Curry Recipes Online
Beginners Guide => Grow Your Own Spices and Herbs => Topic started by: JonG on February 10, 2020, 12:38 PM
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Shall we have a fresh thread for this year
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Started mine (too) early this, my second year of trying to grow from seed. Last year's Bhut's took so long to ripen I had to bring one in from the greenhouse to finish it off. So I decided to sow them late December. Great germination but not much development since.
Decided to get a starter grow lamp to try and encourage them, and stop them shooting up too much. Will see how it goes.
Jalapeno, Bhut Jolokia and Reaper.
Good luck with yours Jon.
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Thanks Garp. I looked into those grow lamps, but they all seem remarkably high powered - 50W, 75W... I even saw one which claims to be 1500W on Amazon (although probably the typical
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My youngest daughter has posession of the heatmat i bought last year so i won't bother with seeds, i have been told im allowed one plant this year as last year my eldest grandson touched a red devil plant and later put his finger in his mouth and on his chest, all hell broke loose so I've been banned from having loads.
So Guys, if you could have only one plant what would you go for as a general purpose / useful chilli to have ?
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Tricky one, Micky. How hot do you like your food?
I don't use fresh chillies in BIR (other than as a garnish occasionally) - I find the heat level too unpredictable.
I love the flavour and fleshiness of the Jalapeno, which I pickle, and I made sauce last year from the Bhut's.
Depends what you're going to use them for maybe.
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I
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I'm no expert, mate.
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I'm no expert, mate.
With X being the unknown quantity and spert being a drip under pressure, i dont think you are lol
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How long does it take chilli seeds to germinate usually? I
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Well a few of my seeds have finally sprouted, but quite a small proportion overall. I think I possibly dampened the kitchen towel they are sitting in a little too much. I suppose they need damp, not wet conditions.
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I think they like to be warmer than 20 deg 25/27 maybe, ive got four seeds planted at Seaspring chilli plants :Clown:
I think my Naga form last year sprouting new nubs was my imagination, one more week and its bin time.
Good luck to those nurturing baby seeds
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I would just sow the seeds directly in seed compost.
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Pretty slow progress this year, but the grow lamp has certainly helped.
Three weeks ago these wee plants were the same size - the one on the left was left on the windowsill, the one on the right under the lamp.
(https://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/pics/fc6d9471f35b16098ed6aa4c86901bbf.jpg) (https://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/#fc6d9471f35b16098ed6aa4c86901bbf.jpg)
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Well, proof the lamps work, I did read somewhere that growing plants do benefit from sleep rather than 24 hours of lamping, i seem to remember 16 hours on 8 off, but i might be wrong.
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The optimum is to replicate daylight hours in the natural location of the plant. During early growth the time under lights should be gradually increasing (as if in Spring) and then after long days exposure once fruits have set, gradually decreasing. Nutrient variation can also be used to artificially promote vegetation growth, flowering and then fruiting and ripening at the required stages. Hydroponic growers use these principles all the time.
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I put the lamps on when I get up in the morning and switch them off at bedtime.
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Yeah, that'll work too.
The difference between your 2 seedlings is quite remarkable Garp.
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Mighty impressive Garp and I see the benefits of the grow lamp. Mine are just sprouting, all have been transferred to seed trays with compost now.
I guess you
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Mighty impressive Garp and I see the benefits of the grow lamp. Mine are just sprouting, all have been transferred to seed trays with compost now.
I guess you
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Jon - I started too early this year with the superhots, thinking I would get a head start due to the long growing/ripening season required. Didn't appreciate that the very short hours of sunlight would halt the progress so much. I sowed mine about this time last year and all did well, so I'm sure yours will be fine :)
Micky - the wee unloved orphan will remain on the windowsill and be potted on. I'm sure it will be fine - no need to call Esther Rantzen.
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Lol, timing is such a fine art for superhots, did you manage to overwinter any,?
I kept one Naga which didnt make it, i think where i have kept it was too cold.
I will try again this year to keep one, it gives the plant a head start.
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I kept one Bhut but, like you, I think it was in too cold a place.
