Hi Guy's
The madness has begun again !
My 2024 superhot chilli trial turned out far from ideal trying to find superhots I like but most importantly will thrive in my particular micro climate (my wee Scottish greenhouse)
Firstly 2024 weather was rubbish little sun alot of cloud and temperatures much lower than previous year's
and let's face it "Scottish sumers" often cool and wet for long periods at best !
Add to the above by a number of mistakes by me
Such as leaving my horticultural bubble wrap on for most of the season, I'm sure it exacerbated into the natural poor light levels of 2024
Then my lack of seed continuity labelling
which lead to my culling my only Dorset Naga 
And a "gigantic" Scotch brains yellow f6 which i hadn't intended.
Then once I'd hardened off my young plant's and moved them out to the unheated greenhouse cardboard underneath and horticultural fleece on top February/March, this in itself is not a problem I've been amazed how they will tolerate such low temperatures
however..........................potting up too soon into final pots be it 5 litre or 10 litre or bigger rather than slowly potting up one size at a time proved catastrophic when this coincides with temperatures dropping from 10 oC plus to 3oC for the next two or three weeks ! I lost a few varieties that never recovered and really upset the others infact emergency 'down potting " saved the day.
Sowing in November.
..........personally I think for me in my situation it means I ran out of "spareroom" too soon forcing the earlier hardening off although it would have been ok if I hadn't made the mistake of potting up into cold wet soil. How ever I've started a month later this season.
Only other mistakes I can think of is moving trial varieties from mini kratky 500ml -800 ml to 5 litre !
the resulting increase in size is spectacular but unwanted if your short on greenhouse space !
Likewise other trial varieties in soil moving from 5 litre pot to 18 litre pot big mistake ! You loose a lot of space and often end up either with loads of pod's you don't really like of enjoy
or a large plant that doesn't produce well in your situation. Another issue is you can only keep a single specimen of each variety big mistake !
Reckon I've pretty much laid bare all my mistakes and cock ups of 2024 ........now hopefully I'll learn from them
and hopefully anyone reading this won't repeat them
I think the urge to pot up either too early or too big is driven firstly by the idea of getting them settled in there final pots quicker and less root disturbance and secondly by greed
the what if I grow a small specimen only to find I adore the flavour and heat 
but now only have a handful of pod's and have to wait another year to grow it again ! 
with hind site I think this is kind of the way it has to be when growing in limited space they do say greed is a sin and patience a virtue
This glog appears to have turned into a review of 2024 which is perhaps not a bad thing............. my discovery of 2024 was Reaper x Moruga f5 from whitehot peppers a new favourite delicious !
Now back to my 2025 Scottish superhot trial you will notice I don't list sowing too many varieties as a mistake as I allows you options you won't have if you hadn't sown them. The only issue's are space or rather lack of it
the other having the self control to cull varieties as they show themselves to be weak, slow or not thriving. They are the easy ones it's culling the strong healthy specimens purely based on space that's hard
For 2025 I trying to stick to a plan.......firstly sown a month later
Keep trial plant's in mini kratky or if in soil 3 litre or 5 litre pot's MAX ! And hopefully multiples rather than single specimens.
No bubble wrap cardboard below and fleece on top early in the season is enough and more light
15 cell seed tray with commercial seed mix x6 seeds sown in each cell and topped with vermiculite, next day I realised I missed a variety......so added another 3 cells to the propergater.
Hopefully all labelled correctly this time I can't see how there could have been any mistakes this time.
Sown 11.12.24 (11th December 2024)
1. Dorset naga - seaspring seeds
2. Bengle naga - seaspring seeds
3. Zing - semillas
4. Reaper equis - semillas
5. Primotalii - fatalii seeds
6. Hurtberry - fatalii seeds
7. Fatalii gourmet jigsaw - fatalii seeds
8. Chocolate scotch bonnet - white hot peppers
9. Tiberious mauler red f5 - white hot peppers
10. Peach ghost jami - white hot peppers (sown 12.12.24)
11. Reaper x srtsl f8 - white hot peppers (sown 12.12.24)
12. Devils nagabrain f4 - white hot peppers (12.12.24)
13. Scotch brains yellow f7 - self
14. Reaper x Moruga f6 - self
15. Dragons breath - pepper merchant
16. Purple death - pepper merchant
17. Gator jigsaw - peppers merchant
18. Red Nagabrain - pepper merchant
There maybe failed germination there will be culling I will prioritise varieties as the season goes along and I make further decisions
Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a fruitful new chilli season
Stephen
The madness has begun again !
