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Planning for 2017 - advice needed please

If you could grow only one or two of these... which ones would you pick and why? I'd love to hear your opinions.

* Carolina Reaper
* Chocolate douglah
* Moruga Trinidad scorpion
* Trinidad scorpion
* Red 7 pot
* Chocolate habanero
* Habanero Paper Lantern
* Bhut jolokia
* Chocolate bhut jolokia
* White bhut jolokia

I'm also thinking of these less hot ones:
* Aji lemon drop / capsicum baccatum hot lemon - are these two the same thing? I have a packet of each. I really like the sound of lemon drop, but are the plants too big for windowsill growing?
* Ring of Fire cayenne - supposed to be a bit hotter than a normal cayenne, relatively easy to grow and quite prolific, so I'm thinking of growing this for general culinary use.
* Golden cayenne - also hotter than a normal cayenne and looks pretty!

I also have seeds of some ornamental annum such as Filius Blue and Numex Centennial, which I might try in patio pots outside.

When making your recommendations, please bear in mind that I am fairly inexperienced and restricted to growing in pots on a south-facing windowsill for the foreseeable future. Also I live in the hills of the north of England so have a short growing season and generally cool climate. I would like to try at least one superhot, perhaps two.

I had already ordered seeds before finding this forum with all you knowledgeable people, so I've probably got all the wrong things. If there's one thing that you think I absolutely must grow that's not on this list, then please say that too. But ideally I'd like to stick with what I've got, as I already have more varieties than I can possibly grow in one year. I'm hoping the seeds will save for future years.

Thanks in advance!
 
If I had to pick one I would say the chocolate Hab since its so fun to grow and produces a lot of fruit per plant at least for my personal grow.
 
And by the way List what you think you purchased wrong. A lot has to do with personal preference as well
 
Pepperhead1989 said:
 
And by the way List what you think you purchased wrong. A lot has to do with personal preference as well
I think I bought too many superhots going for heat over flavour, but I suspect it's a mistake made by a lot of novices.

Thanks for the suggestion.
 
I grew the Reaper and Bhut Jolokia, no info on the rest.
 
The Reaper is cool for a first timer, but won't be a regular, yes..it's hot.
 
The Bhut Jolokia put out 20 pods (only plant to germinate out of 4 and survive) but the heat is great and I love the taste of this pepper.
 
 
I know there are other more flavorful peppers in your list, but the Bhut J will be in my garden again next season. 
 
Mitzi said:
I think I bought too many superhots going for heat over flavour, but I suspect it's a mistake made by a lot of novices.

Thanks for the suggestion.
Super hots are great because they can be a challenge to germinate and help you learn. I honestly see no mistake on your part at all. There are really no mistakes but there are many learning experiences.
 
Of those mentioned, the habs and bhut (jolokia is my preference) would be the most prolific hots in your situation. Anything hotter can definitely grow but will be more challenging. You may end up with great plants, but minimal poddage at season's end.
 
Agree with some of the others, Chocolate Hab does well in a container.
I have a couple in 3 gallon pots and they can get up to 3ft tall and almost as bushy if I let them.
I have to keep cutting them back or they'll need more water than the soil can hold in a day.
 
My but jolokias always do the best. The aji is a must.


20160716_194231_resized_zpswb5bcnk3.jpg



My but jolokias are now about seven feet tall.
 
If I had to choose from your list I would have to go with the chocolate douglah and the chocolate bhut. The reason?  I like chocolate super hots. I find the supers have less of the chinense flavor than the habs do and plenty of heat to work with as well as their own unique flavor profiles.
 
I would highly recommend the ring of fire, Good heat for a cayenne and not lacking in flavor. Would be a great selection for adding to sausage sticks or jerky.
 
