Monday, September 14, 2015

SCIENCE!!!

I have created my first cross-breed!!!


On the left, you see a chocolate fatali pepper. On the right, a Trinidad scorpion.

All season, the fatalis have been growing hotter than in previous seasons, much hotter actually.  Now, it seems I may know why. Chocolate fatali has a new baby daddy…

If you observe the middle peppers, they have all come from the fatali plant, all have the observable chocolate color, and yet also have the distinguishing scorpion tail.

Ladies and gentleman, a Fat Chocolate Scorpion?

Genetically, this would be an F1 plant, so I am going to save as many seeds as possible from the most scorpion-looking peppers, and we'll have to see what happens next season.  Regardless, I am both excited and impressed by my own pepper skill and luck.  Go nature!


Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Batch 2?

Haven't posted anything in a week or two, so I'll have to backtrack in my next post, but for now? The present!

My second set of hot sauce batches (that's right, haven't even talked about the first batch yet), turned out delicious!

These were more of the "mild" variety of peppers; Jamaican yellow, Devils tongue, and some small habs.  These sauces have a lot of flavor, I wonder if too much vinegar though....

Last weeks batch of chocolate habs and chocolate fatalism was quite a it hotter, but that's okay.  It's nice to make a mild batch now and again!

Remembered to use Xanthum gum this time, it made a huge difference in the consistency.


Sunday, August 16, 2015

Good Times, Bad Times....

A lot to cover here.  First off, perhaps a sign of good luck?  Below is a bug that I allow to LIVE in my garden.  This is a swallowtail butterfly caterpillar.  It's eating my dill, which is fine, as herbs grow super easily.  Hopefully, he'll turn into a beautiful butterfly!  Now, on with the peppers!

First off, an update on how this stuff is growing.  A few weeks ago, I had but a few super hots and a slew of habanero's/fatalis, but not much changing color.  Suddenly, I have DOZENS of carolina reapers and trinidad scorpions, as well as a ton of Bhuts... but I'll talk more about the bhuts in a minute.  Below are pictures of just a handful of the scorptions and reapers.

I also have finally had some of my Jamaican Hot Yellows start turning color (side note, the day after taking these pictures, they turned the rest of the way yellow)



Here are some pictures of my Fatalis and Hab's.  Looking BEAUTIFUL.  I plan to pick them tomorrow morning and make my first batch of hot sauce this weekend.  If a few more turn colors, I should be able to make two small batches of completely hab and complete fat sauces.  I'm pretty excited, as I love the flavor of yellow fatalis, so I'm super curious what the chocolates will taste like.



First picking!




Now for the bad times:
We've been struck by bad luck and heartache.  Many of my ghosts, and now finally a reaper, have been mauled!  Bored by some demonic creature.  See pic below!




After much research, I believe I've discovered the culprit; it seems to be a corn earworm, which is a close relation to the tomato hornworm.  Just look at the damage they do to the inside of these peppers!  What's killing me is that they've already wiped out almost an entire Bhut Jolokia plant's yield.  I was "okay" with that, kind of, because they weren't eating anything else, but now?!  I've started to find holes in peppers on various plants.  I'm going to try desperately to find a way to destroy them all....




After dissecting, I found this little bugger.  His time in this world shall be short and painful.


That's all for now.  I'll post more pictures when I have them, and perhaps put up a picture of the first sauce if I get time to make it!


Sunday, August 2, 2015

Counting the days...

Timeline:
This season, we planted three batches of seeds indoors.
Batch #1 - Feb. 7th
Batch #2 - Feb. 14th
Batch #3 - Feb. 24th
By the time we planted the third batch, all of the second and first batches had started sprouting.

March 14th - planted any remaining seeds.

Late April, began prepping and tilling the garden.

May 3rd, planted!!! Only the largest, and healthiest.  Many of the later batches were not large enough to be moved outside.

Sun., August 2nd, after 176 days, we have the first fully ripened pepper!  Most likely this pepper is from the 2nd batch, making it more like 169 days, but behold!

1 chocolate habanero!


Thursday, July 30, 2015

Early fruits!!!

Jamaican hot yellow.  This pepper, heat similar to a hab, has the appearance of a top.  This is not a misshapen pepper, all of the fruit on this plant grows like this.  It is amusingly different than any pepper I've ever grown.

The first of hopefully many Carolina Reapers.  The worlds hottest, this should make for some gooooood sauce.  It has a bit of a tail like the scorpions, which is interesting.

Peach
Bhut
Jolokia
Aka the Ghost Pepper.  I thought these grew orb shaped like a Douglah or brain strain.  I love that they're shaped more like a fatali or fat chili pepper.

Limo.  Another interestingly shaped pepper, not to be confused with aji limon. 

My Fatalis!
Devils tongue red, starting to change color...

Chocolate Habaneros, looking healthy.






July

Pepper plants are doing great, but weeds are running rampant.  I've given a lot of love to the peppers, but my okra and tomatoes are suffering.

Frog

He protects my peppers... He is the Pepper Guardian Frog

Planting day!

Of the seeds we started indoors, only about half made it through the winter.  Here, they are organized in appropriate rows prior to planting.  This season we will have:
1) Carolina Reapers
2) Trinidad Scorpion Reds
3) Jamaican Hot Yellows
4) Limos
5) Chocolate Habaneros
6) Peach Bhut Jolokias
7) White Bhut Jolokias
8) UBSC 
9) 7 pot chiguana
10) (hopefully) 1surviving 7 pot Brain Strain
11) Fatalis (LOVE!!!)
12) Devils tongue red
13) Naga Vipers
14) White Habaneros 

Sakura!

Cherry blossoms blooming mid-April, planting season soon!

Babies

This picture was taken when the eldest plants were about two months old.  Seeds were planted in February.  There were over heating issues early on due to the enclosure.  We began leaving the front door flap open during the day time.  We never watered with tap water, always rain or snow water.

Intro

It is late in the season to be starting the blog, but I will try and be diligent in my back-tracking.

I will soon be posting early pictures of my peppers as seeds and in their growing process, pictures of my current garden, and as of a few days ago, my current peppers.

It is the end of July, and I am having a great yield already, everything from Chocolate Habaneros to Peach Bhut Jolokias.  Nothing has turned color yet, but should start turning soon.  More to come.