Topic: What chilies are we all growing this year

[goodlife]

New year and new sowings....2015! 

I have just finished my play session with chilli seeds....and have some in propagator and some as seedlings in my cabinet.

This year I've done;
Naranga C.baccatum...heat level 6-7
Queen Laurie , baccatum, 6-7
Blondie, ,baccatum, 6-7
C02597, baccatum, 8
Bonda Ma Jaque, chinense, 9
Peito de Moca, chinense, 7-8
Murupi Amarela, chinense, 9
Arabibi Gusano, chinense, 8-9
Chinese Pot, annuum, 7
Trinidad Morouga, chinense, 10
Serrano, annuum, 7
Vampire, annuum, ?
'mix freebie bag' of chilli seeds, ?,?
Ah...that's better...and another couple weeks or so and it is time for peppers..
I'm keeping my eye on for small second hand GH...it would be great to expand the growing space...

[lottie lou]

Lumme Goodlife, what do you do with all those chillies?  And all the other things that you grow?

[goodlife]

Lumme Goodlife, what do you do with all those chillies?  And all the other things that you grow?

It does 'look/sound' a lot but I only keep one plant (or so...) of each variety. So after all it is not that much.
But still, I do grow more than I use and probably end up giving lot of my chillies away. This year I gave couple of those blue mushroom baskets/trays full of chillies to local Chinese take away shop's staff. They always look after us when we order something and after those chillies we did get some discount too  The owner of the shop is now VERY interested to come and see what allotments look like and what I grow...as for other things...same apply, we only use so much and rest of the crop is given away or used as 'currency' to barter something else in return. At the moment we are enjoying different game birds...

[BarriedaleNick]

I haven't made my mind up yet!  Certainly some Thai Bird's Eye and something ridiculously hot but I'm waiting till Feb to get going.  I made so much hot sauce last year that I don't need to grow any this year.  I have a huge jar of dried chilis and some frozen ones too but no doubt I'll still do a load this year.

[goodlife]

I haven't made my mind up yet!  Certainly some Thai Bird's Eye and something ridiculously hot but I'm waiting till Feb to get going.  I made so much hot sauce last year that I don't need to grow any this year.  I have a huge jar of dried chilis and some frozen ones too but no doubt I'll still do a load this year.

I didn't get round to do any hot sauce..though I have save your recipe. I did dry most my spare chillies and still have handful of fresh ones too. I've now started use superhot ones by just snipping with scissors some teeny pieces into cooking food. I left stalks on the chillies to hold on and now I don't suffer with burning nose and fingers nor stinging eyes...like I do when I'm attempting grinding them...so easy now  (why did it take so long to learn from one's errors  )
I'll leave powder grinding for less hot varieties as no matter how careful one is....there is always some accidents involved.

[Jayb]

Nice list goodlife, lots I don't know so will have a Google 

I haven't looked yet, but likely a Rocoto or two, Caldero grow outs, Lantern and I don't know what. Must get a move on, hopefully aiming to sow in February if I can shake the winter blues!

[sparrow]

This year it will hopefully be these:
Habaneros (on their 3rd year)
Lemon drop (same)
Royal Black
Alberto's locoto rocoto
Fish
Joe's Long
Padrons
Facing heaven

and then whatever's in the seed circle parcel ;) (yippeee!)

[goodlife]

and then whatever's in the seed circle parcel ;) (yippeee!)

Lol...somebody sounds excited... ...I'm sure there is some chilli seeds to come, I know I included couple of types.

[Deb P]

I had my best year ever for chillies last year due to the good weather, so I'm going to scale back a bit this year as I have loads frozen! I got unexpectedly good results from two T&M mixed packs I got from the Wyevale seed sale, Hot Stuff and Tropical Heat, so I'm just growing those......boring huh!

[goodlife]

I had my best year ever for chillies last year due to the good weather, so I'm going to scale back a bit this year as I have loads frozen! I got unexpectedly good results from two T&M mixed packs I got from the Wyevale seed sale, Hot Stuff and Tropical Heat, so I'm just growing those......boring huh!

Nah..not boring at all...if they do the 'trick' that's fine then  And who would not settle for loads 'hot stuff'...

[kGarden]

I got from the Wyevale seed sale, Hot Stuff ...

I've grown Hot Stuff for a number of years.  Can't now remember why I ever first bought the seed ... but I just plant & abandon them, as I don't need many of that chilli, and they always do very well.

