Hello "Old Lady"....(vieja)

Long time we no visit each other on Garden Web....
(Bruce [Junkmanme] in Gallup)

I've not seen such a thing as you describe, but I imagine it is possible since both the "long green" (Anaheim-type) and Jalapenos are Capsicum Annuum.

I know this much...the sand and the volcanic soil provide much superior drainage than our &^#$@*!! CLAY !
and, with the moisture that we've had this past few months, they probably haven't been "drought-stressed". I've heard it said that volcanic soil is VERY FERTILE! (Probably has something to do with abundant minerals)

I'll watch this thread to see what you learn. I'm interested too!

Best Regards to you, Bonita Vieja!
Bruce (Junkmanme outside Gallup, NM)

Vieja,

Remember, most peppers were found in poor soil.

Like I keep saying 'starve peppers' (except hybrids seem to like a richer soil)

Yes peppers can cross, sometimes you have an incomplete pollination that can also produce some funky pods.

I had some Chimayos that there were about 8 diiferent shapes
Some looked like a cherry pepper.

If you want almost every pod on the plant to be the same, grow hydrids.

Thanks, Byron,Bruce! We don't care if they have mixed ... just curious! The only thing Hubby is concerned about is the 'heat' & if the jals have crossed with his own "Sin Nombre" & thus even hotter ... that is great! As for our son's sandy soil in NW Albuq.- it seems to grow everything better: corn, cantelope, cukes, tomatoes, strawberries as well as the peppers- that you mentioned, Byron, grow in poor soil- with no other ammendments than a few bags of Home Depot steer manure. Just curious as to whether the volcanic rocks could be a contributing factor as local Master Gardeners tell us that sand is useless for gardening without lots of ammendments. I'm saving a couple of still vigorous chile plants in containers to try saving indoors this winter to re-plant again in the garden next spring;not hybrids so should be perennial?
We are going to haul some loads of the sand to mix with our soil (clay/caliche) on the East side (or would that make 'adobe' with watering?!). We dig in all the neighbor's and our church's leaves and pine needles as well as kitchen and garden compost materials. Still grows good produce but can't compare to that sand!!

Frost yet in your area of Grants, Bruce? Only nipped the basil plant a bit so far here at 5200 ft. but higher & lower areas of the City & Edgewood got it!

Again, I really appreciate your help and ideas concerning the ??'s !

vieja

I have been preaching for years thats all peppers need is a little organic material.

In clay, you need to be careful with sand mix I think it needs to be somewhere around 50/50 or you'll have adobe

Thats a lot of mixing.

If you can find a farm somewhere near, manure will help
w/o the possibility of adobe.

Crossing: Jals are C. annum, Habs are C.Chinese (most are very hot) Odds of them crossing are very slim. But if you don't save seeds, or you bag blossoms, don't worry about it

Byron

Hi Vieja!
We've had frosts overnight here in Gallup for over 3 weeks now.
When I lived in N. Colorado, I added a pickup load of sand and a pickup load of chicken manure to my veggie garden (20' x 25'). I added it in the Fall. The garden was totally clay. I tilled it in very well. The next Spring, Summer, I had a GREAT veggie garden. Blame the chicken manure! Snow would not stay on the garden area more than an hour or two all Winter. Chicken manure is hot! The sand will help "break-up" the clay, if you add generous amounts of composted leaves, grass clippings, etc.
Have a GREAT garden next year!
Your Garden Web friend in Gallup,
Bruce (Junkmanme)

Byron:

Getting close to a frost so we picked all the chile,dug up soaker hoses, timer & pulled the plants & put the roaster away for the winter. Is it possible for you in zone 4-5 to get most chile to ripen/mature outdoors in that area? We are zone 7 where we live & Chimayo, NM where your Chimayo seed originated is higher (don't know the zone though)so maybe they are a variety for short season areas. We haven't tried growing them ... are they hot? We've just tried the Barker, our own "Sin Nombre", & "Biker Billy" Jals here from seed started in early February in those Park's 'sponges'. Most chile from Hatch, NM seems to be unusually mild this year I've heard ...maybe due to all the rain we've had in June & July during our "50 year drought"!!?

Appreciate your advice regarding mixing sand w/our caliche soil; I sure don't want to start making adobe bricks from the garden!

vieja

No, we have to watch DTM, Days to maturity, Example the Texas Chiletipen is about 180 days, even with a 2 month early start, I still can't get them to rippen. The "Siling Labuyo," are almost 220 days; Habs with a 90 day DTM A 2 month early start and a fall cover, I can get some.

But the Chimayo, heat just a little hotter than black pepper, flavor: All of it's own like a NE Boiled Lobster, no comparison.

A friend grew 2 chimayo chile plants near South Bend, IN ( over 1,100 miles north of Houston) (Zone 5) From 2 plants, she had enough powder to fill 5 of the 1.25 x 4" spice jars, Plus candied some. Plus has eaten some fresh ones.

I had 2.5 jars full from a plastic shopping bag full. Plus
about 7 ea 35mm film cans full of courser material, for my pepper mill. Plus gave some away and some left for pepper jelly.

Chimayo NM. is at about 5,000 ft elevation and is also in Zone 5, Same as the southern part of Northern New England.

If you grow them, they will probably slow down in the heat like July and Aug. Then will give ripe pods till frost kills it (Or plant in 5 gal pots and bring a plant in the house and over winter)

Heat of a chile, RE Dewitt "The Pepper Garden" The heat of the pod can be a variable with pollenation of the ambient temperature.

Byron

Byron:
Chimayo is much higher than here in Albuquerque ... it is 6220 ft. I think, & we are 5200 ft. right here in the near NE Heights of Albuquerque. The Valley areas of Albuquerque are lower & the Sandia Mountain foothill areas as well as the NW area by the volcanos here in the City are higher so we have fun tryng to figure out growing patterns & plant varieties for the same city! I was interested in your description of the Chimayo chile; do you use it at the green as well as the red fresh stage or only the red dried? You really have abundant crops of all the varieties; I enjoyed viewing allthe pics on your site! We got 130-140 lbs. of the green chile & about 75 lbs. of the "Biker Billy" jals x our very "intensive" gardening on our city lot ... way too much for our freezers so friends take the rest when they smell that delicious aroma x our backyard roaster! Though Hubby only prefers the hotter varieties & esp. when he makes jerky, I like it mild so want to take a trip some weekend to Chimayo (don't need an excuse to re-visit that beautiful area!)to try & buy x a local grower some of the ? 'true' Chimayo chile seed to try in a separate area of our chile growing area. Preserving these very old varieties of plants is so important so hope they can accomplish & register it before it is lost or 'crossed'. I see so many packages labelled "Chimayo" chile now so I wonder about it!

Muchisimas gracias, todos!

vieja,

Only one chile I eat is green, thats a country girl, for some reason this chile is hotter green than ripe. One year I ate too many fried green tomatoes and became sick. The same thing is true if you eat to many green peppers.

I powder most of mine because of storage space. About the only place I can't use the powder is for a stuffer.

The lower the elevation the faster they ripen.

Seed purity, I wonder if it is a marketing ploy, The best I can tell they can run DNA test for strains, if you want to spend the $$$, Last I knew testing was about $250

Byron