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synclinorium

synclinorium

So, I'm new, obviously. This is the first year I'll be trying hot peppers in the garden. I don't know why it hasn't occurred to me to try them before, as I have a fairly high heat tolerance to begin with, so it would be nice to improve upon that. I guess I've never appreciated the number of varieties available until now.

... And, given my tendency to jump head-first into projects and quickly allow them to consume my life, I've been starting random peppers from seed/buying plants from nurseries as I happen upon them. I'm not terribly concerned if they don't turn out to be the exact kinds I wanted because, well, I've never had any of them before.

At the moment, I'm growing Aji Crystal, Aji Amarillo, Red Rocoto, Tabasco, Thai, Cayenne, and Datil. I'm not realistically expecting to get a decent harvest on some of the slower growing varieties, as I had planned to overwinter them and most had a relatively late start. They're all looking fairly healthy at the moment, especially the Amarillos which had an earlier start than the rest. I'm slightly concerned because one is already starting to flower and it's barely five inches tall. Should I be picking the blooms off until it reaches a decent size?

Also, if I pick up a couple more varieties I was thinking about experimenting with hybridization. I know the Rocoto won't take with any of the others, but it couldn't hurt to try a few combinations. What's the success rate like for cross-species hybrids?
 
Welcome! It doesn't sound like you're late at all, especially considering that you are starting with good-sized bedding plants. All of those varieties should bear fruit well before the frost comes.
 
Some of the peppers (namely, the Rocoto, Aji crystal, and Tabasco) didn't get started until early March, and my Thai peppers appear stunted for some reason (the Tabasco are already bigger than the Thai in spite of sprouting two weeks later). Otherwise, I'm not terribly concerned. I mean, the frost-free growing season is around half a year here. If anything I'm worried the Rocotos won't appreciate our July and August heat. Last year it was humid with little rainfall (literally, I only recall two brief rainstorms between the time of August 15th and early October), and we had consecutive days of 90-100+ degree temperatures.

I guess, while I'm on the topic, my two choices for pepper placement are south facing against a fence (either shaded under a tree in the morning or exposed for most of the day), or against an east-facing wall that will completely shade them in the afternoon (giving them at least 6 hours of direct sun). Which area would be best?
 
If you don't have many of them you could try using buckets and experiment with them. They need sun to grow, but too much and they burn. With buckets you would be able to adjust for the sun and have a good Idea where to put them next season.
 
I'm assuming something in the 5-10 gallon range would be optimal for the larger varieties? And I'm not looking at too many plants... maybe, 10-15 at most.
 
I did 100 (5-gallon) buckets last season plus another 250 superhots in the ground. Your numbers will be much easier to manage…a piece of cake!!

Bigger is better!

You'll be surprised; just one season under your belt with a good dose of "THP" will answer many of your questions!!
 
Ha. I'm not opposed to growing more plants, as our farmer's market (within waking distance of my house) could potentially earn me some profit on the side (and I would certainly get the business; the hot pepper selection is decidedly lacking), but I think I'll control myself at least until I finish grad school in a couple years.
 
Incidentally, this is kind of the stage that I'm at. Technically speaking I have about 25-30 pepper seedlings, as I didn't expect them all to sprout. The larger ones in the middle are the Amarillos:

IMGP0262.jpg
 
synclinorium said:
Some of the peppers (namely, the Rocoto, Aji crystal, and Tabasco) didn't get started until early March, and my Thai peppers appear stunted for some reason (the Tabasco are already bigger than the Thai in spite of sprouting two weeks later). Otherwise, I'm not terribly concerned. I mean, the frost-free growing season is around half a year here. If anything I'm worried the Rocotos won't appreciate our July and August heat. Last year it was humid with little rainfall (literally, I only recall two brief rainstorms between the time of August 15th and early October), and we had consecutive days of 90-100+ degree temperatures.

I guess, while I'm on the topic, my two choices for pepper placement are south facing against a fence (either shaded under a tree in the morning or exposed for most of the day), or against an east-facing wall that will completely shade them in the afternoon (giving them at least 6 hours of direct sun). Which area would be best?
Click to expand...


Blast them with Full sun if you can no need for shade. Originally the Aji and Rocotos... i believe are from Equatorial areas in the central and south American. So they should love it. Peppers can deal with the heat, watering the plants directly (by bucket by hand) will lower your water consumption in the drought season. Welcome to this forum.. i am also a recent addition to it but already see there are a great bunch of folks here. Welcome from CT.

Ben
 
So, I've ordered a few more pepper plants. I don't have space for seed starting at this point, and they'll ship when it's about time to put the plants outside... anyway, new additions include Jalapeno (I figured I need at least one pepper with minimal heat), Bulgarian Carrot, Aji Limon, and Fatalii.

Incidentally, has anyone used Local Harvest before? Some of the farms have a pretty impressive selection of peppers, and in many cases they are organically grown.
 
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