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Ocho Cinco's rookie season

My superhot story started in late 2012. I was certain that the Mayan's were right and the world was going to end soon. To help ease my mind I decided to browse online for some seeds. I was on Baker Creek Seed companies page and I saw that they were selling ghost pepper seeds.  I was like, "Cool!"  I wanted to get some. I had never had anything hotter than a habanero before so I wanted to try growing some ghosts. I got to wondering if there was anything hotter than a ghost pepper so I googled it. Sure enough I found something hotter. Eventually I stumbled upon Pepper Joe's page. That's where I was first introduced to the Carolina Reaper. The "The NEW Worlds Hottest Champ as of the 8/27/12 Press Releases. It averaged 1,474,000 Scoville Heat Units".
I immediately knew that I had to have those seeds.
The Reaper began my new found love for superhots.
So, that's how it all began. I hope you enjoy reading about it. I had a great time gardening this year. 
Now I'll recap my 2013 season....................

This is my momma....
 
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She doesn't like posing for pictures. 
My birthday was coming up and she asked me what I wanted. I said, "Seeds."  She was like, "What? I ain't gettin' you no seeds. What so you really want?" Eventually she realized that I really wanted some seeds so she got them for me. I bought three kinds of Jalapenos and some Carolina Reapers from Pepper Joe. 
 
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I was very excited to get started but it was late November here in Northern Kentucky. I didn't have any grow lights or anything else to grow them inside and at a buck a seed I did not want to screw this up. So I waited.....and read......and learned. I bought a heating mat, a little greenhouse and some fluorescent shop lights. 
I planted my seeds on February 9th. I chose that date because it is the anniversary of my son's death. I wanted to do something positive that day. Ten days later I had these......
 
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Eventually seven out of my ten sprouted.

Here is a poor quality picture of one of my sprouts. This one had three cotyledon.
 
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My "babies" grew very slowly at first. My guess is that maybe the temps got too low for them sometimes. I had them in a south facing window in the warmest room in my house. Here they are one month after I planted the seeds.
 
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Here they are about a month and a half after planting the seeds. 
 
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The pyramid stack was meant to help save valuable space in my best south facing window. It was a terrible idea and nearly cost me my Reaper babies.
Things went well for me and my little plants. Here they are at 77 days since the seeds were planted. They were growing well.......
 
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I put one of these on Craig's List for $10. It sold a few days later. I was excited. I just made enough to pay for the seeds.
They grew even larger. Eventually I planted them into bigger containers. Two gallon buckets with some Happy Frog soil. 
I put another one on Craig's List. $25. 
 
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Two people were interested in this one. I sold it a few days later. The guy who bought it was very excited and satisfied with the quality of the plant. I couldn't believe that I just sold a pepper plant for $25!! 
 
Here is one of my other Reapers. This one is still in the soil in my garden. Most of the sunflowers that were shading it have fallen or been cut down. This plant is starting a second round of growth and pods now that it is getting more light.
 
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Now, I don't want y'all thinking that I'm just some one hit wonder. I have other things growing besides just the Carolina Reapers. 
 
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Tomatoes have always been my true garden love.
 
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And I like growing flowers also.
 
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  Ok, I learned today. Yes, I learned that a broiler, even at a low setting, dries chiles very fast. I also learned that if those peppers are Carolina Reapers then I had better have good ventilation. Those things burned up my throat, mouth and face! My wife and I had  to grab the twins and run outside with them. 
  Anyway, I got a few pods dried. Now I have four 2 oz containers with dried Reapers in them. I don't think that the Reapers weigh 2 ounces in each cup but that is what size it says the cup is on the bottom. Now the question is, what do I do with all these dried Reapers? What should I do with the next pods that I harvest in a day or two? Dry them? Freeze them? Decisions, decisions. Any suggestions?
 
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Ocho Cinco said:
  Ok, I learned today. Yes, I learned that a broiler, even at a low setting, dries chiles very fast. I also learned that if those peppers are Carolina Reapers then I had better have good ventilation. Those things burned up my throat, mouth and face! My wife and I had  to grab the twins and run outside with them. 
  Anyway, I got a few pods dried. Now I have four 2 oz containers with dried Reapers in them. I don't think that the Reapers weigh 2 ounces in each cup but that is what size it says the cup is on the bottom. Now the question is, what do I do with all these dried Reapers? What should I do with the next pods that I harvest in a day or two? Dry them? Freeze them? Decisions, decisions. Any suggestions?
 