There is no such thing as a wrong thing in cultivating peppers. Only accumulative experience. You grow, taste and culminate your own taste and heat preferences from which you yourself grow. The best advice I can give you (and I am assuming you are new to peppers) is to purchase pods and some powders of various peppers you think you may be interested in and see if you like them. by purchasing pods you also have your seed stock for the up coming season. This way you also save a growing season for something you already know you will like.
 
CAPCOM said:
 
The best advice I can give you (and I am assuming you are new to peppers) is to purchase pods and some powders of various peppers you think you may be interested in and see if you like them. by purchasing pods you also have your seed stock for the up coming season. This way you also save a growing season for something you already know you will like.
This sounds like a great idea; thanks.
 
Try to obtain some samples from thp folks, it's hard to base decision on someone else's taste...
My vote go to Bhut, best flavor/heat ratio in my book and Douglah if you need a consistently stupid hot one.

Datil
 
Hawaiianero said:
Agree with some of the others, Chocolate Hab does well in a container.
I have a couple in 3 gallon pots and they can get up to 3ft tall and almost as bushy if I let them.
I have to keep cutting them back or they'll need more water than the soil can hold in a day.
 
What is the approximate diameter of a 3 gallon pot?  I know US gallons differ from UK gallons so a 3 gallon pot doesn't mean anything to me.  
 
CAPCOM said:
If I had to choose from your list I would have to go with the chocolate douglah and the chocolate bhut. The reason?  I like chocolate super hots. I find the supers have less of the chinense flavor than the habs do and plenty of heat to work with as well as their own unique flavor profiles.
 
I would highly recommend the ring of fire, Good heat for a cayenne and not lacking in flavor. Would be a great selection for adding to sausage sticks or jerky.
 
There is no such thing as a wrong thing in cultivating peppers. Only accumulative experience. You grow, taste and culminate your own taste and heat preferences from which you yourself grow. The best advice I can give you (and I am assuming you are new to peppers) is to purchase pods and some powders of various peppers you think you may be interested in and see if you like them. by purchasing pods you also have your seed stock for the up coming season. This way you also save a growing season for something you already know you will like.
 
You're correct that I'm new to peppers.  Is it (in your opinion - I understand that flavour is subjective and different people will like different things) a good or a bad thing to have less of the chinense flavour?  What I've read says that habs have a fruity flavour, although not quite as fruity as scotch bonnets, and I like the caribbean type hot sauces (jerk seasoning etc) so fruity is probably good for me.  
 
I don't expect I'll be able to tolerate the super hots anyway, as I still have a way to go to build up my tolerance.  But I want to try one or two of them just for fun.
CAPCOM said:
purchase pods and some powders of various peppers you think you may be interested in and see if you like them. by purchasing pods you also have your seed stock for the up coming season. This way you also save a growing season for something you already know you will like.
 
 
Datil said:
Try to obtain some samples from thp folks, it's hard to base decision on someone else's taste...
 
 
 
I had a look at the vendor section and they all seem to be US-based and don't send pods to Europe.  Does anyone know where I could get some in the UK?
 
I went to the "ethnic foods" stall at the local market but they only had mixed hot peppers of unknown variety.  I'm not expert enough to know what they are.  
 
Mitzi said:
 
What is the approximate diameter of a 3 gallon pot?  I know US gallons differ from UK gallons so a 3 gallon pot doesn't mean anything to me.  
 
Wow this is a harder question than I would have thought. Couldn't even find a decent explanation on-line.
I was going to get height and diameter measurements off one of my pots when I saw 14L stamped on the base.
 
Since I can fill 6 of my 3 gal pots with 3 cubic feet of potting soil, a little math and conversion charts confirms they are 1 in the same.
3 cubic feet = 84 Litres = 6 pots
 
Thank you for doing the conversion; I suppose I should have looked it up online myself!  Being a bit ditsy, I'm still having trouble envisaging what 14l looks like, as pots here tend to be sized by diameter, but I'll figure it out.  It seems quite big, though.  I'm not sure I can fit pots that size on my windowsill so my peppers will probably have to be semi-bonsai'd.
 
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