Hi!
I am trying to figure out the best varieties of pepper for my climate...
I'm in far-northern California (about 90 miles from Oregon), and we have cool, typically grey skies in the morning, until the clouds burn off around noon, with typical summer temps of low 50's for a "low", and high 60's for a "high". We get into the low 70's in August.
I (finally!) have a yard where I can try growing, with good southern exposure.
What varieties of peppers (thinking more "mild to medium hot" than "very hot" or "sweet" peppers... but if it'll do well, I'll try it!) might be tolerant of my conditions, and tolerant of someone who hasn't tried growing anything since gradeschool?
(End of question, beginning of rambling about how I got interested in growing peppers...)
I got interested in trying to grow hot peppers last year (my first year in my new house, with a yard), in two ways. First, I got a bag of Tien Tsin chinese dried peppers, and made a batch of mediocre hot sauce with them... after de-seeding the dried peppers. So I'm looking at this pile of seeds, and wondered "I wonder if they'd grow?". Not thinking much of 'em, I just basically tossed them in a bucket of dirt and watered them. Well, the little buggers really wanted to grow, and I got HUNDREDS of little sprouts! Unfortunately, growing like grass wasn't really a great plan... I tried transplanting them, but managed to kill most of them. I have three survivors (the tallest is about 13" tall in a different bucket, indoors over the winter...). The survivors never did produce, but I'm not surprised, since I only started them in July (like I said, spur of the moment "Hey, I wonder if..." ).
It'll go back outside in a few weeks, when it's a little warmer.
The other thing that interested me was I was in Thailand last April, eating stuff with lots of Birds Eye Chillies in it.... hurting myself badly on 'em, but liking it, watching teenage Thai girls snarf stuff that would have me begging for a quick death! (I'm working my way up the scale, but I'm only at "Serrano" heat so far.). In the Chatuchak Market, there was a rack of seeds. Among them, Birds Eye Chillie seeds - so I bought a couple packs. I planted the first pack last year, outdoors. They never sprouted. Again, not surprised - it was May by the time I tried, and it was too cold to sprout 'em outdoors.
THIS year... I got a seed starter tray, and some various interesting sounding pepper seeds (Habenero and Serranos, More of the Tien Tsin seeds, some "Grandpa's Peppers" and some "Maules Peppers" that said they had shorter growing seasons... ).
And, I opened my other packet of Birds Eye Chillies, and this time, with a heat mat and grow light, they sprouted and are doing well.
So I've got all these plants... no idea if they'll survive, LOL. I've transplanted them from the peat plugs to 3" pots for now, into dollar store buckets with holes drilled in 'em, (cheaper than "flower pots" locally...) when they're a little bigger.
I may not really know what I'm doing, but at least I'm early enough this year for them to have SOME chance, if the grey, misty, cool spring and summer days don't drive them to suicide.
OK, end of rambling... I have a ton of other threads to read to learn how to keep these green things alive, and maybe, dare I hope?... produce something I can eat!
Thanks for listening!
Paul F.
I am trying to figure out the best varieties of pepper for my climate...
I'm in far-northern California (about 90 miles from Oregon), and we have cool, typically grey skies in the morning, until the clouds burn off around noon, with typical summer temps of low 50's for a "low", and high 60's for a "high". We get into the low 70's in August.
I (finally!) have a yard where I can try growing, with good southern exposure.
What varieties of peppers (thinking more "mild to medium hot" than "very hot" or "sweet" peppers... but if it'll do well, I'll try it!) might be tolerant of my conditions, and tolerant of someone who hasn't tried growing anything since gradeschool?
(End of question, beginning of rambling about how I got interested in growing peppers...)
I got interested in trying to grow hot peppers last year (my first year in my new house, with a yard), in two ways. First, I got a bag of Tien Tsin chinese dried peppers, and made a batch of mediocre hot sauce with them... after de-seeding the dried peppers. So I'm looking at this pile of seeds, and wondered "I wonder if they'd grow?". Not thinking much of 'em, I just basically tossed them in a bucket of dirt and watered them. Well, the little buggers really wanted to grow, and I got HUNDREDS of little sprouts! Unfortunately, growing like grass wasn't really a great plan... I tried transplanting them, but managed to kill most of them. I have three survivors (the tallest is about 13" tall in a different bucket, indoors over the winter...). The survivors never did produce, but I'm not surprised, since I only started them in July (like I said, spur of the moment "Hey, I wonder if..." ).
It'll go back outside in a few weeks, when it's a little warmer.
The other thing that interested me was I was in Thailand last April, eating stuff with lots of Birds Eye Chillies in it.... hurting myself badly on 'em, but liking it, watching teenage Thai girls snarf stuff that would have me begging for a quick death! (I'm working my way up the scale, but I'm only at "Serrano" heat so far.). In the Chatuchak Market, there was a rack of seeds. Among them, Birds Eye Chillie seeds - so I bought a couple packs. I planted the first pack last year, outdoors. They never sprouted. Again, not surprised - it was May by the time I tried, and it was too cold to sprout 'em outdoors.
THIS year... I got a seed starter tray, and some various interesting sounding pepper seeds (Habenero and Serranos, More of the Tien Tsin seeds, some "Grandpa's Peppers" and some "Maules Peppers" that said they had shorter growing seasons... ).
And, I opened my other packet of Birds Eye Chillies, and this time, with a heat mat and grow light, they sprouted and are doing well.
So I've got all these plants... no idea if they'll survive, LOL. I've transplanted them from the peat plugs to 3" pots for now, into dollar store buckets with holes drilled in 'em, (cheaper than "flower pots" locally...) when they're a little bigger.
I may not really know what I'm doing, but at least I'm early enough this year for them to have SOME chance, if the grey, misty, cool spring and summer days don't drive them to suicide.
OK, end of rambling... I have a ton of other threads to read to learn how to keep these green things alive, and maybe, dare I hope?... produce something I can eat!
Thanks for listening!
Paul F.
! 
Been a while since I ate at the Somoa Cook House, food was never that great but the historical value was remarkable.
