gg@ . Datil - The Chile Pepper Institute

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VOLUME IV, NUMBER 1 WINTER 1995,
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Chle Institute.
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Datil Do It!
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Excerpted from The WMUWU
Cookbook, by Dave
& ~ i t tand KTancy ~erlach
('Em speedhss, 1995).
I
E
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 ChrisWay 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 elevated platforms to supply his business of manufacturing 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 Spanishfor the edible dak), anyway? Well, datils have a long and
honorable history in St Augustine. For centuries
they have been &sociated &th northeast
Florida's Minorcan comunity (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
bm* ohere hml the.wma
hrdtesbyspadsh-aid*
Chris \Wqr so011
realized t l ~tahis best
CLIStoll~ess'
were
sf mlirlg the bottles of
[datil pepper] hot
sauce.
tlers who traveled the Cadbhn.'
Nomamhowtheydved,
UuisWaybcodthemslrketont]nebtIttiepod&'~ ,
~~boretatl~m~
I n 2 ~ , W a y ~ l k m d e ~ a.~soopemda~dDatl~o~trhopinthetmr
~
~ ~ ~ ~ h e s e ~ a n ~ ~ ~ tBt ee c al bh o of St t ~toseneHlithm8sh
~~yalld~y'8pmd~~abount
.tPpiyof&~s,and~t's~thegrowing
operatlo1281tsInbotheschemeofthiqp Thereasog!~~~tedplalfomwi
'simpleso the pidcers'dm'thave
tobend 0 0 s Whenwe 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 achieving 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
he word "fertilizing" has
two meanings in gardening terminology: 1)to
pollinate a flower for the production of a fruit; 2) to provide
nutrients to a plant. In this
newsletter we will discuss the
latter and in a future issue discuss 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 considered major nutrients
because plants need a relatively large amount of them.
Nitrogen promotes growthof
stems and leaves, and gives the
plant a deep green color.
~hosphorusencourages &t
formation, flowering, and fruiting.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, 10-20-10contains
10percent 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
T
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 tolerant" to magnesium deficiency
in the soil and therefore,will
respond favorably to an application 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 syntheticorganic fertilizeran organic substancemanufactured from inorganic materials.
The decision to use organic or
inorganic is up to the gardener.
1
The chile plant can not tell the
differencebetween nitrogen
from an organic source or an
inorganic source.
Before adding nutrients to
your chile g a d 9 one must
firstknow 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 division of your state university for
informationabout 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 7is 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 vegetable food can be a good fertilizer for chiles if they are a high
phosphorus fertilizer. Too
much nitrogen fertilizer will
give a robust chile plant but little 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 strengthand may have
to be fed at regular i n t q a l s
thmughout the growing season.
* Listed below are references
found in A CompreMve
Bibliography on Capsicum,
Second Edition, available from
(
The Chile Iristitute. Your local
library should have or can get
YOU the references.
..,we have
received letters
from members
saying that
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 sulfate and dolomitic limestone
on pimiento pepper.
HortScience 14:537-539.
Knavel, DOE.1977. The iM;
ence of nitrogen on pepper
t r ~ p l a ngrowth
t
and fieldir
potential of plants grown witl
different levels of soil nitrogel
J. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci. 102.53:
535.
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. Irondeficiency chlorosi
in peppers (Capsicum).J.
Plant. Nutr. 6:699-704.
-1-nistime 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.
CAtSICUM NEWS
Baccatum Seed
Orchid, or Chapeau de Fmde
(Monks Hat). This seed is from
USDA PI 497974 that originally
came from Brazil. It is a won-
Tkd
orne of our members
asked that we send
out the exotic seed
packet early, in time for
spring planting. Starting
with this issue, we are
enclosing the seed packet
with the winter edition of
the Chile Institute
Newsletter. This year's
seed is C. bacafumvar.
pendulum. The common
name for this specific cultivar of C. k a t m is
Christmas
Bell, Pen-
derful ornamental.
though
the fruits areEven
fleshy, in
New Mexico they dry-down
nicely and can be used in
mrnental wreaths and displays. The f l a w is also diitinctive and the h i t s can be
used fresh or dried in dishes.
The pungewywas tested as
14,000 Scoville heat units,
making it hotter than New
Mexican pod-typechiles.
I
A'
-3w
1
s . " Charter
L t zMemba
i n dto let US
Emma
: Jean Cervantes, Billy Ebb Crim,
: Wid G. Cunningham, Neil and
Maureen Dunn, Sam M. and Lilia E.
: Duran, Edwardand Janet Eckhoff,
: DavidMiller, Joe E. P a m Robert
Jerry P. Peppers, William
i Pearson,
hm~ey
Vince
,
~ u b a ~ ~dward
r/,
F. Ruiz, Jack H. Scaff, Jr., M.D.,
: Frank B. Shafer, and Joel G.
:Stewart.
The ICC also hit the media in a
:bigway with a front page article
in The DallasMom@ Newsof '
:December19,1994. Itwas head:lined: 'In Praise of Peppers; NM :Chile Institute Spices Up
' Academia.'
Persons donating at least $100
:to the ICC Building Fundwill
peril
Members and
' Mark M and Mary H. Bynrm;
'
'
: K Cundraisin~
Update
is proceeding on
F
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
out of '
schedule for The International
ifwe left
Center for Chile, the facility the
the last Membership ~irectory.
Just drop us a note and we'll list
Institute is planning to build as a
museum
and archive. We have
)rar properiy in the 1995 edition.
had commitments from seveml
All members should note your
expiration date on the mailing
national manufacturers, which
label and be sure to renew mem- f bodes well for the future.
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
:'
:
:
:
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.
:
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:
6
Autopick Pepper
labor-saving salsa
pepper is the product
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 typesthat have the
detaching feature. For further
irlformation, contact Elliott
Plant Breeding, (91 8) 367-
--A,
9389.
I