Great picture. Funny Funny:))

Adorable!

I am so relieved to finally be mailing my approximately 54,000 Datil pepper seeds to Baker Creek. Between record rain, record heat, a month with no rain and then more record rain this has been the hardest year yet to meet their seed request. I don't even want to look at another Datil pepper but now that I don't need peppers the plants are pumping them out like crazy.

Wow Kay, that is just incredible! I cant even imagine. How many plants did you have?

And how do you count that. Is it by weight?

Whew!

Ginny

I loved that pic; nothing like starting them young.

With this HOT Weather, several of my tomatoes will be ready to eat THIS week. Cole (2 are already orange and don't feel like rocks, one GG, and I picked /ate a yellow one ???? today. I have no idea what it was; but it bloomed early and easy on a RUNT plant. The only yellow I planted was Taxi and I have one plant and gave one away.

[B]Kay[/B] - That's a LOT of seeds. Could you start next years collection with the new peppers?

[B]Kay[/B] - How large did your GG plants get? UF is corresponding with me now on FB and said they are semi-determinate and should be 6' tall in a 3 gallon container (good to know that a small container can be used). Mine are < 3' (which is OK with me, preferably to 6') but really look DONE.

I am also growing Taxi (a determinate) and it is still growing and producing flowers / tomatoes.

My love affair with GG may be over even before I taste a tomato.

[B]Buzzing[/B] - I'm going to do it more than once a day too. Ginny's continual results are not by chance. For me some plants respond really well to it; or maybe the flowers have the right amount of open.

[B]Ginny[/B] - do you buzz all tomato plants (even ones that set easy like SunGold)?
Can you imagine Idii if most of those flowers set fruit? It would be a sight to see.

[B]NEED help with BER[/B] - So I had it in 2 Whopper (F1) plants but they are fine now; but I am having it STILL in Vorlon even though I have done the Calcium Nitrate twice. I have picked off over 6 tomatoes even small ones had it.

Should I feed it CN more often until I don't get BER anymore? doing 1 teaspoon as recommended.

This year I only had 45 plants because they said they wanted 7 ounces when we talked. When I got my contract they wanted 12 ounces. If I had known that I would have planted 60 and been done earlier. I know that for the size seed the Datil has there are about 4500 seeds per ounce.

[QUOTE=kayrobbins;512849]This year I only had 45 plants because they said they wanted 7 ounces when we talked. When I got my contract they wanted 12 ounces. If I had known that I would have planted 60 and been done earlier. I know that for the size seed the Datil has there are about 4500 seeds per ounce.[/QUOTE]

Yowza! That is so cool. I know you are sick of pepper plants and I surely don't blame you. How many Rocoto plants did you plant? If I had room for 45 pepper plants I would plant about 20 different types... lol. Not to save seeds though, just to find my favorites in one season!

You go girl. That is really impressive.

Ginny

[QUOTE=Barb_FL;512848]I loved that pic; nothing like starting them young.

With this HOT Weather, several of my tomatoes will be ready to eat THIS week. Cole (2 are already orange and don't feel like rocks, one GG, and I picked /ate a yellow one ???? today. I have no idea what it was; but it bloomed early and easy on a RUNT plant. The only yellow I planted was Taxi and I have one plant and gave one away.

[B]Kay[/B] - That's a LOT of seeds. Could you start next years collection with the new peppers?

[B]Kay[/B] - How large did your GG plants get? UF is corresponding with me now on FB and said they are semi-determinate and should be 6' tall in a 3 gallon container (good to know that a small container can be used). Mine are < 3' (which is OK with me, preferably to 6') but really look DONE.

I am also growing Taxi (a determinate) and it is still growing and producing flowers / tomatoes.

My love affair with GG may be over even before I taste a tomato.

[B]Buzzing[/B] - I'm going to do it more than once a day too. Ginny's continual results are not by chance. For me some plants respond really well to it; or maybe the flowers have the right amount of open.

[B]Ginny[/B] - do you buzz all tomato plants (even ones that set easy like SunGold)?
Can you imagine Idii if most of those flowers set fruit? It would be a sight to see.

[B]NEED help with BER[/B] - So I had it in 2 Whopper (F1) plants but they are fine now; but I am having it STILL in Vorlon even though I have done the Calcium Nitrate twice. I have picked off over 6 tomatoes even small ones had it.

Should I feed it CN more often until I don't get BER anymore? doing 1 teaspoon as recommended.[/QUOTE]

Barb, I buzz everything but it's not really necessary on the cherry types from what I can tell. But I still do it anyways... :-)

Ginny

Barb what is wrong with GG?

