Chillies - growing and overwintering 2018

[Small pumpkin]

SP, I thought hou’d Like to see this - my first ever Dorset Naga, I don’t know why I’m growing hot ones again - my freezer is still full of black Nagas!!

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Just waiting for them to turn red!

I must say the plant is pretty loaded. It’s in a flower bucket - I am hoping to over winter this one!

I'm really hoping you've got small hands Scarlet! That naga is huge!!
Montys doing very well this year. Loads of pods. I thought they were a good size..........till I saw yours!

[Scarlet]

That's the biggest one on the plant - I checked before I took the photo
....and yes I have small hands

[IainM]

I'm overloaded with chillies! Just got back from a month in Australia and left my garden in the hands of a friend. Before I left I had a few cherry bombs, apache, cayenetta, hot banana, hot burrito, aji omnicolor, medina, hot fajita and Hangijao 4 ripen, plus the ornamentals prairie fire, krakatoa, fiesta and loco. Now almost all of those have ripened, plus loads of golden ghost and a fair few lemon drop, bishops crown, Jamaica yellow, red scotch bonnet, Zimbabwe black, Trinidad perfume, Jalapeno (early and normal), and even Carolina Reaper (which scares me!). The aji Peruvian, chocolate hab and tabasco are almost there, and so now I'm just waiting for some colour on the orange hab, aji amarillo and aji delight. I've got pods on plants that didn't have them before, the peach scorpion, moruga brainstrain, 7 pot primo and fatali, and even the rocoto that wasn't even flowering before I left. Needless to say, the jars are filling up with sauces and pickles and I've just ordered a dehydrator and some fermenting equipment. This is so much fun!

[the big lebowski]

fermenting equipment ? to make the fermented chilli sauses ? i really dont know anything about those ,anyone tried them or make them ?

[Philthy]

^^^ I think the most well known fermented sauce could be Sriracha; origins are as a Thai dipping sauce. Very popular in the States too where it's mass produced. Widely available here as well, I'd expect to find it in bigger stores under a generic recipe, more refined versions found in farm shops and specialist outlets. Personally I'm not keen on it; it's dominant flavour is of garlic, and it's more sweet than heat. Saying that I'd still have a go at making a batch some time, I've got no shortage of guinea pigs to try it on As Ian says just playing around with a new technique can only be interesting


Well, I've had a few ripe pickings so far, but I'm very late this year. At one point a couple of months back I almost binned the whole project as I couldn't devote the time required to get on top of the relentless aphid attacks, and the fun had totally gone out of it. I've turned it around since, but lost a lot of time on the 'reset'. I'm expecting modest numbers on the whole this year. I've had some fire engine red scotch bonnets that've turned out to be some of the hottest I've grown, so pleasantly surprised by those. Similarly I've got chocolate habaneros just starting to turn that I'm now nervous to try! My biggest surviving overwintered Apple Crisp is thriving, and requiring a lot of water even post heatwave. No ripe pods yet, plenty of green ones on the plant though. I'll try and put a couple of pictures up next weekend

[Runtpuppy]

fermenting equipment ? to make the fermented chilli sauses ? i really dont know anything about those ,anyone tried them or make them ?

I am planning to try out this recipe at some point: https://imgur.com/gallery/CifhogW

[HoneyChild]

Honey child, maybe pick them before they are fully ripe? Pardon peppers can be a bit like that, some hot and other mild.

The first 2 that were really hot were still green so the ripening has nothing to do with it. Also it's advertised as being sweet so it's not supposed to be hot. I think I'm going to have to email Mr F and find out what they have to say on the matter. I don't have a problem with them being hot if I know they're all going to be like that. I'll also harvest some more and see what they're like although this time I'll be more careful as last night I obviously rubbed my eye and had tears streaming down my face.

[Scarlet]

The first 2 that were really hot were still green so the ripening has nothing to do with it. Also it's advertised as being sweet so it's not supposed to be hot..

On the scoville scale they are labelled as 0-500, so very variable.

[Mitzi]

Loving all your harvest pics. SP impressive as always! It's a waiting game for me, slowly slowly ripening. I wish they would get a move on.

On the bright side I think we've cracked the chilli peanuts recipe after a couple of attempts. Using an egg white recipe they come out quite like dry roasted peanuts but obviously hotter. So yummy! I need to make them hotter, though, so we eat them one or two at a time instead of by the handful. Otherwise I haven't got enough chillies to keep us in peanuts. Made some more chilli powder from last year's frozen pods so will try that on the next batch of peanuts.

[annie8]

My habanero plants are growing little side shoots that look like the cordons that you remove on tomatoes. Should I be taking them off ?

[Scarlet]

No, chillies don’t require pruning. Branching out is what you want on a chilli plant.

Have you got any photos?

[IainM]

fermenting equipment ? to make the fermented chilli sauses ? i really dont know anything about those ,anyone tried them or make them ?

Sure, as well as Sriracha, Tabasco and Franks RedHot are fermented, and many others user fermented chilli. The process is pretty simple. I've just ordered grommets so I can drill holes in jam jar lids and stick in an airlock for a closed fermentation.

[monkeyboy]

Well so far my padron peppers produced a reasonable harvest (total 12 peppers between two plants).

The jalapenos on the other hand struggled. Two normal sized peppers, and about four mini sized (think large grape) from a total of four plants.

Not sure whether to overwinter or just start again from scratch next year.

[Philthy]

Not sure whether to overwinter or just start again from scratch next year

Jalapeno generally grow fairly quickly and fruit readily so there's probably not a huge advantage to overwintering them other than for the challenge, as they do seem a bit hit and miss in that regard. But if they're healthy plants and you have the space I'd say go for it, those that survive will almost always outperform their one year old selves, and it's one less to raise from seed next time


BigL, how are your plants doing?

[HoneyChild]

On the scoville scale they are labelled as 0-500, so very variable.

I'm really struggling to believe that what I've grown is 500 SHU. I also grow hungarian hot wax which is supposed to be 1,000 to 15,000 and the hottest ones that I've had barely register a tingle on my tounge.