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Soul Dentist posted:This only matters if you're collecting seeds and replanting next season. Cross pollination doesn't effect the initial plants This. I do control for pollination in the seeds I save, but real jalapeño seeds are easy to find. You just need to be particular about them and not buy whatever is in the packets at the nursery. Those are going to be the "popular" stable hybrids that will give grocery store looking peppers, but not the good heirloom ones.
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Oct 19, 2023 23:07
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| # ? May 29, 2024 18:35 |
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I got mine from an old farmer and they are consistently hot except the mutants growing at the bottom of one particular plant, which are lava Going all in on New Mexico chile next year; heritage varieties for green and Chimayo heritage to ripen into red chile
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Oct 19, 2023 23:56
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Shifty Pony posted:Missed quite a few bulbs of garlic when harvesting so they started to sprout. I transplanted them into rows so we'll see what happens. That happened a couple years ago and I never caught it. The next year I had a couple clumps of garlic plants. Funny thing is, instead of being deformed or anything, those were the biggest, nicest, most symmetrical bulbs I harvested. Soul Dentist posted:This only matters if you're collecting seeds and replanting next season. Cross pollination doesn't effect the initial plants I've heard people claim since a lot of the heat is in the seeds, cross pollination can make this year's bell peppers spicy or whatever. I'm skeptical, and haven't done enough digging into actual reliable information there. I know it's a thing with corn though, because the seed is the crop. So cross pollination can make your sweet corn starchy or turn yellow corn bicolor or whatever. I've always had mixed results with jalapeños. This year I grew Zapotecs, and I think that's now my jalapeño variety for life. Nice spice level, great flavor, nice thick walls, tons of cool corking...we have a winner.
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Oct 20, 2023 00:26
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JoshGuitar posted:That happened a couple years ago and I never caught it. The next year I had a couple clumps of garlic plants. Funny thing is, instead of being deformed or anything, those were the biggest, nicest, most symmetrical bulbs I harvested. Yeah, those people are wrong and don’t understand how genetics work. The seeds contain the genetic information for next years plants. They don’t have any input on how the currently growing plant matures or sets fruit. It’s like suggesting a mother should have brown hair instead of blonde because well, the baby has the gene for brown hair. The gene for brown hair only affects the next generation, just like the genes for heat or color only affects the next plant you grow using those seeds.
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Oct 20, 2023 00:38
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Jhet posted:It’s like suggesting a mother should have brown hair instead of blonde because well, the baby has the gene for brown hair. The gene for brown hair only affects the next generation, just like the genes for heat or color only affects the next plant you grow using those seeds. Saying it that way really puts to rest the "I dunno, it's plant stuff I hear people saying both things and I don't have the training to know which is right." Nice description.....seems obvious once it's said.
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Oct 20, 2023 00:49
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JoshGuitar posted:That happened a couple years ago and I never caught it. The next year I had a couple clumps of garlic plants. Funny thing is, instead of being deformed or anything, those were the biggest, nicest, most symmetrical bulbs I harvested. If we let it happen for enough years in a row will we get perfectly spherical garlic? The previous owner had basically hidden garlic in every single little nook and cranny of the garden. Despite separating out the smallest weakest ones, I still ended up planting 64 garlic.
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Oct 20, 2023 00:56
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Jhet posted:It’s like suggesting a mother should have brown hair instead of blonde because well, the baby has the gene for brown hair. The gene for brown hair only affects the next generation, just like the genes for heat or color only affects the next plant you grow using those seeds. But if blondes and brunettes tasted different, and in eating the mother you're also eating a blonde or brunette fetus that makes up part of her flavor, then this becomes a really loving weird metaphor. It's definitely a thing with corn though, as far as I understand. If true with peppers, it won't turn your bell peppers into Carolina Reapers, but it could give bell peppers a touch of heat. IF the genetics in a pepper seed affect that seed's flavor in the way that the pollen a corn kernel receives can affect its flavor. I personally think it's bullshit with peppers but what do I know?  Shifty Pony posted:If we let it happen for enough years in a row will we get perfectly spherical garlic? Of course!
