I've never had so many superhots so early in the season. Didn't think I'd actually be harvesting ripe Ghosts in August!!! I gotta say, the plants are loaded and the peppers are looking absolutely perfect. I pulled these on Tuesday, and brought some to share with friends on our game night. I will be pulling seeds from the pod top right.

Nice, glad you're having great success. Many of my peppers have been plagued by pepper maggots this year.... but I have a big, beautiful Trinidad Scorpion that is loaded and producing super spicy peppers. I've had 3 so far, no pest and hot!.

I also have a massive Bishops Crown seedling. Lots of peppers, should start ripening within the next 2 weeks.

This month should be a huge harvest! Can't wait to spread the heat!

I've already given away a few hundred Thai chiles....

Josh

Why don't you make some Chili powder? You'll never have to waste another dollar on seasoning again. I had soo many peppers last year that I slow roasted all of the ones I couldn't eat fresh and made different spicy powders. I still have some today.

Hey, Dave!

I'm swimming in powders, and I still have dried peppers from years back.

Thai chiles are just so productive that I have to give them away, or else a percentage will go to waste. My favorite powder to make lately is smoked paprika, and I go through a lot!

Josh

i should have checked in sooner! Looking good you guys. Neither my Baby Aji Amarillo nor my Bishop's cap are hot! I have several for drying , and LOTS of Aji dulce 2.

For some reason Houzz doesn't show my pictures anymore, but I have some in my ideabook.

Nanelle, I can still see the pics you posted to this Thread, if that's what you mean.

Josh

@greenman28 NorCal 7b/8a, from September 6th?

One of two pictures worked today with "desktop site" selected.

No, you're right, nothing from September 6th. Dang!

Harvested a few peppers today...another 68 Ghost pods!

Very nice haul. They don't all ripen at the same time... how long do you leave the early ripening peppers on before deciding to harvest? I usually pick them as I go and try to preserve them in the fridge until I have a good amount to dry.... I'll also eat a fresh pepper here and there.

Dave, usually I pick them as I go, 3 to 12 pods at a time depending, but this year has been phenomenal and I have a nice uniform harvest. The Douglah I picked with some green at the tips, but they'll ripen up nicely and stay more firm, too. Another 21 Douglah, as well. I'm trying to post pics, but this website is f*cking garbage these days.

Josh

I see 2 pictures in the last 2 comments you made. They look great.

Rain on my drying peppers! The first bit of rain, after months without always seems shocking. I saw it in the forecast and must have thought "that can't be right".

Dave, it took me a long time to get those pictures to finally post....but I'm glad they finally did. I'm really proud of those beautiful Ghosts!

Nanelle, we got hammered by rain yesterday! I haven't been out to the garden yet, but I'm sure happy I picked the majority of my pods before the rain hit. It was the first rain of the season and it was a deluge!

Josh

Plated...!

Zone9B. Seeded Thai Dragon in paper towels then put sprouts into cups and small containers. Seedlings growing well but tall and leaves are at least 2-3 inch apart. Every YouTube videos and box store seedlings I come across has seedlings with dark green stalks and not as tall. I have not fertilize at all. I have seedlings under filtered sunlight with at least 8 hours. I know I started late in August but just curious what is deficient that my seedlings are tall and lank compare to other pepper plants? I know they are healthy and growing but stalks are not dark green. Any ideas? Thank you.

My Trinidadian scorpion is on fire GreenMan. I just harvested 20+ pods today. I bought a small plant from a local greenhouse labelled as Portugal hot. That gave me 30+ today plus many more..... Bishops Crowns are coming in nice.... I got the yellow variety, I'll post pics tomorrow. Some peppers are just bad ass and look cool.

Once Winter comes, I think I'll bring in 2 prized peppers indoors to continue ripening and growing peppers. Do you bring in plants inside to extend the season? I noticed you're in zone 7B8A, warmer than I.... Last year I brought a couple chilies in and harvested 30+ extra ripe peppers.

