Topic: Chilli grow 2020

[livo]

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.

[Garp]

Itching to get started growing, but holding back....

[livo]

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.)

[Garp]

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

[Robbo141]

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

[Garp]

Never tried fermented sauces mate. What would you say is the difference from unfermented?

[livo]

Photos of my MPPP (Mystery Purple Pod Plant).
https://1drv.ms/u/s!Arg0sLdGpkGxrnsLb4GIsqAwcy8Q?e=N8Apby

[Robbo141]

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

[Garp]

Thanks mate.

[livo]

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.