Stickman's 2014 Glog- That's all folks!

georgej · Aug 20, 2014

Indeed! I don't wanna threadjack, but my second flight are less pointy
Same plant, totally different

stickman · Aug 20, 2014

Jeff H said:
As always Rick, the continued harvests all look real good as well as the plant pics. You should have very little to complain about for this year's harvest. Keep it up.

Cheers Jeff!

PeriPeri said:
I amazed at how long the Naga Kings are taking to change colour. Not sure if it is heat or sun or what, but here they change colour much quicker Rick. Nice to see the colour on the Tabasco - I am a little impartial towards the humble Tabsco. Does not get great reveiews when you eat them plain off the plant, but when they are made into sauce... they become sublime. The man that came up with the idea of making a sour mash from these is a genius I think. It really is in my mind the the best application for the Tabsco. Apparently McIlhenny have a batton that the pickers carry around with them (or possibly just new pickers). The batton has the exact colour the pods have to be before they can be picked. Seems pretty methodical to me

You're reminding me of a book I read about the life cycle of aquatic insects Lourens... It's pertinent because I think cold-blooded insect larvae and the fruit on plants need a certain amount of warmth to mature, and this can be expressed as degree days. Looking back at the previous 4 years and comparing them to this one (so far) certainly proves how much cooler it is this season.

I picked cooling degree days because these are the days that are hot enough to make the air conditioner kick in...

PeriPeri · Aug 20, 2014

stickman said:
Cheers Jeff!

You're reminding me of a book I read about the life cycle of aquatic insects Lourens... It's pertinent because I think cold-blooded insect larvae and the fruit on plants need a certain amount of warmth to mature, and this can be expressed as degree days. Looking back at the previous 4 years and comparing them to this one (so far) certainly proves how much cooler it is this season. http://www.weatherdatadepot.com/#

Rick, lol I am checking my pond right now to see what this season will bring... will be right back

(has anyone got a net?)

stickman · Aug 20, 2014

ribbedturtleneck said:
Le petit Baton Rouge= the little red stick

Thanks for the input Eric, and welcome to the zoo!

PeriPeri said:
Rick, lol I am checking my pond right now to see what this season will bring... will be right back (has anyone got a net?)

Oh, you little Dickens Lourens!

Seriously though, this actually works... now that I've got the numbers to work with, I may go back through my previous glogs to see how many degree days it takes for the different varieties to ripen up.

georgej said:
Indeed! I don't wanna threadjack, but my second flight are less pointy
Same plant, totally different

Nice size to those Douglah pods G! Glad to see they're beginning to take on more normal shapes too. Great job!

This morning wasn't quite as cool... temperatures got down to about 50 degrees last night. I pulled 3 ripe Peruvian White Habs and chopped one into my egg 'n cheese breakfast sammie.

Happy "Hump Day" all!

PeriPeri · Aug 20, 2014

Awesome Buddy - white lightning vavvavoom! These are so beautiful... take a while to change colour, but once they turn there is a constant stream

Rick, seriously - your answers are always so definitive and thorough I am blown away! I had to make light of the conversation as I was going to make an absolute abffoon of myself pretending I knew what average day degrees was. But I have wrapped my head around it now. I see what you are saying. I am not sure I would ever be able to pull that kind data for my part of the world though.

Sawyer · Aug 20, 2014

So far this year, the weather here has been very reminiscent of that from a few decades ago. The forecasts haven't been cast as such, but they could just as well have said, "30% chance of afternoon heating showers". Back in the day, we joked that that was just the default forecast for this time of year. It did get unusually cool at night last week; one night was down below 55ºF. This week is the first that is somewhat more characteristic of recent years' pattern, predicted to be clear all week and temps into the mid-90s. Although Monday, an (unpredicted) front moved through and dropped afternoon temps into the upper 70s. Yesterday was mostly sunny all day, but it only made it up to 89ºF, so the forecast is 0 for 2 so far. Have had more rain this year than usual for summer; started watering yesterday for the first time since mid-June.

Had my first pull of chinenses yeseterday. Off to update my glog...

stickman · Aug 20, 2014

PeriPeri said:
Awesome Buddy - white lightning vavvavoom! These are so beautiful... take a while to change colour, but once they turn there is a constant stream

Rick, seriously - your answers are always so definitive and thorough I am blown away! I had to make light of the conversation as I was going to make an absolute abffoon of myself pretending I knew what average day degrees was. But I have wrapped my head around it now. I see what you are saying. I am not sure I would ever be able to pull that kind data for my part of the world though.

