Stickman's 2013 Glog - Time To Pull The Plug on 2013

I'm pulling things together to get ready for my next growing season. I bought NuMex variety seeds from Sandia Seed company in New Mexico, Hot Paper Lantern Habaneros and Antohi Romanians from Johnny's Select Seeds in Maine and Korean varieties from Evergreen Seeds in California. Due to the unbelievable generosity of a number of THP members I've also gotten seeds to a wide variety of chiles from around the world. Special thanks to BootsieB, stc3248, romy6, PaulG, SoCalChilehead, joynershotpeppers, highalt, cmpman1974, smokemaster, mygrassisblue, Mister No, chewi, KingDenniz, orrozconleche and most recently and spectacularly, Habanerohead with a great selection of superhots and peppers from Hungary!

There are eleven varieties of Hungarian peppers in here, mostly the early, thick-fleshed, sweet ones that range from white through yellow to purple and red.., plus Aji Lemon Drop, BJ Indian Carbon, Naga Morich, Bishop's Crown and TS CARDI Yellow! Now I just have to go through my seed bank and match the space available to what I want to grow. Thanks Balázs!

 

[stickman]

Everything looks great Rick! Wow 6 inches of growth on the Manzano over night is impressive ... super job!

I wonder if it has anything to do with the molasses and Bio Root nutes I've been feeding the runts... if I have any left over in the can after dosing the little guys I share the love with the rest of them on a rotating basis. Then add rain to wash it down to the roots and Bam! Sugar they can take in with their roots that they didn't have to photosynthisize... not that I'm trying to give any of you folks who entered the growdowns any ideas...

 Very nice indeed Rick. Weather warming up you will up to your ears in pods soon. With your cooking skills we want lots of ideas for cooking up all those amazing veggies you got growin . 

Thanks Jamie... count on it brother! You all know I love to cook.

Looking really good, brother.  That ground cover really
seems to do the trick for you.  Enjoy the warm weather!

Thanks muchly brother! As cool and wet as spring seems to be for you, I bet it would assist your season  too. You could plant out in pots and set up your drippers first, then cover the soil at the top of the pot with the solar mulch and have the drippers underneath. You could even wrap the pots with it to warm up the soil in them when they need the assist, and just take it off again when they don't. It's a thought anyway...

The plants look like they laughed at the hail and said bring it on!
 
Any time it rains they seem to just jump a few inches.
 
I have to read up on the Criolla Sella, interesting plant!
 
Glad things are kicking in!

Thanks Scott! It's sure been a roller-coaster ride at the start of the season, but I hope to do well at the finish. I was pretty intrigued by the Criolla Sella when I was looking around for Baccatum varieties to plant last year. It's got a different flavor than the Omnicolor, but still typical of the hot Baccatums. With the thin flesh I think it'd make great powders. I just have to leave the pods on the plant to fully ripen and see if the sweetness and heat develop more fully. Cheers!

 

[meatfreak]

Everything looks great, Rick. Love dropping by every day to get my daily fix Man, what an boatload of buds on that Chiero!!

 

[PaulG]

"Thanks muchly brother! As cool and wet as spring seems to be for you, I bet it would assist your season  too. You could plant out in pots and set up your drippers first, then cover the soil at the top of the pot with the solar mulch and have the drippers underneath. You could even wrap the pots with it to warm up the soil in them when they need the assist, and just take it off again when they don't. It's a thought anyway..."
 
Rick, that is a great idea - I will def try that next year.  Don't know
why it never occured to me.  I must be getting late onset Youngzeimer's
syndrome.  Is your mulch a special material, or ... ?

 

[stickman]

Everything looks great, Rick. Love dropping by every day to get my daily fix Man, what an boatload of buds on that Chiero!!

Thanks Stefan! I have no idea what the pods are going to come out looking like, but my best guess is something like a cross between a cumari and a hab. One thing's for sure... with a name like Cheiro we know it's gonna smell real nice!

"Thanks muchly brother! As cool and wet as spring seems to be for you, I bet it would assist your season  too. You could plant out in pots and set up your drippers first, then cover the soil at the top of the pot with the solar mulch and have the drippers underneath. You could even wrap the pots with it to warm up the soil in them when they need the assist, and just take it off again when they don't. It's a thought anyway..."
 
Rick, that is a great idea - I will def try that next year.  Don't know
why it never occured to me.  I must be getting late onset Youngzeimer's
syndrome.  Is your mulch a special material, or ... ?

Some folks like black landscaping fabric or black poly sheeting, but I read that the solar mulch actually warms the soil a few degrees more, so I sprang for that. There are multiple suppliers, but I get mine from Johnny's Selected Seeds in Maine. http://www.johnnyseeds.com/Assets/Information/Solar%20Mulch.pdf 
  http://www.johnnyseeds.com/Assets/Information/SRM_Red_Mulch_Tech_Sheet.pdf
Cheers brother!

 

[stickman]

Hi All,
   Just a quick update to my Criolla Sella review... I picked the first ripe pod from my in-ground plant this morning and sampled it on the spot. Much different from the first one I tried a few days ago. This one gave me about a dozen hiccups and a 5 minute burn. The same flavor and consistency as the first, but a bit sweeter as well. I think this pepper would make great salsa, relishes or powder. It seems to grow well in the north, and is an early and prolific producer. Just make sure to give it plenty of room to spread out, 'cause it'll need it!

 

[Devv]

Glad you liked it Rick, must be hot to give you the hiccups!

