Curry Recipes Online
Beginners Guide => Grow Your Own Spices and Herbs => Topic started by: Garp on May 26, 2021, 05:36 PM
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Anyone growing this year?
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Of course I'm only just coming up to winter so I'm on a different schedule. I'm hoping for a mild one so I can keep most of my plants going for a head start in spring. I have about 300. I'll post some pics of my weekly harvest from the other day.
I've given most of this year's harvest away to my local Indian grocer and my neighbour, a Thai lady who owns a restaurant. The favourite for both is the Thai birdseye. Heat and flavour. I used some dried flakes in my Pad Thai last week and they pack some punch.
I'm having good pod yield from the Rajah and right now one particular brand of Kashmiri. The Thai produced well but have tapered off with the shorter days and cooling.
I've been very surprised at the significant variance between plants and pods that come from same seed and I haven't even experienced cross pollination yet. Next seasons new plants from harvested seed could be completely unpredictable.
Some varieties have been a bit disappointing and have really struggled but we did have a very unusually wet, humid and cloudy summer. I also had many setbacks with pests which are going to be difficult to overcome.
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Wow - 300 plants :like:
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Unusually wet, humid and cloudy Summer and a load of humping mice, hope they dont like chillies
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Rightly or wrongly ive ordered ten Tej Patta seeds, gonna give it a go, love a challenge. fingies crossed.
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Good luck mate.
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Garp, I got a bit over-enthused and planted more and more seeds from different sources and had more successful germination than I expected. Potting up into larger pots as required and watering has become a fair amount of work. I took a similar amount of ripened chilli off the plants again yesterday so I'm going to get my dehydrator out today and dry both lots to grind to powder.
Mickyp, fortunately, I'm not experiencing the mouse plague but we do have the bigger ones in lesser numbers and they do like chillis, or some varieties anyway. They also occasionally eat seeds I've left out for drying in my shed.
I heard a long range weather forecast on the radio yesterday and they are predicting a mild and dry winter so with any luck my plants will survive into the spring. If they do I should have more chilli than I'll know what to do with. There are a few varieties that are growing well in my location and others not so well. I'll put my efforts into the better cropping ones next season.
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I feel inadequate, only having about 10 plants :confusing2:
I made a schoolboy error this year and didn't harden them off enough before putting in the greenhouse, and a couple have suffered, but hopefully will survive.
I left this one on the windowsill and let it flower and fruit, rather than topping it as with most of the others. So these are my first chillies of the year :)
(https://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/pics/894509d8851d7e16f685305b539060ce.jpg) (https://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/#894509d8851d7e16f685305b539060ce.jpg)
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Cheers Garpy, Due to arrive late July and can take 10 days to six months to germinate, if successful i will send you one to nurture.
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I feel inadequate, only having about 10 plants :confusing2:
I made a schoolboy error this year and didn't harden them off enough before putting in the greenhouse, and a couple have suffered, but hopefully will survive.
I left this one on the windowsill and let it flower and fruit, rather than topping it as with most of the others. So these are my first chillies of the year :)
Doner kebab style :)
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@Onions :lol:
@Micky - not sure I'm so good at the nurturing, and 10 days to 6 months is a hell of a big germination window :what:
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Yesterday pick. Thai are basically finished and I'll be using these to collect seed. They were left on the bush too long.
There is some animal or bird damage to some of the others but they will be fine to turn into powder.
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Looking good livo. Thai are easily my favourite. This year we decided not to grow habaneros. Although we?ve always been really successful, I end up with too many and no amount of smoking, dehydrating, powder-making, freezing allows me to use them all.
This year we?re going cayenne, poblano, jalape?o. Couldn?t find seeds or starter plants for Thai, but cayenne should be a good enough substitute I think.
Robbo
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I'm growing Thai Hot this year for the first time - looking forward to trying them.
Also got Hungarian Wax and Trinidad Scorpion on the go.
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Scorpions are great in small doses. I prefer them in chilli to a curry myself. Wish I could get naga over here. Ghosts are close but don?t have that certain taste the naga has.
Are the Hungarians hot? Similar to anything I?d know?
Robbo
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Scorpions, like the other superhots, are way too hot for me - other than to make sauce with.
First time growing Hungarians too, but definitely on the mild side. Nice big fleshy pods with a nice little kick of heat. Remind me of Jalapenos in heat and texture.
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In addition to chilies, of course, we are again growing the usual suspects - parsley, oregano, basil, coriander (though that prefers cooler temps), sage, cherry tomatoes, lemon grass, ginger, thyme, rosemary and a good sized catnip plant our kits can just help themselves to.
Love the summer months for this.
