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fusion_power

2012 super hot harvest

fusion_power
11 years ago

There is a big difference in growing super hots for seed vs growing for the hottest pepper. Seed growing requires plants that are grown under optimum conditions of soil fertility and water availability. Growing for heat requires stressing the plants which reduces seed viability. I grew Bhut's and Moruga's this year specifically to produce a good seed crop. They have produced abundantly!

There is also a difference in harvest when producing seed. The fruits must be overripe, fully colored, and even to the point the stem starts to shrivel. This gives the highest quality pepper seed.

I harvested 2 gallons of fully ripe Trinidad Scorpion Moruga about a month ago and today harvested another 2 gallons of fully ripe fruit. This is two harvests from 6 plants. My seed count so far is up around 15,000.

I harvested 3 gallons of ripe Bhut Jolokia today. This is the first harvest from 4 plants. I estimate the seed count will be about 5,000 given that Bhut's usually have between 10 and 30 seed per pod.

Today, I also harvested a gallon of Zavory which is a zero heat Chinense. I just wanted some fresh seed for next year since it is getting a bit hard to find.

DarJones

Comments (20)

  • northerner_on
    11 years ago

    Thanks for explaining the difference in these two processes. I always mark the first or second pepper produced on a plant for seed saving (I don't need that many). That is usually the last pepper harvested. When peppers get this hot, variation in degrees of heat is lost on me, so I don't strive for heat. Great harvest. How will you use them?

  • Armageddon
    11 years ago

    that's a nice harvest for 10 plants total ya have any photos to share them have got to be some monstrous plants to be putting out that much pod/seed for sure if your letting the pods go beyond the ripe point . there is approx 200 plants in this square alone that photo was from couple months ago (smile) .....

  • Armageddon
    11 years ago

    the first photo was from Aug 4th this 1 here is from Aug 22nd this now is a Jungle are plants are 5ft or taller loaded with thousands of pods will try and take the newset photo tomorrow will be hoping to push 1 more month out of it if all goes good heck i might even slap up a few walls & toss in some 1000 watt bulbs (smile) just to beat that guys 7 ft bhut tree there has not been 1 bhut pod harvested from any of them plants yet only a couple knocked off by the crazy lawn service .... i needed some caution tape installed LOL .

  • peppernovice
    11 years ago

    That would be one HOT green house!

    Tim

  • fusion_power
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Megiddo, I've found that high harvests of super hots come from giving plants plenty of room. My plants are 2' 10" apart in the row. They are also in a microclimate on the north side of my greenhouse. They are NOT in the greenhouse, rather, planted in the ground so that the greenhouse provides a bit of late evening shade.

    Other than that, I gave them a few cubic feet of high quality compost to grow in. The result is bags full of ripe peppers. Please note that I separate pepper plant groups by about 150 feet plus plant crops in between to reduce crossing. This has been very effective so far. I only had 4 Bhut plants this year but they are exceeding my expectations dramatically.

    DarJones

  • cmpman1974
    11 years ago

    Only 15,000 seeds Darrell? I thought you planned on saving a good amount. lol. Kidding.

    Chris

  • Armageddon
    11 years ago

    15,000 seed is a bit more then just stock for replanting (smile)

  • Armageddon
    11 years ago

    as promised a shot from Sept 22 still hoping for 1 month out of these guys many rolls of plastic on hand just in case But predictions are saying 1 month 1/2 if not a little longer there has not been even 1 pod pulled from here over 200 plants fully loaded with thousands of pods and is only 1 of my outside gardens along with many inside grow rooms and a few heated garages. cant wait for next season as every year has to be larger (smile)

  • fusion_power
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Chris,

    You supplied the original seed of the Bhut, Moruga, and Douglah. Which reminds me, I have seed of a very highly productive tomato from a hand made hybrid that might be interesting to you. I only have about 50 seed. If you would like a few to trial, send me an email and I'll post them to you.

