Try Turbo-1's Habanero Sauce - Hot Stuff!

[rhody]

Rhody,

My first try on 10 ripe ghost seeds didn't germinate so I started some of the un-ripe ones (which actually looked better). Yes, I had a heat pad and light.

Don,

I will bite (pun intended) how can you tell a ripe ghost seed from an unripe one ? Once under a pad, light, the container should be covered with vent holes and slightly moist on top. 85F is ideal. My seeds are coming up funky too, maybe because I have a fan blowing on the container during the day cooling it down.

Rhody...

 

[dlgoff]

Don,

I will bite (pun intended) how can you tell a ripe ghost seed from an unripe one ?

They look totally different. The ripe ones are small and flat compared to the unripe ones that are larger and are almost spherical in shape.

 

[rhody]

They look totally different. The ripe ones are small and flat compared to the unripe ones that are larger and are almost spherical in shape.

It may be the way I dried and stored them, did the unripe ones have less dried placenta attached to them, maybe the capsaicin in the oil damaged the seed somehow. I will ask on the THP forum and report back, thanks, Don.

Rhody...

 

[rhody]

Yeah, when you don't get them spic and span clean they can be attacked by fungus, etc...
Here is the recommended cleaning method. From a grower on THP.

seeds soak in 1 tsp of hydrogen peroxide and one cup of distilled water for 2 hours, remove the seeds using a strainer, then gently rub both sides of the seed with a q-tip (if you see anything on the seeds)

Rhody...

 

[rhody]

Houston, I need your help. I am trying, unsuccessfully I might add, to find the following data, all in one place, I am able to find dribs and drabs of it, but no data in my timeframe. I would like the following data:

• Last five years of hot pepper imports/exports to/from the US in millions of dollars
• Same data for the top 10 exporting countries of hot peppers
• Same data for the top 10 importing countries of hot peppers
• If possible the state of the exports, mash, raw by the ton, processed products tp sell
• If possible the state of the imports, mash, raw by the ton, processed products to buy
• US imposed restrictions on imports from friendly US trade partners
• US imposed restrictions on exports to friendly US trade partners

Rhody... would be pepper emperor, lol

 

[Moonbear]

No holy grail here, but data up to 2007/2008 on chili peppers starting at table 45 in this list seems to be the most current that USDA has available.
http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/MannUsda/viewDocumentInfo.do?documentID=1659

 

[rhody]

No holy grail here, but data up to 2007/2008 on chili peppers starting at table 45 in this list seems to be the most current that USDA has available.
http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/MannUsda/viewDocumentInfo.do?documentID=1659

Thanks Moonbear,

I found the same collection of data you did. I am looking for something newer and as my last post stated, with import and exports as listed.

Rhody...

 

[dlgoff]

I am looking for something newer and as my last post stated, with import and exports as listed.

Rhody...

You might want to contact USDA - APHIS. I'm sure they would be glad to help.

 

[rhody]

You might want to contact USDA - APHIS. I'm sure they would be glad to help.

I haven't had time to dig into that Don, but I will. I have a ToDo list as long as your arm and try to tackle the biggest most pressing issues that will pay near term rewards without dropping the big picture and where I want to be in 5 years. Google calendar helps me keep it organized and there are advanced features I haven't even touched yet, just skimmed reading about.

I need to know what are the characteristics of the best tasting peppers you have ever had, the what's and the why's for each type. I expect that most people will respond in the mild to medium category. Here goes, for each category you have experience with what did you like about it, texture, color, crunchiness, taste (and what it reminds you of).

• mild
• medium
• hot
• very hot
• extremely hot

Rhody...

 

[rhody]

Three things, one, I have some data on preferred peppers from the folks on the Pepper Forum.

Second, this article: Bell Pepper Production in California is very good. There is good general guidance here regarding the Do's and Dont's regarding growing peppers and the causes of disease, viruses. The paper has been technically reviewed by University of California scientists and what they list as "other qualified professionals".

Third, how about some feedback, I will list the favorite peppers mentioned from THP in my next post, or this one if the "edit window" is still open.

More than a few folks voted for the following peppers as the best tasting. I added comments where they were entered.
It seems that Fatalii and the Habenero family came up quite a few times as favorites. I bet you didn't realize they were so
many different kinds of peppers, did you ?