Robbo
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Here's my last 2 picks after going through the dehydrator. Some of the bigger ones took 3 days at 45'C. Now I need to decide if I'm going to do separate grinds or just put them all into the blend and see what I get. Trouble is that some of them all look the same (or similar) now that they're dried.
I did photograph them as they went into the dehydrator so I might be able to work out which is which. Some are easy to tell like the little thai birdseyes but the Kashmiri and Lal Mirch dry out to look much the same.
I picked another 40 - 50 ripened chillis 2 days ago. I'll start to keep better track of varieties from here on.
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How do you grind them mate?
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I'm thinking I'll use the Kitchen Aid spice grinder (blades) to do a course grind (cut) to fine Chilli Flakes and then over to the big mortar and pestle for a bit of arm work. I've done small quantities of the Thai before using the Kitchen Aid then my small mortar and pestle and they come out ok. This will be a bit of work I'd imagine.
I'll try to see how some of it goes in a long run in the Kitchen Aid but it may overheat the chilli. I could possibly do multiple shorter bursts with wait times.
I'll let you know how it goes.
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Do you have a recipe for your chilli sauce / pickle you'd like to share? I was considering Mr Choudhury's Naga pickle recipe, but if you have a good method I'd be glad to give it a try.
Robbo, or anybody, you're invited to share a good chilli sauce or pickle recipe if you have one. I have a feeling I'm about have quite a few excess chillis.
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Sorry livo, missed this post last month. I don’t have any pickle or sauces recipes I’m afraid. I did pay 20 USD for a small jar of Mr. Naga and it is excellent.
Back to the thread…my planted pots are doing well. My jalapeño plant is 5 feet high and over 30 fruit so far. I read that to get more heat, water the plant a bit less, to stress it out.
(https://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/pics/0cc79af54e33fcec57aa0976638f8e75.jpeg) (https://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/#0cc79af54e33fcec57aa0976638f8e75.jpeg)
My fresh coriander was a bit short lived but apparently it likes cooler temps. This mess is what it looks like when it goes to seed.
(https://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/pics/9f9a89a8cdbfc80eefa2f66532bbce6d.jpeg) (https://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/#9f9a89a8cdbfc80eefa2f66532bbce6d.jpeg)
Not sure how long I should leave these before harvesting, or if they go brown and then I pick them, or what. Some research to do but growing my own coriander seeds for grinding is something I’d love to do.
And finally, my first hot cayenne has arrived. We have 2 plants going, each about 2 ft high so hopefully a nice crop around august time.
(https://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/pics/c3d4efe323fb7fd582dce8fc2d71cb1e.jpeg) (https://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/#c3d4efe323fb7fd582dce8fc2d71cb1e.jpeg)
Happy growing everyone.
Robbo
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Hungarian Hot Wax and Thai Hot coming along nicely.
(https://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/pics/2b6dca34a4b644454005632a85d901d3.jpg) (https://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/#2b6dca34a4b644454005632a85d901d3.jpg)
(https://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/pics/50d86f407c2c0afff40de31e781b3e21.jpg) (https://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/#50d86f407c2c0afff40de31e781b3e21.jpg)
(https://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/pics/e3ebe9f7a83d2cc8826fa96da89c3a0d.jpg) (https://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/#e3ebe9f7a83d2cc8826fa96da89c3a0d.jpg)
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Looking good there Garp. Nice healthy plants. I'm about to go through another Polar Blast over the weekend so I could see a bit of a downturn. Surprisingly, some of my plants have kept producing through the first half of winter. Others haven't done so well.
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Well, my jalapeño plant is the gift that keeps on giving. It’s taller than me and I honestly can’t keep up. Must be over 100 fruit picked so far. I’ve left a good number on the plant till they turned red and they are killer hot. So in a very productive day, Mrs. Robbo pickled a few for me and I made fresh garlic-ginger paste and a new small batch of garam masala.
(https://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/pics/5bb51e01ea394465aec3ca917129cbb4.jpeg) (https://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/#5bb51e01ea394465aec3ca917129cbb4.jpeg)
Taz base defrosting already and it’s curry night tonight. Happy weekend everyone.
Robbo
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This years early birds. 92% germination from 100 Byadgi seeds and close to the same from the Jumbo Lal Mirch. Seed I collected from last year. I have put about another 100 of mixed variety in soil last weekend and about 300 plants survived over winter. Most of these have now been pruned right back and have started to produce new growth.
Edit: additional. I'm experimenting with tipping out plants this time around. I didn't tip any plants last year, but I've found that some varieties grow bushy by themselves, while others get really leggy if you don't give them a serious chop. Some of my over-wintered plants were broken by birds and weather impact. They appear to have benefitted from this damage. Over-winter means cut them back severely for new growth. The plants I've cut really hard appear to be doing better. Still learning.
