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Chiltepins?

windchicken

windchicken

This is my first year growing chiltepins. The seeds came from the Chile Pepper Institute. As I expected, they were pretty slow to germinate, but now I have 5 healthy-looking little plants in 5" pots. As soon as I am able I plan to put them in those whisky half-barrels, to let them grow as large as they want to. The trunks on all of them seem a little spindly, however, for plants that can allegedly grow to over 6 feet tall. Anyone here got much experience with these peppers? I read the other post about the "nurse" trees...Do they really need that much shade?

Would appreciate your thoughts. I love really hot chiles (just ate a Red Habanero at lunch), and I was born in South Texas, so I feel compelled to grow these things, although I have never tasted one...

Has anyone grown out the chiltepins from www.nativeseeds.org? They actually have 2 different varieties, one from South Texas, and one from Central Texas...
 
windchicken said:
This is my first year growing chiltepins. The seeds came from the Chile Pepper Institute. As I expected, they were pretty slow to germinate, but now I have 5 healthy-looking little plants in 5" pots. As soon as I am able I plan to put them in those whisky half-barrels, to let them grow as large as they want to. The trunks on all of them seem a little spindly, however, for plants that can allegedly grow to over 6 feet tall. Anyone here got much experience with these peppers? I read the other post about the "nurse" trees...Do they really need that much shade?

Would appreciate your thoughts. I love really hot chiles (just ate a Red Habanero at lunch), and I was born in South Texas, so I feel compelled to grow these things, although I have never tasted one...

Has anyone grown out the chiltepins from www.nativeseeds.org? They actually have 2 different varieties, one from South Texas, and one from Central Texas...
Click to expand...

Welcome compadre. While not chiltepins per se, I have several 3rd year pequins. Grow to almost 6 feet, with lots of chiles. They like full sun and not too much water except days when it's over 100 which can be more often than not here in the big dry ditch. I usually cook with mine but the bulk of them go into sauce. My favorite chile.

I was born in San Antone, went to school in Abilene, Austin, and the Rio Grande Valley...but that's another thread for another time.....
 
texas blues said:
Welcome compadre. While not chiltepins per se, I have several 3rd year pequins. Grow to almost 6 feet, with lots of chiles. They like full sun and not too much water except days when it's over 100 which can be more often than not here in the big dry ditch. I usually cook with mine but the bulk of them go into sauce. My favorite chile.

I was born in San Antone, went to school in Abilene, Austin, and the Rio Grande Valley...but that's another thread for another time.....
Click to expand...

Thanks! Are your pequin plants in containers? If so, what size?

I was born in McAllen, but my parents moved us to North Louisiana while I was still a baby, so I don't remember it at all. My Dad has always told us about the wild peppers that grow in the Valley...He calls them "chile petin." I need to go back there and pick some one day...
 
charlesNYC said:
what does "slow to germinate" mean?
do you guys start chiletepins before chinense?
Click to expand...

Apparently the seeds of bird-type peppers, such as pequin and chiltepin, have an extra-tough outer coating to help them survive the trip through the avian digestive tract. This can make germinating the seeds a challenge. I had read this before, and I had the same experience with the slow sprouting last year when planting the seeds of the Thai bird pepper.

I started all my seeds this year in one of those 72-cell Jiffy Trays, 3 seeds per peat pod, mostly C. annuum, but also 6 pods of C. chinense and 6 pods of C. frutescens. It was mid-April and already nice and warm here in Louisiana, so I set the tray outside in the sun, with the lid off. Damn nearly every one of the seeds sprouted in less than 2 weeks (thanks to excellent seeds from the Chile Pepper Institute), except for the chiltepins, which, as nearly as I can remember, took 2 or 3 weeks longer. Most all of the seedlings were ready to transplant into 5-inch pots 2 or 3 weeks after sowing the seeds, but the chiltepins took a solid 5 weeks from the time of sowing until they were ready to transplant.
 
