2013 A new beginning-The greenhouse and Peppers

Well, well, well, it's been a while. After a long historical winter and a record maple sugaring season here in Connecticut, it's time to get down and dirty.

A couple of days after the 36-38" snow fall from February 8-9th the snow on the greenhouse proved to be to much for the house to handle. Yes, much to my disappointment the greenhouse collapsed do to the wait of the melting snow.

With the maple season behind me I now had time to assess the damage. Bad, but not so bad to end my long endearing relationship with the greenhouse. I was able to use some lumber and 6 mil greenhouse plastic and cover her up. Ventilation is the biggest issue since the two solar rooftop vents are gone (for now). I moved the louver window from the side and placed it a the highest point in the rear of the house opposite the front door. Sure does get very warm in there but it's doing the job.

inside view



2013 seedlings and wintered over Collards & Kale

Sowing seeds has been going on since late March and the time has come to transplant into individual containters or cell packs. As you can see I start seeds in a 4" round pot using soiless mix (usually ProMix ) and covering with a baggie to create a moist environment. Then they go underT5  flourescent lights, which I believe is 6500k spectrum and onto the heat mat. This practice usallly yields me seedlings in a week or so depending on the plant variety. Some take less and some take longer.

Each year I get all fired up up about a particular varity of vegetable. This year it's the soon to be crowned "the worlds hottest" pepper, the Carolina Reaper also known as  HP22B which is consistently coming in at 1.4 MILLION scovilles. To give some perspective a jalepeno is around 5000 scovilles and habaneros come in at a blazing 250,000-400,000 scovilles. This is one amazing and frightening looking pepper. The seeds of the super hots take longer to germinate, some up to a month. To hasten germation I soaked the seeds overnight in warm water. Some say soaking in chamomile tea is even better. My 1st Reapers germinated in 9 days.

Carolina Reaper seedlings



Carolina Reaper seedlings -Day 22

I want to give a shout out to Pepper Joe's as one of the two reliable sources for authentic HP22B  Reaper seeds. Ed Currie from Pucker Butt Pepper Co. is the other. The Carolina reaper was developed by Ed.  Like everything " It has to be true, I read it on the internet" You know, the place you can find French models. But seriously, I did a lot of research and Pepper Joe's  and The Pucker Butt Pepper Co. seem to be the real deal.

Some more hot pepper varities I'm growing are the Congo Trinidad which is described as a plumper habanero type coming in at 2"x2"



 

Congo Trinidad-Day 33

Also in the mix are Takanotsume which is a small thin 2"-3" chile from Japan and Pasillo Bajio which is a mild chile popular for use as an ingredient in mole sauce.