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Oct 20, 2023 01:10
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JoshGuitar posted:But if blondes and brunettes tasted different, and in eating the mother you're also eating a blonde or brunette fetus that makes up part of her flavor, then this becomes a really loving weird metaphor. It's definitely a thing with corn though, as far as I understand. If true with peppers, it won't turn your bell peppers into Carolina Reapers, but it could give bell peppers a touch of heat. IF the genetics in a pepper seed affect that seed's flavor in the way that the pollen a corn kernel receives can affect its flavor. I personally think it's bullshit with peppers but what do I know? It's not a perfect metaphor, but it illustrated the point. Corn isn't a good analogue either, because the kernels are next years plant already starting to grow. Basically corn is a messed up plant and the kernels form using the genetic material of the current plant and the parent plants. Corn is weird. Pepper seeds contain the embryo, endosperm, and seed coating (there are more parts, but they're more parts of the three big parts). The embryo contains the new genetic material, the genetics for everything except the new info comes from the genetics of the current plant. The embryo doesn't contain capcasin either, it's absorbed by the seed coating from the oil coating the membrane inside the pepper fruit. This is well understood science though, but because corn is weird gardeners like to think it holds true for other plants even if they're incapable of it. Basically, gardeners can be really good at making plants grow, but I don't trust them for plant biology. Pepper breeding is sort of interesting, but takes a long time to produce anything homozygous or that will stay true to seed, and not all sub varieties like to cross with others. So a bell pepper and a carolina reaper won't really want to produce viable see well in the first place.
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Oct 20, 2023 01:39
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Jhet posted:It's not a perfect metaphor, but it illustrated the point. Corn isn't a good analogue either, because the kernels are next years plant already starting to grow. Basically corn is a messed up plant and the kernels form using the genetic material of the current plant and the parent plants. Corn is weird. Ok, sounds like you know more than me here, and this is pretty much in line with my position of "it's a real thing with corn, and I'm skeptical with peppers but can't intelligently argue against it". Works for me. Now I'm just randomly wondering, I know beans rarely cross pollinate. But with beans, the seed is the crop, just like with corn (although obviously what part we eat isn't the deciding factor for how a plant works). If you hand pollinated some black beans with navy bean pollen or whatever, would the resulting beans on that year's crop still look and taste like normal black beans, or do the "corn thing" and give you some gray/zebra striped/however genetics work beans?
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Oct 20, 2023 02:15
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Jhet posted:This is well understood science though, but because corn is weird gardeners like to think it holds true for other plants even if they're incapable of it. For most backyard gardens (with essentially zero controls on pollination) I'd expect the differences to be minimal compared to, for example, the effects of temperature and humidity fluctuations on pollination quality. Random seasonal weather fluctuations are what always make or break my okra and late-summer tomato production, for example.
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Oct 20, 2023 02:52
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SubG posted:There's also the fact that many plants have better fruit set and fruit development when cross-pollinated. That doesn't directly affect fruit flavour and colour that season (you don't get a combination of properties of the parents in the fruit). But it can change the on-the-plate qualities of the fruit through the developmental changes by e.g. growing to a slightly different size than a self-pollinated fruit from the same plant, resulting in a difference in water content and therefore perceived flavour or mouthfeel or whatever. And that kind of thing. Exactly. A lot of plants like to sleep around, and some really don’t. For most of us, environmental factors will always be more impactful than the pollen. Except corn, and some apples, but not all of them…. From what I understand it comes down to how the fruit/seed matures and also what sort of seed it is, etc. It’s something greenhouses do have to consider, but there’s also easier cross-pollination control if you plan for it. The pepper thing with “it’s hotter because my neighbor grows habaneros” is very wrong though. My complaining is not generalizable to other plant species. E: I don’t know about beans. I’d think it wouldn’t matter for this year’s crop much, but really idk. Mine never seem to care if I put them next to each other on the same trellis, but they’d grow differently if I saved those seeds.
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Oct 20, 2023 03:03
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pepper heat is a multidimensional thing too. it's a nature + nurture thing.
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Oct 20, 2023 03:05
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When are we going to get around to the abomination of nature that is fruit tree grafting? That poo poo is really messed up, making literal frankenberry's monsters.
