Hi Guy's
Over the last few years my yearly chilli trial has had the sole purpose of finding varieties will grow well in my small Scottish greenhouse in my particular less than ideal "micro climate". Flavour/heat I like is obviously important but if they don't grow well in my "micro climate" its kind of pointless. Ideally I'm looking for varieties that grow fast produce big crops and taste delicious combined with the heat levels I'm looking for.
Ideally I'm looking to tie down "Keepers" to grow year on year in various categories like cayenne, scotch bonnet and superhot. Which will satisfy my culinary requirements. As I find a new "keeper " In turn I grow less varieties the following year ......my wife and friends don't believe me when I say honestly I'm growing less next season but it's true !
Example 2023 I experimented with 7 varieties of capsicum pubescens out side In 10 litre pot's and purposefully neglected them as you have to be hardy bugger to survive outside in Scotland even in summer
I saw this trial as a "bonus" chilli trial as it didn't take any of my precious greenhouse space that I require for my superhots. This year I'm over wintering my Rocoto long and growing 3 or 4 seedlings to play with as it not only produced best and ripened outside in Scotland ! But best of all its meaty flesh is delicious flavour and it's a respectable heat seaspring seeds say 60,000 shu 
Big meaty Rocoto long grown outside in Scotland !! This season I'm planning much bigger pot may be 40 litre and even a big Kratky experiment again outdoors .
Big meaty Rocoto long pod delicious and nice heat a new "keeper " chilli for my list best of all no greenhouse space lost
Although removing the big black seeds is a bit of a pain in the ####
I've been searching for a Scotch bonnet "keeper " i had high hopes last year trialling Papa Joe's, Beth boyd, both highly recommend friends a Red scotch bonnet from my local halal shop also Bahamian goat, scotch brains yellow f5..........
Personally wasn't impressed with the taste/heat of the Beth boyd although it grew extremely well big pods and plenty of them ! The Bahamian goat wow ! Grew even better more pods and earlt too but again Personally I wasn't blown away by the flavour although the heat was excellent. The Papa Joe was a bigger disappointment as the pod size was poor and again the flavour didn't impress and the heat I found disappointing..........the Red halal shop bonnet was impressive slow but nice big pod's good heat and flavour......
However.......Two really stood out and are now "Keepers "
Firstly Chocolate scotch bonnet from Justin at White hot peppers I can't get enough of this and sadly have almost run out
delicious ! an excellent all round heat in the mouth it doesn't seem to target any specific area such as tongue, back of your throat but an even all mouth heat 
also it produced plenty of big pod's in a small 5 litre pot.
Chocolate scotch bonnet delicious !
This is my favourite Scotch just look at those oil's
Another unexpected "Keeper" from my scotch bonnet trial was a plant I nearly didn't sow due to it being an f5 was the Yellow scotch brains which I got from a English website and its pheno type doesn't seem to match the pictures of most scotch brains ive seen on line ? But hey it produced big pod's and in respectable numbers despite being sown very late. However cut in half it releases a delicious fruity very strong chinense scent and is almost too hot ! Hotter than a normal scotch bonnet too hot for normal people
and the kind that makes you sweat and vthink if you put two in you wouldn't be able to eat it 
My f5 Scotch brains yellow "keeper " delicious and very hot i hope my 2024 f6 seedlings live up to there parents 
However I am growing the Brain strain yellow this year which will be interesting to see if I like.
My superhot keeper was the Dorset naga but I was completely happy more to do with aesthetics my strain was quite smooth and slow to ripen but excellent heat and flavour......
This leads me to two of my biggest disappointments .........
The 7 pot Douglah ! I wasn't expecting it to do well.......... however even in a 5 litre pot it produced a mass of big pod's double the size of the 7 pot Jonah the hottest thing I've grown !! Wow 11 out of 10 but I simply don't like the flavour which is a shame...........
7 pot Douglah such a lovely big insanely hot pod and gorgeously gnarly
Exquisite inside you can smell the heat a thing of beauty just don't like the flavour
Another disappointment was the Burmese naga I did have high hope's as I like the naga flavour and had heard tell of the brutal heat of the Burmese naga hotter than the Dorset
My strain of Burmese naga if indeed they are Burmese naga were a big disappointment heat level is way way lower than my Dorset I can put double the number in a dash and still not as hot as my Dorset which is a real shame as it was extremely prolific and gorgeous hitting all the right spots in the aesthetics department.
Hopefully I will be able to find a better strain of Burmese naga to try in the future
2024 will Hopefully find my a "keeper" superhot or two ! The runners this year are
7 pot primo
Hurt berry
Death spiral
7 pot Barrackpore
Brain strain yellow
Trinidad moruga scorpion red
Devils nagabrains f4
Primotalii
I do have a couple of other hopefuls but these guys are my highest hopes mostly being naga crosses fingers crossed the flavour profiles Hopefully will be good for me and the heat level should be exceptional
Funny how things turn out what you expect and what actually happens but honestly it's true I am growing fewer chilli plant's this year no honest !
If all goes to plan 2025 I'll be growing even fewer varieties but more multiples of my Keepers
What were your favourites and disappointments last season ?
