Stetto's First Winter Grow ('16-'17)

Geonerd · Sep 27, 2017

Excellent work, Eric!

Ramirez Stinger, from seed I got from Mpicante.

You call that a stinger? That's puny!!! The pepper really can't be all that hot. Give it a chomp, ya wimp! :hi:

stettoman · Sep 28, 2017

Devv said:
Eric, you did very well this season. A gold star grow! (I work for a school district, remember gold stars?)

I don't know if you have the resources to grow the plants larger before dirt day. But that's your only option to extend your season without a greenhouse. That and have a look what Stickman does in the spring. He simply has it down for growing in Ma.

He keeps it small garden wise but always gets darned good results.

I'm hoping for a late October pull here. Plenty of flowers....

Thanks Scott, it was one of the more nerve wracking garden seasons I've been through, but very rewarding and educational at the same time. The deer attack was a major speedbump, coming shortly after dirt day and severely slowing progress. I actually started the bulk of my peppers on March 1, a full 6 weeks earlier than I've ever done before. The Aji Amarillos and Moruga Scorpions were started in December. A greenhouse has been a topic here for 10 years, it just doesn't get funded. I will do due diligence on Stickman's glog and learn some of his tricks.

The forecast was changed and the hard frost for tonight has been cancelled, but it will still frost. I at least can attempt to keep it at bay. But days are getting much shorter, the sun much less intense. It's just that time of year. I think I can keep the potted plants going till they give up all their ripe fruit, then I'll pick a pair for overwinter experiments. I'm trying to clone a PDreadie that bore no fruit in the 8th acre as well, stupid time of year, but I like my odds....

Thanks for all the help, you and the crew at THP.... :clap:

Genetikx said:
I come here just to look at your yard

Great season with peppers too, congratulations

Hey thanks, I'm thinking of starting a gardening resort. Y'all can come up and stay in that yard all summer and weed the 8th acre!

Geonerd said:
Excellent work, Eric!

You call that a stinger? That's puny!!! The pepper really can't be all that hot. Give it a chomp, ya wimp!

Yeah Greg, you funny too.....That kerosene misting advice was right on, though. You should start a youtube series for noobs..... :drunk:

Malarky · Sep 28, 2017

i think the deer setback was major for you, and fairly easy to remedy i hope

stettoman · Sep 28, 2017

Malarky said:
i think the deer setback was major for you, and fairly easy to remedy i hope

Yah Matt, only issue with the remedy is what caliber to choose..... :think:

Heh, naw....The 'lectric fence did a crack job at keeping them out. After the plants grew back up and could defend themselves I took out the fence, and the deer were back, but they didn't do any damage this time around.

I'm thinking some soil conditioning is in order this fall. I'm going to till in some helper stuff and retest pH and nute content next Spring.

stettoman · Sep 28, 2017

Found a couple other things I thought were interesting, one begs a question....

But first, does this look anything like a red fatali?

Because it is. I found 3 of them in different stages of ripening. Thanks Greg.

Now this one. This is a head scratcher for me. Believe it or not, this is an Aji Amarillo.

The plant itself is intertwined with one of my "Mystery Peppers", which has been speculated to be an Aji Limo. The pheno is exactly like the Aji Limos I've been picking, but this guy is solid and thick-walled. Is it possible for a cross pollination to produce this without growing out seed first?

I also found a pair of Aji Oro Rocotos ripening, even a Gochu. If I can get past this frost tonight I think I may see some more ripe peppers yet! :party:

Rajun Gardener · Sep 28, 2017

Frost already? I'm waiting on a front tonight that should drop us to 68.

Malarky · Sep 28, 2017

stettoman said:
This is a head scratcher for me. Believe it or not, this is an Aji Amarillo.

The plant itself is intertwined with one of my "Mystery Peppers", which has been speculated to be an Aji Limo. The pheno is exactly like the Aji Limos I've been picking, but this guy is solid and thick-walled. Is it possible for a cross pollination to produce this without growing out seed first?