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My little bunch of chilli plants potted-on into five inch pots. Had a scare as two of them went very limp for a couple of hours after transplanting, but they've perked up :)
(https://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/pics/0c63119a3eb02fdb2a4a0e231894dc7f.jpg) (https://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/#0c63119a3eb02fdb2a4a0e231894dc7f.jpg)
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Looking good now, it could have been them just hearing the news :Clown:
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I've just received my orders of seeds for next season and further. I'm not into the hots so I've gone towards the easy, high yield, useful plants.
I have a packet of seeds each of Rajah and Kashmiri mirch, 2 packets each of Green Cayenne, Red Cayenne, Green Jalapeno and Australian Red Chilli. I'll also be preparing for a bed of mixed variety Capsicum / Bell Pepper this year as well, so I'm looking forward to winter preparations for spring planting.
I'm going to do some early viability testing of seeds out of dried imported Kashmiri and Byadji varieties. I don't know if they've had any sterilization processes or not for import. Has anybody tried to grow them from imported pod seed before?
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I have not Livo, but hopefully they will be ok. I guess where you are in the world, there
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My own naga crosses
Late start for me, sown end of January but starting to grow now
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Looking good, you feeding em weetabix or something?.
Respect and kudos for rearing cross Naga's their bad enough as they are, my Naga for this year is in a poly tunnel somewhere in Devon lol.
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Looking good, you feeding em weetabix or something?.
Respect and kudos for rearing cross Naga's their bad enough as they are, my Naga for this year is in a poly tunnel somewhere in Devon lol.
Correct watering and a special ingredient, I can pm you it but not willing to share anything on here anymore
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Oh no. Not another secret! At least tell me, is it 5 % of the result or more? If it's less than 5% I wont obsess over it for too long. Possibly only 5 - 10 years instead of 20.
https://thehippyseedcompany.com/product/rajah/ (https://thehippyseedcompany.com/product/rajah/)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBMNX1IJozg (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBMNX1IJozg)
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Oh no. Not another secret! At least tell me, is it 5 % of the result or more? If it's less than 5% I wont obsess over it for too long. Possibly only 5 - 10 years instead of 20.
https://thehippyseedcompany.com/product/rajah/ (https://thehippyseedcompany.com/product/rajah/)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBMNX1IJozg (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBMNX1IJozg)
If I told you it wouldn
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A few of this years neglected plants
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Oh no. Not another secret! At least tell me, is it 5 % of the result or more? If it's less than 5% I wont obsess over it for too long. Possibly only 5 - 10 years instead of 20.
https://thehippyseedcompany.com/product/rajah/ (https://thehippyseedcompany.com/product/rajah/)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBMNX1IJozg (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBMNX1IJozg)
If I told you it wouldn
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As I understand it JG treat em mean watering them when they are starting to wilt is safer than overwatering, the latter being a death nell to our little hot friends.
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Oh no. Not another secret! At least tell me, is it 5 % of the result or more? If it's less than 5% I wont obsess over it for too long. Possibly only 5 - 10 years instead of 20.
https://thehippyseedcompany.com/product/rajah/ (https://thehippyseedcompany.com/product/rajah/)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBMNX1IJozg (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBMNX1IJozg)
If I told you it wouldn
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Weird, talk about growing chillies and the ads on the top of my page are all about poly tunnels and stuff, waves to big brother in the I cloud
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They don't miss much, do they?
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No they don't, all to sneaky
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As I understand it JG treat em mean watering them when they are starting to wilt is safer than overwatering, the latter being a death nell to our little hot friends.
Thanks
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Hi Andy
What
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I can pm you it but not willing to share anything on here anymore
Then why are you posting?
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Anyone know where you can buy grow-bags online for delivery (preferably single plant). Struggling to find any.
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Anyone know where you can buy grow-bags online for delivery (preferably single plant). Struggling to find any.
Im sure these would do you if you move quick.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/231583042510
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Thanks mate - not available.
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em
https://www.yorkshiretrading.com/products/multi-purpose-compost-40l?variant=51336253716¤cy=GBP&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=google+shopping&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIwL-Y_onm6AIVUUPTCh3nfAS5EAkYBCABEgLW_fD_BwE
Sorry mate posted this link yesterday in the wrong thread, thay have now sold out.
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Thanks Micky. I have since found out that one of my local garden centres is doing home deliveries (if you can get through on the phone).
