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homefry319

Jalapeno Harvest!

homefry319
11 years ago

Im really pleased with my jalapenos this year there producing really well and a great size

Comments (77)

  • homefry319
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    @ t-bob

    We use sustainable and organic practices yes, we're not certified organic.

    Were actually more organic than some organics if that makes sense, most the time when you see a certified organic label they actually spray more fertilizers and organic pesticides than traditional methods

    the only real thing about organic farming is that the sprays they use need to be derived from organic matter rather than synthetics, theres actually a list of things that are considered acceptable for organic farming.

    for example if we get to the point where we absolutely need to spray something we'd use pyrethrum which is derived from the Chrysanthemum plant kills almost everything(bug wise) we havent had to spray yet and most likely wont as we dont like doing it

    as for shipping, Id have to look at what the laws are to ship fresh produce, I know theres some limits and you need some certifications for something it may be easier for me to smoke/dry the peppers then ship them as it wouldnt be considered fresh produce but I'll keep it on my mind.

    and I feel for you about deer, we got demolished last year by the hail then deer, so bad we actually wrap the plot with a 6 foot electric fence with a 2 foot stand off

  • roper2008
    11 years ago

    Nice jalapeno's. I love to make pepper jelly. Which variety was the most
    productive?

  • TheMasterGardener1
    11 years ago

    I have a quik question for the op, being they are a jalapeno expert!!!

    I know this may apply to all peppers, but when you start your seeds indoor, do you put one seed per hole? Do you "thin" any out, or do you grow every single plant that sprouts? Do you put them in a sunny window or use lights?-I Would like to hear some advice from someone who grows so many.

    I am really interested in growing a huge crop of Jalapenos next year.

  • homefry319
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Super hots get started sometime dec-feb depending on how much time I have, this is also when some other things get started like the spring crops

    Peppers get started feb-14 - mar -1(most on heat mats)

    Tomatoes(and most others) get Started mar 1 - mar 15

    we roughly start around 4000 plants(I think its way higher with spices etc)

    we have 3, 400w HID lights which actually isnt quite enough, but its the most our electrical can handle, were adding more this year. and Im most likely going to pick up an 200w induction light for my overwinters/super hots

    we plant in 72 cells generally 1 seed per for peppers and tomatoes as most our germination rates are between 90-95% and actually higher on some

    then we'll transplant into 3 inch peat pots

    This year we had 15 main varieties of tomatoes and 11 trial types, we had 12 types of peppers(not including my super hots)

    next year however is going to be a much different story, we plant on increasing both by quite a bit for starters.

    my pepper list has grown, I think Ive gone from 850 plants to close to 2,000 but we do plan on doing two markets next year

  • homefry319
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    @roper2008

    the best production Ive seen and the nicest looking pepper is the Grande's that Ive been posting pictures of, check the link(if its not appropriate to post links vendors let me know still new here)

    almost every other type Ive grown have been tiny in comparison, the other type I may try is Chichimeca which is spouse to be a bit milder but roughly the same size 4x2 rather than 4x1.5(grandes) but they also have a shorter season which is 65 days over 75-80

    -Chris

    Here is a link that might be useful: they also have a bulk listing for 100+ seeds

  • greengrass12
    11 years ago

    Beatiful jalepenos. Just wondering your opinion on eating them green vs letting them turn red as far as taste etc.

  • homefry319
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    @greengrass1

    I personally like making chipotle's with them, but if Im eating them fresh I like the flavor of green, I also enjoy pickling them, actually am doing that right now

    {{gwi:1188912}}

  • TheMasterGardener1
    11 years ago

    Posted by esox07 4b Wisconsin (My Page) on Fri, Jul 27, 12 at 20:26

    "Homefry, if this isn't your main source of income, how do you find the time?
    I was just thinking. If you grow peppers that are twice as hot, you only have to grow half as many.
    hehehe,
    Bruce"

    Haha.

    What, are you a jalapeno hater? Yup those pros are too good for a jalapeno lol jk

    Being that the jalapeno is the most popular pepper ever, it has a huge market. The green jalapeno market is the biggest market.

    Turns out, on average you get 4.50 per squar foot growing jalapeno, not like the 21.20 per sf with cilantro, but cilantro is maybe 10X more work to grow.

    Even though jalapeno's are very cheap in the store, they can be grown for next to nothing with little work.