I also found a pair of Aji Oro Rocotos ripening, even a Gochu. If I can get past this frost tonight I think I may see some more ripe peppers yet!

looks like a baccatum calyx
i'd just call it a funky amarillo

Devv · Sep 28, 2017

The crossing will only show up in the pods seeds; and that was one of my first questions here, many years ago :shh:

I hope you get a few weeks! Things are cooling down here as well; and after 6.5"s of rain the last 4 days, we should be good!

Geonerd · Sep 28, 2017

Was it I that send Fatali seeds? That pod looks mighty close. Mine tend to have a slightly more lumpy pod wall, but yours are well within the "spec" limit.

Speaking of Red Fatalii pods...
I took half a dozen to work, along with Tepins, 267, Aji Peruvian, and other warm-but-not stupid varieties. A cow orker, a young guy - of course - asked, "Which is the hottest?" I offered him a Fatalii and started to explain about how "You really don't want to take big bites!" But as I was speaking, he grabbed the pepper, popped the entire pod in his mouth, and chomped away. 3 minutes later he was tossing his cookies in the back lot. Those things rate "only" ~500,000 scoville, but tend to "fight above their weight." I think they have a higher ratio of the hotter capsaicin types than other pepper. Approach with caution!

Geonerd · Sep 28, 2017

stettoman said:
Yah Matt, only issue with the remedy is what caliber to choose.....

Heh, naw....The 'lectric fence did a crack job at keeping them out. After the plants grew back up and could defend themselves I took out the fence, and the deer were back, but they didn't do any damage this time around.

I'm thinking some soil conditioning is in order this fall. I'm going to till in some helper stuff and retest pH and nute content next Spring.

"Next Spring....."

Spoken like a true Chillihead! Bravo!

b3rnd · Sep 29, 2017

Geonerd said:
Was it I that send Fatali seeds? That pod looks mighty close. Mine tend to have a slightly more lumpy pod wall, but yours are well within the "spec" limit.

Speaking of Red Fatalii pods...
I took half a dozen to work, along with Tepins, 267, Aji Peruvian, and other warm-but-not stupid varieties. A cow orker, a young guy - of course - asked, "Which is the hottest?" I offered him a Fatalii and started to explain about how "You really don't want to take big bites!" But as I was speaking, he grabbed the pepper, popped the entire pod in his mouth, and chomped away. 3 minutes later he was tossing his cookies in the back lot. Those things rate "only" ~500,000 scoville, but tend to "fight above their weight." I think they have a higher ratio of the hotter capsaicin types than other pepper. Approach with caution!

It took me a few seconds to figure out what a 'cow orker' was.

Geonerd · Sep 29, 2017

I trust your plants survived the high-30s low last night...?

stettoman · Oct 2, 2017

Geonerd said:
I trust your plants survived the high-30s low last night...?

Yes they did. Trust me Greg, regardless what the "local" temperature was 12 miles away, we had frost. Our thermometer read 34°, and the grass crunched under my feet. I guess you'd have had to been there.

But yeah, I ran the sprinkler that night and am still picking the odd ripening pod, mostly CAP267 and Aji Limo, a goodly number of TM Scorpions.

I'm disappointed that the Aji Amarillos just don't want to kick in, besidrs the potted one. There are some humongous ajis out there, I'm going to wind up picking them green.....

Devv · Oct 2, 2017

Glad they made it. The sprinkler trick has been working for ya

stettoman · Oct 2, 2017

Devv said:
Glad they made it. The sprinkler trick has been working for ya

Yessir, and I'm hoping for some of that global warming sugar to continue gracing our October skies.

There are now a number of flourishing wine vineyards within 20 miles of us, one just 5 miles east. Good product. Albeit the technology of the age is a factor in modern vineyard survival, before the Little Ice Age Greenland was also green and hosted vineyards. Lets do that again!

But I do appreciate being heads upped on the sprinkler.....

Devv · Oct 2, 2017

stettoman said:
Yessir, and I'm hoping for some of that global warming sugar to continue gracing our October skies.

There are now a number of flourishing wine vineyards within 20 miles of us, one just 5 miles east. Good product. Albeit the technology of the age is a factor in modern vineyard survival, before the Little Ice Age Greenland was also green and hosted vineyards. Lets do that again!