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Which I eventually did :sleep:
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Cool, where there is a will there
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First chilli plant potted up to 12 inch pot and put in the greenhouse - hopefully there will be no frost now :)
(https://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/pics/964667d277a8d515b44d3a85b4ca2bd3.jpg) (https://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/#964667d277a8d515b44d3a85b4ca2bd3.jpg)
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Naga cross into its final pot
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In the absence of Naga chilies.
(https://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/pics/bcde52059f5cfb07f52faee7b2c4a1df.jpg) (https://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/#bcde52059f5cfb07f52faee7b2c4a1df.jpg)
I
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They look great. Will be a long time before mine reach that stage :uh what:
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Here are four plants which I bought from Aldi for around
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Curry leaf plant flourishing in our baking hot weather. Chilies starting to flower too and already got jalape
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I don't (try to) grow chillies, as will be evidenced by the absence of any prior contributions to this thread, but I have been growing both parsley and coriander, both with some success. Unfortunately my early success with the latter was completely negated by Ratty, who decided that baby coriander plants were the perfect appetiser and was seen sitting in the middle of the rather large planter in which they were growing munching away delicately at each one until all were razed to the ground ...
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This was supposed to be a reaper plant but looks more like a Ghost to me. Maybe I have mixed up the labelling!!!!
(https://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/pics/8edd6412d328d651121a548cac1ab12a.jpg) (https://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/#8edd6412d328d651121a548cac1ab12a.jpg)
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Ugly little thing isn't it. Well done on your green thumb though. I've some early seeds in (winter) but no luck yet.
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Same plant - more like a classic Reaper.
(https://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/pics/770a818fd8e7bed9fdb07c24c8db139e.jpg) (https://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/#770a818fd8e7bed9fdb07c24c8db139e.jpg)
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I had to cave in and purchase a heat pad but it worked. My different "peppers" are now germinating so I'm off to an early start being only still mid-winter. Some seed can take 3-5 weeks to rise but having them warm seems to be helping.
I have several different varieties on the go. Capsicum grown from collected seed of bought fruit in red, green and yellow. I have germinated bought seed for red and green cayenne and some jalapeno as well as one called Aussie Red. I also have 2 Indian varieties in Kashmiri and Rajah and yesterday I collected and planted seed from red, orange and yellow sweet baby capsicum. I also collected and planted seed from some Indian grocers whole Kashmiri so I'll be interested to see if they are viable.
Unfortunately, there is some creature, or creatures, that are partial to the Indian varieties with the seed leaves of some plants "disappearing" without explanation almost as soon as they sprouted. This occurred 3 times on different days to plants sprouted new on the day, outside in the sun and raised off the ground. It can only be explained as an insect attack but I have no idea what. 1 Kashmiri and 2 Rajah were attacked with 1 of the Rajah not surviving having been completely topped. When I replanted the other day several of these Indian variety seeds were dug up on the first night in what appeared to be a targeted raid with 3 Indian seeds taken from a mixed tray of 24 seeds. Evidence suggests this was a mouse. I may need to construct a secure grow box. It has me wondering why the Indian varieties appear to be targeted.
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Hey Garp
That little stinger of a tail protrusion looks like a reaper to me. I grew a ton of them a couple of years ago. The guy who invented / cross-bred them has his store about 20 mins from me here in North Carolina. They are HORRIBLE. I
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Cheers Robbo. They are way too hot for me too. Really just grew them for a challenge, plus wanted to try a reaper/jalapeno cross pollination.
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Same plant - more like a classic Reaper.
(https://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/pics/770a818fd8e7bed9fdb07c24c8db139e.jpg) (https://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/#770a818fd8e7bed9fdb07c24c8db139e.jpg)
That pedicel looks really unhealthy
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:uh what:
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:uh what:
Maybe a picture of the full plant might lead to an explanation of the problems
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For anyone new here, Madrasandy hates me and will never say anything positive. And will not offer any advice/help - kind of like his armchair bully friend, Chewy Tikka. I'll leave it at that.
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For anyone new here, Madrasandy hates me and will never say anything positive. And will not offer any advice/help - kind of like his armchair bully friend, Chewy Tikka. I'll leave it at that.
Don
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:uh what:
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I tried Reapers a few times. Tiny slivers of raw. Half one in a big chili con carne, dried them in my dehydrator, smoked some. Never could deal with them.
