TXCG 2016

Devv · May 26, 2016

Garden looks fantastic! You have the nute mix perfect I see.

Yeah, the stink bugs "sting" the plants. They seem to damage the tomatoes worse than the peppers here.

TXCG · May 30, 2016

I'm beginning to think I might have planted a couple too many plants, going to have a pepper forest before long. The lemon drops are starting to take over the annuum bed & I'm really kicking myself for screwing up the far right row and planting the orange jal in front of the shishito. That shishito is trapped between the orange jal this is going crazy & the bigger of the two lemon drops so it will be shaded out before long. Will have to see what it thinks about that here in a couple weeks I guess.

So far everything has fruit on it except for the fataliis (big surprise) although there are a couple flowers that MAY be set pods. Fingers crossed.

Front view

Annuum bed:

If you look just to the left of the giant orange jal in the top right you can see the little shishito

Chinense Bed:

Everything looking just as happy as can be, no sign of thrips or mites or anything on any of the new growth. The datils are really taking off and I think they are going to be massive in a few weeks.

Chupetinho (left) and cumari (right) literally could not be any happier. I'm glad the cumaris grew out of whatever was bothering them earlier in the season. These are starting to look completely different than the cumaris I grew back in 2013, both of which I got from CCN. The pod shapes are kinda similar but in 2013 the pods grew upright & this year the pods are pendant. Also the leaves are much larger and more heart shaped but that might just be from growing conditions. We will find out soon when the first pods ripen up.

Lemon drops starting to dominate the annuum bed. Both are absolutely loaded with pods.

Tepins are growing really short & fat. Maybe 4" tall but a foot or so across. Got some fruit on these too now. Two of them are getting a bit shaded out by the PA 353 reds but tepins don't mind a bit of shade.

Volunteer basil plant that is getting crowded out by its neighbors. I haven't planted basil in 3 years and it still sprouts constantly.

calchilihead · May 30, 2016

TXCG · May 30, 2016

Couple pod shots:

Shishito #1:

Shishito #2:

There's a lot more on this one than it looks like but impossible to get a decent pic

PA 353 Red #1:

These have such cool looking pods

PA 353 Red #2:

Cumari:

In 2013 the pods were upright, these ones are pendant. Not sure if same variety but labeled the same from CCN

Chupetinho:

Datil:

Tepin:

Bonus wildflowers. Purple ones are Purple Horsemint/Lemon Beebalm, red & yellow ones are Firewheels/Indian Blankets.

Guatemalan Insanity Pepper · May 30, 2016

Nice updates :clap:

Garden is looking real good

:cheers:

GIP

Mikes · May 30, 2016

Great thread. I'm up the street from you. Round rock and my plants are also loving this rain! Even have a 7pot bubblegum that never died because of our light winter that is now 6' tall and has 60! Pods on it lol. Had a question about your cinder block beds. Do you think that there would be any advantage going up another cinder block? Did you till and amend the soil below the one cinder block? It looks like your grow is behind a parking garage? Plant spacing...how much did you start with and do you think it will be enough come September and October when the plants are mini trees?

Keep the pix coming,

Mikes

TXCG · May 30, 2016

Mikes said:
Had a question about your cinder block beds. Do you think that there would be any advantage going up another cinder block? Did you till and amend the soil below the one cinder block? It looks like your grow is behind a parking garage? Plant spacing...how much did you start with and do you think it will be enough come September and October when the plants are mini trees?

It's hard to see from pics but the bed is actually 2 cinder blocks deep although only my 2 plots are actually filled all the way to the top of the 2nd cinder block since I've been buying and adding compost. Since I have a good 12" of soil I'm not sure there would be any benefit to adding a 3rd block but I don't think it would hurt anything. The ground underneath the bed isn't tilled and is pretty hard packed rocky caliche type soil. All we did to prep the ground was transplant all the native switchgrass & dig up all the johnson grass then stack the blocks & fill them with dirt.

And yeah this garden is near the parking garage at work. Company I work at let us build a small community garden on some unused land which was really cool of them.

