Peppers Anyone?

There’s no shame in having to buy plants because they didn’t germinate, the real shame would be not growing any. =)

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I have, but not recently. I like to go for the sauces the peppers are traditionally used in. Like Scotch bonnets for jerk, fish pepper for white sauce. Most recipes are vinegar or oil based or both!. I like the oil myself better. I have not made these recipes a lot, so not much of an opinion on them. Many many recipes are on the internet. Here is one that has niether vinegar or oil, I made it once, not too bad. For Aji Lemon or Lemon Drop peppers.
Lemon Drop Sauce
1-cup grated carrot
2-cup dried or fresh lemon drops. Crumble the dried. You can use grocery store habaneros too.
1/3 cup chopped garlic
1-1/2-cups lime juice
1-cup water
3-teaspoons table salt
1-tablespoon sugar
Put all ingredients in a sauce pan and bring to a boil, then cover and turn down to a simmer for 10 minutes. Let cool. Dump into blender and blend on high for two minutes. If the dried lemon drops don’t make it yellow enough, add a teaspoon of turmeric.

Another for the wild small peppers.
Piri-piri sauce:

12 fresh piri-piri chillies
1 tbsp garlic, blanched and chopped
1 tsp salt flakes
½ tsp oregano
½ tbsp paprika
100ml/3½fl oz olive oil
50ml/1¾fl oz red wine vinegar

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. Place the chillies on a roasting tray and roast them for 10 minutes.
  2. Cool and roughly chop the chillies. Place the chillies, garlic, salt, oregano, paprika, olive oil and vinegar in a saucepan, and simmer for 2-3 minutes.
  3. Allow the mixture to cool, then blend it to a purée in a jug blender or food processor. Store in a lidded container at room temperature; it will keep for about a month. Shake before using.

Just some different recipes to show you the various methods. I always wanted to make this sauce but have yet to do it. My white sweet peppers never grew that well.
White Hot Fish Pepper Salsa
The white bell pepper variety called for in this recipe was developed specifically for its white color, and is available in many supermarkets with specialty peppers. This is an excellent salsa for fish or shellfish, and also ceviche (a chilled mixture of fish marinated in lime juice). It can be frozen for later use.
1 pound white bell peppers
4 ounces white ‘Fish’ peppers
1 large cooking apple (about 8 ounces), pared, cored and chopped
1 1⁄2 cups white wine vinegar
1 cup sugar
4 cloves garlic
1 cup fresh pineapple, chopped (or substitute 1/2 cup lime juice)
1 1⁄2 tbsp salt
Seed and chop the peppers, and put them in a large, non-reactive (avoid aluminum and copper) pan. Add the apple, vinegar, sugar, garlic and pineapple (or lime). Cover and simmer over medium heat for 25 to 30 minutes or until the peppers are soft. Purée to a creamy consistency and return to the pan. Bring to a gentle boil. Stir in the salt, and pour into hot sterilized jars. Seal and store in a dark, cool closet until needed, or freeze. Yields 5 cups.

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Thank you for sharing the recipes! They sound good, I’ll have to try some when I have ripe pods around the end of May.

My Red Habanero and Aji Lemondrop x Burning Bush F1 are already setting fruit. Kung Pao isn’t far behind and all of my mature plants are pushing nice clusters of buds. I hope the Bumblebees are ready for a feast, there’s at least two colonies around my yard that got established this spring. They love pepper blossoms and will pollinate them far more efficiently than honey bees which are HIGHLY selective of what plants they will visit. I’ve also seen hover flies around my garden which are also a good insect for pollination and bonus Aphid control.

I have seen an exceptional amount of bees this year. I think for me it’s the mature garden, the fruit trees have been here 5 years and the bees are ready when they open. I’m in suburbia and most trees are ornamental and have high ploidy levels or are double flowering, both of which tend to have little nectar, unlike traditional fruit trees, so the bees love it! Besides the beneficial flowers and strawberries, honeyberries, and various early flowers.

I think there’s only one or two local honey bee hives around my area and they’re weak this spring. I don’t see the numbers I’m used to seeing. They were all over my Plum tree but ignored my Cherry tree in favour for near by Skimmia. Bumble bees are going strong this year though, there’s always something blooming in my yard so they keep coming back.

Peppers have such a short bloom time that it’s crucial they have a pollinator that visits them frequently. I’ve only seen Honey bees on my peppers a handful of times since they are so selective about a food source. Only when I had almost all of my plants in full bloom did they come around. Bumble bees are far more consistent and aren’t selective about food source so they are also better cross pollinators because they hop from plant to plant.

I don’t want pollinators they mess up my saved seed! The plants will self pollinate just fine by themselves. http://homeguides.sfgate.com/pollinate-bell-pepper-38916.html

The wind works just fine.

The biggest issue is temps, too high or too low. I harvest the first peppers for seed because less chance of the bees messing them up with other pepper pollen.

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Ahh, I have indoor plants for clean seed production and I happen to welcome pepper cross breeding. Most if not all of my varieties are Chinense except for Kung Pao and Bells. If I get a cool cross that gives me a different taste, heat profile, or shape I’ll be super happy. I take cuttings from those plants for later breeding indoors.