They look evil. I think I still have a bag of them in my freezer.
(https://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/pics/5aaeaac297d76b1cbc3a69c9ef29aef0.jpeg) (https://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/#5aaeaac297d76b1cbc3a69c9ef29aef0.jpeg)
Already had a dozen jalape
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:like: Shame we can't really see the pedicel :lol:
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Nice and healthy that Robbo, why don
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Hey Andy, I
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Hi Robbo,
I don
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Success. :smiling eyes: :smiling eyes: :smiling eyes: I've had some imported Indian Kashmiri seeds taken from whole dried chillies in seed starter mix for 40 days and I was about to give up. Today I have germination. :smile2:
I have been buying some seed as well for different varieties (Indian) but the germination rate is low and then I have to deal with the topping of my day old seedlings by what I believe is fungus gnatts. Very frustrating. They appear to prefer the varieties from India for some reason.
Anyway, I'm protecting my Indian chillies with the hope of obtaining my own grown seeds for next season. One or two plants will do the trick.
I'll post some photos when I get the opportunity and if they survive the gnatts.
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Try covering the top with a thin layer of vermiculite, i think their interest is the soil.
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Yep. Thanks mickyp. The guy I buy seeds from gave me similar advice last week and said he had recently had similar losses. I'm pretty sure it's the gnats doing the damage as nothing else is there. One minute the seed leaves are there and next, they're gone. Really annoying when germination takes 3-4 weeks (or longer) and then the seedling is completely topped on day 1. If they survive past a day or two they are left alone so it seems to only happen to first day sprouts.
I have 2 seedlings that appear to be trying to grow the first set of true leaves even after the damage. There is chlorophyll in the top of the stem so I'll see if they survive.
The other day I found one seed leaf on a week old tomato seedling cut in half with the severed piece still there below on the soil. Straight cut like it had been done with scissors. The only things around I can actually see are the gnats. There is information about the larvae damaging roots but I can't find anything to say that the flies eat seedling tops so I'm puzzled. https://growhotpeppers.com/get-rid-of-fungus-gnats/ (https://growhotpeppers.com/get-rid-of-fungus-gnats/) actually says that the adult flies dont cause any particular harm to the plants, but I'm thinking this is wrong.
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you could always try putting one of those uv fly killer lamps near, hopefully they will fly to doom, they are so bloody annoying, or some kind of frame with an old pair of tights stretched over it.
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I had fungus gnats last year after I brought a couple of plants from the greenhouse indoors. By that time the plants were mature, so no damage was done. I don't believe the gnats cause problems (apart from being very annoying) but the larvae seem to.
I cut down the watering of these plants to a minimum and watered from the bottom only - that seemed to reduce the reproduction a little.
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The thing that puzzles me is that the damage is done quickly and severely, only once the seedlings have germinated and the cotyledon are well above the soil (maybe 1.5 - 2 cm). I have not been able to catch a culprit in the act. My understanding is that the gnat larva live under the soil surface and can damage young roots. There is nothing I can find that says they will climb to the top of a seedling to eat the leaves. There is also nothing I can find that points to the adult fly causing the damage but there is no other pest I have been able to find. The adult fly and larva are both tiny and the volume of vegetation disappearing is vastly greater than you'd expect a tiny bug to eat.
It is also odd that the same few varieties appear to be targeted while others are left unscathed. So far I have only lost the Kashmiri Mirch, Rajah and Red Cayenne. Other chilli varieties and a range of capsicum are not touched.
Aside from pest damage, I'll be very interested to see if the seeds I bought as Kashmiri Mirch are the same as the seeds I collected from the Indian Grocery whole dried Kashmiri chillis. Germination success rate from the latter is very low (only 1 so far) but if I can nurse it through then just the 1 will be a pleasing result. Hopefully I can harvest a few protected pods from it or even do some cloning. There is a degree of uncertainty about the actual variety sold as Kashmiri and the shape of the pods appears to be quite wrong in some advertisements and information sites. As with many things Indian sometimes is is just down to regional naming and translation. Kashmiri Red Chilli translates to Kashmiri Laal Mirch so who really knows?
I'm trying a few other Indian varieties as well. I've also planted Byadgi, Pusa Jwala, Lal Mirch and Mettupalayam.
