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

stickman · Jun 24, 2014

stc3248 said:
Wow...that was a lot of info to take in from yesterday to today! Lol Topped it off with a nice foodie shot. Ahhh...made my day!

Thanks Chief, it made mine too. If you've never tried za'atar, you should... this ish is addicting! The OW Manzano is kicking out multible blossoms at every growth node.

...and Adam called it... not too sure about the Naga King, but the MoAs have set their first pod! Woot!

Naga King is loaded though.

Stefan... I gave the chiles in the raised bed a shot of nutes this weekend, and together with the warmer weather the last few days, the purple pheno Pimenta Lisa had a growth spurt. It forked and started budding up.

The OW Douglah looks like it benefited from that as well

Butch T looks very happy

A couple of "non" pics to end up...

First flower on my Eggplants... this one is the Thai variety

... and some Epizote that popped up next to the pots the MoAs are in... Gotta leave them there for Mexican bean dishes.

Have a great Tuesday all!

FreeportBum · Jun 24, 2014

Hi Rick, it looks like everything is coming along very nicely for you. Love the pics and the food! keep up the good work my friend

maximumcapsicum · Jun 24, 2014

Love the dawn patrol! Can't wait to see the shape of that MoA pod. They seem to plump up very quickly. I appreciate the hab/bonnet ripening schedule, that's for sure. I noticed alot of the supers take their time, especially the 7's.

JoynersHotPeppers · Jun 24, 2014

Looking good Rick. By chance do you have flea beetles up there, they are back here again and leaving holes in many of my leaves!

stickman · Jun 24, 2014

FreeportBum said:
Hi Rick, it looks like everything is coming along very nicely for you. Love the pics and the food! keep up the good work my friend

Thanks for the good vibe Devan! Nice to have you drop by.

Hope things are doing well for you up in ME...

maximumcapsicum said:
Love the dawn patrol! Can't wait to see the shape of that MoA pod. They seem to plump up very quickly. I appreciate the hab/bonnet ripening schedule, that's for sure. I noticed alot of the supers take their time, especially the 7's.

... and the Nagas, and the Manzanos... You were spot on with the prediction of Chinense pods set yesterday... you don't work for someone's satellite surveillance do you?

You're right about the Hab/Bonnet ripening too. That's why I always plant them... I'm never sure from one year to the next if I'll get an early frost that'll kill the later ripening Chinense pods. I hope for the best and plant them, but I hedge my bets by planting earlier-maturing Chinense varieties too.

JoynersHotPeppers said:
Looking good Rick. By chance do you have flea beetles up there, they are back here again and leaving holes in many of my leaves!

Yeah... we sure do Chris. :rolleyes:

We can't seem to get away from them, and I don't want to nuke the plants with pesticides, so I just start the seeds 2-3 weeks earlier than the tomatoes so they can get big enough to shrug them off. They seem to go away a little later in the season when things really "het up". The larger holes are from Potato Beetles, but they don't last long... :twisted:

ronniedeb · Jun 24, 2014

stickman said:
... and some Epizote that popped up next to the pots the MoAs are in... Gotta leave them there for Mexican bean dishes.

Is Epazote hardy then? I'll have to give it a go.

stickman · Jun 24, 2014

ronniedeb said:
Is Epazote hardy then? I'll have to give it a go.

If it helps you, we're USDA zone 5b (which means an annual average minimum extreme temperature of -26 to -28 degrees C) and it readily volunteers here. http://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/

It's pungent enough that you would need to use only a small amount of the leaves when seasoning food, and at that dosage it's completely safe. It's indispensible in making Mexican black bean soup. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dysphania_ambrosioides

Hope that's what you were looking for...

romy6 · Jun 24, 2014

Right on track Rickster!!!! Plants lood bodacious .

Trippa · Jun 24, 2014

All looking awesome Rick! ... that OW Douglah has really taken off as has that Manzano. As always Its the world of food glog ...Keep on growing (and cooking)!!

ronniedeb · Jun 24, 2014

stickman said:
If it helps you, we're USDA zone 5b (which means an annual average minimum extreme temperature of -26 to -28 degrees C) and it readily volunteers here. http://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/

It's pungent enough that you would need to use only a small amount of the leaves when seasoning food, and at that dosage it's completely safe. It's indispensible in making Mexican black bean soup. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dysphania_ambrosioides

Hope that's what you were looking for...

