Chillies - growing and overwintering 2018

[Small pumpkin]

I won't be growing Black Olive again. The plants took months - and that's not an exaggeration - to get going. It was only once we had that heatwave that they started to grow properly and finally set fruit. Definitely an ornamental rather than a culinary plant. The couple of fruit I've tried have tasted like chewing on a leaf - horrible. I've got two other black chilli varieties to try next year, so fingers crossed. (I'm on the hunt for a good black/purple variety for making purple tomatillo salsa with.)

I can recommend Hungarian black. You can eat them when they're still black but they're much nicer when ripe which is a beautiful dark ( blood ) red.

You've had a Nice harvest. I'm with Mitzi, not grown many of those varieties. I'm liking the sound of some of them. Especially the pumpkin .
I'm also a fan of seaspring. I don't look at their website often. I'm too weak willed and spend far to much money

[rambleberry]

I can recommend Hungarian black. You can eat them when they're still black but they're much nicer when ripe which is a beautiful dark ( blood ) red.

You've had a Nice harvest. I'm with Mitzi, not grown many of those varieties. I'm liking the sound of some of them. Especially the pumpkin

Thanks, that's good to know; that's one of the varieties I've been wondering about.

Pumpkin is so aptly-named, when they were on the plant they really did look like tiny pumpkins, like a little pumpkin tree Sea Spring have a video of it on youtube (looking much bushier than I managed to get mine, but then they are the professionals!)

[Small pumpkin]

I harvested most of mine today and have got loads of yellow monkey face which are too hot for me has anyone got any recipes ideas for these

Freeze them and just cut a little bit off one when you want chilli in a meal. Then put the rest of it back in the freezer. They're easy to cut when frozen. Obviously you don't have to use a whole chilli and removing seeds and the White membrane helps reduce the heat.
Or you can make sauces and jams with them and give them as Christmas presents.

[Small pumpkin]

Thanks, that's good to know; that's one of the varieties I've been wondering about.

Pumpkin is so aptly-named, when they were on the plant they really did look like tiny pumpkins, like a little pumpkin tree Sea Spring have a video of it on youtube (looking much bushier than I managed to get mine, but then they are the professionals!)

You've now talked me into going to have a look at seaspring. If I end up buying anything I'm going to hold you responsible .

[Small pumpkin]

Thanks, that's good to know; that's one of the varieties I've been wondering about.

Pumpkin is so aptly-named, when they were on the plant they really did look like tiny pumpkins, like a little pumpkin tree Sea Spring have a video of it on youtube (looking much bushier than I managed to get mine, but then they are the professionals!)

You've now talked me into going to have a look at seaspring. If I end up buying anything I'm going to hold you responsible .

You're safe I didn't buy any. But I did make quite a large list!

[rambleberry]

Ah, c'mon, they've got your name all over them...quite literally!

[Philthy]

Two plants each of Early Jalapeno, Basque and Palivec. Gives us enough chillies to cook with for most of the year. Prefer to grow for flavour and mild heat. Would like to add something like a padron or shishito or other tasty non-hots.

Anything you could recommend?

Hi toomanytommytoes

Sounds good. No knowledge of the Palivec myself - just looked it up though, that's a biggie! A rival to Big Jim perhaps size wise. Guess it's most immediate use would be as a stuffing pepper; is that how you use it? You can't go wrong with a Jalapeno, I'd wager it must be the most well known of all the chillie varieties, literally everyone is familiar with it regardless of whether they grow their own or not. Basque, aka Espelette, is one I grow fairly regularly. I grow it primarily to then dry and grind into powder - as per the recommendation. Done properly () the powder is supposedly highly prized in top kitchens. It certainly makes a lovely colour; a deep brick red, and flavour is subtle rather than overpowering.
Actually a lot of my crop that I keep back for myself gets dried and becomes flakes or powder, not being much of a cook I find it easier to use them as seasoning rather than key ingredients!
Padron the plant is an excellent choice. Grows well, can get big in ideal conditions (with support), crops well, and does okay outside in a sheltered spot. No knowledge either of Shishito but again having done a quick check I can see why you paired it with the Padron as a possibility. Beyond the high praise of Padron as a tapas pepper i.e. shallow fry until the skin blisters, then serve with salt (and a cold beer ) and by the looks of it maybe Shishito as well - though with an oriental twist - I'm the wrong person to be asking how else you could use it IanM would be a good grape to consult with on that score.

