Windchicken Grow 2012

windchicken · Nov 2, 2012

Thanks Dennis! Beginning the harvest this weekend...

gnslngr · Nov 4, 2012

Nice to hear about the Black Soldier Fly ...can't even guess how many I've splattered due to their "mimicoflage". Good stuff .
Ate the very last Bonda with some white bullets for breakfast. Definately on my favorites list now.
Time to go play with the subs-
DJ

windchicken · Nov 4, 2012

Dave,

Wow, I'm glad you like the Bondas...And I salute your intestinal fortitude!

Do you have any more pix from your job? I'm intrigued...

I took a few photos of the "patio plants" yesterday. Foodarama Scotch Bonnet in 7-gal container:

California Wonder, in-ground. The top of the stake is at 5 feet:

7 Pot Yellow, seeds from Hippy. 10-gal container:

Aji Amarillo, 25 gal container. The highest branch is at 7 feet:

Nagabrain, a cross from romy6, 10-gal container. Probably the only red chinense I will grow for a while:

RedtailForester · Nov 4, 2012

Most impressive grow sir!

Indiana_Jesse · Nov 5, 2012

Wow again! Impressive Cal Wonder, never knew they could grow like that. How many bells do you think you harvested from that plant? Love the Aji Amarillo too, looks like you will be enjoying some pods from that in a bit. I hope you keep that Aji Amarillo for as long as possible, it would be neat to see how big the trunk gets after a few years. I had one I started in February get about 4" wide at the base by September! Monster plants! How did your Zapotecs turn out, you had some of those right?

windchicken · Nov 6, 2012

RedtailForester said:
Most impressive grow sir!

Thanks Dan!

Oh, and your Aji Cristal...I finally got them in the ground, I think it was in September maybe. They are just now beginning to overcome their root-binding and putting out those crazy huge torpedo-shaped pods...

Thanks for looking!

Indiana_Jesse said:
Wow again! Impressive Cal Wonder, never knew they could grow like that. How many bells do you think you harvested from that plant? Love the Aji Amarillo too, looks like you will be enjoying some pods from that in a bit. I hope you keep that Aji Amarillo for as long as possible, it would be neat to see how big the trunk gets after a few years. I had one I started in February get about 4" wide at the base by September! Monster plants! How did your Zapotecs turn out, you had some of those right?

Thanks Jesse! I've probably gotten 15 or so big pods off of that particular California Wonder plant. It would have been more, but Hurricane Isaac snapped several of her branches. I have 6 of those plants, and they're producing way more than I can use. I let most of the pods go all the way to red and pick them for my Dad. He eats them like apples. It's a really fun plant to grow, with the big, dark green leaves and crazy huge pods. It responds very well to Miracle Grow and plenty of water...

Aji Amarillo is another fun plant to grow, because it gets so tall, and again with the huge, dark green leaves, thick trunk, and massive pods. It's a little fussy during our extreme summers, and doesn't really produce until October or so. An early frost will ruin the fruit before any of it ripens, so planting it here in Louisiana is a gamble. That doesn't bother me so much because I seem to enjoy growing chile plants as much or more than I do getting the pods...

This particular Aji Amarillo plant is about 18 months old. It's so big that even in a 25-gal container the wind still blows it over. The last time that happened a couple of the big main stems split off right at ground level. It really hurt my feelings, but the plant seems to be okay. I don't know if you can see it in the photo, but it's got 15-20 large pods on it, one at the very top of the plant. Maybe I will keep that one for one more winter...If not, I plan to start 4-6 next spring and keep them in large, heavy containers such as half barrels or concrete planters.

Thanks for asking about Zapotec...I do have 2 in-ground in the "patio" garden, and 1 in-ground in the country garden. There are also several "orphans" in 3-gal containers that I never got around to setting out. They all struggled in the Louisiana summer, as my Jals normally do, producing pathetic little pods with little heat and very little corking. However, since the weather cooled off in October I'm getting very nice, large pods with the extensive corking like Beth showed in her photos...I need to take some pix of them...

Thanks for stopping by!

windchicken · Nov 10, 2012

I'm hoping this little vid shows better how loaded down with pods the Nagabrain plant is. Sorry I didn't narrate. Maybe next time I will get up the nerve.

YouTube down-rezzed it until it looks all blurry full-screen. There's a better version here:

[media]https://dl.dropbox.com/u/61900856/PepperPix/4Nov2012/nagabrain4/Resources/nagabrain4%20-%20Broadband.m4v[/media]

windchicken · Nov 11, 2012

The forecast is calling for frost in a couple days, so I'm trying to get good pictures of everything.

California Wonder:

Bahamian Goat Pepper:

Zapotec Jalapeño:

The chile guardian chillin' in the Thai row with a mid-day snack:

Ausmith · Nov 12, 2012

Very nice! Those Goat Peps look perfect.

Datil · Nov 12, 2012

Great shots Gary, the bahamians look yummy!

Cya

Datil

PIC 1 · Nov 12, 2012

Always a great update! Beautiful Bahamian Goat...Playtex would have a hard time supporting that top heavy girl!

That's exactly how the corking should look on a Jalapeno. I see folks looking for those at the markets here, only to find the semi-ripe smooth glossy ones......throwing them back into the bins...in disgust.

Looking at your garden photos makes me want to start up some seeds, but from past experience, I know I need to keep not one but both feet on the brake for a month or two...ha
Good luck with the rest of your harvesting. It never seems to end, right?

romy6 · Nov 12, 2012

Holy smoke Gary made a video. :party:

I could look at that crazy cross all day. Glad I clicked in the HD link too. Much better G man!!