  • fae2
    11 years ago

    @greengrass1

    Fully ripe (red) they are more sweet. I prefer mine fully ripe - to me they taste better and make great chipotles.

    Here's a sampling of this year's crop: Ixtapa hybrid, Jalafuego, Jaloro and Conchos. The Jaloro are the yellow/orange ones.

    I smoke them with mesquite then grind them up prior to use. We've found these four varieties to complement each other nicely when used in the same proportions.

  • peppermeister1
    11 years ago

    fae2: those are gorgeous. I think I'm certainly going to try Jaloro next summer, beautiful color. Those purple peps look a lot like my czech black peppers. I love seeing more than just greens and reds!

  • homefry319
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    another 20 lbs last night, though I think there seriously slowing down now, theres still a lot of pods on the plants but I didnt see as many blossoms

  • DMForcier
    11 years ago

    > "Turns out, on average you get 4.50 per squar foot growing jalapeno, not like the 21.20 per sf with cilantro, but cilantro is maybe 10X more work to grow."

    Plus, I hate cilantro! To me it tastes like the essence of plastic. Bad plastic from the '60s. The kind you smell in the trunk of a new '61 Chevy. *bleh*

    homefry, please keep up with your updates. I find this highly educational. I don't grow in nearly the quantities that you do, but when one deals in such numbers the essential and efficient practices are bound to come out.

    Btw, what do you mean when you say you have a "2 foot stand off" with the zapper fence? You mean that you cut back the green stuff 2' off the wire?

    Cheers

  • homefry319
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Yes I will keep updating throughout the season, and next year I plan on take much better logs throughout everything...

    But it's actually a 3 foot stand off sorry for the typo,

    We put up the main fence 7wire 4 are electric 3 are grounds, we decided not to electify the bottom because of dogs and our main concern were deer.

    Then we put a stand off wire about 4 foot high and 3 foot off the main fence that is electified, think of it as a warning but also deer have really bad depth perception so spousaly they dont like jumping multiple things...

    It's worked extremely well we haven't noticed any deer tracks inside the plot yet and last year we got demolished by them

  • DMForcier
    11 years ago

    Jeez! You're not fooling around! Sounds more like 'defense' of a gulag than a pepper patch. No wonder the deers are taking nourishment elsewhere.

    You may have mentioned this, but do you feed the plants at all during the in-ground season?

    What does your dirt feel/smell/taste like? Here we have varying degrees of what they call topsoil (organic material and sand (and rocks)) over red brick clay (and bigger rocks).

  • homefry319
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Oh it's more than just peppers they actually left the peppers till last, last year we have 1250 tomato plants and around 850 pepper plants(most sweet)

    We feed them every other week during two water cycles , with Age Old Bloom, Age Old Kelp and calmag+ it's roughly 3/4 age old(half and half) 1/4 calmag

    Water cycles run 2 times a day for 2 hours with half gallon an hour irrigation

    When it's cooler we drop that to an hour cycle..

    The dirt is clay based but it breaks up pretty well, tilled and not messed with potatoes grow well in it. We tested it for PH a few weeks ago and was at 6.5

    Plant spacing in rows is 18 inches and the rows are 2 foot apart (33 plants per row)

  • homefry319
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Im standing in about the middle of the peppers when taking this, was the week we planted

    note: it was tilled, but its a weed patch right now, not enough time to clear everything out

    {{gwi:1188913}}

  • TheMasterGardener1
    11 years ago

    Wow. That is a very nice pepper farm!

  • homefry319
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    @TheMasterGardener1

    thank you, its not all peppers, the "bushy" are you see near the end of the photo is potatoes, I have about 20 rows behind of peppers, then theres 50 rows of Tomatoes, theres also leaf crops, beans etc but our main two crops are tomatoes and peppers this year I did mostly sweers because its out second year doing it on this scale and I wanted to test the market a bit, next year Ill be doing multiple heat levels(see other threads)

  • TheMasterGardener1
    11 years ago

    Aw, very nice, a little of everything.

    If you do not mind me asking, how much does your jalapeno go for per pound? In the super market it is 3.99 per pound. Just wondering. I want to do a large Jalapeno crop next season.

    Thanks.

  • homefry319
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    not sure if you saw it in my other thread, but we cannot sell by weight as its a restriction, but we sell them for $2 a pint or $3 a quart a quart has been weight at roughly a pound for us.

