Best varieties for your location -- suggestions please!

TheTRPV1Agonist

TheTRPV1Agonist

I'd still consider myself a new grower, but when I started, I didn't really have a sense of which peppers worked best in my location. (I just assumed they all did...) I was more concerned with knowing how to grow, than knowing what to grow. 
 
I've since learned some general stuff, like that growing C. chinense / superhots typically requires a fairly long season and that C. pubescens as a perennial is an option for those in areas that don't experience significant frosts. But I suspect there's probably variation within all the main species such that some varieties work better in different locations for various reasons (e.g. pests, disease, climate, etc.) 
 
Granted, if you can grow peppers at all, then there's a good chance you can get any pepper to work, but still, I'm interested in collecting some information on what variety grows best in your location so that new growers can have the best chance of having a successful season, and so others in your location might have some ideas about what to grow next. 
 
If you'd like to help out, comments would be appreciated! 
 
What I'm interested in is:
  • Your location (city, country, and USDA plant hardiness zone) 
  • Varieties that have worked the best
  • Varieties that haven't worked well
  • Challenges of growing in your area/tips for someone in your location
  • How long you've been growing for
If there's enough interest in this, I'll put together all the results for future reference! 
 
 
 
 
 
 
This is a rather hard one because if you start seedlings inside then there are tons of peppers that do well in my location. As an example ive got a buttload of Scotch Bonnets and hot chinenses ripening now. Already picked well over a pound of some fairly hot peppers including chinenses. None of these seedlings were any larger than a Bonnie or Burpee store bought seedling when they went outside.
 
I can tell you this though if you want a early producing medium hot chinense look at the Beni Highlands. They are nearly ideal for cooler climate pepper growers but also tolerate the heat well.
 
I've always thought that you were in Australia/Oceania, but this post leads me to believe that you're actually in Florida.  Can you confirm?
 
Ok, I'm not going to be a lot of help because my experience is limited but here's what I know so far:
 
  • Location: New Hampshire, Zone 5b, but I can walk to 5a without breaking a sweat.
  • Worked Best: Jalapeños and Hungarian Hot Wax
  • Didn't work well: Sweet Bell, Banana, Cajun Bell, Mini Sweet Bell.
  • Challenges: Many summer nights in the high 40s low 50sF (last night was 49­). Memorial Day - late Sept growing season. Nights in the mid-high 30s beginning of June and end of Sept. It could rain a lot or a little or something in between. Depends on the week. Because of that liquid fertilizers are out since sometimes I don't have to water at all, so I use slow release Osmocote. Tall trees block a lot of direct light. I've got about a 10'x20' area in the front yard that gets 9 hours of direct light. Other than that 4-5 hours light at best. Our ground soil is crap so containers only. Container soil needs to drain well.
  • Been growing for about 8-10 years?
 
I either need to buy starter plants or start my seeds earlier than I have. I notice a lot of you guys start in late Jan. I'm gonna try that next year.
 
I'm in the Fraser Valley, BC, Canada
Zone: 8A,
Last frost: April 20, First Frost: Oct 30, Plants go outside: The second weekend of May
First Night time temps above 15*C: Early August
Total outdoor season length: 192 days

The difficulties of my location are the constant cold rains and surprise frosts that start during late February and don't stop until Late April. This effectively stops me from placing any plants outside until around the second week of May when all danger has passed. Because of this I have had to start my plants indoors if I hope to have a chance at two rounds of pods. The upside to this is that growing indoors has taught me what pepper plants need to thrive. 

The second hurdle that I face in the Fraser Valley is cool night time temps until early August which slows the growth of the plants. It's usually not until around this time in late July that I see my plants really start to pick up speed.
 
The varieties that have worked best are Habanero plants that haven't been cross bred and Asian Cayenne style peppers (Thai/Kung Pao). 

Super hots seriously struggle unless they're already mature and flowering by the time they're put outside.
 
This will be my third year growing peppers and my second growing indoors.
 
