StettoGro '19: In For a Dime

76....In English that would be ALMOST TWICE AS DAMNED MANY AS LAST YEAR.
 
Ah well, Last year I dwelled on downsizing, this year I must have assumed it would be automatic.
 
I argued with myself over whether to glog at all this year, other than to carry over noobishness from the last two seasons I don't have that much to offer...But everyone loves to see a Zone 3 die-hard gardener scratch and claw his way through a short season!!
 
Anyhow, this is how my week started---I was particularly proud of my innovative use of the pill caddy....
 

 
That was the first "load", almost all black seeds. The next day the yellow seeds went in while the black ones found their nests. The sad thing is the seeds I didn't put in; the Paprika and the Urfa Biber and the Aji Limo and the and the and the...Until that damned greenhouse gets itself magically erected I gotta limit myself.
 
OK, at least one of each Pubescen is going into fivers or larger containers. So will the best of the Pimenta De Neyde x Bonda Ma Jacques and my Sri Lanka Chilli Red competitor and what long season peppers I can. What goes into the 8th acre this year will be treated to a till-less grow, it's at least worth a try. Most of the anuums will be out there.
 
For what it's worth, here is the current state of my grow....
 

 
Pubescens:
CaneDog
Big Apple Red Rocoto--3
Mini Brown Rocoto--3
De Seda Yellow/Orange Rocoto--3
Costa Rica Red Rocoto--3
XL Brown Rocoto--3
Gelbe Riesen Yellow Rocoto--3
Gelbe Riesen Var--3
Arequipa Giant Red Rocoto--3
 
Greenchilemonster
Giant Yellow Rocoto--3
Turbo Pube--3
Ecuador Red Rocoto---3
Aji Largo Rocoto--3
Large Red Rocoto--1
 
Chinense:
Greenchilemonster
Aji Arnaucho--2
Papa Dreadie SB--3
 
PaulG
Pimenta de Neyde x Bonda Ma Jacques Violet F6--3
Pimenta de Neyde x Bonda Ma Jacques White F6--3
 
Anuum:
Pepper Guru
Sri Lanka Chilli Red Growdown --2
Sri Lanka Chilli Red Off-Pheno (?)--1
 
Devv
Jimmy Nardello--3
 
Moruga Welder
Aleppo--3
Antake--2
Antep Aci Dolma--3
 
Tradewinds Fruit
Big Jim--6
Sante Fe Grande--2
 
Costco (yup, seeds from store peppers)
Red Bell (for the Darlin' Bride and her stir-fry)--6
 
I still have the OWs, Aji Amarillo, Aji Mango, Turbo Pube, Large Red Rocoto, Rocoto Rojo (2), Peruvian Red Rocoto (2) Ecuador Red Rocoto, Large Orange Thai, Aji Oro, Rocoto Arequipena, but I didn't want to brag.
 
Let the love-hate begin! I'm gonna start it with a Voodoo Ranger....
 
 
 
 
 

 

[Guatemalan Insanity Pepper]

hows the snow up your way Stetto ?

 

[stettoman]

hows the snow up your way Stetto ?

 
Not a flake yet, GIP, but we have the panic strip at the bottom of the tv running all day and all night, so it's coming....I guess.
 
Local guys claim upwards of ten very wet inches by tomorrow noon, I sure wish it were rain, 'cause we are all melted up but for the really big drifts in the grove.
 
Very exhausting winter, man. Ready for a great Spring, a perfect Spring. Hold tight down there, you and the Skullbiker. KFAN was forecasting 36" for the Cities not but a couple days ago!

 

[stettoman]

Looking good, how old they? Id imagine theyd have good growth coming shortly but in your climate slow probably works better

 
Everything was soaked and sown the couple days before March started. These do look healthy, I've been particularly frugal with water (I tend to mother, a really BAD habit) this time around, and the plants appreciate it.
 
And you aren't wrong about slower is better, right now anyway. My Dirt Day is +/- May 1, I have 6 weeks to let things get out of hand...

 

[Guatemalan Insanity Pepper]

The 1st 
 
I was thinkin like; 11-15th, and i'm south of you here. 
 
isht like this current snowstorm right now makes me hesitant to plan anything early 
 

 

[skullbiker]

Dont you mean JUNE 1? That is usually my plant out.

 

[stettoman]

Wow, BUS-TED! Weather terrors guys, I swear!

June 1. May was so-o-o-ooooo wishful thinking...

We got 3 inches in 3 hours, if it does this for 18 hours I'll have to relearn my math.

May 1....Gawd, where's Arizona when I need ya?

