Chillies - growing and overwintering 2018

[Scarlet]

So the annums are Serrano, cayenne and jalapeño?.

Yes, I have overwintered annums on ocassion but I've usually got a slower growing plant that would be a better option to overwinter. Those 3 varieties should have given a great crop already.

Another very silly question, this is my first year growing chillis, assuming you can keep them healthy do you overwinter the same plants for many years?.

No, I don't. Usually 3 years max. I think they get a bit woody and tired. Year two often gives the best crops. I'll usually start another one next year and that fresh plant will get overwintered the following....so I've usually got several 2 year plants on the go at the same time.

That said, I have a Trinidad scorpion in its 3rd year at the moment and I may keep him again.

[ChilliWilly70]

Help identifying whats chillies i have grown.

Last year i sowed some carilina reapers seeds. Well after a month nothing appeared, so i gave up and ordered some plug plants online. 6 plants in total 2 reapers 2 Nagas and 2 Scorpians.
Well four of the plants only grew to maybe a foot tall and have a few small chllies.
But the other 2 are amazing ( the yellow one is over 5 feet wide and nearly 4 feet tall) i ordered all red ones.
I need to find out how to add images so i will post images later.

[Scarlet]

I need to find out how to add images so i will post images later.

Keep posting / you’ve not got enough posts under your belt yet to upload photos - not long to go
Looking forward to seeing the photos!!
Where are you keeping them?

[ChilliWilly70]

In a 12x6 Greenhouse. In 30 litre pots. A Red one and a Yellow one.
They are beautiful to look at almost too nice to pick.
No idea how I'm going to overwinter them.

[Mitzi]

They sound great, ChilliWilly. I take it you're a fan of superhot chillies or are you just growing them for a dare? Make a few more posts so you can upload pictures; I'd love to see them.

[Mitzi]

Loving the harvest pics. 4Shoes your annotated one is brilliant; you are so methodical, I love it!

SP your harvests are just ridiculous but I think we need to know what they all are!

Everything of mine is still being extremely slow to ripen. Had a lot of damp, cloudy days recently so it doesn't help. Where's that Indian summer we were promised? I remember headlines of "heatwave will go on until October" - what rubbish!

Tried a rocoto La Paz Rojo raw - very nice, juicy with heat, although I was a bit caught out with the delayed effect - had a munch on it, thought "no heat to that at all" then I started to feel it a bit on the back of the throat, then the tongue, then the roof of the mouth... a definite burn but it didn't make me cry so that's bearable.

Last night I stir fried a Basque (espelette) with some Aji White Fantasy and Aji Champion - basically treating them as sweet peppers as none of them seem to have any heat. The Basque skin was a bit tough but the Fantasy & Champion were fine. So at least I've got a use for them - just treat them as sweet peppers. They have a nice crunch in salads, too, but it's not salad weather here!

[ChilliWilly70]

They sound great, ChilliWilly. I take it you're a fan of superhot chillies or are you just growing them for a dare? Make a few more posts so you can upload pictures; I'd love to see them.

Only ever grown Chilli's once before, and failed miserably. They need such a long growing season and a good summer.

[Small pumpkin]

Last year i sowed some carilina reapers seeds. Well after a month nothing appeared, so i gave up and ordered some plug plants online. 6 plants in total 2 reapers 2 Nagas and 2 Scorpians.
Well four of the plants only grew to maybe a foot tall and have a few small chllies.
But the other 2 are amazing ( the yellow one is over 5 feet wide and nearly 4 feet tall) i order all red ones.
I need to find out how to add images so i will post images later.

Looking forward to seeing them when you can post pictures. They sound amazing.
Where did you get you plug plants from ?
2 months isn't to long for super hot chilli seeds to germinate. They can take a long time. But Even my patients would wear a little thin after that long.

[Small pumpkin]

Picked a couple more chillies today

[ATTACH=CONFIG]83235[/ATTACH]

My last harvest photo is of this lot. I still have a few varieties not ready for harvest.

