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]

A little pumpkin shaped HSH bonnet... I ate it whole after removing the placenta. It had respectable but easily bearable heat that took quite a while to build. It had a very clean scotch bonnet taste. Not sweet. Only slightly floral.
The wife, who was sitting next to me, complained that her lips were burning after I cut the pod in half. She hasn't even touched it...

 

[ahayastani]

The wife, who was sitting next to me, complained that her lips were burning after I cut the pod in half. She hasn't even touched it...

I have learned not to kiss my better half after eating peppers

 

[MarcV]

didn't touch any of her lips...

 

[MarcV]

Got to taste the first ripened Allen Boatman scotch bonnet tonight. Sorry, forgot to take a picture this time. But then it's just another yellow bonnet...
It was a small pod. Had a very fruity/citrusy taste. Nothing floral. It had a good amount of heat that built up very slowly. If that is characteristic to all allen boatman sb's, then this is an excellent variety! On top of that, pod shape is consistently "proper" scotch bonnet

 

[MarcV]

And then suddenly...

 

[MarcV]

I noticed that, while many small pods on my plants start with a very nice bonnet shape, they seem to lose their shape while growing larger and eventually become a "blob". This one for instance is a very nice one on my HSH plant. I'm going to keep an eye on it to see what it becomes like.
I assume it's the growing conditions...?

Somewhat larger in the mean time... still a nice bonnet shape...

 

[Anders]

A great glog Marc V! Scotch Bonnets are some of my favorite peppers! Im following your grow and taste reviews with great interest!

 

[MarcV]

Thanks Anders!

Here's a little first harvest...
Papa Dreadie top left, HSH top right, Schneider farms bottom...

It's only a start, there's still a multitude of unripe pods on the plants...

 

[MarcV]

Had another little disaster today, after a little rain shower. This time it was the foodarama scotch bonnet plant that got hit. One branch broke off completely and a couple other branches split from the main trunk but could still be saved.
The fall of the branches pulled another plant (semillas tfm sb) over at the soil level. I could bring it back up, I hope it wasn't damaged below soil level...
I didn't care about taking pictures this time, I just wanted to save the plants...

 

[MarcV]

The branch that broke off had a lot of pods on it, among them a couple of nice large ones. I removed everything except the nicest pods. I hope they will still ripen...

 

[MarcV]

A day later and the 2 top ones were already ripe. Tried one of them... it was a good scotch bonnet!

As already mentioned in the papa dreadie thread, I'll soon be able to sample bonnets from all plants as the proper sized pods are no also start to ripen.

As is the case every year, my current grow no longer contains all varieties that I started with. In time, the plants get so large that I no longer have room for all of them. I soon figured out, after sampling early pods, that red scotch bonnets taste a bit different and are not really my cup of tea, so they were the first ones to be removed from the grow list. This includes the MOA red and the jamaican long SB, which also produced red pods. I also removed the 2 yellow MOA sb plants. I had a bit of a problem with these at the beginning of the season, had a serious accident with the best one of the 2 plants (broke off at soil level), and finally decided to remove them from the grow list also. I also had an accident with the marabella market sb plant. The already quite large plant was growing in a rather small pot, standing on a table, and at some point it tipped over and fell off the table, breaking the plant. I didn't consider it a big deal as I wasn't very fond of that plant anyway. I still have plenty of other plants that are going to produce a lot more pods than I could ever use. I'm going to have to share them with family, friends, neighbours and colleagues .

 

[Marturo]

red scotch bonnets taste a bit different and are not really my cup of tea, so they were the first ones to be removed from the grow list. This includes the MOA red and the jamaican long SB, which also produced red pods.

I've been watching for your opinion on the Red Bonnets.

 

[MarcV]

Officially I only had one red bonnet plant (MOA red). The jamaican long isn't supposed to be red as far as I know... there wouldn't be much to compare then...

 

[MarcV]

So, here we are with the long awaited scotch bonnet comparison! I have to admit that I'm having problems finishing it as my mouth gets gradually hotter with each sample I take...