My 2024 superhot chilli trial turned out far from ideal trying to find superhots I like but most importantly will thrive in my particular micro climate (my wee Scottish greenhouse)
Firstly 2024 weather was rubbish little sun alot of cloud and temperatures much lower than previous year's
and let's face it "Scottish sumers" often cool and wet for long periods at best !Add to the above by a number of mistakes by me
Such as leaving my horticultural bubble wrap on for most of the season, I'm sure it exacerbated into the natural poor light levels of 2024
Then my lack of seed continuity labelling
which lead to my culling my only Dorset Naga And a "gigantic" Scotch brains yellow f6 which i hadn't intended.
Then once I'd hardened off my young plant's and moved them out to the unheated greenhouse cardboard underneath and horticultural fleece on top February/March, this in itself is not a problem I've been amazed how they will tolerate such low temperatures
however..........................potting up too soon into final pots be it 5 litre or 10 litre or bigger rather than slowly potting up one size at a time proved catastrophic when this coincides with temperatures dropping from 10 oC plus to 3oC for the next two or three weeks ! I lost a few varieties that never recovered and really upset the others infact emergency 'down potting " saved the day.Sowing in November.
..........personally I think for me in my situation it means I ran out of "spareroom" too soon forcing the earlier hardening off although it would have been ok if I hadn't made the mistake of potting up into cold wet soil. How ever I've started a month later this season.Only other mistakes I can think of is moving trial varieties from mini kratky 500ml -800 ml to 5 litre !
the resulting increase in size is spectacular but unwanted if your short on greenhouse space !Likewise other trial varieties in soil moving from 5 litre pot to 18 litre pot big mistake ! You loose a lot of space and often end up either with loads of pod's you don't really like of enjoy
or a large plant that doesn't produce well in your situation. Another issue is you can only keep a single specimen of each variety big mistake !Reckon I've pretty much laid bare all my mistakes and cock ups of 2024 ........now hopefully I'll learn from them
and hopefully anyone reading this won't repeat them I think the urge to pot up either too early or too big is driven firstly by the idea of getting them settled in there final pots quicker and less root disturbance and secondly by greed
the what if I grow a small specimen only to find I adore the flavour and heat but now only have a handful of pod's and have to wait another year to grow it again ! with hind site I think this is kind of the way it has to be when growing in limited space they do say greed is a sin and patience a virtue This glog appears to have turned into a review of 2024 which is perhaps not a bad thing............. my discovery of 2024 was Reaper x Moruga f5 from whitehot peppers
a new favourite delicious !Now back to my 2025 Scottish superhot trial you will notice I don't list sowing too many varieties as a mistake as I allows you options you won't have if you hadn't sown them. The only issue's are space or rather lack of it
the other having the self control to cull varieties as they show themselves to be weak, slow or not thriving. They are the easy ones it's culling the strong healthy specimens purely based on space that's hard For 2025 I trying to stick to a plan.......firstly sown a month later
Keep trial plant's in mini kratky or if in soil 3 litre or 5 litre pot's MAX ! And hopefully multiples rather than single specimens.
No bubble wrap cardboard below and fleece on top early in the season is enough and more light
15 cell seed tray with commercial seed mix x6 seeds sown in each cell and topped with vermiculite, next day I realised I missed a variety......so added another 3 cells to the propergater.
Hopefully all labelled correctly this time I can't see how there could have been any mistakes this time.
Sown 11.12.24 (11th December 2024)
1. Dorset naga - seaspring seeds
2. Bengle naga - seaspring seeds
3. Zing - semillas
4. Reaper equis - semillas
5. Primotalii - fatalii seeds
6. Hurtberry - fatalii seeds
7. Fatalii gourmet jigsaw - fatalii seeds
8. Chocolate scotch bonnet - white hot peppers
9. Tiberious mauler red f5 - white hot peppers
10. Peach ghost jami - white hot peppers (sown 12.12.24)
11. Reaper x srtsl f8 - white hot peppers (sown 12.12.24)
12. Devils nagabrain f4 - white hot peppers (12.12.24)
13. Scotch brains yellow f7 - self
14. Reaper x Moruga f6 - self
15. Dragons breath - pepper merchant
16. Purple death - pepper merchant
17. Gator jigsaw - peppers merchant
18. Red Nagabrain - pepper merchant
There maybe failed germination there will be culling I will prioritise varieties as the season goes along and I make further decisions
Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a fruitful new chilli season
Stephen
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