Ring of fire
Lemon drop
Numex twilight
Cayenne pepper
Thai dragon
Not Scotch bonnet
Dorset naga
golden cayenne
cayennetta
fish
joe's long
Bulgarian carrot
Peter pepper orange
spike
chiang rai
basket of fire
cherry bomb
sugar rush peach
thunder mountain longhorn
pink habanero
bhut jolokia chocolate
Naga morich
moruga scorpion
ghengus Khan brain
Aji Pineapple
peach tiger tooth
rocoto la Paz rojo
BOC x yellow primo
Aji Omnicolour
Nigel's outdoor
Sweet Apple kambe
Orange wonder ( probably)

[ChilliWilly70]

Oh heck I hope they live up to hype I given them.
Supplied by a guy called Steve.
https://spicesontheweb.co.uk/
I've given quite a few of the Yellow ones away, but not sure what I'm going to do with all the reds ones.

[ChilliWilly70]

My last harvest photo is of this lot. I still have a few varieties not ready for harvest.

Ring of fire
Lemon drop
Numex twilight
Cayenne pepper
Thai dragon
Not Scotch bonnet
Dorset naga
golden cayenne
cayennetta
fish
joe's long
Bulgarian carrot
Peter pepper orange
spike
chiang rai
basket of fire
cherry bomb
sugar rush peach
thunder mountain longhorn
pink habanero
bhut jolokia chocolate
Naga morich
moruga scorpion
ghengus Khan brain
Aji Pineapple
peach tiger tooth
rocoto la Paz rojo
BOC x yellow primo
Aji Omnicolour
Nigel's outdoor
Sweet Apple kambe

OMG that's a lot of Chilli's plants to look after.
Do you use them all or do you give them away or sell.

[Small pumpkin]

OMG that's a lot of Chilli's plants to look after.
Do you use them all or do you give them away or sell.

All of the above
I use a lot, I give some away and sell a few.
Most of them are turned into chilli power that I sell.

[4Shoes]

I like your labelled photo that's brilliant. Are you finding the yellow cayenne and Bulgarian carrot insanely hot ?
Wish I'd thought to harvest my sweet peppers as well. They look really good with all the chillies.

Pod - Variety - Heat Ranking
18 Scotch Bonnet Red Cross 1 No Heat
10 Long Green Buddha 2 Mild
1 Santa Fe Grande 3
11 Hungarian Black 4
13 Pot Black 5
12 Pot Black (Cross) 5
5 Aji Pineapple 7 Warm after taste
9 Orange Thai Large 8 Warm after taste
8 Cherry Bomb 9
2 Cayenne 10 Medium
7 Ring of Fire 11
14 Ring of Fire MX F2 12
6 Golden Cayenne 13 Hot
19 Bulgarian Carrot 14
3 Chocolate Habanero 15 Very Hot

Sweet Ranking
17 Nokturn aka Nocturne 1 Sweet
21 Enjoya 2
22 California Wonder 3
15 Golden Marconi 4
16 Palermo Pointed 5
4 Sweet Banana 6
20 Mini Bell Mixed 7 Not Sweet


Formatting a bit mixed.


L/H # - Pod Number

R/H# - Ranking Mild to Hot / Sweet to Sour


Top Table - Chilli, Bottom Sweep Peppers.

Also have a Red Scotch bonnet with no heat. It was crossed with a Cayenne or Standard Ring of Fire last year, so would have expected some heat. Another that needs new seed for next season.

[Small pumpkin]

yesterday's chilli harvest included 5 new varieties that needed trying. Sweet Apple kambe 500 Scoville, Orange wonder ?, Peter pepper orange 30,000 Scoville, AJI pineapple 20,000 Scoville and rocoto la Paz rojo ?
As we had a field full of people. 5 of us tried them all. We all had a slice of each chilli and tried all varieties in the same order. We had very different views on the heat levels. 2 dropped out of testing before the end. Mike thought the Peter pepper was hottest. I thought the rocoto was hottest but still nothing stupidly hot ( I wouldn't want to test anything much hotter raw). Bob thought the rocoto was so hot he spat it out and nearly threw up.
I found it all very interesting.

[ChilliWilly70]

Can anyone tell me whats the lowest temps chilli's can stand before they suffer.
We have already had a few nights of around 3 or 4 c around here.
One morning last week i had ice on the car windscreen.
And how the hell is my other half going to react when i sit a 30 litre pot on the window sil when i move them indoors.