Im gonna use this forum to document my 2011 pepper grow season. Hope you all enjoy.

So far im planning on growing 12 different types of peppers, but this number may increase as spring/summer approach. So far the list is....

Tabasco
Hot Cherry
Aji Yellow
Thai Chili
Pepperoncini
Serrano
Habanero
Cayennne
Carribean Red
Bell
Hungarian Wax
Jalapeno

I havent yet started any mass germinating of seeds yet as its still a bit early and im also not set up properly yet to germinate multiple hundreds of seeds. But i did get a start using old egg cartons, and old reptile basking stone for a heat source and my 90 gallon aquarium and flourescent lighting to get going.

So far i tried germinating one of each pepper in an egg carton using some leftover potting soil as the medium and only have one seedling to show after 8 days. I since purchased a seed starting mix and am now starting a second egg carton with one of each seed as of last night on the reptile basking stone set at around 80 degrees and being monitored by my girlfriends digital kitchen thermometer ;) shhhhhhhh. lol

Here is a pic of my makeshift setup so far.

I just had to show off my aquarium too ;)

And here is the first seedling of the new season. A Thai Chile.

I plan on updating this thread from time to time with new updates and pics.

Feel free to comment, ask questions, make suggestions on any of this thread.

Thx
Jim

Is that orchid potting soil i see? I know the miracle grow orchid mix gets high marks for starting off pepper seedlings, so that's what i'm using this year. To be more specific i am using roughly 70% miracle grow orchid mix, 20% coco choir, and around 10% worm castings.

Egg shell cartons seem like a nice easy/inexpensive way to get seedlings started. Any plans on how you'll handle the entire crop when you finally plant it (seed trays, lighting etc)?

I think those cichlids are eyeballing that Thai Chili =)

And yep its actually miracle grow organic choice potting soil. It seems very chunky with lots of sticks and twigs and big chunks of wood in it. Maybe i should of used some sort of a sifter to get the big chunks out. That sounds like a good choice that yer adding coco choir and worm casings to yer mix for sure.

Yeah i like the egg cartons, since it didnt cost me anything. I just poke a few holes in each cell with a 10 penny framing nail for drainage. Im definetly gonna have to pot them up into 8 or 16 ounce cups before it comes time to put em in the ground in month of May. Im going to buy 2 more 4 foot double bulb flourescent work lights and fit em with some plant friendly bulbs and rig up a grow light area in my apartment. I think im gonna hold off until mid March before i go crazy planting hundreds of seeds as ill be able to use the big yellow thing in the sky on warm days to give the young seedlings some light. I have lots of leftover 96 cell starter flats and those 4 and 6 cell plastic starter trays. I have some big aluminum roaster trays i keep the seedling flats and small pots in for easy transport indoors and out. I probably will have 4 times the amount of pepper seedling that i will use for my own use, so i plan on giving lots away or maybe renting a table at the local farmer/street market fair on a weekend day or two and maybe selling a few off.

Them cichlids better hope they dont bite into a ripe Thai chili, lol. Oh and my 7 year old daughter is coming over to daddies this weekend and i thinking she may want her Lego boxes that are supporting my flourescent light back, lol. Ill have to do some re-rigging.

Jim

It has 4 things going for it:

1) super early: 60-70 days till ripe, popular with farmers with short growing seasons (PA especially).

2) super prolific: 30 to 60 peppers per plant depending, the plant bends over from weight.

3) Huge size and thick fleshed.

4) Possible record holder for pepper sweetness, almost like snacking on an apple. BBQ'ing them reduces the sweetness and introduces that smokey taste. More pepper flavor than bland Bell peppers.

I had hundreds of ripe seeds last fall that i threw out, i was so sorry i did, this year i had to buy a dozen seeds online just to get a crop started....

I'm looking forward to this season's grow...and to following along with everyone's gardens!
Should be an excellent year. You've attained a great deal of knowledge in the past season, and I know
you'll be putting it to good use. I've also noticed how much you've helped the new growers dealing
with issues of over-watering and soil composition.
Cheers!

Josh

Hey sjetski. That pepper yer describing sounds like a mighty fine home growable pepper! I never heard of them til now, but they sound good. For now im gonna stick with the bell pepper seeds i plucked from nice supermarket bell peppers i ate and try to grow those out. Im not a huge fan of peppers with no bite to em, but i do like em in a big ol' pot of chili in nice chunks just to give a little chunky pepper texture to em. Maybe down the road ill have to try those. Thx for the info.

