Hot pepper growers

[Funky Cold Luis Medina]

Posted originally in the wrong forum...

Anyone else into gardening at all? I'm only into hot peppers. I do some every year, usually buying plants from Walmart, but did a few from seed last year, and am planning on doing it again this year. Here's what I'm going to buy seeds of and start in a few weeks:

Red savina
Chocolate habanero
White habanero
Czechoslovakian black
Zimbabwe bird
Yellow rocoto
Tasmanian habanero
Naga jolokia
Tepin
7 Pot
Fatalii

Might also pick up New Mexico Big Jim, orange habanero, Fresno, and serrano as plants rather than seeds.

So the rest of you, what does your pepper garden grow? And what advice do you have for other growers?

[swerb]

It's something I eventually want to do. I love hot peppers. Can eat them with anything. One of my favorite easy meals to make is just boling some pasta, and tossing it in a saute pan with some fresh garlic, grated romano, olive oil, and sliced hot peppers.

This will be my second summer in a home with a backyard I can do it in. Have no desire for a full blown garden ... maybe just a small one with some hot peppers, fresh basil, and other things I like to cook with.

[4thQtrGlory]

It's something I eventually want to do. I love hot peppers. Can eat them with anything. One of my favorite easy meals to make is just boling some pasta, and tossing it in a saute pan with some fresh garlic, grated romano, olive oil, and sliced hot peppers.

This will be my second summer in a home with a backyard I can do it in. Have no desire for a full blown garden ... maybe just a small one with some hot peppers, fresh basil, and other things I like to cook with.

That's what im looking to do also. Only, id like to add some onions, garlic, and anything else that makes me smell irresistable.

[Cerebral_DownTime]

My wife (she's Sicilian) grows tomatos, bell peppers, garlic, scallions, and shallots. Hot peppers do sound like a great idea for next spring.

[swerb]

My wife (she's Sicilian)

God help you

[Cerebral_DownTime]

My wife (she's Sicilian)

God help you

Are you married to one too?

Man, if you ever get the chance take a trip to Sicily. A stunning place with nice people and incredible food. Spent a week there with the wife (she speaks Italian) Only problem, good beer can be hard to find. Wine flows like.......well wine I guess. Only downside everyone kept asking my wife "si sono Meadow Soprano?" If you like your pasta rustic, Sicily is the place to go.

Thats how I like it pretty much what you described. Pasta, good quality olive oil, parmesan cheese chilli flakes, and garlic and some crispy Capicola is how we do it in my house.

[swerb]

My wife (she's Sicilian)

God help you

Are you married to one too?

Man, if you ever get the chance take a trip to Sicily. A stunning place with nice people and incredible food. Spent a week there with the wife (she speaks Italian) Only problem, good beer can be hard to find. Wine flows like.......well wine I guess. Only downside everyone kept asking my wife "si sono Meadow Soprano?" If you like your pasta rustic, Sicily is the place to go.

Thats how I like it pretty much what you described. Pasta, good quality olive oil, parmesan cheese chilli flakes, and garlic and some crispy Capicola is how we do it in my house.

My whole moms side is 100% Sicilian.

A trip to Italy is #2 on my "things to do before I croak" list behind witnessing a Cleveland sports championship.

[4thQtrGlory]

My wife (she's Sicilian)

God help you

Are you married to one too?

Man, if you ever get the chance take a trip to Sicily. A stunning place with nice people and incredible food. Spent a week there with the wife (she speaks Italian) Only problem, good beer can be hard to find. Wine flows like.......well wine I guess. Only downside everyone kept asking my wife "si sono Meadow Soprano?" If you like your pasta rustic, Sicily is the place to go.

Thats how I like it pretty much what you described. Pasta, good quality olive oil, parmesan cheese chilli flakes, and garlic and some crispy Capicola is how we do it in my house.

My whole moms side is 100% Sicilian.

A trip to Italy is #2 on my "things to do before I croak" list behind witnessing a Cleveland sports championship.

Better not wait for #1 to happen

[Cerebral_DownTime]

My wife (she's Sicilian)

God help you

Are you married to one too?

