Common Store Bought Peppers, Grow or No?

[Obsidian]

Whelp, First shot at a Poll so hopefully this works!

Do you folks grow the generic types of peppers that you can find at the store?

This is also based off what I've typically seen in the stores. Common Peppers for here are:
Jalapenos
Serranos
Habanaro (Generic Orange)
Poblanos
Anahiem
Bell peppers in Generic Green/Red/Yellow/Orange
Banana peppers
Generic "Thai" Chilies

Those are the common ones, though I'm sure each region may have others. Feel free to list them!

If I missed something for an answer fill us all in, or let us know in a more detailed manner as to why you do what you do.

For me, I would grow them no matter what, if I have the space. Freshness and knowing what and where it came from are important, as is the ability to ripen them how I want them.
However if I had to choose between common sorts and what I can grow otherwise I would go for growing something more exotic.
But aside from serranos or jalapenos being fully red ripe and the freshest available peppers, I would grow the common store ones if I had nothing else available. I do use them and even with this year of horrible insect damage, those generic ones have been troopers and have not quit. The exotic types I've been growing have been the ones that have given me trouble!

 

[3/5King]

I'm going with answer J: Went to the store and found peppers labeled as habanero's that were in fact not habanero's.....They were something very interesting with really great heat...so I bought them and now am growing some of the seed to see what I get. lol

 

[geeme]

I'm going with "maybe." First off, you should grow what you want, and not care what anyone else thinks - they're your peppers, after all, and if you like the store-bought, you like them. It's certainly less expensive to grow your own, and as noted, the flavor is usually better and you can pick them truly ripe instead of green.

I grew "standard" jalapenos last year precisely because of that - I happen to like them. But I'm not growing them this year. Part of that decision was exactly because they're readily available at the store. Part of it was because I wanted to cut back on the number of plants I'm growing, and I had other priorities. Overall, I prefer the flavor of purple jalapenos, so am growing more of those this year, along with my 20+ more "exotic" peppers.

 

[AlabamaJack]

usually no, but if I see something in the store that is odd or unusual, I may try and grow them out....problem is 95% of my plants are more of the superhot varieties and mostly Trinidad varieties which you can rarely (or maybe even never) get at the store...

I like cayennes but you can rarely find them in the store...and jalapenos...I love them but the store bought ones aren't as good as the billy bikers I grow...was just thinking...I have 3 billy biker jalapenos and 2 wild tepins and that is all the annuums I have growing this year...

 

[armac]

I grow thai peppers, the others mentioned are readily available and very cheap down here.

 

[Prehensile]

I like to grow anything, store had some Scotch Bonnets I grabbed a few and started 9 or so.

 

[HigherThisHeat]

What is the risk/drawback to using grocery store genetics?

My first pepper plant ever was from seeds I dried out of an orange hab from the grocery store, and that plant was producing pods for 3 years! The only reason I don't have it anymore was cause I neglected it till death last year

 

[scrufy]

I have about 40 plants. I'd say 10 of those are Bells, Jalapenos, and Habaneros. I grow them because a combination of I had the room, didn't have any more seeds / seedlings to fill the extra space (was going to go tomatoes) and Home Depot had a bunch of really healthy looking seedlings cheap one day I was there. Might as well. I'll eat a lot more Jalapenos and Bells than tomatoes. haha Something similar has happened for like the last 3 years or so.

 

[AlabamaJack]

What is the risk/drawback to using grocery store genetics?

it's up to you, but if I am going to spend the money on light/soil/fertilization/time, I want the pods to be the best they can be...

I suppose if you are really interested in a store bought pepper, you could try and find out the grower and contact them to find out about the plants, but most large commercial suppliers don't have a clue about anything hotter than orange habs...there are exceptions to this generalization of course...

if you get good seedstock from a reputable supplier (Not Hirts, Reamers, Ebay, etc), grow the plants and keep your seeds from year to year, then you know what you are growing...and there are some good seed suppliers on this forum...

 

[MIPEPPERGUY]

I grow because I want to be very plant specific. What cultivar is a store bought jalapeno? Is it a hybrid? I want to know that I've grown a biker billy, or grande or a Jalapeño M, etc. This can be said for every type of pepper and plant grown every year. I buy seed from a small list of what I perceive to be highly reputable suppliers. The seed I purchase, and start, and grow damn well better be what I expect it to be; otherwise that vendor will not get a second chance. This also holds for seed I've saved. I grow in fairly tight quarters and do not have the time nor inclination to isolate. Consequently I get a fair amount of crosses, which was realized several years ago. Not what was desired. Nowdays, i just buy fresh seed stock at leave the hassles to someone else. Seeds are cheap!

So what if I can buy the pepper retail. The satisfaction comes from the process and as AJ mentioned, "the best that they can be". I like being able to tell others that this is not just a jalapeño (or any other plant that I grow for that matter), but it is a Biker Billy Jalapeño!