Hey Josh, im trying my best man. My second grow season and i learned a hell of a lot here on this forum. I dont want to give you an ego trip but yeah you were one of the members that taught me a great deal. And i dont mind one bit helping out another in this field of interest of pepper growing if i can share some of the small bit of knowledge and experience in this field of pepper growing.
Well damn that was quite the run on sentence now, wasnt it? Lol. And Yes, Overwatering was a big killer for my overwintered plants. Out of 5 plants i killed 4 but the one thats doing great is an Orange Hab.

A pic of my orange Hab. This plant was dug out of the ground and pruned to an 8 inch stub of a stem around Halloween 2010. 3+ months later its showing nice growth under limited light and i actually trimmed it down a bit too.

Here is a pic of the lonely Thai Chile that looks it ready to get it second set of leaves quite soon. Its the only one of 12 various seeds that germinated in this first run of 12 and its goin on 12 days too!

And Gearin up for some mass production, well by my standards anyway. Got some new flourescent light fixtures and full spectrum bulbs. Total cost 45 bucks after taxes. Two T12 double 4 foot work lights with bulbs.

Happy Growing All
Jim

I might put some aluminum along the base of the wall on top of the cabinet to add some reflectivity and possible a strip of foil extending from the front side of the fixture to reflect light back downwards

Yep there is my only pepper there as of yet in that egg carton. A small Thai Chile.

I hope i bought the right kind of bulbs. Home depot advertized them as a full spectrum bulb. Im not even sure what type of 4 foot, t12 flourescent bulbs are best for pepper grows, but i hope these are ok.

Jim

The Bulbs seem ok, the color temperature looks like a good middle ground. I'm going to get a little nitpicky, since these are just seedling bulbs after all, but the lumens seem low for T12's. I was just at Lowes earlier today and noticed their GE kitchen and Bath bulbs have 3300 lumens each, so two of them equal 6600 lumens vs 4400 lumens for those Phillips you have.

The GE Kitchen and Bath Bulbs have a lower color temperature but as per this fluorescent bulb review (linked below) they supposedly output a good amount of usable blue, red light and orange light, and less green light, they are practically optimized for plant growth as far as T12 bulbs are concerned. They were pretty cheap too, $6 for two of them. You wouldn't have to do this, but you can always pick up a pair of GE bulbs, swap out one Phillips bulb on each assembly, and run one Phillips and one GE bulb.

I installed some aluminum foil around my seedling grow area to help reflect some light back to the plants where its needed.

Its very bright in there!

Also i see a Cayenne pepper seed popping up in my test plot number 2. So now i got 1 Thai from plot #1 and one Cayenne in dozen two. I planted a third dozen of my 12 pepper varieties today and got em on the heat stone.

Jim

So far out of the first 2 test batches all i got was one Thai Chile and one Cayenne seedling to emerge as of yet.
I decided to kick it up a notch today and planted 6 each of my 12 pepper varieties in a 72 cell flat. Im experimenting with a germination box i made today too.

I planted the 12 varieties in vertical rows, so i have 6 of each pepper seeds planted. I did make a seed map on a piece of paper so i dont forget, which ones are what. I filled the cells 3/4 the way up with MG potting soil, and then moistened that soil real well with a spray bottle/mister. Then i placed the seeds in the cells and covered with about 3/8 of an inch Jiffy seed starting mix. I moistened that real well too. I then covered it with saran wrap.

I placed an electric heat controlled reptile basking stone in a large rubbermaid container then put a damp towel on top of that followed by a peice of composite decking material to support the seed flat.

I put the lid on and drilled a hole in the lid to be able to insert a digital thermometer inside the box to monitor the temp in there.

I know the temp is only at 66 right now but it should go up gradually. Im shooting for a target temp of 80 degrees. The basking stone is adjustable so ill have to check it out from time to time over the next few hours and tommorow morning. The ambient temp in my apt was at 59 degrees at floor level earlier and it can go up to 70 or 80 when the forced air heat kicks in. The heat level fluctuates like crazy, lol. Its amazing ive stayed healthy all winter and not even got a common cold, and it certainly isnt a stable environment for germinating seeds. Well i hope this test works out :)

Happy Growing
Jim

Josh

Update: I see a Carribean Red popping through the jiffy mix in test plot #2, thats yer favorite pepper aint it?

Jim

My real problem with the Caribbean Red was that it wasn't a Bhut as advertised by
Seedrack.com (from whom I'll never buy seed again). I should also mention that
the Scotch Bonnet from Seedrack.com turned out to be something else, as well.
At least they got the Chocolate Hab right...but 1 out of 3 ain't a passing grade in my class.

Josh

Sorry ya got burned by Seedrack.

