Stetto-grow 2018: Takin' another run at it.

It's going to be a sweeter, milder year for me this time around. I've got myself Rocoto happy, and thanks to my new friends enablers here at THP I have a plethora (you go El Guapo!!) there will be no shortage. I plan a repeat of some winners from last year, if you recognize your penmanship/packaging style, well, you just pat yourselves on the back.
 
My seed-to-medium day will be on or about this Thursday, March one, 6 weeks early for zone 3 but 3 months later than the Aji Amarillo and a few other choice seeds I planted last year.
 

 
This is the bulk of the peppers, but not likely all. I overwintered a couple of PaulG's Aji Amarillos and a nummy Aji Mango from Geonerd, and they're already living la vita loco in a south facing window. I plan a backup seedling to both of those. 
 
Thanks to the damned Moruga Welder there's a lot of pepper stuffing in my future, and a special thanks to the Greenchilimonster for all these wonderful black seeds! We may have the Darlin' Bride weaned off those nasty bell peppers yet!

 

[stettoman]

 
Just use what you have and adjust the heat to your and the Darlin' Brides liking
 
I just have to comment on the Apple tree, as we have a little bit of fruit trees here. Thin the crop and the produce will be larger and next season it should produce the same. Peaches mostly here, and they say the fruit spacing should be the distance between the pinky-thumb tips with an fully out-stretched hand. Also the trees need yearly pruning, Peach trees like a 40% trim. Youtube has some good videos..
 

 
 
I'm that guy who refuses to thin, just can't force myself, even though it's for the greater good. We lost the main central branch of our honey crisp two years ago because I wouldn't cull the herd.
 
Next year, man, I promise, thumb and pinky...   :
 
Hey! I have Aji Arnauchos turning! About a half dozen going to red, this one is redder than the camera gives it credit for, the pen is just....there.
 

 

[stettoman]

Now THIS is what all my container plants should look like!
 

 
It is a deception, I just now dug this Large Orange Thai out of the 8th acre and replanted it in a 5 gallon planter. Last year I got a total of 5 chiles from my Large Orange, so this time I'm taking the chance on killing the plant in order to save it. I watered it with a pretty good dose of Alaska fish emulsion and a swish of CNS17. If the plant looks good over the next couple of days I might repeat the process with a few more plants...
 
 
 
 
 
Wish the old girl luck.

 

[stettoman]

Well that was quick. She went into shock pretty much immediately. I knew it was likely, we'll see...I have no expectations.

 

[nmlarson]

Well that was quick. She went into shock pretty much immediately. I knew it was likely, we'll see...I have no expectations.

 
Saying a prayer   and sending some good karma.....I go into shock when I get yanked out of bed, too.  LOL

 

[CaneDog]

Yeah definitely good luck with that.  Great looking plant.  I'm adding LO Thai to my grow next summer season and you've just validated my decision.  if I grow something even close to what you have in that plant I'll be stoked.

 

[stettoman]

 
Saying a prayer   and sending some good karma.....I go into shock when I get yanked out of bed, too.  LOL

 
It's been some time since I've been yanked anywhere, but yeah, roger that....
 

Yeah definitely good luck with that.  Great looking plant.  I'm adding LO Thai to my grow next summer season and you've just validated my decision.  if I grow something even close to what you have in that plant I'll be stoked.

 
I'm sorry I didn't bother to photograph the dead Thai plant yesterday...I woke up to this this morning...
 

 
Now my small, absent mind is workin': dare I risk my marriage and pot a couple more? My Aji Arnaucho has at least as many pods on it, I have Antep Aci Dolmas that are finally looking productive, maybe even a Big Jim!!
 
...OTOH, I do like my Sleep Number bed.....

 

[nmlarson]

 
Now my small, absent mind is workin': dare I risk my marriage and pot a couple more? My Aji Arnaucho has at least as many pods on it, I have Antep Aci Dolmas that are finally looking productive, maybe even a Big Jim!!
 

 
How much time to you need?  It's a wonder you can't cobble together something like this out of pex, clear heavy duty vinyl and some big dollar store clothespins.  Toss some frost blankets on them on especially chilly nights.....
 

 

[CaneDog]

Now my small, absent mind is workin': dare I risk my marriage and pot a couple more? My Aji Arnaucho has at least as many pods on it, I have Antep Aci Dolmas that are finally looking productive, maybe even a Big Jim!!
 
...OTOH, I do like my Sleep Number bed.....

There's something to be said for ripe peppers and the couch though...

 

[stettoman]

 
How much time to you need?  It's a wonder you can't cobble together something like this out of pex, clear heavy duty vinyl and some big dollar store clothespins.  Toss some frost blankets on them on especially chilly nights.....
 

 
Oh, I have frost blankets, I just don't have six more weeks. There are a number of peppers that have started to ripen, some more than others, but the peppers listed above are really making me nervous.
 