I picked pods of all my plants today. The plant of which I got the most pods is the papa dreadie. And this is actually a harvest of half the plant as the other half broke off a couple of weeks ago.

I selected a nice pod from each variety...

Cut open...

 

[MarcV]

So... what's the verdict?

Well... everything stays about the way it was... the schneider farms remains my favorite scotch bonnet. And the papa dreadie and HSH keep their high places also.

The worst of the bunch - to me - was the allen boatman. This pod was very hot compared to the others but was also very floral.

The jamaican TFM from semillas reminded me of the Trenton Farmers Market SB that I grew a couple of seasons back, even though Semillas claims that their "TFM" stands for True Form. Both have this sourness that I don't find in other SB varieties. Can't be a coincidense...

I often read that Foodarama and Beth Boyd are the same varieties. Not sure if that is true myself... at first there is the pod size, which is remarkable larger on the foodarama plant. Then there is taste... floral/bitter on the foodarama plant but sweet on the beth boyd...

Of course there may be a difference between individual plants of the same variety. Even different pods of the same plant can differ in shape/size/shape/heal level. My current experience may not be representative.

I didn't mention the bahamian goat yet. It had a surprisingly good taste, very sweet, not comparable to any of the scotch bonnets. How can it be claimed to be the same as the freeport orange SB? I grew that several seasons ago and disliked it very much. Also, the white lining on the inside is not something I saw on the freeport.

 

[MarcV]

Much as I love the schneider farms scotch bonnet, the pods of this seasons plant don't have the heat one can expect from a scotch bonnet. The pods are delicious though... zero floral, very citrusy. But the heat is cayenne level at most. Must be the seeds I guess... this is the second plant I have grown from 2022 seeds from WHP and both produced low heat pods. I still have older WHP seeds that I used in the past and that grew plants that produced pods with decent heat.

So that's what I'll be doing next season... grow a plant from those older seeds. I also have schneider farms seeds from Texas Hot Peppers which I will try also.

And I'm also going to grow yellow 7pot brainstrain again as this is now the pepper I use in my hot pineapple/mango jam. I will grow a plant from WHP seeds and one from Semillas seeds. I also still want to grow one from the seed stock that was used in the 2018 Growdown Throwdown but I haven't been able to get my hands on the seeds (yet) . I anyone can help me with this please let me know. I already asked pepper guru who provided the growdown seeds but got no response...

So there you have it... my main grow plans for next season. I want to keep the plant count low this time (like I do every season)...
And I'm planning on starting by the end of September!

 

[MarcV]

As outside temperatures suddenly became much lower this past week, I noticed that the pods stopped ripening on the plants. I decided to take my most precious plant inside, after giving it a good hair cut first. I also removed all smaller pods of which I was sure they could never mature this season. Here it stands, taking up quite a bit of room... the schneider farms SB...

The effect of taking the plant inside is surprising! The next day I could already pick ripened pods, and I've been doing so every day since.

I would love to take a couple more plants inside, like the papa dreadie and HSH SB, but I don't think the wife would agree (haven't asked yet... ). Especially the HSH is a very wide growing plant, I could probably not even get it through the door opening...

And here's is what has become of the little Jeromin seedling... already quite large and growing leggy. There are tiny flower buds visible at the splits but they don't seem to develop...

 

[MarcV]

I convinced the wife that I needed to take another plant inside...

The HSH SB is filled with so many large, beautiful but unripe pods... but it was impossible to take this plant inside without giving it a thorough haircut first.
Before haircut:...

After the haircut:...

Here it is after putting it inside, schneider farms SB in the back, HSH in front. If you look carefully, you can also see the jeromin plant under the grow light...

I'll probably overwinter both SB plants also.

 

[Nulle]

More pics of your lovely dog, please . Oh, and the plants look good too

 

[MarcV]

You have but to ask
Our girl labrador Robin, adopted from a shelter in February at age 6 years ... she's the sweetest dog you can think of... why do people put a dog like this in a shelter?

Oh, and that's me also