Windchicken 2016

Devv · Sep 16, 2016

I too listened to the Radiolab broadcast. Very interesting indeed! I have yet another experiment going on, digging down 12"s x 20"s wide, adding finely shredded wood chips, with some cow poop in there too, which was mixed in when I shredded the mulch, till level and covering with 6"s of soil. This will "rest" until spring, although I have one row planted now just for kicks. The goal is to plant the plants so the roots are about 2"s above the finely ground chips at dirt day, and they will then grow into the layer of mulch. Hoping the mulch adds to moisture retention and nutes as time passes. The plants I did plant last month, have a 3-4 gallon mix of 50-50 potting soil and RCW/soil (from the garden) mix made last spring surrounding them. I'll add more RCW on top as the weather cools. I'm doing this exclusively where the peppers will be planted. Hopefully I can get more mulch during the winter, and more leaves from the school district. I shred those and add them too. The more the merrier!

windchicken · Sep 18, 2016

Devv said:
I too listened to the Radiolab broadcast. Very interesting indeed! I have yet another experiment going on, digging down 12"s x 20"s wide, adding finely shredded wood chips, with some cow poop in there too, which was mixed in when I shredded the mulch, till level and covering with 6"s of soil. This will "rest" until spring, although I have one row planted now just for kicks. The goal is to plant the plants so the roots are about 2"s above the finely ground chips at dirt day, and they will then grow into the layer of mulch. Hoping the mulch adds to moisture retention and nutes as time passes. The plants I did plant last month, have a 3-4 gallon mix of 50-50 potting soil and RCW/soil (from the garden) mix made last spring surrounding them. I'll add more RCW on top as the weather cools. I'm doing this exclusively where the peppers will be planted. Hopefully I can get more mulch during the winter, and more leaves from the school district. I shred those and add them too. The more the merrier!

Sounds good Scott!

Here's a video I made today of my NagaBrain plants:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0svrw2xGSAM

DesertRoots · Sep 19, 2016

Great looking trees in that RCW soil! Not only are the plants looking healthy and fruiting heavy, but those mushrooms jumping out of the mounds are definite proof of the thriving fungal activity below. There must be miles of mycelium at work decomposing the wood chips in there. Makes me think back to the ideas of the forest working together as one to support many different ways of life, whoooooaaa maaaaan! Haha, I'm now deeply inspired to work on my soil and aim for more plants in ground for the future. Thanks for sharing the video.

windchicken · Sep 19, 2016

DesertRoots said:
Great looking trees in that RCW soil! Not only are the plants looking healthy and fruiting heavy, but those mushrooms jumping out of the mounds are definite proof of the thriving fungal activity below. There must be miles of mycelium at work decomposing the wood chips in there. Makes me think back to the ideas of the forest working together as one to support many different ways of life, whoooooaaa maaaaan! Haha, I'm now deeply inspired to work on my soil and aim for more plants in ground for the future. Thanks for sharing the video.

Wow, thanks so much Rob!

Devv · Sep 19, 2016

Wow Gary! The proof is there

Super healthy plants, an excellent example of RCW growing!

How old are the RCW beds? My first ones are about a year old, and have settled some this tells me good things are going on and in the spring they should be ready to rock.

And you're correct the Nagabrain is a super vigorous plant. I should be in F5 this season, but stuff happens...

Keep it green buddy!

windchicken · Sep 20, 2016

Devv said:
Wow Gary! The proof is there

Super healthy plants, an excellent example of RCW growing!

How old are the RCW beds? My first ones are about a year old, and have settled some this tells me good things are going on and in the spring they should be ready to rock.

And you're correct the Nagabrain is a super vigorous plant. I should be in F5 this season, but stuff happens...

Keep it green buddy!

Thanks Scott! And thanks for growing NagaBrain! This particular bed is in its third season...I began seeing excellent fertility after one year....I forgot to mention that the mulch layer needs to be refreshed at least once a year, or the weeds really gain a foothold, and erosion becomes a problem....

Datil · Sep 20, 2016

windchicken said:
Here's a video I made today of my NagaBrain plants:

Beyond amazing Gary!!
"Feed the soil not the plant" saying is so true...
How's the flavor profile on those beasts? If it's 'nagaish' I will beg for seeds sooner or later

Datil

Jase4224 · Sep 20, 2016

@ Windchicken nice glog! Just skipped through it and noticed your growing a lot of naga brains. Would you mind giving a quick rundown on the history of this variety?

Sorry for my ignorance, however I'm growing this variety this year (seeds from jcw10) so quite interested.

Devv · Sep 20, 2016

windchicken said:
Thanks Scott! And thanks for growing NagaBrain! This particular bed is in its third season...I began seeing excellent fertility after one year....I forgot to mention that the mulch layer needs to be refreshed at least once a year, or the weeds really gain a foothold, and erosion becomes a problem....

In reading on your endeavors in the past you had mentioned a yearly refresh. But how much inch wise do you add every year? And is is rough mulch or ground. I bought a chipper/shredder a couple of years ago, and use it to grind the mulch to a finer mulch.

