Trent's 2014 Grow Log - COLD COLD COLD

HillBilly Jeff · Aug 31, 2014

Have you tried using those green stay fresh bags? I keep them in those in the fridge until I have enough for a batch.

John1234 · Sep 1, 2014

TrentL said:
Tonight's dinner was breaded tenderloins topped with dill pickles and a half of a fresh sliced Cappuccino Habanero, with a side of baked beans and corn.

MAN that was good eating.

The kid are going through a quart jar of my dill pickles every 2 weeks .. I canned 22 quarts, so we'll run out again before next year.

I could have done another 7-8 quarts but got sidetracked with work and let the last batch of cucumbers I picked go bad on the counter. I hate wasting food.

AHAHA! Pickles and meat are a great combo, that many sneer at! Have you tried rouladen?

TrentL · Sep 1, 2014

HillBilly Jeff said:
Have you tried using those green stay fresh bags? I keep them in those in the fridge until I have enough for a batch.

Fridge is always too full; we have 7 people living here and go through a lot of food!

miguelovic said:
AHAHA! Pickles and meat are a great combo, that many sneer at! Have you tried rouladen?

Yes, they are.

My back was killing me from contorting under the canopy today, so these pics suck.

But I pulled about 20 gallons of pods today;

Pork and pimento de neyde = REALLY FRIGGING GOOD.

The volunteer cherry tomato plant got too big and I pulled it up today. It was twice as wide as this on the ground before I drug it out, roots are on the left, tips on the right.

The main root was over 1.5" wide.
(And that seals the deal on whether or not to just let my volunteers grow next year. ALL of the plants I started inside died of blight; this volunteer was the sole survivor. Shame it got too damn big; I couldn't get to my garage anymore...)

TrentL · Sep 2, 2014

I tried one of the "Brown Bhut Jolokias" - only have one plant, they finally ripened.

Those are the most evil things I've ever had the displeasure of trying. The taste was sweet off the bat, but them my mouth went numb. That's *always* a really, really bad sign of things to come.

I'd just chewed up a dime sized chunk at the top near the stem (where it's hottest, around that placenta / seeds), for about 10 seconds, then spit it out. When my mouth went numb I realized I was in trouble, bad, and spit all saliva out of my mouth that I possibly could (to avoid swallowing it).

I wiped my lips off with the back of my hand, then wiped the saliva on my jeans. (more on that later)

I went back to picking peppers, but the pain on the inside of my bottom lip and gum line was growing in intensity. So I got up and left the garden. I started sweating profusely, and wiped my forehead with the back of my hand (that I'd wiped spit off my lips with, then dried on my jeans.)

My gum / inside lip was hurting so bad within 3 minutes I thought it was BLEEDING - actually checked that my spit was running clear. I couldn't stand it; it was absolutely brutal. It wasn't a normal "burn" type pain - it was sheer, absolute pain, of the type you get when severely injured (think, stubbing toe and hearing a SNAP sort of pain). I got a little dizzy, started seeing sparklies in my narrowing tunnel vision, etc.

So I sat down and tried to bear it out in the shade. My FOREHEAD started burning where I'd wiped the back of my hand on it - quickly dried it with my shirt to keep sweat from carrying the oil down in to my eyes.

20 minutes later the pain started fading - checked the inside of my lip this morning and there are actual blisters on it from chemical burns.

I don't have any damn CLUE how hot that hybrid was but it was definitely in excess of 2 million scoville to cause that sort of pain. It was far more intense than pepper spray. I've never received chemical burns from a pepper before or had SKIN (forehead) burn like that before on a mere transfer.

I'm just damn glad I didn't swallow any of it - I surely would have puked.

Anyway I think I finally met my match.

ETA: That pod was definitely hotter than ANY pod I've ever tried before; including reapers, moruga scorpion, butch-t, naga viper, 7-pod primo, 7-pod brain strain... I've NEVER had something that hot before. It was off the frigging charts hot.

TrentL · Sep 2, 2014

Monday's pick after packing 16 small flat rate boxes....

randyp · Sep 3, 2014

Trent you'r a trooper.I feel your pain having to get under to do the picking.And to sample while you'r harvesting (when you already sweat)is crazy.

TrentL · Sep 3, 2014

Well I've found 2 plants that aren't putting out hot pods so far this way, Randy.

My Giant Orange Habaneros are not hot whatsoever. And the Butch T overwinter was putting out mild pods early on. I tried another one last night since the pod shape shifted this month - and it's definitely getting hotter. MUCH hotter.

For those who have inquired about international shipments;

International USPS shipping runs 6-10 days and averages around $20 depending on country of destination.

I'm going to lock some peppers in a box tonight and open it in 10 days to see what they look like. I'm *guessing* they will be mold infested, but need to find out for sure.

International folks might need to settle for dehydrated & vacuum sealed pods. Unless someone wants to spring for air delivery.... I can't guarantee produce to arrive in a useful state otherwise...

tsurrie · Sep 3, 2014

nice pulls Trent ...

are those boxes fully sealed?
10 days in a fully sealed box is sure not gonna be good for fresh pods..... but I would be willing to risk it since your picks are awesome judging by the pictures...

what's the cost for air delivery?

TrentL · Sep 3, 2014

Yeah the boxes are fully sealed. Technically I'm not even supposed to ship perishables via USPS...

Dried pods are a different story altogether. E.g. shipping to Australia, it's illegal to receive fresh capsaicin, and you can only order seeds internationally from a handful of select certified suppliers. Yet, you can receive 5 pounds of dry pods in any given year. (That's a LOT of frigging dried pods.)

