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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!
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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!
 
Happy New Year, Rick! I think I'm making Hoppin' John for dinner too. Well, minus the collard greens. I know, I know, I'm from the south, I'm supposed to like those ... blech!

Just thought I'd give you a head's up on the Aji Panca. I tried that one in 2011, but didn't get a single ripe pod before our first frost. Since your growing season is similar to mine, I would recommend starting that one pretty early, if you do decide to grow it down the road.

Happy New Year Bonnie, and thanks for the heads-up!
If you're interested, I can put you onto a Moroccan recipe that makes spicy Kale or Collards that taste extremely good. The only exotic ingredient are lemons preserved in salt. I get them in an Asian market nearby that carries specialty ingredients, but they're also incredibly easy to make yourself... all you need are lemons and salt, and a big glass jar with a tight-fitting lid to put them in.

http://nourishedkitc...eserved-lemons/

Thanks also to the rest of you for your new year's wishes. I hope you all have a great new year/growing season, and we'll catch you later.
 
Got my seed starting mix at the local farmer's co-op, and dug out my shelving, heat mat, seed starting trays and saltpeter.
I'll be setting the shelving up in front of our south-facing sliding glass door and cleaning/sterilizing the seed starting trays with bleach, mild detergent and warm water. I got the packet of saltpeter from peppergal, and I understand it's supposed to help soften the seed coat and encourage the seedlings to sprout. It is a Nitrate, so maybe it's a mild fertilizer as well. I figure it couldn't hurt. I want the seedlings to develop good roots, so I'm going to add some bone meal to the seed starting mix as well.

Pics to follow when I get it all set up this weekend. Cheers!
 
Hmm.... Now you've got me thinking Trippa... How well do they do in pots? My garden space is filled with things I'm going to plant there (I'm not going to omit any of the vegetables to make room for chiles), but I could grow a few more next to the house in pots. I've never done that with chiles, so it would be a new thing to try... I think I'll give it a go!
 
My one is actually doing really well (all of mine are in pots so I don't have anything to compare them too though) but it has been doing well (it stayed in a 1.5 litre pot all winter) and is currently podding well and growing nicely.

If you gave it a decent size (ie 3gallon +) pot it would perform great I would think. I just hope they sprout for you. (If they don't I will have plenty of seeds in a couple of weeks to give you if need be)

If you take a look at my glog you will see they are gnarly looking pods!!

All those seeds I gave you were grown in pots so any of them will grow well (NTRs do really well)
 
Got my shelves set up and seeds on to soak. I'm starting with Manzano, Aji Omnicolor, Criolla Sella, 7-pot Yellow, Hot Paper Lantern, Jamaican Hot Chocolate Habanero and Douglah. I've heard that if you soak the seeds in water with a little saltpeter they have a better percentage of germination, so I'm trying that here. Once they've soaked for a day I'll put them in between some moist coffee filters and in a ziplok bag on a seed starting mat with a towel over it. Once they germinate I'll transplant to soil mix in Solo cups.
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Nice! Is that the Manzano with the brown seeds? I'm a sucker for different seeds colours, because yellow gets boring after a while.
 
Yup... they were black when I got them out of the pod and turned brown when they dried out. I wasn't originally going to start the Douglah, but Trippa talked me into it. I won't have enough space to plant it in the garden, but I'll try it in a pot or root pouch.
 
Nice call on the Douglah Rick. They will kick your arse :flamethrower: but the flavor is all world. One of my favorite chinese . Trippa would not steer ya wrong!!

Good to see you growing again!!!!!
 
Glad to see your grow getting started, Rick! I too had read that saltpeter helps with germination. I looked around for some locally, but couldn't find any. Did you find it local to you or online?

Happy to see you stepping forward with the Douglah. I've had a few from purchased pods and they are indeed great, like everyone else has said. I hear they make an awesome powder.
 
Thanks guys! It feels great to be underway again... I just wish the scratchy throat that popped up after we got back from Canada would go away. Meantime, I'm eating kimchi and drinking lots of tea to mega-dose with vitamin c, flush the system and keep the tubes open.

Drained the soaked seeds this morning and put them in layers between moist coffee filters. Put the stack on top of a few moist napkins and put the whole thing into a ziplok bag and sealed it. Then put the bag on a seedling heat mat and put a dome cover over that and a towel over that. That should get things going I hope. The plan from there is to plant the sprouted seeds in solo cups. I'll mix a little bone meal and rock phosphate into the seed starting medium and plant them into that. I want a little nitrogen in the soil, but I particularly want phosphate, potassium and calcium to encourage the seedlings to put down strong and prolific roots so the plants will be very hardy and grow quickly when i plant them outside.
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Hi Rick!

Happy New Year, and good luck for the peppers you are growing!
With this early start you are going to have some nice peppers quite soon.
I am also thinking about to start some seeds around the 14th fo January. (TS, Bhut, Naga, Fatalii, Habanero) I still have to do the math around it, since it seems, that I am going to London for 3 months in the mid of February, which means that I must have seedlings by then, since my fiance'e is going to take care of them. (she offered it :crazy: ) On the other hand, even the superhot seedlings reach the 15-18 cm height in 2 months, so at the end of March I would have decent sized plants, ready for planting out...which can be done only in the first week of May... So they (or rather we) need to survive another 4 weeks inside. :pray:
When are you able to plant your peppers out?

Balázs
 
Hi Rick!

Happy New Year, and good luck for the peppers you are growing!
With this early start you are going to have some nice peppers quite soon.
I am also thinking about to start some seeds around the 14th fo January. (TS, Bhut, Naga, Fatalii, Habanero) I still have to do the math around it, since it seems, that I am going to London for 3 months in the mid of February, which means that I must have seedlings by then, since my fiance'e is going to take care of them. (she offered it :crazy: ) On the other hand, even the superhot seedlings reach the 15-18 cm height in 2 months, so at the end of March I would have decent sized plants, ready for planting out...which can be done only in the first week of May... So they (or rather we) need to survive another 4 weeks inside. :pray:
When are you able to plant your peppers out?

Balázs

Hi Balázs, and Happy New Year to yourself as well! I hope your intended also has a green thumb if she's going to be taking care of your chiles while you're away in the UK.

I'll wait until the overnight temperatures consistently hold in the 5 degrees celsius range before I plant outside, but I'll warm the soil for a week or so with the black plastic thermal mulch on the ground first... then I'll plant in holes punched in the mulch and set the hoophouse up over the chiles, eggplant and tomatoes. Last year I planted out around April 20th.. This year should be right around then, +- a week or so.
 
Glad to see your grow getting started, Rick! I too had read that saltpeter helps with germination. I looked around for some locally, but couldn't find any. Did you find it local to you or online?

Happy to see you stepping forward with the Douglah. I've had a few from purchased pods and they are indeed great, like everyone else has said. I hear they make an awesome powder.

Thanks Doc!
When I was a kid in the early 60's you could buy saltpeter in any drugstore. It's harder to find now... I got it from peppergal.com... there's a teaspoon of it in a small ziplok baggie in a coin envelope. Mix with a quart of water to soak the seeds. It's supposed to speed germination and soften the seed coat, so hopefully it'll help prevent "helmet head". Not bad for a dollar.
http://www.peppergal.../GA1 salt petre
 
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