Devv said:
Good stuff going on here!
You have quite the jump on next season. I'm holding off on planting seeds until after Christmas break; a bit late for this next season but I have to travel....
Keep it green!
Thanks! My goal is to have production (at least flowers) starting in December/January for the 60-80 day varieties. And then it will likely be late in January or February before I get some of the 90-120 day varieties to flower.
These guys will all be grown in pots for the duration of their lives. Just for reference, Our average last frost date in Dallas is
March 17th. The city itself provides some extra heat compared to outside of the city.
Anyways. On to what I did this weekend!
My final 2 trays are planted. Went back to the 2" pots, after a good sanitization. ProMix BX as my media once again. Put them in the Germination tower - and off we go!
I planted these on 11/16/14. The latest of these will start flowering at the end of March or early April, the earliest should flower mid February.
8x Mulato Isleno, 4x Yucatan White Hab, 4x Aji Pineapple, 4x Fatalii, 8x Shishito, 4x Bahamian Goat, 8x "Mitchell's Cuban Pepper" (Unknown Var.), 4x Manzano (Yes, for real), 8x Red Peter Pepper, 8x Golden Marconi, 4x Malaysian Goronong.
Some of these are going to be giveaways, mostly for fellow growers. My girlfriend is addicted to the Shishito peppers, so we need lots of them -- I like to make a thick ribeye (highly marbled - of course), some mashed red potatoes, and grilled shishitos and mushrooms to smother the steak with. Shishitos are always fun because of the random hot ones, flavor is great with grilled food. This second set is at the time that I would normally germ up peppers, but I wanted to see what a head start would do for me - considering the wicked heat we have in mid-summer.
To be honest, this is probably the most seeds I have ever germinated at one time. Definitely my first truly dedicated pepper grow. I plan on leaving my raised beds for their normal crops, cucumbers, squash, eggplants, lettuce, beans etc.
On to my sauce experiment! I wanted to make a hot sauce that is geared for seafood.
Ingredient list: Yellow Tomatoes, Yellow Corno di Toro, Orange Habaneros, Yellow 7 Pods, Ghost peppers, Ginger, Galangal Root, Onion, Garlic, Lemons, White Vinegar.
This is a more substantial sauce, but still runs easily when poured. Up front, you taste the acidic lemony citrus, and tang from the ginger and galangal, which is followed up by the sweetness of the Corno di Toros, with the complexity of the mix of hot peppers, followed by a relatively sharp burn that builds and builds for about 45 seconds. The burn lasted about 15 minutes for me from a single spoonful.
Overall, I really liked it - turned out to be pretty good for a first attempt at a yellow sauce. The strongest hot pepper flavor is from the 7 pods. When you open the bottle it smells heavily piquant. Probably Nuclear class for most people, but I would rate it a 8/10 for heat. But... my scale goes 1-10, and then X, XX, and XXX.
I got some of my first Hot Banana's this weekend too. Slightly more piquant than your average Jalapeno. Not too much depth of flavor, probably best pickled. Nice and Crunchy though.
Greenhouse temps are staying Mid 40's to low 50's at night, and up to 75 on a day with good sun. We had our first real frost today. I'm kind of surprised at how lengthy this cold spell is for November.
Forecast is finally looking up.
and Finally, I read the book "Chile Peppers" edited by Beth Hanson. Published in 1999. It seems like a good beginner/intermediate pepper gardener read. tells the history of peppers, followed by the chemical makeup and how peppers produce the spicy sensation. Followed by how to grown them, with separate sections for indoor and outdoor growing with information on lighting, temperatures, humidity, etc - as well as realistic expectations. Then there is a nice section about general disorders, pests, and diseases that frequently plague peppers. I found this chapter to be particularly useful. Then there is a chapter on preserving chiles, full of recipes and how-to's. Finally, there is one of the preliminary versions of the Encyclopedia of Chiles, which discusses many of the common garden varieties that most beginners are interested in growing, as well as the conditions that they prefer. An important part of this chapter is that they explain which varieties will perform better in either northern or southern climates. At the end there are some seed source references, some resources, information on contributors, and USDA Hardiness zone map.
Overall, I'd say most people that are new to growing peppers should give this a read. There is not really any information on Superhots or the like, but does provide a good base point for the beginner pepper gardener and covers most of the points needed to successfully grow peppers.
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It's okay though, these are pretty easy to find at local garden stores when the time comes if I feel like I don't have enough peppers - which I highly doubt I will come to find.