Believe it or not Lourens, someone is tracking degree days in South African vineyards. If you're interested in using this data yourself, you might want to contact your district agronomy officer. http://www.wineland.co.za/technical/degree-day-estimation-as-a-warning-tool-for-vine-mealybug-infestation-in-vineyards-2

Sawyer said:
So far this year, the weather here has been very reminiscent of that from a few decades ago. The forecasts haven't been cast as such, but they could just as well have said, "30% chance of afternoon heating showers". Back in the day, we joked that that was just the default forecast for this time of year. It did get unusually cool at night last week; one night was down below 55ºF. This week is the first that is somewhat more characteristic of recent years' pattern, predicted to be clear all week and temps into the mid-90s. Although Monday, an (unpredicted) front moved through and dropped afternoon temps into the upper 70s. Yesterday was mostly sunny all day, but it only made it up to 89ºF, so the forecast is 0 for 2 so far. Have had more rain this year than usual for summer; started watering yesterday for the first time since mid-June.

Had my first pull of chinenses yeseterday. Off to update my glog...

Cheers Buzz! Seems like we've all noticed the difference between this growing season and at least some of the previous ones. It'll be interesting to see if this is a continuing trend or a fluke.

PeriPeri · Aug 20, 2014

Thank you Rick that is awesome - I would never have imagined this data wouyld be available

JHB International Airport offers this data... just need to figure out how to decipher the info lol

stickman · Aug 20, 2014

PeriPeri said:
Thank you Rick that is awesome - I would never have imagined this data wouyld be available JHB International Airport offers this data... just need to figure out how to decipher the info lol

Maybe this will help Lourens... http://www.gardening.cornell.edu/weather/gdd.html

Tonight's pull... ripe Tabascos!

Chintexle cross... based on the shape, heat and aroma, I think it may have crossed with a Bhut

Also came home to a SFRB in the mailbox from cone9 in Ohio... Thanks so much brother Dave... they all came through in great shape and I'm really looking forward to sampling your seasoning peppers with an eye toward growing some tasty ones for powder blends next year. :dance:

maximumcapsicum · Aug 20, 2014

Nice SFRB! Looks like you got some tasting to do...

The fruts are really growing on me this year (chintexle is a frut right?). I was lukewarm on tobascos last year... the taste is very sharp, and needs to be mellowed a bit. But I am thinking dried or powdered they'd be quiet tasty. How do you normally use them?

Sorry for the cooler weather. Cooler night weather that is. It's been very Florida like around here with bouts of cool nights.

stickman · Aug 20, 2014

maximumcapsicum said:
Nice SFRB! Looks like you got some tasting to do...

The fruts are really growing on me this year (chintexle is a frut right?). I was lukewarm on tobascos last year... the taste is very sharp, and needs to be mellowed a bit. But I am thinking dried or powdered they'd be quiet tasty. How do you normally use them?

Sorry for the cooler weather. Cooler night weather that is. It's been very Florida like around here with bouts of cool nights.

Thanks Adam.

Actually, Chintexles are Pequin-type Annuums from Central America. They're little firecrackers though, aren't they?

I'm planning on making an aged ferment with my Fruts this year, and to that end I'm bagging and freezing the pods until I have the whole crop harvested. I'm picking Donne Sali, Tabasco and PeriPeri ATM, but it looks like I'll be adding Lotah Bih pods by the end of the week. :dance:

Cheers!

maximumcapsicum · Aug 20, 2014

stickman said:
Thanks Adam.

Actually, Chintexles are Pequin-type Annuums from Central America. They're little firecrackers though, aren't they?

I'm planning on making an aged ferment with my Fruts this year, and to that end I'm bagging and freezing the pods until I have the whole crop harvested. I'm picking Donne Sali, Tabasco and PeriPeri ATM, but it looks like I'll be adding Lotah Bih pods by the end of the week. Cheers!

If initial whiffs are any indication, the ferment process really brings the flavors to life. I bet your sauces are going to be great!

That would explain why I'm liking the Fruts lol!

stickman · Aug 22, 2014

maximumcapsicum said:
If initial whiffs are any indication, the ferment process really brings the flavors to life. I bet your sauces are going to be great!