"rubbishy, filthy taste"?
What the heck ya talking about?

I love them Orange Habs and Carribeans. They have a nice essence to em when added to my pasta sauces. A fruity, citrus type flavor and plenty of heat to zest up lots of dishes.

I still dont feel the need to acquire any bhut seeds or any of them new age hot nuclear peppers on the market yet. Im content with the old school stuff here thats been in the American common marketplace. Although im starting to get used to eating Habs in my dishes i might need to kick it up a notch next year ;)

Happy growing, May yer Bhuts be Bhuts!

Jim

"May yer Bhuts be Bhuts!" - Thank you! Now I'll Cheers to that!

Josh

Its a winter wasteland still here in NY probably a foot of hardened snow still covers the landscape. And temps dipping to the low teens every night.

Its nice to see pepper plants sprouting life in these seedling trays :)

Jim

Ill list what sprouted so far.

Test Plot #1 - 18 days of germination, 3/12 (25%)
Habanero
Carribean Red
Thai Chile

Test Plot #2 - 10 days of germination, 4/12 (33%)
Habanero
Cayenne
Aji Yellow
Carribean Red

Im hoping for some better numbers on more recent plantings, and still hoping some late bloomers will pop up.

Test Plots #3 and #4 and Flat #1 are still still too young for any sprouts.

It seems i lucked out with achieving a favorable temp in my flat germination box (81 degrees), with the current settings. Although the air temperature at top of box only measures 72 degrees, the soil temperature in the flat is at 81 degrees. This is wierd since i thought heat rises and should be higher temp at top of box, i guess the saran wrapped moistened soil (water is a good heat sink) traps the heat in good and the uninsulated box loses the upper level heat quickly do to poor insulation. Also the box is on floor level where the outside of the box ambient temp is about 59 to 63 degrees. Maybe that temperature gradient is quite condusive to rapid heat loss through the thin uninsulated plastic walls and lid.

Thats my theory anyway :)

I think i will keep it the way it is for now. I could insulate the box better and maybe i could lower heat setting on the heating stone on the bottom of the box and still achieve an 81 degree temp in the soil. But F it, if it aint broke, dont fix it. Right?

*Side note* a test plot of Basil sprouted 8/12 seeds in 2 and a half days. I wish peppers sprouted that fast ;)

Jim

Happy growing
Jim

Test Plot #1 - 20 days of germination, 4/12 (33%)
Habanero
Carribean Red
Aji Yellow
Thai Chili

Test Plot #2 - 12 days of germination, 5/12 (42%)
Habanero
Cayenne
Carribean Red
Aji Yellow
Pepperoncini (thx josh)

Test Plot #3 - 6 days of germination, 3/12 (25%)
Hot Cherry
Aji Yellow
Serrano

Test #4 and Flat #1 are still in progress, nothing sprouted yet.

Looks like these Aji Yellow seeds are batting a thousand so far. Thx Ajijoe.

*side note* 11/12 Basils came up, and i planted 4 seeds each of three kinds of tomaters today.

Pic of test plots and basil under my light setup

Pic of test plot and a few extra 4 pack cells of some pepper plant types that didnt show good germination in first few runs, also the maters are up there too. I use the top of the fishtank light to keep em warm. Stays pretty warm up in that corner of my apt. even when i turn the light off at night. The heating duct is nearby too.

Happy growing
Jim

A Thai Chili, Its back under a flourescent for now above my aquarium.

Had some more sprouts pop up today too.
So far i got

Tabasco 0/14
Hot Cherry 2/14
Aji Yellow 3/10
Thai Chile 4/10
Pepperoncini 2/14
Serrano 5/10
Habanero 2/10
Cayenne 4/10
Carribean Red 3/10
Bell 1/14
Hungarian Wax 0/14
Jalapeno 0/14
Total 26/144

Wow as i was writing this i went to count the Cayenne cause i forgot to list them and i see a new hook, popping up its in the earliest of the sowings in the tray from 1/24/11. I guess there is still hope for those guys in that tray

Some are sprouting better then others. Also there is hope for alot of them to still come up. The sowings have been staggered and have anywhere from 21 days to 6 days of time in the starter trays. Ive been doin sowings little by little as i have the time and energy for it. I guess sowing them in stages is more fun for me then just blasting it all out it one day, And also i dont have crazy amounts of space and lighting resources at the moment either as well as huge areas and heating resources to accomodate mass germination all at once.

Its all good!

Happy peppering
Jim

Jim

Josh

We'll see if later on if they are Pepperoncini or Pepperthai's or Pepperbasco's or Pepperhunwax's or Peppercar-red's or whatever, lol. Its all part of the game.

