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Stickman's 2015 - That's All She Wrote...

Hi All! It's been an incredibly busy winter dealing with one thing and another, and it's only about half over here. :rolleyes:  Still, it's time to get on the stick and put my seeds in the dirt in preparation for plant-out in another 12 weeks or so. I have a Manzano over-wintering inside that's going on its third year. It's next to a sliding glass door with a great southern exposure but the light it gets here this time of year is pretty paltry... I expect it'll start to perk up sometime in March. I have a couple of MoA Scotch Bonnets over-wintering at a friend's house because there wasn't space in front of the sliding glass door for them and my wife's indoor plants... the deal is that if they both survive the winter, we'll split the plants. If not, he'll keep the one that lives. That seems fair since he did all the work. ;)
 
The rest of the list is looking like this...

Pubiscens Varieties
Total bust this year... nothing that germinated survived.

Baccatum:
Ditto

Frutascens:
Tabasco
Hawaiian Bird chile
 
Chacoense:
Ditto

Chinense:
7-pot Yellow Turned out to be a red "Not"
MoA Scotch Bonnet
Beni Highlands... Also turned out to be a "Not"... maybe a Mako Akokrosade cross?
Ja Hab
Trinidad Perfume
Zavory

Annuum:
Cabe Rawit (mouse turd pepper, in Singapore where the seeds were collected they're called Cili Padi)
Red Thai
Biggie Chile Anaheim

Poblano Gigantia
Jalapeno Ciclon
Jalapeno Tormenta
Serrano Tampiqueno
Hungarian Hot Wax
Almapaprika
Ethiopian Brown Berbere
 
I'll also be planting a sweet Criolla de Cucina plants and about 20 sweet Kurtovska Kapijas. The Kapijas have the longest growing and ripening times of any Annuum I know, but they're big, meaty sweet peppers that average around a half a pound apiece... just the thing for making that eastern european condiment called Ajvar.
 
Too tired to say more now, but will pick up later... Cheers!
 
JoynersHotPeppers said:
Wow very nice Rick, I need to see if they do that near me! I might be missing out.
 
PeriPeri said:
Well done Rick buddy! That is a testament to you brilliant efforts this season ;)
 
Devv said:
All's I can say is wooooooot!
 
AND that's way cool!
 
Thanks guys! It's always a lot of fun doing the county fair, but it's a lot of work too! I didn't do any picking for a couple of weeks so I could get some really nice pods to display, but that means I have to process all the culls right then, and the display peppers when I take them home from the fair. For the sweet peppers, it's good that I crave that old Italian standby... sausage with peppers and onions. I roasted and peeled the rest for Ajvar.  I also made another batch of puree and a batch of Jerk Rub with the MoA Bonnets, seeded the Paprikas and supers for this year's powder blend and loaded them into the solar dehydrator, and made some festive pepper jellies for the holidays. Those are gonna look great on top of a block of cream cheese on the Christmas breakfast table!
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There are so many great growers here, I'm surprised that most of them don't display their hobby in their local agricultural fairs.
 
Devv said:
Jellies look great Rick!
 
 
But that involves time ;)  I would love to, but too many irons in the fire..
 
Yeah... lots to do this time of year... I didn't do it last year, but this fall I'm determined to get a few truckloads of fallen leaves to shred and spread on top of the garden plots, then cover them with a layer of green horse manure to mellow over the winter. Meanwhile, I've gotta weed the garden again and start removing the plants that have shot their bolt and planting the fall crops of lettuce, Asian greens and peas.
 
Ozzy2001 said:
Wow just got caught up on here. Very nice on the dehydrater. And grats on all the blue ribbons. That's pretty awesome.
 
dragonsfire said:
Awesome Spread Stickman !!! Wow :)
 
Cheers guys! What kinda irons have you got in the fire?
 
romy6 said:
 A first place show in almost all categories . :dance:
 
You killed it man :fireball:  :fireball:  .
 