Ginny

That bag of seeds is amazing. 54,000 !!. It can make roughly 3500 packet.
I am also a hot pepper enthusiast. This year I had close to a dozen varieties, the hotest was Trinidad Scorpion Butch, followed by Fatalii , Chocolate Habanero ... on down to Aleppo.
Next year I will stop growing then, cause I have enough for several years.

Gardeneer

Gardeneer how do you save them?

Ginny

Barb, I save my stock seeds at the begging of the season. I pick the peppers that are the best and reserve those seeds for the next season.

The Garden Gem only got about 4 ft. One of the tomatoes I picked sat on the counter for 3 weeks and did not deteriorate at all. That is kind of scary.

Right now I have 7 Rocoto plants to overwinter but I am going to start more as an experiment. Since the seeds are so hard to germinate I am going to do a test of 3 different ways to treat the seeds. One batch will be soaked overnight in water, one overnight in buttermilk and one will have the seed coating slightly nicked with a file. I have no idea if any of this will work but I have plenty of seeds to play with.

If you watch the Vegibee video it shows you to only buzz flowers that are open and have the outer petals folded back. Those are the only ones I buzz. I have never been so happy to wrong about a product. I have gone from thinking it was silly gimmick to wondering why it took me so long to get one.

Kay- I can't get over that package of seeds! I think of all the work it took to get to that point. Goodness gracious!

Ginny- i buzzed 3 times yesterday. With over 100 plants it becomes quite a chore! The results will be worth it though. Already I see lots of fruitset, really lots, and that is astonishing in this heat. Cool front this weekend, yay!

[QUOTE=Fiishergurl;512898]Gardeneer how do you save them?

Ginny[/QUOTE]

I just cut the pods open, scrape the seeds onto paper towel and let it air dry. Saving pepper seeds is much easier than tomato seeds, as they don't need washing or fermenting. You can dry whole pods , if it is thin skinned. The meaty/juicy ones the seeds need to be taken out. Example Habanero, Rocote, Manzano, Jalapeno.


Gardeneer

Thats cool but i actually meant to ask what do you do with that many peppers and how do you save them... canning, pickleling, freezing?

Ginny

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk

[QUOTE=Fiishergurl;512942]Thats cool but i actually meant to ask what do you do with that many peppers and how do you save them... canning, pickleling, freezing?

Ginny

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk[/QUOTE]

All right I got you.
I use the milder ones fresh in cooking , salads and a little pickling.
But the majority of them are dried (whole or ground ) and some are made into hot sauce.
I have plenty of canned hot sauce from last year . So this year I dried them all, whole.
Anytime that I saute', use some whole chili ( like New Mex Twilight, Thai Hot) along with garlic, fresh ginger, onion...
Also I do give away some hot sauce to friends and relatives.

Gardeneer

Anyone want to hazard a guess what is digging holes in areas of my back yard? I only mow the grassy areas of my back yard and not much else. Lots of moles running around just underground by I pay no attention to them. The past couple of months something has been digging holes at night in these grassy areas, the ones with moles and others that don't seem to have so many moles. Holes approx 3" in diameter and not very deep, maybe 4". They don't appear to be digging into the mole tunnels. I thought raccoons but I'm not sure. One night they dug possibly 20 holes. Maybe rabbits? Maybe it was rabbits that ate my Broccoli seedlings after all. I have went out at night and shinned a flashlight around and I have not seen a single snail or slug. What do think? I'm a bit stumped. What do you think they are digging for? Oh and by the way I have seen a couple of raccoons here over the years but I have never seen a rabbit in Florida, let alone here.
Thanks, Larry

[QUOTE=Zone9b;513089]Anyone want to hazard a guess what is digging holes in areas of my back yard? I only mow the grassy areas of my back yard and not much else. Lots of moles running around just underground by I pay no attention to them. The past couple of months something has been digging holes at night in these grassy areas, the ones with moles and others that don't seem to have so many moles. Holes approx 3" in diameter and not very deep, maybe 4". They don't appear to be digging into the mole tunnels. I thought raccoons but I'm not sure. One night they dug possibly 20 holes. Maybe rabbits? Maybe it was rabbits that ate my Broccoli seedlings after all. I have went out at night and shinned a flashlight around and I have not seen a single snail or slug. What do think? I'm a bit stumped. What do you think they are digging for? Oh and by the way I have seen a couple of raccoons here over the years but I have never seen a rabbit in Florida, let alone here.
Thanks, Larry[/QUOTE]

Armadillos maybe? We had one here that was tearing up the neighbors lawn. That sounds about the same size holes as the one here was making.

