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Turbo 2016 Pepper Growing

State of the Garden Address (2015 / 2016)
In 2015 I decided to experiment with a bunch of new peppers I’d never tried before.  Some I liked and some I won’t be growing again.  About half the plants I grew were staple ones that I grow every year.  Here is a breakdown of my thoughts on each from last year.
 
Staples
  • MOA - had great success this year and really like the flavor and shape of this pepper
  • Caribbean Red Habanero - good yields, great flavor.
  • Yellow Fatalii - my 4th year growing fatalii. Its my hot sauce workhorse pepper
  • Aji Lemon - another staple pepper. 3rd year growing it
  • Congo Trinidad - 3rd year growing this one. Love that Trinidad flavor.
  • Trinidad Scotch Bonnet - 3rd year growing this one. Huge, huge pods!
First Time - good
  • Aji Cito - first time growing Aji Cito.  Love it!  Its like cayenne heat level cherries with a crunch.  
  • Aji Peruvian - another first. I had good luck with it and very fruity flavor. Works well with the Cito in sauces
  • Brazilian Starfish - first time growing and love the shape of this pepper, and flavor/heat go well with both the Cito and Peruvian
  • Morouga Red Habanero - first time growing it, love the flavor…not as chinense’ish. Definitely going to grow this again
First Time - not as good
  • White Fatalii - first time growing it. It was more yellow than white, and pretty bland. Not growing next year
  • Aji Pineapple - I like the flavor, but its just too mild in heat and its too similar to Aji Lemon. Not growing next year
  • Aji Panca - got 2 pods off the entire plant.  Not growing again
  • Yellow Scotch Bonnet - was pretty sickly its entire life and died after a month in the ground.
  • Aji Verde - bland pepper with a thick, tough skin. Not growing again
  • Cheiro Roxa - this pepper produced like crazy, and the pods were pretty cool looking. But the pods were really inconsistent in heat and flavor. In the end I had a several hundred pods I didn’t know what to do with. Not growing next year…but maybe again in the future
This year I’m trying two new kinds of peppers I’ve never grown before: Rocoto peppers and C.flexuosum.  I’m pretty excited to see how they work out in my micro-climate.
 
Here is my grow list for 2016
  • C.flexuosum - 2 plants, EvanWilliams1988
  • Guatemalan Red Rocoto - 1 plant, pepperlover
  • Peru Bitdumi Rocoto - 1 plant, pepperlover
  • Aji Cito - 1 plant, pepperlover
  • Aji Peruvian - 1 plant, pepperlover
  • Aji Lemon - 1 plant, bpwilly
  • Brazilian Starfish - 1 plant, Jusplayn
  • Large Thick Cayenne - 6 plants, pepperlover
  • Jalapenos “Cracked" - 6 plants, pepperlover
  • Trinidad Scotch Bonnet - 1 plant, bpwilly
  • Morouga Red Habanero - 1 plant, pepperlover
  • Congo Trinidad - 1 plant, kentishman
  • Caribbean Red Habanero - 1 plant, pepperlover
  • Yellow Fatalii - 1 plant, bpwilly
  • MOA - 1 plant, bpwilly
  • Trinidad 7 Pod white - 1 plant, pepperlover
  • Black Naga - 1 plant, bpwilly
  • Jay’s Peach - 1 plant, bpwilly 
 
Click to expand...
Good luck turbo. My yellow scotch plants were pretty great start to finish. The kind of productivity that breaks branches due to the weight of the pods. Hit me up if you want to give them another shot
 
Thanks everyone!  Here's to a good 2016 grow season for all.
 
January 12:
Started soaking the seeds for 24 hours
 
January 14:
Oops, was supposed to plant seeds yesterday...oh well.  12 hours extra in water shouldn't hurt(?)
 
Last year I used peat pellets to start my seeds in.  They are super handy and efficient when it comes to planting seeds, but in the end I decided not to use them again.  When watering they seem to stay super saturated for a day or two, and then all of a sudden dry out completely REALLY fast.  I also had trouble with white fungus on them, though that might have been using the germination dome too long.
 
This year, I planted my seeds in Fox Farms Light Warrior Seed Starter mix.  We'll see how it works.  I did decide to use the germination dome again, but only for 8 hours stints on followed by 16 hours off.  I'd put it on at night before I went to bed, then took it off in the morning.  That way I could get the heat and humidity in the soil up, and then let it air out for the day. 
 
January 20:
Hooks!  Got my first sprouts!  The winning variety is Trinidad Scotch Bonnet, followed by Aji Peruvian and Fatalii the next day.

 
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I really like your plant selection, I'm growing a few of the same ones myself. I look forward to following your progress!
 
Well, I got pretty crappy germination rates on my seeds this year: 58%
And it didn't help that I went one day too long before watering and found half of them all wilty.  They recovered once I watered them, but some of the starts have crumpled up leaves.  We'll see how it goes. 
  • C.flexuosum - 0/4 seeds germinated 
  • Aji Cito - 3/3 seeds germinated
  • Aji Peruvian - 2/2 seeds germinated
  • Guatemalan Red Rocoto - 1/3 seeds germinated
  • Peru Bitdumi Rocoto - 0/3 seeds germinated
  • Trinidad Scotch Bonnet - 3/3 seeds germinated
  • Morouga Red Habanero - 1/3 seeds germinated
  • Black Naga - 0/3 seeds germinated
  • Jay’s Peach - 0/3 seeds germinated
  • Congo Trinidad - 3/3 seeds germinated
  • Caribbean Red Habanero - 3/3 seeds germinated
  • Yellow Fatalii - 1/3 seeds germinated
  • MOA - 2/3 seeds germinated
  • Trinidad 7 Pod White - 3/3 seeds germinated
  • Aji Lemon - 3/3 seeds germinated
  • Brazilian Starfish - 3/3 seeds germinated
I'm bummed about the C.flexuosum, but I had heard they are really really hard to germinate and I only had 4 seeds to begin with.  I'll try and find more seeds for next year and give them one more shot.
I'm also bummed about the Black Naga and Jay's Peach.  this is my first year growing supers, so I was kind'a excited about them.  On the flip side I've got 3 Trinidad 7 Pod White plants and I was only going to keep one, so I guess I'll keep all three.
My biggest disappointment is the Fatalii.  It's one of my favorite peppers and they usually grow really strong for me.  But at least I got one.
 
I'm not sure what happened this year, but I definitely did something wrong...or at least not so right.  I usually get about 95% germination rates, and at least one plant from every variety.  I might have to reassess how I germinate and the planting medium I use next year.
 
Anyway, on to some good news.  I started my Large Thick Cayenne and Cracked Jalapenos seeds today.  So hopefully I'll have better results.  I'm shooting for 6 plants of each, so just to make sure I'm starting 20 seeds of each.  Nothing like extra redundancy, right?
 
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