I'm pretty sure I planted way too many plants this year. The beds are 8x4' and I put 12 plants in each bed in two rows of 6. So spacing is about 1.2ish feet in rows and about 2' between rows. The soil we used for this bed wasn't the greatest and my plants have generally stayed pretty small, I've always had better luck growing in pots in the past. This year though my raised bed plants are bigger than they typically get by August. Looks like all the cow manure compost & turkey manure compost I added this year was finally enough to get it into shape.

I'm not too worried about the plants crowding out since I've seen some square foot gardens that were planted even tighter but I think it's going to be a bit of a pain to harvest stuff toward the middle of the beds toward the end of the season.

Thanks and good luck with your season

Devv · May 30, 2016

All I can say is wow!

Your grow makes me want to till mine under

Nothing wrong with the spacing, in fact here in Tejas, that's more than likely a plus. As they will help shade each other some. I've been there :shh:

TXCG · Jun 8, 2016

Been losing a few pods with holes chewed in them which I think is being caused by those stinkbugs. Also grasshoppers had been getting a bit out of hand and putting a good bit of holes in leaves. Sprayed a bit of permethrin Monday evening and today I couldn't find a single grasshopper or stinkbug in the garden. Before I was finding 10s of grasshoppers all over every plant and 5-10 stinkbugs just hanging out on pods. The nuking seems to have worked or at least is a step in the right direction

Aside from a little bit of bug damage everything still looking great. Still haven't had to water a single time this year either.

Front view:

Annuum bed:

Chinense bed:

Tepin patch:

TXCG · Jun 8, 2016

Pod update:

Everything has fruit on it now including the Fataliis. Some plants are absolutely loaded at this point.

Orange Jalapenos:

Chupetinhos:

Sweet Datils:

PA 353 Reds:

(Not?) Cumaris:

Ripening Shishito:

Devv · Jun 10, 2016

Can't beat it!

your grow is a rockin'!

TXCG · Jul 6, 2016

Just got back from a 2 week vacation through Colorado on up into Yellowstone national park. It was awesome. I left my plants in the hands of a coworker and looks like 23 of the 24 in the raised bed made it through looking better than ever. 1 "cumari" way in the back corner looks like it got thirsty and lost most of its leaves. Still had an absolute ton of ripe fruit on it.

This is what the garden looked like on June 17th when I left:

And here it is on July 6th when I got back:

Loads of devils tongues:

PA 353 Reds:

Hundreds of Chupetinhos:

Sweet Datils:

Took almost 3 hours to pick all the stuff today & still a ton more on the plants ripening up:

Guatemalan Insanity Pepper · Jul 7, 2016

nice harvest man :clap:

the plants are looking great :dance:

GIP

Bhuter · Jul 7, 2016

Wow! What a huge difference in just 2 weeks! I'll bet you were happy to give your coworker a pat on the back instead of a punch in the face.

They kept it up nicely. You have a great looking garden and that's a fantastic harvest. Great job!

-Adam

Mikes · Jul 10, 2016

Yes! Your garden looks great. I harvested one lb of pods off of my 7pot bubblegum plant. Just got back from a week away as well. My amigos didn't do as good as a job watering as yours lol. Get a few chocolate scorpions ripening up as well as my yellow primos and REGINAS redhots. Maybe we can meetup for a pepper trade when I have some more pods?

Thanks for the update...as soon as mine recover it will be my turn to update my glog.

Mikes

TXCG · Jul 11, 2016

Followed through with pickling the orange jals & chupetinhos. Mixed it up a bit to try a few different things out. Just did a hot pack method with jars coming straight out of boiling water, filling with peppers then pouring over boiling brine & sealing. No water bath processing since I plan on eating these pretty quick. Also hoping it makes them a bit less soggy. Sitting on the counter for now but all of them will be going in the fridge soon just to be on safe side since I didn't can them.

Batch 1:

Brine:
3 c white vinegar
1 c water
4 Tbsp sugar
1.5 tsp canning salt

Chupetinhos:
2 jars: 1 garlic clove + black peppercorns
1 jar: 1 garlic clove + sichuan peppercorns
1 jar: 1 garlic clove + 1 Tbsp extra sugar (no peppercorns)

Orange jals:
1 jar: 1 garlic clove + black peppercorns

Batch 2:
(less sugar)
Brine:
3 c white vinegar
1 c water
1 Tbsp sugar
1.5 tsp canning salt

Orange jals:
1 large jar + 1 small jar: garlic cloves + black peppercorns

Chupetinhos floating in water. These were rinsed, dried, then poked with a knife to make a hole.