Also, have you read up on "hugel beds"? We're much drier here, and hotter I believe. I'm thinking you're north of us. I'm a few miles South of San Antonio. That's why I dug down and buried the mulch where the next RCW beds will go. I'm planning on doing a "real" hugel bed as the weather cools. Probably a 30x4' part of the garden, just to see the results. Never is time wasted in a garden

windchicken · Sep 21, 2016

Datil said:
Beyond amazing Gary!!
"Feed the soil not the plant" saying is so true...
How's the flavor profile on those beasts? If it's 'nagaish' I will beg for seeds sooner or later

Datil

Thanks Fabrizio! To be honest, while the flavor of the Red NagaBrain is good, and there is a hint of Naga there, the palate is overwhelmingly dominated by the floral-ness of the high capsaicin content. Nigel describes it as an "aggressive, extremely painful burn." The Chocolate NagaBrain has a better flavor to me, like passion fruit or even grapes, but there again the burn is quite aggressive and painful. The reason I'm saying all that is because there was a variant of NagaBrain that showed up a few years ago, with a very nice fruity Naga character, very large pods, and a friendlier burn...I call it "Forbing Naga," after the little train stop up the road from my house. For general fresh super hot use, I honestly prefer the Forbing Naga, and reserve NagaBrain for powder and "tough guy" throw downs...

Here's a photo of Forbing Naga. As you can see, it's a fabulous producer of massively huge fruit. Let me know if you want seeds from them, or anything I'm growing:

windchicken · Sep 21, 2016

Jase4224 said:
@ Windchicken nice glog! Just skipped through it and noticed your growing a lot of naga brains. Would you mind giving a quick rundown on the history of this variety?

Sorry for my ignorance, however I'm growing this variety this year (seeds from jcw10) so quite interested.

Thanks for growing NagaBrain Jase! Here is a very quick history:

In 2011 Jamie Hill (romy6) sent me seeds for 7 Pot pepper. In 2012 I grew them out; all the seeds grew true except for one plant, which set very bumpy, Naga-shaped pods. Jamie determined it was the result of an accidental cross-pollination which took place in his garden in Florida: 7 Pot Brain Strain x Dorset Naga. We called the new hybrid "NagaBrain." I decided to stabilize this new variety, so I saved seeds and grew 15 plants in 2013, at which time several yellow and brown-podded NagaBrains showed up, in addition to the original Red NagaBrain phenotype. At the same time several other growers were also growing the new NagaBrain, from seeds from my original f1 plant. Todd Warosh (Tmudder), Jamie's friend, got a chocolate variant which was far superior to any of the other brown pods which showed up that year, so we decided to skip all the other chocolates, and chose Todd's "Tmudder" variant as the canonical Chocolate NagaBrain. Todd shared seeds with the community, so all Chocolate NagaBrains you see today are descended from his plant. In 2014 a superior yellow variant showed up in my garden in Louisiana. I sowed it again last year, resulting in plants of obnoxious vigor and productivity. I harvested so many Yellow NagaBrain pods in 2015 that I didn't even need to sow it again in 2016...

windchicken · Sep 21, 2016

Devv said:
In reading on your endeavors in the past you had mentioned a yearly refresh. But how much inch wise do you add every year? And is is rough mulch or ground. I bought a chipper/shredder a couple of years ago, and use it to grind the mulch to a finer mulch.

Also, have you read up on "hugel beds"? We're much drier here, and hotter I believe. I'm thinking you're north of us. I'm a few miles South of San Antonio. That's why I dug down and buried the mulch where the next RCW beds will go. I'm planning on doing a "real" hugel bed as the weather cools. Probably a 30x4' part of the garden, just to see the results. Never is time wasted in a garden

I add a layer of wood chips 3-4 inches thick every year, Scott, sometimes twice a year, depending on the decay rate and the amount of bird/armadillo/gardener damage to the beds. It's mostly quite rough, but probably one-third or so is fine-ground. I want the decay to happen slowly, and the larger pieces of bark stay in place better.

I find hügelkultur very interesting, Scott. There are a multitude of large pecan trees behind our house that would be perfect for it, but I just don't have the space right now...I'll be real interested to see yours!

Datil · Sep 21, 2016

Thanks for all the details Gary!
I see many variation of Nagabrains circulating but i believe you're probably the only making an accurate selection on a fair number of plants.
The Forbing Naga looks amazing!
It reminds me a little the Monster Naga but with a more interesting pods shape. I would be glad to grow and taste it!

Datil

Jase4224 · Sep 21, 2016

Thanks for the info on nagabrains Windchicken! Awesome to know the history behind the chillies we grow.

Devv · Sep 21, 2016

windchicken said:
I add a layer of wood chips 3-4 inches thick every year, Scott, sometimes twice a year, depending on the decay rate and the amount of bird/armadillo/gardener damage to the beds. It's mostly quite rough, but probably one-third or so is fine-ground. I want the decay to happen slowly, and the larger pieces of bark stay in place better.

