Stickman's 2016 Gochu Glog- Transplanting is Finished

Hi All, I'm back again after quite a while and more than a few changes. Health issues got in the way of being active here after Christmas, but I've resolved those and am ready to plug in here again, albeit with less time than I had before. Anyway... on to the chiles!
 
My friends with a CISA farm have started 6 MoA Scotch Bonnets, what I hope are 2 King Nagas and a couple of Jalapenos. I have three 1020 trays worth of 3inch pots planted with 4 varieties of Gochu peppers. I sowed them a week ago and they're just now starting to sprout. I also have 12 pots of Texas Wild Pequins and 6 pots of Guwahati Bhuts planted that haven't started to sprout.
 
In addition to the solar food dryer, I picked up a stainless steel 10-quart pressure cooker at Christmas time, so I'm planning on experimenting with using it to process purees and sauces to hopefully make them more shelf-stable. Any input on that would be gratefully accepted.
 
Gochus starting...

 
Chinense varieties and Jalapenos

 
That's all for now... see ya all later!

 

[stickman]

Enjoy the time with your mom.

The garden is definitely greening up. I love the herb bed. I made a little section of the bed for herbs. I also got out of hand and planted here and there.

That is a beautiful flower. I was looking at flower seeds today. Found a huge sweet pea selection. Never knew so many existed. I seen some growing wild last year. Beautiful flower as well. I think their perennial.

Have a great weekend my friend.

 

Looking great Rick, nice to see the rocoto bouncing back well for you. Happy weekend

Cheers

 
Cheers guys! I gave the gardens a long drink last night to hold them until we get back tomorrow night.

 

[Spicegeist]

 
Saeng Cho Gochus are all in flower

 
Looking really good.  Nice work on the transplanting, you're a real pro!
 
 

 
A last "non" pic before signing off for the night... I have a white Rose bush that started as a cutting from my Great Grandmother's door yard. Family memory says she and my Grandmother used to make a pancake syrup by simmering the petals with water and sugar, and coloring it with a little black coffee.

 
I love this.  Great story, thanks for sharing!

 

[Devv]

Moving right along!
 
Enjoy the Mom time! I wish mine lived closer, I only get to see her once a year, she's 81 in 2 weeks. And get this, she's building a new house!

 

[randyp]

   Looking Great Rick,as always.Molasses is now on my list of good plant items.

 

[moruga welder]

looking good my friend !  Hope you have a great weekend !     
frank

 

[stickman]

 
Looking really good.  Nice work on the transplanting, you're a real pro!
 
 
 
I love this.  Great story, thanks for sharing!

 
Thanks for the kind words Charles.   I was talking to my Mom this weekend about the recipe, and she wrote it down for me... turns out I mis-remembered the recipe for White Rose honey and did a mash-up in my mind with my Grandmother's Faux Maple syrup from the depression in the '30s. The latter is a sugar syrup with vanilla and coffee in it that comes pretty close to real Maple syrup if you close your eyes and squint a little...   The White Rose honey has sugar, water, white rose petals, Red Clover flowers, White Clover flowers, and a scant 1/8th tsp of alum as a preservative in the original recipe. If you're interested I can pm the whole recipe.
 

Moving right along!
 
Enjoy the Mom time! I wish mine lived closer, I only get to see her once a year, she's 81 in 2 weeks. And get this, she's building a new house!

 
S'right brother... gotta spend time with Mom! She's 76 and we're spending time with her while we can.   We got up to a joint craft project this weekend... more on that later. Your Mom sounds like a woman who knows what she wants out of life.
 

   Looking Great Rick,as always.Molasses is now on my list of good plant items.

 
Cool! I hope it works for you as well as it does for me.
 

looking good my friend !  Hope you have a great weekend !     
frank

 
Cheers Frank! I hope yours was as good.
 