As for recommendations, there's a good rival thread running at the moment Going to try chillies next year that's well worth a look (if you haven't already)!
Sante Fe Grande is another one I'd endorse at the low'ish end of the heat scale: easy to grow, early cropping and plentiful over a season, plant makes a well proportioned and attractive bush. "The fruits are milder than Jalapenos at around 5000 SHU and the flavour is sometimes said to be similar to melon. These thick-fleshed chillies are good for salsa, pizza toppings and make great chilli poppers (stuffed with cheese and grilled or baked)."
And even though it comes up regularly on the chilli threads, (no shortage of endorsements by your's truly) at risk of repeating myself, I'll once again recommend Lemon Drop as a variety you can't really go wrong with. The plant out performs a good many others across the board, baring heavy crops of versatile, lemony fruits that go in just about everything, but won't blow your head off!

[the big lebowski]

I harvested most of mine today and have got loads of yellow monkey face which are too hot for me has anyone got any recipes ideas for these

i dried most of mine in the oven to make some chilli powder but i think i over cooked them so now im making chilli flakes instead

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC95...8WD3p3tBRBVjfw
i make this guys curry ,they are really nice ,enjoy
cheers

[toomanytommytoes]

Sounds good. No knowledge of the Palivec myself - just looked it up though, that's a biggie! A rival to Big Jim perhaps size wise. Guess it's most immediate use would be as a stuffing pepper; is that how you use it?

They're long but not very wide so would be a bit of a faff to stuff. Mostly use them similarly to basques where I want pepper taste but not too much heat e.g. pastas, pizza topping. Ordered some Padron seed for next yea...it's gonna be a bit of a jungle in the greenhouse. Lemon Drop and Santa Fe added to the ever expanding list of varieties I want to grow!

[annie8]

Made some great hot sauce from the first harvest of orange habaneros. Second lot have been put in the freezer for using later. My second year chillis have produced most of the ripe chillis so far. The ones I planted this year have lots of chillis but not many ripe yet. Not wanting to try and overwinter all the plants. Should I go for the older ones or better with the younger plants?

[Small pumpkin]

Small disaster with some of my saved seeds. Drying numex twilight, padron & lemon drop in the airing cupboard. Went to put some others in that I collected today to find them all swimming in a big puddle!
Flipping hot water tank started leaking.

[Scarlet]

Dry them quick SP / stick them on a plate...they should be ok.

[Small pumpkin]

Dry them quick SP / stick them on a plate...they should be ok.

Unfortunately Scarlet I binned them already. I don't check them everyday. Last checked Tuesday. So they could of been sat in a puddle since then . The fact they were all sat on folded sheets of kitchen roll is the only thing that stopped the puddle coming out of the airing cupboard.

[4Shoes]

Small disaster with some of my saved seeds. Drying numex twilight, padron & lemon drop in the airing cupboard. Went to put some others in that I collected today to find them all swimming in a big puddle!
Flipping hot water tank started leaking.

These are the things that try us. Another case on "Like" not being appropriate

[Philthy]

Well, all my remaining chillies are ripe now for 2018. Somewhat of a challenging grow this year...
I opted to leave the bulk of the crop on the plants to finish ripening in the hope the pods retained their firmness for longer; even so a good few went over before they were properly ripe thanks to the post September randomness of sunny days, even though it stayed relatively mild through to October. The nights these last couple of months have been mostly on the cool side though, which would have had a bigger effect on plant productivity than a spike in the daytime temperature.
Up until last weekend I'd left the plants in situ in the GH, and essentially just chanced it (time constraints unfortunately) with the isolated properly cold nights we'd had up until that point; all vents sealed shut to prevent cold drafts getting in and keeping the pots on the dry'ish side seemed to have been enough (though as I've found out in the past, time will tell). Last weekend though with the predicted 'arctic blast' coming down, I figured my luck had run out and hastily emptied the GH of plants and into the garage. I've had a small electric fan heater with built in thermostat running in there all week; enough to keep the temperature at around 7 C, beyond that it switches itself off so provided the door stays closed it's actually quite frugal to run. Definately a prudent move though as three nights this week have seen hard frosts and iced up car. It's almost proved too effective as within just seven days two of the plants have started flowering again!? Arrgh.. So much for going dormant. Still, better that than dead..

I am heading out shortly to tackle the end of season prune and ready the plants for overwintering. Hopefully this doesn't stimulate too much new growth given that the environment they're currently in clearly facilitates this. Don't know where I'm going to put them indoors yet but will cross that bridge later!

The last few pictures of now ripened pods
L to R: Jalapeno pod / Tokyo Hot (cayenne type) / lost label (another cayenne type I'm guessing) / 'Orange Thai' aka another mystery plant / 'Orange Thai' pods (whatever it is this one makes awesome chilli jam )