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Next Year's Garden---Super Hots

C

Captain Capsaicin

Prior to this year my pepper growing experience had been limited to the tabasco and habanero varieties. This year I did some bhuts with mixed results. I live just north of Washington DC where the summer months can get rather hot. My plants started prolifically producing flowers in the heat of the summer. The flowers would just drop off without producing fruit. The upshot is that peppers didn't start forming until late in the season and I'm looking at a mediocre harvest. A substantial number of my peppers should still be green when the first frost hits.

I want to expand my super hot garden next year but need some advice.

1) What do others do about my aforementioned problem?
2) Which super hot varieties are less temperamental with regards to summer heat?
3) Do any varieties require a shorter growing season?
4) Any misc. advice as to strain selection?


Thanks in advance for the help.
 
Bhuts can be temperamental and take forever to set fruit. Starting earlier and getting them into their final home sooner may help. A root pruning container may help too, but might dry out too fast in the extreme heat. Naga Morich has been easier to grow in my experience. Even easier and more consistent has been the Fatalii. I've had more trouble with the Trinidad super hots, but they are tasty and when conditions are right, fantastic producers. So in summary, Fatalli for sure, then Naga Morich or try again with Bhuts.
 
Yeah Naga Morich are quite a bit less temperamental, shorter season (at least they seem that way to me), and a lot better producers imo. The flavor and heat are practically the same, the pods just aren't as elongated and gnarly looking. Bhuts are decent producers if started early, the earlier the better. From my experience they seem to tend to drop flowers more from small size than from heat. They like to get to a pretty good size before they really set fruit. So if you have a 12 inch tall bhut in 100F temps, it might be the size of the plant more than the heat that's causing the flower drop. When I have good sized plants in the middle of the summer heat they still set pods pretty well, especially if they're in the ground and mulched (I think some flower drop may be from the black plastic buckets cooking the roots in the potted ones). So if you start the bhuts early (say, December-January), grow them to a good size before the heat comes on, and then keep them mulched and watered well they should set fruit practically all summer.

My naga morich didn't skip a beat though. They produced very early and set tons of pods all summer long. Last week I dug up and cut back a ~5'x6' naga morich and it was still setting some pods despite several weeks of 35-50F nights. It had about 10 tiny pods going when I cut it back. Douglahs and other 7 pods aren't very temperamental and produce well all season too, imo.

They're not superhots, but most baccatums and bird peppers do really well in the heat too, and just about any conditions for that matter.
 
Avon hit it square on the nail. Only thing I would add is they seem to crave more calcium than most. :lol:

Jamie
 
I'm about an hour west of DC ...

I had all Trinidads this season ... Scorpion (Butch and Moruga), Douglahs and Yellow 7 Pots ...

They all did very well ... :onfire:

I didn't start seeds until early Feb ... this winter I'll start earlier, maybe late December.

Hope that helps ... :dance:
 
I really appreciate the feedback. This place really is a cornucopia of knowledge. I started my bhuts late March/early April. I really screwed up when I transplanted them. I didn't properly acclimate them to the sun. The plants looked unhealthy for awhile and went into a state of stasis. I tried to get them going again with fish emulsion. I think that they got too much nitrogen and probably not enough phosphorous. The plants did get large (5' tall) but they were indeed fairly small when the weather started getting above 90 degrees.

It's really good to know about the nagas. I can't wait to give them a go. I'm also psyched about retrying the bhuts and getting it right. Despite my less than stellar yield I've been elated with the taste and raw heat of the peppers. Maybe next year I'll do a garden consisting of 50% nagas, 25% bhuts, 15% fatalis and 10% scorpions. I'm already so excited about next year. Thanks again for the feedback.
 
The Bhut plant reminds me of a "Determinate" tomato plant, producing all the fruit at once, then if your lucky another way of pods before the end of the season...

The 'Morich" which I grow a few variations, is like an "Indeterminate" tomato plant, it keeps producing .....nonstop all season long...

If that makes any sense......

At least that's how it is here in Chi-town.
 
PIC 1 said:
The Bhut plant reminds me of a "Determinate" tomato plant, producing all the fruit at once, then if your lucky another way of pods before the end of the season...

The 'Morich" which I grow a few variations, is like an "Indeterminate" tomato plant, it keeps producing .....nonstop all season long...

If that makes any sense......

At least that's how it is here in Chi-town.
Click to expand...

Yeah mine are kind of like that as well, they seem to produce a few pods here and there and then a big wave or two. At least the red and chocolate bhuts, which I guess are the only two true variations. Yellow bhuts just load up tons and tons of pods all year long, they're like the Octomom of peppers, but they're probably a cross...
 
romy6 said:
Avon hit it square on the nail. Only thing I would add is they seem to crave more calcium than most. :lol:

Jamie
Click to expand...

Yeah I've found that to be the case as well, and they seem super sensitive to fertilizer when they're small too, doesn't take much at all to burn them when they're little.
 
I live in the north east corner of MD and I had better production from my Fatali, then the Bhuts, then the Peters. my trini. Scorps. did the poorest as far as production, but had best flavor. In the extreme heat I put up a shade cloth. it also helped with keeping bugs away too.i started all plants in mid feb.
 
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