Im growing 7 varieties from seed from drying my own seeds from pods with the same possibilty of cross germination. Its all good, ya never know as ya might come across a really cool hybrid.

I wish i had a better camera that was good on focusing on close up shots of the lil seedlings.

Seed germination update
Tabasco 1/14
Hot Cherry 7/14
Aji Yellow 3/10
Thai Chile 7/10
Pepperoncini 5/14
Serrano 6/10
Habanero 7/10
Cayenne 7/10
Carribean Red 8/10 (Josh's favorite)
Bell 4/14
Hungarian Wax 2/14
Jalapeno 1/14

*uh oh, i just noticed a discrepancy with my seed maps and my labeling of starter trays, ack!* i might have Jalapeno and Serrano confused, guess it will be a while til i find out.

Jim

I'm just curious what you're going to do with all those plants *smile*.

Good luck this season and keep us updated.

Rick

The extra seedlings hmmmmmm. I might rent a table at local farmer market street fair in early May and try selling some plants just for fun, i dont think i can quit my day job just yet. I will probably just give most of the seedlings that i dont use to friends, neighbors, family.

For some strange reason, i really enjoy raising these plants from seed.

Happy growing!
Jim

P.S. I figured out my labeling error, so all is good (i think) ;)

Numex Sunrise
Maui Purple
Peruvian Serlano
Aji Limon
Chocalate Bhut Jolokia
Bigit Locoto

A kind fellow pepper enthusiast took the time and postage cost to send these to me. And I am very grateful and will grow these hot lil buggers to the best of my ability!

I will get these in starter trays this weekend.

Yes, its gonna get a lil crazy finding room for these new plants, but ill manage. I have seen two temporary double 4 foot work lights on a sidejob im workin at and im gonna see if i can adopt them ;)

So im up to 18 varieties now. God bless the taste buds of anyone who eats a pot of my homemade chili come harvest time.

Jim

Josh

That Locoto is a Baccatum variety in case you didn't know, and that Per. Serlano looks all wrinkly and evil. I bet they'd both be great in some pepper mash recipes.

What a great gift!

I grew the Maui Purple and it is a beautiful plant,and very hot too!

Kevin

I did another seedling count yesterday and i have 80 seedlings that emerged from the 144 planted. The madness is only beginning! Im sure there might be a few more popping up too. I also planted a 4 cell starter of 6 more types sunday night to bring the total pepper seeds in the soil to 168.

Birgit Locoto
Choc Bhut
Peruvian Serlano
Maui Purple
Aji Limon
Numex Sunrise

Heres a list of the seeds germinated/planted

Tabasco 6/14
Hot Cherry 11/14
Aji Yellow 3/10
Thai Chile 9/10
Pepperoncini 7/14
Serrano 9/10
Habanero 7/10
Cayenne 7/10
Carribean Red 9/10
Bell 10/14
Hungarian Wax 3/14
Jalapeno 6/14

I guess ill be busy this spring potting up plants and shuffling trays around. The crazy part is that im not done planting seeds, i think i will plant alot more in the coming weeks. I have some ideas about expanding my pepper garden to a 40 by 40 foot fenced in garden at my mom's property a few towns over with the help of my brother to help maintain it.

Got the new seeds in the trays along with a 4 pack of cherokee purple maters.

A couple shots of seedlings

Potted up a few too.

Lovin it all

Happy Growing
Jim

The seedlings are already working on their second set of leaves! Great job!

Josh

Jim

I've had to prune them down in order to let the others catch up.
They've been the fastest growers for me the past two years!
I'm glad to see them doing so well in your care, too.
Very rewarding!

Josh

So it looks like im adding Anaheim and Cubanelle to my grow list, to bring the number of pepper varieties to 20. God Bless me! lol. I'll get em in germination trays tonight.

Jim

I just got my last 6-pack of seeds sown....
Thai, Arbol, Tabasco, and Hot Cherry...! Can't wait to try them stuffed Cherries!

Josh

My name is Jimmy and im a Pepper-Grow-Aholic. My last pepper seed sowing was less then 5 minutes ago. And i had a great day!

Maybe that statement will clarify things.

LOL. Yep im looking forward to harvesting Hot Cherry peppers this year too. Last year i had three of those plants that i put in a bad location and ended up being swallowed by a wall of tomato plants. I hope to plant em better this year.

Ummm ummm, Hot Cherry peppers stuffed with prosciutto and provolone and soaked in olive oil. F'ing A! Must be my italian blood coming through.