I also take the seeds from the very first pods for the best chance at clean genetics. I think I may need to overhaul my seed cataloging and storage for this upcoming season.

a few weeks ago, when i was germinating datils, i experimented with alternate potting media.

i usually use miracle gro potting mix for peppers and e.b. stone acidic soil for brambles. but what would happen if i put the pepper seedling in acidic soil?

fast forward to the present. the pepper seedling in acidic soil is struggling—it hasn’t grown much compared to its cohorts, and the color of the leaves is a much paler green. the stem is wispy and bent like a hunchback. the study was limited by the n of 1 for the acidic arm of the experiment—for all i know, growth could have been stunted by other environmental factors or genetics—but based on this experience, i think i’ll avoid acidic soil for peppers henceforth.

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Yeah, I don’t think peppers (or many other veggies) like too acidic of soil. I’ve read some stuff about peat moss isn’t a real good medium, unless it’s got some lime in it to bring the pH up.

I used such a soil for my seed starts. Out of 36 tomato pods, only 3 didn’t sprout. I also sowed seeds in 24 pepper pods. None, out of 7 bell pepper and 5 jalapeno pods came up, I guess because of bad seeds. But most of the other 12 did germinate, including two varieties of 7-pot super hots. I hope I can get those to produce this year.

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These are my peppers such as they are this year.

In the mix are Poblanos, Jalapenos, red and yellow peter peppers, several bell pepper varieties, Marconi red and purple, adjvarski, and Sugar Rush Peach.

My poor little Habanada peppers were not thriving, so I attempted to graft them. Not sure yet if they will make it.

Going to try them on a string trellis 5 feet high this year and prune them.

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All of my plants are recovered from transplant now. The way I can tell is the newer growth is much darker green and more lush than the older growth. They should now really start to take off since the ground around the plants was topped off with compost and tree leaf mulch.





One of the first plants to produce pods is my Aji Lemon Drop X Burning Bush F1. These pods will hopefully be the F2 generation ( if there are seeds) and I will be sending out the seeds to people who want to help select a pheno type for the important F3 generation. My goal is to produce a tangy sweet pepper with approximately 200K SHU, light peach or white colouration to the pods, and ideally have some Chinense/Habanero flavour coming through.

So far the plants show an interesting blend of Chinense and Baccatum traits. The node spacing is more like a Lemon drop but the branching angles and the flowers are like a Habanero. The blooms lost all of the Aji Lemon drop characteristics and are a creamy white and pendulum in nature. The pods do not turn upright, have no discernible crook or hook to them, and the petals lack any Baccatum green.



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guess which of these datils was planted in acidic soil. . . .
well, it put up a brave effort before doubling over. all three germinated within days of each other, but the affected one clearly lagged in its journey.

confession: i had run out of regular miracle gro potting mix, didn’t feel like schlepping over to a gardening center, and i had plenty of acidic soil around (for my blackberies and raspberries), so i thought i’d give the acidic soil a try. and whaddayaknow, i learned sumptin’.

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Potted up my indoor seedlings, here are a couple peppers.

These are Bubblegum and White 7-pot super hots. They germinated in a relatively short time, about 2 weeks. Hope to get to sample some of these beasts this year. Thanks, @thepodpiper!

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Since I couldn’t get any Jalapeño or bell peppers to germinate, I had to buy some at some local nurseries. I finally was able to get them in the ground today- 6 Jalapeño, 3 Habanero, 3 each of Calwonder and Golden Calwonder bells, 3 red bells and 3 Lady Bells.

Our indoor peppers that germinated are still inside, and not ready for the garden yet. But they are looking very green and putting on some good growth.

Any updates on yer peppers, @Winegums?

Drew, i might still have the piri-piri pepper. This pepper is a have to if you do piri-piri chicken like they do it in Portugal , it is just plain good stuff. I still have the original recipe from there, probably can not find it.

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If you find the recipe, post it. When I made it last I used a similar pepper, a wild pepper, never grew piri-piri peppers. I used an African pepper I ordered from a seed company in Africa. I need to find and grow out my seed of this one, as my seeds are getting old!
Here is a description of the pepper I used.
The Zimbabwe Birds eye Chili - (Capsicum Frutescens)is different to the Thai Birds Eye.
Whilst similar in look and texture, the heat is more intense and it is
more flavoursome. Some say this is due to the strong african sun.
Very easy to grow and very prolific. A tiny little Piquin shaped very hot
pod. They grow skywards on the bush and it’s not uncommon to have over
500 on one plant. Maturing to a bright red.
Purchased from Seeds For Africa

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Years ago i got these seeds send to me from a guy in Canada, name Ottawa joe if i am not mistaken, easy to grow, pretty small but hot.Those were the fun days with the GardenWeb, have exchange many a things, you can fill your garden in no time. Small garden…s.o.l.!!!

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The podpiper is here. he just sent me seeds this year. I had too much to do this spring with all the trades I did. I have to slow down next year.

Got my peppers planted finally, 92 plants this year:

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i saw some way-too-stubby peppers growing on my vietnamese tear jerker plants, and i thought, did i get unlucky with this plant’s genetics? they’re so small they hardly contain any seeds, and they weren’t as spicy as peppers from the parental plant.

then i saw my second-year serrano give me stubby peppers. wait, it gave me normal-sized peppers last year. what gives? is the soil deficient of nutrients? is this something i have to accept, how second-year serranos behave?

and then. . . the weather got warmer. and both types of plants started producing normal-sized peppers. lesson learned: peppers produced during the cooler spring months are smaller and stubbier. i’m sure experienced pepper growers know this, but i’m a relative beginner.

another observation: VTJ plants seem to produce peppers later and later in the year the older they get. but maybe it’s because the first few years i did nothing to fertilize the soil.

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