    I walked around today and saw people selling them for a quarter a pepper, markets are weird and for us being one of the few "organic" (were not certified so we can say were an organic farm) we are extremely under priced on somethings

  • TheMasterGardener1
    11 years ago

    Thanks for the answer on that.

    I want to start growing and selling jalapeno as a hobby, and maybe some day make it a side income.

    Thanks.

  • homefry319
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    youre welcome

    also correction on my part

    "(were not certified so we can't say were an organic farm) "

  • homefry319
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    So we had a really slow market for jalapenos last week, with what we had left over I decided only to pick 1 row of the grandes and pulled about 5 lbs

    I did pull a ton of blacks that turned red, doing a cold smoke on them all day(and pulled a bunch of seed)

  • pepperjoe_2008
    11 years ago

    Wow. I can't keep up with a big time operator like you HomeFry. I like my Jalapenos red ripe. They have more vitamin C, Lycopene and are sweeter....and maybe hotter.
    These are our 'Giant Jalapenos' that average 4"+ and are real hefty.
    Keep on keeping on Homefry!
    Fiery Regards,
    Pepper Joe

  • TheMasterGardener1
    11 years ago

    Nice rotten peppers PepperJoe.

  • pepperjoe_2008
    11 years ago

    MasterGardener,
    You are a fool and obviously know little about Hot Peppers.
    You've shown your stupidity with your negative comment.
    These are a small batch of daily harvest FOR SEEDS. For maximum germination you need to harvest Jalapenos when red ripe...almost over ripe. This also makes perfect pepper mash for hot sauces....and again maxes out the nutritional value, particularly the Vitamin C and Lycopene and anti oxidants. These seeds are hitting 90% + germination rates according to many customers. MG1, stick with hydroponics.
    PJ
    p.s. ONE MORE negative comment and slanderous statement like you've been posting about me...and I report you to the administrators and look into a legal recourse.

  • TheMasterGardener1
    11 years ago

    Ok your right, I never let jalapeno go that long. Just because I did not know, and thought they were rotten, do not take offense, pepperjoe.

    If you can see I don't know much about peppers, you should not take me seriously. If I would have not said those were rotten you would have never of responded with the reasons why they are not, and how they need to get like that for the best seeds and Vitamin levels. I could of asked nicer, but I do not think you would have gave so many details all in once. I have heard one jalapeno can give more then a days needed Vitamin C.

  • TheMasterGardener1
    11 years ago

    "ONE MORE negative comment and slanderous statement like you've been posting about me...and I report you to the administrators and look into a legal recourse."

    BTW:

    I said: "Nice rotten peppers"

    You just said: "You are a fool"

  • pepperjoe_2008
    11 years ago

    MG1,
    I appreciate your immediate responses.
    If I seemed to be defensive it was because of posts you did in another forum that I perceived as negative.
    I do apprecaiate you reaching out to explain, and would offer you the olive branch now.
    Fiery Regards,
    Pepper Joe

  • TheMasterGardener1
    11 years ago

    Pepper Joe,

    I feel like I was posting negative comments, and I am very sorry. We may have butted heads, maybe because we may a lot alike!!;)

  • pepperjoe_2008
    11 years ago

    MG1,
    If we're a lot alike...then i HAVE to like ya!
    :)
    Thanks,
    Pepper Joe

  • homefry319
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Reds dont do well at the markets here, I tried a bunch last year and other than a few people who specifically ask for them, which Ill bring a few pints for every week.

    The Grandes I grow are averaging 4+ inches, Im really pleased with the se and the production. Next year Im axing the blacks for market, they have good flavor and great production but there simply to small for market sitting next to the Grandes.

    I'll preserve my peppers red actually just finishing up a few pounds of the blacks for I smoked to make powder

  • pepperjoe_2008
    11 years ago

    Homefry, You gotta love those Black Jalapenos.
    Fiery Regards,
    Pepper Joe
    This pic is from customer Caleb Krissofer Masser from
    Wolfville, Md. Give Caleb a hand please.
    :)

  • homefry319
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Pull 14 pounds off the Grandes today, still may harvest more by the end of the week, love these things

    I also pulled a few pounds of blacks that turned red, there only averaging around 1 1/2 inches kind of sad next to the Grandes will smoke them once I go pick up some applewood

    I have a bunch of OP seed for the blacks is anyones interested still need to grab some for the Grandes

    {{gwi:1188915}}

  • esox07 (4b) Wisconsin
    11 years ago

    Homefry: You need to save the seeds from that bad boy.
    Bruce

  • homefry319
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Bruce: that's actually about average size when I leave to grow full,part of the reason I grew them is because I can pick them younger and they'd still be fairly large.

