How early and what minimum heat level?

There's a lot of good early (60-70 days) jalapeno, hot cherry, and Hungarian wax varieties (especially hybrids)...but none reach the hab range of heat.

Serrano Del Sol (hybrid) is a large/early serrano hybrid (60-70), but even then they're one of the weaker serranos only mildly hotter than many jalapenos and it's flavor profile beyond the heat is rather weak (imo).

There's a good selection of 70-80 day cayennes out there, too.

As far as the very hot goes, "Red Mushroom" is one of the earliest at 75-80 days...open pollinated seed.

This post was edited by nc-crn on Sun, Sep 29, 13 at 3:40

Thanks, have some cayennes to try thanks to peppernovice...as well as some hot cherry peppers (late producer for me). Just looking for something hotter than jalapenos (not a huge fan), that I can use in my recipes and salsa.
Jerry

What is meant by "Early" when it comes to peppers that are HOT from the day one !?. I remember one year I had a purple pepper(Both flowers and fruits were purple, size of a grape) and some birds eye. They were both hot from early on.
I bought a bunch of Thai chili from our farmers market last week.
It had, red pods, orange, yellow and tiny green ones . They are all super hot.
Same goes with the sweet peppers. You can eat them at any stage. Unless you care for color(just my take)

Annuums usually produce earlier than other chiles.

Good early producer = Hot Banana (not the same as Hungarian wax btw). Averages 60-70 days, and always produces a bumper crop with the right soil + nutes. You don't have to wait for them to ripen, they taste just fine when yellow. They make great roasters and picklers too.

The Hungarian wax supposedly averages a week longer to ripen, but has a steadier heat level than Hot Banana.

Jerry,
Some new ones that I'm growing this year might work for you in zone 5. They all have decent heat and between the creamy yellows, purples, red coloring they look good in salsa together.
- Blondy - has been putting out a nice crop since early August and still going strong
- MauleâÂÂs Red - nice yield
- Bhavnagari Long - decent yield
- Cows Horn - starting putting out ripe pods well before expected (end of Aug)
- Condors Beak - 1 ý â purple pods and he too has been putting out a high # of pods and still going good
- Cyclone - started producing mid August but isnâÂÂt as productive for me as is for a gardening buddy of mine
- Gochu (Korean) - has been going strong since mid August.

I grow these in containers/buckets/pots.....

Good luck in your pepper search.

Sandy

This post was edited by sandysgardens on Mon, Sep 30, 13 at 22:33

my thai peppers were extremely early producers, as were my tabascos. if memory serves, I got my first red ones at around the 60 day mark. great tasting peppers too. below 100k SHU, but hotter than a serrano.

I hear paper lantern habs are early producers, but I haven't grown them yet. I remember one site calling them "the habanero for the north" or something like that. I'm growing them next year, so I'll know sooner or later.

I haven't grown the paper lantern for a couple years, but I have good luck with it when I do. They seem to start ripening in Aug sometime and have the heat.

Thanks for all the great ideas...I grew Thai Dragons this year and they are AMAZING (must grow until I find a better Thai). Will try Paper Lantern next year thanks to Tim...and the Tabascos from Rod and Pam. Just getting excited and looking for anything "must grow" that I'm missing, thanks to Sandy I will be looking for Gochu seeds now :p...LOVE hot salsa.
Jerry

Jerry,

I'll have Gucho seeds, later this fall for you. Please touch base with me via email in a few weeks.

Sandy