Great pics, even better peppers!

Good job! Did you do anything to make them so bushy? Top them? Or do these types just grow like that? I usually grow sweets and I'm growing some hots this year, so curious about it.

This was my first year with super hots too, I really enjoy them, such diversity. Hardest part of the whole lot was germinating, I planted heaps of scorpions but only one germinated, even on a heat mat.

None of these plants were topped, I tried with one this year and it has grown quite poorly since. Many of the really bushy plants in these pics are in quite large pots, the fatalii, peters and scorpion are in 40-50L and they really love it. I was also very liberal with dolomitic lime and dynamic lifter when planting this year and this might have helped.

Well they look good, so keep doing it. Maybe next year try some different starting mix. I had good gemination, but now hopefully I can keep them alive!
Some hots (not all super hots, just hot) I'm growing are
Aji Lemon Drop
Brazilian Starfish
Chinese Five Color
Fish Pepper
Manzano Pepper
Malagueta
Uyababa Pepper

Nice work!
I'm guessing that the "Yellow Bhut Jolokia" is actually a Yellow Moruga (or similar).

Josh

That's a nice list Drew, I especially like the look of the lemon drops and was going to source some seed for next spring.

@Josh you are probably right, only my Fatalii, banana and scorpion were grown from seed, the rest came from store add seedlings.. So quote possible they mixed their seed, or have cross pollinated varieties.

Cant help but notice the purslane in the last picture. Does in grow naturally down under or is it a import. Very good for you ,Mexican people love it with pork Its been the subject of past posts, It seems some people hate it in there garden. I dont even weed it out seems to be a good companion plant for peppers. Its a weed that sells for $4+ per Lb. at farmers markets here.

Wow you have pretty sharp eyes. To be honest I'd never heard of purslane but some quick googling shows you to be correct. And what an interesting weed it appears to be!

Google says that Australian aboriginals used to make a flour from its seed, so definitely native, I never pulled it out because the pot had a large amount of real estate, and sometimes I leave these non aggressive spreading plants to help trap water. A quick inspection shows this plant growing in at least one other pot. I'm excited to taste!

This post was edited by naikii on Fri, Mar 7, 14 at 15:41

Beautiful plants. Did you sample all the peppers you grew?

Tim

Amazing plants and pictures. I too was going to comment on the bushiness of the plants. Are they also just one plant per pot?

One plant per pot, I think they just naturally spread out with larger pot size. They have all been allowed to grow into whatever shape they wanted no pruning etx. All my plants in 50L pots are super bushy. It could have been over fertilisation as well, as the plants put on tonnes of leaves, and delayed their flowers until recently, although all now have heaps on them.

I taste tested a whole fatalii and a small sliver of a bhut, the fatalii roasted me so well that I fear to try another whole one lol.. just cutting into them, the pungency scares me..

I have cooked with the bhuts and fataliis and chocolate habs and think they impart great flavour. People say they get a citrusy type flavour from the fataliis raw, however I got nothing except blast of searing heat.

Also it seems I made an error in my labels above, the green/yellow chilli I have as yellow bhut is actually called 'yellow trinidad 7 pod' and the chilli labeled 7 pod above is actually the bhut

This post was edited by naikii on Sat, Mar 8, 14 at 0:43

After a scotch or two I have worked up the courage to taste a sliver of the moruga scorpion.

I cut into it, and am blasted in the face by the smell of heat. I have never tried super hot chillies before January and I find the smell of them to be all similar, its such a strange smell, bitter, capsicum like, but it builds a sweat just the scent.

I can tell it so much hotter than the previously tasted fatalii, and the sliver of a bhut I tried previously. The scent permeates the entire bench above the cutting board where I sliced it. The chilli glistens with oil, which my photo below doesnt do justice.

Call me cowardly but the small sliver I sliced from near the center of the chilli sits on the plate, and I can smell it, wafting up as I type this... perhaps I will chicken out after all. For all my love of Indian curries, and the love of the beautiful chilli plants, super hot chillies are not something I look forward to, and I am sweating so much, just from the smell...

This post was edited by naikii on Sat, Mar 8, 14 at 2:53

It looks hot! I need a scotch just looking at it! I would dry those chili's and use the powder sparely like you would cayenne powder.

Well, wont be doing that again...

The heat was instant and built for about 10 minutes, and still continues half a tub of icecream later.. I think I will go as far to say, one of the most painful experiences ever.

How chilliheads can down an entire one of those, and sit in front of a video camera remaining somewhat respectable is beyond me.

Those pics, its its pepper porn!

What pots do you use?

naikii mentions 40-50 L a 50 liter is a pint and 1/2 over 13 gallons. That is a pretty big pot! I use those for tomatoes, don't have enough for peppers. I do put both tomato and peppers in ground too.

How are the peter peppers , i was going to order some for the conversation of it , but i'm running out of space. I'm looking for the flavors and heat.

The one labeled 7 Pot doesn't look like a Yellow Bhut, either, but who can tell with some many hybrids and mutations these days. Even my Yellow Bhuts aren't as bumpy as I'd like/expect.