But I do appreciate being heads upped on the sprinkler.....

Hey, I'm glad it's helping. I found that out in a desperation morning several years ago.

Me, I'm hoping my weather holds for the next 90 days. Mornings 67-73° afternoons 83-87°. I finally have prime weather for poddage here. It "could" last until Christmas here; with a few cold days here and there. After the new year, all bets are off

'Yall have your "hell days" during the winter, mine are peak summer (mid June-early-mid September) the rest is golden :shh:

Geonerd · Oct 3, 2017

Eric, I really don't know what's up with the anomalous chill that threatens your plants. One can only surmise that you are living on the edge of some sort of inter-dimensional vortex, one that is sucking the heat out of your plants, and possibly the immortal soul from your soon-to-be-frozen corpse. (Hint.... It wasn't deer that ate your peppers, it was one of those pesky Cacodemons!)

The tea-leaf-readers at NOAA, and their cluster of bleeding-edge Apple II computers, predict a healthy trough of Wintery Goodness digging into The Land of Primordial Ooze around the 9th. Brace yourself!

Devv, my giant 3rd year Orange 7-Pot is only NOW getting around to setting a few flowers. :confused:

This year's insane June hot spell completely wrecked its libido, and it is only now feeling the urge. Even the normally productive baccatum are struggling this year. I do have some ripe pods, but the overall productivity is just awful.
OTOH, there ARE lots of flowers and small pods afoot, and we do have another month of reasonably warm days, so hope lives on in Aridzona.
Good luck in Texas.

stettoman · Oct 6, 2017

Devv said:
Hey, I'm glad it's helping. I found that out in a desperation morning several years ago.

Me, I'm hoping my weather holds for the next 90 days. Mornings 67-73° afternoons 83-87°. I finally have prime weather for poddage here. It "could" last until Christmas here; with a few cold days here and there. After the new year, all bets are off

'Yall have your "hell days" during the winter, mine are peak summer (mid June-early-mid September) the rest is golden

Polar opposites, if you'll pardon the gratuitous pun...

Did a grab of everything in any stage of ripening the other day, it seems the warmth inside accelerates the process, especially with the rocotos. There are a lot of Aji Limos, and I find them one of the most versatile peppers!

Those dark green ones at the top of the box are Gochus, each having a tint toward ripe. I found it doesn't take much to indicate they will finish ripening in a box, on a sill, etc. The 3 green pods in the lower left are paprika, they look so darn alike I have to keep 'em separated.

I also picked what was ripe from the Dreadie Mahala and the Rocoto Amarillo, both potted units that now spend the night in the garage.

I brought two plants in el permanente, the Aji Amarillo and the Aji Mango. I think I'll try to overwinter these. The Aji Amarillos are so slow to get on the ripening bus, I'm going to pick a bushel of green Amarillos from the 8th acre, along with a host of others. I hate seeing them go to any waste...

I also have a couple rows of onions to pull and the sugar pumpkins are going to be ready in a couple weeks. Then hunting season. Gonna have a couple new venison recipes to try this year...

MikeUSMC · Oct 6, 2017

Awesome job, Eric! Best of luck with your overwintering. I highly suggest you invest in some Neem oil, if you haven't already

Devv · Oct 6, 2017

Hey Eric,

Below is a copy/paste that I saved from Pic1. He lives in Chicago, a most excellent grower.

###
I don't have any issues with aphids on my OW plants. I cut my plants down to the trunk, get rid of all foliage, and uproot them. I use a water hose, and spray all of the soil from the roots, and trim them down to a little ball. I then dunk the plant in a dish soap water mixture, completely submerging the plant for a few minutes. Then I pot up the plant in a 1 gallon pot, fresh soil, and bring it inside.
###

Now I'm not suggesting you do this by any means. I just want to present the information. Here in the deep south an OW to me is moving them into the garage a few times when it wants to frost 3 or 4 times over the winter. He (Pic1) essentially put them to sleep for the duration of the winter.

Mike's comment regarding Neem is all about bringing them inside, with the passengers

Glad to see the nice pulls Eric!