I grow in a subtropical zone where anuums are native weeds so, it is a pretty fun place to garden. Chiles and other nightshade plants are perennials here and I've never lost one to the winter. If they die, it is from birds, heat (looking at you, tomatoes) or soil fungus. Phytopythora and the wilts thrive in the soil and blow in during dust storms so there's no real way to get around it. I'm slowly transitioning to raised beds to get out of the alkeline conditions. Summer gets up to +120f in the shade so I try to replicate the growing conditions of the native chiles and grow in the shade. From trial & error, the more shade the better. I have not yet found the threshold of too much shade, so I'm still experimenting there.
Main considerations for my grow:
--this is a casual hobby so 20-30 plants is ideal for me
--I have 2 major growth seasons a year so there's no need to rush, another harvest is around the corner
--the plants don't just die at the end of every season so I need to grow stuff I like & maintain it through its phases & encourage hardiness
--the higher the heat tolerance, the better
Current mature plants that are setting:
--Don Emilo hybrid poblanos x2
--heirloom poblanos x2
--Christmas bell chile x1
--Aji Peru yellow x1
--heirloom padron x2
--heirloom Thai red x2
--Orange habanero X1
--Aleppo X1
--Havana seasoning x2
--Aji Benito x1
Dozens of peppers have set, should be ripe Nov to Dec.
Seedlings (planting season for direct sow is Sept to Oct)
--Ecuadorian red rocoto x2
--Malih helow x3
--Tobago seasoning x4
--Aji Benito recovering from bugs x1
The seedlings should be big enough to produce during the spring season, but 1 of the helow plants already has buds so who knows. I'll probably punch them off so I can get a big harvest next growing season.
Here's some of the hybrid poblanos, about 2 dozen are set. I'm thinking chile rellenos for Thanksgiving!
Main considerations for my grow:
--this is a casual hobby so 20-30 plants is ideal for me
--I have 2 major growth seasons a year so there's no need to rush, another harvest is around the corner
--the plants don't just die at the end of every season so I need to grow stuff I like & maintain it through its phases & encourage hardiness
--the higher the heat tolerance, the better
Current mature plants that are setting:
--Don Emilo hybrid poblanos x2
--heirloom poblanos x2
--Christmas bell chile x1
--Aji Peru yellow x1
--heirloom padron x2
--heirloom Thai red x2
--Orange habanero X1
--Aleppo X1
--Havana seasoning x2
--Aji Benito x1
Dozens of peppers have set, should be ripe Nov to Dec.
Seedlings (planting season for direct sow is Sept to Oct)
--Ecuadorian red rocoto x2
--Malih helow x3
--Tobago seasoning x4
--Aji Benito recovering from bugs x1
The seedlings should be big enough to produce during the spring season, but 1 of the helow plants already has buds so who knows. I'll probably punch them off so I can get a big harvest next growing season.
Here's some of the hybrid poblanos, about 2 dozen are set. I'm thinking chile rellenos for Thanksgiving!