    DarJones

  • fusion_power
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Just an update that my seed estimate was significantly low for both Moruga and Bhut. I have at least 12,000 Trinidad Scorpion Moruga seed and at least 25,000 Bhut Jolokia seed. The Bhut's produced an average of 50 to 60 seed per pod and I had about 500 pods. I am used to getting 10 to 20 seed per Bhut pod so this is a significant improvement in seed production.

    The heat of these peppers was way beyond anything I would put in my mouth to eat. I had one Bhut pod from which I shook out 5 large drops of oil. I am confident that one pod would have had a scoville rating well above 1,000,000.

    DarJones

  • woohooman San Diego CA zone 10a
    11 years ago

    Dar:

    "The heat of these peppers was way beyond anything I would put in my mouth to eat."

    I don't mean to act like willard3(pedantic), but how can you make that statement???

    If the heat of the pepper is beyond anything YOU would put in YOUR mouth to eat, how can you make that assumption???

    Don't get me wrong. I believe you "think" their hot. But until you try one yourself, the statement above means nothing to ME, at least.

    Once again, I apologize for sounding like a confrontational jackass.

    Kevin

    P.S. Try one fusion! It's not going to KILL you. Just have some yogurt, ice cream, milk, and cheese nearby.

    :)

  • tsheets
    11 years ago

    Wow, harsh!

  • fusion_power
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    note to self, there are CARAZY people hereabouts!

    I've tried Bhut, Moruga, Habanero, Scotch Bonnet, and yes, even some burn your butt off rocotos. I don't have to try them again to know when I am handling a super hot pepper. I just smell of them and smile. Then I sneeze a bunch of times.

    DarJones

  • woohooman San Diego CA zone 10a
    11 years ago

    LOL

    Damn it!

    I KNEW I was going to be misinterpreted! You'd figure as old as I am, I would know better just to keep my trap shut.

    Once again, sorry Dar.

    :)

    Kevin

  • Armageddon
    11 years ago

    if you are growing/messing with super hots growing them indoors & outdoors from seed/clone rest assure you we do have a crazy side ...

  • Armageddon
    11 years ago

    just so we keep it all in perspective your first estimates are higher then what was pulled in if they was low then you would have pulled in a larger amount of seed stock just saying .....most of us may seem crazy but.... (smile)

  • fusion_power
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    The Bhut Jolokia wound up being enough to stuff full a ziploc bag that is 2.5" by 4.0". There are also enough ripe peppers on the plants to do another picking by this weekend. This will yield about a gallon of ripe peppers so roughly another 6000 seed. Trinidad Scorpion Moruga also has more ripe peppers but much fewer of them, maybe another 1/2 gallon. I had enough Moruga seed to stuff 2 coin envelopes completely full to overflowing.

    I've received several emails asking about trades. I will reply to them sometime this weekend. Meantime, I grew these to send to Glenn Drowns at Sandhill Preservation. The seed will be available in the 2013 catalog.

    DarJones

  • fusion_power
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    I harvested Bhut Jolokia and Trinidad Scorpion Moruga today with 5 gallons of ripe cherry red Bhut's and 2 gallons of Moruga. Based on previous harvest, I should get about another half-cup of Bhut seed and nearly 1/4 cup of Moruga.

    Gonna have a hot time, a hot time, gonna have a hot time tonight!

    DarJones

  • fusion_power
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    So I am trying out a new cellphone camera. Here are a couple of photos I took of the Bhut and Moruga peppers. I manipulated these with photoshop to set the size and adjust resolution. The original files were just over 1 meg.

    DarJones

  • DMForcier
    11 years ago

    In photoshop use the Brighten function if there is one. You'll be surprised how much info there is in those pics that you just can't see because they're so dark.

    Most likely the camera is stopping down because of the bright reflections, defeating the apparently bright-enough ambient light. Try a non-reflective, or even dark background with the same light and I'll bet the peps show up much better.

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