 

[FreeportBum]

Been lurking for sometime, always enjoyed reading your glog and seeing your pics. love the foodie pics everything looks great

 

[roper2008]

Jamaican Hot chocolates! yum! I don't think mine have set a pod yet!
Glad everything survived the storm. We had a couple storms blow thru today, but just rain. Hail! not good!

I wish I had grown at least a Jamaican hot chocolate or chocolate hab.  Makes a great powder.  I think you'll like it as a powder Rick, hot but taste good.

 

[stickman]

Glad you liked it Rick, must be hot to give you the hiccups!

It's not like That Rennie Shane ate last week... what was it, about 124 hiccups and a 12 minute burn?

Been lurking for sometime, always enjoyed reading your glog and seeing your pics. love the foodie pics everything looks great

Thanks Devan... Welcome to the zoo! Feel free to drop by and chime in anytime. I see you have a small garden going up in Freeport... how's that going?

I wish I had grown at least a Jamaican hot chocolate or chocolate hab.  Makes a great powder.  I think you'll like it as a powder Rick, hot but taste good.

Thanks Linda, I'm definitely looking forward to it... I bought a few pods for making Jerk Chicken at a local farmstand last summer, and saved the seeds to grow out this year. I hope they grow true!
 
I had the makings for some pico de gallo in the fridge, so I threw it together with a few of the Criolla Sella pods and fresh Cilantro from the garden. I love this time of year!

 

[georgej]

I bought a few pods for making Jerk Chicken at a local farmstand last summer, and saved the seeds to grow out this year. I hope they grow true!
 

 
i hope so too!
mine are lookin good so far!

 

[PeriPeri]

Bring on the theme song to Rocky... Hailstorm 0 Ricks Plants 1... you trained your plants well Master Stickman!

Lots of hailstorm here in Safrica. Golf ball size usually. So I am going to try and teach my plants to wield gold clubs or light sabres.
 
Any tips Master Stickman?

 

[stickman]

 
i hope so too!
mine are lookin good so far!

Now that they've set pods it'll just be another 5-6 weeks to find out...

Bring on the theme song to Rocky... Hailstorm 0 Ricks Plants 1... you trained your plants well Master Stickman!

Lots of hailstorm here in Safrica. Golf ball size usually. So I am going to try and teach my plants to wield gold clubs or light sabres.
 
Any tips Master Stickman?

Actually, Balasz said that they're prone to it in his area, and they deal with it by stretching UV stabilized shadecloth over the plants. The rain passes right through and it keeps out the hail. I'd set posts in the ground that project above the soil about 2 meters and space them about 4 meters apart, stretch wire between the tops of the posts, then stretch the shadecloth out on top and stake down the edges/corners.

 

[PeriPeri]

No lighsabres
 
OK, but the UV Photon Stabilizer Shields sound great
 
Your plants look great Rick!

 

[FreeportBum]

Thanks stickman my container plants are doing really well so far . And the garden is looking great. I grow a bunch of stuff like potatoes,tomatoes,shallots,garlic,leeks,broccoli, asparagus, cukes, baby ginger etc. I will be posting pics in my glog to check out along with some foodie pics. Big amateur chef and weekend warrior here. All the best

 

[stickman]

No lighsabres
 
OK, but the UV Photon Stabilizer Shields sound great
 
Your plants look great Rick!

S'right brother... it's all in how you look at things...

Thanks stickman my container plants are doing really well so far . And the garden is looking great. I grow a bunch of stuff like potatoes,tomatoes,shallots,garlic,leeks,broccoli, asparagus, cukes, baby ginger etc. I will be posting pics in my glog to check out along with some foodie pics. Big amateur chef and weekend warrior here. All the best

Cheers Devan, and we hope to hear of great things from you. It looks like your chiles had an early enough start, and they're very happy.
Time once again for the Dawn Patrol report, posting just a little delayed.
 
Another foggy, drizzly morning, but the early morning temps were in the mid 60's... I'm beginning to think summer really is here.
 
Both Magnum Orange Habs are blossoming now, but I don't think either have set pods

 
The Yellow Bhut is flowering now too

 
Butch T has started to flower also

 
Picked my first Omnicolor today

 
JA Hot Chocolate is really exploding right now!

 
Red Rocoto has started flowering

 
and the Manzano pods continue to grow

 
Aji Panca still budding up slowly

 
Pods on the Kapia peppers are growing quickly

 
I suspect they crossed the Jal with an Anaheim to make the Jalapeno Mucho Nacho because of the size and 2-lobed appearance. The one I cut open last week had no seeds inisde

 
I've got a few more pics if I get a bump...

 

[FreeportBum]

Great looking pods stickman!

 

[romy6]

 Double bump Sticky Ricky 

 

[PaulG]

Your grow is really progressing, Rick!  Big pods and
bushy plants - gotta love the summer season!  
 
The Omnicolor looks great - love the color change cycle
on those pods.  They are a great all around pepper.

 

[stickman]

Thanks Guys!
 
Koreans are loading up... no surprise there

 
Holy Mole' hybrid

 
The Almapaprika is amazing me with its output.

 
The second Hungarian Tomato pepper is right behind it

 
Marconi Rosso. The biggest pod here is the one in the lower right that's mostly hidden by leaves. It's about 7 inches long by 3 wide at the shoulder.

 
Have a great Thursday all!

 

[PaulG]

Nice pics, Rick.  Those Marconi Rossos are the best general
use sweet peppers imho.  Had some monsters last year.  This
year's crop is just starting to pod up.  I don't grow Bells anymore,
they are so easy to find anywhere.
 
Have a great weekend, my friend!