Man, if you ever get the chance take a trip to Sicily. A stunning place with nice people and incredible food. Spent a week there with the wife (she speaks Italian) Only problem, good beer can be hard to find. Wine flows like.......well wine I guess. Only downside everyone kept asking my wife "si sono Meadow Soprano?" If you like your pasta rustic, Sicily is the place to go.

Thats how I like it pretty much what you described. Pasta, good quality olive oil, parmesan cheese chilli flakes, and garlic and some crispy Capicola is how we do it in my house.

My whole moms side is 100% Sicilian.

A trip to Italy is #2 on my "things to do before I croak" list behind witnessing a Cleveland sports championship.

Yeah you would love it over there, we were never on the mainland but if its like Sicily you will come back 10 pounds heavier. The cusine in Sicily has alot of good spice to it they have a pepper that looks like Okra, but tastes spicey sweet. I'd love to find it but no luck so far.

[General]

I am from 100% Sicilian Stock needless to say I steered clear of marrying one.

[waborat]

Yeah you would love it over there, we were never on the mainland but if its like Sicily you will come back 10 pounds heavier. The cusine in Sicily has alot of good spice to it they have a pepper that looks like Okra, but tastes spicey sweet. I'd love to find it but no luck so far.

I've always wanted to go to Sicily and need to before I croak...I was born in Vicenza (Air Force Brat) and have been to Venice, Torino, etc up in the northeast, but never down south or to the isles...probably cook Italian food more than anything else in our house

Now on to the topic at hand, my wife is an avid gardener and grows plenty of peppers such as the usuals: Jalapeno, cayenne, serrano, anaheim, habanero, etc...the past couple of years she's experimented with bhut jolokia, rocoto, aji limon, lantern & tepin (some grew pretty well and some not so in our environment)...this year she's going to attempt yellow cayenne & tabasco peppers...can't wait for summer!!!

We grow the essential herbs such as basil, thyme, rosemary, cilantro, parsley, mint & chives (we just bought one of those Aerogardens for growing in the house and it was worth every penny...probably gonna buy a couple more)

The garden always has tomatos, peppers, cukes, green beans, zucchini, squash, scallions & garlic...love the idea of shallots and will have to try those as I use them in a lot of dishes...also keep a couple of cherry/grape tomatos growing in hanging pots around the deck

Great topic as I always love to hear other people's culinary/growing stories

[Funky Cold Luis Medina]

Last year I grew habaneros, jalapenos, serranos, poblanos, Hungarian wax, Thai bird, and Fresno peppers. Started my herbs way too late, so I go almost nothing there, but I'll probably do them again this year, just starting earlier.

I listed my ones for this year already, that's one pepper from each continent and in every color except purple.

I'm planning on doing the peppers in pots this year so I can try to overwinter them easily. Might even try to make one into a bonchi (bonsai chili). There's a guy in Finland who has done some awesome bonchi plants. Just a warning, some of his site is in Finnish, and I can't translate any of it (I speak no Finnish aside from yksi, kaksi, paivaa, kiitos, mita kuuluu, vittu, and paska): http://www.fatalii.net/growing/index.ph ... Itemid=105

[waborat]

Hey Luis, do you subscribe to Chile Pepper magazine?

It's a must for growers, cooks, eaters & fans of everything hot & spicy in the world...one of my favorite things to find in the mailbox

http://www.chilepepper.com/html/

[Raoul Duke]

My wife (she's Sicilian)

God help you

Are you married to one too?

Man, if you ever get the chance take a trip to Sicily. A stunning place with nice people and incredible food. Spent a week there with the wife (she speaks Italian) Only problem, good beer can be hard to find. Wine flows like.......well wine I guess. Only downside everyone kept asking my wife "si sono Meadow Soprano?" If you like your pasta rustic, Sicily is the place to go.

Thats how I like it pretty much what you described. Pasta, good quality olive oil, parmesan cheese chilli flakes, and garlic and some crispy Capicola is how we do it in my house.

awesome place...went there on a school trip...

I dont know what was better, the food or the magnificient people...def. worth a trip!!!!

[Funky Cold Luis Medina]

Hey Luis, do you subscribe to Chile Pepper magazine?

It's a must for growers, cooks, eaters & fans of everything hot & spicy in the world...one of my favorite things to find in the mailbox

http://www.chilepepper.com/html/

I don't but I will be very soon. I wasn't even aware this existed!