Stephen
Over the last few years my yearly chilli trial has had the sole purpose of finding varieties will grow well in my small Scottish greenhouse in my particular less than ideal "micro climate". Flavour/heat I like is obviously important but if they don't grow well in my "micro climate" its kind of pointless. Ideally I'm looking for varieties that grow fast produce big crops and taste delicious combined with the heat levels I'm looking for.
Ideally I'm looking to tie down "Keepers" to grow year on year in various categories like cayenne, scotch bonnet and superhot. Which will satisfy my culinary requirements. As I find a new "keeper " In turn I grow less varieties the following year ......my wife and friends don't believe me when I say honestly I'm growing less next season but it's true !
Example 2023 I experimented with 7 varieties of capsicum pubescens out side In 10 litre pot's and purposefully neglected them as you have to be hardy bugger to survive outside in Scotland even in summer
I saw this trial as a "bonus" chilli trial as it didn't take any of my precious greenhouse space that I require for my superhots. This year I'm over wintering my Rocoto long and growing 3 or 4 seedlings to play with as it not only produced best and ripened outside in Scotland ! But best of all its meaty flesh is delicious flavour and it's a respectable heat seaspring seeds say 60,000 shu Big meaty Rocoto long grown outside in Scotland !! This season I'm planning much bigger pot may be 40 litre and even a big Kratky experiment again outdoors .
Big meaty Rocoto long pod delicious and nice heat a new "keeper " chilli for my list best of all no greenhouse space lost
Although removing the big black seeds is a bit of a pain in the ####I've been searching for a Scotch bonnet "keeper " i had high hopes last year trialling Papa Joe's, Beth boyd, both highly recommend friends a Red scotch bonnet from my local halal shop also Bahamian goat, scotch brains yellow f5..........
Personally wasn't impressed with the taste/heat of the Beth boyd although it grew extremely well big pods and plenty of them ! The Bahamian goat wow ! Grew even better more pods and earlt too but again Personally I wasn't blown away by the flavour although the heat was excellent. The Papa Joe was a bigger disappointment as the pod size was poor and again the flavour didn't impress and the heat I found disappointing..........the Red halal shop bonnet was impressive slow but nice big pod's good heat and flavour......
However.......Two really stood out and are now "Keepers "
Firstly Chocolate scotch bonnet from Justin at White hot peppers I can't get enough of this and sadly have almost run out
delicious ! an excellent all round heat in the mouth it doesn't seem to target any specific area such as tongue, back of your throat but an even all mouth heat also it produced plenty of big pod's in a small 5 litre pot.Chocolate scotch bonnet delicious
!This is my favourite Scotch just look at those oil's
Another unexpected "Keeper" from my scotch bonnet trial was a plant I nearly didn't sow due to it being an f5 was the Yellow scotch brains which I got from a English website and its pheno type doesn't seem to match the pictures of most scotch brains ive seen on line ? But hey it produced big pod's and in respectable numbers despite being sown very late. However cut in half it releases a delicious fruity very strong chinense scent and is almost too hot ! Hotter than a normal scotch bonnet too hot for normal people
and the kind that makes you sweat and vthink if you put two in you wouldn't be able to eat it My f5 Scotch brains yellow "keeper " delicious
and very hot i hope my 2024 f6 seedlings live up to there parents However I am growing the Brain strain yellow this year which will be interesting to see if I like.My superhot keeper was the Dorset naga but I was completely happy more to do with aesthetics my strain was quite smooth and slow to ripen but excellent heat and flavour......
This leads me to two of my biggest disappointments .........
The 7 pot Douglah ! I wasn't expecting it to do well.......... however even in a 5 litre pot it produced a mass of big pod's double the size of the 7 pot Jonah the hottest thing I've grown !! Wow 11 out of 10 but I simply don't like the flavour which is a shame...........
7 pot Douglah such a lovely big insanely hot pod and gorgeously gnarly
Exquisite inside you can smell the heat a thing of beauty just don't like the flavour
Another disappointment was the Burmese naga I did have high hope's as I like the naga flavour and had heard tell of the brutal heat of the Burmese naga hotter than the Dorset
My strain of Burmese naga if indeed they are Burmese naga were a big disappointment heat level is way way lower than my Dorset I can put double the number in a dash and still not as hot as my Dorset which is a real shame as it was extremely prolific and gorgeous hitting all the right spots in the aesthetics department.
Hopefully I will be able to find a better strain of Burmese naga to try in the future
2024 will Hopefully find my a "keeper" superhot or two ! The runners this year are
7 pot primo
Hurt berry
Death spiral
7 pot Barrackpore
Brain strain yellow
Trinidad moruga scorpion red
Devils nagabrains f4
Primotalii
I do have a couple of other hopefuls but these guys are my highest hopes mostly being naga crosses fingers crossed the flavour profiles Hopefully will be good for me and the heat level should be exceptional
Funny how things turn out what you expect and what actually happens but honestly it's true I am growing fewer chilli plant's this year no honest !
If all goes to plan 2025 I'll be growing even fewer varieties but more multiples of my Keepers
What were your favourites and disappointments last season ?
Stephen
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