All things Peppers

[melody]

Glad to see the Chili Heads arriving. Nothing is better than the lovely burn in the back of the throat that Lemon Peppers give. I like a good 'mid range' burn rather than the stuff that peels paint. Save those for my ground, dried mixes. Dry sweets and hots alike, grind fine in the food processor and it makes for a very nice sprinkle for many things. The flavor is complex and lovely.

I always send a large container of the dried mix to my cousin in Norway. He loves the stuff, and the Norwegian idea of spicy food is 4 black peppercorns enclosed in a tea ball and dunked twice in whatever they are cooking. He's desperate for something to keep his taste buds from withering away.

[giardiniere]

Nothing too exotic, but here is my pepper list....

Jimmy Nardello's
Giallo di Cuneo
Quadrato d'Asti Rosso
Aconcagua
Trey's Mystery Purple


..and some ornamentals

Poinsettia
Medusa
Bolivian Rainbow

[darwinslair]

Well, the end is near as far as the pepper planting goes. Of all my peppers, just the Bhut Jolokias, Pimento, Thai Sun and Charlestons to go. I have over 120 pepper plants in the ground or pots. Once I am finished it will be close to 150. Loving that there is finally green and we seem to be done with the cold weather. Once the plants are established and producing I will post some pics of them. Rena, how are yours doing? And for that matter, how are everyone else's doing?

[gort]

Chinese Giant (green, turns red -- bell). "Mole" pepper (mild/medium hot... for mole sauces).

[LadyHawke]

Let's see

bell boy peppers (4)
red peppers (4)
lilac peppers (4)
American beauty peppers (4)
yellow peppers (4)
miniature red peppers (4)
miniature yellow peppers (4)
miniature chocolate peppers (4)

and a few more... but I forgot offhand... gotta go look and see!!

[darwinslair]

Two of the peppers I am growing are reputed to have exceptionally long growing seasons. One is DeArbol and the other is Bhut Jolokia. The DeArbol peppers are supposed to be nearly tree-like and grow to 56" according to what I have read. They are growing, but they are flowing more than anything and are about 2' tall now. The Bhut Jolokia are growing slowly but not flowering at all, nor are they even 12" tall yet. Both were started in February so are now over 100 days old. Does anyone here know if I can expect to get any kind of a crop at all from the Bhuts before fall gets here? (Have to admit, I am a bit scared of them, but I will have to try eating at least one.)

[EconMan]

This is my first year planting a garden at my new home in middle TN, so I have tried a variety of peppers. The only peppers that haven't taken off is the Bells. The plants are decent size but no peppers yet. Otherwise I have mature or close to mature peppers on all of the rest.

Habanero
Cayenne
Chili
Sweet Banana
Mixed Bell
Jalapeno

[darwinslair]

So here it is another year. The first of my long season peppers are in their spots over the stove waiting for germination. It was a wonderful year for peppers last year and I did (much to my own chagrin) eat a Bhut Jolokia. It was not filmed, but instead was a spur of the moment decision while drinking beer with my brother Matt. He ate a small piece, I ate a whole one. The pain was intense, unlike any pepper burn I have had before but not completely intolerable. The endorphin rush was incredible. The aftereffects were excruciating. It was about 20 minutes of oral and throat pain. There were about 4 hours of GI pain after that. In hindsight, I should have had food in my stomach as it was not until after a meal that my stomach pain went away.

Last year it was 70 days to germination on the Bhut Jolokia peppers. We will see if it is any different this year. My DeArbol peppers topped out nearly at 5 feet tall and produced very well. The GREAT discovery was Takanotsume (from the Chile Pepper Institute) which grew straight up to about 40 inches and produced hundreds of wonderful 2-3 inch long clusters of peppers pointing straight up. They are wonderfully hot (not intolerable) and make a fantastic chili oil and chili paste. Every seafood pasta and Asian stir fry has oil and chili paste in it. PLUS I did not horribly burn myself making it this year.

