A Seed Saver's Garden

[heirloomgal]

I received my pepper seed order already! Geez, that was quick! And they were so nice to include 2 bonus pepper seed packets in my tiny little order. I have never hear of them, 'Tiger Jalapeno' and 'KSLS', so I did some googling. Looks like they sent me a couple interesting and unusual varieties. 'KSLS' is Khang Starr Lemon Starrburst, a stabilised pepper variety from crossing Bahamian Goat and MOA Scotch Bonnet. I'm not really a grower of the superhots, but it's a nice looking pepper so I think I'll give it a try and grow one plant. It looks like this -

Tiger Jalapeno is pretty neat too -

 

[heirloomgal]

Waiting.

 

[baymule]

Tiger Jalapeno is so pretty!

 

[Zeedman]

Tiger Jalapeno is pretty neat too -

The Tiger Jalapeno looks interesting. I hope, though, that it does justice to the name. I grew "Purple Jalapeno", which was indeed purple... but shorter, thin walled, and not even remotely similar to a jalapeno. I'll be looking forward to your review in 2022. Oh, and if anyone finds a real purple jalapeno, please let me know.

 

[jbosmith]

The Tiger Jalapeno looks interesting. I hope, though, that it does justice to the name. I grew "Purple Jalapeno", which was indeed purple... but shorter, thin walled, and not even remotely similar to a jalapeno. I'll be looking forward to your review in 2022. Oh, and if anyone finds a real purple jalapeno, please let me know. View attachment 45559

Most of the purple jalapenos that I've tried were so prone to cracking that you could hardly tell what color they were

 

[jbosmith]

What's left of yesterday.
View attachment 45469

It has begun.
View attachment 45470View attachment 45471
I've never used garden soil to start seedlings, so this was a bit of an experiment to see what's possible. I always buy sterilised professional starter mix. But I've come to distrust those mixes a bit over time. Perfectly fresh they are great, but it is hard to know if what you're getting is fresh. The pH adjuster in those mixes degrades so quickly, and it has stunted my plants several times as a result, including this year. Even keeping the mix frozen outside, it will be bad in the spring. I'm not confident there is much fresh stuff out there right now at the beginning of winter so I'm giving real soil a try instead of a peat mix. Years ago I bought a lg. bale, planted hundreds of pepper seeds in it, and after sprouting they never moved. Turned out it wasn't pH in that case but contamination; the mix ran orange when I watered. Contacted the head office, and they would only say a 'photosynthesis inhibitor' was present and to not dispose the bale anywhere near my garden or property. They refunded me some money for my seeds, but when I saw the gag clause with the check, I never signed nor collected. The whole thing was pretty weird so I'm cautious now.

Needless to say, I'm happy that they seem to be sprouting just fine in the soil and no signs of dampening off.

Wow you're motivated. I don't even start super hots til some bored weekend near the end of January :-o

I always use Promix BX for seed starting and luckily the only problem I've had with it is that it had a lot of sticks in it for a couple of years. I don't love that it's peat based but it works so well that I pretend to think about replacing it once per year and then buy another bag. :-/

 

[Zeedman]

Most of the purple jalapenos that I've tried were so prone to cracking that you could hardly tell what color they were

The "purple jalapeno" that I grew was short, nearly conical, and did not deserve the time-honored title of "Jalapeno". I purged it from my collection.

 

[heirloomgal]

The Tiger Jalapeno looks interesting. I hope, though, that it does justice to the name. I grew "Purple Jalapeno", which was indeed purple... but shorter, thin walled, and not even remotely similar to a jalapeno. I'll be looking forward to your review in 2022. Oh, and if anyone finds a real purple jalapeno, please let me know. View attachment 45559

I already suspect that you're right @Zeedman ! I haven't yet tried any jalapenos other than green, but the hallmark shape of that variety - a green cyclinder which does not have much point to it's end - is missing in Tiger. That skinnyness and that point on the end tell me it isn't the real deal as far as a jalapeno goes. I researched Tiger a bit and it looks like a Jalapeno X with something else. It will be a novelty, and I'll grow the real jalapenos too. Your purple jalapeno looks like an 'ornamental' jalapeno according to a few sites. I think it's a jalapeno cross like Tiger.

It's funny, as much as I like to experiment with unusual varieties of different vegetables, especially tomatoes, peppers are a bit less tasty I find as you get into the 'colourful' side of things. I really haven't eaten a brown 'bell' or 'horn' pepper of any type that I actually found really tasty. Same goes for purple peppers of the same types. Pretty in a salad, but tasty? Nah. I haven't grown a true canary yellow yet, and I do quite like some orange peppers, but red is still my favourite pepper colour. Most of the other pepper colours taste 'empty' to me.

 

[heirloomgal]

Wow you're motivated. I don't even start super hots til some bored weekend near the end of January :-o

I always use Promix BX for seed starting and luckily the only problem I've had with it is that it had a lot of sticks in it for a couple of years. I don't love that it's peat based but it works so well that I pretend to think about replacing it once per year and then buy another bag. :-/

I've actually got a strategy in mind for my early peppers. Every single year without fail I *WAY* over plant pepper seeds. Probably because it's the first seeds to get started and all my gardening oompah is in full swing after having been forced into winter dormancy. Right now, I still have some good sense about me after having planted yet again a much too full greenhouse of plants, like over a hundred in a wee 8 X 12 and having to look after it all through a scorching summer (using a water pump and travelling hoses). By the time I get to that point, the fun is draining out as a result of my spring over exuberance. So, I think I can better limit myself starting now with memories of massive and extensive watering fresh in my memory. It doesn't help I'm a pathetic and hopeless thinner. I do it, but never enough and all those excess plants wind up being kept instead of tossed when I can't find homes for them. I also made sure - yes, I 'm hopeless - to plant like 3 seeds or less. (Why I had little clumps come up in the pots I don't know?)

I really want to enjoy my greenhouse in a leisurely way, with some actual space between the pots for once! And not wind up looking at it like a huge chore, which is the cycle I've gotten myself into since having it built. 'Less is more' - tough one for me...

 

[heirloomgal]

The "purple jalapeno" that I grew was short, nearly conical, and did not deserve the time-honored title of "Jalapeno". I purged it from my collection.

Didn't even know that emoji existed..