Chilli plants pictures progression so far

Discussion in 'Edible Gardening' started by james swann, Jul 3, 2012.

  1. clueless1

    clueless1 member... yep, that's what I am:)

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    I read that the chemical capsaicin that gives chillis their heat works by reacting with a certain chemical stored in nerve endings. When this reaction happens, the nerve ending will produce the chemical associated with pain, hence the burning sensation. There is a finite limit to how much of this chemical your nerve endings can store, and once the chemical is depleted, it takes a little while to produce more. This is apparently why after the initial shock, a lot of sensation is temporarily lost from those same nerve endings. Its also apparently why we all have a threshold above which it wont make the slightest bit of difference how much capsaicin is present, but the nerves are already reacting at max.
     
  2. shiney

    shiney President, Grumpy Old Men's Club Staff Member

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    Just to quote from a report produced in 2001 by Tainter, Donna and Grennis:-

    "Numerical results for any specimen vary depending on its cultivation conditions and the uncertainty of the laboratory methods used to assess the capsaicinoid content. Pungency values for any pepper are variable, owing to expected variation within a species—easily by a factor of 10 or more—depending on seed lineage, climate (humidity is a big factor for the Bhut Jolokia; the Dorset Naga and the original Naga have quite different ratings), and even soil (this is especially true of habaneros). The inaccuracies described in the measurement methods above also contribute to the imprecision of these values. When interpreting Scoville ratings, this should be kept in mind."
     
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    • james swann

      james swann Gardener

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      Have you got a link to that report shiney i would love to read the whole thing. Im thinking about breeding a false naga, new concept naga taste no heat. easy to do by crossing a no heat such as a bell with the wanted species red on red should produce at least 25% desireable traits in 1st generation or f1.
       
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      • shiney

        shiney President, Grumpy Old Men's Club Staff Member

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        Sorry, James, as GC was down I spent some time cleaning up my computer by running a number of maintenance programmes. They cleared out a load of rubbish but also cleared my history.

        I've just done a quick Google and found this:-

        http://www.chipsbooks.com/spices1.htm
         
      • james swann

        james swann Gardener

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        No probs thats awesome thanku!!
         
      • OxfordNick

        OxfordNick Super Gardener

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        Joes Long has reached 4" - they are supposed to get to twice that, if I can wait !
        [​IMG]
        --
         
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        • james swann

          james swann Gardener

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          Looking nice and healthy. And oh i know the impatience game is aweful but good news just had the first 7 pot set hope theres enough light left to ripen if not back on with the cfl's!
           
        • james swann

          james swann Gardener

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          Shiney, im awefully sorry still not posted your parcel. Keep running out of hours in the day :oops:.

          So on a positive note, got around 35 late pods now set on the white hab, still opening new flowers and setting new pods daily. Just hope theres enough light left this season, if not, back out with the lighting rig for 18hr shifts again until we get some nice ripe pods!!
           
        • shiney

          shiney President, Grumpy Old Men's Club Staff Member

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          James, no problem :dbgrtmb:. The chilli festival was quite good and, as usual, a few 'tough guys' ended up in the first aid tent after trying some particulalry hot chilli sauce. A couple of them were at a stall that we were at and were debating whether to try the '15 minute burn' or not - after the stallholder had warned them that very few people can take it.

          Whilst they were telling each other how tough they were I asked for a taste and had it, with no visible effect - it was 1.5 million shu (using capsaicin extract). So they both decided to have a go - and nearly died :heehee: (faces bright red, tears running down their faces, difficulty breathing and palpatations). Our friends who had trouble keeping a straight face when the 'tough guys' saw me have it, called me a cruel b...... after they were led off to the first aid van.
           
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          • james swann

            james swann Gardener

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            Hahaha i love it when things like this happen. I think the power of such a natural substance is what attracts me to these chillis and chilli plants. Ive been doing quite alot of research recently and im looking to do a tailor made degree through a local specialist horticultural college, which is pretty awesome. Hopefully the resultant will mean getting a job out from behind the desk of the packhouse and working towards a specialism in the field. But all depends as found out mrs james was 10wks gone the other day!
             
          • shiney

            shiney President, Grumpy Old Men's Club Staff Member

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            Congratulations to both of you :dbgrtmb: :ccheers:
             
          • shiney

            shiney President, Grumpy Old Men's Club Staff Member

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            I tried a taste test this evening on two of my new varieties. The black Vampires were a total waste so I won't bother repotting them as I had intended to do. No heat at all and not a lot of taste. I'll leave the chillies on the plant a lot longer before trying another one. These plants are on trial for 'Which? Gardening'.

            We can't remember where the other plants came from but the chillies, at the moment, are a blackish purple on one side and green on the other. Excellent flavour and pretty hot :dbgrtmb:.
             
          • Penny in Ontario

            Penny in Ontario Total Gardener

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            Those peppers look great Nick, infact they look like one i have here called Ji Num, i Googled it and cannot find anything about it(got seeds in a trade), but boy are they HOT!!!!

            Holy cow, i like hot and i couldnt eat them, both Brad and i had one, and i couldnt do it.
             
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            • james swann

              james swann Gardener

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              Penny, your seeds could be numex big jims. Just a wild stab in the dark but may give you some information on them.
               
            • shiney

              shiney President, Grumpy Old Men's Club Staff Member

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              My favourite chillies are the ones that we've been growing for some years. The downside is that they only ripen late in the year. They are the ones that I showed in earlier shots that produced a profuse amount of ripe fruit mid-October and November and continued through to spring. This is a partial shot of one of them that had its first season in 2008. As the plants are getting old and are less productive after three years I've kept this pruned to a height of 2ft-3ft. It has produced the occasional ripe fruit through the summer but is picking up now and should ripen to bright red within a few weeks. The branches all the way down the main stem are producing as well.

              P1130528.JPG

              These are seedlings from one of the chillies that ripened earlier and are just coming into week five. So will now be potted on.

              P1130532.JPG


              This is another quite hot chilli but is a miniature and doesn't grow more than 4" high. It has been producing ripe chillies, in reasonable quantity, since May. You can see that the leaves are miniature as well. I'll see whether it continues to produce through the winter.

              P1130529.JPG
               
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