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StettoGro 4: Spredner Tin 2020

Welcome to another chapter in the great series of the Stettomans comedic gardening adventures! Come along, follow the antics of a guy makin' it up as he goes, having some luck, some not-so-much, and more than his share of whining about a fleepin' 3 month growing season! No telling what we'll see, Stetto's grows is always full of surprises and absurdities....
 
I almost named the thread the He should Know Better Grow, but I do and I'm going to go through with it anyway....
 
No list yet, but I put these Rocoto Amarillo to plug today to get a head start--I've decided to give them a full row in the half of an 8th acre, which I didn't plant at all last season. It was that bad up here...No corn, no beans, no lettuce, NO TUBERS, fercryinoutloud! All my peppers & tomatoes were container grown...
 
Trying a different route for germinating, at least for the firsters. I'll likely go back to trays with the Anuums and such...
 
20200227_100047.jpg

 
By the time I got the cuplettes ready I found I needed to add three more. Dunno if this was a good idear, but I used a pinch of water soluble Mykos to soak the plugs...
 
20200227_101022.jpg

 
That's all I got for todays episode, besides the Growdown Fatalii, which is doing quite well and the mystery XL Brown, which is purple and likely akin to PaulG's neat little PdN cross...
 
If I don't post a grow list of some kind by the end of the weekend, send someone to check on me, yeh?
 
I appreciate y'alls interest, don't make me regret it....
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Click to expand...
PtMD989 said:
Those are not the choke cherries I grew up with. Your choke cherries are larger and probably taste better. Mine are bitter as all hell. I see your guard dog is on duty [emoji16][emoji106].


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
 
There are a few varieties, I have even larger berries that I haven't got to yet out in the back of the propity. ALL chokecherries are astringent as hell, that's where the name comes from. That astringency magically disappears during the processing...
 
It's simply not a year for Rocotos here. Out of 20 plants I have yet to count more than 5 pods among them. Most look healthy and vibrant, pumping out the blossoms, but that's as far as they seem to want to take it...
 
And the Aji Oros, including my container queen, are droopy, listless and pale compared to the others. A strange season indeed.
 
The Anuums are doing well, I should get a decent harvest of the Anaheims, and PtMD989's Haskorea are as well, BOTH phenos. I'm starting to pull Jimmy Nardellos as they redden up, the Antep Aci Dolmas actually have a few pods on them now, and my Aleppos are livin' large as well.
 
For some reason the LO Thais are sluggish, though. I'm not expecting a bumper harvest from them...
 
I've got a bunch of damn-near grapefruit sized Amish Paste tomatoes coming in, never had 'em so big. And virtually seedless. 
 
Three weeks until reasonable expectation of frost here. It's sneaking up on me ..
 
https://youtu.be/iB5asCOdrms
 
A few peppers are ripening up...literally a few...but it's a good sign.
 
One of these things is NOT a Nardello....
8-11 Nardellos and a not Nardello.jpg

 
The Aji Oros I keep bringing up. As sickly as they look compared to the other varieties, they are trying to produce, but I'm afraid it's just too late...
8-11 Aji Oro in the middle.jpg

 
Had to post my bean towers, these are Limas, my personal favorite, and the bigger the better. There are some bean pods developing, along with 10,000 blossoms...Fingers crossed!
8-11 Lima Bnz.jpg

 
The gita beans have a learning curve, and I seem to be at the bottom of it. I obviously planted too many, they're strangling each other as they climb the tower. The flowers on these are HUGE, and each blossom produces two beans...
8-11 Gita.jpg

8-11 Gita Bean.jpg

 
Oh, winner of this season's weigh-in is the Anaheims, including a small number of Big Jims I haven't killed yet. The chiles, they loves the dirt here!!!
8-11 Ana.jpg

 
I feel like I'm rambling for the sake of it...I do keep learning things to apply "next year", like maybe putting one of the Aji Oros in a 20 gallon container, just to see. Both my stunted Aji Amarillo and Growdown Fatalii have burst forth with growth and viv and verve and even some pods, I have yet to figure out what held them back in the first place, much less what brought them out of it, but I can imagine the monsters both would have become, especially considering that both were planted around the same time (February-ish).
 
OK, I sense a whip crackin' in my immediate future...Back to the office girl duties....
 
 
 
 
It's got insane busy here, rainy rainy rainy, the Cub literally blew up (crankcase split open), and the lawn & garden have been suffering the most. I have been pulling the first few Aleppos, Jimmy Nardellos and Anaheims though, when the muck permits. The tomatoes are nuts, but with the weird season of temp spikes & bottom-outs the cores on these massive orbs are so large that they become crowns, but I salvage a good 2/3 of most.
 
I wound up picking +/- 50 quarts of chokecherries, once again leaving buckets full in the trees for lack of space to store. A batch of cherry/Arequipa jelly is done, a half-gallon sold to my meat guy for jerky production. The Arequipas have a super nice bite with the same "linger" profile as any other Rocoto I've eaten. Only problem is that my jelly is not setting. Not even to syrup consistency. I'll try again, but that was disappointing. I have a quart of Turbo Pube slurry already in the freezer from last year, I'll try another batch with that as well. 
 
I did want to update Bryan on that possible Haskorea cross discussion we had: I also have been pulling the two phenos as they come in, here is how they look
 
Haskorea (right-on, left-off).jpg

 
The left grouping is "off" pheno, the "on" pheno to the right. Note the pods on the "off" side that don't look "off" at all.
 
I also tried a bite of each: My neanderthal palate could discern no difference in flavor, though I sensed a small amount of heat from the "off" pheno pod, but it was minimal.
 
I'm going to keep them separate through processing, maybe the powders have more of a difference. If not, I plan to blend them...
 
It's turning cooler, days getting short...I wish these Rocotos were happier...
 
 
My this years Haskorea looks like your right side pheno.
It’s good that you can barter for jerky [emoji106][emoji16].


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PtMD989 said:
My this years Haskorea looks like your right side pheno.
Its good that you can barter for jerky [emoji106][emoji16].
Click to expand...
My jerky eatin' days are past me, sad to say. Teeth aren't what they once were.

Today is the official start of my Anaheim pickings. First basket. There will be more.
20200830_114950.jpg


No talk of frost yet, either. I'm banking on a long warm fall. I could actually get a few Aji Oros, if so...
 
Hey, Eric! Sorry I have been absent from your blog for too long.
Sounds like a season full of weirdness. Some of my Rocotos have
done well, but some not so much. Winners are XL Brown, Ecuador
Red, Mini Yellow and Red, Tatiana Yellow. By success, I mean about
a dozen pods each, except the minis, which are full of pods. Missing
in action this season, Peruvian Red, one ripe pod, Hyperpube X, one
ripe pod. The San Pedro Orange has seven pods. Some may get
ripe!
 
The Mini Red Rocotos are acting strange. The pod stems dry out,
and the pods turn kind of dull and soft, at least the first few. Hoping
the rest fare better, and that the yellow does not follow suit.
 
Good luck winding down the season, brother. Looks like one for
the books.
 
CaneDog said:
That looks awesome, stetto.  I bet it smells even better.  Great to see the Anaheims come though for you with the production.  
 
And good luck getting that tumbler going soon!  With the bumper crops you're sure to get on the hatches down in CO you're going to need it!
Click to expand...
 
Hey 'Dog. We haven't got to chat much this season, have we...So you know, I have two XL Browns on a very healthy plant, one turning a brilliant UPS brown as we speak.
I'll get a few seeds, anyway...
 
I kept one Big Jim in a planter on the deck in hopes to get a few seeds also. I may well get them in spades.
Maybe a heritage seed will do better than I got this season...I owe ya, so if you want any... ;)
 
 
PaulG said:
Hey, Eric! Sorry I have been absent from your blog for too long.
Sounds like a season full of weirdness. Some of my Rocotos have
done well, but some not so much. Winners are XL Brown, Ecuador
Red, Mini Yellow and Red, Tatiana Yellow. By success, I mean about
a dozen pods each, except the minis, which are full of pods. Missing
in action this season, Peruvian Red, one ripe pod, Hyperpube X, one
ripe pod. The San Pedro Orange has seven pods. Some may get
ripe!
 
