stc3248's 2014 small wild grow

WalkGood · Jan 20, 2014

I'm in for another wild ride, clicked "follow dis," may da pepper gods be with your grow again = )

stickman · Jan 20, 2014

I see you still haven't lost your touch Shane... volunteers, smoked pods and the start of another sauce... this place is jumpin'

Jeff H · Jan 20, 2014

Looking good Shane. I see the 5 wilds were clearly just an excuse to have her let you have the garden. Once you have permission, you can always beg for forgiveness later for stretching the quantities. After all, you didn't actually plant any more.
:whistle:

Had a similar conversation with my wife years ago when I went to buy my first pistol. After many conversations, I finally got my way for her okay for 1 gun. Fast forward many years; the 16 long gun safe is nearly full. Won't be too long before I'll need another. :shh:

Devv · Jan 20, 2014

I would chime in here...but the wife's standing over my shoulder

Got slapped anyways..

The sauce sounds like it's gonna be a winner!

Beam me up Scotty!!! 3 yrs to retirement and hopefully back to the promised land...and some REALLY epic grows. I've had pop setting up his cattle feeding stations in a couple prime bottom land locations for several years. Every time he dredges out the ponds that soil goes on there too. Should have room for 15-20 thousand plants...but I (she) will probably limit myself to a couple thousand. I would like to land some large contract grows from some of the big wigs...we'll see. Large greenhouse...ahhh. Dreaming big...

Now that sounds like a plan! I'm just under 5 years myself, can't wait for the freedom!

wildseed57 · Jan 20, 2014

Its funny but your wife's words seem to ring in my ears, as when I was married I was growing 600 tomato plants for a dairy friend, I would over plant to make sure I always had what he needed and keep the runts for myself.
I would do the same for any peppers he might want, all those plants would drive my wife crazy, she used to claim I loved my plants more than I did her and the grand kids, I would ask her if that was true why would I be working two jobs at 16 to 18 hours a day, it got to where I could see myself coming home and passing myself going back to work.
Life can give you a handful of weeds some time.
My mom is 91, but I know she will one day she be gone, after that my sister wants me to travel with her to Texas and Oregon and all the places in between to visit all of her grown up kids and grand kids, I would love to do that, but hate the idea of not having a garden any more I do think I could find a couple of places to keep a plant or two while on the road, they would have to be really special. Then I could hand out seeds to people I meet.

stc3248 · Jan 21, 2014

WalkGood said:
I'm in for another wild ride, clicked "follow dis," may da pepper gods be with your grow again = )

Click it or Ticket Ramon!!! Here we go again!

stickman said:
I see you still haven't lost your touch Shane... volunteers, smoked pods and the start of another sauce... this place is jumpin'

To prevent losing your touch...all one must do it touch themselves often...
Standby for heavy rolls as this glog comes about!!!

Jeff H said:
Looking good Shane. I see the 5 wilds were clearly just an excuse to have her let you have the garden. Once you have permission, you can always beg for forgiveness later for stretching the quantities. After all, you didn't actually plant any more.

Had a similar conversation with my wife years ago when I went to buy my first pistol. After many conversations, I finally got my way for her okay for 1 gun. Fast forward many years; the 16 long gun safe is nearly full. Won't be too long before I'll need another.

Yeah Jeff...I went that route last year, this year will be different...and much smaller. I think easy enough to justify keeping any that just "happen" to survive the winter! I tried to get mama on board with the gun thang once upon a time...WAY back before the kids...bought her a pistol of her own and she seemed to be getting the hang of it until an unfortunate cleaning incident resulted in her putting a new hole in the coffee table and the carpet. Never again...I still got mine though, bring on them damn zombies!

Devv said:
I would chime in here...but the wife's standing over my shoulder Got slapped anyways..

The sauce sounds like it's gonna be a winner!

Now that sounds like a plan! I'm just under 5 years myself, can't wait for the freedom!

