Chillies, Peppers, Tomatoes & Melon crazy 2019

[The Pepper Man]

Talking of Carolina Reapers, here is one of the Reaper Hybrids that I made last year...

[The Pepper Man]

Here is one of my favourites this season... the Pimenta de Neyde...



The pods are completely purple and do not turn red...

[The Pepper Man]

Here's another one of my favourites this season... which I have dubbed the 'Rex Tooth' pepper. Another one of the hybrids that I created last year. 1 of 3 dinosaur themed hybrid peppers.



Cooking ingredients, fresh off the plant...

[Mitzi]

Lovely updates and pictures. Did you go the whole hog with creating your crosses i.e. removing the stamens from the mother flower before they started producing pollen etc.? I've considered trying it but it seems a bit too fiddly to me.

Here is one of my favourites this season... the Pimenta de Neyde... The pods are completely purple and do not turn red...

I found that if I leave the pods long enough, they do go a paler purple / pink shade when ripe but that takes a long time. I've dehydrated and powdered my first batch and it's a slightly disturbing grey/lilac colour; it looks like bonfire ash!

Should I be staking these pepper plants? As in stake the side branches?

It can't hurt, can it? I guess that particular plant is a bit more brittle than the others you mention. If several branches have broken then it seems like the plant is telling you it needs support.

[Holly Daze]

Hi pepperman. Your chillies are amazing. I have grown scotch bonnets this year for the first time. Only two have gone red and lots of greens. I’ve brought the indoors now. My question is, if I buy some grow lights, will they ripen? Seen some on Amazon quite cheap with good reviews. Thanks.

[Scarlet]

They should ripen indoors without grow lights. Mine do. I would bring them in now though as the nights are getting very cool.

[Holly Daze]

I brought them in a couple of days ago but I want to emulate sunny days and I thought grow lights might accelerate the process. There are an awful lot of green ones.

[toomanytommytoes]

Most of the cheap grow lights on Amazon are using low quality, outdated LED technology which is nowhere near as efficient as newer diodes. For vegetative growth over winter, you're better off getting some cheap, efficient E27 LED bulbs from the Philips CorePro range. Higher power LED lights are only required if you're growing from seed to fruit (or the devil's lettuce ).

[Holly Daze]

Thank you. I will look at these Toomanytomatoes.

[MyWifesBrassicas]

Most of the cheap grow lights on Amazon are using low quality, outdated LED technology which is nowhere near as efficient as newer diodes. For vegetative growth over winter, you're better off getting some cheap, efficient E27 LED bulbs from the Philips CorePro range. Higher power LED lights are only required if you're growing from seed to fruit (or the devil's lettuce ).

I'm now starting looking for a LED grow lamp for seeds next year, wondering if i look now and consider it as an early christmas present for early growing next year.
Whats a good LED grow lamp spec?

[Scarlet]

I brought them in a couple of days ago but I want to emulate sunny days and I thought grow lights might accelerate the process. There are an awful lot of green ones.

The problem with emulating sunny days is that you will encourage new growth - usually very soft and lush due to inside temperatures. This will be a magnet for aphids.