What can you tell me about "de Arbol" chiles?

HwyBill

HwyBill

Banned
de Arbol are one of my favorite chiles; however, I have had extraordinarily bad luck in trying to grow them.
 
Over the past few years, I've traded for 4 or 5 different sets of de Arbol seeds, and thus far have not been able to germinate any of them.
 
Recently, I had someone offer to send me some true de Arbol seeds, but I wasn't really sure what they meant by "true"
 
I know that "de Arbol" literally means "of the tree" in Spanish, and sure enough, these seeds have produced an exceptionally tall plant.  These seeds were labeled as "Habenero de Arbol" and although the plant has not yet set pods, it appears much different than any of the other Habs I've ever grown.  The most remarkable of which, as I mentioned, is that the plant is exceptionally tall at this point.
 
So what is up with "de Arbol" plants, and what did my gracious gifter mean when he said they were "true de Arbol?"  Are there types of chiles which are more like trees than bushes?
 
These are the elusive tree habs. There is a lot of documentation here on the forums about it. Originated with smokemaster and a few of us have grown it out. I had a 2nd year plant get nearly 10ft.
 
Can to elaborate?
 
An initial search of "habanero de arbol," "tree hab," and "tree habeneros" provides none of the so-called documentation.
 
Yep!  That's the one.  Thanks for the info MWM.
 
What a fascinating plant.  I have it on an exterior row in the garden, but it looks like I might have to clear our even more space for it.  This should be interesting...
 
So what are your overall thoughts on the plant?  Quality of pods?  Flavor?  Piquance?
 
I'm guessing you must have generally enjoyed it to keep it around for 10+ years.
 
Mike had one for that long. I inly had it for 3 before trading all my seeds and unfortunately losing my plant to freeze. I need to get a hold of some more.

Its got a good bit of heat and the flavor is of a baccatum...ish. its hard to explain, you will just have to try some.

Mine put off an abundance of pods. Hundreds upon hundreds. Never cared about temperature or weather in anyway. Nearly every flower set every time.
 
my seeds are from mexico, happyflower.com.mx but i have no intention of growing them, mainly because they look too much like cayenne, a flavour i can get from my goatsweed with 3 times the heat - unless some one can convince me otherwise on flavour and value of growing the plant. but i am willing to try my seeds to see comes of it, perhaps next year, but i have 75 plants and that has to be reduced next year to 20 max.
 
locally, i can get dried chile de arbol pods, packaged in mexico; i have tried the dried pods and they weren't impressive. unlike something like dundicutt that at least delivers a nutty flavour when dried.
 
hope you find your answers and there is more input from members on this variety. 
 
Chile de arbol is a completely different plant than this.
Click to expand...
perhaps you can explain this? i also have chile de arbol, dried at my local grocery store, readily available.
chile de arbol versus chile de arbol, where is the difference, am i missing something!
 
Chile de arbol is more of a cayenne type annuum. This is believed to be a baccatum cross. Grows much more tree like and has smaller pointy pods that form facing up then get heavy and become pendant. Look at the link I posted earlier.
 
As far as I can tell, the habanero de arbol actually keys out as _annuum_ (plain white flowers, one flower per node, and no constriction at the calyx), but it has something _baccatum_-like about the flavor and a level of heat more typical of a _chinense_.  I managed to overwinter a couple of plants and start a few more this year; it's become one of my favorite peppers and I think I'll try to save some seed this year, since it seems to be getting harder to find.
 
My first pod of the year just ripened; photo attached, with a penny for scale.
 
-NT
 
9113866066_0053dc08e3_z.jpg
 
Next year I'm definitely putting one of the habanero de arbols the the ground. Should be able to survive the mild winters here in the ground, since my garden is about 10 miles from Smokemaster's spot.
 
 
 
Chile de arbol is more of a cayenne type annuum. This is believed to be a baccatum cross.
Click to expand...
so how would a member who wants the baccatum variety know what he is getting if just orders a chile de arbol, and then gets the annuum variety? is there anything to distinguish?
 
i know, because i would look at any packaging that is available but can we say ordering habanero de arbol with deliver the baccatum strain?
 
Also, since the Habenero de Arbol has "tree-like" characteristics you will quickly be able to distinguish it from other annum and chinense species by its extreme vertical growth! :surprised:
 
I think this thread is discussing both Habanero de Arbol AND Chile de Arbol.
 
In terms of Chile de Arbol, I've had fantastic aromatic HOT flavorful ones and scentless, medium-hot cardboard flavored ones, purchased at different Mexican grocers. The ones in the bins seemed to be consistently better than pre-bagged ones, but there are some bagged/brand that are perfectly fine too. I grew them one year, and they were very flavorful, aromatic, and productive but not as hot as the store bought ones. Funny thing was that after a heavy rain and high humidity they would drop almost all of their leaves, but no pod drop. They grew quite well during hot-dry spells! Seemed to me, to be better adapted to a hot and dry environment with just a little irrigation needed.
 
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