Orange jals floating in water

Orange jals cut into approx 1/4" rings

\

4 pts chupetinhos, 1 qt + 2 pts orange jals

Also ended up drying everything else besides the shishitos. I still need to cook those before they go bad.

Clockwise from top left: "Cumari", Lemon Drop, Sweet Datil, Datil, Fatalii, Devil's Tongue, PA 353 Red

Kept the Sweet Datils, Devil's Tongues & Fataliis as dried pods for now til I get more. Ground up the Lemon Drops, Datils, PA 353 Reds & "Cumaris" (left to right below).

Since I dried these pods at about 95-105F & removed all the seeds before grinding they kept their color and flavor really well. I am very impressed with the flavor of all of them. The Lemon Drop powder is very pale yellow, quite sweet, citrusy and medium heat, very tasty. The Datil powder is a bit deeper yellow, strong chinense scent and flavor with just a little sweetness & strong heat. PA 353 red came out a fire brick red and has a kind of earthy, savory flavor with no sweetness at all and a medium-hot burn. I am especially impressed with the "Cumari" powder though. It is very deep almost school bus yellow, strong chinense flavor but also very sweet plus a hint of tartness like a lemon and a bit of tropical fruit flavor and quite hot. No perfume notes at all.

I need to get ahold of Cross Country Nurseries and figure out exactly what this "Cumari" is because it is very productive and makes very good powder. I think it might be this "Carmine" one. Both start with a C, sounds kinda similar to Cumari and the fruit looks correct to me.

Carmine: http://www.chileplants.com/search.aspx?ProductCode=CHICAR

TXCG · Jul 18, 2016

Garden is still kicking ass. I spent another 2 hours or so picking peppers this evening. I've given away a few paper lunch sacks full at work, my dehydrator has been running 24/7 since I bought it & I'm about to start filling up my freezer it looks like.

Still losing some pods to grasshoppers but at this point I almost don't even care. Only ones I wish they would leave alone are the Fataliis since they are my lowest yielding plants.

Today's haul:

Clockwise from top left: "Cumari", Sweet Datil, Datil, Chupetinho, Tepin, Devil's Tongue, Shishito, PA 353 Red, Fatalii, Orange Jalapeno, Lemon Drop

Everything still happy and getting huge.

Orange jalapeno still covered in fruit. These seem to have no heat but are quite tasty. Good sweetness if let to ripen to completely orange.

Chupetinhos still setting fruit in 100+ deg heat. Lots of unripe fruit left on both plants.

Those "Cumari" plants sure do produce a ton of pods and are crazy early for a chinense. Definitely saving seeds and growing this one again. Pretty sure it's my top yielding plant.

The Tepins have turned into a jungle. There has to be like a million unripe tepins on these 4 plants. Normally have birds to help thin out the ripe ones but this year I have nets. I'm never going to pick all of these.

Largest pod of the season:

TXSandman · Jul 19, 2016

Wow, I'll have to take a page out of your book next season! The garden looks great, keep cool down there :onfire:

Trident chilli · Jul 19, 2016

I am growing the PA 353 this season for the first time as its a "looks likey" bonnet. It took of fast and was the tallest of all my plants so I thinned it down a bit ... it's in a pot on its own but slow to flower would you recommend full sun or a slight shade

TXCG · Jul 19, 2016

Trident chilli said:
I am growing the PA 353 this season for the first time as its a "looks likey" bonnet. It took of fast and was the tallest of all my plants so I thinned it down a bit ... it's in a pot on its own but slow to flower would you recommend full sun or a slight shade

I'd give it full sun, Mine is still producing pods in 100+ deg heat in full sun here. And yeah the plants got quite tall quickly but I didn't bother pruning just let them sprawl out and do there thing. Very heavy producer of neat looking fruit that makes great powder. Going to keep this one on my grow list for next season.