[waborat]

Hey Luis, do you subscribe to Chile Pepper magazine?

It's a must for growers, cooks, eaters & fans of everything hot & spicy in the world...one of my favorite things to find in the mailbox

http://www.chilepepper.com/html/

I don't but I will be very soon. I wasn't even aware this existed!

Been getting it for 6-7 years now...it comes out every 2 months and they always have one primary topic (hot sauces, creole, bbq, tex-mex, etc) and many secondary (tequila, wines, growing, desserts, restaurants, etc)...each issue is around 100 pages and has probably around 60-70 recipes with a lot of pix and a lot of different gadgets to buy

If you start subscribing you'll never quit

[waborat]

Hey Luis, do you subscribe to Chile Pepper magazine?

It's a must for growers, cooks, eaters & fans of everything hot & spicy in the world...one of my favorite things to find in the mailbox

http://www.chilepepper.com/html/

I don't but I will be very soon. I wasn't even aware this existed!

Just got the new issue in the mail yesterday...it's their annual Hot Sauce issue and it has a cool article on chile pepper wines available

[Cerebral_DownTime]

Hey Luis, do you subscribe to Chile Pepper magazine?

It's a must for growers, cooks, eaters & fans of everything hot & spicy in the world...one of my favorite things to find in the mailbox

http://www.chilepepper.com/html/

I don't but I will be very soon. I wasn't even aware this existed!

Just got the new issue in the mail yesterday...it's their annual Hot Sauce issue and it has a cool article on chile pepper wines available

Chile Pepper wines? Color me intrigued. Please explain how that works. I'm dying to know.

[waborat]

Chile Pepper wines? Color me intrigued. Please explain how that works. I'm dying to know.

Sounds like a lot of Tex-Mex chefs are using them to cook with nowadays...some are typical grape wines infused with different peppers and some are actually made solely from peppers

Here's some sites of different ones:

http://circlesvineyards.com/

http://www.northdakotawinery.com/catalo ... epper_Wine

http://longtroutwinery.com/

Hafta order me a bottle or 3 to have on hand

[Cerebral_DownTime]

Thanks Wabo.

[Funky Cold Luis Medina]

So I completely forgot about this thread and tried to start a new one. Oops.

Anyways, I got my seeds all planted over the weekend and are sitting in peat pods on a tray on a heating pad with a cover over them.

For anyone who cares, my list of everything I'm growing is here: http://texomaheat.blogspot.com

[dazindiansfanuk]

My wife (she's Sicilian)

God help you

Are you married to one too?

Man, if you ever get the chance take a trip to Sicily. A stunning place with nice people and incredible food. Spent a week there with the wife (she speaks Italian) Only problem, good beer can be hard to find. Wine flows like.......well wine I guess. Only downside everyone kept asking my wife "si sono Meadow Soprano?" If you like your pasta rustic, Sicily is the place to go.

Thats how I like it pretty much what you described. Pasta, good quality olive oil, parmesan cheese chilli flakes, and garlic and some crispy Capicola is how we do it in my house.

My whole moms side is 100% Sicilian.

A trip to Italy is #2 on my "things to do before I croak" list behind witnessing a Cleveland sports championship.

Yeah you would love it over there, we were never on the mainland but if its like Sicily you will come back 10 pounds heavier. The cusine in Sicily has alot of good spice to it they have a pepper that looks like Okra, but tastes spicey sweet. I'd love to find it but no luck so far.

Let me be another to say that a trip to Italy is a must..... living this side of the pond it's obivously a lot easier for me, but I have been to Rome, Milan, Naples and Sorrento (on the Amalfi Coast, not far from Versuvious) and I have to say Italy is just an amalgamation of everything I love in life...... passionate about food and drink, relaxed about everything else, can spend an entire day just drinking espresso and smoking in whichever piazza you happen to be in. Oh, and if you're into all that stuff, there's a fair bit of history as well.

I love Italy so much that, even though I'm going to Vegas for 10 days next month, I've already booked a long weekend in Sorrento in August so that I can get my laid back Italian fix.

[swerb]

So I completely forgot about this thread and tried to start a new one. Oops.

Anyways, I got my seeds all planted over the weekend and are sitting in peat pods on a tray on a heating pad with a cover over them.