So anyways... I'd asked my Mom to pick me up a yard of Organza fabric so I could make some drawstring bags to sequester chile blossoms so I could collect heirloom seed that would grow true in successive generations. As we all know, peppers readily cross-pollinate, and if we want clean seed we need to keep the pollinators away when we grow multiple varieties in a small space. This seems like a cost effective and do-able option for most of us... at least if we have access to a sewing machine and someone who knows how to use one. I did the measuring and cutting, and put in the drawstrings. My Mom did the stitching. I used 1/8th inch polyester ribbon for the drawstrings.

 
A bag after stitching.

 
When stitching was finished, I turned the bag inside-out and used a #9 Thread Crochet Hook to pull the ribbon through the space between the parallel seams on the top end of the bags to make the drawstrings.

 
The finished product

 
We made 30 of the bags today. I left 10 with her to use for herself, and I took the other 20 home. If you'd like to make some yourself, this Youtube vid is very good. I made my bags  so they were about 3x3 inches when they were done.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXXUcgjg-Ac

 

[OCD Chilehead]

What a great joint project. They look great Rick.

My mom does sewing and embroidery. I really need to learn how. It's a useful tool. I remember a little from home economics. I don't think they even teach that anymore. LoL

Thanks for sharing that Rick. Well done.

 

[Devv]

Very cool Rick!
 
So I guess you hand pollinate, then apply the bag? This is something we should all be doing to preserve strains.

 

[stickman]

What a great joint project. They look great Rick.

My mom does sewing and embroidery. I really need to learn how. It's a useful tool. I remember a little from home economics. I don't think they even teach that anymore. LoL

Thanks for sharing that Rick. Well done.

 
Cheers Chuck! Yup... Home Economics and Civics programs are casualties in the public schools these days. Considering how lacking many people are in these skills, the kids in those families can't depend on their parents to show them how. It's pretty sad.
 

Very cool Rick!
 
So I guess you hand pollinate, then apply the bag? This is something we should all be doing to preserve strains.

 
That's the plan Scott.   There are a few heirloom varieties I want to plant every year and have them grow true, like the MoA Bonnets and Gochus, but with the large number of chiles I grow in a small space that's impossible without technical assistance. I finished putting together the last of the organza bags last night, and I have 26 for use and one put away as an example for a future project at need. The bags are cheap to make too... the fabric is only $5-6 a yard and the 1/8th inch polyester ribbon was 50 cents for a 10-yard spool. For my 3-inch bags I used about a yard of fabric and a little more than 1 spool of ribbon.

 

[stickman]

There's not much to report this week. My Chiles are all green and healthy, but the overnight temperatures the last couple of weeks have been in the low 50s to upper 40s, so they haven't grown much. It's kinda frustrating because the people predicting the weather have been saying that it'll warm up to more seasonal temps for that whole time, so I haven't covered my plants with a low row cover, but they keep pushing the day it'll warm up further back.

 

[tctenten]

Hope the overnights warm up for you. Maybe we will get better weather on the back end of our growing season. We finaly have had a few weeks of sun and warmer temps here. It has helped my plants significantly.

 

[OCD Chilehead]

Hope your temps rise a little.

Yeah, Don't feel bad. It's been cool at night, as well. Still 40 degree difference between High and Low. Looks like it may jump 10 degrees at night in the next week for me. Hope your weather follows.

 

[randyp]

  Love the bags Rick.I have been in July weather all of June.The Jet Stream needs to dip.

 

[stickman]

Hope the overnights warm up for you. Maybe we will get better weather on the back end of our growing season. We finaly have had a few weeks of sun and warmer temps here. It has helped my plants significantly.

 
Cheers Terry! I think things are finally beginning to warm up enough here... the chiles are beginning to look happier and most are at least beginning to bud up. Glad to hear your garden is doing well.
 

Hope your temps rise a little.

Yeah, Don't feel bad. It's been cool at night, as well. Still 40 degree difference between High and Low. Looks like it may jump 10 degrees at night in the next week for me. Hope your weather follows.

 
It's amazing to me how similar our weather is despite the distance and latitude separating us Chuck. You get 10 degrees warmer during the day, but our relative humidity seems to level it out. Here's hoping your weather warms up soon as well!
 

