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How much is too much?!

huntsman

huntsman

Is there such a thing as too many peppers? :shocked:

I'm asking seriously, because my son is convinced I'm insane to be growing around 100 plants from seed, and I'm wondering if I've miscalculated badly.

Roughly how many plants do you folk have at the peak of your season, and what percentage is this of the number you started with in the germination trays?

As a second and separate part to this subject, how many pods do you folk consume per season? Are we talking hundreds? Scores?

Finally, how many pods might a bush produce in a season? Obviously this will have varients, but just so I have a rough idea what to expect? Let's use, say, three examples:

Habanero
NuMex
Thai Dragon

Thanks! :lol::lol:
 
the answer to your questions depends on one thing...what are you using them for...to sale plants, sale seedlings, sale pods, sale product from pods

I have about 250 this year down from 325 last year...next year I will have about 400...100% started from seed in the "germinator"

to guess the number of pods we eat a year is impossible...we both (wife and I) eat pods every day and use the dehydrated ones for powder and use it in each meal for spice...the wife makes about a quart of jalapeno/onion relish each week and that takes about 35-50 jalapenos/serranos...

pods per plant?...

can't really say because I have so many plants...I will wait for the others to chime in on this one...I had a second year orange hab last year that produced over 2000 pods...
 
I believe I have thirty right now. I started 48 plants this year and culled some of the weaker ones earlier. No idea about consumption and production but I was told I am only allowed to start 10 in the house this year. I guess its time to make a greenhouse.
 
I started approximately 60.

I have 35 in my garden, 10 were given to friends, 15 were not worth saving or growing.

I have more pods than 1 person could possibly consume.
 
I', with Cheezy. I grew about 40 plants from seed this year, and gave away 10 or so. Even if my plants didn't put on another pod, but the one's on the plants right now ripened, I'd still have more pods than I could possibly eat in a year. I'm the only one in my house who eats them, except my girlfriend who occasionally likes a bit of hot sauce on a taco or something. I'm going to try and solve this by making tons of powder and sauce this year. I'm freezing and drying every pod that comes off my plants and isn't eaten the day of harvest. This fall after the first frost, I'm gonna order sauce bottles and get creative in the kitchen!
 
I'm down to around 100 plants this year and still have way more pods than I can handle myself in a year, so I'm finally staring to sell off my extras. What type of numex are you growing?
Orange habs are often very productive and so are thais. Most Numex Anaheim types are larger peppers and produce quite well, usually a dozen or 2 good sized peppers in a season
 
yeah i guess it all comes down to what your useage is. I make a lot of hot sauces so I like to have lots on standby and freeze them for throughout the winter. I have about 50 plants outside this year which I think might be a bit much if they have time to finish.

I always think, better safe than sorry. Sometimes you never how many will make it or what their yield will be.
 
I have 88 plants and 14 clones starting to root right now. Still have a few bags of various pods left over frozen and dried from last year and probably only had like thirty plants tops back then. I still don't think there's such a thing as too many pods though. If you have extra, freeze, dry, or can them. Make a buncha powders, what have you.

As for your examples, tough to generalize numbers as it all depends on health and culture, but I'm guessing in order of productivity from least to most #'s of fruit it's usually been NuMex, Hab, and Thai. Thai's almost always produce a grip of peppers.

I think my total numbers of plants per year will continue to rise, but I'm probably gonna concentrate more on super hots and lose the quasi-ornamental stuff like black pearl, etc.

So 100 plants? Good job I say! Just keep goin' for it Paul!
 
So far I have 44 plants and another 64 seeds in dirt. I have 17 varieties and I want to have at least 4 of each type. 1 in a pot to be sent out to "board" with friends so I have a better chance of getting true seed and 1 in a pot at home to compare to at least 2 in the dirt at home. Any extras will be planted if there's still room and given away if there's not. Preserve/freeze/dry what you need and give the rest of the pods away. Spread the heat...
 
My name is Brad, and I'm a pepperholic.

Last winter I started over 100 pepper plants, apprx 2 dozen tomato plants, a dozen vines, 4 world class Atlantic Giant pumpkins(their parents were all 1500+ pounders) based solely on a dream that come spring time I would have a place to plant them. I was in Minnesota at the time. I took a job in west Texas, and moved here in early May. I have tried 6 times to buy a house here, but each time, it did not work out. So, I've spent the past 3-4 months living in a hotel room. I think the definition of someone with a pepper problem is someone who drives cross country with 100 pepper plants and moves into a hotel room with them for 3+ months. It became clear to me in late June, that if they didn't get into the ground soon, they would all die. I gave almost all of my pepper plants to friends, as well as all of my tomato and vines away(all 4 pumpkins died in transit). It was like giving away my children. It broke my heart.
 
I think its becoming just a little bit of an obsession :hell:, I have 112 over wintering from last year,
(just left them out in pots close to the house and only lost 7), 135 that I started May/June,
another 168 started over the last month,
most of these are C. Chinense some C. Pubescens and a few wild types and I'll start another 126 later this month
.....and probably more later in the season....:onfire:
I should have 200 - 250 different varieties with around 550 plants, don't know how I'll do it but I'll give it a try anyways.:shocked:
Here is what I have sown so far: http://www.thehotpepper.com/showthread.php?t=12128&page=5
 
I have presently 5 plants in hydro and none outside. I have 12 plants at most in any given year.

I grow for my own consumption and give away at least 1/2 of ripe chiles to other chile-heads.
 
never enough plants i say unless you are not able to take care of them. i have only like 13 varieties going right now 2 germinating and want to plant more. there seems to be soo many different things you can do with peppers you could cook wiht them every night like aj, i like to eat with heat evrynight but my girl doesnt soo. even if you have a butt load extra freeze em or send em to me lol!
 
I have something between 60 and 70 plants but do not expect a monster harvest in our climate. It's too much for my wife cos sometimes when I come home I pamper my peppers first before I kiss my wife...:oops:
 
I started with about 150 plants and after losing some, selling some, giving some away, and trading some I'm down to around 70. Even if they aren't real big producers I'm going to have way more than I can consume. I won't have any extra through. I have a lot of friends that share in the bounty too.
 
This is really enlightening, folks ~

Thank you very much for being so open to sharing!

It seems to me that most chilliheads go through the stage of large quantities and varieties, and that in many cases it tapers off, perhaps due to experience, and now knowing what you like and dislike about each variety?

I was planning to grow for my own consumption, but AJ raises a good point with the possibility of resale, and then there's most of you who dry / freeze/ pickle etc, so heck...maybe I need some more?! :lol::lol:

The Hab, NuMex and Thai that I mentioned were only to try and get some idea - however vague - of what to expect in terms of yield, but I have Joe Parker, and Centennial int. al. Wish I had Black Pearl, but alas, not to be.

Brad, that's really sad, friend -:( I pray you'll find something well worth the wait, and that each crop you plant will be better than the one before.:)

Cheers!
 
I get too many peppers most years and just can't keep up with the harvesting and processing. This year I'm growing a lot less plants but I still seem to be overloaded with pods. The dehydrator and smoker are running nearly full time, and I'm making salsas and sauces every couple of days as well as selling or giving away lots of extras. Next year once again I'll likely be growing less plants but hopefully bigger ones, and hopefully I'll have some more customers for the super-hotties.
 
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