For anyone who cares, my list of everything I'm growing is here: http://texomaheat.blogspot.com

Very cool. As someone where you were back in '07 ... wanting to start to grow some peppers, keep us posted on the updates with the blog.

[Funky Cold Luis Medina]

So I completely forgot about this thread and tried to start a new one. Oops.

Anyways, I got my seeds all planted over the weekend and are sitting in peat pods on a tray on a heating pad with a cover over them.

For anyone who cares, my list of everything I'm growing is here: http://texomaheat.blogspot.com

Very cool. As someone where you were back in '07 ... wanting to start to grow some peppers, keep us posted on the updates with the blog.

Will do, I'll be posting stuff on it almost every day (hopefully a lot of recipes, plant status updates, whatever comes to mind really), but anytime something major happens (first sprouts, first leaves, transplanting, first peppers, etc.) I'll mention it in this thread.

[Funky Cold Luis Medina]

Got my first sprouts this week: 2 cayenne, 2 jalapeno, 3 sweet banana, 1 Hungarian wax, 2 Zimbabwe bird, 5 Thai extra hot, and 1 chocolate habanero. Within the next week or so, I'll be taking the dome off the seed tray, and hopefully starting some new seeds as well.

I also picked up a few plants from the local nursery: a serrano, a New Mexico Big Jim, an Apache, and a Navajo. Still looking for a Fresno, though I may have found some seeds to salvage from my plant last year.

[Funky Cold Luis Medina]

Okay, four months since I started. Here's what's going on...

The Hungarian wax and sweet banana peppers are rocking, as is the New Mexico Big Jim. Gotten a few nice orange habaneros out as well.

I was able to find a Fresno plant and it's set to churn out a kickass crop. The cayennes are growing peppers as well. Got a few Tasmanian habaneros that are growing nicely too. If everything goes as it looks to be, I should be knee deep in peppers in a month or so.

As of right now, the roster looks like this:

70-something plants total

Tomatoes: 1 Mr. Stripey, 1 yellow pear, 1 patio. Only the patio is growing anything besides leaves and flowers.

Tomatillo: 1 plant. Lots of flowers, no tomatillos yet.

Herbs: Lemon Balm, Thai Basil, Lemon basil, Catnip, Rosemary. All appear to be doing nicely.

Peppers (from mildest to hottest):
Yellow bell: nothing here yet
Mohawk hybrid: Gotten a few, not a big fan. They're essentially an orange baby bell, kind of bitter.
Anaheim: Nothing here yet
Sweet banana: Awesome. Just picked and cut a couple up on a sub.
Santa Fe Grande: Nothing yet
New Mexico Big Jim: Had a bout of end rot, but got over it with some calcium and epsom salts
New Mexico 6-4L: Nothing
Sandia: got a couple, should be good for drying
Cherry: Only gotten one so far, but it was excellent
Hungarian hot wax: Awesome. Put one on my sub with the sweet banana as well.
Hungarian black: Nothing here yet either
Jalapeno: Plants are looking good, should be bearing fruit soon
Apache hybrid: Big time producer, not the best I've ever tasted though. Should be good for drying and making into powder
Fresno: Set to kick ass. A great pepper, and I got a great plant.
Cayenne and Long slim red: Growing tons of green ones, should have a nice crop soon
Serrano: Underwhelming this year. Last year I had a BIG time producer for a plant
Aji pineapple: Started these late, but should get a few peppers from it, as I have two small ones on one plant
Tabasco: Had one kickass plant that is now on its last legs. Got another as a backup that hasn't done anything yet
Zimbabwe bird: Should habe a bunch here very soon
Yellow rocoto: Had to move these indoors, as they normally grow in the Andes mountains and don't like the 100+ degree heat here in Texas. No peppers yet
Chiltepin: Tons of tiny green ones, should be going red soon.
Fatalii: Nothing here, these are tough to grow, I've been told.
Orange habanero: Gotten a few off the plant, excellent heat and flavor.
Chocolate habanero: Nothing yet, but it's still early.
Mustard habanero: Same as the Chocolate.
Tasmanian habanero: Got a few on the plant, just waiting for them to fully ripen.
Caribbean red habanero: Nothing yet, still early
Bhut jolokia: Starting to flower, which has me ecstatic.