    Either way I will save seed and send out though they grow next to the blacks and bells(there's eggplant between the jals and bells)

  • TheMasterGardener1
    11 years ago

    That is the same idea as when I grow fordhook giant swiss chard and pick it early I get tender baby leaves the same size as full grown other varieties. The down side of using this method is the young fruits or leaves will have less nutrition.

  • ottawapepper
    11 years ago

    homefry319,

    That Grandes looks perfect. Ripe red, plump and some nice corking... just the way I like them!

    If your supermarkets are like ours up here they typically only carry shipped in unripe green Jalapenos. I think that's the reason the majority of people shy away from reds, it's foreign to them.

    Bill

  • homefry319
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    yeah the markets here only sell green, I think the only stores Ive seen red ons at is specialty grocery stores or the organic places even then its pretty rare

    the other thing I hear people complain about at the markets is the "corking" they always seem to think its a bad thing, either way I do bring both red ones and ones with corking because we like to educate people as well as provide fresh foods.

    We do mainly heirloom tomatoes so we carry quit a bit different stuff, end up talking and educating people quite a bit, like this one the Chocolate Stripes absolutely tasting amazing tomato, just looks a bit different

    {{gwi:1188916}}

  • esox07 (4b) Wisconsin
    11 years ago

    Homefry. All I can say is you are doing a great job growing this year. But I think your secret is in the fact that you grow hundreds of plants and therefore cannot baby them like most of us do with our dozen or so plants. Seems pepper do better with less human interaction.

    That tomato looks good enough to eat.....Seriously, that thing has to be tasty.
    Bruce

  • homefry319
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Bruce, I baby the masses until we can get them into the ground then I attempt to baby them, but then it kicks in that I cant, although I still baby the plants in pots at the house(superhots)

    next year Ive got planned around 49 different peppers(some are just differnt colors) about 2300 plants I think Ill have 50 "superhots' in pots and I plan on doing a row of bhuts(50 plants)

    I also started looking at a few studies and realized I have my plants spaced to far, we do 18 inches but Im moving it two 12 next year as well as doing double offset rows so I can put a few more plants in the same spacing and were putting plastic mulches down to help with the weeds, this year I joke its just a weed patch with veg in the middle(we dont spray chemicals at all)

    Tomatoes are our other big crop, the one in the photo above has a nice smokey flavor, they can get up to two pounds, I love having 1 slice of tomato fill the whole bun...

    -Chris

  • peppernovice
    11 years ago

    Holy smokes.....was that a jalapeno or some sort of red squash? I didn't realize they got that big. I guess they are called grande for a reason. Excellent job homefry.

    Tim

  • homefry319
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Bruce, sorry I forgot to say thank you in my reply

    Tim, thank you there pretty amazing and I'd say an average heat for a jalape�o I'll pull some seed from the red ones this week if you still want them

  • peppernovice
    11 years ago

    Would love to have some. I updated my seed list today, so let me know if you see something you want.

    Tim

  • azzure08(zone8a)
    11 years ago

    homefry that is a beautiful tomato I would eat it in a minute just to see how the taste was.
    pepperjoe is that a chocolate hab in your picture?

  • homefry319
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    @peppernovice you have mail

    @azzure08 the Chocolate stripes is pretty awesome tasting, one of my favorites. That was one of our trials this year pretty pleased with it

    -Chris

  • homefry319
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    I got bored

    {{gwi:1188917}}

  • peppernovice
    11 years ago

    Looks like your having a pepper party! I hope your sauce turned out better than mine. I tried making sauce for the first time. I wasn't too successful. It just means I have to keep trying. If your's taste as good as it looks, you should be set for months!

    Tim

  • homefry319
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Tim,

    Ill let you know in a few months its a ferment

    red is, bhuts, par cold smoke jalapenos carrots garlic

    green is just jalapenos and onions will most likely add stuff after the ferment

    there also in a brine with a whey starter, you cant see the tops in the photo but there actually in 1 gallon beer fermenting jugs with a drilled stop and airlocks

    -Chris

  • homefry319
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    thank you, it was posted on Instagram but not edited on there, just one of my custom filters in PS

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