Yep them Hot Cherry peppers are doin ok, but the Thai Chile is still King of the class of 2011!

Happy growing
Jim

Josh

Some potted up plants under my living room light setup

Some of the bigger plants under my aquarium light setup.

36 more plants

My kitchen table turned into a soil mixing/potting up station.

Some more stuff that needs potting up as well as newly germinating/sprouting trays.

A metal basket i found that i use to put over my kitchen sink when i water the plants, works good to let em drain out over the sink.

Yep this hobby is starting to keep me busy!

Happy Growing
Jim

Just thought i'd drop in a post an update on my pepper grow. I got about 100+ seedlings in various states of growth. I got alot of em potted up in 18 oz. cups under flourescent lighting just waiting for the good old plantout time.

I havent done any prep work at my own residence just yet, but i hung out at my moms house this weekend with my brother and we started to prep out an old garden area that was resting for a couple years.

My bro starting tilling by hand last week. And i joined in yesterday to start building raised beds with fieldstone.

The Stone Hauler ;)

Here is another garden on the same property we didnt start yet.

Put in a few more hours today on that first garden. Ouch. My back hurts, but lovin it.

A close up pic. We are doing a two foot bed around the perimeter, with three foot beds in the middle with 2 foot pathways all around and in between the beds.

Its hard work, but im lovin it.

Jim

Do you have deer in your area? Are they able to jump that fence?

My fence goes up 7 feet...

Josh

I hope the hunters did well this year, and the coyotes ate up alot of fawns, we'll see.

Jim

We have Blacktail deer here...which I lovingly refer to as the "Sierra Nevada Rat."
Summer 2009, they got into my garden and ate my pepper plants in half....but they left
the tomatoes alone, damn them. Anyhow, after that, I increased my fence height.

Josh

I have the blacktail deer problem too. I have an 8-foot fence around the garden, and a two stran electric fence outside that, to keep the boogers from knocking down the 8-foot fence. I love the deer, I even feed the deer with an electric feeder, but they can be a gardener's nemisus.

I think you will love the Tabasco pepper as I dearly love mine.
To me the Anaheim is actually a better Bell Pepper than the Bell Pepper itself. Great stuffed, roasted or smoked.

Rudy

A Thai chile i grew from seed a friend gave me and a Cayenne from my own seed stock from last year. I had to pot em up outta the 18 oz. cups. They growing fast!

Happy Growing
Jim

I really cant wait to get these peppers in the ground! Target date for plantout is first week of May.

By the way, your rock-work beds are looking great. Can't wait to see them full o' green....
should be quite a sight, indeed!

Josh

Here is a pic of some pepper plants im growing up here in NY.

Happy Growing
Jim

I know its a bit early to plant out here in southern NY but what the heck, im gonna roll the dice, risk vs. reward, and plenty of plants on the sidelines under the the flourescents indoors.

Jim

Do you know which of those three you are growing, Shoontok?
Furthermore, can anyone shed light to the real identities of these "Thai Chillies"?

Thai Hot Mini-Harvest (pic)

Josh

Josh

Jim

Will get some photos soon.

Jim

Over the past month i have about 90 plants planted out. I have about 45 planted at my mom's house and another 45 planted here at my residence. Still have about 30 more inside that will be going out shortly.

I gave alot of seedlings to co-workers too over the past weeks. I stopped counting but i think i was around the 200 mark on the number of pepper seedlings i raised this winter, lol.

My landlord let me til up a section of backyard last weekend so i have plenty of room to plant more peppers and veggies.

Yep i gotta get some new pics up on here if i remember to get my camera back from my mom's house this weekend!

Current grow list is at 22 varieties. If i see any varieties i dont have at the local nursery i may increase this number again ;)

Tabasco
Hot Cherry
Aji Yellow (Ajijoe)
Thai Chili (Greenman)
Pepperoncini (Greenman)
Serrano
Habanero
Cayenne
Carribean Red
Bell
Hungarian Wax
Jalapeno
Birgit Locoto (Wayright)
Peruvian Serlano (Wayright)
Numex Sunrise (Wayright)
Chocolate Bhut Jolokia (Wayright)
Maui Purple (Wayright)
Aji Limon (Wayright)
Cubanelle
Anaheim
Arbol
Pequin

Happy Peppering
Jim

Can't wait to see the latest pics. So you've basically got three garden plots now?!
Your harvests this year will be huge!

Josh

Kevin

Some Birgit Locoto's, an Aji Yellow, and an Aji Limon ready to go in the soil.

Some pics of some pepper plants at my residence.