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Here is the latest victim, (yesterday) and the soil is covered in a layer of Perlite. This occurred in my mini greenhouse. There are no pests inside (that I can find) other than the fungus gnats and indeed there are very few of them. Complete decapitation with no trace of the cut leaves. They are obviously eaten but by what?
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Cutworms?
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I've considered that but there really is absolutely no possibility. I'm dumbfounded.
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Getting to the end of the season here in Scotland.
Happy to say my Reapers are starting to ripen
(https://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/pics/22a93c0d61f70042863db431b60d84d0.jpg) (https://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/#22a93c0d61f70042863db431b60d84d0.jpg)
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Garp, those Reapers look great / horrible / beautiful / vicious / evil. I was so excited to grow them a few years ago and had a great harvest but boy, are they out of my league to eat. Tried the finest sliver raw and still shudder to think about that experience. The best thing for me with them was to smoke them then grind to what I termed Volcano Dust.
This season has been odd. Here we are and the majority of my habaneros are still to ripen. Getting closer daily, but we
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Thanks Robbo. They are way out of my league too. Will just use them (sparingly) to make chilli sauce.
Last year I tasted a little bit of a Ghost pepper and then drank a pint of milk, so not even going to attempt the raw reaper, though I did pluck a small ripe one and cut it open and licked the inside. That was enough for me :)
Nice plump habaneros - hope they ripen up :)
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First pickings, very late in the season. Habaneros and cayenne. Time to fire up the smoker.
(https://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/pics/74d1d879280144ee9bcf2dd0d2027f7e.jpeg) (https://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/#74d1d879280144ee9bcf2dd0d2027f7e.jpeg)
Robbo
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Nice mate. How do you smoke them?
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I have a smoker in my back yard. Wood chips (normally hickory) and charcoal. Same thing we use to smoke pork butt / shoulder. Just put the habs on a tray and smoke till they
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Nice mate. How do you smoke them?
Rizla and a B&H usually :Clown:
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Thanks Robbo, lmao Onions :like:
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One of my Rajah plants has already produced first flower buds. I haven't tipped any of my plants and I'm not sure I will. All of them seem to be doing a fair job of bushing out without my intervention. If they start looking too vertical I may do some tipping later. At the moment the side shoots are growing pretty well without pinching the main top shoot.
Do any of our other growers use heavy tipping as appears to be the general "advice" on increasing pod numbers?
What fertiliser program do you use? Organic, mineral, hydroponic? All of my plants are currently in soil but I'm going to put my next batch in hydro.
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One of the things I've enjoyed about growing chillies over the past couple of years, is watching the ripening process.
These hot ones going green-yellow-orange-red, often all on the same pod. Lovely.
(https://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/pics/eb38044e620e052e94a2343c17beda4b.jpg) (https://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/#eb38044e620e052e94a2343c17beda4b.jpg)
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Very pretty, little traffic light pepper there, Garp.
I decided not to freeze my first batch of habaneros, opting to dry them in my dehydrator that I use to make jerky.
Here
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Well the end of the season came. Right into mid November before I got my final harvest of poblano, habanero and Thai chilies.
(https://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/pics/b586fb227f293344b073ed59769c5551.jpeg) (https://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/#b586fb227f293344b073ed59769c5551.jpeg)
Put the final bunch of Habs in the smoker for a few hours.
(https://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/pics/8cf9ccab733510ecaea5e233f2c70946.jpeg) (https://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/#8cf9ccab733510ecaea5e233f2c70946.jpeg)
Then finished them off to full
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Well I've had to move some of my babies out of the 43.4 'C November sun. (Hotter tomorrow apparently). Here are a few pics of the first to start producing. I'm in discussion with my seed supplier as I'm positive that one plant from the Rajah pack is not Rajah. It could be Purple Naga Jolokia or a cross but it isn't a Rajah.
I'm not complaining but I'd like to know what happened. When you buy a pack of specific seed variety you expect to get that. 400 m is the recommended distance to prevent cross pollination.
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These purples will turn red when they ripen, or so I'm led to believe. I have only just sent these pics to my seed supplier to see what he says.
Purple Naga Jolokia is a variety he sells.
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What is a Rajah chilli mate - never heard of that one.
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Well the end of the season came. Right into mid November before I got my final harvest of poblano, habanero and Thai chilies.