• Orange Habanero
• Chocolate Habanero
• Red Savina (Orange Habanero on steroids)
• Red Scotch Bonnet
• Fatalii
• Datil
• Pequin
• Tepin (Bird's Eye)
• Bhut Jolokia Assam (strawberry aroma and sweet fruity taste)
• Jalapeno
• Thai Dragon
• Wiri-Wiri
• Wild Brazil
• Chiltepin

Rhody...

 

[turbo]

I asked my new part-time neighbor from Mass if she would like to get some ghosts started for us. She has already ordered a heat mat and a grow light, so she was pretty excited about getting started. She's going to pick up a bag of Pro-Mix today and stop in for the seeds that Rhody sent me, and the seeds that I gleaned from the fresh peppers Rhody sent up.

I gave her quite a few Savina (Habanero) plants last year, and she was thrilled. Another chili-head! She's going to do her best to pay me back this year. I also gave her Mariana (Roma variant) tomato plants last year and she was so happy about the marinara sauce that she made out of them. She still keeps mentioning it.

Nice to have a gardener/cook/chili-head to share with.

 

[rhody]

I asked my new part-time neighbor from Mass if she would like to get some ghosts started for us. She has already ordered a heat mat and a grow light, so she was pretty excited about getting started. She's going to pick up a bag of Pro-Mix today and stop in for the seeds that Rhody sent me, and the seeds that I gleaned from the fresh peppers Rhody sent up.

I gave her quite a few Savina (Habanero) plants last year, and she was thrilled. Another chili-head! She's going to do her best to pay me back this year. I also gave her Mariana (Roma variant) tomato plants last year and she was so happy about the marinara sauce that she made out of them. She still keeps mentioning it.

Nice to have a gardener/cook/chili-head to share with.

Good news Turbo, another chili-head to test recipes and to get input from on the best pepper flavor, show her my list and see if she has ever heard or had any of the following, and if so which ones does she prefer and why.

* Orange Habanero
* Chocolate Habanero
* Red Savina (Orange Habanero on steroids)
* Red Scotch Bonnet
* Fatalii
* Datil
* Pequin
* Tepin (Bird's Eye)
* Bhut Jolokia Assam (strawberry aroma and sweet fruity taste)
* Jalapeno
* Thai Dragon
* Wiri-Wiri
* Wild Brazil
* Chiltepin

Rhody...

 

[turbo]

I'll have to see how things go, Rhody. She is quite a dedicated gardener, as far as I know, so we'll see. She LOVED the Savina plants that I gave her, so she's probably on-deck for the ghosts, too. She asked me today if the ghosts were hot, and I told her that they were not noticeably hotter than the Savinas, but had a nice sweet taste. That got her on-board immediately. I hope her attempt at getting seedlings going will go well.

 

[rhody]

I'll have to see how things go, Rhody. She is quite a dedicated gardener, as far as I know, so we'll see. She LOVED the Savina plants that I gave her, so she's probably on-deck for the ghosts, too. She asked me today if the ghosts were hot, and I told her that they were not noticeably hotter than the Savinas, but had a nice sweet taste. That got her on-board immediately. I hope her attempt at getting seedlings going will go well.

Turbo, you didn't warn her that to some, these peppers if grown with full heat in mind will be way way hotter than anything she has ever experienced ? You should tell her, or better yet if you have any frozen samples lying around let her try some. Tell her to try them from the bottom of the pepper first, with just a bit of placenta. I had chicken wings for dinner at a restaurant tonight that were supposedly hot, OMG what a joke. I fear what my four trinidad scorpions will bring with regards to heat, 1.4 million scoville, and I plan to heat and water stress them. Black light UV rays will produce more capsaicin too, a little trick I picked up on the THP forum. I am growing white bhuts and am waiting to get purple bhut seeds from Australia, they are gorgeous. I also have picked up the following seeds from THP members:

• Yellow 7 pot
• Red 7 pot
• Brain Strain
• Red Jolokia
• Choc Scorpion
• Black Naga
• Naga Morich

Rhody...

 

[turbo]

She's a big girl, rhody - not "big" but slim and curvy, but still 40+. She loves hot stuff, and we'll adapt. I hope that she and I can get those ghosts producing chilies that are much hotter than the Savinas that we already enjoy. If she gets those seeds in the "ground" this week, we should get a chance to get a leg-up on the season.