Dave,

I overwintered a Ghost in my greenhouse, but that was the first time in many years. I used to overwinter, but it was a hassle. My first pepper ever, a Hungarian Wax, I overwintered for 8 years.

Josh

We had a great rain a week ago, and now back into the 90F's, so the plants are loving it. I'll have another significant harvest coming up.

Huhh.... I just noticed that your pepper plants appears to be inside a wired fence. Is that because wildlife damage hot peppers....? Unlikely... But it made me think about building something like that for my figs next year. Between Squirrels and birds, I lost about 15figs this year and was thinking of getting bird netting for next season.... but a small wired enclosure like yours might be a better idea for my figs.... when it comes to peppers, only problem I've had was some pepper maggots that ruined the early crop on several pepper plants I have.

Dave,

I have a fully fenced garden, and my strawberries, boysenberries, and blueberries are all netted individually against birds and squirrels. The deer definitely eat the foliage of peppers, although they do stop once they bite into a pod. You can see that hungry buck in the background, just waitin' for a handout.

I have figs, too, and I highly recommend you net or fence them. I had a nice harvest, as well, but would have had a lot more if the birds hadn't pecked at them and ruined so many. Little winged bastards.

That's a nice looking fig. You know what you've got?

Brown Turkey, Dave.

Josh, nice looking peppers and figs! I ate only four fruits this year from my figs, lol. Right now the figs are loaded with green fruit, but the cold weather is here :( they did not ripen on time.

Thanks, Sunshine.

That's a bummer about the figs. I have probably another dozen green figs on the tree, but they might not ripen, either...although October will be pretty warm here.

Josh

Pulled another 41 Ghosts and 16 Douglahs....

Final pull of the season...only a handful of green pods left on each plant.
32 more Douglahs, 37 more Ghosts. I haven't even started to pick the Thai chiles.

Nice! I just picked all of my peppers this weekend. I have over 200 green peppers, if they change colour, great, if not, whatever... they're still spicy when green. I find if you leave green pods in a bright room at room temps, they'll change colour within a few days.

How did the figs do Josh? Fig season is over here but I brought in 2 plants to finish ripening figs, just had a good negronne today.

I had a lot of figs, and just picked 2 more the other day, although they are smaller. Still a couple left on the tree.

Josh

Rocotto

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Nice harvest, Nanelle! Lots of peppers there!

I still haven't harvested the final pods from my Thai Chile, but I have decided that I will be using them to make a fermented Thai garlic hot sauce! I have a friend who is going to get me started.

Interestingly, I just ate the last Brown turkey fig from my tree this weekend. I harvested more than 30 figs this season, not counting the 8 figs that were damaged by birds.

Josh

Snow and wind yesterday, and so my season is officially over.

This is the final picking of Thai chiles.

374 pods, which puts the total harvest well over 500 pods.

It looks like you need to start selling at a farmers' market. The chili vendors here seem to do pretty well.

I got a fair number of what I think may be Thai chilies this week, and I dried them, for future use. I've not yet made any powders but might consider it if I don't use all of the dried ones. I planted a bunch of random seeds this year, and most of them appear to be chocolate Habanero, but they might be accidental hybrids. I used one today in my grits, and it was not all that hot, but it did have a good flavor.

Well, I just did the bookwork and added up my total harvest for the season.

These totals don't include the pods I traded, gave away, or lost to weather and pests.

Thai chiles: 686 pods

Ghost peppers: 154 pods

Douglah: 73 pods

In the pic below, the final 8 Douglah, 19 Ghosts, and 606 Thai's.

Hey, Lars, I worked at a Farm for 6 years, and we sold a lot of peppers.

This was the first Summer that I didn't sell fruits and vegetables, and it was nice...it allowed me to focus on my own home garden, and I think it helped make a difference (since I was here more often to fertilize and water).

This Autumn was our 2nd annual Pepper Festival, and attendance was much better. Ghost peppers were selling for a dollar a piece. That might be something I'm interested in doing next year.

Josh

Happy Thanksgiving

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