Big jim vs Sandia

[Father'sDaughter]

Originally Posted by mdvpc

New Mexico green chile is to be picked green. Very little of it is left to turn red in the Hatch-Las Cruces area. 99.999% of the chile that is harvested and sold there is green.

Thanks! I had been wondering about that. When I started looking into how to prep them for freezing I watched a few videos from the Hatch festival, and they all showed green peppers being roasted. That's why I went ahead and picked them all green rather than risk them to frost.

I'm growing Numex Big Jim again this year, but now also have seeds Anaheim, and in the MMMM swap I got seeds for Numex 6. I will have room for four plants and had originally planned on doing all Numex Big Jim. Now that I have the other seeds, I'm not sure.

Originally Posted by mdvpc

New Mexico green chile is to be picked green. Very little of it is left to turn red in the Hatch-Las Cruces area. 99.999% of the chile that is harvested and sold there is green.

Thanks for input Michael. Do you know if the chilies grown in the Hatch-Las Cruces area are mainly the NuMex varieties that are commercially available to us in the form of seeds, or do big commercial growers use some sort of hybrid? I had thought about grabbing a few fresh chilies before the bushel got dumped into the roaster to harvest the seed. There always seemed to be at least a few ripe, red chilies in with all the green that would be good for seed saving.

Your earlier comment about speaking with the growers and that they plant many different varieties makes sense now that I think about it, in that you can get local green chilies in many different heat levels. As I recall the last time I was there and purchased fresh roasted green chilies, the hot chili pods were considerable smaller than the mild chili pods.

Mike

[mdvpc]

Mike

I have never heard of growers there growing anything but the NuMex varieties. They were designed and adapted for the area. One reason why growers in other areas get different results-heat, for instance. Biad Chile is one of the biggest growers. They just recently sold their retail business to The Hatch Chile Store.

Fathers-Honestly, I never heard of 6, only 6-4.

One variety you folks haven't mentioned in Numex Joe Parker-great chile. Joe was around the Mesilla Valley, and I think he either developed it, or was instrumental in doing so. Biad used to have a photo of him in their store.

When I started my NuMex Heritage 6-4 and Big Jim, I also started some NuMex Joe E. Parker seeds. They are all ready to go into the garden.

One thing I did notice was that the Joe Parker's seedlings are lagging significantly behind the 6-4 and Big Jim. Same starting medium was used for all, and all kept in the environment. It will interesting to see how they do in the garden...

Mike

[peppero]

THANKS AGAIN FOR THE POSTS FRIENDS; KEEP THEM COMING PLEASE.

jon

[Father'sDaughter]

Originally Posted by mdvpc

Fathers-Honestly, I never heard of 6, only 6-4.

The only place I found that mentioned it was here - http://thehotpepper.com/topic/29440-...about-numex-6/

I think I need to go post a question on the MMMM thread and see what I can learn about the seeds I received to see if they are 6 or 6-4.

[bitterwort]

I haven't grown either Big Jim or Sandia, but I've grown others of the type and I have to echo what Marcus said about Johnny's Highlander F1 pepper. Very productive plants, not stingy in Minnesota like many others, and large and good-tasting too.