I also have a bunch that are unlabeled so I have no idea what I'm getting from them. One of them is growing tiny dark purple peppers. I'll have to post a photo.

[peeker643]

Okay, four months since I started. Here's what's going on...

The Hungarian wax and sweet banana peppers are rocking, as is the New Mexico Big Jim. Gotten a few nice orange habaneros out as well.

I was able to find a Fresno plant and it's set to churn out a kickass crop. The cayennes are growing peppers as well. Got a few Tasmanian habaneros that are growing nicely too. If everything goes as it looks to be, I should be knee deep in peppers in a month or so.

As of right now, the roster looks like this:

70-something plants total

Tomatoes: 1 Mr. Stripey, 1 yellow pear, 1 patio. Only the patio is growing anything besides leaves and flowers.

Tomatillo: 1 plant. Lots of flowers, no tomatillos yet.

Herbs: Lemon Balm, Thai Basil, Lemon basil, Catnip, Rosemary. All appear to be doing nicely.

Peppers (from mildest to hottest):
Yellow bell: nothing here yet
Mohawk hybrid: Gotten a few, not a big fan. They're essentially an orange baby bell, kind of bitter.
Anaheim: Nothing here yet
Sweet banana: Awesome. Just picked and cut a couple up on a sub.
Santa Fe Grande: Nothing yet
New Mexico Big Jim: Had a bout of end rot, but got over it with some calcium and epsom salts
New Mexico 6-4L: Nothing
Sandia: got a couple, should be good for drying
Cherry: Only gotten one so far, but it was excellent
Hungarian hot wax: Awesome. Put one on my sub with the sweet banana as well.
Hungarian black: Nothing here yet either
Jalapeno: Plants are looking good, should be bearing fruit soon
Apache hybrid: Big time producer, not the best I've ever tasted though. Should be good for drying and making into powder
Fresno: Set to kick ass. A great pepper, and I got a great plant.
Cayenne and Long slim red: Growing tons of green ones, should have a nice crop soon
Serrano: Underwhelming this year. Last year I had a BIG time producer for a plant
Aji pineapple: Started these late, but should get a few peppers from it, as I have two small ones on one plant
Tabasco: Had one kickass plant that is now on its last legs. Got another as a backup that hasn't done anything yet
Zimbabwe bird: Should habe a bunch here very soon
Yellow rocoto: Had to move these indoors, as they normally grow in the Andes mountains and don't like the 100+ degree heat here in Texas. No peppers yet
Chiltepin: Tons of tiny green ones, should be going red soon.
Fatalii: Nothing here, these are tough to grow, I've been told.
Orange habanero: Gotten a few off the plant, excellent heat and flavor.
Chocolate habanero: Nothing yet, but it's still early.
Mustard habanero: Same as the Chocolate.
Tasmanian habanero: Got a few on the plant, just waiting for them to fully ripen.
Caribbean red habanero: Nothing yet, still early
Bhut jolokia: Starting to flower, which has me ecstatic.

I also have a bunch that are unlabeled so I have no idea what I'm getting from them. One of them is growing tiny dark purple peppers. I'll have to post a photo.

Good luck FCLM.

Hmm.... I wonder how those ship?

[mattvan1]

Is it too much to ask for a photo or 2?

[Funky Cold Luis Medina]

I'll get a few photos this weekend. Need to charge the camera battery first, but I'll certainly get a few up.

[mattvan1]

I'll get a few photos this weekend. Need to charge the camera battery first, but I'll certainly get a few up.

Look forward to 'em.

[e0y2e3]

No Ghost Chili's? Wuss.

(I understand that they don't really grow outside of India)

[Funky Cold Luis Medina]

Oh I do have the ghost chile-- the bhut jolokia.

There are about 50 different names for it-- bhut jolokia, bih jolokia, naga jolokia, naga morich, ghost chile, snake chile, king cobra chile, oo-morok, borbih jolokia, nagahari, naga moresh, raja mirchi... the list goes on.

They grow outside India, but the potency varies a lot more. I know they grew them jut fine at the Chile Pepper Institute in New Mexico, and I know a few growers around the country who have been able to do them. I've heard they can get pretty picky about temperature, that fruit won't set below 75 or above 85. Mine is flowering right now, so we'll see if anything comes of it. We won't cool down into that range for another month or so, but I'll be hoping.

