2013 was my first year of growing any numbers of peppers. I grew your regular Serrano, Jalapeno, Poblano, etc. I did pick up a package of Cayenne seeds and ended up with some Golden Cayenne. They made a great sauce and were my favorite. This year will be a different story. I have quite a few new varieties to try. Cant wait.

For me it was the 7pot brain strain because it looks cool. :-) The plants did really well too.

Other than that The NuMex chilis and poblano/anchos are staples that I would not want to go without.

I gotta agree. the brain strain wins for me hands down. epic flavor, great heat profile. and they look really cool too. will definitely grow again, and keep the plants I currently have.

Numex Suave Orange, and Bhut Jokola Red. For mild peppers, the Corno Del Toro's can't be beat for flavor and production in this area...

i grew jalapeno, bell, and cayenne in 2013. I was in the middle of moving so was busy and just got bonnies @ lowes and didn't put much work into them besides just planting and watering once a week.

Jalapeno were great producers and are a must for pico and other mexican dishes we make. Cayenne were ok producers (took a while to get from green to red) and i have enough pepper powder / flakes so i don't have to buy that junk at the store.

This year i got my new house so i make a garden with much more variety.

Last year I got my seedlings from the big box, too late, too few. And we had lots of rain in May. But among the few I had, Cubanelle was the best performer. Holy molly was ok too.

Always Hot Hungarian Wax. Those are my staple peppers. I love my Twilights as ornamentals and will grow them again this year. But my new featured pepper this year will be a Black Pearl ornamental.

My favorites this year were Cumari and Scotch bonnet, both had amazing taste. Cumari did not produce pods last year so it was overwintered. It was a long time coming but worth the wait.

Grew 5 varities last season. Portugal, cayenne, jalapeno, hungarian wax and red savina. The red savina was the most prolific and gave me 500 off 2 plants. The hungarian wax did pretty well but had no heat. Next season im going to try a few super hots along with a few medium hots also. Bad summer and received very little from the ground planting due to excessive rain in NYS. Earthbox treated me very well in spite of very little sun either.

Lexx: if your Hot Hungarian Wax had no heat, my guess is that you actually had Sweet Banana Peppers. They should have had some heat. They are not hot, but definitely have some heat. Banana pepper seedlings and seeds are commonly mixed up with Hot Hungarian Wax seeds and seedlings and the mature fruit look very similar as well. The easiest way to verify that they are indeed HHW and not sweet or hot banana peppers is when the pods first form, they point upwards until they get much bigger.
Bruce

Bruce I think they were hungarian wax because they pointed upwards when they grew.

Grew:
4- Trinidad Scorpion
40- Ghost (Red)
1- Cayenne
2- Boring Green Bell pepper(wife's request)
2- Orange Habanero
1-Jalapeno

Scorpion was a yr old b4 I put it in ground. They took off during summer. Still growing now; however, not near level of summer.

Late start of Ghosts; however, they grew based on sun vs. shade of plant. I had to plant them a little closer together, that I wanted, b/c of garden size. Starting to get good output now. ~35 of the 40 have mature pods.

The other pretty much your typical output a/ growth rates. All have since deceased as they were not includes in green house when constructed.

Am hoping green house can keep the Scorpion a/ Ghosts alive a/ continue producing for me. Gotta make hot sauce!!!

Based on our last seed swap, I am looking to add another 8-10 varities this year.

I think when we say "THE BEST" it should refer to productivity, NOT because I/you like certain kind of pepper in terms of heat and flavor. Foe example, last year I had 3 kinds of sweet peppers, One was Carmen another was California (something) and the third one, I forgot the name. Each had no more than 4 fruits, max. Ok, they were tasty (to me) but BAD?POOR performers. No where near THE BEST.
I have read rave reviews about HHW here, in terms of being prolific. So I think it deserve to be one of the best.

I hope to have a "BESTP" in 2014.

I grew about one half of last year's seed exchange in order to find what I really intend to grow. I will grow some that I didn't get to taste, along with this year's exchange.
Thai Bird (sm. red)- very productive, neat looking plant, and good heat
Guajillo- nice in mexican cooking w/ moderate heat
NuMex 6-4 (hatch)- very good roasted
Chervena Chushka- good sized, stuffer w/ good taste
Piri Piri- I like the history/maybe one year I'll grow peppers from around the world
Goat Horn Hot - very useful /like a cayenne
Some I'm looking forward to grow:
Pasilla Bajio
Craig's Grande Jalapeno
Golden Cayenne
Several Superhots-why? I don't know

Beaver Dam-great med hot flavor, productive & beautiful
Mariachi-same as above but not as pretty
Aji Dulce 2 and NuMex Suave Red and Orange-yummy, productive mild habanero flavor
Jimmy Nardello-sweet, productive
Garden Salsa-very productive, hot with nice size

I really enjoyed growing my black pearls! First year growing them, a lovely plant to look at, very pretty. Flavor wise.....ehhh, heat and not much more!

I did a test grow of Black Pearls. I started them on Christmas Day. Here is a picture from today. I am really looking forward to growing a few of these. I tried growing them twice with about a dozen seeds last year and never got one to germinate.

Very nice. You've got 3 seedlings that in 10 -12 weeks can be planted out. Or sooner, if the weather permitting.

I have few bigger test specimens and am germinating 4 more . Another 8 in two weeks. Tomatoes are on hold.

Yes, I have three seedlings. I culled two or three out already and eventually go down to one. However, I can't get my plants out doors until late May up here so I don't know if I will keep this one going and restart with my others or if I will try to nurse this along for the next 18 weeks. I will start my grow in early February. I will probably nurse this one along as I have a hard time letting go.

I see what you mean, Bruce. 18 weeks is a long time.

I test germinated some SHISHITO on November 7. Now they are about 10" high and full of flowers and one pod the size of a small peanut. But luckily they get bushy. by doubling. now each has branched out into 8. I have a Hot ornamental and a habanero but they are growing very slowly. So I think the annums are fast growers than the chinese or bacatum(?).

Best peppers I grew last year were Nu Mex Vaquero Jalapeno. The yield was outstanding. Most of my other peppers had some problem with blossom end rot, but not the Vaquero Japapeno.