It's never too early to get started!

Sooo... 2022 season is over and most of my 2023 plants are already there - no reason not to start a new thread already!

While all my current plants are technically overwinterers, only a couple have grown through the 2022 season and are considered interesting enough to keep for next seasons grow.

Let's start with the famous Schneider farms SB plant, which will be going into it's third season in 2023. It currently doesn't look all that nice but that was also the case during the winter of 2021 so no worries here...

Top view:

Next in row is my Scotch Brains plant...

Top view:

And then there's the Humble Servants Homestead (HSH) SB, which was also elected to stay for next season...

Top view:

 

[MarcV]

It's been a while since I posted a new update, so here's a new one.
Spring remained cold for a long time but since more than a week temperatures went up considerably and we're already on our first heat wave. And it shows on the plants, the sudden growth is remarkable!

7pot burgundy...

KSPS (Khang Starr Peach Starrkist)...

Scotch Brains...

The SB7J is a bit out of balance...

The Khang Starr Lemon Starrburst (KSLS) from the Jim Kingman seeds is the runt of the pack...

Scotch Brains 7pot pheno...

The Schneider farms scotch bonnet... probably the biggest plant so far and already loaded with small fruits...

The Yellow 7pot brain strain is already carrying a couple of fruits too...

The large KSLS that already gave me a fruit to try...

The HSH scotch bonnet...

One of the few annuums, Tap De Cortí...

The Piment D'Espelette...

The Ñora paprika...

The Khang Starr Scarlett Rose (KSSR) is now the largest of the chinenses and has ambitions to grow huge!

The remaining small plants (yes, that's all of them). Beth Boyd scotch bonnet on the left, Papa Dreadie (G2 2018) scotch bonnet in the center, Kraken Scorpion orange on the right. I wanted to keep many more of the small ones but the room just isn't there when they all grow up so I had to be very selective. The Carbonero also had to go unfortunately. Normally I have very few issues with aphids on my chili plants but one day I found the small carbonero plant full of aphids. That was enough reason for me to let it go.

The small ones from another perspective...

Topping the plants when they were still small resulted in nice low branches. I believe that might be a big advantage in case I want to overwinter the plants. The overwinterers of previous seasons all had a long stem that made them kind of ugly as a bonsai. Topping did not have the desired result on the annuums though, they now grow like a double stalk.

 

[MarcV]

Little photo-update of today's state...

Papa Dreadie G2-2018:

Beth Boyd SB:

Large KSLS: lots of flowers but reluctantly setting fruit...

Small KSLS: was the "runt of the pack" and still is... not flowering yet, slow grower, always yellowing leaves. Gave it some epsom salts but to no advance...

 

[MarcV]

7pot brain strain yellow: nice, productive plant...

Tap De Cortí: pods growing upward as expected...

Ñora:

KSSR: this plant really wants to be the biggest of all and produces lots of pods...

...but I don't thing it's the proper phenotype...

 

[MarcV]

Scotch Brains 7pot pheno: nice plant and beautiful pods...

Kraken Scorpion orange: small plant but lots of flower buds...

Schneider Farms SB: doing well as expected...

 

[MarcV]

SB7J: Not very productive sofar, only one larger pod...

Piment D'Espelette:

"regular" scotch brains:

HSH SB: good productivity...

 

[MarcV]

KSPS: very nice, bushy plant and producing well...

7pot Burgundy: some pods have set. They are remarkably pale green...

And another view on my grow corner...

 

[Simcows]

They all look so good!

 

[MarcV]

Picked my first ripe 7pot brainstrain today. It was just a very small pod. I ate a couple of tiny pieces of it... boy was that hot! Taste wasn't bad though...

 

[MarcV]

This is my first proper ripe pod of the season. I have a couple other ripe pods on my schneider farm SB but those are just tiny pods. This one is a good sized pod. It is actually supposed to be a KSSR (Scarlet Rose) but it looks nothing like it and the colour is some kind of fluorescent orange. Not sure if the colour would become more red if I had left it on the plant... we'll see as this plant is producing plenty of pods. I was just too curious to try this one out .

