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Wasted superhots

R

Ruid

Considering that so many people jump right to the Reapers, ghosts and scorpions and grow several plants in case some don't do very well, I can't help but wonder how many pods go to waste because they end up with far too many and hardly know anyone else who can handle...much less ENJOY them.
 
Yeah, I know what you mean. Plus, I always forget just how many pods a nice chinense will produce. Which is why I always grow 3 red Brainstrain plants, and find myself wishing i'd just grown one by September.
 
But if that plant somehow dies and your friends aren't growing it, you're boned till the next year, right?
 
Since they'll EVENTUALLY go bad in the freezer, I can only imagine you long time growers having pounds upon pounds of pepper powders.
 
That is a good point, how long will they last in the freezer? I usually eat everything I grow before losing them to spoilage, though for a first I still have a good bit of Fataliis left over from last year. Got a nice little stash in the freezer from the Chocolate Scorpions I grew this year.
 
Think of it like this: they arent going to waste because your simply sifting through the genetics to find the pod shape and heat profile that you like.
You can always use them to save seed so your seed bank never runs dry. Im thinking of drying some to make gummy bears for April fools
 
We have one Apple tree that usually feeds the Deer more than us.

Tomatoes some years are just overwhelming and after eating them in Salads, making salsa, processing and freezing, drying etc there are still some that die in the garden.

Don't even get me started on Zucchini. After eating our fill and making Zootles, bread and freezing more than we will ever need for the year, the ones that are left are great for target practice.

There is NO WAY we could ever eat, dry or freeze all the Oregano that the bush in the garden produces.

Moral of the story: We grow too much shit. I don't look at it as "wasted" tho. It's next years compost. And THAT, you can't have too much of.
 
Every year, I have hundreds of pods that go to waste.
 
Either I let them get too ripe, and they rot on the plant, or I do not bother picking partially ripe pods when the frost comes.
 
Or, I pick them, intending to make sauce or eat them fresh, but they go bad in the fridge.
 
I never freeze pods. I do, however, dehydrate thousands every year. They last a long time in Mason jars.
 
I always grow at least twice as many starters as I need.  2 years ago, within a couple of days after transplanting there was a big wind and hail storm that wiped out most of what I planted.  Dug the 1st set out, put in the 2nd set and done.
Usually though most of the backup plants wither and die after I fill my garden up.  I try to give them away, but I also grow more plants for that so everyone I know has already been given what they want.
At harvest time, I have always been able to use, store or give away my excess .... with the exception of cucumbers one year - we had hundreds over a 1 month stretch.  I now stagger the planting times and also grow fewer of those.
 
I found it beneficial to have "backup" plants last year, for sure.  And I intend to have those on-hand this year, as well.  I gave away probably 150 plants in 2018; ppl kept asking if they could pay me for the plants and I got tired of awkwardly refusing, so I put a jar out by the plants and told ppl they could put a few bucks in if they like, or take a few plants for free.  Worked out pretty good.
 
This year, I'm going to try to get them moving on social media.  I don't want to piss anyone off, though.... there's a lady on my list who tries to sell her husband's culls for $3/plant.  Which might seem fair, but these things were leggy frights, mostly.  She might sell even fewer if ppl are getting them for free from me....
 
I harvested plenty of pods this year but also lost a lot of immature pods to frost. Those ghosts and habs were just hitting their stride; they could have used another two months or so.
 
Normally I make sauce and I did make some this year, but I have loads of sauce already. So I smoked/dried a bunch of ghosts, finishing the drying in a toaster oven outside Now I have some straight ghost flake, I'm sure I don't have to tell you what that's like. And I have a pickle jar full of a seasoning that's probably 30% ghost flake, plus the usual salt onion and garlic and cumin. It has quite a kick but still a balanced flavor, and I'm sure that supply will last me unto my next harvest next year.
 
When I mowed down the dead plants, it sounded more like running a log chipper than a lawn mower.
 
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