Tom Kleffman

[Penny]

Thanks for the information on the Bhut Jolokia's Darwin, I am growing them for the first time myself this year, good to know.

[melody]

Mirasol was a nice surprise for me last season. Very similar in description to the Takanotsume. Tons of ruby red peppers held upright in clusters. Nice size and good walls. I'll grow them again, but this will be a year for sweets for me. I had over 60 hot pepper plants last season and they all produced like gangbusters. I have frozen, dried, and pickled. Everyone got pepper for Christmas gifts as well. I need some balance.

[smwlindy]

I have a Newbie Pepper Gardener Question & wow does this sound like the right group !
I am in Twin Cities MN and have previously only grown grape tomatoes, North Star Green peppers & Super Chili peppers in containers. This year I am graduating to a (smallish) in-ground garden with Orange Bell, Sweet Chocolate & Hot Portugal peppers started from seed. My question is this--how big/tall do these types of peppers tend to get, and how much support might they need?
Thanks for your help!!

[Jimche]

Originally posted by blackberry jam:

Darwinslair,
Glad I could be of help. My space here in S.CA is small. I wish I had the space to grow as many varieties as you have. I've never ordered any plants from Cross Country maybe someone out there has.

Hello All,
First post on this great forum and also my first year in SSE. We have been gardening in our local community plot for the past 6 years. Discovered Cross Country Nurseries two years ago and that opened us up to open-pollinated tomatoes and peppers. It seemed like infinity - they have something like 500 pepper and 200 tomatoes as seedlings. THEN, I found out about SSE and the world opened up even further. This is our first year of starting from seed and we are going into it in a big way, whether that's wise or not. Could not resist getting 46 varieties of tomato seed and 12 peppers. That necessitated (or provided the excuse to indulge my love of making things) building two propagation racks for 32 flats and four bottom heat trays (made from rope light with aluminum diffuser plates). If we actually get these things to GROW, we will need a lot more space than we have in our two community plots, and can still give away or sell lots of the seedlings. So, I've placed an ad in the local paper seeking opportunities for "suburban sharecropping". Five responses so far, from some very enthusiastic people. Fun. This promises to be fantastic, but could turn into a train wreck. I'll report back either way!
Jim

[YorkerJenny]

Originally posted by darwinslair:

Do you pop popcorn in chili oil? (oh my god is the stuff addictive)

Thank you for this tip, Darwinsliar. I've never thought about it. I'll grow some popcorns for the first time this year, if I can receive the seeds (lots of out of stock issues) I'll try.
I could only have some peppers to eat in the season, little bit to freeze. This year I'm gonna grow 164 plants to make sure I have enough peppers . I plan to freeze some, BBQ chervena chushka then mix with olive oil, crushed garlic, salt and little bit cayenne. I don't know if I can can it.
I forgot the name, something from Macedonia, I think, I see in supermarkets. puree of BBQ red sweet pepper, puree of eggplant, crushed garlic, hot pepper, olive oil, salt. That is good appetizer.
Red bell peppers, slice them with onions and saute. Killer!!!
Also I like fried green beans mix with red bell peppers.
Lots of pepper in Manhattan clam chowder is another reason why I have to grow 164 pepper plants.
I also plan to buy dehydrator and dry some peppers. I think it will be useful to make some veggie soups in the winter.
Except Anaheim, cayenne and Romanian hot, most of my peppers are sweet, because hot peppers make me cry, hard to eat.

[YorkerJenny]

Originally posted by giardiniere:

Aconcagua

How is this pepper? It was my 2009 seed list, but I couldn't find it this year. Is it really that much early?

[smwlindy]

By the way, has anyone tried the Hot Portugal pepper?

I grew "Super Chili" last year, but in containers. They were good but the little things never got more than an inch long. Cute, but I was hoping for more. So much for potting soil I guess.