thechileman 2013 growing blog

By Julian Livsey
aiasp logoFollowing two or three rather unproductive years of pepper growing, I plan to make more of an effort in 2013. As such I am taking part in the ICG project, run by Luigi Mauriello at AIASP.it - Associazione Italiana Amatori e Studiosi del Peperoncino. They are an association that unites professional and amateur gardeners, collecting, storing and distributing germplasm (or ectoplasm if you go with auto correct(!!)) with a strong emphasis on capsicum. The characterization and evaluation of genetic diversity of the collection is made ​​to identify genes linked to important agronomic traits such as disease resistance, stress tolerance, high productivity as well as nutritional value. Anyone can join in, you don't have to be Italian.

With many different varieties capable of being crossed, and thousands of amateur growers eager to do just that, do we risk ending up with the capsicum equivalent of the nano tech grey goo, where all peppers mixed together eventually form a homogenized variety that dominates and all the current stable varieties become almost impossible to find? Probably not :) but food for thought. I still think projects like ICG and the other gene banks are crucial for the longevity of pepper diversity.

With the ICG boasting a list of many hundreds of varieties to choose from, I decided to buck the trend and leave the billion variations on the 7-pod and scorpion to everyone else. I can and do understand the appeal of the stupidly hot varieties - it is fun to grow something that most people cannot even lick without then having to consume a litre of yoghurt to recover the use of their mouth. But for me it is a case of been there, done that. I was lucky enough to grow both the "original" 7-pod and Scorpion when Chris Chapman first started sharing seeds. They were great plants, but they were too hot for me. Back to ICG, if it wasn't to be superhots, what next? The black and red tiger stripe varieties look promising, but again I assumed demand for these seeds would already be high, so I decided to select 5 varieties that interested me, and that I hope to do justice to (plus a Habanero White that I have over-wintered!). In no particular order, my growing list for 2013, germination permitting, shall be as follows: