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." ii. +* VOLUME IV, NUMBER 1 WINTER 1995,

Chle Institute. -

N E W S L E T T E R

b

b gg@ . Datil b,,mDem . . . . Do It! Excerpted from The WMUWU Cookbook, by Dave

& ~ i t t and KTancy ~erlach ('Em speed hss, 1995).

I magine a chile-growing operation so secure that it even has a watch alligator on guard1 That's the Datl Do It high-tech operation

underway in S t Augustine, Florida--even though head datil Chris Way admiti that the seven-foot gator is a peaceful (so fa.) resident of the adjacent lake which supplies the irrigation water for the project.

Way is growing datil peppers in pots on elevat- ed platforms to supply his business of manufac- turing datil-based products. His dependence on contract growers had been risky because if they ever refused to grow the datils! Way realized that his manufacturing business would be doomed.

But why would anyone want to grow this oddly-named pepper (datil is Spanish for the edi- ble dak), anyway? Well, datils have a long and honorable history in St Augustine. For centuries they have been &sociated &th northeast

Florida's Minorcan comuni- ty (which arrived in the New World in 1768), the datil appears to be a land race of Capsicum chinme, but there it some speculation that the datil could be a cross betweer

"the chinense and annuum species.

There are two scenarios for the datil's introduction into Florida. The first holds that datil seeds were transferred from Brazil to Portugual by early explorers, and from there spread-via birds and traders-throughout the Africa and the Mediterranem particularly

Continued on next pa8

Chris \Wqr so011 realized t l ~ a t his best

CLIS toll~ess' were sf mlirlg the bottles of

[datil pepper] hot sauce.

bm* ohere hml the.wma hrdtesbyspadsh-aid* tlers who traveled the Cadbhn.' Nomamhowtheydved, UuisWaybcodthemslr- ketont]nebtIttiepod&'~ ,

I n 2 ~ , W a y ~ l k m d e ~ a ~ ~ ~ b o r e t a t l ~ m ~ h a s

~ ~ ~ ~ h e s e ~ a n ~ ~ ~ B e a h o t .~soopemda~dDatl~o~trhopinthetmr&t t t e c l b o f S t ~ -

toseneHlithm8sh ~ ~ y a l l d ~ y ' 8 p m d ~ ~ a b o u n t i f u l ~ . t P p i y o f & ~ s , a n d ~ t ' s ~ t h e g r o w i n g operatlo1281tsInbotheschemeofthiqp Therea- '

s o g ! ~ ~ ~ t e d p l a l f o m w i s 'simple so the pidcers'dm't have to bend 00s When we vfatted

The plants are started sequentially in Decembkr and eventually grow three to four feet high. Wind can sometimes be a problem because datil

stems get brittle and break off in high winds. There are no disease or insect problems to speak of-one aphid outbreak was easily controlled by releasing ladybugs.

In June, the picking begins. Only the ripe, orange pods are picked through October, and the yield is eight to ten pounds of pods per plant over the entire season. And the pickers? There are no migrant laborers employed on the datil elevated plantation because Way depends on his harvesting force of "surfer dudes" recruited from nearby beaches.

Way's goal is eventually to grow 50,000 pow& of datils a year to supply his burgeoning hot sauce business. He's well on his way to achiev- ing that goal-asmmhg that the watch gator ant the surfer dudes do their jobs! The Datl Do 1t operation ca$ be reached at

1-800-H-DATL.

PublicationsAvailable from The Chile Institute !

Fertilizing Chiles by Paul W. Bosland, Director

T he word "fertilizing" has two meanings in garden- ing terminology: 1) to

pollinate a flower for the pro- duction of a fruit; 2) to provide nutrients to a plant. In this newsletter we will discuss the latter and in a future issue dis- cuss the pollination and fruit setting of chiles.

Nutrients that plants need are grouped as major or minor nutrients. The major nutrients include nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. They are con- sidered major nutrients because plants need a relative- ly large amount of them. Nitrogen promotes growth of stems and leaves, and gives the plant a deep green color. ~hosphorus encourages &t formation, flowering, and fruit- ing. Potassium promotes root growth and seed production. The numbers on a fertilizer label refer to the percentages of these nutrients in the product; for example, 10-20-10 contains 10 percent nitrogen, 20 percent phosphorus, and 10 percent potassium.

The minor nutrients are iron, zinc, manganese, sulfur, boron, cobalt, copper, magnesium, molybdenum, etc. At The Chile Institute, we have received letters from members saying that spraying Epsom salt on their chiles has resulted

in a better harvest Epsom salt is magnesium sulfate, so the minor nutrient magnesium is being applied to the plant Chile is known to be "not toler- ant" to magnesium deficiency in the soil and therefore, will respond favorably to an appli- cation of magnesium in such cases.

The key to remember in selecting a

fertilizer for chiles is to select one

that has a nitrogen level equal to or

less than the phosphorus level.

The word "organic1' in terms of fertilizer simply means that the nutrients contained in the product are derived solely from the remains, part of the remains, or a by-product of a once-living organism. Urea is a synthetic organic fertilizer- an organic substance manufac- tured from inorganic materials. The decision to use organic or inorganic is up to the gardener.

1

The chile plant can not tell the difference between nitrogen from an organic source or an inorganic source.

Before adding nutrients to your chile g a d 9 one must first know how much of & nutrients are already available in the soil. A quick and dependable method is to buy ' an inexpensive soil test kit at a garden supply store or through a mail-order catalog. Alternatively, check with your county agricultural agent or the agricultural extension divi- sion of your state university for information about sources of soil testing services. The most common soil test will analyze two factors: nutrient content . and soil pH.

Soil pH will indicate if the . soil is acidic or alkaline. A soil pH of 7.0 is neutral, any pH less than 7 is acid, and pH greater than 7 is alkaline. If a soil is too acidic or alkaline, plant roots won't be able to absorb nutrients from the soil. The importance of soil pH is that nutrients are unavailable to the chile at each end of the pH scale. For example, a soil may be rich in iron, but if the pH is 8.0 or above most of the iron is not readily available to the chile plant and defiamy symptoms develop. Chiles do best in a soil pH of 6.7 to 7.3,

but tolerate a range of 6.0 to 8.0. The key to remember in

selecting a fertilizer for chiles is to select one that has a nitrogen level equal to or less than the phosphorus level. Fertilizers such as tomato food, or veg- etable food can be a good fertil- izer for chiles if they are a high phosphorus fertilizer. Too much nitrogen fertilizer will give a robust chile plant but lit- tle or no fruit. Also, it does not matter whether the fertilizer is a liquid or a dry granular type. However, liquid is usually a weaker strength and may have to be fed at regular in tqals thmughout the growing sea- son. * Listed below are references found in A CompreMve Bibliography on Capsicum, Second Edition, available from

..,we have received letters from members

saying that

The Chile Iristitute. Your local on pimiento pepper. library should have or can get HortScience 14:537-539. YOU the references.

Knavel, DOE. 1977. The iM; ence of nitrogen on pepper t r ~ p l a n t growth and fieldir potential of plants grown witl different levels of soil nitrogel J. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci. 102.53: 535.

spraying Epsom salt on their chiles has resulted in a better harvest.

Dempsey, A.H. and F.C. BosweU 1979. Effects of soil application of magnesium sul- fate and dolomitic limestone

Maynard, D.N. et al. 1962. The influence of nitrogen levc on flowering and fruit set of peppers. J. Amec Soc Hort. Sci. 81385-389.

Shifriss, C. and E Ridelman 1983. Iron deficiency chlorosi in peppers (Capsicum). J. Plant. Nutr. 6:699-704.

-1-nis time we'll readers two Mexican market scenes. 1. La Merced Mercado in Mexico city! ( CanaMs (C. pubescens). 2. Oaxaca Mercado: Onza Chiles, Gmwn Only in the state of Oaxaca.

C A t S I C U M N E W S Baccatum Seed Orchid, or Chapeau de Fmde

(Monks Hat). This seed is from USDA PI 497974 that originally

orne of our members came from Brazil. It is a won- asked that we send Tkd out the exotic seed derful though ornamental. the fruits are Even fleshy, in

packet early, in time for New Mexico they dry-down spring planting. Starting nicely and can be used in with this issue, we are mrnental wreaths and dis- enclosing the seed packet plays. The f l a w is also dii- with the winter edition of tinctive and the h i ts can be the Chile Institute used fresh or dried in dishes. Newsletter. This year's The pungewywas tested as seed is C. bacafum var. I 14,000 Scoville heat units, pendulum. The common

A' making it hotter than New

name for this specific culti- Mexican pod-type chiles. var of C. k a t m is Christmas -3w 1

Bell, Pen- peril

Members and ' ' s . " L t z i n d Charter Memba to let US : K C undraisin~ Update is proceeding on

if we left out of ' F schedule for The International the last Membership ~irectory. : ' Center for Chile, the facility the Just drop us a note and we'll list : Institute is planning to build as a )rar properiy in the 1995 edition. : museum and archive. We have

All members should note your had commitments from seveml expiration date on the mailing : national manufacturers, which label and be sure to renew mem- f bodes well for the future.

' Mark M and Mary H. Bynrm; Emma

: Jean Cervantes, Billy Ebb Crim, : Wid G. Cunningham, Neil and

Maureen Dunn, Sam M. and Lilia E. : Duran, Edward and Janet Eckhoff, : David Miller, Joe E. P a m Robert

Pearson, Jerry P. Peppers, William i hm~ey, Vince ~ u b a ~ r / , ~dward F. Ruiz, Jack H. Scaff, Jr., M.D.,

: Frank B. Shafer, and Joel G. : Stewart.

The ICC also hit the media in a : big way with a front page article in The Dallas Mom@ News of '

: December 1 9,1994. It was head- : lined: 'In Praise of Peppers; NM - : Chile Institute Spices Up

Academia.' ' Persons donating at least $100

: to the ICC Building Fundwill receive a certificate electing them to the ICC Hall of flame. The names will also be inscribed on a

: plaque in the ICC building. You : do not have to be a member of. : the Institute to donate to the

building fund; membership fees : are in addition to your donation : Please send your donation to

The Chile Institute, Box 30003, : Dept. 3Q, NMSU, Las Cwces, NM : 88003. Please make checks out to : 'NMSU Foundation/Chile : Institute/Building Fund. We will

give regular updates in our Chile Idlute Newsl~regarding progress on the building fund

: drive. For a complete brochure of the facility, please write to the above address. - w

bership! We are not like the big ; Meanwhile, seventeen individuals magazines that can send reminder and families have contributed at after reminder. And remember, : least $100 to the building fund f we depend upon your support to : and thus have been elected to survive! our 'Hall of Fteme.' We thank

6

Autopick Pepper I labor-saving salsa pepper is the product --A, f more than ten years

of breeding efforts by Elliott Plant Breeding to combine a richly flavored hot pepper with ease of harvest. Mature pods of the Autopick pepper detach cleanly from the sepal when fully ripe but still firm, and so hand-trimming of the fruit is eliminated. Autopick is a line made from crosses of senano, jalapello, and wild ancestral types that have the detaching feature. For further irlformation, contact Elliott Plant Breeding, (91 8) 367- 9389.