Brilliant. Thanks

PeriPeri · Jun 24, 2014

Wow Rick, looking superfine buddy! I hope that Naga King sets pods for you soon - can't wait to see it do its magic. The Peri-Peri seems to be coming along nicely...

stickman · Jun 24, 2014

romy6 said:
Right on track Rickster!!!! Plants lood bodacious .

Thanks brother Jamie! Things are finally starting to really warm up here, and the plants are pulling their thumbs out and getting their act on the road!

Trippa said:
All looking awesome Rick! ... that OW Douglah has really taken off as has that Manzano. As always Its the world of food glog ...Keep on growing (and cooking)!!

Thanks Tristan! What really blows me away is that the OW Douglah was still bare sticks 3-4 weeks ago. Once it started to tick over, it really moved quick!

ronniedeb said:
Brilliant. Thanks

Cheers Ronan.

PeriPeri said:
Wow Rick, looking superfine buddy! I hope that Naga King sets pods for you soon - can't wait to see it do its magic. The Peri-Peri seems to be coming along nicely...

Cheers Lourens! Hopefully I'll have baby pods on the King Naga to show by the end of the week. It'll have to work hard to pass the Peri Peri though... It's only a third of a meter tall and two thirds of a meter wide with a couple of dozen pods set and more setting daily... really looking forward to braai with them this summer! :dance:

stickman · Jun 25, 2014

Howdy All, and time for the "hump-day" Dawn Patrol...

It's been sunny and dry for the last week, and the overnight lows have been in the high 50s and low 60s. The Chinense have jumped in with both feet! I've got blossoms on my Butch T and Yellow 7 this morning. Looking in on the MoAs I see 3 more baby pods.

Butch T

Yellow 7

Pods on Smokemaster's Pequin

... and Shane's

The first sweet paprika pod is almost ready to pick

Szentezi-type stuffing peppers starting to pod up

...and the Pritamins

This one's for you Lourens... the larger Peri Peri is loading up, and I have no doubts that the smaller one will catch up before too long

Every branch on the Takanotsume is putting out clusters of blossoms... this plant is gonna be a beast also!

Poblanos are also loading up

That's all for this morning... more later. Cheers all!

georgej · Jun 25, 2014

Takanotsume looks beautiful. I swear every bloom turns into a chilli. At least it feels that way. They produce a lot of pollen too, so I use it to coax more stubborn varieties into laying fruit

JJJessee · Jun 25, 2014

Good to see things warming up a bit of the night.
Can't wait to see some of those NagaKings hanging

Your eggplants look especially good given the heat has not been up there yet. What variety is that?
This is the first year mine have passed the Flea Beetle Vulnerabilty Phase without much damage.
Tiny grasshoppers are making mine a little ugly, but not sucking the life out of them the way flea beetles do.

lucilanga said:
I never thought of growing an eggplant. But to be perfectly honest the idea of roasted eggplant, the smell .. it's already invading my nose trills,
Is it possible to grow an eggplant in containers ?

Two of mine were put into SIP containers and slightly elevated on the purpose of keeping them out of flea beetle crosshairs.
They are doing fine. Whether they produce as much as the in-ground remains to be seen. On my research, lots of people prefer container-growing their eggplants because they can get them into an extra warm micro-clime like on driveway pavement or in front of a south-facing masonry wall.

I'd think a 5 gal(18liter) bucket would be about minuimum, and smaller varieties may perform better.

HabaneroHead · Jun 25, 2014

Hi Rick,

I'm glad to see things are g(r)owing well in your garden! Seeing ripe plants on the Paprika is also unbelievable :-)
Keep up the good work, my friend!

Balázs

Devv · Jun 25, 2014

Very nice Rick!

Every time I visit I see nicer looking plants. They have for sure turned the corner!

I like the chicken foodie! I'm a big fan of the nice bark like shown in the pics. I had to Google za'atar

maximumcapsicum · Jun 25, 2014

Plants are looking wonderful Rick. The sweet paprika looks a heck of alot like a fresno, just a slightly more jal-like shape. Is the flesh thick like a jal? If so, does that make smoking/dehydrating it a chipotle-like operation?

stickman · Jun 25, 2014

georgej said:
Takanotsume looks beautiful. I swear every bloom turns into a chilli. At least it feels that way. They produce a lot of pollen too, so I use it to coax more stubborn varieties into laying fruit

That's particularly good to know if you don't care about cross-pollination... thanks for the tip G!

JJJessee said:
Good to see things warming up a bit of the night.
Can't wait to see some of those NagaKings hanging

Your eggplants look especially good given the heat has not been up there yet. What variety is that?
This is the first year mine have passed the Flea Beetle Vulnerabilty Phase without much damage.
Tiny grasshoppers are making mine a little ugly, but not sucking the life out of them the way flea beetles do.

Two of mine were put into SIP containers and slightly elevated on the purpose of keeping them out of flea beetle crosshairs.
They are doing fine. Whether they produce as much as the in-ground remains to be seen. On my research, lots of people prefer container-growing their eggplants because they can get them into an extra warm micro-clime like on driveway pavement or in front of a south-facing masonry wall.

I'd think a 5 gal(18liter) bucket would be about minuimum, and smaller varieties may perform better.

Thanks TJ... (triple J)

I really want to see (and taste) the Naga Kings too... hopefully the season stays warm long enough for them to fully ripen. 3 of the Eggplants are the old Italian-type Heirloom variety called "Black Beauty" and one is a green hybrid Thai variety from Kitazawa Seeds called "Masego"... http://www.kitazawaseed.com/seed_325-33.html
Thanks for weighing in on the container eggplant issue... it's all grist for the mill...

HabaneroHead said:
Hi Rick,

I'm glad to see things are g(r)owing well in your garden! Seeing ripe plants on the Paprika is also unbelievable :-)
Keep up the good work, my friend!

Balázs

Thanks Balázs, will do...

Devv said:
Very nice Rick!

Every time I visit I see nicer looking plants. They have for sure turned the corner!

I like the chicken foodie! I'm a big fan of the nice bark like shown in the pics. I had to Google za'atar

I'm tellin' ya Scott... that ish is addictive!

Just wanted to thank you again for the SFRB that came today in the mail.

I wrapped a slice of white american cheese around each of the 2 Aji Lemons and ate them on the spot.

Had one of the Nardellos in salad for supper tonight. Very tasty!

A few more pics from the Dawn Patrol today...

Korean Sang Cho

Serrano

The Almapaprika all look like this... won't be long before I have enough to start pickling them.

Blurry pic, but you can see the Cascabel is ramping up for pod production.

and one non pic to finish up... the Hobak Squash.

Have a good night all!

maximumcapsicum said:
Plants are looking wonderful Rick. The sweet paprika looks a heck of alot like a fresno, just a slightly more jal-like shape. Is the flesh thick like a jal? If so, does that make smoking/dehydrating it a chipotle-like operation?

These are small, early pods Adam... the sweet paprikas usually get as big as Anaheims. They're thin-fleshed, and dry quickly to be ground for powder. Smoking first is often done as well.

stickman · Jun 26, 2014

Welcome to Thursday, and time for the Dawn Patrol report...

Last night we got over 2 inches of pounding rain and the garden looks really refreshed! Looking at the long-range weather forecast, I see overnight lows in the 50s and 60s, so I decided it was time to remove the low row cover from the raised bed with the Chinense varieties. MoAs look good... in just the last few days 2 of them have loaded up with flowers and baby pods. The 3rd is lagging a bit behind, but I figure that's statistical.

First pod set on the OW Manzano... woot!

The White Hab I picked up at a nursery has forked and is starting to bud up.

Lotah Bih is starting to bud up too.

the Chintexle and Texas Pequin have both definitely set pods so the wilds are all launched here.

Chintexle

Texas Pequin

Also picked my first ripe pod this morning... I figured it would be either or a be a Sweet Paprika or a Chimayo', and it turned out to be a Paprika.

Tomatillos have finally set fruit too, so it won't be long before we're making salsa verde!

Have a great Thursday all!