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Everything looks awesome, I wish I really had the space for tomatoes.

Reaper powder would be nice :D. You can add as much as you want to the level you want on your food. Powder can be well preserved, more suitable for shipping, and idk, but I like the powder idea. I just don't know if it's worth it considering the amount of reapers you're getting.

Sauce would be nice too, but I see you had that issue with drying them. Sauce can probably stink up your house, I'm not sure (I never done sauce). When my wife does some sauce and she fries the peppers everyone gets irritated by smell or fumes LOL.

Anyway there's always options, and it really comes down to what you like and can do.

, Walter
 
I have been harvesting about a half dozen Carolina Reapers every two or three days. That is a lot of Reapers for my personal use. Here is today's harvest.
 
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My plant is still rockin'! I have quite a few chiles that are ripening. I also have quite a few new pods and flowers. Here is a top view of my plant. 
 
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And here is a view from underneath. You have to look close to see the green chiles.
 
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Here is a random jalapeño that I grew pic.
 
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Side view.......
 
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And finally some baby pods and a few flowers with a couple of ripening pods in the background.
 
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Dave,
 
Great looking tomatoes (the reapers too, looking forward to grow them next season).
I too love to grow tomatoes. It tastes so much better than store bought.
I have been growing Cherokee Purples, lemon boys, black krim and some cherry for the last few years.
 
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What's the name of the large yellowish orange tomato?? 
 
and this one?!?
 
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Yes sir, there is nothing like a fresh, homegrown tomato. My favorite this year was my "Chocolate Cherry" tomatoes. They are the best tasting tomato that I have ever grown. 
The large yellowish orange tomato on the right side is called "Gold Medal"
The blue tomato is called "Blue Beauty". 
 
Both open pollinated and both from Baker Creek.

Devv said:
The Reapers taste great IMHO if eaten in slices, they are also great in sauces and powders.
 
Glad to see you's are doing so well!
I agree. They are good in very tiny slices. I mostly use them dried. I eat an egg every morning and I put four small pieces on it. I haven't made any sauce out of them yet. I'm practicing how to make sauces now. I am going to grind some into powder soon. I was thinking about putting the powder into a salt shaker to make it easier to use.
Here is a pretty flower that I grew. I grew this from seeds that I saved last year. If anyone would like any seeds from this then y'all know what to do. PM for the address to send a SASBE or SASE. 
 
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It's called an "Angel's Trumpet". Double purple bloom.
 
Night time temps are starting to get low and the first frost isn't far away. I decided to go ahead and prune my Carolina Reaper. It was a pretty drastic pruning. I'm pretty sure it will do  just fine though. It is a very healthy plant with a great root system on it. Though I didn't leave any leaves on it there are many sites where it will soon begin to grow.
 
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I don't know if what I did was right or wrong but what's done is done. This is my very first attempt at overwintering. Let the adventure begin.
 
Last night I brought my pruned Carolina Reaper plant into the house. It kinda sucks to think that I'm going to have to deal with this big ass plant for a little over six months until I can get it back outside. Oh well. I'm sure it will be worth it next year. I think I'm going to name my plant. I'm thinking Carol Anne. Yup, Carol Anne. 
 
Like most of y'all here in the USA my season is rapidly coming to a close.  Tonight is supposed to be the first freeze. I am also, like most of y'all, thinking about what to grow next season. I plan on growing quite a few different varieties but I am also going to grow about 5 or 6 different ones in various locations throughout the city that I live in. I am choosing varieties that are pure, true and from as close to the original source as possible. I also will do everything that I possibly can to keep them isolated and pure. So far the varieties I have chosen are:
 
Carolina Reaper: My original seeds came from Pepper Joe. I had no negative issues at all with them. They germinated well, they grew strong plants and the pods were true. Very delicious and very hot. The seeds for 2014 are grown by me so I know that they are of excellent quality.
 
Brain Strain: I bought my seeds directly from Cappy.
 
Butch T Trinidad Scorpion (Mississippi Strain): The seeds were a gift directly from Butch T. himself.
 
Red Bhut Jolokia: I bought my seeds from ghostpepperfarms.com. They claim to only grow the Red Ghost Pepper so there is no chance of cross pollination.
 
Those are four of the varieties that I will grow in 2014 that I intend to grow for seed production purposes. I am looking for at least one or two more varieties but only if I can get them directly from the original source.
Any suggestions for the other varieties and where I can obtain the seeds from?
 
 
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