A Thai Chile plant

I think this is a pepperoncini pod forming

My camera is crappy i think the lens cover shield didnt totally retract and i still having trouble trying to upload pics from camera to PC to photobucket.

Hope you enjoy the pics.

Happy growing
Jim

Josh

I still got room for more plants. Now i wish i wasnt so genorous giving plants away to my brother and co-workers, lol.

Maybe ill visit the local garden nursery or farmer market and git me some more ;)

Jim

Jim

Josh

Rudy

Kevin

I made an adjustment to my grow list today by adding two more pepper types. The new grow list total for pepper types is now 24, lol.

I picked up a 4 pack of Scotch Bonnetts and a 4 pack of Pimiento's at the local nursery today while buying some tomatoes for my brothers garden.

Me and my dad and bro worked on my brothers garden at my moms house today but i didnt bring camera to take some new pics from there. We planted 44 tomato plants and a few other types of veggies and did some weeding cause its getting overrun by weeds! The garden was idle for a couple years and the weeds really got a roothold in there.

Here are some pics of that garden i took last weekend.

The birds eye shot, lots of unplanted bed space with lots of weeds!

The pepper row.

A hungarian wax with peppers on it.

A hot cherry putting out some pods.

A pic from last weekend of a bed of pepper plants at my residence. These were planted out in late april and survived heavy rains, temps in the upper 30's and heavy winds shortly after planting. They are doing really well now. Some people talk alot about "hardening" off your plants, well, i through them out into some "hard" conditions and they pulled through just fine ;)

Happy Growing
Jim

Ill get some fresh pics of the rock garden at my moms house next weekend maybe. Its starting to come along real nice.

Kevin

I just did a count of the pepper plants in my yard. 109, lol.

I think im gonna have to invest in a dehydrator to make some pepper flakes for sure.

Happy growing
Jim

Those are going to be some 1st class pepper flakes with all of the varieties you have. Can't forget the pepper mashes and pickled peppers while you're at it, they should carry you over those cold autumn and winter months.

Josh

A pic of the pepper bed with 20 various plants in it.

Some plants i just put in recently. 6 Jalapenos, 4 Scoth Bonnets, 4 Pimiento's. And some other pepper plants in the background.

A few Chocolate Bhut's

And a Maui Purple

These babies came along way since growing up on top of my fishtank this winter ;)

Oh yeah, i picked and ate a pepperoncini today, ummmm good, actually had a tinge of heat in it.

Happy Growing
Jim

Kevin

I got those Maui Purple seeds from a really cool guy on this forum. All the other plants are doing well too.

I think i may have a Jalapeno/Pepporoncini cross growing this year. It appears that the seeds i planted from open pollinated Jalapeno's i grew last year look sort of like pepperoncini? They aint quite as wrinkled as pepperoncini but they sure as heck dont look like jalapeno's. The unripened pods are still small with the largest one being just over an inch long so far. I guess its possible they may have crossed with something other then Pepperoncini being that there were other species such as Cayenne and Bell in closer proximity and could be other varieties from further away? who knows? lol.

Ill have to get a pic posted soon.

Jim

Looks like the seeds from last years Jalapeno i saved may be a Bellapeno. I know they arent close to ripe but i decided to pick these pods to test em out (eat em) and let the plant focus some energy on growth. It definetly had a bell taste to it at this stage of pod maturity.

Jim

Happy Gardening,
-Kristina K.

Plants are looking great, Jim. In a month or so, we'll be posting pics of ripe peppers!
The Hot Cherry plant (the larger of the two I'm growing) is over a foot tall and flowering well.
I'm hoping a pod will set before the other peppers begin flowering, that way I can save the
first pod for seed-harvesting. I think my friends and family are going to want to grow
these peppers next year.

Josh

Im really liking the pepperoncini plants that i grew from the seeds ya sent me Josh. They have a nice little zing to em. The ones i grew last year from store bought seeds were very bland.

And them Hot Cherries will sure to be setting pods for ya. The Hot Cherries im growing from the same seed pack have some nice pods on em up here in NY. The plants are still kind of small at about 18 inches high, but im sure they will grow alot more over next few months and pump out alot of pods. Maybe ill pick a few of the larger green pods and eat em up to let the plant have some more energy for growth. From what i experienced last year when picking pods from small plants, it seems to give em that extra energy that was used to grow pods converted into plant growth thus increasing the plants ability to pump out larger number of pods. This year its kind of easier to pick pods off of small plants instead of waiting for ripeness cause i got a heck of alot more plants to choose what to pick and what not to pick. 119 plants is a good number of plants to choose from ;) And having 26 varieties growing is giving me alot of experience in seeing how the different kinds have different growth rates and different types of growth characteristics. Some plants want to keep growing for the sky while others start bushing out quite rapidly in early develepment.

