September 2009 Inventory and 2010 Planning

[AlabamaJack]

Now that I am retired and have the time to pay more attention to my plants and planning for next year, I decided to take inventory this morning just to see exactly what I had...then the thought hit me...why in the hell am I growing peppers I won't use so I am simply not going to grow anything next year I won't use...here is a spreadsheet with this years inventory (the ones highlighted in red with white font are definitely out for next year) and next years planning....I am planning on 325 next year with emphasis on peppers I can use or peddle in my business...

For the ones that are not on the 2010 list, reasons follow below...

the three Monzanos didn't make the cut because of my extreme heat here in North Texas, they just don't like the heat...

the Kung Pao Hybrid is a mass producing plant but I had rather have the Super Cayenne II plants to use for the same purpose...stir fry...

Bulls Horn - IMO kind of a novelty pepper...huge thick meated pods with a little heat but of no use to me...

Ancho San Luis - my plants have been producing a few pods but I am not totally satisfied with this type of Ancho...may be another type of ancho for next year but I have not decided yet...

Purple Serrano - beatuiful plant with purple varigated leaves but the fruit has little or no heat...again, to me this was a novelty pepper for me this year

Jalapeno Heaven, M, and Grande Hybrids are not producing the type of Jalapenos I am after...I won't grow them and stick with the Billy Bikers...they are the tops in my book...

Red Fatalii and Chocolate Fatalii - IMO they just took up room this year and they will be replaced with regular fataliis next year...the chocolates are long and slender and the ones I am growing have absolutely no heat to them...the reds are another story...of the 5 plants I have, I have three different colors...red, pure yellow, and peach colored...the heat and taste are ok but I had rather have the pure fatalii for the color of the puree it makes...

Chocolate Scotch Bonnet - again a fair pepper that produces ok but I simply don't like it...

Scotch Bonnet from Amish Heirloom & Tomato Growers - they may be scotch bonnets but they look more like Carribean Reds to me...I will stick with the Jamaican and Foodarama Scotch bonnets ... the Foodaramas are my fav...I love the bonnet shaped peppers...

Super Datil...meh...is all I can say....I will have to think about growing a few real datils....

 

[Pepper Ridge Farm]

I just love your posts all thought out with spreadsheet easy to see what your thinking. I will also be growing more of my favorites and cutting back on the ones I just don't care that much for. I see your favorite chile of all time is the 7 Pot, do you have a favorite source of seed or strain you like best? No Trinidad Douglah in your garden next year, and no yellow Scorpion? I will always give new varieties a try every year just to keep things interesting. I have been thinking along these same lines to consolidate a bit and have more peppers of the ones I really use a lot of. That way I can come up with some different sauce recipes that uses just one or two types of pepper instead of my whole garden. Not many habanero types on your list for next year either. You will really like the regular Datil it produces pods like crazy. Still lots of time till we plant seed for next season.

 

[Wildfire Chilli Australia]

Nice list AJ. Can I ask what a Naga Big Bang is?

 

[Silver_Surfer]

I noticed you also left out Devil's Tongue, Dorset Naga and Big Bang Naga which weren't marked in red. These weren't productive or just not different enough from similar varieties you do have listed for 2010?

Ancho San Martin seemed to like the heat and humidity here and was very prolific. I lost a few branches on those due to too much pod weight, so they will probably best be grown in a cage.

The Datils will keep you very busy picking pods, but first year plants are late to deliver in comparison to other chinense varieties.

 

[Noshownate]

gonna have to try out some billy bikers, 325 def will be busy during retirement,hot list!

 

[scoville]

I'll be picking and choosing a bit more next year also.AJ as far as the Poblanos they just don't work for me in the summer,but if you can get some small plants going now you will be in for a bumper fall crop.They really seem to like cooler temps.We seem to be on a similar lattitude.
Poblanos make for a very tasty White Chile.You might want to try this if you just have a few.Having to many peppers has not been a problem for me actually since I started fermenting a mix of all of them for my pepper mash-I think for a wider heat and taste spectrum.

 

[imaguitargod]

Yaaaa!!! My pepper is still listed....for the moment

 

[moyboy]

I am doing the same general thing on a smaller scale. I grew heaps of ornimentals last season and hated every single one of them and they took up heaps of room. So this season I am only really growing what I know I'll use.......With one or 2 exceptions.....A few chillis that I just really wanted to grow, and now i'm back in my old place I have the room again.

AJ It's interesting you say the Choc Fatalii had no heat......I am yet to hear any great things about this chilli and I'm growing it this season (one of the chillis I just want to see grow) so I hope it doesn't disappoint??

 

[Pepperfreak]

I was just thinking about doing the same thing next year. Growing more of my favorites and skipping the ones that just didn't do it for me. I really want to double up on my stuffing peppers and jalapeños. But there are still a lot of must haves.

 

[patrick]

I'm going to follow suit and cut back on the "frivolous" peppers. Stick with ones I enjoy.

Got to agree with the consensus on the Chocolate Fatalii. PRF told me a while back it was heat less and I finally got around to munching one. My Orange Bells have more heat. Has to be a zero on the SHU scale. I do like the color they add to powder though.

