Stefan_W's 2013 Pods A-Ripenin'! Glog

I am going to start the new glog for my upcoming growing season on a bit of a personal note. One year ago tomorrow (January 3rd) is the one year anniversary of the day that my daughter was diagnosed with a tumour that is lodged in the middle of her brain. The past year has involved treatments and hospital stays, and there were at least three different points when we were pretty sure she was not going to make it. But she is a fighter, and nothing could keep her down for long.

Sofia has personally planted every pepper and tomato seed that I have started in the past three growing seasons. She beat the odds last year to help me, and once again she is defying what medicine has to say to help me out this year.

We started a jalapeno plant about a week ago just for the sake of watching it grow, because we both love it so much. One of the jalapenos grew to the point that it had its firt couple of leaves, so we transplanted him into a bigger pot. While we were at it I decided to put in some aji lemondrops, partly because they take a long time to fruit up and I wanted to give them a huge head start.

This is the jalapeno plant. I pulled the second one out because we did not need it, and discovered that the roots had grown all of the way down to the bottom of the cell.

My daughter personally doing the transplant.

Her aim is better than mine, and so it turned out perfectly.

Next up was taking out the lemondrop seeds from peppermania.

I need a few extras of this type, so I asked Sofia to plant two seeds in each of the four cells. Two plants will be for us, and whatever else grows will be given away to good friends.

Two of the three tiers in my lighting stand are currently being used as toy shelves, which is cool for now. The lights are adjustable, and moved down to get close to the seedling.

The heating pad works extremely well, and once the cells are covered the top clouds up in no time.

A happy early jalapeno seedling in his new home. I thought I heard "feeeeeed meeeeee" coming from that direction, but I'm not sure.

That's it for today, folks! Welcome to my new glog

 

[Stefan_W]

A quick update. I put another 10 seedlings into pots, and there are many more hooks starting up. We started the Reapers last Monday, so this is day 7 for them. There are now 7 seedlings/hooks out of the 11 seeds we had in the pack. I don't know if I mentioned it before, but I didn't soak the seeds either. This is all Sofia Pixie dust.

 

[WalkGood]

Nice percentage, bet the rest will pop for you too. That said, I doubt you'll have problems with the white habs, just give them a little extra pixie dust FTW!

 

[roper2008]

Good germination Stefan. I had 50% with mine. Be interesting to see how these come out. Hopefully I
don't get habaneros.

 

[Stefan_W]

Nice percentage, bet the rest will pop for you too. That said, I doubt you'll have problems with the white habs, just give them a little extra pixie dust FTW!

I'm thinking the rest would probably pop if I let them, but I have to cap them off because I"m running out of space already. I really grew these for re-sale, because I changed my mind about putting them on my grow list this year. Of course everything can still change.

Good germination Stefan. I had 50% with mine. Be interesting to see how these come out. Hopefully I
don't get habaneros.

Yeah, that is exactly why I dropped them from my grow list. They sound interesting, but until they stabilize I dont really want to risk putting them in my garden. The last thing I need is space taken up and then not being entirely sure what I have in the end.

 

[Stefan_W]

Just for a change of pace, I'm going to do a foodie update this time around.

We are having a Valentine's Day potluck for lunch at work tomorrow, and I decided to make up some chicken wings. I'm completely out of homemade sauce, so I decided to make some from scratch this evening.

I went by the supermarket, and there was a sale on star fruit and passionfruit, so they became the main ingredients. I also decided to add booze in the form of what was left in my bottle of Trinidad rum, some garlic from my garden, red wine vinegar, a grapple (an apple that tastes like grape), and some paprika and kung pao pods that I dehydrated. I also decided early on that the heat would be there but on the low side because not everyone at work likes spicey food.

And into the pot it all goes.

I boiled it until the apple pieces got soft, which was about 25 minutes.

When it was done I gave it a long ride in the blender, starting the the chopping feature and ending with liquify.

It made the perfect amount: one jar for tonight and two jars extra for down the road.

Two batches of wings when into the Actifry. I added garlic powder, crushed pepper flakes, lemon pepper, and a pretty decent hit of Joyner's jalapeno powder.

When it was done I added the sauce and gave it a good stir, and this is what came out.

About 30 wings, which is absolutely perfect for a potluck brunch at work.

Thank you for having a look, and have a great Love Day!

 

[Stefan_W]

Ok, I have one of those "hae you ever seen this before" questions for you all.

I am having more trouble with getting rocotos to sprout. Just like last time, when something pops out of the ground it is all white and has no leaves. There are also very few roots. What is happening?

I apologize for the focus in the first picture, but the sprouts are little and it is hard to get close enough to them to get a good shot. There are two sprouts on the right hand side.

Let me know if you have any guesses as to what is going on. It was weird this first time I put in the seeds and this happened, but now it is two times in a row so somthing must be going on.

 

[GA Growhead]

I had a sprout come up headless, like it broke itself coming out of the seed husk. But not looking like that. It looked like a norm sprout, stem wise.
Hopefully someone will chime in.

 

[Stefan_W]

I had a sprout come up headless, like it broke itself coming out of the seed husk. But not looking like that. It looked like a norm sprout, stem wise.
Hopefully someone will chime in.

Yeah, it is really strange. I've never had a pepper plant do this before, and this happened with both types of rocotos each of the two times I planted the seeds. They are in the same soil and same conditions as all of the other seedlings, and the rest sprout perfectly fine aside from the odd helmet head.

 

[WalkGood]

Just for a change of pace, I'm going to do a foodie update this time around. … …

Great and I’ve not eaten yet today, hehe

We are having a Valentine's Day potluck for lunch at work tomorrow, and I decided to make up some chicken wings. I'm completely out of homemade sauce, so I decided to make some from scratch this evening.