A good season for 2020 despite everything else. There
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What is a Rajah chilli mate - never heard of that one.
https://thehippyseedcompany.com/product/rajah/ (https://thehippyseedcompany.com/product/rajah/)
https://www.seedsforafrica.co.za/products/rajah-f1-hybrid-chilli-pepper-capsicum-annuum-20-seeds (https://www.seedsforafrica.co.za/products/rajah-f1-hybrid-chilli-pepper-capsicum-annuum-20-seeds)
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Thanks. If it's an F1 hybrid, then there is a big chance that some of the seeds will revert back to one of their original plants.
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The African is F1. Not sure about the Aussie which says it originates from india. The plant I have that is different has a completely different pod shape. The Rajah is green, long and thin with a point (Cayenne) and has white flowers while the unknown is purple, fatter and more blunt with purple flowers.
My suspicion is a misplaced seed in the Rajah pack and this would be my guess.
https://thehippyseedcompany.com/product/purple-naga-jolokia/ (https://thehippyseedcompany.com/product/purple-naga-jolokia/)
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40'c here again today on first day of summer. I've had my mature plants only in morning sun. I doubt early spring planting will do much good without intervention. My seedlings are being moved and watered multiple times daily. This is for Indian sub species. A few of my Thai plants have succumbed. I thought India was meant to be hot.
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Itching to get started growing, but holding back....
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My seed supplier was unable to say for sure what the purple chilli is. He said it could be the Purple Naga Jolokia or possibly a Black Hungarian. I'm not sure but it was definitely a rogue seed in my Rajah pack. It has a slightly wrinkled look so I'm leaning toward the former. He's going to send me a new pack of Rajah seeds.
I have only 1 Kashmiri plant from 12 seeds I purchased which is now 400 mm high and starting to produce. From the many seeds planted from dried Kashmiri chillies, also only 1 germination has survived and this plant is a natural wonder. Completely decapitated on day 1 it remained alive and green at 1 cm for 3 months. This last week I noticed 2 tiny leaves emerging from the side.
I have only 1 Byadgi from 12 seeds (being nursed along) and 2 Mettapulayam have germinated this week after a month. Lost a few to bugs, heatwave and damping off. I have 4 healthy Lal Mirch and a few of the Rajah to finish my Indians so far. No luck with Pusa Jwala but I'll keep trying. I have a new batch of seed for a few different Indians.
I also have some Americana, Thai and generic Aussie along with a variety of capsicums. All up about 80 plants at the moment.
edit: (Just did a quick count while watering. Just over 100 plants.)
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Finally got round to making some sauce from this year's Reapers.
Although well diluted, it is still a bit hot for me, but has a nice flavour.
Will be giving them away I think :)
(https://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/pics/f8f126b1aa6516837a19aff50d5faa79.jpg) (https://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/#f8f126b1aa6516837a19aff50d5faa79.jpg)
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Wise move sir!
After seeing Chilli Chump on YouTube, I?ve made a few fermented hot sauces that turned out great. Never with Reapers though. Fermenting is a really interesting process.
Robbo
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Never tried fermented sauces mate. What would you say is the difference from unfermented?
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Photos of my MPPP (Mystery Purple Pod Plant).
https://1drv.ms/u/s!Arg0sLdGpkGxrnsLb4GIsqAwcy8Q?e=N8Apby (https://1drv.ms/u/s!Arg0sLdGpkGxrnsLb4GIsqAwcy8Q?e=N8Apby)
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Fermenting the chilies, (putting them under water, holding them there with weights and adding a vent to allow the gas to escape) really concentrates the flavors. Same process as making sauerkraut. And very satisfying ?bloop? sound every now and again as it vents. Check out Chili Chump, who grows chilies and makes all kinds of sauces. Loads of useful info on his YouTube channel. A properly fermented sauce, with the right ph level, will stay shelf stable for months and months, even out of the fridge. I bought a ph meter too. Very useful.
Robbo
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Thanks mate.
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Well the first half dozen of my Purple Chilli pods have turned red over the last 2 weeks. The first one was chewed by something overnight about a week ago. Whatever animal it was obviously didn't enjoy it too much. I've decided that it isn't an Hungarian Black, as these are rated as mild and can be dried to make paprika, so I'd be assuming that it is in fact the Purple Naga Jolokia, as these appear to be the most likely plants from my seed supplier.