 

[Blister]

Yep I've already done this. I didn't care for the Hungarian Yellow Hots because they weren't hot and they didn't taste very good. I like the cayenne's, but we've tried a few of them in our cooking and didn't find them to be as hot as the dried indian reds we can buy for $5 per 1-liter bag. No one cared for the cherry red hots stuffed and I'm not interested in anymore of the ornamentals. They simply don't taste good. I don't mind the jala's, but I don't eat enough of them to make it worth while to actually grow them again. I can usually find a decent amount of them at the grocery store anyways. I MAY try the Biker Billy's if I can find them, but only because people here seem to like them.

Like I said, I've started this already. I've pulled up all the plants that I wasn't using and threw them into the compost. I don't want to take care for something that I wont use. That and I was able to cut the aphid population down dramatically by getting rid of these plants.

 

[origamiRN]

AJ, Interesting take on things. Thanks for the input. Too bad about the Manzano/Rocoto not doing well in FW. It's a great stuffing pepper.

 

[talas]

Hiya J really useful info on your grow so far,some intresting results you have had,My Fatalli reds where not great producers compared to the yellows and my orange Fatali/Guadeloupe cross is a good producer even in a 10 litre pot..Just waiting for heat test.
Biker billy been trying to grow for two seasons..But seeds are very poor quality it seems and have done nothing but wither..strange inded but will try again next year,Thx for the info will be valuable to all .

 

[POTAWIE]

I too have given up on growing C. Pubescens
I'm trying to limit myself to 10 varieties next year but it'll be very difficult. I plan to only grow 1 or 2 stupidly hot types instead of the ridiculous amounts of similar varieties that I have going this year and most. Actually I'll probably try to grow 1 or 2 sweets, milds, mediums, hots, and super hotties, and I might sell some ornamental plants in the spring as well

 

[Pepperfreak]

Blister, I thought I was the only one that had pulled plants this year. I did this with my Thick Cayennes and Slim Cayennes, felt kind of like blasphemy at the time, but seeing as I still have a ton of Cayenne powder left over from last year, I thought why am I still picking these pods. I even found that I was having a hard time giving them away.

 

[SanSoo]

This year I pulled my cayennes and thai dragons, but left wife's favorite jalapenos. I don't have much land and the real estate was simply too valuable for such whimpy peppers.

It's easy to become obsessed with this stuff. I try to keep to my original goal, which is the most heat in the least space. So I'm trying to focus on the super hot prolific producers.

Since I use peppers mostly for cooking I don't need all the varieties for subtle differences in flavour. But that's just me.

 

[AlabamaJack]

I see your favorite chile of all time is the 7 Pot, do you have a favorite source of seed or strain you like best?

No Trinidad Douglah in your garden next year, and no yellow Scorpion? ....

You will really like the regular Datil it produces pods like crazy. Still lots of time till we plant seed for next season.

yup, 7 pot...the flavor is so delicious I can't describe it...very refreshing to me...and then the delayed heat is also great...I especially love them in my bloody marys...as far as strain goes, I will grow probably 40 of my homegrown strain I started last year with seeds from Trini (thanks Trini)...they have great big pods...then probably 10 of the brain strain I got from you...they have not produced that well for me...only one or two pods at a time so far but I am expecting a bumper crop of brain strains in October/November...

I don't have seeds for the Douglah...never grown them before and the yellow 7 seeds I am growing came as Trinidad Scorpions so I really don't know what to call them other than Yellow 7s because none have ever exhibited a tail...

yes, Datils...will definitely have to grow them...grew them last year and they were very prolific...made a lot of Datil relish out of them
 

Nice list AJ. Can I ask what a Naga Big Bang is?

a type of naga...seed sourced from member and they are good plants producing a lot of pods, however, I have about 3 different red pod types and a couple of chocolates...I won't grow them again next year unless I isolate a few branches just to keep the source pristine...I usually buy fresh seed each year for what I can get...most of my superhots will be seeds from my homegrown stock...
 

I noticed you also left out Devil's Tongue, Dorset Naga and Big Bang Naga which weren't marked in red. These weren't productive or just not different enough from similar varieties you do have listed for 2010?

Ancho San Martin seemed to like the heat and humidity here and was very prolific. I lost a few branches on those due to too much pod weight, so they will probably best be grown in a cage.

The Datils will keep you very busy picking pods, but first year plants are late to deliver in comparison to other chinense varieties.

leaving devils tongue off was an unintentional discriminator...was thinking about growing them and changed my mind to just opt for Fataliis...

Dorset Nagas - the pod size of these could be a little bigger IMO...I really like the pod size of the Bhuts and Bihs...will be growing my homegrown naga morich (seeds sourced from Philliperv last year..thanks man the plants are huge and bushy)

see above for big bang info

I might have to try the Ancho San Martin, the Ancho San Luis is what I am growing this year...
 

Yaaaa!!! My pepper is still listed....for the moment

I will be growing these from now on Iggy...they are a truly great tasting pepper with more heat than a serrano but not as much as a pequin...
 

