My Datils are doing very well this year, although I'm not sure I have any advice for you. I planted the seeds on December 29, 2013, so they got an early start. I live in Upstate South Carolina, and I've got three plants in a self watering container. The plants are loaded with pods. A few have ripened already, but I'm about to be inundated with ripe pods, which is a good problem to have. I'm not trying to brag, but just describing my situation. The picture was taken 10 days ago.

Savanna, how are you growing them? In ground or containers? Are you fertilizing regularly?

Josh

greenman28,
Thanks so much.
I'm growing them in a raised bed with Miracle Grow Garden dirt & Potting soil, plus compost. Also have used Espoma Plantone. I might should give them a little more Plantone, but everything else is growing like crazy, so I figured the datils might need something special the other vegetables don't.
When I lived in Savannah I had enormous Tabasco pepper plants. Now, just a short drive from the Tabasco factory, they don't do as well.Same Miracle grow dirt, same raised beds. So there's something missing I haven't figured out yet.

kentishman,
Thank you for sharing the photo! Looks great!

reviving an old thread because i don't want to clutter the forum with yet another datil thread.

just ordered some seeds from an amazon seller; there are no reviews on that particular seed offering, but the seller seems reputable; hopefully the seeds won't crank out jalapenos or tomatoes or some such.

i understand datil plants can grow to be about four feet tall. for those of you growing in containers, what capacity planters are you using? one recommendation i read was 15 gallons, though I wonder if a datil plant can thrive in a smaller container, maybe 8-10 gallons in size. tenks in advance.

I grew my Datil in a #5 nursery container, which is approximately 3.5 gallons.

Josh

thanks, 28th greenman. may I ask how tall your datil became?

i don't mind growing a relatively small datil myself. I don't have a lot of sunny growing space, and if the smaller container makes the datil a little bonsai-ish, I won't mind as long as the plant is healthy.

after sitting between moist paper towel folds in a plastic bag atop a warm DVR, my datil seeds germinated, huzzah.

so I wouldn't have to open the bag, I shined a flashlight right up against the bag almost daily to check for the silhouette of an emerging root. i thought germination might take a month or two, but I imagined I saw a root after 11 days, and by the 12th day, I was sure.

Well done. You’re off to a good start.

some pikchurz from their journey:

the datils, though young, are sturdy-looking. i topped them both, but i wonder whether i should have let one of them go without a beheading so i could compare their stake-or-stake-not paths.

my little serranos, in comparison, have a wispy appearance. based on my experience last year, which required staking a growing serrano, these babies need stem strengthening, and accordingly they're due for a snip once they have enough leaves on them.

reporting back on my first (and last) year of growing datils. one pepper was ripe by late august, and a bunch have ripened in september. i wish i could say i like the flavor, but i find the odor and flavor to be weirdly unpleasant. i totally appreciate they might be someone's favorite pepper, but the datil tastes like mothballs to me.

going to give away my five plants to those who might like the datil a lot more than i do.

next on my 2019 grow list: paper lantern habanero and aji pineapple.

You should try the Chocolate Scotch Bonnets. The ones I've been harvesting smell sooo good when I cut open. Very spicy but flavorful. The ones I buy in grocery stores (Might be habaneros) smell very acidic...like vinegar.. Quite unpleasant. Again, don't know if it's because they're habaneros or different coloured scotch bonnets but store bought doesn't smell quite as pleasant as my chocolate Bonnets.