Ginny

[QUOTE=Gardeneer;513051]All right I got you.
I use the milder ones fresh in cooking , salads and a little pickling.
But the majority of them are dried (whole or ground ) and some are made into hot sauce.
I have plenty of canned hot sauce from last year . So this year I dried them all, whole.
Anytime that I saute', use some whole chili ( like New Mex Twilight, Thai Hot) along with garlic, fresh ginger, onion...
Also I do give away some hot sauce to friends and relatives.

Gardeneer[/QUOTE]

That's what I was wondering. .. :-) I know Kay (KayRobbins) makes some really good spices with the really hot ones. I'm growing more pepper plants this year than before and was just looking for ideas. Thank you!

Ginny

[QUOTE=Fiishergurl;513091]Armadillos maybe? We had one here that was tearing up the neighbors lawn. That sounds about the same size holes as the one here was making.

Ginny[/QUOTE]
Makes sense. I would have never guessed. Thanks a bunch.
Larry

[QUOTE=kayrobbins;512904]
The Garden Gem only got about 4 ft. One of the tomatoes I picked sat on the counter for 3 weeks and did not deteriorate at all. That is kind of scary.

[/QUOTE]

So this would make an excellent tomato for growing LATE in the year with the extended shelf life. For fall, the big benefit is that it is early.

2 tomatoes on mine are almost ripe; probably by the weekend.

Are you still getting new growth/new flowers?

I did not grow Garden Gem at home just at the demonstration garden and I am not going to be back there.

I grow so many herbs and many of them are medicinal but never do anything with them because it is not something I know much about. After spending 3 days at the International Herb conference and listening to all of the speakers I decided to make a major change. I have resigned as a Master Garden and will not be working at the demo garden. It is a lot of work and after years of doing it I was tired of it. Plus I am not really learning anything and I keep having to do the same talks over and over to the point I am sick of hearing myself.

I decided to enroll in Rosemary Gladstar's The Science and Art of Herbalism. This is the kind of in depth training that I love. I have a whole stack of herbal reference books coming from Amazon tomorrow so I can get started on my homework from lesson one.

[QUOTE=kayrobbins;513146]I did not grow Garden Gem at home just at the demonstration garden and I am not going to be back there.

I grow so many herbs and many of them are medicinal but never do anything with them because it is not something I know much about. After spending 3 days at the International Herb conference and listening to all of the speakers I decided to make a major change. I have resigned as a Master Garden and will not be working at the demo garden. It is a lot of work and after years of doing it I was tired of it. Plus I am not really learning anything and I keep having to do the same talks over and over to the point I am sick of hearing myself.

I decided to enroll in Rosemary Gladstar's The Science and Art of Herbalism. This is the kind of in depth training that I love. I have a whole stack of herbal reference books coming from Amazon tomorrow so I can get started on my homework from lesson one.[/QUOTE]

So excited for you in your new endeavor; A big loss for the demo garden.

Kay thats so exciting. Please share with us as you learn awesome new fun things. I love herbs but I only know what to do with the basic ones. Cant wait to hear about it.

Ginny

[QUOTE=kayrobbins;513146]I did not grow Garden Gem at home just at the demonstration garden and I am not going to be back there.

I grow so many herbs and many of them are medicinal but never do anything with them because it is not something I know much about. After spending 3 days at the International Herb conference and listening to all of the speakers I decided to make a major change. I have resigned as a Master Garden and will not be working at the demo garden. It is a lot of work and after years of doing it I was tired of it. Plus I am not really learning anything and I keep having to do the same talks over and over to the point I am sick of hearing myself.

I decided to enroll in Rosemary Gladstar's The Science and Art of Herbalism. This is the kind of in depth training that I love. I have a whole stack of herbal reference books coming from Amazon tomorrow so I can get started on my homework from lesson one.[/QUOTE]
Kay,
I hope you have a lot fun with your new challenge.
Larry

Look what came in the mail today. DH let me open it and use it early, but merry Christmas to meeeeee!!!

OK, all together now...Bzzzz Bzzzz:Dx:x

Bzzzz. Excellent; I'm so glad you can use it now when it is most useful.

You will have to post your impressions tomorrow.

It is finally cooling off tonight.

BZZZZZ. Merry Early Christmas. Barb are you getting one too?

Ginny

Oh aren't we flashy Marsha?

Couldn't you just use an electric toofie brush like everybody else? :lol::P

Just kidding. I'm jealous! :evil:.

Enjoy your new toy!
Linda

[QUOTE=Labradors2;513559]Oh aren't we flashy Marsha?

Couldn't you just use an electric toofie brush like everybody else? :lol::P

Just kidding. I'm jealous! :evil:.

Enjoy your new toy!
Linda[/QUOTE]

Yes we are! We are very flashy! Eat your heart out, Linda! Kidding too.;) Icant wait to try it out.