AJ It's interesting you say the Choc Fatalii had no heat......I am yet to hear any great things about this chilli and I'm growing it this season (one of the chillis I just want to see grow) so I hope it doesn't disappoint??

I hope so too moy, however, I know at least Cappy and I are very disappointed in the ones we grew (I think I sent Cappy his seeds)
 

I MAY try the Biker Billy's if I can find them, but only because people here seem to like them.

Like I said, I've started this already. I've pulled up all the plants that I wasn't using and threw them into the compost. I don't want to take care for something that I wont use. That and I was able to cut the aphid population down dramatically by getting rid of these plants.

Billy Biker seeds were sourced from Burpee...

I am close to doing the same, but I feel like such a backstabber when I pull unwanted plants up...I can almost hear them saying....wait...wait, wait....I will be good, I promise.....
 

AJ, Interesting take on things. Thanks for the input. Too bad about the Manzano/Rocoto not doing well in FW. It's a great stuffing pepper.

you are welcome...I am planning on moving my green house to a more "suitable" location in the yard that the manzanos may like...will be a couple of years before I try them again though...
 

My Fatalli reds where not great producers compared to the yellows and my orange Fatali/Guadeloupe cross is a good producer even in a 10 litre pot..Just waiting for heat test.

Biker billy been trying to grow for two seasons..But seeds are very poor quality it seems and have done nothing but wither..strange inded but will try again next year,Thx for the info will be valuable to all .

my fatalii reds are producing OK but as I said before (somewhere), I have three different colors and pod shapes on 5 plants from the same seed source...trying to become more efficient in my growing means I can't have as many "untrue" strains next year....

don't get me wrong in saying the other jalapenos are no good, they just don't have the heat the BBs do IMO...I really like the Jalapeno Ms too and may add them back to the list...very prolific...
 

I too have given up on growing C. Pubescens
I'm trying to limit myself to 10 varieties next year but it'll be very difficult. I plan to only grow 1 or 2 stupidly hot types instead of the ridiculous amounts of similar varieties that I have going this year and most. Actually I'll probably try to grow 1 or 2 sweets, milds, mediums, hots, and super hotties, and I might sell some ornamental plants in the spring as well

if you ever find the trick to growing the manzanos, please let me know....

the list I have shown is just what I am going to keep for myself next year...I sold a lot of the ones I wanted to keep this year mistakenly but what most of the people wanted were the common jalapenos, anaheim type, cayennes, etc....

I am trying to educate my customers with the descriptions and pictures of each different variety I have with a scoville number and "thermometer" sitting next to the plants...I will have a bunch of returning customers from last year...I plan on having somewhere in the neighborhood of 1500 seedlings for sale this coming March/April...maybe more if it looks like I am going to run out before "too late to plant time" comes....
 

Blister, I thought I was the only one that had pulled plants this year. I did this with my Thick Cayennes and Slim Cayennes, felt kind of like blasphemy at the time, but seeing as I still have a ton of Cayenne powder left over from last year, I thought why am I still picking these pods. I even found that I was having a hard time giving them away.

I don't know why I continually grow cayennes each year...probably because they were a staple in my grandmothers garden many many years ago....
 

It's easy to become obsessed with this stuff. I try to keep to my original goal, which is the most heat in the least space. So I'm trying to focus on the super hot prolific producers.

Since I use peppers mostly for cooking I don't need all the varieties for subtle differences in flavour. But that's just me.

yeah, tell me about the obsession...actually there is no telling how many plants I will have this coming year...all I know is I will put as many in my yard as I can...I grew 50 tomato plants this year and they just got out of hand...couldn't keep them picked and a lot rotted on the vine...I definitely will not grow as many next year....maybe 12 or so and that means room for another 38 peppers...

I am growing what my market says it wants....if you notice, I have listed about 185 superhots and that may grow....

I may be in a little disagreement with you on the taste...the reason I first got into growing peppers about 10 years ago was I was trying to develope what I call "the complete burn"...lips, palate, tongue, back of throat, etc....to get this complete burn, you need different peppers with different capsaicinoid content...for instance, the tepins give you a big wham bam right up front on the lips and front of mouth that is rather harsh but goes away fairly quickly, then the cayennes just give me a great warm feeling all over my tongue...the 7 pots and Bhuts have a great refreshing flavor and a delayed heat that builds for 5 minutes or so and last a long time at the back of the throat....trinidad scorpions are a different story...their burn actually hurts my tongue...


sorry, got to rambling...have a great day all...

 

[SanSoo]

I was trying to develope what I call "the complete burn"...lips, palate, tongue, back of throat, etc...

I understand what you mean on that score. That would make a fantastic sauce. Maybe call it "Gang of Four" Ultimate Hot Sauce

 

[AlabamaJack]

I understand what you mean on that score. That would make a fantastic sauce. Maybe call it "Gang of Four" Ultimate Hot Sauce

will ramble some more...I really didn't finish my thought about the capsaicinoids...each one hits the mouth in a different way/location...so I figured if I could combine different varieties of peppers that had a different capsainoid content, I would get what i am looking for...for now, the search continues...

 

[inolan22]

Great list AJ. I can only hope one day I will have that many pepper varieties growing in my garden! I still need to work on my seed collection!