 
I'm in Illinois zone 5b, only about 3 years into pepper growing and just trying more exotic stuff this year, so I'm still trying to answer this question myself. Similarly to timegoat, I also have a partly shaded yard, but one area that gets ~8 hours. Hungarian wax does well early on, and does well in partial shade, but it doesn't seem to do well here in full sun. It sets early fruit, then begins to yellow and droop once the heat is on. I'm guessing Hungary has a milder climate than Illinois. Some of my best looking plants this year (in full sun) are new crosses involving superhots. 7JPN, CGN-21500 x 7p Barrackpore, Fatalii Gourmet Jigsaw x Large Red Jamaican Habanero (all from whitehotpeppers). The biggest strongest plant in my garden right now though is a bee-assisted cross from last year's peppers, Pequin x ??? (maybe serrano). The thing branched out tall and wide, and set up a canopy up above it's close neighbors.

edit: Almost forgot Lemon Drop, I had excellent germination and every single plant is growing well, in sun or shady. Can't wait to see how it crosses with the other winners.
 
Winegums said:
I'm in the Fraser Valley, BC, Canada
Zone: 8A,
Last frost: April 20, First Frost: Oct 30, Plants go outside: The second weekend of May
First Night time temps above 15*C: Early August
Total outdoor season length: 192 days

The difficulties of my location are the constant cold rains and surprise frosts that start during late February and don't stop until Late April. This effectively stops me from placing any plants outside until around the second week of May when all danger has passed. Because of this I have had to start my plants indoors if I hope to have a chance at two rounds of pods. The upside to this is that growing indoors has taught me what pepper plants need to thrive. 

The second hurdle that I face in the Fraser Valley is cool night time temps until early August which slows the growth of the plants. It's usually not until around this time in late July that I see my plants really start to pick up speed.
 
The varieties that have worked best are Habanero plants that haven't been cross bred and Asian Cayenne style peppers (Thai/Kung Pao). 

Super hots seriously struggle unless they're already mature and flowering by the time they're put outside.
 
This will be my third year growing peppers and my second growing indoors.
 
Click to expand...
Is the American and Canadian hardiness zone different. Cause Im in zone 8a and my temperature is in the hundreds while yours is in the fifties. Fahrenheit btw.
 
SpeakPolish said:
Is the American and Canadian hardiness zone different. Cause Im in zone 8a and my temperature is in the hundreds while yours is in the fifties. Fahrenheit btw.
Click to expand...
 

I was thinking the same thing, but the "Hardiness Zones" are mostly based on minimum temperatures.
 
You definitely lose some nuance by attempting to describe an area's suitability for growing with a single number.
 
Here's a link that explained it for me:
 
https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Horticulture/USDA_Hardiness_Zones
 
The 8a in the PNW and British Columbia is a unique microclimate.  Further, the hardiness zone is more about what flora thrive and survive, as opposed to absolute max and min temps.
 
SpeakPolish said:
Is the American and Canadian hardiness zone different. Cause Im in zone 8a and my temperature is in the hundreds while yours is in the fifties. Fahrenheit btw.
Click to expand...
It's not different... It's defined by the minimum temperatures during Winter. You're in Texas which is far further south towards the equator which means the sun has less atmosphere to penetrate, the length of day is more consistent, and you also do not have the coastal Pacific weather that cools things down. 
 
Winegums said:
It's not different... It's defined by the minimum temperatures during Winter. You're in Texas which is far further south towards the equator which means the sun has less atmosphere to penetrate, the length of day is more consistent, and you also do not have the coastal Pacific weather that cools things down. 
Click to expand...
 
 
Yeah, forget what I said.  I included the surviving and thriving part, while ignoring the minimum temp part.
 
By definition:
 
"The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map is the standard by which gardeners and growers can determine which plants are most likely to thrive at a location. The map is based on the average annual minimum winter temperature, divided into 10-degree F zones."
 
I'm am in 9a. Super hot here. Today it may 112*. This weekend I'm put up a sun shade. I have I good verity of super hot grown from seeds courtesy of some of you in the THP. I struggle with the heat and sun here. So I'm for the shade. I keep my soil moist and it's purely big box store stuff.
I'm going to tinker around with planting some new one I've started post August see if that works better. Temps get low here around January. By low I mean 60s-70s. We may get some occasional days of 50s but nothing wild.
 
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