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Recommendations for a first large grow?

MrGlen

MrGlen

I'm new to the forums and to growing, looking for a bit of help sorting through the massive variety of peppers out there.

I like hot food, but have never eaten a superhot pepper. Want to plant some of those. Great if they have some flavor other than "hot".

I used to love eating these grilled Chinese "bell peppers". They looked like longer, pointier green bells, but had some heat... So, yeah, vegetable peppers?

Also, anything that just has a great flavor.

Any recommendations would be appreciated.
 
Medium Heat = Bishops Hat are bell-pepperish on the edges warming up as you get to the center. Goes great in stir fry or a pepper steak disk.
                       Aji Amarillo is another great tasting pepper good for cooking or pickling
 
High Heat = Chocolate Habanero. Wonderful tasting hab and enough heat to bring tears to your eyes.
                  Fatalii has a nice citrusy tang to it and the heat hits you right up front but fades fast.
 
The only Super Hot I liked so far was the 7 Pot Brainstrain. I hear there are better out there but I got limited space to grow.
 
Depends what you mean by a Large grow?  I grow 150-200 pepper plants a year, is that what you're looking at?  My advice for a large grow is dont get carried away with too many varieties.  Iast year I grew 50 varieties which were way too many, I had a few cases of cross contamination so this year I scaled back down to 30 varieties and I dont plan on going over that number from now on. 
 
Choose your varieties carefully and dont get greedy, growing too many varieties gets complicated and is a headache if your trying to keep quality seedstocks. 
 
 
That is my advice, cheers! 
 
 
surprised nobody has mentioned C. pubescens yet, they can be a little slower to grow (at least in my climate) 
but once established, overwinter easily enough. The flowers are a beautiful purple on most of them, and the pods are probably my favorite altogether :dance:  
They seem, to me at least, to have a slightly different capsaicinoid profile than other hot peppers.  I am particularly fond of this  :drooling:
I am not great at describing it, but once you've tried a few maybe you can relate. 
 
I agree with what others have said about growing too many though, I am guilty of doing this myself  :D
(there are just so many i will probably never get to try unless i grow them myself)
 
Eventually i will grow less kind, and more of a only a few kind as i find ones that i like, and work with my short outdoor growing season.
 
best of luck in your journey of chili pepper flavor discovery 
:cheers:
 
 
By large grow I meant 30-50 plants. I was thinking maybe 3 or so of each variety. I suppose that is not very large, compared to some of you guys. 
 
Thanks for all the tips. Now I can go seed shopping.
 
Mild: Brazilian Starfish, Large Orange Thai, Sugar Rush
 
Hot: Bahamian Goat, Carbonero, Malaysian Goronong, Paper Lantern Hab, Red Savina
 
Super: Jay's Peach Ghost Scorpion, Yellow Brainstrain
 
 
I found locally available seeds for most of these, except:
 
El Jefe
 
Any of the pubescens
 
Sugar Rush
 
Carbonero (there is a reaper x available)
 
De Aqua, Aji Pineapple (but there are other ajis), Aji Jobito/Cachucha, Crescendo
 
I guess I'll put those on hold until I want to do some international orders.
 
Again, thanks for the help.
 
MrGlen said:
anything that just has a great flavor
Click to expand...
 
This is a really subjective matter.
Growing what others suggest you as 'good tasting' for them makes no sense to me.
Try a range of peppers available in your area to identify what kind of flavor profile you like.
For example the first time i ate an orange habanero was a shock to my taste buds... i realized that the classic c. chinense 'perfumey' taste was not my kind! Then i discovered that i may like them better in dried form... then i discovered naga and bhuts which i love.
If you're used to the classic pepper taste like Bell or Thai peppers (c.annuum) then c.chinense like habanero, scotch bonnet or many superhots might disappoint you flavor-wise. C. baccatum have a completely different flavor profile so as c.pubescens. C. frutescens i find more 'neutral' in taste. Off course in each species, a single cultivar may have his highlights you may like (that's why i love bhuts more than any other c.chinense).
So if you want to experiment grow a bunch of different varieties and find what you like but if you already know your taste be sure to keep a good number of proven plants so you won't end your season disappointed.
 
Just my 2c
 
Datil
 
Devils tongue is my favorite, great comination of heat and flavor. This past year was the first time i dehydrated my peppers and made powder. I highly recommend doing that. The powder is incredible
 
For starting out:
 
Chinense: Bahamian Goat, Scotch Bonnet MOA, Ghost any, Trinidand Scorpion any, Maybe a non hot like Trinidad Perfume..
Baccatum: Since Aji Pineapple are out, maybe Aji Lemon Drop, Aji Amarillo, Aji Norteno, Aji Golden
Annuum: Any, but try the classics like Jalapeno, Serrano, Cayenne, Thai
Frutescens: Tabasco!
Pube: I personally feel these are the next step up along with Wild peppers.  I don't want to discourage you so it you have the opportunity, then definitely grow them.  But, I feel that most of the Pubescens require a different environment than the other types, such as more shade, so you will need to treat them slightly different...
 
Best of Luck!  Keep a glog!
 
MikeUSMC said:
A few hot ones I'd recommend (roughly habanero heat) are the Bahamian Goat (definitely in my top 3 for flavor), any Yellow Scotch Bonnet (try to get your hands on the "TFM"), Yellow Fatalii, and the Chocolate Scotch Bonnet (I much prefer these to a Chocolate Habanero). Best of luck, and let us know what you decide :)
Click to expand...
 
Wow did not know there was a chocolate Scotch Bonnet. Now I have to find seeds. :doh:
 
 
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