The Mini Red Rocotos are acting strange. The pod stems dry out,
and the pods turn kind of dull and soft, at least the first few. Hoping
the rest fare better, and that the yellow does not follow suit.
 
Good luck winding down the season, brother. Looks like one for
the books.
Click to expand...
 
Good to see you're staying out of trouble, Paul! Sorry about the Rocotos, it appears to me that the only ones having any real luck with them this year 
are the Aussies...
 
What I grew out in the half-an-eighth-acre this year were Rocoto Amarillo, Aji Oro, one Aji Largo and a couple Ecuador sweets, all of which started slow,
but grew well after a long establishment period,
flowered insanely, and have perhaps a half dozen pods between them all. The weather just wasn't right this year.
 
I have an Aji Oro on the deck, which has done a little better
Aji Oro 8-31-20.jpg

Aji Oro2 8-31-20.jpg

 
I hope to, again, get some seed from these, with the hope of a "heritage" effect next season.
The Aji Oros are what I had planned to make my infamous chokecherry/Rocoto jelly blend,
but unless I can find a source for fresh pods I'm kinda out of luck this year...I did pick +/- 50 quarts of plump, tasty chokecherries, though.
 
And hey Paul! That Aji Limo Chinense produced some nice pods, a number ripening up now. There WILL be seed from those for you.
 
Well, it's September 7, first frost predicted tonight, so I'll try Devv's advice and run the sprinkler...
Tomorrow night, on the other hand, is forecast for first FREEZE, which may not turn out very well.
But then a warmup is said to be coming, so....
 
Keep my fingers crossed, would ya? :pray:  :pray:  :pray:  :pray:
 
PaulG said:
Frost?! Holy  :shh:  :silenced:   :censored: 
 
FREEZE??!! Don’t even go there  :hmm:
 
Fingers crossed!
Click to expand...
 
Thanks! I think I didded it!
 
It got down to 32 two nights ago, started the sprinkler @ 10:30. Dunno when the temp dipped to 32, but it was @ 6:00 am when I got up...
 
Last night got down to 30, started sprinkle @ 9 because @ 9 it was already 36...This morning was covered in a white crust, except where the sprinkler was working. Our well is 480' (yes, FEET). I shut the sprinkler down @ 9 am, 12 hours of what I assume to be a temp of around 50 degrees (10 C)...
 
I went out a half hour ago to get pics of the result, temperature 48. I am pleased. And they haven't scheduled another frost/hard freeze for at least another week, if you trust what the people who pull this stuff out their butts say...
 
The half-an-eighth-acre, from the southwest: 
Hard Freeze1.jpg

The Pubes closest to the camera are Rocoto Amarillo, Not. One. Pod. But they look great not doing it!!
 
And from the southeast:
Hard Freeze2 9-9-20.jpg

 
And a look at the prolific blossoming/still not podding Aji Oros:
Hard Freeze Aji Oro 9-9-20.jpg

 
So hopefully there is more harvest in my future, there are a lot of unripe Aleppo, Haskorea, Jimmy Nardello, Aji Arnaucho, Aji Limo (Unca Ecc), Antep Aci Dolma and a SHEETload of Anaheims that desperately need meat on their bones...There are two LO Thais as well, but they haven't produced much and are showing signs of giving in to the cooler temps...
 
The deck queens are all in the garage, under the lights, except for a PaulG Aji Amarillo that FINALLY took off about 6 weeks ago and has impressive girth. It has a dozen or more nice pods on it, but will they ripen? Only de shadow know....
 
So this is not goodbye....yet....Thanks for the prayers/mojo, folks!
 
Good work, Eric! I don't know about you,
but I am afraid I'll be chucking lots of unripe
pods out this Fall. What a bizarre growing
season here in PNW. Sounds like it has been
a lot like yours!
 
Hope you get to pull in some of those ripe
pods before Ol' Man Winter gets here.
 
Is your move to CO starting to look attractive?
 
Not the year for pubes, I’m finding, Eric. I have one brown rocoto that should ripen with a few little guys behind it. Maybe they’re just late season plants, and the late isn’t long enough?????

Anaheims......YES! I need to learn roasting and sauce making. I have a few nardello with one ripening/ripened. What do I do with them? Do they have heat?

Great stuff, Eric!
 
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