I always start tepins/pequins early, around the same time as chinenses(Januaryish) and they are often stubborn and slow in the beginning.
I actually got my first ripe pequin today from a plant started January. Most years 1 plant is enough to give me a years worth of pods although this year's plants are kind of small
 
Go to www.peppergal.com theirs an article about soaking germinating wild pepper seeds in potassium nitrate . It works. the seeds that go thru a bird start very easy in the wild, all over Mexico, New Mexico,Texas
they come into the world with nutrients and soft shells.
 
You could always go find some bird poop and put it in some water with the seeds, I heard somewhere that its the enzymes or something in the bird poop that make them germinate better
 
Benjoe said:
You could always go find some bird poop and put it in some water with the seeds, I heard somewhere that its the enzymes or something in the bird poop that make them germinate better
Click to expand...

someone should make a youtube video of this, the things we do......"hey honey, have you seen any bird poop around? i need some..... :crazy: "
 
I think that tepins being difficult to germinate is an urban myth. I have had tepins take 30 days to germinate, but I have had pubescens and chinense take 30 days. Chile seeds take a while to germinate........patience........

They don't need a nurse tree.


tepin5a.jpg
 
Thanks so much everyone for this great discussion. You have given me some really useful information, especially concerning watering, fertilizer, and sunlight conditions. If you don't mind, however, the slow germination topic was but an aside in my original post. I am also interested in your experience around optimal container size required to achieve the 6-foot chiltepin plants, without being so large that I would need a forklift to move them indoors before the first killing freeze. Most years here in North Louisiana it never gets below 25ºF. Might they survive that, if I move them onto the covered patio?

Also, the main stems on my little 2-month-old plants seem a little spindly (thin). Is this normal for chiltepin?
 
Chiltepins do see to be thin for a while untill they get tall. Gradually pot up to a 5 gallon or so, those are still quite moveable, and that should be sufficient for first year growth on that plant. Bring inside for the winter and then pot up to a larger than 5 gallon next year in early spring and watch that sucker grow.
 
i tried 1st batch of tepins early january...no hooks. started 2nd batch germinating around feb 10th..soaked for 24 hrs in warm water/ peroxide, then into starter mix in solo cup with plastic wrap/rubber band. this method has worked great for every other pepper ive done...been 3 weeks and still not one hook. gonna give em 2 more weeks and then toss them if nothing. for the record, i have 300 transplants in solo cups right now...everything from 7 pot brains and fataliis to duke pequins and tabasco and everything inbetween. only peppers ive had trouble with this year are chiltepins and chocolate habs. if unsucessful on this attempt, im going to try the potassium soak, and prob try scarification. cant let a pepper beat me, so ill even try the bird poo if i have to, hahaha.
 
I agree with Williard, I think it's a myth. They germinate faster than most chinenses for me. I started pequines and chiltepines the same time as probably 20 chinense species and 4 pubescens and my very first sprout was a pequin (day 5). The chiltepines started coming up a day or two later about the same time the very first chinenses started popping. My chiltepin and pequin may not be exactly the same as someone else's but I've sprouted both from several different sources without any soaking or special treatment and the results are pretty much the same each time. Their germination times are about the same as most annums from my experience.
 
Eh, I'm doing chiletepins too (from the same source, NMSU Chile Institute). All of my seeds have come from there and the chiletepins have been by far the slowest to germinate. I started them at the same time as the chinese (bhuts, t. scorps, and datils). Almost all of those seeds have germinated, but only about 1/5 of the chiletepin seeds have (start date was Feb 11th). I've actually started a second round of datil's and they are germinating faster than the chiletepins still.
 
There is a wild version that grow here on the border. I have NEVER got one to germinate, I ended up going to the river and harvesting a plant, then transplanting it.

Some pequins are tough....
 
Huh, I saved seeds from my Chiltepin I grew last year and they germinated without issue, around the same time as the chinenses. Between these and the Pequins they are among my favorite peppers.
 
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