I must say that the Thai pepper plants are flowering the most of any other types as some of the plants seem to have 100 small pods and flowers on em. While others like Birgit Locoto and Aji's seem to be growing quite tall but really havent exhibited much flowering yet. We shall see, lots of growing season left to go!

Happy Peppering and Happy Fathers Day
Jim

I did a little work (therapy) in the garden yesterday. Staking some tomatoes and peppers and tending to other stuff. And took a few pics today. And even picked a few unripe peppers to dice up for a macaroni salad. Its definetly been a great experience so far this season starting these pepper plants from seed under makeshift grow stations in my apt. this winter. And also been great meeting cool folks on here and trading seeds and growing peppers ive never grown before and even heard of.

I dont post as much as i should on here but im always reading through most of the new threads and posts almost daily and really enjoy reading and seeing everyones pepper growing experiences.

Enough jabber out of me, here is some pics.

The first flower of a Chocolate Bhut Jolokia

A Thai Chile with lots of pods and flowers

A pic of a slightly overcrowded pepper bed ;)

same pepper bed, further away. tomato rows in foreground

tomato rows have peppers towards the end of the rows

A Numex Sunrise with some pods

Some pods. On Top is a Cubanelle. Left to right, 3 Pepperoncini, a crossbred Jalapeno, Cayenne, Thai, Arbol, Hot Cherry, 2 Hungarian Wax, Numex Sunrise.

Happy growing
Jim

Kevin

I'm glad you like the Pepperoncini...I wish I had a good cold pickling recipe,
but they're great in salads as is.

The Thai is warming up nicely, too. I can't wait until the first pod turns brown, then red.
I hope you'll just snap off the stem and toss it in your mouth...and then report back here ;-)

How's the other garden doing?

Josh

I just got in from picking a few peppers. There is lots of pods growing out there on lots of different kinds of plants.

I know its kind of a few days late to respond to Kevin's comment about the mac salad, but it was delicious ;) And Kevin the varieties you sent me are fun to grow and those plants are doin well. The Numex Sunrise are doin good, got some big pods on a couple of plants. The Maui Purples are really bushing out like crazy and are really pretty to look at with the purple foliage and flowers, and the pods got a nice lil sting to em ;) The Birgit Locoto's are groing like trees, lol, about 4 foot tall and no signs of slowing down, they aint quite putting out alot of flowers yet as they still growing upward like crazy. The Peruvian Serlano's are starting to produce some mean lookin pods. Aji Limons starting to put out some pods too. And last but not least i got some Chocolate Bhut pods growing real fast on one of the 5 plants i saved, one of the pods on that main plant is about 2 inches long and looking mean!, The other 4 plants are catching up!

One of these days ill take the camera outside and snap some more photos. I did snap a few photos inside after i picked a few Pepperoncini pods grown on the plants that Josh sent me the seeds for. Josh you know i like snacking on pickled pepperoncini's and my 8 year old daughter loves em too!

Here is a lil harvest i picked today.

I picked these off of 3 or 4 different plants, I like picking em green and i guess it frees up plant energy to go ahead and start putting out more growth and flowers for future pods. Pepperoncini did really well in my garden last year, LOTS of pods.

I put em in a jar after making a couple incisions with a knife on each pod. Then i filled up the jar with 3 parts vinegar, 1 part water solution and i also added about a tablespoon of sea salt and about a teaspoon of ground black pepper. Then to the fridge to chill. Ill snack on em in the coming days and then i got to pick more! :)

Jim

Today I ate my first Thai Chile. It was still green, but I wanted to test the heat and flavor.
Not hot yet, but they have potential...

The Hot Cherry plants are the largest in the garden and covered in flowers and pods.
It's gettin' hard to wait!

Josh

Both pods taste pretty similar and have the Cayenne heat level to em for this stage of pod development (in my opinion) upon sampling a slice of each up near the stem end.

Here is a pic of the pods along with a few cuttings of basil im using to spice up a quart of pasta sauce.

Jim

A Thai Chile from Josh, these lil pods are tasty lil buggers and pack a nice burn.

Some tomato plants. How'd that pic sneak by to the pepper forum?

Some baby Chocolate Bhuts. Thx Kevin!

Choc Bhut and some Pequins.

Peppers and Maters, YUMMM

Couple a pepper plants with some Jalapeno's in the background

Josh's Fav. Orange Habs

Some Aji Limon's

Them Thai Chile's sure are purdy.

