I just planted my pepper plants in the ground that I’ve been growing indoors since last fall. This will be my second season growing peppers and I’m hoping to not repeat my mistakes from last year. Here in the Fraser Valley I have to get plants started quite early or they don’t reach a large enough size to produce pods. Last year I started my seeds in April which proved to be too late and some of the plants barely ripened fruit by the time cold weather stalled them.
I also have some indoor LST plants that are set to produce pods very soon. Training has really improved the structure and branch tips on these plants.
Does anyone else have some peppers growing this year?
Yeah I grow peppers every year. I don’t need to start them very early usually about March 15th. Mine are struggling now due to cold weather. I have to bring them in tonight. I hope to plant out soon though.
I’m growing mostly sweet peppers and green chili peppers, it’s what i like most. I have dried hot peppers and don’t really need more right now. I’m trialing some sweets, right now Spanish Mammoth and Yellow Monster heirlooms work well for me. I grow them yearly.
Bought an Anaheim last summer that I kept in a pot over the winter, in what natural light is available in Spokane. It produced three pods with lovely flavor, color and zero seeds. Will tip it this year
Gotta get Leutschauer seed this year - and maybe Fish.
@Winegums- they all look good. I saw what varieties you’re growing in another thread. That’s a lot of super-hots! I suppose you like the really hot varieties? I like hot peppers as well, but those are smokin’. The hottest variety I have grown is Bulgarian Carrot, wow it had in your face immediate heat.
Yes, I am growing some peppers, but not as many as last year. I planted out about 35 plants then, but this year only 24 or so. Most of them are red and green bells, and jalapenos, with the rest being some various sweet and hot varieties.
Here’s what I’m growing: Calwonder (bell), Quadrato d’Asti Rosso (red bell), Jalapeno, Beaver Dam (medium hot banana), Balloon (medium hot), Aconcagua (mild banana), Conquistador (medium hot banana), Ancient Sweet (mild banana), 7-pot Bubblegum and 7-pot White (super-duper HOTT!)
Good luck with yours, looks like they’re off to a good start.
@subdood_ky_z6b I wouldn’t call a lot of the varieties I have growing super hots but Hot and Very Hot. The Dorset Naga, 7 Pot Lava, 7 Pot Brain Strain, 7 Pot Bubblegum Large and 7 Pot yellow will likely be the hottest peppers I have. Everything else is upper mid level heat. I really like the flavour and the heat that these varieties have, once you get used to the heat you start to enjoy the burn and the flavour becomes more important.
Habaneros - Purple, Brown, Red, Red Savina, White, Peruvian, Pink
7 pot - Yellow, Brain Strain Red, Lava, Brain strain Yellow
Scotch Bonnets - White Hot Peppers, West Coast Seed Co, Brown, Chocolate
Scotch Brain
Dorset Naga
Texas Crimson Bonnet
Bells - Red and Yellow
Kung Pao
Moruglah F3
Bahamian Goat
Aji Lemon drop
OK, what do you consider super-hot then? Some of those 7-pots are considered some of these very hottest in the world. Have you tried a Carolina Reaper?
I don’t know, I think after ingesting a 1M Scoville Unit pepper, I don’t think the flavor would be an important aspect!
Those are super hots along with the Dorset Naga. Most of my varieties are mid level heat like the habaneros and the bonnets.
I’ve grown and tried reapers and I’m not really impressed. The pods are very floral and the genetics are pretty inconsistent. I like heavy producing compact plants that have a fruity flavour. So I’ll likely never grow or eat Reapers again. I feel like the plant is over hyped and doesn’t really deserve the crown. There’s other peppers out there that are just as hot or hotter.
my second-year serrano has a zillion buds and is already producing a few pods. the new leaves are significantly smaller than last year’s leaves, but maybe the plant will leaf out as the weather gets balmy. (they had better; otherwise, the plant won’t be able to support the photosynthetic needs of all those potential pods.)
can’t wait to taste the datil pepper. i think i goofed on my january datil starts by adding worm castings to the soil, which might have stunted the datil’s growth, so i germinated a new batch of seeds earlier this month. this time i’m not going to add any castings; the only fertilizer they’ll get is whatever already exists in the miracle gro potting mix.
the stunted datils are still alive, but they do appear. . . stunted. perhaps this stunted state will mean a lengthier wait until pod development.
the datil is supposed to have both citrus and smoky flavors and rates 100k-300k on the scoville scale, about as hot as an habanero but supposedly more tasty.