Glad you got a taste of the Moruga :-) What a monster, eh? Hottest pepper I've tasted to date....and the only pepper that has sent me scrambling for some mediation (in my case, I swigged a few gulps of coconut milk).

Josh

Wow, that tiny sliver of scorpion chilli made it way through like a burning coal last night, I could literally feel it scalding my stomach and moving through my gut all night. It's just the gift that keeps on giving.

Anyhow, as Drew said, nothing fancy about the pots, some are very big by chilli standard though, I grow fig trees in pots about the same size.

They really do enjoy the large pots though, the Peter's pepper is the exact same age as all the others. except the fataliis and the scorpion. I grew the fatalii and scorpion from seed and they are the same age, and all the rest from a nursery, bought on the same day.

I had the store bought ones in smaller pots, around 6L until the beginning of Jan and potted them up, and put Peter's in a large pot because I intend to over-winter it and keep as an interesting conversation piece .

Here is my Peter's Pepper, and compare it to one I didn't show earlier, red naga bhut jolokia;back on Jan 3rd;

And now them together today;

Today, an unripe red bhut;

And while we are on pics from when they were kids, the scorpion, was transplanted looking like this;

I havent yet tried the Peter's pepper for taste, but am hoping it is of a respectable heat and taste to be used in cooking, as well as looking cool.

Here are some more of its green chillies, waiting to ripen;

This post was edited by naikii on Sat, Mar 8, 14 at 18:41

Is there a reason you grow them in a container/pots as opposed to right in ground? They look so good. I'm wondering I can do the same with green long hot peppers. Like Thai or Indian peppers.

Well pots warm up quicker, otherwise the ground is probably better! Raised beds warm up quicker, and have the advantage of being in ground and not limiting the root system. I like many have limited room, so if I want to grow a lot I'm forced to use pots. i put them in the ground too!!
The ornamentals are usually smaller, so I'm growing them in pots. Others that grow bigger I'm going to try and put as many as possible in the ground.

Peppers love heat right? So pot may be a better option, as you said in Northern climate, it may make sense to get as much heat as possible especially in the beginning of summer and towards the end when weather can get cold.

What type of soil do you use in pots? can you dig up soil from your garden or you have to use potting mix? Do the pots dry out quick in the middle of a summer? I don't know whether peppers like well drained or they like moist soil.

Well, I live with my parents in law currently, until our house is completed later this month and so it started off that I would plant my seasonals in the garden, and the plants I wanted to bring with me in containers.

But then it all kind of went wrong, as I really enjoy container growing, and slowly (quickly?!) built up such a collection of containerised plants that all my garden time is consumed by them. I like playing around with soil mixes etc and getting the most out of my plants.

I think I have well over 50-60 different types of containerised plants including 11 varieties of fig and 7 or 8 blueberries, and covering everything from pommes to citrus to olives and stonefruit and everything in between.

It doesnt really capture the full madness, but what started off as a modest container garden looking something like this;

Today looks something more like this;

Having said that, I do still have some garden work going, but, in general it falls into disrepair, and I don't pay as much attention as I should, nor take as many photos. Up until two weeks ago we were in the middle of a horrible hot dry spell too, and the garden was dry, and this doesnt help much...

Even through my abuse though I manage to pull out some garden vegies still...

Capsicum

My garden haul last Friday

I live in Southern Louisiana, you spit in the ground and you get either sugar cane or peppers (just read about Avery Island) but I have not had much luck putting peppers in the ground. I think pots just give you more control and are more flexible with placement. Also I have a tiny yard with large fruit trees so I think containers are the best thing for me. Not to worry pictures pending.

You can't use garden soil in pots, it's too 'gluggy' and your plants won't appreciate the wet soil.

In the container forum you can find heaps and heaps of good information about container soils and different mediums, and it can become quite overwhelming if you aren't careful. I actually have a thread there comparing how my Fatalii grew in 3 different soil mixes, and found no difference between using the cheapest bagged mix you can buy, and other more complicated 'designer' soil mixes, and so if you are just getting into it I wouldn't hesitate to just choose a bagged potting mix from a store.

Having said that, almost all the plants I grow these days I put into a mix primarily made up of coconut husk chips, and I am yet to find a plant that does not thrive in it.

Being in the north in ground works for me, but I grow many in pots too! Also raised beds. My peppers will be going in raised beds, or pots. Here are some of my rasied beds. We have raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, and corn in them last year.
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I also grow cacti
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Some of my potted plants

Some of the raspberry harvest
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The raiseed beds look rather sad now!

Those raised beds look great drew, did you build them yourself? I'm looking for design ideas for my new house. I'm staying well away from raspberries though. Those guys are the devil, I've never met a more invasive plant.. Or then again maybe they will join my collection of pots next season...

Yes I build them myself. I'm hoping the raspberries stay in the beds! I have another patch in ground, but for them to move they have to go under a sidewalk! So those are confined too. I used 2x12 boards. They probably won't last that long. I tried to protect the wood with stain. A latex stain thus water soluable, no solvents.