I know how that goes...mama caught a glimpse of the "I'm gonna miss her" post and left a hand print on my bald head! We'll see...my "retirement" will be my first one...I'll only be 45-46...so I'll need another job until 59 1/2 when I can start to pull from my 401k. I got plans, and more plans and contingencies...we shall see. Unfortunately/fortunately I have had many job offers already, but most of them would require me to stay out here in the land of fruits and nuts a while longer...

wildseed57 said:
Its funny but your wife's words seem to ring in my ears, as when I was married I was growing 600 tomato plants for a dairy friend, I would over plant to make sure I always had what he needed and keep the runts for myself.
I would do the same for any peppers he might want, all those plants would drive my wife crazy, she used to claim I loved my plants more than I did her and the grand kids, I would ask her if that was true why would I be working two jobs at 16 to 18 hours a day, it got to where I could see myself coming home and passing myself going back to work.
Life can give you a handful of weeds some time.
My mom is 91, but I know she will one day she be gone, after that my sister wants me to travel with her to Texas and Oregon and all the places in between to visit all of her grown up kids and grand kids, I would love to do that, but hate the idea of not having a garden any more I do think I could find a couple of places to keep a plant or two while on the road, they would have to be really special. Then I could hand out seeds to people I meet.

Dude...you're walking bad news. Kinda like Eeyore...damn! If I grew out 600 anything my wife would not hang around to bitch about it!!! Hahaha...

Sounds like a good time on the tour of the western states...I would do it, the back windshield of a car makes a nice little seed starter greenhouse!!!

Well...in spite of adding the smoked sweet peppers and onions...

Which did add some nice smokey flavor...

The finished sauce is still just brutally HOT!!! Has a good initial sweet flavor...burbon/smoke with some brown sugar, then your face, mouth, tongue and throat are on fire!!! This is by far the hottest sauce I have ever made...and I wasn't really going for that??? There were some carrots, onion and garlic in the ferment too, but I went pretty heavy on the pods. (mix of supers from one of my final harvests) This is the first strained sauce I have made in a while though...but I only did that so I didn't use up the rest of my woozies...good though. Will make a nice surprise gift to the A$$h0l3s in my life...

Along with the saucing the drying continues...once I filled the chest freezer some bags of peppers found their way into mamas standup freezer...which don't help matters around here. So...

out of the freezer and into the fire!!! Since I had the smoker going I figured I would get a batch of smoked powder in there after the sauce pods came out...

Each gallon bag of frozen pods just about fills my 4 tray dehydrator...I can really pack them in there and fit a bag and a half, but the extra pods means an extra day of drying time...so I just go through a bag at a time. This will be a smoked superhot blend hot salt when done...I have done some powder how to's in my past couple glogs...Maybe I will do a video on this one??? Start a powder 101 thread??? Then again...Maybe not!!!??? At a minimum I will recap the steps of the drying/grinding process again...

I also have several more jars on the ferment shelf...and will be adding another couple so I will show you all how I start my (very low tech) ferments. Most of my procedure was pulled from Bill's (RocketMan) Fermenting Peppers 101 linked.

stickman · Jan 21, 2014

stc3248 said:
To prevent losing your touch...all one must do it touch themselves often...
Standby for heavy rolls as this glog comes about!!!

Glad to see the Navy hasn't confiscated your sense of humor! :rofl:

The sauce and smoked pods look fantastic Shane... if you work at processing last year's pods every free minute you may just catch up by the time this year's pods start to come along...

Keep 'em green!

RocketMan · Jan 21, 2014

stc3248 said:
Thanks Bill!!! Standby for tasking...got some Seal Team buddies that may call for fire from AfghanIraqIstanAmalia...waiting on an FPO addy. Best of luck on your wild side...they can be tricky to get going, but once up and running they're some of the most forgiving plants out there. Heck they usually just sprout wherever the birds shat them out right???

Standing by for Fire Mission!!!

Can they handle the heat of will this be "Danger Close"?

Jeff H · Jan 21, 2014

So the chest freezer is how big? Not big enough I guess. Can you talk her into getting a bigger one? :dance:

The sauce looks great, but with all those supers in it, you're right, that is a scorcher and probably too hot to be enjoyed.

Nice to see you drying and smoking again. I haven't done that in a few months. That gallon bag that you mentioned does just about fill 4 trays, but what you didn't say is that it grinds up into a cup or more of powder. rinse and repeat a few times and you have enough powder for quite a while and it doesn't deplete the stock in the freezer enough to make a dent.

HillBilly Jeff · Jan 21, 2014

Nice looking stuff man. Really like the smoked onion pic. Keep up the good work.

stc3248 · Jan 21, 2014

stickman said:
Glad to see the Navy hasn't confiscated your sense of humor!

The sauce and smoked pods look fantastic Shane... if you work at processing last year's pods every free minute you may just catch up by the time this year's pods start to come along... Keep 'em green!