More pepper plants! I tied these up today. Last night thunderstorm knocked a few plants over. Minimal damage.

And some bigger Bhut's!

Serrano's seem to be quite productive.

Pequin

These i believe came from saved Jalapeno seeds. I believe they are possible crossed with a Bell? Anyways, i will eat them anyway!

A bunch of different pods i picked last night to chop up for another batch of my homemade macaroni salad.

Happy Growing
Jim

Your garden is lush and productive!
Man, them Thai's are surely a thing o' beauty, and starting to ripen, I see!
Great variety!

Josh

Eric

I use regular distilled vinegar because i bought a big ole jug of it. I suppose ya can use cider vinegar instead if ya like.

I love snacking on them pepperoncini's! I just picked about 40 of em a couple days ago.And them plants setting many more pods :) Pepperoncini produce well for me.

I bet ya can use the same "canning" solution for other peppers too. Maybe some slices for sandwich toppers and such. Its a cheap, easy, quick way to store peppers in the fridge for a few weeks. If ya got lots more peppers then ya will eat you can probably seal em up with more long term method of canning.

Side note.... I never really give em a chance to fully ripen, i usually pick the plants clean of any green pods of good size. I guess the constant picking of these pods promote the plant to go out and set more?

Happy Peppering
Jim

P.S.

Yep im having alot of fun growing 26 varieties. Who knows what next season will bring ;)

Jim

P.S.
To Redtail
BEAT TONLY! Muhuhahahahaha ;)

I sliced 10 of them in half lengthwise and gutted em. I cooked up one cup of white rice and mixed in a halfpound of hot italian style sausage (removed from casing), about a cup of shredded cheddar and a little parmesan.

I stuffed them jalapeno halves and put em in the charcoal smoker/grill with some water soaked mesquite chips on the coals. Let em slow cook for about an hour and then.....you know the rest.

Delicious!!!

Now to decide the fate of the other 16 pods i got leftover ;)

Jim

Kevin

Jim, your plants are so far ahead of mine!
Love seeing the progress.

Josh

I been harvesting some pods for consumption here and there. And i been snacking on some as i browse through the garden and perform watering/maintenance in the evenings. Yep i love them hot peppers!

There has to be a thousand or more unripe peppers out there in the garden ;)

I ate a green Peruvian Serlano about 15 min ago during a garden walk through, from Kevins seeds. Man! thats a sweet tasting pepper with quite a punch too, and they nasty looking lil buggers too! I also ate a few Thai's from Josh's seeds, nice lil firecrackers! Picked a few ripes ones to throw in the dehydrator.

Ill get more pics of the plants soon. And maybe a few pics from the garden at my brothers place.

Happy Growing
Jim

Snapped a few random photos of the pepper garden today.

Enjoy the pics.

Chocolate Bhuts

Chocolate Bhuts

Aji Lemon almost as tall as the Oak trees

Chile De Arbol

Peruvian Serlano

Mixed Pepper bed had a 20 pound piece of tree deadfall in the front right side this morning. Glad the peppers took the brunt of the hit and not my head.

Tabasco

Maui Purple in between some De Arbols

De Arbol

De Arbol

A Yellow Jacket sucking on some Maui Purple

Maui Purple and De Arbol

Baby Scotch Bonnet

Some pimply Chocolate Bhuts

Arghh! Bells! Who planted those here in my hot pepper garden???

Some Pickens!!!
Peruvian Serlano's, Arbol chiles, green Aji's, green Carribean Reds, a pimply green Bhut in the middle.

Hope ya enjoyed.

Jim

On those chocolate bhuts, what colors do they go through on to what I assume is a brown when they are fully ripe?
Bruce

Hey Bruce, im not sure what color phases they change to, its my first year growing these and the pics you see here so far are the furthest stage of development at this point. Im guessing they will turn chocolate brown.

The Choco Bhuts go straight from green to brown!!

Kevin

Josh

What did you do with green Carib Reds?

Phil

Sure, id love to trade ya some seeds from the Maui Purple and De Arbol.

I used those green Carib Reds and other peppers in that picture to make a small batch of hot sauce. I pureed the heck outta them in a food proccessor with some white vinegar and some water then brought that mix to a boil and simmered it for about 15 minutes, then added a tablespoon of brown sugar to sweeten it up a bit and ran that mix through a cheesecloth and bottled it. I saved the leftover pulp too and gonna add that to my next batch of pasta sauce or chili.

My email is Shoontok@gmail.com

Jim

Looks like you got a bargain.

Bruce