Thanks again for the seeds, and for the ripe chilies. I hope to be able to establish a line of stable chilies from them and avoid spending $$ on seeds. If Amy has a good season this spring and we end up with a good crop of hot stuff, we'll at least try to establish a stable, reliable base for our chili production.

 

[rhody]

She's a big girl, rhody - not "big" but slim and curvy, but still 40+. She loves hot stuff, and we'll adapt. I hope that she and I can get those ghosts producing chilies that are much hotter than the Savinas that we already enjoy. If she gets those seeds in the "ground" this week, we should get a chance to get a leg-up on the season.

Thanks again for the seeds, and for the ripe chilies. I hope to be able to establish a line of stable chilies from them and avoid spending $$ on seeds. If Amy has a good season this spring and we end up with a good crop of hot stuff, we'll at least try to establish a stable, reliable base for our chili production.

A tip for starting seeds soak them in water and chamomile (if she can find it, keeps fungus from forming when they sprout) and keep soil in starter cups moist on top only (spritz, morning and night lightly). Advanced growers on THP say not to plant the seeds more than 3 millimeters, very shallow for best results, I haven't tried it but it makes sense, make sure there is a bit of soil covering the seed after spritzing with water. I use tupperware containers cheap ones with holes drilled in top and covered, so the temps stay around 80F inside. Sometimes seeds will dry and you think they won't sprout, keep spritzing them just in case, I have had some sprout in over 2.5 weeks. One more thing, after they have come up and are in bigger containers, put aluminum foil under the lights, use the double cup method and water from the bottom. When the cups get light and or the plants wilt time to water, let them (cups that is) dry thoroughly keeps fungus down as well. The room if you can where they grow should not be bone dry, I use a mist humidifier and keep the humidity around 50% or so. Good luck.

Rhody...

 

[Ms Music]

Just checking in after being absent for a while... I have 3 varieties on the heat mat (12 jiffys), but I only have two sprouts so far. One ghost (yay!) and one unidentified seed. No luck with my chiltepins yet. *grumblegrumble* I was so looking forward to that one!

Do you leave your lights on full time? Or turn them off at night?

 

[rhody]

Just checking in after being absent for a while... I have 3 varieties on the heat mat (12 jiffys), but I only have two sprouts so far. One ghost (yay!) and one unidentified seed. No luck with my chiltepins yet. *grumblegrumble* I was so looking forward to that one!

Do you leave your lights on full time? Or turn them off at night?

Hey, welcome back from well, wherever you were, no need to turn the lights on at night, I assume it or they (the lights) are not close enough to the seeds to heat the soil from the top, so it makes little difference, just sprintz them lightly with water in the evening and or morning if you prefer, don't let them get bone dry, if you don't get perfect results, don't blame yourself. I have had some 90% successes and 50% which to me, are failures, I didn't to anything different either time. Make sure the media (soil) is light and fluffy. Nice to see you have a ghost, I have 4 trinidad scorpions this season.

There is a young guy on the THP forum, and I just sent him a PM to ask if I can copy and post his grow list for this year, about 200 different kinds of peppers, he has been at it for seven years and is now 15 years old. Amazing. I hope he gives me the OK, so you can see his list, quite impressive.

Rhody...

 

[rhody]

Here is the grow list of a guy on THP, 8 years of experience and he has over 200 varieties of peppers, of all different types, way to go Alex, and to think he is still in high school, quite impressive. I wonder who gets to name the new crossed peppers, there are literally hundreds and hundreds of them. I have been searching in vain for a cataloged database of peppers of all types with scientific detail, and haven't found one yet, I will report back if I discover one. Another project perhaps, hmm...

Rhody...

Alex's grow list from THP

7 Pod
7 Pod Barrackpore
7 Pod Brain Strain
7 Pod Burgundy
7 Pod Chiguanas
7 Pod Douglah
7 Pod Infinity
7 Pod Jonah
7 Pod Long
7 Pod Yellow
Antlies Fire
Bhut Jolokia
Bhut Jolokia Assam
Bhut Jolokia Carbon
Bhut Jolokia Chocolate
Bhut Jolokia Orange
Bhut Jolokia Peach
Bhut Jolokia Purple
Bhut Jolokia White
Bhut Jolokia Yellow/Lemon
Dorset Naga
Habalokia Red
Habalokia Yellow
Habalokia White
Impact (bhut Jolokia x C Galapagoense)
Kaval ( 7 Pod Yellow x Paternero)
Naga Morrich
Scorpanero Neon Yellow
Scorpanero Peach
Scorpanero Red
Trinidad Scorpion
Trinidad Scorpion Cardi
Trinidad Scorpion FG
Trinidad Scorpion FG Mustard
Trinidad Scorpion Mouruga Orange
Trinidad Scorpion Mouruga Red
Trinidad Scorpion Mouruga Yellow
Trinidad Scorpion Orange
Trinidad Scorpion Yellow

 

[Astronuc]

Not a good year for peppers - too cool and dry, then too cool and wet.

