annuum Reliable and prolific annuum for a cold climate

M

Mitzi

Looking for recommendations.  I am growing various chinenses (mostly hot/superhot), baccatums and one rocoto.  They will most likely take a long time to produce / ripen.  I have already sown a few annuums and was planning to sow another 8 or so more.  However, I have already got far more plants than I can realistically accommodate so I reckon I can only fit in one more. 
 
I want it to be fast-growing, reliable, productive, thrive outdoors in a cool climate (northern England) and have medium heat upwards.  Basically I want it to be my go-to standard pepper for the kitchen while I am waiting for the more exciting varieties to mature.  
 
Annuums I am already growing are:
 
  • Basket of Fire
  • Cseresznye Paprika
  • Ethiopian Berbere
  • Krishna Jolokia
  • Monkey Face
  • Numex Lemon Spice Jalapeno
  • Purple Tiger
 
so something to complement those.
 
I was thinking perhaps a Thai variety - I have seeds of Thai Demon and Yellow Thai.  Or there's a UK variety called Nigel's Outdoor which is supposed to be good in this climate.
 
I would love to receive some other suggestions that fit the criteria, though.  Bear in mind - I can only grow ONE.
 
 
I'd say grow some Tien Tsins, buddy. They produced early for me, had loads of pods, the three plants I grew in 2018 were the nicest-looking plants I ever grew: maybe 40" tall, very straight, fairly bushy, very leafy, and I didn't ever top them or trim them or in any way prune/train them. Extensive root system once I pulled them up, which I think is the secret to the strong plants. Mine continued to produce right up to frost. I'm pretty sure they were developed in China, which is mostly a temperate nation.

I also grew the Small Orange Thais, which were also very productive, the plants stayed very short but they were stupidly bushy in an awesome way. They weren't pushing out pods quite as early as the Tien Tsins, but they did taste better. My main gripe with those Small Orange Thais was that they were some real seed Bombs, just loaded with seeds and the pods were so small, curved, and skinny, it was tough to de-seed them. To be fair, the Tien Tsins were also loaded with seeds but the shape/size of the pods made it quick & easy to remove the seeds.

Hth. In sure there are zillions of other options, but I remember thinking that only my Hotrod Serranos and the Tien Tsins seemed unfazed once things got cold, in terms of production. . . Everything else slowed down considerably on the cooler few weeks before first frost...

FWIW, I grow in NJ USA, zone 7.
 
Serranos
 

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cmpman1974 said:
Without a doubt Orange Thai - SSE strain.  My go to pepper for all dishes I want some heat.   I've grown it for a long long time and always enjoy it.  Pretty short season as well.
 
Chris
Click to expand...
 
What's SSE strain?  
 
I grew Large Orange Thai last season but the main plant's stem got snapped in a storm and the smaller plants didn't produce much.  I would try them again but not if it's my "mainstay" annuum for the season.
 
SSE = Seed Savers Exchange.
 
Indeed a very productive variety, small pods full of seeds. They don't deseed easily when fresh but they are easy to deseed after drying :) .
 
I don't know where I would get that.
 
Thanks for all the suggestions - what I don't grow this year will go on my list for next year, for sure.
 
I'm sure many people have seeds of it, including myself :)
I'm growing it again this year also...
 
I've been growing peppers on the west coast of Canada (in the town of Gibsons), and have similar challenges. I noticed that the orange Thai was suggested, and that one was always reliable for me, here. I also had great success with the ring of fire cayanne, black Hungarian and Czech, as well as purple serrano. The purple was almost too early: it actually started producing flower buds in the seed cells. I had to pick them off because I wanted the plants to put more growth on before setting fruit. Of course, I've always grown rocotos, but most varieties have very late ripening dates. There's lots of others I plan on trying out in our area, including Nigel's Outdoor pepper (oceanic, maritime climate, with a chance for warm and dry summers), but those are the one's I have had the best experience with, so far.
 
My LO Thai was severe prolific, so much so that I chose to pot up and overwinter. It's already flowering up again.
 
My experience in sub-sub-arctic conditions (basically +/- fifteen weeks, depending on first frost), virtually all anuums I've grown did well and produced early. HOWEVER, I put producing and ripe for harvest in two different columns, because many anuum peppers are popular green and can be picked earlier. Some are not so palatable green.
 
I've found that a Jalapeno variant called the Sante Fe Grande is one of the earliest to ripen, if you're looking for color.
 
Of course, how could I forget; I've had great success with Hungarian Hot Wax and Bulgarian Carrot.
 
I haven't tried their strains yet, but apparently Adaptive Seed in Oregon is breeding peppers for PNW conditions. They have what is apparently a well adapted Thai chilli.

P.S. forgot to mention matchbox chili and prairie fire. Matchbox was developed by an employee of Fedco Seeds in Maine, and it's supposedly super early, hot, and thrives under hot and dry and cold and wet conditions, and is said to handle heavy clay soils. I think one description I read said it can be grown on a windowsill and will produce all winter, so i'm not sure it's self fertile (Purira and grandpa's Siberian home pepper apparently set fruit without hand polination as well, which are also two good varieties for northern and maritime areas, but may be lacking in flavor. Prairie fire was, I believe, developed in the Canadian prairies and is adapted to those conditions (potentially snow in every month of the year), so i'm sure that would have a short season. Of all of these last one's i've mentioned, Purira is the only one i've grown myself. In my experience it was very well adapted to coastal, northern conditions, was prolific, very hot (almost habanero level), the fruits grow in rainbow colours, yet the flavour is somewhat lacking, has a mild flavor almost between a weak bell pepper and a jalapeno.
 
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