This will be my third year of growing peppers, but the first to document it and share my experience.
My past experiences with growing peppers has been mixed. It all started when I bought some bhut jolokia's at the supermarket and sowed the seed in my mom's garden in late September. A couple seedlings came up, and thanks to our mild winters in Houston, the plant easily survived the winter and turned into a monster of a plant, producing well over 1,000 pods in it's first season. That same spring, I grew several other varieties, including Red 7 Pod Brain Strains, and had several amazing plants. This past season, however, I vastly increased the number of varieties from 7 to about 15. Due to a lack of time, and honestly, effort, this past season was a complete bust. The only success I had was with a small C. Chacoense plant, a Trinidad Douglah, and a Zimbabwe Bird Pepper. All my plants stayed small and suffered from lots of flower drop. This year, I'm taking things more seriously, devoting the proper time and money, and will be growing 25+ different varieties, with a couple possible F1s in the mix as well. Here's my current grow list:
African Bird's Eye
Aji Chunco
Aji Limon
CAP 691
Carolina Reaper
Datil
Dedo de Moca
Fresno
Giant Mexican Rocoto
Havasu, F1
Hawaiian Sweet Hot
Large Cumari
Long Dutch Red Hot
Malagueta
Most Prolific Chacoense
Orange Manzano
Peruvian White Habanero
Red Bhut Jolokia
Red Jelly Devils
Red Jellybean
Shishito
Tabasco
Trinidad Moruga Scorpion
Wild Brazil
Yellow 7 Pod Brain Strain
Zimbabwe Bird
Yellow Brain Strain x Frutescens, F1
Unknown Frutescens
Tahiti Pepper
The last three on the list should be pretty interesting. The Yellow BS was growing next to what I believe to be some sort of frutescens, though I'm unable to identify which one it is. I cross pollinated (the plants were growing into each other despite being about 4 feet apart) and collected seeds from the cross-pollinated pod. The last on the list also appears to be a frutescens family pepper, being very similar to a Tabasco. A friend of mine spent a month in Tahiti, and the people she stayed with had a pepper plant that they claimed was native to the island. She brought me back about a hundred pods, from which I harvested seeds.
About a week ago, I planted approximately 3 of each variety in some rockwool. They are currently on a heat pad with T5 lighting for the time being. I've got about 3 seedlings (pics coming soon) popped up. An interesting note is that the only varieties to pop up yet are all frutescens. Not sure if there's anything to that or if that's just how it worked out. I plan on moving all of the seedlings into soil and growing them indoor until they are proper size. I'm hoping to begin my first attempt at hydro soon, and I'll be choosing a few plants for that. Any suggestions on cheap, yet effective systems are welcome. Space isn't much of an issue, and I'm looking mostly at trying DWC in 5 gallon buckets.
My past experiences with growing peppers has been mixed. It all started when I bought some bhut jolokia's at the supermarket and sowed the seed in my mom's garden in late September. A couple seedlings came up, and thanks to our mild winters in Houston, the plant easily survived the winter and turned into a monster of a plant, producing well over 1,000 pods in it's first season. That same spring, I grew several other varieties, including Red 7 Pod Brain Strains, and had several amazing plants. This past season, however, I vastly increased the number of varieties from 7 to about 15. Due to a lack of time, and honestly, effort, this past season was a complete bust. The only success I had was with a small C. Chacoense plant, a Trinidad Douglah, and a Zimbabwe Bird Pepper. All my plants stayed small and suffered from lots of flower drop. This year, I'm taking things more seriously, devoting the proper time and money, and will be growing 25+ different varieties, with a couple possible F1s in the mix as well. Here's my current grow list:
African Bird's Eye
Aji Chunco
Aji Limon
CAP 691
Carolina Reaper
Datil
Dedo de Moca
Fresno
Giant Mexican Rocoto
Havasu, F1
Hawaiian Sweet Hot
Large Cumari
Long Dutch Red Hot
Malagueta
Most Prolific Chacoense
Orange Manzano
Peruvian White Habanero
Red Bhut Jolokia
Red Jelly Devils
Red Jellybean
Shishito
Tabasco
Trinidad Moruga Scorpion
Wild Brazil
Yellow 7 Pod Brain Strain
Zimbabwe Bird
Yellow Brain Strain x Frutescens, F1
Unknown Frutescens
Tahiti Pepper
The last three on the list should be pretty interesting. The Yellow BS was growing next to what I believe to be some sort of frutescens, though I'm unable to identify which one it is. I cross pollinated (the plants were growing into each other despite being about 4 feet apart) and collected seeds from the cross-pollinated pod. The last on the list also appears to be a frutescens family pepper, being very similar to a Tabasco. A friend of mine spent a month in Tahiti, and the people she stayed with had a pepper plant that they claimed was native to the island. She brought me back about a hundred pods, from which I harvested seeds.
About a week ago, I planted approximately 3 of each variety in some rockwool. They are currently on a heat pad with T5 lighting for the time being. I've got about 3 seedlings (pics coming soon) popped up. An interesting note is that the only varieties to pop up yet are all frutescens. Not sure if there's anything to that or if that's just how it worked out. I plan on moving all of the seedlings into soil and growing them indoor until they are proper size. I'm hoping to begin my first attempt at hydro soon, and I'll be choosing a few plants for that. Any suggestions on cheap, yet effective systems are welcome. Space isn't much of an issue, and I'm looking mostly at trying DWC in 5 gallon buckets.