I had probably 6 times the volume of green jalapenos and habaneros as the season ended and rains set in.

 

[turbo]

I think I am on my last half-pint of habanero relish from several years back when the heat was good. My wife made buffalo-burger sliders on mini-buns for supper tonight, and the heat was wonderful. Even better, the buffalo meat stood up well to the pungent relish and shone through.

I hope for a good chili season this summer. The last few years were terrible. I salvaged as much as I could, but this year with Rhody's ghost seeds, I hope that my neighbor and I can manage to get a decent crop so I can make good relishes. I'll have to get my neighbor down here and teach her how to make very simple and satisfying relishes (including canning them). Anybody that likes heat needs to learn to can their produce, because you can't buy this stuff in a store.

 

[rhody]

Fresh pepper alert, from Bakers Peppers in Florida. Dale Baker and his Dad run a two man operation. It is on an industrial scale, his Dad started it 58 years ago according to his website. I don't need a whole pound of peppers for my sauce experiments but am willing to go 3 or 4 ways on some. If anyone is interested let me know, we can use PayPal, or a check through the mail, it doesn't matter to me. I would like to do this in the next month or so. Have a look at what Dale is offering and let me know what you are interested in. Thanks.

Rhody...

P.S. One more thing, if you order from Dale, tell him Ghosty sent you from THP he will know who it is and will appreciate it. Thanks.

 

[rhody]

Progress report, I just started some purple ghosts, 7 pot douglah op, and brain strain.
Here is a look at most of my plants in the window, badly needing re-potting.
My seed collection now stands as follows, the * means I have the plants started and or growing. I am having to pull the flower buds off some plants, and keeping the temps in the low 60's s so they don't grow too fast, Fertilize with weak miracle grow solution every two weeks and water when wilting. I plan to to transplant some to 3 gallon, 6 gallon, and possibly 10 - 12 gallons pots to see how big they will grow. I am old by others in 20 - 30 gallon pots that they grow up to 4 feet in a season, time will tell. Bakers in Florida is leaving his in pots until harvest. He must know what he is doing he is a third generation grower (wholesale) passed from his grand father, to his father and now him. He worked an eleven hour day yesterday too. I am going to use 40% pine bark nuggets in the bottom of the pots and a decent potting soil on top. Baker's claims a 7.2 ph is what he is shooting for. I need to get a decent PH tester. I believe he has or will have 10,000 plants at harvest, many to be sold wholesale. If anyone wishes to chat on google+ I have a pepper circle there, PM me and will set you up. I need to find a reasonable pot supplier for my pots, I want to water from the bottom, but don't want the same number of pot pedestals to supply water, maybe a forced drip system, it will give me good practice for next year when I do this for real as a business. That's it for now...

* bhut jolokia
* bhut jolokia chocolate
* trinidad scorpion
trinidad scorpion chocolate
* white ghost
* purple ghost
* 7 pot douglah op
* brain strain
red jolokia
red 7 pot
yellow 7 pot
black naga
naga morich

http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/5309/peppers0322012.jpg

Rhody...

 

[turbo]

Lots of potential, Rhody! Good luck!

 

[dlgoff]

They look VERY healthy rhody.

 

[turbo]

My periodic neighbor has her tomato plants started and is ready to devote her heat-mat and grow-lights to starting ghosts. She and her husband love hot foods, and they are ready to jump in. When they head back to Mass on Sunday night, the ghost seeds will hit the dirt. I told her that if we did a good job with the ghosts, they could possibly be hotter than our best Savinas, and she said "I hope!"

 

[rhody]

My periodic neighbor has her tomato plants started and is ready to devote her heat-mat and grow-lights to starting ghosts. She and her husband love hot foods, and they are ready to jump in. When they head back to Mass on Sunday night, the ghost seeds will hit the dirt. I told her that if we did a good job with the ghosts, they could possibly be hotter than our best Savina, and she said "I hope!"