The ones that I like to grow, a small hot chilli called Demon Red, I grow in the pots, they grow very slowly, and are much more fussy - but they are easy to give to chums as kitchen-harvester gifts come the Autumn :)

[Vinlander]

I'm cutting down on varieties this year to grow more flavour and less heat.

I have a lot of Tobago Seasoning in the propagator, hoping for bucketloads to make medium chilli sauce with a knockout habanero flavour. Probably the earliest of the seasoning/perfume varieties (and a bit  hotter than "Trinidad Perfume") but still quite late.

A lot of Orange Mini Sweet (aka. chiquita) to provide a constant supply for salads - because they have more flavour than any other near-sweet pepper I've found (better than the other colours too) - and far too expensive to buy @ £7-8+ a kilo. I'm also sowing a larger version that tastes the same.

Smaller numbers of:

Bulgarian Teardrop for that citrus-and-guava/cat flavour when they are green.
Black Hungarian (my darkest selection) for ornament, earliness, yield, and good medium heat.
Cascabel for vigour and yield - you need a chainsaw to cut through the skin but they are lovely tasty mild-ish when it's flamed off.
Mulato Isleno (poblano/ancho) for some chocolate-coloured variation in salads and because red corno types have a habit of disappearing from my polytunnel.
A variegated version of Paprika Supreme - either it crossed with Fish or it's Fish in disguise (unlikely as I never got much more than flowers from Fish).

I've given up sowing Manzanos/Rocotos in Jan. - they rarely fruit well in the first year without ideal conditions (very fussy about shade), and they are so much easier to grow on from an April sowing and so easy to overwinter in 10cm pots @ 4C. I'm building up a stock of 2 and 3yr old plants anyway and they all take off so fast in March they leave every variety's new seedlings for dead. I'm usually picking right up to Xmas (have used them as pre-baubled Xmas trees on occasion). The fruit don't last long when coloured-up - the seeds go mouldy first and then the whole thing goes in a day - but they are brilliant if frozen quickly enough.

I used to overwinter Aji Dedo de Mocha reasonably well but a bit pointless as they rarely out-produced the new seedlings. A bit too thin-walled to be a good mild pepper anyway.

I did try Habanero Arbol which can live for decades in California reaching 2m or more, but previous year's plants started so ridiculously slowly in our spring they were not much more than an ornamental for the whole year.

I may choose some others if the current lot don't need re-sowing.

Cheers.

 

[goodlife]

Cascabel for vigour and yield - you need a chainsaw to cut through the skin but they are lovely tasty mild-ish when it's flamed off.

Oh...you are eating them fresh?!  I've only ever used them as dried chillies to make paste or grind into powder. I wasn't going to sow any of them this year....but now that you mentioned them..

[AdrianH]

In the propagater I've currently sown:

Madame Jeanette - chinense
Caribbean Red - chinense
Aji Amarillo - baccatum
Birgits locoto - baccatum
Black Hungarian - anuum
Numex Jalmundo - anuum
Jalapeño - anuum
Vampire F1 - anuum
Bulgarian Carrot - anuum
Rocoto Yellow - pubescens
Cherry Bomb - anuum

Will definitely grow out 6 of these in 1 and a half quadgrows and may grow out another 3 in a chiligrow, just depends on how much space is left in the greenhouse when the 2 quadgrows with tomatoes and 1 with sweet peppers are up and running as well.

Lots of old seed though, so germination is erratic hence why I've sown plenty of varieties to see what will come up! Unusually, both chinenses were first up within a week and only black Hungarian and cherry bomb have made an appearance since.

[BarriedaleNick]

Right I have got my act together and I am just about to sow the first batch of the year.

First up is Loco - Just a little something for the window sill. Ornamental but still has some heat.
Then I have Trinidad 7 Pot Jonah for some silly heat and making sauces.
Followed by Aji Umba - another hot one for salsa and sauces.
I am also trying Big Thai for the first time.  Hopefully has some of the fragrance of the smaller ones - mainly for drying.
Prairie Fire has made the mix for eating from the plant - another Windowsill one for me.
Peter pepper - Mainly as they look rude and are a bit of fun
Lastly Bhut Jolokia - Stupidly hot for surprising guests.

I'll probably only keep 2 of each and give a load away - should be plenty for me.