Now... what constitutes dry? If I dehydrate pods to say, 50%, they'll still have a pretty good fresh flavor and will last a LOT longer than pods that haven't been dried at all; and may also get through customs without issue. Because they're "dried", and not fresh.

Dunno. Never had to ship *anything* internationally before, and shipping produce opens up a *lot* of potential problems.

Devv · Sep 3, 2014

You don't want to seal the boxes, as in airtight. The peppers hold moisture if sent in a sealed box and the box will absorb the moisture, next mold will set in. I sent some SFRB's this year, 2 took 10 days, 50-50 on being usable. The thin skinned pods will go soft first.

TrentL · Sep 3, 2014

Devv; what about packing in some Silica bags?

If they're airtight the silica will absorb a lot of moisture en route; whatever the pods "breathe" out, anyway.
E.g.

http://www.amazon.com/Dry-Packs-Cotton-Silica-Packet-Pack/dp/B0038N30OY

Devv · Sep 3, 2014

I guess that would be a test

TrentL · Sep 3, 2014

OK.

I'll pack two boxes when the silica bags arrive, the same way, with the same batch and type of pods. One with a silica bag, one without. Then open them 10 days later to see what I find....

As far as dehydrating, with 50% relative humidity at 85F right now, it's taking me 3+ days at 110F to get pods dehydrated to the point I can store them, or grind them them to flake or powder. 110F is about as hot as I'm willing to go - any more and the flavor suffers too much.

Almost all of the pods I pick that aren't going in boxes immediately, are going in the deep freeze. I'm running out of room but have to buy time until the humidity bottoms out and I can dry stuff better.

Been WAY too wet here this year.

I could crank up the dehydrator to 125F and get them crispy fast, but that costs most of the flavor. I don't like eating really hot stuff with zero flavor.

Jeff H · Sep 4, 2014

Trent, am I understanding you correctly that you are putting them in bags before they go in the boxes? I've never done that before.

TrentL · Sep 4, 2014

Jeff H said:
Trent, am I understanding you correctly that you are putting them in bags before they go in the boxes? I've never done that before.

Yes, to keep varieties separated. The bags are all perforated in multiple places though, to allow air movement.

Could switch to a mesh bag for that; that'd let the silica bags get all the moisture out after packing.

The silica bags I have ordered should be easily capable of reducing the interior of a sealed box to 0% humidity.

Dot Com · Sep 4, 2014

it is my understanding that putting pods in "airtight/confined" areas will make them ripen &/or spoil quicker if I'm not mistaken. Isn't this why green bananas are placed into paper lunch bags to make them ripen quicker? Someone can correct me if I'm mistaken.

TrentL · Sep 4, 2014

Busy powder-izing tonight.

Or should I say weaponizing.

Dot Com said:
it is my understanding that putting pods in "airtight/confined" areas will make them ripen &/or spoil quicker if I'm not mistaken. Isn't this why green bananas are placed into paper lunch bags to make them ripen quicker? Someone can correct me if I'm mistaken.

It makes sense if moisture levels aren't controlled.

Peppers continue to "exhaust moisture" after picked - if you seal them in a plastic bag you'll see droplets of water form on the bag after some time has passed. (This is why I perforate bags heavily before shipping - I only use the bags to "hold together similar peppers" - not to "contain" them. I usually cut 10+ 1/2" slits in the small, thin plastic bags I put the pods in. That keeps the environment in the bag, matching the ambient atmosphere in the box).

In order to control the ambient atmosphere in the box, since it's sealed for shipping, I need something to remove moisture in transit.

What I want to do is SEAL the boxes but use silica gel bags to soak up moisture. Those bags will keep humidity inside the box 0% until they are saturated - they can soak up their weight in water vapor. So the longer the trip, the more bags... short trips = 1 bag, longer trips = 2 bags, etc (figuring 3oz bags).

Basically what you are doing is dehydrating the peppers en-route.

The 0% humidity will prevent surface mold from forming - it can't; not enough moisture.

INSIDE the pod is a different story. If there is already a culture of fungus in the pod, it's going to grow - but that'd be true no matter how you store or ship it.

That culture of mold/bacteria IN the pod is generally from contamination when the pod was flowering. There's a couple of types of mold/bacteria that can land in the flower and be transferred IN to the pod.

Alternaria alternata is one of them; and I had issues with it earlier this year when it was very wet. Once it dried out the issues went away entirely (I'd thought it was blossom end rot at first, which is nutrient; but I never adjusted nutrients and the issue cleared up with the weather; which confirmed the alternaria as the source by process of elimination..)

I still have a few instances of Alternaria alternata hitting pods but ONLY on the potted plants that I have to water much more frequently.

I haven't watered the DIRT plants since April. Nature did plenty of that on her own....

randyp · Sep 5, 2014

Nice mask Trent.Keeps the powder out of the eyes also.

TrentL · Sep 5, 2014

randyp said:
Nice mask Trent.Keeps the powder out of the eyes also.

LOL! Bought the mask with the face shield the day after I got hit with Moruga scorpion dust in the eye. Went to take a nitrile glove off, hands were sweaty and it was stubborn.. Pulled on the finger and it slipped - "POP" right in front of the face.

Oh man that dropped me fast and hard. Intense pain.

That 3m mask was on the way from Amazon the next day....

As with most things in life I'm too stupid to learn any way but the hard way.

Jeff H · Sep 5, 2014

Hey, you ahead of me. At least you have a mask. I'm still doing it the risky way without one.