Plants look great!, I can't wait to grow Hinkle Hatz next year. The Chablis looks great as well, please post pics when they turn colors.

Here is a link that might be useful: Hot Peppper Gardening tips, recipes and articles at PEPPERMEISTER!

I'm wondering maybe if everything I thought was Numex Sunrise if really Hot Portugal? They're long, 6-8", and sort of flattened so Anaheim type. But the color doesn't seem right. The 2 Hot Portugal that look more like cayennes are 4-5" long right now but skinny. And 1 that I thought was HP is definitely serrano so things got mixed up in the flats bringing 4" pots home from greenhouse. I'm going to have to use masking tape and label each pot next year.

I've never saved seeds and didn't know if I would this year (since I still have some of all the seeds I ordered from Fedco). I do have 2 HH on one end of the porch, over 20ft away from the Thais on the other end. Not sure if Fedco's Thai Hots are C. fructens or C. annum.

I never thought cross-pollination was a problem unless you were saving seeds, but while looking for HH recipes last night (didn't find any), I saw a site that mentioned needing to separate pepper plants else your sweet peppers might end up tasting hot, and hot ones not so hot? I have HH (C. annum) right next to King of the North and Thai in the garden, next row over is Sweet Banana. Are all my peppers going to start tasting the same?

Aj. Peppers will cross pollinate but that only effects the seeds they produce. You can grow bells next to naga's and they will always produce the same pods. But the seeds from that plant could be a belljolakia .

Your plants look super healthy. And what's wrong with a lil hybridization. That's how new chili's are formed. I think it is cool to have your own special pepper that no one else has. And I love your cayenne. They used to be my favorite pepper. Now I have too many to say. Jamie

Almost there! ;-)

I've not found cross-pollination to be a major problem, but I don't sell seeds, either.
For the hobby grower, isolating plants is probably more trouble than it's worth.
If you can, grow multiples of each plant, so you're sure to get the right peppers.

I don't know about Fedco's particular seeds, but most Thai chiles are C. frutescens.

Josh

OK, so cross pollination in peppers is the same as tomatoes, squash, etc. Don't know what that site was talking about (and now I probably can't find it). I found 1 site last night that said HH was 125,000 Scovilles, does anybody know about HP? I'd also appreciate any recipes - HH is traditionally a vinegar (hot sauce) pepper but I couldn't find any! Since some sites describe it as floral, like a hab but not as hot, I was wondering about using it for jelly. I started it for salsa, since it wasn't supposed to be as fussy as habs and I thought it might be hot enough for DH, but I'm interested in other recipes that might play up the flavor more than the heat (which is all that he's interested in).

I can't seem to get my camera to focus close up, but here are pix of the salsa - pretty, isn't it (even though I used store-bought bells, onion, and cilantro)?

So, even if 20 ft is too close (or same bees visiting the porch), HH is C. annum, Thai is C. frutescens, so I can try to save seed from the HH on the porch. I'm going to try to save those 2 plants (plus dig up a couple of the big ones from the garden) and overwinter them. So if anybody has trouble finding seeds, let me know if you want to chance a cross from my seed.

Just thought I'd post a "before" in case the garden gets trashed this weekend.

{{gwi:75450}}

No fertilizers or chemicals of any kind used! (though I wish I could get rid of the many grasshoppers, they don't seem to be eating too many of the plants, and I haven't had any other pests). About 400 sf and it's too small!

Hey Aj . Does your camera have a macro setting. That will help with close ups.

Your garden looks awesome. You must have some nice nutrients on your soil already! And you can try using coffee grounds( fresh or used) as a natural insectecide. It also gives the plants some added nutrients as well. I cannot say it will keep the grasshoppers away but it has helped with aphids for me.

I hope all goes well with Irene. I will send some voodoo your way.

Thanks Jamie (just saw your "real" name). DH pulled all the rocks out 3 years ago then doubled the size of the garden last fall, we've been liming it and adding composted wood chips from highway dept and compost from our kitchen when we had it (but only moved in 4 yrs ago so not much). It tested pretty good on everything. Wish my tomato patch down by the pond was as good but we just started that this spring and didn't have it amended (I did get about 60 gal of UCG from Starbucks) enough by June when I planted. Soil is really rocky and acid, low in N around here. About the only thing that likes it are wild berries.

I picked a HH pod this AM - something had eaten a hole in the side :-( But the 1 cayenne is nearly ripe - I'm picking that tomorrow for DH to add to the salsa I made. Oh, I did have aphids when I brought the plants home from greenhouse (could have gotten varieties mixed up when I was "quarantining" some) but strong spray of water got rid of most of those (plus squishing). That whole left-hand row of smaller plants near the tomatoes are "rescues" from my cousin who had them sitting in the weeds by the greenhouse - they were potbound and yellow, sorry-looking things. I also have 6 HP and 6 jals I rescued from Agaway and have repotted 2x now, looking pretty good by side of garage (used a little neptune's harvest on them the last repotting), I'll move them into garage tomorrow and may plant them out next week if the garden gets trashed this w/e.

Where are you? Hope Irene leaves you alone!

Hey AJ' mom. I am just below Daytona Beach Florida . Looks like it's gonna miss us( knock on wood ) . But I still have my work ahead. With 40 mile per hour winds predicted I am still gonna move my prize babies in the garage for the day. Now we need to prey for our Carolina friends(chilifreak) and everyone above .