If you want a pepper that doesn't grow well anywhere except one place, check out a Datil. It originated in St. Augustine, FL and rarely grows well outside there. No one knows exactly why.

[Funky Cold Luis Medina]

Okay, since I went nuts and took 36 pics and because of the fact I'm posting this at two boards, I'm just going to link the photos rather than actually put them in this post.

First off, the whole garden: peppers, herbs, two of three tomatoes and a tomatillo.

After this, I decided to move everything around so I could get photos of everything together easily. It ain't fun moving a bunch of small pots around in 100-degree heat. Thankfully, it's almost entirely under the shade of a huge magnolia tree, so it could be worse. Also, as you'll see they haven't gotten their afternoon watering yet, so the leaves are pretty droopy. They'll get it after I type all this out.

First up, everyone likes jalapenos. I've got 12 growing right now. About 8 or 10 have peppers growing on them.

Our yellow bell has no peppers yet, but does have a few flowers on it. Hopefully we'll get something from that.

Wax peppers are pretty versatile. They're great on sandwiches, pickled... I could probably think of more uses but I'll keep it short. In the photo are Hungarian hot wax, sweet banana, and Sante Fe grande peppers.

The lone member of the baccatum species in my collection is the aji pineapple. I've never had them before, but they sounded good. Nice heat, citrusy, almost pineapple flavor, and a golden yellow, sometimes almost golden brown color. I have a couple small ones growing on one of the plants.

My apache was the first to grow fruit. Not the best flavor, but was a good producer. Probably won't grow these in the future.

The hottest ones: the bhut jolokia. I have four plants total growing right now. I had to move the one on the middle right to a larger pot after taking this picture. When I moved it back to its position, I noticed a ton of roots peeking out the bottom hole in the pot. No peppers yet, but several flowers.

The New Mexico Big Jim is a favorite of mine. Big peppers, good green or red. I have two red ones drying right not, and had a nice crop of green ones last year that I roasted. I have about five on the plant now that are starting to turn red.

The Big Jim is one of a ton of closely-related varieties of New Mexico pepper. I'm growing its cousins the NuMex 6-4L, Anaheim, and Sandia. I think this is a NuMex variety, but I'm not certain-- it was part of a mystery mix of seeds that I planted. I'll know more when it ripens.

Thomas Jefferson and George Washington both grew bird peppers. I have a total of three Zimbabwe bird peppers and a chiltepin. If I remember correctly, the bird peppers are commonly known as peri peri peppers and often made into a sauce by the same name. The peppers are tiny and pack a nice punch. A close up of unripened chiltepins and flowers. I had two ripe ones on the Zimbabwe bird plant when I took these pictures. They were delicious.

Washington also grew cayennes at Mount Vernon. I have at least two varieties of cayenne here: one cultivated by Joe Arditi of PepperJoe.com that grows pretty big, and also one he calls a "long slim red chile" that seems to be pretty similar. I have a few in the middle of a color change going green to red that oddly enough, makes an almost black color.

Cherry peppers are good for stuffing, pickling, or even just eating by themselves. I picked up one plant from Walmart and it looks like there's another one from that mystery mix I mentioned before.

A Fatalii that hopefully will look a lot better this time next year. The intense heat has caused some major leaf drop. I plan to try to overwinter it.

Fresno and serrano peppersu] are a couple of my favorites. This serrano isn't doing as good as its 2008 compatriot, but the Fresno is making up for it.

Who doesn't love a good habanero? If you don't, then get the hell out of my thread! I have I believe five different varieties of habanero growing here: orange (though the one in the photo here is unripe and green), mustard, chocolate, Caribbean red, and Tasmanian.

A Mohawk pepper. A mini-bell, ripens orange. Not the greatest flavor though. Not planning on doing these next year either.

I have no idea what this is, but it looks awesome. A close-up.

A row of unknown peppers.

And last, the non-peppers. A tomatillo, and the herbs with tabascos in the middle. As you may be able to see in the sunny spot, one tabasco is near death, while one next to it has yet to produce.

So there's the latest.

[Funky Cold Luis Medina]

For the record, the purple unknown one is a Bolivian Rainbow, according to the great folks at TheHotPepper.com.