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Oct 20, 2023 03:23
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I want all the drupes grafted together
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Oct 20, 2023 03:38
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Alucard posted:When are we going to get around to the abomination of nature that is fruit tree grafting? That poo poo is really messed up, making literal frankenberry's monsters. I planted a tree that is both a lemon tree and a lime tree, presumably with some other tree as root stock. Some creature or weather event caused many of the leaves on the lime graft to come off - I assume the lemon side will help keep the entire abomination going?
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Oct 20, 2023 03:47
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 First haul of the new raised beds. It's getting colder out here and our garden is northfacing so we've already lost direct sunlight. Still, pretty pleased by it. I also can't use the beds for winter planting because they will lose sunlight till the beginning of april. It is what it is. The yellow ones are not habaneros, but madame jeunette. hot, but very fragrant.
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Oct 20, 2023 08:34
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My jalapeno plant this year was boilerplate store bought burpee. Still very hot! I fermented the last batch and made a relish and it's like a spoonful of fire. My yellow ghost peppers had a weirdly good year. The plant had the thickest main stem I've ever seen on a pepper plant. And just super, super prolific. It was cool to see, but I don't think I'll repeat because I just don't have enough use for all those superhots. Still have a ton in the fridge waiting for... something.
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Oct 20, 2023 11:11
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Ghost peppers aren’t as bad as some, but I don’t like the smoky undertones in the flavor of most super hot chinense species so I don’t grow them. I have eaten them for the fun of trying them out though. I do like habanero flavor and a local grower had a weird mutt of a chinense that was delicious and had all the fruitiness without the death or smoke. I wish I had a better garden overall this year but it flooded all Spring and I think the soil micro biome got screwed up. Still pretty ok and my peppers in particular didn’t care at all e: I think maybe the peppers did better because their soil was amended more with my chicken poop and plant material compost, which has a great-smelling culture freeedr fucked around with this message at 17:00 on Oct 20, 2023 |
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Oct 20, 2023 13:53
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My poor peppers are in a state. It was too hot until a couple weeks ago for there to be any real chance of setting fruit. I had dozens and dozens of dropped blooms all summer. Now that it has cooled a bit, they are getting absolutely murderfucked by aphids. I'll get a few freaky stubby and deformed golden cayennes, but my habanero is likely going to finish the season having produced precisely squat.Motronic posted:Italian "long hots" are very much known for this. Seems like 10% of them are burn your sinuses out hot. I played these odds when I tried to introduce my extremely spice-averse wife to shishito peppers. She rolled a natural 1. Oh well, more for me!
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Oct 20, 2023 18:29
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Discussion Quorum posted:My poor peppers are in a state. It was too hot until a couple weeks ago for there to be any real chance of setting fruit. I had dozens and dozens of dropped blooms all summer. Now that it has cooled a bit, they are getting absolutely murderfucked by aphids. I'll get a few freaky stubby and deformed golden cayennes, but my habanero is likely going to finish the season having produced precisely squat. I thought I would get nothing when it was 105 every day. I considered putting up shade cloth, but decided to see how they would do with nothing except twice-a-day watering plus later afternoon shade and they did great. Had peppers harvested at the start of July through now. Aphids attacked my pumpkins though. In my other yard
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Oct 20, 2023 19:24
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Feliday Melody posted:Is there any way to reliably "save" apples that have already fallen on the ground?
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Oct 20, 2023 19:41
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When I get a heap of apples I clean em, halve em, cover em with water, bring em up to a boil, let them sit for a while and then strain everything through cheesecloth. Usually I'll boil that down by 3/4 and then I can use that in jams or freeze it for later mischief.
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Oct 21, 2023 05:05
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Thanks for the advice. I'm going to try a fruit dryer to dry apple slices for next year. Then, when I need them, I guess I can soak those gently in water in the fridge the day before and then use those for my protein shakes. A friend's wife is going to teach me mushroom picking, so it could come in handy there as well. Feliday Melody fucked around with this message at 06:00 on Oct 21, 2023 |
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Oct 21, 2023 05:50
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Nobody tell my raspberry canes it's mid-October
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Oct 21, 2023 12:47
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thunderdome winner
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Mine are fruiting as well. There are some varieties that do that.
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Oct 21, 2023 13:55
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after three years my pineapples have started fruiting so i'm happy about it!