 

[Guatemalan Insanity Pepper]

 
I'm there with ya man, every year wishful thinking.
but the tulips are poking up 
but we uncovered the garlic already
but daffodils
but
but
  nope gotta hurry up and wait some more 
 
 
 
 

 

[stettoman]

I'd say we got maybe 7-8 inches, but it drifts up so much on the slightest whisper of breeze that accuracy is impossible.

I have 3 Big Apple Red Rocotos, maybe my most vigorous growers, all with some degree or another of a light colored edema-like thing going on. This is the worst of them, photographed with both flash and natural light, neither showing the true intensity of the malady--it looks worse in person.

Flash:

Natural light:

These are the only plants with this issue, funny how it targets just the Big Apple. These guys do drink heavily, dry their medium out in pretty short order.

My LO Thai had some true edema earlier this year, on the UNDERSIDE of the leaves, that could not be seen from the topside. These Big Apples have no such symptom.

I doubt I'm looking at a nute deficiency/overload, but I'm also quite retarded in this area. There are much smarter people here than me. Am I killing these guys? Or are they just going through pepper puberty.....?

 

[Guatemalan Insanity Pepper]

we got about the same so far, but its still snowing 

 

[stettoman]

we got about the same so far, but its still snowing 

Here too, but where I've shovelled at least it's melting as it hits the ground.

For now....

 

[CaneDog]

When grew the big apple last summer it was the rocoto variety most bothered by the heat and sun.  Seattle had an abnormally hot summer and I'd located them in one of the hotter locations and though they obviously wanted to grow into big plants they struggled with the heat and never produced well. Your morning/evening 2 hours each of direct sun might be just the thing for them when they get outside, but they might not love the indoor light until then.  Just a guess. I've grown big apple all of once.  Despite those leaf bumps they look pretty darn good.

 

[stettoman]

When grew the big apple last summer it was the rocoto variety most bothered by the heat and sun.  Seattle had an abnormally hot summer and I'd located them in one of the hotter locations and though they obviously wanted to grow into big plants they struggled with the heat and never produced well. Your morning/evening 2 hours each of direct sun might be just the thing for them when they get outside, but they might not love the indoor light until then.  Just a guess. I've grown big apple all of once.  Despite those leaf bumps they look pretty darn good.

 
I agree, they look wonderful except for that rash. I don't think it's sunscald. Then again I have no idea what it is, so it could be sun related, but one of them resides in the grow room with LED sunlight, looks the same. We just entered the time of year where those in the windows are only getting very early morning sun. I have several OW Rocotos that are completely without any direct sunlight that are maintaining remarkably well (see prev post on OWs. Those on the dining table are 5 feet from the nearest window.).
 
I see Harbor Freight dropped a hunnert bucks off their 6' X 8' GH. Mebbe time to chat up the Darlin' Bride....

 

[Guatemalan Insanity Pepper]

When grew the big apple last summer it was the rocoto variety most bothered by the heat and sun.  Seattle had an abnormally hot summer and I'd located them in one of the hotter locations and though they obviously wanted to grow into big plants they struggled with the heat and never produced well. Your morning/evening 2 hours each of direct sun might be just the thing for them when they get outside, but they might not love the indoor light until then.  Just a guess. I've grown big apple all of once.  Despite those leaf bumps they look pretty darn good.

 
While i have found similarly that they seem to do well, and actually produce well if located in some of the cooler / partially shaded parts of the yard rather than in the parts that get the most direct all day sun...
That is not to say that they don't grow well in direct sun.     Perhaps they may take longer to get big enough to produce their own shade, but be like Rocoto-hedges by then in some climates ?
that would be so cool 
 
Rocoto hedges to the left of me
Chiltepin hedges to the right 
here I am enjoying the middle with you's 

hope you and yours havin a nice Friday despite this Storm
 
Fish Tacos for the Mrs. and I tonight 
 

 

[stettoman]

I removed the Big Apple Red in the photo above from the window position as a "control" and put it with the big boy OWs on the dining table, clear of direct light. After three days they look as robust as ever, no great sign of rash relief. I assume I won't really know until new growth emerges, we'll see. 
 
Overall everything's doing well, though I lost a couple mutant seedlings, including a Gelbe Riesen Yellow that couldn't form a true leaf and the Ecuador Sweet Red I got from GIP--I have replanted that one (question: when they say "virtually no heat", how much heat is virtually none?). I still have no action on my Big Jims, I'm REALLY disappointed. The one place that sold Big Jim seedlings up here was a Kmart that closed down two years ago...