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That’s a whole lot of plants livo. Do you get through all the fruit you grow? Those I don’t eat or cook fresh either end up smoked / dehydrated and ground to powder or more recently pickled.
(https://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/pics/666c02754e5959bd006a2157c6587474.jpeg) (https://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/#666c02754e5959bd006a2157c6587474.jpeg)
Picked these cayennes and jalapeños yesterday. Going to smoke the jalapeños to make chipotles today. Got some lovely looking poblanos coming too. End of summer always a great time.
Robbo
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Yeah, it is a lot Robbo and the missus says I'm crazy. :omg: Last season the birds did for a lot, I gave plenty away, ate some, dehydrated and powdered quite a bit and turned some into the Ver Tikki (which are great). The green chilli I ate yesterday morning are some of the last from the season. Although, some haven't stopped right over winter. In pruning back hard recently, I actually chopped heaps of buds, flowers and small pods but I think it was the right way to go for better growth. I've given all the pruned plants a high nitrogen diet and I've still got a few to go yet. It's a lot of work.
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Some of my plants are now coming into good flower with many having chilli on already. Some didn't really stop over the winter. The Purple Naga Jolokia are prolific and hot even before they ripen to red. Last count I think I'm up to about 500 plants. Running out of bigger pots and room to put them so I think I've reached capacity.
I now need to work out some bird netting to try to protect them a bit more this season.
I've ended up with some interesting crosses from germinating last year's harvested seeds. I've now got some plants that came from the purple parent plant last year that have developed white flowers and chillis that resemble the Lal Mirch and also the Rajah.
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:like:
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It's 2022 now but I am approaching the end of the season with winter not too far away. Our weather this year has been even worse than last year. The La Nina has caused rain and floods over large areas of the country. We've had 3 east coast lows within a few months, weeks actually, and we usually get 1 every decade or so. I have not been able to get near my chilli plants for nearly 3 months. East coast lows are essentially sub-tropical cyclones and needless to say, the chillies have not faired too well. With way too much water and barely any sun, I've lost a lot and what survived has not been productive.
I took about 1 kg of mixed chilli peppers to the Indian grocers just before Christmas and just the other day I was able to get to the plants and remove what peppers were there. I was able to pick nearly 2 kg of mixed peppers of about 10 varieties. The little Thai Birdseyes are by far the most hardy plant and the yield from just 10 advanced plants was nearly 1 kg. Some plants are still trying to flower but I'm not hopeful of a late pick.
A few months ago my wife came home with 10 plants she found on a clearance table at the nursery. They are all super hots of different variety. Although I don't like them myself, they are a popular item to grow on and sell. I was hoping to have some to harvest seed for next season, but so far it hasn't worked too well with very little in the way of fruiting.
I'm again hopeful of a mild winter and good survival rates for a head start come spring.
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Peppers by the kilo still sounds good Livo. I’m looking forward to planting this season. We don’t have the luxury of the weather like we had in the Carolinas but summer will be hot, just shorter. Thai chillies are my fave and will definitely be planting those and trying to find Scotch Bonnet seeds. I’ve been doing Habaneros for years and need a change. Wish I could get Naga seeds too.
Robbo
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What is the bio-security like for post into your area? I have plenty of seed for Purple Naga Jolokia. I'd be happy to send you a vacuum bag.
I need to put a lot of my chillies into the dehydrator over weekend.
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Not sure, but US not known for their openness to imports of people or products…
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Sent you PM.
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Not sure, but US not known for their openness to imports of people or products…
You can say that again - I was asked by a well known UK cement company to send them a sample of my powder grade foam agent to their American subsidiary. Next thing I got an import enquiry form to complete direct from US Customs. Correspndence went back and to from me to the US Customs over several weeks. The cheeky barstewards demanded I send them my formulation to check ingredient details - I told them in no uncertain terms to FXXX OFF. Cement company gave up on their project. I wouldn't trust US officialdom not to pass on the formulation to a US manufacturer to cut out foreign supply. Yanks never do 'owt for nowt.
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Upon investigation it was found that this mail exchange of seed is possible, however there would be a fair bit of bureaucracy to get through, presumably at a cost as well. It would require a testing of the seed through a registered laboratory (possibly CSIRO or Department of Agriculture) to obtain a Phytosecurity certificate here in Australia. USA has regulation on all Capsicum species to prevent the import of Tomato Virus. We can't complain about that.
The process on the USA end is apparently fairly simple. All that is required is an application for a permit. With the said certificate attached there would be no problem.
We have decided against pursuing the process.