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windchicken 2015

It was from my own inaction that I missed so many of my awesome THP friends over most of last season…I will not lie, it's much more convenient to post pix—and do just about anything—on that other very popular social media site, but there's no place there to maintain a grow log…Those of you who have not fallen prey to that particular internet time-waster of which I speak and have remained loyal to THP have my greatest love and respect…I pledge today to maintain this glog throughout the complete 2015 grow season! 
 
Last weekend (January 10 & 11) I sowed most of my C. chinense seeds: 4 x 18-cell trays, 72 x 3" wide cells. The sprouting medium is Fafard Super Fine Germination Mix. The light stand is Harris Seed's "8 Tray 2-Tier Combo", which includes a 4' x 2' heat mat and a light timer. New this year is a DeLonghi radiant heater to drive out the cold drafts in this spare bedroom. Everything else is the same as last year. 
 
As far as varieties sown this year, I agonized over a couple of "dream" lists during the fall, and obsessed over a nice spreadsheet in the week preceding this sowing, but I couldn't settle on a firm "assemblage" of super hot varieties. So I waited until the last minute (after the soil was already in the trays) and went with my gut. This is what I sowed:
 
7 Pot Primo (pepperlover.com), 18
7 Pot Primo (Primo's Backyard Select) 9
Bonda Man Jacques x 7 Pot Yellow (F4), 9 (Spicegeist's wonderfully hot and flavorful marriage of 2 yellow Caribbean classics)
Baby Barrackpore (F3), 9 (my favorite of the 3 phenotypes of Spicegeist's Sonoran Chiltepin x 7 Pot Barrackpore)
NagaBrain Red (F4), 9
NagaBrain Chocolate, Tmudder Strain (F3), 9
NagaBrain Yellow (F2), 9
 
 
chinense_trays_2015.jpg
 
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Lol, Rob! I promise I'll get caught up and post fresh photos this weekend. The cooler weather has most everything podding up now...
 
Oh, and I haven't forgotten that I owe you some Chile Lumbre!  :P
 
KiNGDeNNiZ said:
Bump.mm so where is these fresh pictures. Hope the grow continues
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Thanks KD! The Big Heat is finally slacking off, and I'm beginning to see a pod with color here and there…
 
Yellow NagaBrain:
 
nb_yellow_sep24.jpg

 
Red NagaBrain:
 
Red_NB_Sep24.jpg

 
Panorama shot of the NagaBrain Bed. I am standing on the boundary between the reds (left, 9 plants) and the yellows (right, 9 plants). This photo is best viewed on your PC or Mac with a large screen, rather than your phone. The soil in this bed is only chipped hardwood and the local native dirt (RCW forest soil). NO fertilizers, worm tea, seaweed extract, manure, etc. have ever been added to this bed, only wood chips and water:
 
nb_bed_sep24.jpg

 
Doux Très Long des Landes:
 
doux_tres_long_sep24.jpg

 
More photos later. I will wait until the Puckerbutt guys get all their stuff picked before I post the rest, so as not to hurt their feelings... :P
 
Nice nagabrains, yours definitely more brain texture than mine.  I wish I had the space to have a layout like yours.  Or maybe if I just planted less? Everything looks great.
 
jcw10tc said:
Nice nagabrains, yours definitely more brain texture than mine.  I wish I had the space to have a layout like yours.  Or maybe if I just planted less? Everything looks great.
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Thanks Justin! Your garden is gorgeous, and I'm jealous of your more temperate climate...Judging by the way your NagaBrain spanked Peter Zafra, I'd say they were fully powered up...I've eaten smooth pods that packed extreme weapons-grade heat, like the Butch T Scorpion, so the "bumpy" isn't essential...Thanks again for growing NagaBrain!  :dance:
 
At one time this garden had half the space between the beds that it now has, back when I grew mostly C. annuum...But in 2011, for the first time, I grew mostly C. chinense, and by the end of the season I was forced to crawl on hands and knees to get between the beds...After that I removed every other bed, or rather, I covered them with black plastic (as you can see in the photo below)...Then I increased the length of the remaining beds to make up for what I had lost...
 
Scorched said:
Here's how my three color Naga Brains grew out. A really cool variety. I should've isolated some of each color. I'll still grow them out next year from their seed and see what happens.
 
Red
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Naga Brain Red 1.JPG
 
Yellow
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Naga Brain Yellow 3.JPG
 
Chocolate
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Naga Brain Choc 4.JPG
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Sweet God, those are beautiful NagaBrains, Tony! I need to check out your glog! Just awe-inspiring pods! Thanks so much for growing NagaBrain! The skill level of the chile head community seems to be growing at an amazing rate...
 
I went down to the garden just now to turn on the soaker hose, and took this photo. I was going to describe the beds in the caption, but then decided it would be better to just label the photo. Every bed, except for the "bird pepper" bed on the far left, is composed of pure forest soil: only wood chips and the native alluvial terrace. Each bed is 50 feet long, except for the "Executive Bed" (Mississippi Scorpion), which is 20 feet long. Out of the frame, to the right, is my 30% Aluminet shade cloth experimental grow of container plants:
 
garden_sep24.jpg
 
Fantastic shot!
I admire how you concentrate on few beloved varieties despite the big growing space Gary!
Do you isolate something?
 
Happy harvests
 
Datil
 
romy6 said:
Very nice G keep up the great work  :party:  :party:
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Thanks Jamie! Will do!
 
Datil said:
Fantastic shot!
I admire how you concentrate on few beloved varieties despite the big growing space Gary!
Do you isolate something?
 
Happy harvests
 
Datil
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Thanks Fabrizio! I'm not currently isolating, but I have been encouraged by a breeder whom I regard very highly to isolate the plants I am growing from his seeds…So I reckon I will!  :P 

What you don't see in the photo, under my experimental shade cloth tent, are my 5 plants of Karpathos Market pepper…Wow! Those are some fun plants to grow, and I love their sweet/spicy balanced flavor! Thanks for that dude!
 
F4 Red NagaBrain, Plant #6 of 9. This plant is growing in a bed I built last summer, from hardwood chips (RCW) and the native clayey, gravelly sand. I have only ever added water to this bed—This dirt has never seen fertilizer, manure, worm tea, etc:
 
Red_NB_oct08.jpg
 
For the last few days, since my F4 Red NagaBrain plants are finally showing ripe fruit, I have been testing the fruit of each plant, several pods from each plant, but only one plant per day, judging for heat level, flavor, aroma, pod shape, pod size, plant vigor, plant robustness and productivity. So far all plants and fruit have presented as carbon copy clones of the F3 seed mother (2014's Plant #8). That was until I got to Plant #7…Those pods raised the bar all over again, and now I must throw out all the seeds I have saved up up this point:
 
NB_Plant%237_2.jpg

 
NB_Plant%237_1.jpg

 
Personal note: I don't know how much more of this my stomach can take!  :mouthonfire: My wife says I'm a dumbass, but I tell her sometimes one must suffer for one's art...
 
Love your work Gary ... And great stuff on the seeds selection process ... Sacrifice of stomach comfort to enable the future generations to enjoy the best Naga brains ... :cheers:
 
Trippa said:
Love your work Gary ... And great stuff on the seeds selection process ... Sacrifice of stomach comfort to enable the future generations to enjoy the best Naga brains ... :cheers:
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Thanks Trippa! Your encouragement gives me the strength to go on!
 
dragonsfire said:
Nice fruit ! :)
Masochist comes to mind lol
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Thanks Neil! We chile heads do seem to like the pain... :P
 
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