Second year plants that regenerate tend to produce lots of leaves and the growth is slower and more spread out. The leaf size is typically largest on younger plants/branches and settles into a smaller final size on older plants.
Don’t worry about there being too many buds the plant will decide how much it can carry and stop setting fruit when it is loaded.
I’ve heard a lot about Datil but don’t have seeds yet. I’m most excited for Fatalii, Bahamian Goat, Pink Habanero and KS Texas Crimson Bonnet this season. I’m hunting for flavour with my selection of varieties and I’m hoping I can narrow down which I will be keeping as Bonchi and which will not be grown again next year.
I have some old seed, I should try it next year. I like peppers no hotter than this range. I’m not growing any this year as I find the plants productive and I still have ton’s of dried hot peppers from previous years. I like Fish and Orange tree Habanero, which is not really shaped like most habaneros. Both are banana shaped peppers, I seem to like those the best for whatever reason? I think Datil is that same shape. I would probably like it.
awesome, dudes. i hope to have reports for you later this year on the datil flavor.
likewise re: heat levels, drew. although i enjoy hot sauces made from ghost and scorpion peppers, I don’t think i’ll want to grow peppers in that heat range, as I won’t be able to consume them at an appreciable rate… and i’ll probably do something regrettable, such as rubbing my eyes after touching them.
awf tawpick: because i’m known to family as a heat-lovin’ guy, some of them give me gifts of pepper-infused chocolate. I don’t have the heart to tell them “do not want.”
We had two Serrano plants last year that were pepper producing beasts. One plant was about two feet tall and just as big across. We had more than we knew what to do with. But that wasn’t even the biggest pepper plant, that honor went to a Padron, it was over three feet tall. It had a mild medium heat. The pod had a truncated banana pepper look to it. Needless to say, we’re not growing either of these this year! Just a few basic bells, jalapenos and a few other varieties. My favorite variety we grew last year was Beaver Dam, and then maybe Ancient Sweet.
it is amazing how many peppers one plant can produce in a season. I’m just finishing off what I grew last year and this year I’m going to have more than I know what to do with. I might sell them as dried pods and powder online and as fresh pods locally.
Yeah, we did end up dehydrating a bunch of them. Then chopped them up in a coffee grinder and put them in little glass containers. Adds some different flavors to chili, soup, whatever. Have to be careful with the Bulgarian Carrot shaker, tho, quite potent.
I like to dehydrate about 60-70% of what I grow. I find that if I freeze the pods for a day that they dehydrate faster. I love my habanero powder and occasionally use my super hot powder on popcorn. I really have to hold my breath and stand with my arm extended when I shake that stuff .
These poor guys are SO ready to go out (and I am even more so, given the cold spring we’ve had).
These are sweet bells. I also have paprikas (this is their year). We don’t well tolerate uber hot food, but will grow and dehydrate enough for a few years and then rotate.
I don’t know if you’re talking to me, but I will say the other ways we use ours is pickle some of them with other peppers or cukes, and put the others in salsa. Both are done by water bathing in a canner.
For salsa, we just use the usual stuff: diced tomatoes, sliced hot peppers (usually Serrano, Jalapeno), red and green bells, onions, garlic, salt, a dash of sugar, apple cider vinegar and water. This mixture is cooked in a big Dutch oven for a few minutes, then put in pint jars, and processed. We pretty much follow the Ball recipe book for salsa. Ours usually has a thick and chunky consistency, almost like a marinara sauce. I like to really spice it up, but my wife doesn’t, so we compromise.
This year I’d like to use some of the dehydrated hot peppers in the recipe and make a few hot batches for me.
Well, none of my bell or jalapeno seeds have sprouted that I planted about two weeks ago. It’s odd because several of the other varieties have. Very aggravating.
It’s too late to sow new seeds, so I might have to just get some bell’s and J’s from a nursery this year. I guess the seeds I have are just bad, I think I might have tried the same seeds last year and didn’t get a lot of germination.
But, not all is lost, as the Beaver Dam, Aconcagua, Ancient Sweet and Balloon peppers have come up.
And, my two 7-pot varieties have sprouted as well. I’m geeked about those, as they’re the super hots I’ve been really wanting to try. I just hope I can get the plants to produce before the end of the growing season.