Those jal's looked perfect to me maybe they don't know a good jal from a bad one  ;)
 
Cheers Jamie! The guy who took first in the Jals didn't have anything any better than mine, but I think the judges wanted to encourage more 1st-class competition and they gave it to him to maybe have him come back next year. I've got no problem with that. I don't want to get greedy. the exhibits of chiles were looking pretty sad before I entered last year, and I'm glad if my stuff raises the bar for the rest. :)
 
About half of the supers I loaded into the dehydrator on Monday are done. I ground them last night and added them to the powder jar. I suspect that I'll have at least a full quart when I finally finish processing all of them. That oughtta keep us in heat through the winter and spring!
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  Rick things look good.That powder looks killer.I wish I could get my plants in my county fair but its always first week of july.My plants are just getting their muscles.I could start a couple early and see if that may get me a couple to enter next year. :P
 
randyp said:
  Rick things look good.That powder looks killer.I wish I could get my plants in my county fair but its always first week of july.My plants are just getting their muscles.I could start  a couple early and see if that may get me a couple to enter next year. :P
 
Cheers Randy! You could do this... I'm in USDA zone 5 and I get my chiles in the ground around the middle of April using plasticulture methods... infra-red transparent plastic mulch on the ground and a low row cover of 4 mil sheet poly over that for about 5-6 weeks. It gives me a huge jump on the start of the season. :)
 
stickman said:
 
Cheers Randy! You could do this... I'm in USDA zone 5 and I get my chiles in the ground around the middle of April using plasticulture methods... infra-red transparent plastic mulch on the ground and a low row cover of 4 mil sheet poly over that for about 5-6 weeks. It gives me a huge jump on the start of the season. :)
After re-arranging my beds and installing my drip lines,I should be set to dabble in the earlier start next year.I have a crap-load of pods that are just not going to ripen unless I start pruning and think about some frost cover.
 
randyp said:
After re-arranging my beds and installing my drip lines,I should be set to dabble in the earlier start next year.I have a crap-load of pods that are just not going to ripen unless I start pruning and think about some frost cover.
 
I'm curious, do you add nitrogen when you feed your plants after they start to bloom Randy? Also, when you prepare the soil in the spring, how much do you add?
 
I've been busy working and drying herbs and chiles for the winter. Amazingly, the Fatali is still popping out full-sized pods, and the Hawaiian Bird and Tabasco pods are finally beginning to ripen. I'll get pics of those tomorrow, but after work this afternoon I put together a parabolic sun collector for cooking with. It looks like this...
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Hope you all are planning great weekends!
 
Donnie said:
Those pepper jellies look fantastic! How do you get them so clear, do you puree and strain..?
 
Exactly! I understand that if I used a jelly bag to strain the cooked pulp and let it drip naturally instead of pushing the liquid through with a spoon, then the jellies would be even more clear. That's how my Grandmother used to make her jellies. :)
 
Rick just caught up myself with all your fantastic efforts ... especially the jelly it looks phenominal just so clear and the colours are picture perfect ... been an absolute pleasure to read your glog ... your a very ingenious man unlike me you probably studied hard at school hahaha
 
stickman said:
 
I'm curious, do you add nitrogen when you feed your plants after they start to bloom Randy? Also, when you prepare the soil in the spring, how much do you add?
Yea Rick i am sold on fish emulsion and kelp.In my beds they are organic leaf compost and bone with bone meal..Epsom salt mixed with the kelp for by-weekly spray.I will get my notes together and get back to ya on amount of nitrogen and when it is used.
 
Great work on the Solar Dehydrator, Mezo would be proud of ya, yea I miss him too. So glad to see your garden is producing so well and congrats on Winning at the Fair. Can't wait to see some Zuppa Di Zucca come out of those seed ;)
 
Keep it growing Brother!
 
stickman said:
Just got back from the mailbox with a package of pepper love from brother Jamie... WOOT! Much appreciated bro'... anything in particular to pay attention to here? 7-Pot Lava? Flexuosum? Tovarii?
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 Dang 6 years later I respond :( 
 
I have only had like 3 flexosoum pods a very fickle plant . I did send you some tatsy cap 691 's ( super shiny round ones ) and a few of my Galapagoense crosses ( small football shaped pods ) but those caramel brains will light ya up . Did you try to eat one ? 
 
 Have a great weekend . 
 
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