sauces for me.

 

[Alphaeon]

Great pics!

 

[Silver_Surfer]

I'm isolating a few unopened flowers on it, I can hook you up when they get all red and burny.
Here's what they're looking like at the moment:

Sounds great, those are some fine lookin' Bhuts.

I have Cherokee Purples and Brandywine Reds in the ground. Not sure how heirloom-y those are, I mainly planted them because I wanted to see if it would make better sauces for me.

Those are two very tasty heirlooms. I wouldn't sauce all of them.

 

[Skydiver]

Thursday 05AUG10 harvest.

My first 7 Pot Barrackpore.
Yes, on the left side of the pepper is a spider. I don't know if it's just me, but there are tons and tons of spiders in my garden. Seems they like to make little spider nests in my peppers where there's deep folds. Last year, my red devil's tongue plant was like a spider haven.
I'm ok with that.




More Antillais Caribbean-ish pods. Tons of them, tasty, me like.




More Crossbred Chocolate habs.




Jaloro. They're starting to turn red and get a bit of corking. It's a small plant, though, so not a ton of these.

 

[Skydiver]

More of my NOT Jonah 7 Pots. So many peppers on the plant and they're ripening faster and faster now.

Yellow 7 Pots.

Overall harvest for the day. Tomato plants are ramping up. On that top row, the left most is a Brandywine, the others are Better Boy Hybrids, the smaller ones are from that infernal cherry tomato plant.
Not a bad day in the garden.

Also had a Red Savina ripen up but I seem to have not taken a pic. Alas.

 

[68MUDSTUD]

Lookin Great!

 

[Skydiver]

Haven't been updating or posting much, my mind has been elsewhere.
Harvests continue to be either good or overwhelming.

My chocolate hab x red devil's tongue accidental cross is a f'ing monster. Hybrid vigor for sure. It's not a matter of how many pods this plant is producing, I've filled a bunch of huge bags full of them for the freezer. Only bad thing is that they taste like a red devil's tongue, which is to say, bland. There are a ton of them, though, and they've got the red devil's tongue level of heat, so they make a nice base for my concentrate/puree/whatever that I'm making. Not saving any seeds from it. I'dve rather had fewer pods with better taste. Such is life, I guess.


My bhut jolokia is also doing extremely well, the pods are huge and mean looking. I'm trying to isolate flowers so I can have some seed stock from it, think I'm also going to be trying to either overwinter or clone it. I really dig the look of the pods, and they smell/taste great.

Big, spiky and bumpy, and a decent amount of them from the plant.

Interior shot. I don't have Chris's talent for pepper photography, sorry. Inside of these pods are oily as hell. Tons of heat, really nice flavor and aroma. I really want to make sure I preserve these genetics.



My other favorite this year is my Red Savina. Decent amount of pods, they're nice and thick walled and super fruity tasting.

Interior shot of one of them. I like this plant.


Also, I'm NEVER going without orange habaneros again. I miss the taste something fierce. I've tried a bunch of new stuff this year and will definitely be growing a few of the varieties again, but next year it's going to be a lot of orange and chocolate habs for me.

I'll try and update more. My Yellow 7 Pot is doing well, as is the Barrackpore and I love both plants, really nice taste to them and they're interesting plants. Loving the shape and size of the pods.

 

[Silver_Surfer]

Nice shots of some pod beauties, SD.

 

[ZanderSpice]

Great peppers and maters! That Bhut is fantastic. It looks like it's worth trying to keep for another year. I'll be trying the same with a Green Zebra tomato. Antilles Caribbean might be one for my garden next year. Thanks for the pics, they are good enough to eat.

 

[Skydiver]

Bit of an update and some rambling, but pepper porn first.

Harvests are starting to get smaller. I'm fairly ok with that. I haven't been posting a lot of pics this season, but my harvests have been, for the amount of plants I have, huge. Especially the dreaded red devil's tongue X chocolate habanero cross. Hybrid vigor, indeed.

Clockwise from top left:
Big pile of Fatalii. Yum.
4 Yellow Scorpion CARDIs. Really cool plant, really cool looking pods, but probably won't be growing this again. Chris, I really want to thank you for sending me the seeds for that so that I could grow it out. The taste just isn't what I'm going to be going for next year.
THSC Yellow 7 Pot. Really cool pod. I love how they ripen, sort of yellow and green camo look to them before they fully ripen. Lots of pods from it. Thanks, Neil, for the gift of the seeds to start it off.