I find hügelkultur very interesting, Scott. There are a multitude of large pecan trees behind our house that would be perfect for it, but I just don't have the space right now...I'll be real interested to see yours!

Thanks for the response! I was in the garden today and was amazed at how much the RCW beds have broken down, like 40%, and that I imagine is a good thing! I've just let them be since I made them. I'll be adding to them soon and will plant the F5 Nagabrains there in the spring. If you don't mind I'll post the hugel pics here as I build them. I intend on making them hugel/RCW beds. Hopefully I can cut down on the watering in the long run.

One more question: I see you irrigate the RCW beds. Please describe your technique.

Thanks,

Scott

stickman · Sep 25, 2016

windchicken said:
Thanks Fabrizio! To be honest, while the flavor of the Red NagaBrain is good, and there is a hint of Naga there, the palate is overwhelmingly dominated by the floral-ness of the high capsaicin content. Nigel describes it as an "aggressive, extremely painful burn." The Chocolate NagaBrain has a better flavor to me, like passion fruit or even grapes, but there again the burn is quite aggressive and painful. The reason I'm saying all that is because there was a variant of NagaBrain that showed up a few years ago, with a very nice fruity Naga character, very large pods, and a friendlier burn...I call it "Forbing Naga," after the little train stop up the road from my house. For general fresh super hot use, I honestly prefer the Forbing Naga, and reserve NagaBrain for powder and "tough guy" throw downs...

Here's a photo of Forbing Naga. As you can see, it's a fabulous producer of massively huge fruit. Let me know if you want seeds from them, or anything I'm growing:

Very cool review of the "Forbing" Naga Gary! I hear ya 'bout preferring flavor over raw heat. So many varieties of supers have unpleasant flavors that it's a welcome surprise to come across one that has good flavor and manageable heat. I'd definitely be interested in seeds if you'd care to swap.

Trident chilli · Sep 25, 2016

Jase4224 said:
Thanks for the info on nagabrains Windchicken! Awesome to know the history behind the chillies we grow.

Totally agree history is everything ... love the Forbing Naga Gary

OCD Chilehead · Sep 29, 2016

Great looking NagaBrain hedge, Gary. Thanks for the history of the Naga and Forbing. I don't think I've tried one of those yet. I tend to stay away from the Nagas unless they are crossed. I've had some real bitter ones before. Those sound good and tasty.

windchicken · Oct 3, 2016

Datil said:
Thanks for all the details Gary!
I see many variation of Nagabrains circulating but i believe you're probably the only making an accurate selection on a fair number of plants.
The Forbing Naga looks amazing!
It reminds me a little the Monster Naga but with a more interesting pods shape. I would be glad to grow and taste it!

Datil

Thanks Fabrizio! You got it...I think I may need your new address, though....

Jase4224 said:
Thanks for the info on nagabrains Windchicken! Awesome to know the history behind the chillies we grow.

Thanks Jase! I wish more people cared about the provenance of the chiles they grow and eat, especially some of the YouTube tasters...There are several guys out there taking credit for the NagaBrain...

Devv said:
Thanks for the response! I was in the garden today and was amazed at how much the RCW beds have broken down, like 40%, and that I imagine is a good thing! I've just let them be since I made them. I'll be adding to them soon and will plant the F5 Nagabrains there in the spring. If you don't mind I'll post the hugel pics here as I build them. I intend on making them hugel/RCW beds. Hopefully I can cut down on the watering in the long run.

One more question: I see you irrigate the RCW beds. Please describe your technique.

Thanks,

Scott

I'm so happy you're doing RCW soil, Scott! It's really more of a passion for me than growing chiles...I think it has crucial significance for all of mankind, to be honest...

stickman said:
Very cool review of the "Forbing" Naga Gary! I hear ya 'bout preferring flavor over raw heat. So many varieties of supers have unpleasant flavors that it's a welcome surprise to come across one that has good flavor and manageable heat. I'd definitely be interested in seeds if you'd care to swap.

Thanks Rick! You got it! Please send me your shipping address on the PM...

Trident chilli said:
Totally agree history is everything ... love the Forbing Naga Gary

Thanks John!

OCD Chilehead said:
Great looking NagaBrain hedge, Gary. Thanks for the history of the Naga and Forbing. I don't think I've tried one of those yet. I tend to stay away from the Nagas unless they are crossed. I've had some real bitter ones before. Those sound good and tasty.

Thanks Chuck! NagaBrain can be bitter, especially if it's got a lot of capsaicin, but Forbing Naga seems to be a whole 'nother beast....Let me know if you need seeds....

PaulG · Oct 3, 2016

Looking great, Gary! Been awhile since I've been here,
but I see all is well in your neighborhood. Wish I had the room
you do - I'd give your RCW soil thing a try. I wonder if it would
work in big (15 - 20 gallon) containers? I could let them lie fallow
for a season while the soil works.

I wondered why I didn't see any yellow NagaBrains in your
video, but your post in #171 cleared that up for me!