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My Bolivian mother in law sent us a bag of dried chillies a couple of years ago. I saved the seed and last year grew about 50 plants outside. I harvested about 3 kilos of aji chillies for drying. My missus uses them in a traditional bolivian chicken dish.
This year i am only growing about 20 plants, these will also be grown outside. They grow to about 3 feet high, and get covered in 4" long chillies. I am going to try overwintering some as the chillies come late in the season, and i am sure that i could keep harvesting throughout winter.

Woody, great link, put in aji and got about 100 different types :o. Sort off identified my cultivar!

This might sound really dumb, but how do you dry them?

i left some of mine in a hot conservatory for a couple of weeks. The others were dried in a warm oven, (say 70-80 degrees C), with the oven door slightly ajar to let the moisture out. Done in a day.

@SueSteve

I would recommend this site if you are into chilli growing...

http://www.chillisgalore.co.uk/pages/growingtips.html

Scroll down to the heading 'Harvesting' and you will see the info. on drying.

Quote from: woody on April 23, 2007, 21:56:33
hi all,
        1 have 450 plants,
                                      i am making all my own produce which i will be selling at farmers markets........buy the way the hottest are bhut jolokia/bih jolokia/naga morich and the dorset naga. i have a few plants of each, they are 3 times hotter than the red savina which used to hold the record.

woody :P

I havnt been able to get any of my chilies to germinate, just planted my second batch. keeping everything crossed ;D ;D ;D

I always have a small tub of frozen chillies to hand as well, this preserves the colour ...

Derek :)

Maybe its just my plant but my lemondrops weren't too hot... I bought it off a farmer's market last year and did not manage to overwinter it, but saved a load of seeds and they all seem to have germinated nicely (and fast!).

I had more trouble with the orange habs which took >2 weeks to germinate, and the prairie fire and Thai ones germinated but now a lot of the seedlings are just dying off and I don't know why. :(  ??? I keep them in the same conditions as the other chillis but the seedlings are just wilting!

Anyway any tips on overwintering? I tried it on my lemondrop and apache but both wilted and died in the late autumn. I don't have many sunny windowsills unfortunately, all east or north facing too. They all seem to develop a cobweb-like disease too. :(

veggiewomble

not too hot!! I must be a bit namby pamby!!! could red spider mite be the problem? I pruned my chiies and wrapped them up in fleece, all doing fine now, but the lemon drop has kept going in the green house fruiting from last summer!!!

Mine germinated without problems, but have grown very slowly since. They're now in a mini-greenhouse which gets the sun all afternoon, and I'm hoping the extra warmth will make the difference.

I used to laugh when folk said they could no longer take ultra hot chillies-I don`t mind the bald patch,the `distinguished` few grey hairs but I stick to Joe`s long Cayenne,Apache,and my favourite, Cherry Bomb now-how sad is that :)
,

Well after a bad start with my first seed order I re-grouped and have sown (all up and growing nicely)

Congo Black
Aji Golden
Grande Chilli
Cayenne
Blh Jokia Kia
Purirn
Purple Tiger
Jalapeno
Bulgarian Carrot
Varigated
Georgia Flame
Roceta
Yellow Scotch Bonnet
Tepin
Habanero paper Lantern
Tabasco
Espanola
Guajillo
Mulatto Island
Aji Roji
Hot Banana

and one marked T.B.U. that I got in a seed swap??

XX Jeannine

overwintering is quite easy, just chop back the plant so there is the stem and forks like a "y" cut the roots right back to the ball, and then re-pot in a small pot and in new compost, keep on a south facing windowsill and warm at all times.
i'm sure you could just bring them in and trim them for a quick and easy way, but my first way saves loads of room.

:P

Having a go at quite a few varieties this year, as Saddad says OH is questing for a superhot chilli so trying to oblige! This year, I am mostly growing.....

Tabasco
Jalapeño ‘Summer Heat’
GYO Chilli Pepper
Fatalie
Jimmy Nardello’s
Red Savina
Thai chilli
Golden Cayenne
Morrison’s med.hot chilli
Dorset Naga
Cayenne
Aji Rojo (Red, Yellow and Orange)
Habenero Orange
Scotch Bonnet Red and Yellow
Jalapeno
Tepin
Purple Tiger
Rocoto Orange/Red/Yellow
Thai Bangkok Upright

I've had to pot 28 of them on into 8" pots today, except a few varieties like the Dorset Naga which seems to be a much stockier smaller plant. I did a second sowing a few weeks after the first in Feb. as got quite patchy germination; used the airing cupboard and got better results than in my heated propagator, so I know what to do next year! ;D

I have been growing them in a mini greenhouse inside my unheated greenhouse, the second sowing ones are mostly at the four to six leaf stage, but some are stuck at the two leaf stage as well....all sown and grown on the same, odd eh? ???

I am growing quite a few this year. I had good germination rates on the whole. I used an old cream cake clear plastic punnet. Filled bottom half with sieved soil, sowed the seeds and placed it in the airing cupboard. Then once they were up some went on the windowsill and others in a propagator. You have t be careful when transfering them from hot to cold, as they sometimes get shocked and wilt.

I am growing:

Scotch Bonnet Red (sown last September, grown all through winter)
Jalapeno
Bolivian Rainbow
Santa Fe Grande
Congo Trinidad
Caribbean Red
Habanero White
Habanero Chocolate
Fatali
Prairie Fire
Dorset Naga
Naga Morich
Bhut Jolokia
Trinidad Scorpion

Half of the seeds are from swaps, the other half I have bought myself. A few are a little leggy, but on the whole are doing well.

Blimey, I am amazed at the amount of chillies some of you are growing.  I find that two plants per year more than meet my needs and I still end up with a few in the freezer to keep me going over winter.  Here's a pic of mine I took yesterday. They have just gone into 5" pots.   :)  G x

They look really healthy, Georgie.

I think mine's just about ready to pot on. I only have one Chilli plant growing. We're not big Chilli eaters so I was hoping that one plant would suffice. I'm beginning to worry now after reading all the previous posts. How many Chillis can I expect to get from one plant?

Jo.

I think the answer to that one is it depends!   ;D

I grow mine on the kitchen windowsill and I reckon I get about 30 or so chillies per plant.  These are quite hot so only require one per dish.  Don't know if this helps?

G x

The reason I grow several types is the heat and taste, They all taste different and the ones I am growing are different heat levels, on 1-10 level which is easy to understand mine range from the Mulaki Ilsand at 2 to the Paper Lantern at 10. The Joko Kia  is off the scale, hot...hot...hot !! XX Jeannine

Several Jeannine?  I make that 21 types!   ;D  :o

G x

Like I said, we don't eat many Chillies, so even a few mild ones would be sufficient for us.

I'll let you know how I get on later in the season  ;D

Jo.