Haha...glad you got a chuckle! My focus when posting is often aimed at making someone spray their morning coffee on their computer screen! I won't be caught up by the time I plant out I don't think...if I were home I would be. I can only put in one batch a week in the dehydrator with my schedule. While sauce is another option that could fix that...them damn woozies are pricey! May shift to canning jars and put away some large quantities. I prefer to powder them though. I find the supers more useful as an ingredient when cooking than making a usable sauce. It can be done...but if I cut down the heat by adding stuff to the sauce to make them a little more tame...I would end up with about 100 gallons of sauce!

RocketMan said:
Standing by for Fire Mission!!!

Can they handle the heat of will this be "Danger Close"?

Knew I could count on you Bill...may not get their addy. They tend to move around a bit. If we get the call, I would say a couple rounds of smoke and then fire for effect with the incendiaries!

Jeff H said:
So the chest freezer is how big? Not big enough I guess. Can you talk her into getting a bigger one?

The sauce looks great, but with all those supers in it, you're right, that is a scorcher and probably too hot to be enjoyed.

Nice to see you drying and smoking again. I haven't done that in a few months. That gallon bag that you mentioned does just about fill 4 trays, but what you didn't say is that it grinds up into a cup or more of powder. rinse and repeat a few times and you have enough powder for quite a while and it doesn't deplete the stock in the freezer enough to make a dent.

Smallish Chest freezer??? I dunno how many gallons of pods it holds...maybe 50 or 60??? It is packed to the point of having to put some weight on the lid to keep it closed. The bigger freezer idea has been vetted...along with an industrial sized dehydrator. Both a no-go until I can really sell enough powder to justify it. I am unable to really turn it into a business due to rules regarding food prep kitchens. They must be prepared in a dedicated commercial kitchen...meaning a whole separate kitchen area for nothing but business related food prep. So, I must stay a "hobby" cook for now. I have plans though...and someday I will take this to the next level. That sauce will be nice to kick stuff up a notch much like powder. A capful in a batch of homemade cocktail sauce for example...or a little in the Guacamole. It has a really good flavor...just gets overpowered by the heat and chinense flavor when used straight up for my taste.

HillBilly Jeff said:
Nice looking stuff man. Really like the smoked onion pic. Keep up the good work.

Thanks Jeff! I sure do love smoking stuff...gets the whole neighborhood hungry when done right. Catch my neighbors peeking over when I'm cooking all the time. I routinely put together large batches of smoked goodies for work related parties...catering is another post Navy plan of mine...we shall see!

Sheesh...already been a couple days since I started the seeds and I haven't even checked them yet! I know they're not likely to pop for another week or two considering the vaieties...but I don't know how much longer I am gonna be able to hold out!!!

maximumcapsicum · Jan 21, 2014

Wow this is an incredible glog! Love your bonchis! What kind of soils you using in them?

More comments to follow for sure. Will be following along!

jedisushi06 · Jan 21, 2014

That sauce looks amazing! What's all in there and what pods did you use?

Devv · Jan 21, 2014

Shane,

The sauces look killer!

One never gets caught up when the have a large grow, and you are far from it my friend. But that's a good thing, this is what you like to do. I too made hot sauces way to hot. I shared some Reaper puree with a few chiliheads at work, one's wife is a super lover. She put 3 drops on her eggs and had to take breathers..LOL

I made them to spice up dips and get peppers out of the freezer, not to use straight up.

Don't forget about the seeds!

stc3248 · Jan 21, 2014

jedisushi06 said:
That sauce looks amazing! What's all in there and what pods did you use?

Thanks Mikey...Sheesh I dunno??? It was a hodge podge of supers from my last few pulls. Mostly Infinities I imagine. It is pretty good!

Devv said:
Shane,

The sauces look killer!

One never gets caught up when the have a large grow, and you are far from it my friend. But that's a good thing, this is what you like to do. I too made hot sauces way to hot. I shared some Reaper puree with a few chiliheads at work, one's wife is a super lover. She put 3 drops on her eggs and had to take breathers..LOL

I made them to spice up dips and get peppers out of the freezer, not to use straight up.

Don't forget about the seeds!

Yeah...I like sauces each way. Either pure HOT or something nice to be used at the table. This one is kinda both with a little too much hot for the table...and you and I think alike...

