need recomendations on super hot peppers to grow

As far as super hots go, Carolina Reaper is notoriously slow.  What I dont see anyone mention about indoor growing is lighting.  Until you bring the sun indoors, the basic rule is more light means more growth.
 
My first season growing hot ones but have found the Dorset Naga to be settled in and growing much faster than Moruga and Trinidad Scorpions.
Just a thought.
 
Supposedly the Dorset Naga is an offshoot of the Naga Morich specifically bred for ease of growing and yeild size in a UK climate.
Assuming that america is more similar to our weather than trinidad and india's, however, that should be a plus over there too.
 
Actually my slowest is Jamaican Jerk...hardly moved since planting the plug 2 weeks ago. But healthy.
I just thought I'd throw in my initial observations.
Certainly got a diverse selection going in the way they are performing so far.
Just a quick edit to add I live in a very calciumed up tapwater area. Rainwater collected in my wheelbarrow and ph'd down makes a big difference.
 
Ive been growing super hots in edmonton for the last 10 years or so.

Overwintering is your friend. I used to start my plants in January, grow them all season, overwinter in my window sill, then get a huge harvest the second year. It sucks to grow a plant for 2 full seasons only to find out you dont care for the taste. I was growing on a downtown apartment balcony that faced south so I was basically working with a mini greenhouse for the last several years.

Ive since moved to a house and my 5 yrear old brown 7 pot and 3 year old Dorset naga didnt make it through the overwinter this year. Im pretty much starting all over now. I built a grow chamber in my heated garage around March this year and started a few supers. Im going to grow them out in 3 gal fabric pots in my garden this summer then throw them under the lights in the fall.

I had great success with brown 7s here, not sure why but they loved it on my old balcony. The 5 year old plant I had was good for 100 or so pods a year in a 7 gallon fabric pot. I feed them hydroponic fertilizers at half strength every 3rd watering. I grow all my potted peppers in pro mix hp.
 
hey fireface I grew Trinidad Scorpion/Moruga scorpion (forgot which one) one summer 5 years ago and it grew pretty fast( total of 4 plants)  and I had like  4feet tall plants by the end of October, not sure if it's something that I did because I never fed it any fertilizer just water and nothing else, or maybe they are just a faster growing plant? I swear it grew like 3-4 times as fast, all bore fruits too!
 
When I overwintered in the past, it was only in a window sill so the light requirements werent there for pod production. The plants would drop all their leaves over time and some of the outer branches would dry up and die. As long as I kept them lightly watered I had a very high success rate with keeping the plant alive. Once spring comes they start growing again just like a deciduous tree. The benefit is that you now have 7 gallons of rootball to get the plant going in the spring.

This year Im going to overwinter @10°C with a fluorescent light and see what happens. I dont want to have to run my big led grow light or heat my garage more than necessary during the winter if possible. My utility bills are large enough as is during the winter.
 
BarrelGriser said:
hey fireface I grew Trinidad Scorpion/Moruga scorpion (forgot which one) one summer 5 years ago and it grew pretty fast( total of 4 plants)  and I had like  4feet tall plants by the end of October, not sure if it's something that I did because I never fed it any fertilizer just water and nothing else, or maybe they are just a faster growing plant? I swear it grew like 3-4 times as fast, all bore fruits too!
Did they set many pods? 4 tall sounds like you were certainly doing something right. I found I can get decent foliage the first year, but the pod production is limited to 5-10 pods. I had a couple like the butch T scorpion that wouldnt set pods at all the first year. I overwintered it and got a decent harvest the second year but I didnt care for the taste. My pods tasted like battery acid.

I wasnt expecting much from the supers I started ( 7 pot brown, chocolate hab, dorset naga, 7 pot yellow) this year since I started so late (march 15) but they had decent root systems when I potted them up so who knows. Mine are currently around 1/2 the size of your plants. They were kinda an afterthought planted from old seed while I started my other garden plants this year. I found 100 7 pot pods was more than enough for myself and everyone I know each season, so Ive toned it down on the supers the last several years.
 
yea they all had around 10 peppers each i think , u think it's the breed that caused it to grow so fast?
also as u can see the top leaves of the plants in the white  pot are all curled up, I gave it fertilizer so no idea what caused it, not sure if it's calcium deficiency
 
I seem to remember some strains of scorpions growing fairly fast for me, I just had crappy yields. Its like the plant wants to get huge then set a bunch of pods, but with our short season it just has enough time to grow the plant but only set a couple pods before the season ends. I still consider it an accomplishment to get anything off a plant native to Trinidad way up here.

Regarding the leaf curling, its usually either calcium deficiency or aphids. In my garden I throw in dolomitic lime and crushed egg shells in each pepper planting hole for calcium. In pots you can just add some cal/mag supplement to your water. They sell it online or at hydro stores. For aphid I spray with neem oil.
 
fireface said:
I seem to remember some strains of scorpions growing fairly fast for me, I just had crappy yields. Its like the plant wants to get huge then set a bunch of pods, but with our short season it just has enough time to grow the plant but only set a couple pods before the season ends. I still consider it an accomplishment to get anything off a plant native to Trinidad way up here.
My Reaper did the same. Grew like a weed to 4 feet tall and only produced 5 tiny pods after dropping 100's of flowers. Huge disappointment. Also the pod shape was all over the place and none of them were the correct desired pheno.
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wish my reapers grew that big winegum, all the ones in the brown pots are reapers in the above picture and they looks like weed lol, size wise anyway
 
 
I grow in Montana at 5000 feet without great success unfortunately.  Beautiful plants but light harvests for sure.  The thing about the cold weather is the pods that you do get are incredibly hot.  Fatali's that I grew were just as hot or hotter than the super hots I got from folks on this site (no offense meant.. great pods folks)  But I do enjoy the process, and the pretty plants.  My most successful super hot plant was the Bhut Orange Copenhagen (BOC).  I got it as a start from one of the fine folks here, joyners, juanitos, or pepperlover, can't remember now but all are recommended.
 
Try to get you hands on some BOC seeds and start early, or get a start and hope for warm weather and a long season.  I'm going to try red season extender water teepees on tomatoes and peppers this year.  I'll let you know how it works.
 
Can I just say that a friend of mine in Arizona got his tomatoes out early using those water filled plant protectors.
They may have several names.
Seem to act like mini greenhouses.
 
Hi man,
I am new to growing these things myself but I have grown literally hundreds of plants outside in Spain and indoors under lights in Spain.
In the UK I would get locked up for it, so I don't.
My plants came as plugs a few weeks ago and I put them into a general compost. My first mistake.
Looked healthy but not growing.My tomatoes were growing well in same stuff.
So I did a bit of reading.
Found these plants are quite similar to those I was growing in Spain.
So I repotted them into coco and perlite and just 20% peat compost.
I bought a ph water test kit and started watering until the run off was down under 7. Run off being what comes out the bottom after travelling through the pot.
No nutrients in coco and so I now feed them organic tomatoe ferts every watering but not full strength.
A couple of weeks later and they have settled into the coco and are growing well.
Fast drainage with coco means I can water and feed often. Gives me more control.
Oh yes, Epsom salts in the mix as well.
Can only tell you what has worked for me when I was scratching my head.
 
Ah I see the confusion. These were not peppers. These were plants that went to a friend to make medical CBD extracts.
Frowned upon here.
Little edit here.
What is above ground is a product of the root system. I think a lot of new growers or gardeners don't get that immediately.
I certainly didn't.
Over watering and overfeeding being the most common faults.
Takes practice to feel the weight of a pot and know if it needs water.
 
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