Sort of to the left of the Yellow 7 Pots are some 7 Pot Barrackpores. I LOVE these peppers. They have just about everything I want in a pod. They smell and taste great, they look cool, it's bountiful; Trini, you absolutely rock for sharing this amazing plant.
Down and to the right of those are some intersting little pods. It's a red version of an aribibi gusano. I may try to save the plant or some seeds or something for next year. I don't know how stable it's going to be. Taste is ok, growing this again is on a back-back burner.
Down and to the right of those are some Red Savinas. This is another plant that I love. Tastes great, hot, has definitely earned a spot in my garden for next year.
Down and to the left of those are the f'ing red devil's tongue X chocolate hab crossbreeds. The plant is big, there are pods everywhere, it's almost a rival for a cayenne as far as how many pods I got from one plant. It has the taste of a red devil's tongue, though, which means basically tasteless. Since I have pounds and pounds of the damn things, I decided to use them as a base for my sauce/concentrates this year. I'm definitely letting these genetics die. This was such a disappointment and really put a downer on the whole year. I'm killing the line out of spite.
To the left of those are my NOT Jonah 7 Pots. Yellow. Lots of them. Not a great 7 Pot flavor to them. They're a base for a yellow sauce I'm working on. Also letting this line die.
Single Jaloro to the left of the NOT Jonahs. Meh. It's a jalapeno, tastes like most of the jals I've grown. Plant is small, not a ton of pods. Not growing again.
Above them are my beloved Bhut Jolokias. Barely edges out the Barrackpore as my favorite "superhot". I love the smell, I love the taste, I love how the pods look and how many the plant produced, this is just about perfect for me. If they were milder, I'd grow nothing else.
Above the Bhuts are some Roma tomatoes, because hey, Roma tomatoes rock.
To the left of the toms are probably my new all time favorite pod. It was supposed to be a Caribbean Red, but in this case, I'm incredibly happy that they're not. They're sort of an orangey color with streaks of a creamy white visible. The flesh is thick and crisp yet juicy. They smell wonderful, and they taste f'ing amazing. Super sweet, fruity, the heat is more than an orange but less than a choccy hab. I'm doing everything I can to preserve this plant. I'm going to take a cutting. I'm going to try and overwinter. I'm saving open pollinated seeds and hopingpraying that they breed true. I'm constantly looking for new flowers to isolate but there aren't that many. It's a small, really dense and bushy plant. I dig this pod.

Went to some fabric shop and bout that stuff. I'm hoping the holes are big enough for some air to flow, but too small for any pollinating insects. In the morning, when the dew is covering everything, my garden looks like some crazy spider lair with webbing everywhere.

Continued...

 

[Skydiver]

I'm trying something and I have no idea how well it's going to work. I've taken some clippings from a few plants and put them in old bottles with just water. The Momster does this all the time with regular plants, and sure enough they start to grow roots from the cut ends.

These are plants that I really want to save for next year, so I'm trying multiple methods to try and preserve the genes.

7 Pot Barrackpore

My beloved Bhut Jolokia.

Red Savina.


I cut these plants 3 days ago (4 days for the Barrackpore), and they all seem to be doing really well. There was some drooping for a few hours, but then the leaves perked up and they're looking pretty good. I'm going to be doing the same for that Caribbean Red-ish plant and a few others.

Fingers crossed.

 

[Chili Monsta]

I'm trying something and I have no idea how well it's going to work. I've taken some clippings from a few plants and put them in old bottles with just water. The Momster does this all the time with regular plants, and sure enough they start to grow roots from the cut ends.

These are plants that I really want to save for next year, so I'm trying multiple methods to try and preserve the genes.

7 Pot Barrackpore

My beloved Bhut Jolokia.

Red Savina.


I cut these plants 3 days ago (4 days for the Barrackpore), and they all seem to be doing really well. There was some drooping for a few hours, but then the leaves perked up and they're looking pretty good. I'm going to be doing the same for that Caribbean Red-ish plant and a few others.

Fingers crossed.

A trick my grandma showed me years ago when she wanted to save various plants from one year to the next was dipping the cut end into Rootone and then placing it into water....(any excess rootone in the water doesn't hurt either.)
Then a few days after root bud form, dip into rootone once again and then into potting soil it goes.
To date... it has never failed to work for me...thanks grandma!