 

[Dave2000]

All of the above, except I don't sell any but do gift some.

 

[Gotrox]

Hottest damned jalapenos I ever had came as generic store bought plants.

 

[djsketchie]

I can get the best jalapeños around at the local mexican grocery store for dirt cheap, so that's the one variety I choose not to grow. You know it's the real deal when you are the only white person in the store. Otherwise, it's the quality of the pepper I find at regular grocery stores compared to what I can grow on my own that helps me make the decision on whether or not to grow a common or non-exotic variety.

I mainly grow thai peppers as my common variety, but only because most of the ones at the local stores and farmer's markets taste horrible. Great heat, but horrible, bitter taste. I highly recommend growing the orange thai. Got my seeds from Seed Savers Exchange, and they are powerfully hot and tasty.

 

[Slimbob]

I have 7 plants in a topsy turvy. Most are home depot bought seedlings except 2 choc habs and a mislabaled "ghost pepper" which taste like a pepper but has no heat. It was already june and I wanted to throw something together while there was still time. Very pleased with the choc hab. Well 1 plant anyway the other hasn't produced anything yet.

 

[PepperWhisperer]

I answered in the "maybe if I have space" category, but I think I also fall into the "I use so many it is more economical" territory. We grow a few Thai type pepper plants because we eat so many, but it is always from seeds we get from friends or of peppers we find that have an especially good flavor. Saying a pepper is a "Thai hot" ignores the enormous variety of flavor and heat combinations that all come from the same general category of pepper.

Next year I think I will probably fall into the "I want to control the quality" category because I am seriously sick and tired of all these no-heat Jalapenos I have been finding at the grocery...DAM'N YOU A&M!!!!!! At least I can still get Mexico grown serranos reliably here.

 

[Wulf]

I am seriously sick and tired of all these no-heat Jalapenos I have been finding at the grocery...

Tonight was the first night I've gotten a jalapeno with good heat from my grocery store. I didn't actually realize jalapenos could get hot (due to lack of experience, apparently).

Now I'm wondering what my heat tolerance actually is, thought I was doing alright when I could take a bite out of the previous jalapenos without a second thought....

 

[PepperWhisperer]

[background=rgb(255, 244, 228)]I didn't actually realize jalapenos could get hot[/background]

This is why I curse Ag science people. Lots of yield is not the only important thing. Here in Texas we still get Mexican grown peppers about half the time. These are the only ones that still reliably have real heat in them. U.S. growers seem to prefer the hybrid varieties that make massive quantities of huge pods with no flavor. Sometimes you can tell the hybrids because they are much larger than a "natural" Jalapeno, but that is not the most reliable test.

 

[MIPEPPERGUY]

Absolutely not wanting to stir up controversy here, but this issue has been "gnawing" on me this a.m. and I was interested in people's take on the the following.........

As a resident of Texas, do you have concerns about buying Mexican grown peppers rather than those grown by your in-state producers? I guess I'm relating this somewhat to the "buy American" issue in the automobile industry of which I'm keenly familiar with. Keeping our dollars here and supporting our producers. Our does purchasing decisions based on taste and quality values (perhaps also price) supercede the support domestic producers argument?

This is somewhat related to the "only peppers grown in New Mexico can be called such" thread from a week or so back. Having recently spoken with my brother (who has lived in the Albuquerque area for 20+ years) on this, his take was at its root the legislation was an attempt, perhaps feeble, to control the amount of Numex chilies coming from Mexico, obviously being labeled as "New Mexican Chiles" (technically correct), flooding the market at cheaper prices, and negatively impacting the very important pepper growing industry there.

On another note and maybe I'm misreading the post above (perhaps it was only pertaining to commercial growers), I grow hybrid jalapenos that have both size, heat and flavor.

These days, the wife and I have really turned into "localvores" in an attempt to control the quality of our foodstuffs and as a counter to large scale, corporate agriculture. Perhaps I'm drifting into a topic for another thread........

 

[Wulf]

If given the choice between buying local or imported, of equal value, buy local.

If local doesn't offer the quality that you're looking for, then I don't see the point in buying something that you don't want.

 

[PepperWhisperer]

Jalapenos and Guajillo peppers from Mexico don't travel any farther to me than Hatch peppers and Jalapenos from New Mexico. Tomatoes and avocados from Mexico are closer to me than the same produce from California. I consciously eat and drink local when those options are available, and Mexico is close enough to me that I feel fine about buying produce from there. I don't really care which side of an imaginary line the farm is on. Whether my watermelon was grown in Mexico and picked by Mexican laborers or grown in Texas and picked by Mexican laborers makes absolutely no difference to me.

Re hybrids: Yes, there are hybrid peppers with both good size and flavor, but for some reason a lot of the ones at the grocery are the bland types. I think somebody in marketing decided they could move more jalapenos if they were more mild.