Oh no, abdominal sounds starting up eeeek!

… I also decided to add booze in the form of what was left in my bottle of Trinidad rum, … … …

Ask forgiveness ... de rum Jah says you a sinner mon, that Trini rum should be in da belly

… … Two batches of wings when into the Actifry. I added garlic powder, crushed pepper flakes, lemon pepper, and a pretty decent hit of Joyner's jalapeno powder. …

… About 30 wings, which is absolutely perfect for a potluck brunch at work.

WalkGood runs off to eat!!! In all seriousness what you’ve done here (wings & sauce) is awesome, great job my Canadian brethren. PS love the look of the star fruit in there, great pics and please let me know how it tastes as I have never tried star fruit in any of my sauces. We eat star fruit all the time when dem bearing fruit. BTW there's a huge star fruit tree across the river from us, a short canoe ride away, so I’ll be testing this now, brilliant Stefan!!! Now WG runs off da net to eat

 

[Jamison]

Man o man them wings look spectacular along with the sauce! All sorts of sprouts! I know whats for dinner tonight!

 

[Stefan_W]

PS love the look of the star fruit in there, great pics and please let me know how it tastes as I have never tried star fruit in any of my sauces. We eat star fruit all the time when dem bearing fruit. BTW there's a huge star fruit tree across the river from us, a short canoe ride away, so I’ll be testing this now, brilliant Stefan!!! Now WG runs off da net to eat

To be honest, two passionfruits were too much for this sauce and it overpowered the taste. I think the star fruit was good in the sauce, but I think it ended up being filler instead of adding to the taste. I should have known better, and I'll have to tweak the recipe for next time.

Man o man them wings look spectacular along with the sauce! All sorts of sprouts! I know whats for dinner tonight!

Thank you very much! Wings for dinner are definitely always a good thing

Photo updates of the seedlings coming this weekend. At day five after planting 7/8 of the white habs have already sprouted!

 

[WalkGood]

To be honest, two passionfruits were too much for this sauce and it overpowered the taste. I think the star fruit was good in the sauce, but I think it ended up being filler instead of adding to the taste. I should have known better, and I'll have to tweak the recipe for next time. ...

Thank you, the ones we get are really sweet but I also have access to another tree thats a bit on the bitter side, guess I'll have to do some experimentation ...

 

[Stefan_W]

Thank you, the ones we get are really sweet but I also have access to another tree thats a bit on the bitter side, guess I'll have to do some experimentation ...

I would go with the bitter as a starting point, because too much sweet in a wing sauce doesn't taste right. Experimenting is what it is all about, my friend!

 

[patrick]

Stefan I don't grow Rocoto's so I don't know if it's something that happens occasionally or not. It appears that it came up headless. For a better pic step back a bit and use the zoom function on the camera to get in closer. Then crop it if you have to. Should help with micro focus issues.

 

[Stefan_W]

Stefan I don't grow Rocoto's so I don't know if it's something that happens occasionally or not. It appears that it came up headless. For a better pic step back a bit and use the zoom function on the camera to get in closer. Then crop it if you have to. Should help with micro focus issues.

That may be the case. The thing that makes it so weird to me is that the white stalks are really thick when they come up, much thicker than anything I have ever seen with a seedling that is just popping. The other strange thing is that it is only happening to the rocotos, so it makes me think that there is something weird going on with that species.

 

[DocNrock]

Stefan, first off, the sauce and wings look incredible. Regarding the Rocotos, I too had ones come up like yours and then they just stalled and did nothing further. I think our seeds were from the same source (which is usually a good one). I got some seeds from PaulG and from Peppergal.com, and all are now coming up and look normal.

 

[stickman]

Regarding the Rocotos, I too had ones come up like yours and then they just stalled and did nothing further. I think our seeds were from the same source (which is usually a good one). I got some seeds from PaulG and from Peppergal.com, and all are now coming up and look normal.

Yeah, I eventually came to that conclusion too... Seed swaps are fun, but some seeds gotten this way have a harder time germinating for whatever reasons. I finally bit the bullet and sent off to Pepperlover for some Orange Rocoto (Manzano) and Aji Panca seeds.

 

[Stefan_W]

Stefan, first off, the sauce and wings look incredible. Regarding the Rocotos, I too had ones come up like yours and then they just stalled and did nothing further. I think our seeds were from the same source (which is usually a good one). I got some seeds from PaulG and from Peppergal.com, and all are now coming up and look normal.

I got the seeds from Pepperlover, which has been awesome for every other variety I have grown so far. I guess sometimes a particular type of seed from a particular source just doesnt work out.

Thanks for the kind words about the foodie stuff! It tasted even better than it looks

 

[DocNrock]

I got the seeds from Pepperlover, which has been awesome for every other variety I have grown so far. I guess sometimes a particular type of seed from a particular source just doesnt work out.

Thanks for the kind words about the foodie stuff! It tasted even better than it looks

Yes, Pepperlover.

 

[Stefan_W]

Yeah, I eventually came to that conclusion too... Seed swaps are fun, but some seeds gotten this way have a harder time germinating for whatever reasons. I finally bit the bullet and sent off to Pepperlover for some Orange Rocoto (Manzano) and Aji Panca seeds.

I rarely do seed swaps, mostly because I am big on being confident that what I am trying to plant is what will come up when I grow. It is the same reason why I learned to avoid certain sellers.

I think it may be too late for me to get more seeds from a different place for this year, and I may have to write off the rocotos. C'est la vie.

Yes, Pepperlover.

She gets a lot of love in this glog, and so I'm not worried about one variety from her stock that doesn't germinate. I can easily get rocotos from a different source next time and stick with Pepperlover for most other things.