I picked 5 red pods yesterday and had a little bite (about 1/3 of the pod) from the non-seed end of one and it certainly had a kick. At first it was a very pleasant, almost sweet apple flavour followed by the heat. They should be nice in a dish.
The pod that was nibbled by a critter was cut open and the seeds removed. There was a good 50 - 60 seeds and I immediately planted half that looked the least viable. Already have 8 germinated so they are good seeds. I have the seeds (and flesh) from the next 5 pods in a fermentation jar which I'll dry out and refrigerate for next season. The rest will go into fresh food and I may dry some in the dehydrator.
I'm having some very nice growth with early pods on my Kashmiri (or whatever it is) and the Rajah's have lots of pods. Cayennes are doing well with one exception which I think has some sort of disease. Bacterial Leaf Spot or a fungus, I'm not sure. I've separated it from the others and started treating all with Copper and Mancozeb. The trouble is that we are in a La Nina weather pattern at the moment, which is great, but it is just so humid and wet. It appears that Bacterial Leaf Spot has become a significant problem if the chatter on Chilli pages is accurate.
I have planted a few different varieties now as late season plants hoping that I can grow right through Autumn and Winter. I now have 3 or 4 different propagation batches running at stages and I'm up to over 200 plants. I've added Sannam and Bombay Mirch to my Indian varieties and also some Anaheim. A few batches of seed have proved unsuccessful and difficult to germinate.
The confusion about Kashmiri chilli is very frustrating. I'll post more about this in the directly related thread.
I'm just looking out my front window as I sit here and my 5 year old Thai Birdseye is now over 5 ' tall and it has the season's first 2 red peppers, a heap of green and lots of flowers. I think I took about 2 kg of chilli from it last year.
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Great harvest livo
I think next year I will focus on Thai bird eye next year. I use them the most in my cooking and they?re just more versatile for me than habaneros, which I still have a ton of in the freezer, even after smoking a bunch and grinding to chilli powder.
If I can find naga seeds I may give them a go too.
Robbo
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I could post you some of my Purple Naga Jolokia seeds. Perhaps your birthday is coming up soon. Mine is. I'm an Aquarius. Of course I would treat the seeds with an anti-bacterial and complete drying treatment before posting. I fully understand international quarantine and bio-security. Full declaration would be made so it would be up to US Customs if you receive or not. I doubt it will cost much.
The Thai Birdseye are just so reliable and apparently very popular in the sub-continent, which I didn't know until recent intensive research into Indian Chilli farming and marketing. They are a very hardy plant and resistant to many diseases that afflict other more finicky cultivars. My big, old plant out front is simply amazing. I now have 3 different Thai Birdseye in progress.
Apparently a very popular variety in India is the one that goes white upon maturity. Indian Chilli is a hard thing to comprehend.
Chillis are a very unusual plant. I have 4 plants from locally acquired seed out of the same pod. 3 of them are growing pendulous pods while one is growing upright. I have 3 Indian Lal Mirch plants of the same variety from the same seed batch (same pod, not sure) that are all different in growth pattern with the exact same post-germination conditions.
I have a rare occurrence of 2 Rajah plants germinating from a single seed. They are notably smaller than the same plants that germinated normally, but I have kept them separately and labeled them as Rajah Twin. I was able to carefully separate them after an initial time in the propagation media. It will be interesting to see if it is a genetic trait passed on to the next generation.
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Very kind of you livo. I noticed my supermarket has dried Bhut Jolokia for sale. Are they the same as naga? I?m also aware of the US Customs regulations. Me and the missis visited Thailand last year and a tour guide showed us a plant and said you can pick a leaf, store is between the pages of a book, take it home and just lie it face down and it will grow a new plant. So of course Mrs Robbo took his suggestion and bingo, we have a 2 ft high plant now in our back yard.
Robbo
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The naming of chillis is a bit random. According to wikipedia Naga and Bhut, Jolokia and Morich (mirch) are all closely related or possibly the same. These things cross so readily that it's difficult to say for sure. All I can really tell you about the one I have is that my seed seller has one he calls Purple Naga Jolokia. I'm pretty sure I ended up with a rogue seed in a pack of Rajah I bought.
