• Blog your pepper progress. The first image in your first post will be used to represent your Glog.

NZChili and the Volunteer Gardens

Hi there, been awhile since I posted..but I have been continuing to grow peppers every year.
 
The last couple of years I have had some pretty solid hauls..I have been encouraging Volunteers and want peppers to just grow themselves..so at the end of the season I throw all the old pods around the grow beds and just let them all sprout themselves next year. I selectively weed out the weeds and leave all the pepper sprouts to battle it out. Survival of the fittest.
 
Pretty much the plants in pots i purposely grew from seed, and the ones in the garden are all volunteers. The Volunteer's all originate from a gnarly brown bhutler pheno which I have continued growing for the last few years..
 
in no particular order..here are some images of how things are shaping up.
 
mhCQnam.jpg

 
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fairyfoam48 said:
Plants looking really good and healthy. How long does a carolina reaper or bhut jolokia take to fully ripen once the flower is pollinated in NZ?
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Thanks for the responses everyone.
Hmmmmm, maybe a month or two? Its quite warm here at the moment. Around 28deg C, or 83f. Probably have another 3 months of growing till it starts to cool off.
 
Just a few more images :)
 
Something is eating my rocotos. Probably rats. Ill have to put down some more rat poison.
RKiYltI.jpg

RviDky8.jpg

 
We have Chinense, Annums, Baccatums, Pubes..and watermelons all growing together. It makes for some fun hybrids & crosses.
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vOy0KbK.jpg

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Here is a few pictures from last year.
 
These are what all the volunteers originate from. (these being volunteers themselves)
 
ao7M1jT.jpg

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I believe the thin pointy up superhot in previous post, is a cross between the above bhutlah, and the below wild junglee mircha
826lIOz.jpg
 
karoo said:
Nice Rocotos, I'll eat them , can't blame the rats.
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+1 Jacques!
 
Trippa has some pretty awesome c. pubescens going
on four years in NZ. I envy the climate that allows them
to naturalize like that.
 
Are those rocotos heatless?
 
Most mammals stay away from the hot peppers.
 
I use crushed red pepper to discourage the squirrels from digging in my seedlings.  It seems to work OK.
 
Maybe over the years, your rodent population has become accustomed to spicy food.  :)
 
DontPanic said:
Are those rocotos heatless?
 
Most mammals stay away from the hot peppers.
 
I use crushed red pepper to discourage the squirrels from digging in my seedlings.  It seems to work OK.
 
Maybe over the years, your rodent population has become accustomed to spicy food.  :)
Click to expand...
Nah, they're hot as a Thai or Low Habanero.
 
I had rats attack the Ariquipa rocotos on my deck at the very end of last season. They'd come in at night and nibble the skin off a pod or two, but wouldn't really bite into the flesh of the pepper - I assume because they were too hot for them.  Looked really odd the first time I saw it and wasn't 100% sure it was rats, but eventually I caught one in the act.  I ended up having to move them inside at night until the remaining ones finished ripening. Looking at yours, seems you have either milder rocotos or tougher chile-head rats.
 
DontPanic said:
Are those rocotos heatless?
 
Most mammals stay away from the hot peppers.
 
I use crushed red pepper to discourage the squirrels from digging in my seedlings.  It seems to work OK.
 
Maybe over the years, your rodent population has become accustomed to spicy food.  :)
Click to expand...
 
They are fairly hot actually and burn lasts a long time.
Definitely chilli head rats. The rodents sometimes even eat the superhots  :onfire:
 
Egads  :eek: time to break out the .22 rifle,
and engage in a little night hunting?
 
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