You are an inspiration to many and especially me. Thank you for all the great grow info and showing first hand how it is done :dance:

gnslngr · Nov 12, 2012

Nice Gary...no tree house? :rofl:

....zip lines?

Now I gotta feed my lizards too? Nice shot.

I have more compliments...but not the band width to send them!
There are a few posts in the lounge , with subsea pics. If you do face book -theres a shitload in there.The whole photobook thing gets ridulously time comsuming out here, and they rotate for some weird reason, and not always the same way everytime , so it goes back and forth before they get straight, and then they get rotated here.Clear as mud?

meatfreak · Nov 12, 2012

Great update, Gary. Plants are huge and loaded up, hopefully you get the harvest most of the pods before frost hits you!

windchicken · Nov 12, 2012

Ausmith said:
Very nice! Those Goat Peps look perfect.

Thanks Ausmith!

Datil said:
Great shots Gary, the bahamians look yummy!

Cya

Datil

Thanks, Fabrizio! They are yummy.

PIC 1 said:
Always a great update! Beautiful Bahamian Goat...Playtex would have a hard time supporting that top heavy girl!

That's exactly how the corking should look on a Jalapeno. I see folks looking for those at the markets here, only to find the semi-ripe smooth glossy ones......throwing them back into the bins...in disgust.

Looking at your garden photos makes me want to start up some seeds, but from past experience, I know I need to keep not one but both feet on the brake for a month or two...ha
Good luck with the rest of your harvesting. It never seems to end, right?

Haha! I think she broke her straps. I'm with you--Smooth jals are about as exciting as white bread. I'm real happy with how the corking turned out on the Zapotecs. It didn't happen until October, however, when the weather cooled off. Before that there were only pathetic, smooth, little culls.

I'm loving the Goats more and more. Since I've got a pile of them picked on the dining room table I've noticed them giving off a sweet, candyish aroma. I keep running in there for a nose hit, like those Fabreze ads...

I'm about to load my Congo Trinidads up in the truck and bring them up to the office. Killing frost tonight!

romy6 said:
Holy smoke Gary made a video. I could look at that crazy cross all day. Glad I clicked in the HD link too. Much better G man!!

You are an inspiration to many and especially me. Thank you for all the great grow info and showing first hand how it is done

Wow, thanks so much Jamie! You are the Chile Daddy! I'm about to strip the old Nagabrain plant and bring it inside...It had gotten so top heavy that it was falling over almost every day!

gnslngr said:
Nice Gary...no tree house? ....zip lines?

Now I gotta feed my lizards too? Nice shot.

I have more compliments...but not the band width to send them!
There are a few posts in the lounge , with subsea pics. If you do face book -theres a shitload in there.The whole photobook thing gets ridulously time comsuming out here, and they rotate for some weird reason, and not always the same way everytime , so it goes back and forth before they get straight, and then they get rotated here.Clear as mud?

Haha! Thanks! I did have to use a step ladder to get the highest Thai pods. A zip line would have made it a lot easier...

I know it looks like a big ol' blow fly he's eating, but I believe it was actually a bee...Collateral damage, I reckon...

...I'll check out the pix tonight...I found some pix of Polar Queen elsewhere online. Wow!

meatfreak said:
Great update, Gary. Plants are huge and loaded up, hopefully you get the harvest most of the pods before frost hits you!

Thanks, Stefan. There are still a buttload of green pods on the plants, especially Thai and Bonda ma Jacques. I picked as many green pods of Thai as I can use, but it was probably only about 1/10 of the pod load. The Bondas will have to go to waste, which really hurts my feelings, but I'll get over it.

I tried to strip as much as I could out of the country garden today. Not a huge haul like last year, and more green than I would like, but not bad...

Poblano:

Zapotec Jalapeño:

Thai Birdseed:

Chilhuacle Rojo:

Lando · Nov 12, 2012

Impressive harvest. That aji amarillo is an huge plant. I hope the pods ripen before the frost people keep telling me they take a loooong time to ripen. What do you think about them taste wise?

windchicken · Nov 12, 2012

Thanks Lando!

Yes, Amarillo pods take a crazy long time to ripen...I probably got 3 fully-ripened pods ths year, during a relatively temperate period in the summer...The flavor was excellent: sweet, crunchy, but complex and savory also. Heat level was mild, about like Anaheim. It's a really special chile, and I love the crazy huge plant, but I'm not sure it's suited to the Louisiana climate. The transition from too hot to too cold is just too short...There's no time for pods to ripen. My plant is loaded with huge green pods, but we are forecast for a killing frost tonight...

Gary

meatfreak · Nov 13, 2012

Great looking Jalapeno's you got there, Gary. Love the corking and shape on those babies

PIC 1 · Nov 14, 2012

Hey Gary,
I like the color of those Poblano's. The ones we find around here are dark green...and I mean dark almost black. They taste fine roasted but diced up and added raw to a dish taste kind of twangy-bitter. Different from the ones we use to get. Do you remember where you got your seeds. I'm sectioning off an area next season strictly for "Hatch, Serranos, Poblanos, and Jalapenos".......I just need to find the right Poblano seeds.

gnslngr · Nov 14, 2012

As to the collateral damage -the assassin bugs will eat a bee right now-they can actually fly off with em....every damn time I get the iphone in focus on'em!