 

[Guatemalan Insanity Pepper]

I removed the Big Apple Red in the photo above from the window position as a "control" and put it with the big boy OWs on the dining table, clear of direct light. After three days they look as robust as ever, no great sign of rash relief. I assume I won't really know until new growth emerges, we'll see. 
 
Overall everything's doing well, though I lost a couple mutant seedlings, including a Gelbe Riesen Yellow that couldn't form a true leaf and the Ecuador Sweet Red I got from GIP--I have replanted that one (question: when they say "virtually no heat", how much heat is virtually none?). I still have no action on my Big Jims, I'm REALLY disappointed. The one place that sold Big Jim seedlings up here was a Kmart that closed down two years ago...

Ha
 This pepper "Ecuadorian sweet rocoto"
Has caused so many people to give me sheeit about what i think is hot and what i think is sweet    lol 
in hindsight ts still kinda funny, and shows how some people certainly seem to interpret what is "hot" differently than others.
(the various capsaicinoids are not all equal) some people get totally Rekt by some, and seemingly unfazed by others 
 
IMO it was not "virtually no heat" .
 Also, anyone else that tried it and replied with an opinion agreed, it most certainly had some heat. 
Was it upper end of some habaneros level with thick flesh like most rocotos, NO...
But it certainly was at least as    as a Serrano if not a little above that. 
 Also with that rich Rocoto taste that you can only really only appreciate (again, just like my opinion man) when you grow your own though.
IMO most pubescens i've ever even seen for sale at markets was in various degrees of underripe stage.
 They may have all been picked nearly green for all i really know, no wonder most market Manzanos taste like a spicy green bell 
 
To really appreciate a pubescens pepper you have to grow it yourself and pick it at peak ripeness and use within a couple days.
At least IMO, that is when they have the most flavor.
(i feel that peppers, as well as many other fruits, often taste the best picked fresh at full ripeness, beyond comparison usually to storebought fruits)
 
 Ecuadorian sweet Rocoto can be very sweet if picked at full ripeness, However it won't have the shelf life of an underripe pepper 
Does it still have heat, IMO yes. but it is also potentially sweeter than other rocotos i have grown, and I can see why "sweet" is in the name as well.
 
 

 

[stettoman]

It actually sounds wonderful, GIP, my query was more out of curiosity, since I so far haven't tried a Rocoto that I didn't love. Can't wait to get another to come out of the seed bed. To have a wide spectrum of heat levels is win-win!!
 
BTW, the Ecuadorian Reds that I grew last year (and am again) were at a high end of that spectrum, so I will assume a difference...eh?
 
 right back atcha!

 

[Guatemalan Insanity Pepper]

Having not grown the Ecuadorian reds
that you are growing, i can only make an assumption at best ?
 
To add even more confusion.
There is a pepper by the name of 'Ecuadorian sweet' that isn't even a pubescens  
It's easily enough noted before even growing: by seed color.
 Still i find it frustrating when there are peppers i want to grow and try...
With such similar names.
 They usually end up getting moved to the back of the list and often left out of that years grow though.
Eventually...
or, Someday...
 I know i will never be able to try them all, but i am sure gonna give it my best effort 

 

again 

 

[stettoman]

Another Thursday, another update: I'm far behind the rest of you northern hemisphere guys, but yet I endeavor to persevere. Other than the OWs, which are doing well, I have group photos.

Everything above ground is now in a window sill under natural light. My grow light stuation is apparently far inferior to robust growth, as shown in these photos. First, two trays brought up just this morning, plants that are 6 weeks old looking much less. A few ARE younger, from seed sent me more recently. But these should have come up when the others did, which were brought up because of space issues in the grow room.

They will undoubtedly improve quickly, and day trips outside are coming soon.

Here are the plants that have been in natural light for a few weeks. I think they speak for themselves.

The day I actually dread this year is plant out. I did not plan for so many plants, and many of them will have to be container grown if I want a ripe harvest...

I have a band "audition" tonight, a local bluegrass outfit needs a bass player, I need dirt money. It should work out...yes, they do Wagon Wheel....

 

[CaneDog]

Great to hear that the day trips are coming soon. It feels good to get the plants out of the house even if just during the day, plus the natural sun seems to do them a lot of good.  And good luck with the "audition."  Gigging's not a bad way to pay for your dirt.

 

[Devv]

Plus 1 on #139!
 
That, and you guys up in the frozen North may start later (some are just starting dirt day, as I reel them in) but you do, do better for the most part than I do here production wise. Maybe I need to put 2 and 1/2 foot plants out next March, that or do some serious research, which I have yet to find..LOL