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Pepper Pickers Welcome (Atten: Psiload)

King of the Americas

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I looked for a 'recreational' section, in which to post this, but...found nothing of a sort.

In any case, I use a fair amount of Science in my gardening, and I even grow some Medicines, so maybe this forum isn't too far off.

This year I planted 4 kinds of peppers- Banana, Jalapeno, Cayenne, & Habanero. As they rippen, I pick them slice them up, dehydrate them, and then powder them into an easy to use sprinkle.

So too, do I do with my Hysopp, Calendula, and Nastrium buds. They make for tasty healing teas, so long as you add a little mint & honey.

This year I also added crushed egg shells to my soil mix, hoping that the increased calcium levels would yeild a larger crop, of peppers. My uncle grew the same sort of peppers, using no egg shells, and our crops have been of similiar size. In fact, he is currently a dozen peppers ahead of me. I am guessing that I am already at max output and that my soil already had lots of Calcium in it before my additions.

I am always up for sharing gardening secrets or hints, of you have questions or comments please feel free to fire away. :)

{*I made this post, with the intention of attracting "PSILOAD". He hasn't answered any of the PM's or e-mails that I have sent him, and I have no other way of contacting him. I sent him a shipment of dried peppers, and I was wondering if he had received them, yet. So, if you are watching PSILOAD, "Breaker breaker 419, do you read? Over."}
 
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My garden suckes this year.
I put out the whole lineup of peppers, jalapeno, habanera, ti chiles and have got nutten.
I thin it’s a lack of bee’s
 
Where are you located?

Did you plant in 'new' ground, or had you planted other things in the soil previously, like potatos?

Some plants don't 'follow' others very well...

Also, how deep did you plant them, and how much water did they get during the early growing season?
 
Well, I can't help you in locating Psiload, but I can tell kedo1981 that bees don't have anything to do with pollinating peppers. They are pollinated when the blossoms are shaken by the wind....... sort of like tomatoes. I used to grow peppers and tomatoes in my greenhouse (and I do keep bees, but certainly not in the greenhouse!!) and I looked it up. After I learned this, I went in and shook the peppers and tomatoes every day and had very satisfactory crops.

King of the Americas, did you roast the eggshells before crushing? It seems like I read somewhere that that helped, somehow. I have no idea how......

And we have a wonderful tea plant here called "cota" by the Navajos but I've also heard it called greenthread and Navajo tea. The scientific name is Thelesperma megapotamicum. I highly recommend it. :)
 
To Randfan:

If you are able to find Psiload, you can ask him how 'choking' my peppers are.

I have grown acustomed to their hot and no longer find them to qualify as chili chokers.

He may disagree...
 
To Amapola:

Roasting the egg shells, huh?

I'll try that. Do they have to be roasted, or could I 'cook' them by boiling them???

I haven't seen ANY bees flying around my pepper plants. However, I do plant them into close groups of variety, many times no more than 12-18 inches apart. Blooms usually cover every variety, although as I reported earlier, my uncle's crop has exceeded my own, this year,...and my 'egg shell' solution hasn't provided me any greater production.

You have a 'tea' plant??? Is it a tree? Do you keep it indoors or outside? Did you aquire it at a mature plant, or grow it from seed? Does it grow from cuttings? Sorry for all the questions, but owning a tea tree sounds very interesting...
 
If you live in a very hot, dry part of the world, it is best to plant your peppers so that they receive sun from the West. You really want them to retain the dew they receive in the early part of the day.

Hot, dry weather is great for peppers but it does not mean you want to scorch them. If you punish them with sun early in the day, you will find that your peppers ripen too quickly and you get smaller pods.

If you are limited on space and must plant so that your peppers are going to recieve the morning sun, try to at least have a bit of an overhang, via cloth or perhaps by planting near the house or garage so that as the sun climbs higher they aren't exposed throughout the entire day. You will need to water peppers planted in this way a bit more.

If you give your peppers time to mature properly, you will find that you get a lot more heat out of them. A good sign that your peppers have the right balance of heat and moisture is that when you slice or bite into one, the seeds should fall out rather easily. If you find that your seeds still clump together although the pepper looks mature, the plant is probably rushing the pods to ensure reproduction. Depending on the type of exposure your plant is getting, you can then determine if you need more sun or moisture.

Eggshells are very good. You can just toss them right out near the plants. Iron is also very good for hot peppers. Pushing a rusty nail into the soil near the base of the plant works great.
 
Hi King of the Americas - As far as I know, boiling eggshells works too. I hope this is not some silly superstition, I just seem to remember reading in a gardening book that this would help the calcium be absorbed by the plants better. I roasted the shells, because I could do a whole bunch that way and could use the shells from eggs that were not hardboiled.

For the tea plant, I think technically cota would be called a "forb". It's not a tree, sorry! It is a wild plant that is native to the southwest of the US. It grows in my pastures and on the mountains all around me, so I don't grow it in my garden but I do encourage it around the place and I am careful not to mow or damage it. You can read more about cota (or Navajo tea) here: medplant.nmsu.edu/thelesperma.htm and if you would like to order seeds, I found this catalog where you can do so: plantsofthesouthwest.com/cgi-bin/plantview.cgi?_recordnum=104 Since I am new to the forum, I was told I could not post links or images yet, so I hope that will suffice!

And Black Hat, I like your signature line and I would like you to know my husband is working on it!! :D
 
Thanks, Black Hat:

my pepper are arranged to the West (meaning that the row runs ast and West), shaded for a fourth of the day (by the house), so that they keep some of their morning moisture. Although during the heat of summer, I am always carefully to water them with 'day-old' water (water from the tap that I left to set for 24 hrs, to emilinate some chlorine), to deliver them from the afternoon droop.

I'll try the nail-by-the-root-method, next season.

I planted all my peppers 'above ground level', in raised beds. They usually do very well. I have since caught up with my uncle, and I am even ahead of him by a dozen pepers, now... Although I expect him to arrive at any time with a sack full of peppers, anytime now.

(STILL NO PSILOAD!?!?!? WHERE OH WHERE COULD HE BE???)
 
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