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Oct 21, 2023 14:12
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Shifty Pony posted:Mine are fruiting as well. There are some varieties that do that. Yeah, we were not expecting it tho as the original plants these were cloned from have not been bearing late, despite being half a zone warmer. ...unless my mother in law is loving with me, which is extremely possible tbh
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Oct 21, 2023 14:53
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We actually have been getting a few strawberries too, sometimes plants just get confused.
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Oct 21, 2023 14:56
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My strawberries survived such a brutal winter but didn’t recover well from flooding this year. Only sparse, small fruits this time. I don’t think they will survive this winter. Plus side of flooding was the thousands of mushrooms we had all Spring!
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Oct 21, 2023 15:08
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Speaking of strawberries, what's the best way to overwinter them in a raised bed? Using leaves on that bed last year (when it was just asparagus) was a disaster. Is it straw? It's straw isn't it.
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Oct 23, 2023 20:16
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All mine had was a bed of leaves. Honestly didn’t expect them to make it. They had snow piled on them a couple of times but not as bad as most areas because their location made the snow drift away from them, so that probably helped. They were in a half-barrel planter.
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Oct 23, 2023 20:24
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I have strawberries in a raised bed that have been there for years before I got here. Total neglect and they’re fine, in Zone 5. They shouldn’t need anything.
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Oct 23, 2023 22:45
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Another strawberry question: Would strawberries work will as a companion planted under apple trees or is it best to leave the area unplanted directly under? Im not looking to produce berries for me, just erosion control and greenery. I've managed to pup about a million native berry plants this year and im looking for places to drop them
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Oct 24, 2023 00:02
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My permaculture design teacher used native strawberries and grape hyacinth as ground cover for his apple and currant plantings. The whole system grew like crazy and everything in it was excellent. Looking around it seems like it's a commonly used cover crop in Mid-Atlantic permaculture systems, I've got them as cover for my figs and asparagus beds myself, and they do well there too.
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Oct 24, 2023 01:36
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I have mock strawberries (Potentilla indica) growing under basically all of my plants, and there are some actual strawberry plants that jump around via runners to different places in the garden every year. The only issue I've seen from them is that they can shelter pest insects and shade out seedlings. I doubt they would give a tree any issues.
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Oct 24, 2023 01:38
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Chernobyl Princess posted:My permaculture design teacher used native strawberries and grape hyacinth as ground cover for his apple and currant plantings. The whole system grew like crazy and everything in it was excellent. Looking around it seems like it's a commonly used cover crop in Mid-Atlantic permaculture systems, I've got them as cover for my figs and asparagus beds myself, and they do well there too.
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Oct 24, 2023 03:48
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Chernobyl Princess posted:My permaculture design teacher used native strawberries and grape hyacinth as ground cover for his apple and currant plantings. The whole system grew like crazy and everything in it was excellent. Looking around it seems like it's a commonly used cover crop in Mid-Atlantic permaculture systems, I've got them as cover for my figs and asparagus beds myself, and they do well there too. Excellent! Ill go wild then. Finally getting enough rain that the pups should root in well. I tried a few earlier in the spring but it was so drought here that i couldn't keep the top soil consistent wet enough to please them.
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Oct 24, 2023 07:02
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We've never done anything with strawberries for winter and we can get down to -30C temps occasionally.
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Oct 24, 2023 07:46
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Some snow is coming in later today. I did the last major cleanup, but I didn't get to the tilling I had hoped to do. Instead I harvested my last parsnips and carrots, then manually dug out and ammended that bed and planted about 48 garlic cloves (forgot to count before I covered) in the polytunnel, and we'll see how long the kale and chard keep going. If I'm feeling motivated on Thursday I'll probably go throw some leaves or straw on top of the asparagus.
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Oct 24, 2023 19:35
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| # ? May 29, 2024 18:35 |
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Question, unrelated to cherry seeds: I have a couple of chili pepper plants on my balcony. It's starting to get cooler, and 3 of them have started to die off. However, one is still going strong. I'd like to keep it if possible, but it'd have to come inside - it gets much too cold in the winter to remain outdoors. My question is, are indoor lights sufficient to keep it alive through the winter? Or would I need to get a proper grow light? I have to keep the plant on a tall shelf, because I have 2 cats who have made a valiant effort in the past to kill themselves devouring pepper plant leaves. The shelf in question is not close enough to a window to be effective in that regard.
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Oct 25, 2023 14:43
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