The smell was very citrusy (zesty).
After removing the placental tissue I ate the pod. Initial taste was quite sweet and a little floral/perfumy (trying to get better at recognizing the different aspects of the taste ). Citrus tones were clearly present also. There was nearly zero bitterness. Even though this is supposed to be a descendant of the scotch bonnet/Bahamian goat, taste did not remind me of the scotch bonnet.
Heat was at the scotch bonnet heat level. Initially it was mostly throat burn but after a couple of minutes that disappeared but I had a good tongue burn that caused a lot of drooling. And most importantly - I did not faint, even though I ate it on an empty stomach!

 

[MarcV]

Tried some pieces of a 2nd 7pot brainstrain yesterday. They have a really nice, clean taste, I like them more that any scotch bonnet actually! There's no floral, perfume like taste at all, no bitterness... just a very clean, citrusy taste. Oh, and did I mention they're HOT! It was a rather small but very dense, thick walled pod. I can't imagine eathing that whole! I do think it makes a perfect ingredient for my hot pineapple jam . Will give that a try as soon as I have a somewhat larger ripe pod.

 

[MarcV]

Oh man, that yellow 7pot brainstrain really is such an excellent pepper! I used one in my wok meal tonight... well, only about half of it, and it was only a small one. Heat was just right, and the best thing (to me) is that it doesn't alter the taste of the meal! This is a winner! Too bad I didn't join the 7pot brainstrain growdown a couple of years ago, but back then I considered that kind of peppers as useless... boy was I wrong!

 

[ahayastani]

Oh man, that yellow 7pot brainstrain really is such an excellent pepper! I used one in my wok meal tonight... well, only about half of it, and it was only a small one. Heat was just right, and the best thing (to me) is that it doesn't alter the taste of the meal! This is a winner! Too bad I didn't join the 7pot brainstrain growdown a couple of years ago, but back then I considered that kind of peppers as useless... boy was I wrong!

Thanks for the report I'm currently sowing and this one is among the "undecided" varieties.

 

[MarcV]

I'd say go for it! It actually made me completely lose my interest in scotch bonnets...

 

[MarcV]

Production is slowly starting, with - as usual - the Schneider Farms scotch bonnet ahead of the others...

Top left: schneider farms sb (notice the nice 5-lobed pod!), top right HSH sb, bottom left scotch brains 7pot pheno, bottom right 7pot brain strain yellow, my new favourite.

 

[DWB]

Oh man, that yellow 7pot brainstrain really is such an excellent pepper! I used one in my wok meal tonight... well, only about half of it, and it was only a small one. Heat was just right, and the best thing (to me) is that it doesn't alter the taste of the meal! This is a winner! Too bad I didn't join the 7pot brainstrain growdown a couple of years ago, but back then I considered that kind of peppers as useless... boy was I wrong!

Super hot and super sweet yellow peppers really rock. That's about all I care about eating anymore.

 

[DWB]

You never forget your first chiliplant.

Haha, I remember mine. I grew a quarter acre of habanero in 1994.

 

[LHornR]

They are beautiful and look so tasty but being a pepper lightweight I would be smoldering for days if I bit into one of those.

 

[MarcV]

They are beautiful and look so tasty but being a pepper lightweight I would be smoldering for days if I bit into one of those.

Well... I can't really handle them raw myself but as part of a dish they are perfectly usable. You just need to learn how much is enough and how much is too much

 

[LHornR]

Well... I can't really handle them raw myself but as part of a dish they are perfectly usable. You just need to learn how much is enough and how much is too much

Gotcha. Usually Poblano and Anaheims are my limit...but the first peppers I got this season have almost no heat at all. For my batch of chili I'm making Monday I had to go out and buy a few cans of Adobo peppers to put some fire in it. Hopefully the rest of the grow will put the right amount of heat back in them when they can get a little more ripened up. If not the Guajillo I have growing will make up for it. I've had a green one so far and it was hotter than a jalapeno... I can imagine what they will be like when they ripen to black.

 

[MarcV]

Still had to post this other picture of the 5-lobed scotch bonnet...