I mixed it with some Olive Oil Mayo for this burger...half a spoonful did the trick! Flavor came through loud and clear with a nice even but not overstated burn.

maximumcapsicum said:
Wow this is an incredible glog! Love your bonchis! What kind of soils you using in them?

More comments to follow for sure. Will be following along!

Welcome aboard maxcaps!!! I use the same soil for everything. Miracle Grow Moisture Control. Works very well for Bonsai/Bonchi plants as it still feeds pretty well for a while, and retains moisture very well in the small pots. I rehydrate them well each weekend by setting them in a drip pan full of water and letting them soak it up then don't have to worry while I am gone all week. Funny you commented this today as I was out picking and pruning some new Bonchi prospects all afternoon...here is the lineup...

Manzano Before...

Manzano After...I will let each of these sit in their current containers until they start to push out some new growth and keep trimming them down as I go until they are the final dimensions before potting down to smaller containers. This one may go over a rock if the roots look good for that...

Birgits Locoto...only an after on this one. I will take this one down to about a foot high if all works out. Plan being a ball of growth on top of the perfectly shaped trunk with the pods raining down...

Numex Centennial before...

After...

Sad looking Explosive Ember before...

After...did a couple of these today. This one has some good looking roots.

I make light scratches on the green stems with my clippers. When they heal they'll brown up. I repeat as necessary until they look right.

Here are a two of the new ones in front along with a couple I have previously pictured. I took the Numex Centennial on the far left down a little from where it was before on three branches and cut the lower branch off. Going for a solid canopy with pods sticking up all over...well that's the plan anyway??? I will take that last branch down once I am certain the other three are looking good.

Sold mama on the small plant idea with these guys...will be cool if I can get those huge Manzano and Birgit plants down into a container the size of the one I have that Centennial in!!! Time will tell I suppose. I expect more than a couple of these to fail miserably...and if I ain't following some golden Bonsai rule with how I shape my plants, so be it. I want them to look like I want them to look. All that trim downward growth, lean the plant toward the viewer, trunk flaring at the base stuff is cool...but they're my damn plants! Ha!!! :rofl:

Can y'all tell I am off this week??? :dance:

Devv · Jan 21, 2014

Yes I can!

Else we wouldn't see this magic until the weekend...

Thanks for sharing on the cut downs. I still want to know why you scribe the bark?

Enjoy the rest of the week!

Tomorrow id Friday for me, stock show's in town...yes!

Sawyer · Jan 21, 2014

Great start to the new year, Shane. Love the looks of that sauce. I'm working on a white sauce right now (GWH, white bhut), but it needs a little something, maybe a reduced white wine.

stc3248 said:
For the past two years I have been a "geobachelor" which is a military term for folks that are stationed away from their families. I am only home on weekends...so dedicating so much of my few days home for the past two years to my grow has really been kinda selfish.

That kind of give a twist to the aphorism, "Grow together, or grow apart." You do what you gotta do.

maximumcapsicum · Jan 21, 2014

stc3248 said:
Thanks Mikey...Sheesh I dunno??? It was a hodge podge of supers from my last few pulls. Mostly Infinities I imagine. It is pretty good!

Yeah...I like sauces each way. Either pure HOT or something nice to be used at the table. This one is kinda both with a little too much hot for the table...and you and I think alike...

I mixed it with some Olive Oil Mayo for this burger...half a spoonful did the trick! Flavor came through loud and clear with a nice even but not overstated burn.

Welcome aboard maxcaps!!! I use the same soil for everything. Miracle Grow Moisture Control. Works very well for Bonsai/Bonchi plants as it still feeds pretty well for a while, and retains moisture very well in the small pots. I rehydrate them well each weekend by setting them in a drip pan full of water and letting them soak it up then don't have to worry while I am gone all week. Funny you commented this today as I was out picking and pruning some new Bonchi prospects all afternoon...here is the lineup...

Manzano Before...

Manzano After...I will let each of these sit in their current containers until they start to push out some new growth and keep trimming them down as I go until they are the final dimensions before potting down to smaller containers. This one may go over a rock if the roots look good for that...

Birgits Locoto...only an after on this one. I will take this one down to about a foot high if all works out. Plan being a ball of growth on top of the perfectly shaped trunk with the pods raining down...

Numex Centennial before...

After...

Sad looking Explosive Ember before...

After...did a couple of these today. This one has some good looking roots.