 

[Skydiver]

I can feel the season beginning to wind down. Overall, I'd call this an adequate year. I grew some interesting plants and found a few pods that I'm totally in love with, but no matter how good things turned out, the specter of the crossbred chocolate habs darkens everything.
I really wanted chocolate habs. I got a tasteless overachiever. I could live with it if it weren't for the fact that I sent those seeds out to others. I am truly sorry to those victims of my unintentional cross pollination last year. I am embarrassed and ashamed. I can only hope that if you did get this infernal cross and grew it, that it produced for you as many pods as it did for me. It really does make a nice base for other pods that actually have flavor. Kinda like getting a color of paint you want. A gallon of white base paint that tints are added to to make a lovely shade. That's the only saving grace that plant has in my mind. I'm killing it, I'm not saving a single seed from it, and I've thrown out every last seed from last year that I still had to prevent anything like this from ever happening again.


Next year, I'm going to simplify things and get back to basics. I will never be without orange habs again. The lack of them is another dark spot on this season.
Next year, orange habs and chocolates from a trusted seed source. I can't be without them again. I am growing this garden and putting all this time into it to get food that I'm going to eat, those two taste too good to not grow. I'm not concerning myself with heat or rare/obscure varieties. If you're into those, I hope your plants are healthy and your harvests bountiful, it's just not for me. I want to be in my comfort zone again, growing things I dig. I'm just some guy, you know? I'm not someone who is going to go into business selling seeds or having a nearly encyclopedic collection of different varieties. I love my garden, but my space is limited and I have to focus better next year.

There will always be containers to grow something interesting, and also to put in a few plants just to grow for seeds (I'll probably eat the pods, too, I'm not going to lie) that I can wrap in some sort of netting to keep them pure. I love this community, so I really want to have a few plants that I will know are pure that I can share with others as so many have shared with me. I'd seriously give you all a hug right now for the knowledge and seeds and such that I've recieved, so I really want to be able to give back what I can. No more direct sunlight for them, though. My container plants didn't fare so well in direct sunlight, I moved them back to a shadier area about a week ago and they're doing much better, so I know that I can keep growing in them as long as I don't treat them like the plants in the ground.

That's all. Sorry to lay a tl;dr post on you, just felt like getting those things out there.

Much love to you all,
Sky.

 

[Silver_Surfer]

Nice update, good luck with your clones.

 

[patrick]

Sounds like you're pretty content with the season diver, good for you. We all have a few things that don't go exactly as planned, part of the fun I guess.

Best of luck to you're overwintering project. I too cut small limbs off of the plants and stick them directly in water after a quick dip in the rooting hormone. I use RO water and replace it every day. Also spritz them with the same water. Worked pretty good for me last year, see how it goes this year. Again, good luck to you.

 

[Skydiver]

Well, stick a fork in the current season and time to look towards next year.
Those damned cross bred chocolate habs really bummed me out this year. That's fine. Lesson learned big time. Next season, I'm going to stick to containers for plants I want to isolate, and I'm going to wrap the whole damn plant. Figure I'll do two plants of each variety to increase my odds.
No more yellow peppers for me. I like them, it's just that I like red and brown varieties much more.
No more ornamentals ever. I may do one or two in a small pot to use as decoration, but that's about it. They're pretty, but it's wasted space for me.

I wish I had started on isolation attempts earlier in the season. I didn't get any pure seeds from my beloved bhut, so I dug the whole plant up and I'm attempting to over winter it.

I'm also trying to save my THSC Yellow 7 Pot/Pod. It's the exception to my "no more yellow" rule because it's tasty and hot and productive.

Next year is going to be all about flavor for me. Heat is nice, but flavor will be king. Luckily for me, I love the taste of the bhut, so my garden is going to be heavy with bhuts and chocolate habs. I don't think I'm going to be without orange habs again. I miss them sorely, so I'll probably be putting two or three plants in next season.

Even though they weren't what I wanted, the crossbred red chocolate hab abomination peppers made a fairly tasty sauce. I've given away a few samples to friends, and after the "holy f--k that's hot" is out of the way (it's not that hot, they're just not accustomed to the heat), they pretty much all said that Cross Eyed Rosie is pretty good stuff.

I still have two big bags of dehydrated pods I need to grind into powder. The Momster hooked me up with a new Excalibur dehydrator, and that thing is a beauty.

There's also a few bags of pods I vacuum sealed and froze that I need to make into my last batch of sauce. Those ones are all my "good" pods. Mostly bhuts and red savinas and Barrackpores with a few fatalii and some other ones. Basically the pods I thought the best tasting. I'll post an update when I get it finished.


This year was a big "Lesson Learned, don't do that again" year. I know what I did wrong and I have plans to correct my screwups. Sure, the plan may be little more than buying pure seed from a trustworthy vendor, but still. It will be great to have real chocolate habs again. I've pulled all my plants out, I've destroyed all my old seed stock from stuff I grew so I don't run into crosspollination problems again, and next year I'll be starting fresh.