Which chili variety for a beginner?

[blito]

I grow Jalapenos from seed saved from mid-winter supermarket chillies. As long as the fruit is fully ripe (ie nice and red) then the seed is viable. I dry them out on some kitchen towel on the kitchen window sill and then plant them in ordinary compost on the kitchen window about end of Feb, going into the greenhouse mid-may. The results are a decent crop of mild green Jalapenos ready from end of July through end of Oct.
Sorry if my reply seems a bit too beginner friendly.... i`m more used to the "new shoots" section here

[chris]

Another vote for Apache here - I started out ~2 years ago with an apache (that's just died this year - in it's 3rd) Kept it in a pot on the kitchen windowsil (~4 inches diameter) - it grew to about 10 inches high. Chillies were tasty, had a nice bite to them - usually 1 or 2 in a 'Chilli' were just about nice to give it a good bite (same as in spag bol!).

[Aggienator]

Many thanks for all the pointers. Order gone in for:

Apache F1 Chilli Pepper Seeds
Jalapeno Chilli Pepper Seeds
Numex Twilight Chilli Pepper Seeds
Cayenne Red Chilli Pepper Seeds

Next outing a trip to look for a reasonably priced heated propagator

All advised articles now bookmarked for regular reference

Cheers Aggie

[chris]

B&Q - £9 for a heated prop Dropped down from £13 a while ago, but as it's "out of season" you may get an even better bargain.

[northepaul]

Sorry its late, for pretty and compact little plants, Bolivian rainbow and prairie fire and numix twitlight are superb, however they are very hot. I have some hungarian hotwax and cayennes which are milder and I have gorwn them in quite small pots - they're about 20" high.

[DLittlewood]

hi Aggie, ive tried growing from seed last year with no success - got 1 plant with lots of flower buds but no fruit so this year I bought a single plant from B&Q Hungarian hot Wax chilli and repotted it into a flower bucket in my unheated greenhouse where its going great guns!

Its covered in flowers and fruit, the fruit are really large - about 4" long and 1" wide and are bright green. I don't think they are ripe yet and who knows they may get hotter but the couple ive picked have been really mild. Dena

[Aggienator]

What size pots are they in Aggie? I find I get earlier flowers and fruit by keeping them in fairly small pots.

They are in 5-6" pots I started them in modules then potted into 3" before potting up to the final pots.

Cheers Aggie

[HotStuff]

Many thanks for all the pointers. Order gone in for:

Apache F1 Chilli Pepper Seeds
Jalapeno Chilli Pepper Seeds
Numex Twilight Chilli Pepper Seeds
Cayenne Red Chilli Pepper Seeds

Next outing a trip to look for a reasonably priced heated propagator

All advised articles now bookmarked for regular reference

Cheers Aggie

WARNING! Chilli growing can become addictive

[Aggienator]

WARNING! Chilli growing can become addictive

Too Late

[chilliking]

agree apahache, jalapeno and cayenne are all fairly easy to grow and quicker to fruit/ripen than other varieties.

more advice on guide to growing chillies here!