That would explain why I'm liking the Fruts lol!

Oh yeah! The Fruts seem to do best with aging. I won't get many pods from the Donne Sali plants this year, but they've been interesting to grow for sure. First ripe pods I've ever grown that not only look like mouse turds, but are about the same size too.

The Tabasco is just beginning to put out ripe pods now, and the Lotah Bih will be next. It has a half-dozen pods beginning to change color... I hope I get most of them to ripen. The PeriPeri has about finished for the season. It got blown down in a wind squall and I staked it back up, but the leaves all died afterwards so the roots must have been damaged. I've been picking the pods as they ripen and freezing them. By next week sometime I'll have them all together to make sauce with.

TGIF all!

chilli whisperer · Aug 22, 2014

Aaah sorry to hear about the wind blowing over your periperi man,hopefully you have enough pods?

PeriPeri · Aug 22, 2014

Shame man! RIP PeriPeri. The pods dry well on the plant as well. I leave them on the plant to dry out, they tend to ripen still and not go mushy or mouldy

stickman · Aug 22, 2014

chilli whisperer said:
Aaah sorry to hear about the wind blowing over your periperi man,hopefully you have enough pods?

PeriPeri said:
Shame man! RIP PeriPeri. The pods dry well on the plant as well. I leave them on the plant to dry out, they tend to ripen still and not go mushy or mouldy

I think it'll be OK guys... like Lourens says, I'm letting the pods ripen on the plant. As cool and humid as it is here right now, I'm not letting them go dark red because I don't want to take the chance of them getting moldy.

I have 194 grams of PeriPeris so far and will make it to something over 200 for sure. That aught to be enough for some sauce, eh?

First Orange Thai pod... I hope to get enough ripe ones to make some Thai-style yellow curry paste to put away for the winter. It's essential to making a carrot and kabocha curry... Kabocha (Asian pumpkins) don't grow well here in New England, but Butternut squash is a close match, and certainly does.

I've dried enough Chimayo' chiles to make a few pots of chili and quarts of taco sauce this winter... Still a few more coming...

As mentioned... it's been cool and damp for the last few weeks, and I don't think the nightshades quite like it. Some take it better than others... the MoAs don't really like it... The leaves are turning yellow and dropping off a few at a time.

Most of the Annuums and Chinense are dropping flowers like crazy too.

The Nabasco doesn't give a @*%! though...

The Lotah Bih is the last Frutascens holdout, and finally starting to ripen, albeit slowly...

One "non" pic for 10 now, and another 10 for a bump...

My favorite companion plant for calling in friendly insects... a "Lemon Gem" Marigold. This plant has a strong aroma like citronella that repels some pests, and it has the ferny foliage that the Ladybugs and Lacewings love.

PeriPeri · Aug 22, 2014

Hey Rick that Nabasco is insane!!! Wow, and the colouring is amazing... loving it! Wow... and nothing with the Naga King? I seem to remember it too produces well into the cooler weather... I just hope we see some colour soon!

stickman · Aug 22, 2014

PeriPeri said:
Hey Rick that Nabasco is insane!!! Wow, and the colouring is amazing... loving it! Wow... and nothing with the Naga King? I seem to remember it too produces well into the cooler weather... I just hope we see some colour soon!

It's losing a few leaves too Lourens, and the pods haven't begun to color up, but they keep getting bigger and looking more gnarly.

Some more pics of Chinense coloring up slooowly...

Butch T

Guwahati Bhut

OW Douglah

No ripening color on these yet...

Pimenta Lisa

Bhut Orange Copenhagen

Yellow 7

Chocolate Habanero

Goat's Weed beginning to ripen up its second wave of pods

... and the MoAs continue to ripen 1-4 pods every day.

That's it for now... have a great weekend all!

PeriPeri · Aug 22, 2014

Looks like you have lots of colour still. Loving the Pimenta Lisa and Guwhati Bhuts... the naga kings look super fine... I love that pale green colour and the phenotype is spot on... c'mon colour... I so want you to taste them naga kings!!!

stickman · Aug 22, 2014

PeriPeri said:
Looks like you have lots of colour still. Loving the Pimenta Lisa and Guwhati Bhuts... the naga kings look super fine... I love that pale green colour and the phenotype is spot on... c'mon colour... I so want you to taste them naga kings!!!

I hear ya bro'... I'm trying to wait as patiently as possible...