Wanna Heat Things Up in January??

[Hencackle]

Thanks for letting me know about Totally Tomatoes' background. I searched for their "safe seed pledge" and didn't find one. Monsanto is a dirty word at my house. I don't like their buying out seed companies in order to eradicate non-GMO seed supply. Territorial Seed Company and Seeds of Change gets my business. There hasn't been any Roundup or commercial pesticides & fertilizers on my yard either.

Bell peppers--I haven't been growing those, just only those on the list I mentioned in an earlier post. The large bell varieties just seem to take way too long to mature and skimp on production.

Reinbeau--a Johnny's Seed catalog came this week, it looks tempting.

 

[jc12551]

At the risk of stirring up the GMO debate more: almost all plant varieties could be considered GMO/transgenic even Heirloom varieties. It all depends on how deep you want to take the definition of GMO/Transgenic. All crops that are grown today have been genetically modified at some point through selective breeding.

**gets off biology teacher soap box and becomes a 'regular' person again**

Have you ever grown any of these peppers?

Big Daddy, Costa Rican Sweet, Mariachi Hybrid, or hot lemon?

These are the varieties my husband has picked out for me to grow for him (sweet of him). It was fun to see him take an interest in my 'hobby'.

I just pulled my last Anaheim plant out of the ground a week ago. It had been producing since late June, early July! Crazy weather.

 

[Reinbeau]

I've heard this argument before and it just doesn't hold water for me. Breeding plants is far different than artificially inserting genes from something other than plant material. These GMO advocates care nothing about what escapes into the wild, as a matter of fact, they actually make money off of lawsuits over their escaped genetic material (see Monsanto vs. Schmeiser) They've also sued native Central American farmers (who we all know are ever so wealthy! ) over seeds these farmers have grown for eons. I could go on and on, but I won't.

 

[digitS']

Have you ever grown any of these peppers?

Big Daddy, Costa Rican Sweet, Mariachi Hybrid, or hot lemon?

I know that I'm now getting pretty far behind the curve on exploring new varieties, altho' I guess hot lemon is an heirloom. That Mariachi is so just "last year," too ! It looks rather like Hencackle's Pizza Pepper, I wonder what class these peppers are, other than cute.

Two of those are Marconi peppers from their description (Big Daddy & Costa Rican), I'm guessing that you couldn't go wrong on those but there's my own bias coming thru. You must have had the Burpee catalog in front of your DH, JC. They're good at sending out "fresh" and beautiful copies, be sure to keep one on the kitchen table for him to look at.

Bell peppers--I haven't been growing those, just only those on the list I mentioned in an earlier post. The large bell varieties just seem to take way too long to mature and skimp on production.

That's kinda my feeling too but bells still find their way into my garden. Park's Whopper has always done fine for me and I grow Peto Wonder, also. Another gardener once said that it's nice to grow giant bells like that. I said, "What giants? I just want some of reasonable size!" Yeah, they do seem to take longer and without the plants making it to a "reasonable size," I'm just happy not to have bell varieties that only Tinkerbell would find "giants."

Steve
(who's grown King of the North also but thinks we've gone on to happier pepper pastures from that one.

 

[digitS']

I just pulled my last Anaheim plant out of the ground a week ago. It had been producing since late June, early July! Crazy weather.

Oh, and Anaheims! (And, where in heavens do you garden, JC?!?

I've grown Big Chilies for quite a few years. I think there are some new varieties of Anaheims out there that maybe I should be trying. Don't know . . .

S'

 

[jc12551]

I garden in the north east corner of North Carolina. Horrible humidity and 100 degrees in the summer (bell peppers don't do well for me-not sure if the weather was the cause) and this winter 50-80 degrees. On 1/9 I wore shorts at 10pm to walk the dog. Today I needed a jacket. Go figure.

I kept my peppers covered anytime it got below 50. But they finally played out and I ripped them up and replaced them with lettuce. They were the best peppers ever. Not very big or hot at all. I had three plants and we couldn't eat them all. I still have some in the crisper.

 

[digitS']

JC said, I still have some in the crisper.

The pepper fragrance has been completely overwhelmed by the smell of parsnips in the carport produce fridge. ( I really should get things outta there but despite all the snow, it probably hasn't froze in that fridge [all that much] so far

Hey, here's what NC State University says about:

Pizza Pepper (OSU 104-1-1-4) - Breeder: J. Baggett. Vendor: Territorial Seed Co. Parentage: open pollinated. Characteristics: conic pepper type, 90 mm length, wall thickness 6 mm, fruit mature from green to red, plants 40 cm tall. Similar: Apple and Lipstick, except with thicker walls. 1998.

So, where have I been since 1998 . . . ?

That's James Baggett, a native of Idaho, one of my heroes ! He's the plant breeder who brought us the Oregon Sugar Pod snow pea. I'm goin' try his Legend tomato this year. Where's this guy get off - tomatoes, peas, beans, peppers? I guess he's retired now so maybe it's time to offer some tributes.

And, those Apple & Lipstick peppers referenced by NCSU: they're from Johnny's and licensed to Rob Johnston. He lists them as a "heart pimento" in the catalog.

Hencackle said, Can anybody recommend a good paprika pepper to be used as the spice?

I don't know much about paprika peppers but your pimento pepper, Pizza, may be what you are looking for.

BTW - Johnny's is being taken over by its employees. I think we could see that happening last year with some screw ups as the transitions began. Hopefully, they will still offer their good service, great selection, and all the rest . Rob Johnston may have tired of his enterprise. I read this article about Rob sometime this Winter.

Things are achangin' .

Steve
:tools

 

[jc12551]

I have never heard of the Pizza Pepper. My husband is intrigued. If he keeps this up we are going to have to rent some land and put in a real garden.

I had never heard of Johnny's until this thread. We are interested in doing more organic/sustainable practices. Last summer I used reclaimed water from rain barrels and the air conditioner unit for my watering. I don't use chemical pesticides either. I need to start composting. My landlord, who is a fellow science teacher, does worm composting and keeps trying to give me a unit. I should take him up on it.

 

[digitS']

I send lots of $$ to Johnny's for seed each year. They are #1 and Stokes is #2 for purchases lately. It's been that way, with the numbers reversed, for many years.

Because of your location, JC, you may want to look closely at Tomato Growers Supply, also . They've got plenty of peppers for every part of the US and a pretty, pretty catalog, too.

The thing to remind your DH about is that it doesn't take very many hot pepper plants to put a lot of FIRE in your cooking !! Consumption can go up as we work our way down the heat scale .

Steve

 

[Rosewood]

I tried Jalepanos last year and they came out great. Lots on one plant, I tossed them in the freezer and ate them all year, no blanching just wipe them off and freeze. Seeds were plain Burpee brand. They punched up the Chili just fine.

:rose