If you had a http://www.ask.com/questions-about/Red-Savina-Habanero, you are still 50% less hot than a ghost, and I have 5 trinidad scorpions that I will be heat and water stressing this year, there is so much heat (about 1.4 million scoville), it is almost as sick as the hp the rear wheel of my beast bike produces, used judiciously, eaten in small doses it can be a treat, but I warn you, anyone not used to the heat can be humbled and in a hurry. I have seen it at least a half dozen times, young, old, it doesn't matter, the pepper demands respect, and doesn't care who you are or where you come from. I am waiting to get a mixed bag of fresh ones from Bakers in Florida, I will send you a couple to sample with the "periodic neighbor's". I would love to be a fly on the wall when you do.

Samples of Red Savina have been measured as high as 577,000 Scoville units, many chili enthusiasts growing the Red Savina have been unable to reach this level of heat, even with certified Red Savina seed.

Rhody...

 

[turbo]

Like I said earlier, she is a big girl. She and her husband love hot foods and they want to grow ghosts. We'll see how well we can do this year. If this is a nice season for chilies, we'll get to test them against past crops of Savinas. I didn't find the ghosts to be all that snarly. In fact, they were sweet and rich-tasting. I hope she gets a nice crop of the "babies" so we can split them and plant them in our gardens. I hope to use container-planting on my back deck to jack up the heat as much as possible, and we talked about that today, too.

 

[rhody]

Like I said earlier, she is a big girl. She and her husband love hot foods and they want to grow ghosts. We'll see how well we can do this year. If this is a nice season for chilies, we'll get to test them against past crops of Savinas. I didn't find the ghosts to be all that snarly. In fact, they were sweet and rich-tasting. I hope she gets a nice crop of the "babies" so we can split them and plant them in our gardens. I hope to use container-planting on my back deck to jack up the heat as much as possible, and we talked about that today, too.

If you deck is made of composite, the absorbed heat may be "too much for them" that's what happened to me last year, the roots were being cooked by the heat given off by the desk. You could stand them on top of a small shelf and they would be fine. Just a bit of advice, especially if you are away for more than a day without watering them.

Now on to transplant day.

The first two shots are before transplant. I decided to try Baker's (on the hot pepper forum) suggestion and bought a bag of pine bark mulch and added 30 - 40% to the bottom of each transplant pot (not blended btw), except one to see if there was any difference. I also took my healthiest trinidad scorpion and put it in the biggest pot to see if I would get more growth out of it. I transplanted trinidad scorpions, chocolate bhut jolokia's and regular bhuts. You will notice some plants are well alone, over three months, while some about a month and some just started. I want to see if I can get peppers from all of them and in what time frame. If we have a hot spring, and above average summer as far as heat I imagine they will produce early. I have been taking flower buds off of them regularly. After transplant, I hit them with a weak solution of miracle grow. All of the pots have bark mulch in the bottom, only the cups are potting soil.

The last four shots are after transplant you can see the size width difference of all of the large grey pots ( all trinidad scorpions, BTW ), the others in the smaller pots in the plastic container are bhut, chocolate bhut and trinidad scorpions. The tiny little cups are the same with the exception being that I have a pair of white bhuts (I hope), and I tried pairing some of them together to see how they grow, to see if slower or about the same as a single plant. Only time will tell, that's it for now, they will stay in those pots until harvest. I may up-size pots and soil on some if they appear they are still growing. No bugs, fungus, aphids or insects on anyone of them thanks to malathion (which I hate btw) but it works. Let's see what happens with these in a couple of months. I fluffed the soil as much as possible before planting and plan to water from the bottom for best root penetration and to keep insects down. They like the damp top soil I guess. A couple of my scorpions in red cups went into shock, none of the others did, I have them under a light, and have not a clue as why only two did and not the others, they came out of clear cups to the larger red ones, that was the only difference I could see. Very odd to say the least. Lastly, what should I be shooting for as far as PH goes ? I plan to buy a meter soon, what is a decent brand and price ?

http://img402.imageshack.us/img402/627/transplant1.jpg

http://img651.imageshack.us/img651/9083/transplant2.jpg

http://img837.imageshack.us/img837/2622/transplant3.jpg

http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/2562/transplant4.jpg

http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/8045/transplant5.jpg

http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/5318/transplant6.jpg

Rhody...

 

[Evo]

Good looking crop Rhody!