[Funky Cold Luis Medina]

With the season coming to an end, some reviews.

Jalapenos: Really didn't grow well at all. The few I got were very small and got damaged by insects very quickly. They're cheap enough to buy, so I may not bother with them in the future.

Yellow bell: The dangers of transplanting. The plant was getting two decent sized peppers and outgrowing its smaller pot, so I decided I'd try to move it. I managed to snap the stem pretty well, so instead of ending up with a couple nice sized yellow peppers, I got two small green ones. Live and learn.

Hungarian hot wax and Sweet banana: Decent producers early in the season, nothing in the hot summer months. I'm still planning on doing a couple next year, but I'll keep them in a cooler, or at least shadier spot so they aren't getting direct sun from 10 am to 3 pm.

Aji pineapple: One of my new favorites. Late producer, great flavor. I'm planning on overwintering one or two of them.

Apache: Not a fan, won't be growing next year.

Bhut jolokia: Simply awesome, another I'm planning on overwintering.

NuMex Big Jim: Great producer from early to late in the season once I got over the end rot problems. Even now on November 1, I have a good 4 or 5 big green ones still on the plant. A keeper for next year.

NuMex 6-4L, Anaheim, Sandia: Not as good of producers as the Big Jim. I might try a Sandia again next year, but won't bother with the other two, which are so similar to (but smaller than) the Big Jim.

Zimbabwe Bird: Another favorite of mine, three plants still producing. Small too, so I might be able to put one on my desk at work over the winter.

Chiltepin: Usually a slow producer, I had a lot of green ones on the plant for a long time, but once they ripened, I had tons coming off for a few weeks. Definitely keeping this one over the winter.

Tabasco: My first tabasco plant was great then mysteriously died. The second one I bought produced nothing. I'm going to try to keep it over the winter, but won't expect much out of it.

Cayenne: Another excellent producer, might not overwinter, but I will certainly plant more next season.

Cherry: Had a good couple of weeks, but then quit producing. Probably not going to bother with it next year.

Fresno: Always a favorite of mine, did not disappoint this year. Will do again next year.

Serrano: Not as big a producer as my plant from two years ago, but that was a real shocker as to how much I got from it. Planning on keeping this one around as it still has some small ones on it here in November. 22 in fact, when I counted this afternoon.

Fatalii: Got nothing from it. Heard they're really stubborn though, so I'll try it again next year. Might even try to overwinter my current one.

Mohawk: Hated it.

Orange habanero: Always a good one for me, this year was no exception. Going to keep it around as well.

Rocoto: No production, but I also had to have it indoors for a long time. Will try to overwinter one, maybe two.

Tasmanian habanero: First habanero I've ever grown successfully from seed. Planning on trying to keep my current plant.

Caribbean red habanero, Chocolate habanero, Mustard habanero: Didn't give me anything. I'm hoping to overwinter each though. Perhaps getting a jumpstart next season will help them out.

I dried a lot of what I grew this year (and what I bought, as I found some great red jalapenos and red habaneros at the Mexican grocery store here) and plan to grind everything up into powder. Should make for some excellent additives to various foods.

[WalterSobchak]

My wife (she's Sicilian) grows tomatos, bell peppers, garlic, scallions, and shallots. Hot peppers do sound like a great idea for next spring.

What.... No Basilico??? (Basil) Lotta Sicilians on this thread...I feel at home

[Bayou Tribe]

WalterSobchak

Greatest username on this board, fwiw. Kudos.

[WalterSobchak]

WalterSobchak

Greatest username on this board, fwiw. Kudos.

Well thanks Bayou...and here I was sittin' thinkin' how it's so popular on boards and maybe I shoulda' picked another name...

[WalterSobchak]

My son who's 11 loves hot peppers and sauce...ever since he was 5...so last year he wants to plant some...I thought great...let him learn more responsibility from caring for a plant. I had him doing flowers when he was around 7 or 8...but this was something that he would be eating the end result...I took him to Home depot, he picked a couple of seranno and jalapeno plants...took excellent care of 'em...they shot up to about a foot and a half, close to 2 ft....developed baby peppers and he was so excited watching those babies growing...then one morning he comes into the house crying that everything was chewed up. The damn deer ate them...