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!

See my previous glog... https://thehotpepper.com/threads/2022-too-early-to-get-started.75362/

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]

Hi Marc, I have seen that you and @SineNomine (both of you in Europe like me) grow the Lesya pepper, next year I'd like to try growing it but I can't find an EU seller, do you know a reliable website? Thanks!

I got my seeds from a seller in the Netherlands but I can't remember which one it was. I'll have to look that up...

 

[MarcV]

Found it... www.hoffmanzaden.nl
But apparently this web site does not appear to work anymore...

 

[MarcV]

Here's a proper update of my 2024 grow...

SB MOA Red (WHP):

SB Jamaican Long (WHP):

Papa Dreadie G2-2018 (Sawyer):

SB Schneider Farms (WHP):

SB HSH (HSH):

SB Allen Boatman (WHP):

SB Marabella Market (WHP):

SB Foodarama (WHP):

Lesya:

Bahamian Goat (WHP):

SB MOA Yellow (WHP):

SB Jamaican True Form (Semillas):

SB Beth Boyd (WHP):

I may have started my season very early (October 2023) but those are the plants that are flowering/fruiting right now. The ones that I started at a more "normal" date still need to start flowering!

 

[MarcV]

A couple of weeks back I started some of the smoked Jeromin seeds. None of them germinated, so I started a second round of about 30 seeds. No success so far, so I started digging around in the soil and found one seed that came to life. Now I hope I didn't damage it with the digging and it will pop. And then I hope I can grow it out to a fruiting plant to save some fresh seeds...

And then I'm also already starting to think about next years grow. Based on my experience with current season, I learned that an early start can be an advantage. I'm planning on starting around the second half of September. The grow of the young plants will stall during the winter months and restart growing near the end of February. By April, plants will already start flowering. Now about the varieties...

 

[MarcV]

Now about those varieties...

There will definitely be my favorite yellow scotch bonnet, which I love on pizza and in stir fries. I will also grow the yellow 7pot brainstrain again as this has become an ingredient in my pineapple-mango-jam, replacing the scotch bonnet that I used originally.
I will also try the KSLS again. This time not from given seeds but from seeds from a reputable source.
Then... there's something playing in my head... I would like to try to cross a couple of varieties, more specifically the scotch brains and the SB7J. Why? Because both are a bonnet x 7pot cross and they somewhat resemble each other. Does it make sense to try it? Dunno... Will I succeed? Dunno either, I never tried crossing peppers before. Should be a fun project...

In fact I only need 2 or so plants to fill in my pepper needs. All the rest is surplus that I may never need. I still have more than enough pods in the freezer from last years harvest, and those are also from only 2 plants. I don't actually need this years plants. And maybe that's a good thing as I still think this year is going to be a fiasco...

 

[MarcV]

Ah!.... a first bahamian goat pepper is ripening!...

It's only a small pod though... I guess this is what I'll have to vive with this season... pods just don't want to grow any larger. But I hope the taste is ok, then I'll finally know if the bahamian goat is as good as they say

 

[MarcV]

So... I got 2 seedlings from the 26 smoke dried Jeromin seeds that I planted.

 

[ahayastani]

So... I got 2 seedlings from the 26 smoke dried Jeromin seeds that I planted.

That's more than 0

 

[MarcV]

what's that blue stuff when I look up??

 

[MarcV]

Papa dreadie is the first plant that starts producing ripe pods. This is the second pod. Pretty small... going to leave it on the plant just a little longer just to make sure it is ripened properly...

 

[MarcV]

The papa dreadie (left, about 2 cm in size) and a bahamian goat (right). Ready for a taste test

 

[MarcV]

Both pods were virtually seedless (the papa dreadie contained one seed ). Both were also very sweet with a little heat. The papa dreadie was about twice as hot as the bahamian goat I think. The goat did not have a chinense taste. Papa did, but not in an unpleasant way. I liked them both!
Goat on top, papa bottom...

 

[ahayastani]

Goat on top, papa bottom...

 

[MarcV]

 

[MarcV]

Another day, another pod... err... berry
This time it's a HSH bonnet, with the usual pumpkin shape. Again it's a small pod. Gonna have to get used to that this season I'm afraid...
It was reasonably hot, sweet and citrusy

 

[MarcV]

Yet another small one. This time it's a red MOA bonnet. It was still a bit orangey, no deep red, so it might not have been fully ripe yet. Pod contained one seed...

Taste-wise it was very similar to the yellow ones that I tried in the past couple of days. Maybe a subtle difference but I could not put my finger on it.
Heat-wise it was a good bit hotter than the yellow ones. At first it was mainly throat burn but when that faded the tip of the tonge and lips kept burning.
And maybe it was just a small pod but I ate it on an empty stomach and it made me feel sick...

 

[MarcV]

Had my first schneider farms SB of the season just now. No pictures this time. I picked it of the plant and ate it right away, but it looked like the red one in previous post, just yellow. What can I say... taste was lovely, very citrusy! It gave a nice glow in the mouth, nothing overwelming. It's gonna be hard to find a variety that beats this one for me!

 

[MarcV]

The main pepper plants...

One of the 2 main branches of the papa dreadie...

Schneider farms SB...

Bahamian goat...

Scotchie babies (HSH SB)...

Jamaican long SB...

MOA red...

 

[MarcV]

And what about the other varieties?
Because space became an issue, I had to relocate them...

Fruit wise there's not going on a lot here.
I have some bonnets growing on the yellow MOA from WHP. The allen boatman is growing a single fruitlet and the beth boyd is also growing a couple of small pods. No fruits on any of the other ones, although they are all loaded with flowers. The MOA yellow from semillas that broke off at the soil level picked up growth again and has flower buds growing also...

 

[MarcV]

What do you do with those tiny pods... eat them, of course

Bahamian goat on the left, papa dreadie in the middle, MOA red on the right...

The goat had the least heat and a very clean, neutral taste which I really like. I read sometimes that they probably are the same as the freeport orange SB. I have grown the freeport a couple of years back and remember not liking them as they had a strong habanero taste, very different from these goats.
The papa has a stronger, more pungent taste, sweet and citrusy and a bit hotter than the goat.
The moa red was again the hottest of the bunch, quite a bit hotter than the other two. Taste was a bit different, this one was somewhat floral.