I make light scratches on the green stems with my clippers. When they heal they'll brown up. I repeat as necessary until they look right.

Here are a two of the new ones in front along with a couple I have previously pictured. I took the Numex Centennial on the far left down a little from where it was before on three branches and cut the lower branch off. Going for a solid canopy with pods sticking up all over...well that's the plan anyway??? I will take that last branch down once I am certain the other three are looking good.

Sold mama on the small plant idea with these guys...will be cool if I can get those huge Manzano and Birgit plants down into a container the size of the one I have that Centennial in!!! Time will tell I suppose. I expect more than a couple of these to fail miserably...and if I ain't following some golden Bonsai rule with how I shape my plants, so be it. I want them to look like I want them to look. All that trim downward growth, lean the plant toward the viewer, trunk flaring at the base stuff is cool...but they're my damn plants! Ha!!!

Can y'all tell I am off this week???

Yay! Bonchis! Love the scraping the green for bark. Going to give that a shot next time around. I bet they bounce back quick given that you didn't blow up the roots. It amazes me how much punishement they can take when you cut 'em down and put em in the small pots. So tender as seedlings, but oh so much clay in the clipper when its time to bonchi them up!

Will definitely be following your progress.

Yeah I've been following the bonchi rules pretty loosely as well. Biggest thing is I'm going to need to report them, but didn't want tot go that far till I was sure they were going to live. Well they haven't had any problem livin'. Now I wonder how little light they can tolerate... would love to put one on my desk at work. May try that once I opt to make one of 'em permanent.

Any preferred bonsai varieties? I am interested in strains that are predisposed to small leaf growth.

Great glog!

stc3248 · Jan 22, 2014

Devv said:
Yes I can!

Else we wouldn't see this magic until the weekend...

Thanks for sharing on the cut downs. I still want to know why you scribe the bark?

Enjoy the rest of the week!

Tomorrow id Friday for me, stock show's in town...yes!

Yup...wayyyy too much time on my hands!!! Scribing...or gently damaging of the green stems makes them bark up. So everywhere I scratch will heal with nice thick brown bark. For example...

This little heart that I scribed into the trunk of one of the Numex Centennials will hopefully bark up in this shape and help me sway mama a little more toward letting me keep the little plants!

Sawyer said:
Great start to the new year, Shane. Love the looks of that sauce. I'm working on a white sauce right now (GWH, white bhut), but it needs a little something, maybe a reduced white wine.

That kind of give a twist to the aphorism, "Grow together, or grow apart." You do what you gotta do.

John, that's a sauce or powder I am about to tackle...I made some sauce with white pods already, but did't keep it white. Think I may just dry some on low and see how white I can keep it. They White 7s I have turned kinda cream colored at the end, so it'll be a little off-white. We shall see. White wine sounds like a nice addition to a super sauce. Keep me posted how it turns out. I have several gallons of the pods to get through.

maximumcapsicum said:
Yay! Bonchis! Love the scraping the green for bark. Going to give that a shot next time around. I bet they bounce back quick given that you didn't blow up the roots. It amazes me how much punishement they can take when you cut 'em down and put em in the small pots. So tender as seedlings, but oh so much clay in the clipper when its time to bonchi them up!

Will definitely be following your progress.

Yeah I've been following the bonchi rules pretty loosely as well. Biggest thing is I'm going to need to report them, but didn't want tot go that far till I was sure they were going to live. Well they haven't had any problem livin'. Now I wonder how little light they can tolerate... would love to put one on my desk at work. May try that once I opt to make one of 'em permanent.

Any preferred bonsai varieties? I am interested in strains that are predisposed to small leaf growth.

Great glog!

Thank you! As far as the best bonchi varieties go...I really like the Thai ornamental varieties...as well as other ornamentals. Pequin, Tepins and other wilds are all good choices, but they'll all work. I am thinking the Centennials and Explosive Embers will be stunning if I do them right. I should be able to keep them very small, small leaves and loaded with colorful upward facing pods. Hope the plans come together!!! Will be Bonchi cutting a couple more today. A Goat's Weed and a Romy Mystery plant...I will post up some before and after pics of those as well. Will be time to start buying some containers soon!!!

JJJessee · Jan 22, 2014

Nice work!
Are you using any fresh soil, nutes, or particular type of nutes to revitalize the MGMC?
Looks like eventually it would lose it's umpf, especially to re-pod.