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Chilliheads

23K views 57 replies 20 participants last post by  LoveMyLawn 
#1 ·
I've had great success with peppers last year and in the process produced some pretty awesome hot sauce, so I've decided to expand next year. Last year I grew 7 Jalapenos, 4 Blazing Bananas, 6 Poblanos and about 6 belll peppers. The jalapenos, though very productive, only grew about 3 feet tall and produced fairly small jalapenos. The blazing bananas (which are a hungarian wax/sweet banana hybrid) were super-productive, they were loaded with peppers the entire summer.

The jalapenos and bananas made for a good base for hot sauce, but once you add the vinegar it tones them down and it's not quite hot enough. Had to supplement with copious amounts of ground cayenne pepper to get it to where it needed to be. I also added onions, garlic and two pears to the sauce, it's just fantastic on wings.

For next year, I plan on growing hungarian wax, a bunch of cayenne bushes, a few habaneros and a couple ghost chilis to bring up the heat.

What do you folks grow? Any highly productive varieties you would recommend - both hot and sweet?
 
#27 ·
J_nick said:
TN Hawkeye said:
J_nick said:
Finally finished up my small garden yesterday. My son and I planted 2 cherry tomatoes, 2 slicer sized tomatoes, a red bell, a mucho jalapeño, a habanero and a red ghost.
WE put in a mucho jalapeño too. Getting close to picking the first one.
Dang, mine haven't grown very much. I did plant about a month late I just never got around to it. Better late than never I guess.
I would guess ours have been about a month. They have been liking the hot weather. Lots of blooms on them. I'll post a picture when I get back in town tomorrow.
 
#28 ·
J_nick said:
TN Hawkeye said:
J_nick said:
Finally finished up my small garden yesterday. My son and I planted 2 cherry tomatoes, 2 slicer sized tomatoes, a red bell, a mucho jalapeño, a habanero and a red ghost.
WE put in a mucho jalapeño too. Getting close to picking the first one.
Dang, mine haven't grown very much. I did plant about a month late I just never got around to it. Better late than never I guess.
I had my adjective that starts with an M wrong. Ours are mammoth jalapenos. Sorry about that.

 
#29 ·
I sprayed them all with neem oil a few days ago (bought the 70% and recently learned of my mistake; will buy 100% cold pressed when it runs out). Each is in some local potting soil with a layer of black kow compost on top and cedar mulch to cover (just what I had on hand from the landscaped beds).

Jalapenos, Pablano Ancho (misrembered as habaneros earlier), Hot Banana in 24" whiskey barrel. Each topped twice; 2nd time maybe 5 days ago:



Re-potted that orange bell pepper that was seeing damage in a smaller pot. I will need to transplant it into a bigger pot when it recovers and grows. Haven't topped it yet.



Any help on the damaged bell pepper or the holes in the others? Will the neem oil keep insects/fungus at bay? Am using a little 24-8-16 soluble Miracle-Gro once a week.
 
#32 ·
smurg said:
TN Hawkeye said:
Picked our first jalapeno. Had to pick it a little early as the birds got the last two.
Looks good. Saw some of my flower buds coming in. Excited.
It was a good night. We picked leafy and romaine lettuce, a jalapeño, a hot banana pepper, and a bell pepper. Made a huge salad. Love this time of year. Just wish the tomatoes were ready.
 
#35 ·
J_nick said:
Had a hail storm come through last night. Most of the plants lost some leaves and some smaller branches but I think they'll be fine. I don't have high hopes for my Ghost pepper though. The top got taken off and she's only 4" tall now from the 7" or so she was before the storm.
depending on the stage this might be beneficial and count as a "topping". I always top my pepper plants(both new and established).

It should help fortify the plant and have it concentrate on driving roots and becoming more bushy rather than tall and lanky.
 
#37 ·
smurg said:
Does anyone bring their plants in or let them die to a freeze and re-plant indoors ~4 weeks prior to the last freeze?
I've overwintered jalapenos for the last 4 years. cut them back almost to the stalk.. leave just a few leaves then move them indoors or into a garage. I leave mine in the garage over winter and just give them a shot of water when the soil is looking really dry.

*disclaimer: My winter climate is fairly mild in comparison to most of the US
 
#38 ·
Kicker said:
smurg said:
Does anyone bring their plants in or let them die to a freeze and re-plant indoors ~4 weeks prior to the last freeze?
I've overwintered jalapenos for the last 4 years. cut them back almost to the stalk.. leave just a few leaves then move them indoors or into a garage. I leave mine in the garage over winter and just give them a shot of water when the soil is looking really dry.

*disclaimer: My winter climate is fairly mild in comparison to most of the US
Do you dig them out of the ground or are they already in pots? The pot mine is in is too big to move. I probably will just replant indoors and get a head start on the season. Just got interested this year and got in a little late. Almost have my first pepper though, exciting.
 
#40 ·
smurg said:
Kicker said:
smurg said:
Does anyone bring their plants in or let them die to a freeze and re-plant indoors ~4 weeks prior to the last freeze?
I've overwintered jalapenos for the last 4 years. cut them back almost to the stalk.. leave just a few leaves then move them indoors or into a garage. I leave mine in the garage over winter and just give them a shot of water when the soil is looking really dry.

*disclaimer: My winter climate is fairly mild in comparison to most of the US
Do you dig them out of the ground or are they already in pots? The pot mine is in is too big to move. I probably will just replant indoors and get a head start on the season. Just got interested this year and got in a little late. Almost have my first pepper though, exciting.
i have mine in a raised bed. I've typically replanted them into a 5 gallon bucket for over wintering.
 
#41 ·
After the hail storm about took out my Ghost pepper I'm finally getting some action. I wasn't expecting much out of it after that happened but it looks like I'll get something.



My Habanero is kickin butt, I bet it has close to 40 chili's on it but they are only now starting to ripen.



My brother-in-law has been insulting my salsa game. Once the Ghosts get ready I'm going to make him some death salsa just to shut him up for 10-15 minutes.
 
#43 ·
I've been trying to up my tolerance to capsaicin. Anytime we go out to eat and the place serves wings I order the hottest. BTW Johnny Carino's has a really good Habanero Sriracha that is the best I've tasted so far.

So, I started feeling a little cocky and took a couple bites out of a ripe Habanero. Holy smokes did it work me over for around 10 minutes. I had taken some bites out of some green ones and they weren't terrible but the orange ones are straight fire. The Ghosts are just starting to produce and now I'm a little scared for them to ripen.



That was the first bite that wasn't too bad. The next two bites really turned up the heat.
 
#46 ·
Recipe? umm. I just put the right amount of everything just by looks.

- I like bone in chicken breast but you can use boneless. The bone in doesnt dry as fast in the grill.
- buttermilk to cover the chicken
- a container
- 1/2 habanero pepper per chicken breast
- kosher salt
- turmeric

Cut the habanero into tiny pieces. Mix all the stuff together into a bowl. Add buttermilk to cover the breast. Let marinade for at least 4hrs, but overnight is best. Fire up the grill at medium low and place the chicken directly from the marinade (coated) into the grill.

The buttermilk turns down the heat, so you can go 1:1 ratio if you like it hotter. Or make a mayo/habanero/buttermilk dipping sauce.
 
#47 ·
j4c11 said:
Unfortunately the capsicum chinense species (which includes all the superhot varieties - habanero, ghost pepper, the scorpions and the 7 pots including the Carolina Reaper) is famously slow to germinate and grow from seed. I will probably try to overwinter a few of them indoors next winter.
I hag great success growing ghost pepper and carolina reaper from seed, i always had germination in under one week. I have ground heating (floor heating ? Not sure about the english word) and i think that did the trick. I planted th seeds in small pots and put them in a plastic container made for seeding. I then put the plastic container on the floor just in front of a big window (window is 7 feet tall and starts from the floor up) so the container also got some direct sunlight in the afternoon. I constantly kept the seed moist.
In my opinion the most important thing is soil temperature. I think that soil temp was around 85-90F, however never measured. Thanks to the ground heating the were no big temp fluctuations, i.e. the soil temps were pretty constant at a rather high level.
I have given some of the same seeds to my wife's parents who live in Portugal. They put the pots on the kitchen table next to a window and they never managed to make the seeds germinate.
Maybe the experiences i made can be helpful for you guys.
 
#49 ·
Well, this year's crop has been good and everything turned out well. I got about 45 8oz jars and about 12 pint jars of hot sauce (various flavors), a bunch of cayenne dried on a string, two large jars of thai/cayenne in vinegar, and two gallon bags of frozen ghosts and habaneros. More to come, they're still producing.

I made some really hot sauce packed with ghost peppers, which is great, I can tone it down with butter if need be but I can also make some fiery wings. I didn't quite enjoy the pungent floral flavor of the orange habaneros at first, but I'm starting to get used to it. The yellow sauce is mango/pineapple/habanero/ghost, the other ones are cayenne based with plenty of ghost added and various other flavors(onion, garlic, honey, brown sugar, lime etc.).

I figure one jar per week, should be good until next year's crop :D



 
#51 ·
j4c11 said:
Also, can't forget about the chillihead's anthem. I always sing it when making hot sauce :lol:

[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKsQ8xOHhu4[/media]
Love the song, but my bunghole immediately began burning watching him make that.
 
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