  Love the bags Rick.I have been in July weather all of June.The Jet Stream needs to dip.

 
Oh, so you're the one who's been hogging all the warm weather, eh?   
 
A few pics to show the differences that assorted mulching strategies produce here in southern New England. First some Pequins in plastic IRT mulch vs in a Biochar/compost mix

 
And a Saeng Cho in the IRT plastic mulch vs one mulched with shredded leaves

 
Sadly,I lost one of the Ttaeng Cho heirloom Gochu seedlings. It was killed by something that snapped the stem off flush with the ground. I think it was probably a bird. Nature abhors a vacuum, so I replaced it with a Jwala plant from a local nursery since I haven't had any luck finding Tabasco or Peri-peri seedlings.

 
This Chiltepin is gonna be a beast! It's budding up too, so not too long until pods from this one.

 
Jalapenos are also starting to bush out, and the pods they set before I transplanted outside are looking good.

 
Also the Poblanos

 
A friend of my Wife's brought back a 2oz package Santaka chiles from a trip to New Mexico. They were obviously intended for the touristas since the package was labeled "Pequins", but I decided to make Szechuan chile oil with them. put 2-1/2 cups vegetable oil in a wok (I used Peanut oil), add 2oz dried chiles (Santaka or de Arbol are good choices) and 2 tbsp Szechuan Peppercorns. Set heat to medium and cook for 5 minutes. Cool and bottle. Keeps unrefrigerated for up to one year.

 
That's all for now... more to follow. TGIF!

 

[OCD Chilehead]

Nice bottom growth, Rick. That Chiltepin is huge. Your right, that's going to be a great plant.

 

[stickman]

Nice bottom growth, Rick. That Chiltepin is huge. Your right, that's going to be a great plant.

 
Thanks Chuck.   I'll definitely be sequestering blossoms on that plant. Gotta have those wilds for the seed bank.
 
Just about all the Gochus are putting out axillary growth, or forking, or both. The Korea Winners are also starting to blossom as well.

 
Lady Choi heirloom

 
I thought I'd lost the Lady Hermit plants, but found the plant markers next to the plants under the plastic

 
Ttaeng Cho heirloom

 
I was bummed when I lost the only Po Cheong plant, but another seed popped from the original peat pot, so I'll let it run and see if I get any pods from it this year.

 
The Non-Annuum bed out  back is poised on the edge... if we get a week's worth of warm days and nights I think they'll pick up the pace of growth.
 
Red Rocoto

 
Aji Pineapple

 
Bhut

 
Moruga

 
This MoA set a pod before the weather took a turn for the cold. The other SBs have been dropping flowers up to now... hopefully we'll be turning that corner soon.

 
Have a pleasant evening all!

 

[Devv]

Looking good Rick!
 
You surely show us how it's done in the cooler climes
Here's to warmer evenings!

 

[stickman]

Looking good Rick!
 
You surely show us how it's done in the cooler climes
Here's to warmer evenings!

 
Hear, hear!
 
It's been a busy and productive weekend... I got caught up on my weeding in the vegetable garden, screened the compost and tightened up the composter so it's half the size it was after taking out about 12 cu.ft. of the compost that made it through the screen.

 
I'd originally planned on running the stuff that didn't make it through the screen through the chipper/shredder, but there were too many small stones and peach pits in it. I just got the blades in the chipper sharpened earlier in the week and I don't think it would have done them any good.
 
On the chile front... for the bad news, I lost the Po Cheong to excessive wind, and filled the hole with the last spare seedling. If any more plants don't make it I still have a couple of spare Aji Pineapple seedlings to plug in. The last Gochu variety to start budding up is the Cheon Wu Shin Jo hybrid.

 
The first Gochu pod is on its way... a Saeng Cho

 
My first Bhut flower opened today too.

 
Cheers all! Hope you all had a great weekend.

 

[Devv]

Nice work on the compost, sorry about the lost plant.
 
I surely know this year about lost plants!
 
Congrats on the flowering and first pod!
 
Keep it green!

 

[Spicegeist]

Ah, a bhut flower, very nice