The seeds I've already germinated from my first pod are varied. Most are green seedlings but 2 have come out of the seed completely purple from the start. The parent plant is dark green but the unripe pods are purple, nearly black, although a couple have very patchy green mosaic when you look closely. The flower is also brilliant purple as opposed to white.
I fermented the next 5 pods for 48 hours and have begun drying the seeds. I have 300 from 5 pods and still 30 from the first one after I planted half, so they are consistently producing 60 seeds per pod.
I'll post about the Kashmiri plant from the same seed supplier in the relevent thread.
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Here's a couple of pix of my first ripening chillis. Aussie Red, Rajah and more of the Purples. I've already picked about 9 or 10 of the purples after they ripened. They were very quick to produce pods and ripened before anything else planted at the same time.
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Pics of Chilli grow progress and other.
The first 2 pics show recent bird damaged pods and whole branches broken off. These and other pests are wiping out 75% of my crop but I've still got plenty. As mentioned in the Kashmiri thread, I lost 40 pods from 8 plants in one night a few weeks ago to rats after I'd moved the pots indoors. Next thing is to construct a chilli cage but probably not until next year. The birds love the Cayennes and the Aussie, which is very similar and has a sweet capsicum like flavour, but they will eat anything that is red.
Then there is a progress pic of my mystery purple pod. Hot little buggers and a really pretty plant with purple flowers instead of white.
The last photo is of some ripening Rajah.
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Shame about the wildlife attacking your plants mate. I guess that's one disadvantage to living with a climate where you can grow chillies outside.
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Being in the Southern Hemisphere, I wont start a new thread which has any implications to your seasons. The 2021 winter days here are getting longer but the temps have been quite cool. Luckily for me, we no longer get frosts or temps below 0'C. The coldest nights so far at my place have been around 4 - 5'C and it has kicked a few of my plants around. I've lost about 10 but a quick count this afternoon shows about 250. If I get 200 survive, I'll be happy with a good head start. I need some pots and dirt.
Today I planted my first 100 seeds in the heated greenhouse. Bayadgi (or the actual Kashmiri Chilli that you buy). I ended up with one very nice plant which produced good pods and I was able to save a good one from the birds which gave me about 120 seeds. These plants are the mild Kashmiri that aren't from Kashmir. Delicious flavour and bright red colour but very little heat. The plants that I have which are supposedly Kashmiri of different varieties are completely different.
I have been very selective on keeping seeds from healthy and prolific plants, and I have also kept some from plants that were obviously rogue seeds from what I thought I was buying. There is one really nasty little thing that burnt my face off after handling it to harvest seeds. Really odd shaped pods that are bright orange in colour and dangerous.
A few of my unusual Indian varieties have produced just enough for me to salvage some good seed so I'm hoping for a better grow this year. Some varieties just grew without any problem so with those as the back up I should have a bumper crop this year.
I've been using the dehydrator and grinder to make some really good powder.
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Moved.
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I'll include my future posts in the 2021 thread but here is pretty much the last of my grow from 20/21 season (although some plants are still going).
Here are pictures of 2 separate weekly harvest days which ended up in the dehydrator to be kept dried whole with some ground to powder. I didn't photograph every week and I already have 2 takeaway containers full of powder which my wife has been bagging up to put out front for passing neighbours to take. Lot's of lockdown walkers up and down the usually quiet road at the moment.
I've also been picking some fresh to use in dishes as required and I must have given at least 1 kg or more of fresh chillis away to various people. The birds and other animals accounted for just as much which I'll have to work on.
A few of my plants were banged up pretty good over the weekend with gusty 90 - 120 km/hr winds lasting for two days. The cold is starting to knock a few around but hopefully it will warm up soon.
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Nice harvest mate. Good luck with this year's.
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I've just spent about 4 hours on the KitchenAid grinder and fine sieve to powder up about a kilogram of dried chillis. Now to turn them into Kashmiri Ver tikki and Tandoori Masala paste.
The little KitchenAid took a hammering. I may need to invest in a bigger machine.
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Man, that’s a lot of lovely looking powders.
Robbo
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Thanks Robbo. I was surprised that the different varieties produced such different coloured powder and they have different aroma.
I keep forgetting that you need to be careful handling and working with chillis.