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misc Chilli trials.......your reason ? reasons?

Hi Guys

I was discussing my impending 2023 Chillie trial with a few people asking advice options when it dawned on me we weren't talking about the same thing or indeed the same reason behind it and indeed had completely different motives !

Here in Scotland my chillie growing is done in a greenhouse our weather is mostly cold, wet, damp I quickly figured out ones person's "hot" or "very hot" chilli isn't another's and like wise one person's "early" variety won't be the earliest in your own little micro climate that your growing in.

To be honest I wasted a few year's growing varieties that would never achieve what I actually required or desired, I'm not say i didn't have fun along the way or didn't learn because I did.

I love cooking authentic curries grinding my own spices and cooking curries from scratch, I grow my own garlic and onions easy in Scotland our climate produces excellent tasty results.

Chillie wise I "finally" stumbled onto a cayenne variety "Ring of Fire" which out produced any thing I'd tried and still does, i use it green instead of the Indian Jwala green finger chilli best of all because it buds and flower's before anything else I don't need to protect first few flower's to guarantee pure seed.

Last year I tried Piri piri, Takanosume, Dorset Naga, Bengle Naga, Dedo de mocha, Kala Morich, Dhani Indian birdeye, Hot chocolate Habanero (sea spring seeds) ,Ring of fire, which I just managed to squeeze into my 6ftx8ft greenhouse. However pretty quickly I realised most of the varieties would never meet my needs and objectives! Again I did learn a few things I and impressed by by certain varieties.

Due to a cycling accident and the resulting broken elbow in November 2022 I had plenty to of time to study and research chilli varieties for 2023................ I studied websites, blogs mostly looking at UK based information.

This is when it dawned on me when we talk "chilli trial" we're not always talking about the same thing ! My objective is simply to find super hots, Habanero types and scotch bonnet types that will do well for me in my little micro climate and produce well and taste that I like, once found I'm pretty much done !! I'm looking for "keepers" varieties like my Ring of fire cayenne variety.

It dawned on me that it seems most people simply try out dozens of different varieties year on year and particularly the myriad of new hybrids ! This is not what I'm after yes once I've found a handful of "keeper" varieties that I'll grow every year I will happily try the odd newcomer but only once I've found.

This year I'm trying 7 pot Jonah, 7 pot Douglah, Orange Habanero, Paper lantern habanero, Papa joe's scotch bonnet, chocolate scotch bonnet, Yellow Fatali, to name a few and a overwintered Dorset Naga just hope I can fit them all in lol but I'm confident that by the end of 2023 I will have my "keeper" very hots and super hots that will flourish in my humble little greenhouse.

Regards

Stephen
 
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I have keeper varieties that I grow year on year, Jalapenos, Espelettes, Serrano, Black Hungarian - they're perfect for chilli pickle and cowboy candy. Every year I like to add to that list and grow a few new (to me) peppers.
I have to confess that this year I'm growing rather more than a few new ones :D
 
The last couple of seasons I tried to focus on scotch bonnets as they have a good but still manageable (to me) heat. Last year I also grew scotch brains. For fresh usage they may already be too hot for me but I love the powder I made from them more than I like my scotch bonnet powder, so I may be going on in that direction. That is also why I'm now also going to try 7pot brainstrain, which I expect will be way too hot but usable as a powder...

Climate will certainly make a difference when it come to heat. The scotch bonnets I grew in 2021 were clearly less hot than those of the 2022 season, even when they came from the same plant...
 
I always grow some Padron peppers, as well as Lemon drop and a few others I really like.

And then I go overboard with loads of other peppers for which I really do not have the place. I end up giving lots of seedlings away each year. I never learn...
 
Check out posts from @Anders ; he's growing in Norway and he is also looking for the best varieties to grow in the northern latitude. He's not much active around here anymore but seems to post quite often over IG.
 
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