There's something to be said for ripe peppers and the couch though...

 
Bah!! You haven't sat on my couch, then.

 

[Malarky]

39F tonight for me, how you holding up Eric?

 

[Devv]

39F tonight for me, how you holding up Eric?

 
Too soon!
 

 

[stettoman]

39F tonight for me, how you holding up Eric?

We haven't seen anything right here below 43°, Matt, but it's about to change this week. Even when the thermometer reads 35 or 36 the spotty stuff can be seen all over the lawn. So the new frost blankets should be inaugurated by Tuesday nite, I think, as the guessers are predicting 39°.

Not to fret, I got a couple of nice ripe Big Jims for seed. The rest are coming out green tomorrow, along with the jalas and whatever else is palatable green.


  

Too soon!

Damn skippy! This was not a pepper friendly season up here. We usually get a week or two of October before any threat of hard freeze, maybe not this year.

 

[Devv]

 
Damn skippy! This was not a pepper friendly season up here. We usually get a week or two of October before any threat of hard freeze, maybe not this year.

 
A great big "not" here for anything not Annuum, they did well..
 

 

[stettoman]

Well shit.


A truly sucky ending to my season, folks. Haven't even had a frost yet and they're forecasting a hard freeze for Saturday.

It's soaking drizzly snot rain every day until then, I won't be digging up any more candidates from the 8th acre. I just wish the ripening had been more robust.

Of course the container plants will come in, but I don't know if it's going to be worth trudging through the ooze for a lot of green pods that may or may not be palatable.

If I let them freeze and do a convincing lament for The Darlin' Bride, I'm assured a stout greenhouse next season....

Decisions..........

Hell guys, it ain't even October. Now I know how you poor Canuckdians must feel.....

Zone 3 out.

 

[stettoman]

OK, the trailer kids are set to hide in the garage tonight. They'll likely be spending the night in here until I figure out space in the house, as the garage is neither heated, nor mine (the Darlin' Bride's Journey owns it)...
 

 

[Devv]

Sorry about the up and coming freeze. No fun there.
 
Got snow shoes for the mud?

 

[stettoman]

Sorry about the up and coming freeze. No fun there.
 
Got snow shoes for the mud?

 
Heh, you know I do....Question is, do you?
 
So my season's over, right? I bring in my Aji Amarillo, which actually started to ripen pods in mid-September (right on schedule) and my Aji Mango, which is loaded this year for a plant no taller than about 12", and a whole slew of Rcotos; Turbo Pube, Rocoto Rojo, Large Red, Giant Yellow, Ecuadorian Red, etc. and so forth. Around 11 plants. The ones I put in the studio downstairs, under lights, lost their leaves in two days. Only the Giant Yellow seems unaffected.
 
The plants in the window sills upstairs? Thriving. Still flowering, and the Aji Oro finally has a pod on it that doesn't look to be falling off. It was when inspecting that Aji Oro this morning that I noticed a tiny spider on one of the nodes. I looked closer and discovered that I have an aphid colony taking up residence.
 
My first aphids.
 

 
I have Neem Oil, which until today I thought I'd never have to use. I also intended to cut the plants back for winter, and we have a naturally occurring population of those ladybug aphid killers from local soybean fields. I probably got the aphids from those dammed soybean fields, now that I think about it....
 
So anyway, I have a small cache of seeds taken from the few honest to Gawd ripe peppers I got to pick before the freeze, so my planting next season will hopefully be mostly second generation Zone 3 Hardy. Except that everything was open pollinated, so.......
 
Working on chokecherry/Rocoto jelly this week, gonna taste good!!
 
Oh, and Scott---Remember that '98 Ram you fixed for me from 1500+ miles away? Clutch blew up about a month ago. I'm in a 2011 Ram now, got me a 60,000 mile warranty to go with it....

 

[Devv]

Congrats on the new ride
 
And I hate Aphids....big time!
 

 

[stettoman]

Congrats on the new ride
 
And I hate Aphids....big time!
 

 
Thanks Scott, she's sure a purty one. Only 55,000 miles on 'er, should last me the rest of my life....
 

 
 
The aphid infestation looks to have been a short lived one, and isolated to 3 plants I kept in a south facing sill in the pantry. I bit the bullet and tried this stuff I found at Lowes. It smells like a volatile pesticide, but everything I read up on convinced me that it would do no harm. One application on Oct. 12 and there's been no activity anywhere, though I maintain vigilance.
 

 
.02% pyrethrins, .2% piperonyl butoxide. I assume the smell was added to give fools like me the impression that it was working (which, so far, it has)....
 
The rest of my overwinters are clear. Yes, knocking on wood over here.

 

[Geonerd]

 
 
 
Hey! I have Aji Arnauchos turning! About a half dozen going to red, this one is redder than the camera gives it credit for, the pen is just....there.
 
 

 
Those look tasty!  What are they like?