When and why you started growing peppers

I started back in 2003 when it was still next to impossible to get hot peppers in Finland, especially outside of the greater Helsinki metropolitan area. I was at the time living about 160km north of Helsinki and had a yard with east-west exposure that only got about 3-4 hours of direct sunlight during the late afternoon-early evening. It wasn't perfect but wasn't impossible either. Majority of the peppers I grew during the 2000s were cayenne, followed by habanero and apache.
 
Fast forward to today and I have the most perfect back yard ever. Southern exposure with no shade (I chopped down everything that cast shade onto my growing area). Almost 19 hours of daylight during June in Helsinki (https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/finland/helsinki?month=6). In addition to hot peppers, I also like to grow California Wonders and pick them while green. I may switch entirely to pubes next year as they are suited so well to the Finnish climate.
 
Some time in 2008 I had an entire extra room in my apartment (old building in suburban MN; fairly low rent, lots of room for just me). So I got some shelving and started growing herbs; mint, sage, lots of basil, cilantro, rosemary, plenty of different things.
 
I'd make salsa and chili fairly often, and I picked up fresh habaneros at the grocery store (it was just the orange variety that were available there at the time). So at some point I figured I might as well try planting the seeds.
 
I didn't know what the hell I was doing, and it for some reason didn't occur to me to look it up online. I had some seeds in small pots with normal potting soil; keep them damp for a couple weeks and gave up, just set them aside to dry out so I could reuse the soil later.
 
After a couple weeks of that, the seeds decided to sprout. Which was pretty funny to me, but hey, peppers! Those two plants produced for a long time. I proceeded to do the same with cayenne seeds.
 
Fast forward to 2014; sold almost everything and moved to Japan. Didn't really figure I'd pick up this hobby again, since my first apartment had barely enough room for a futon upstairs and a table downstairs. Glad I ended up in a house; it's still small (I think it has less square footage than my old apartment in MN), but I do have enough room for a tent, a tiny unused balcony, and part of the carport my wife isn't using, so of course I've gone completely overboard.
 
I started growing chillies in 2012 when it wasn't so popular in Czech Republic yet, so I have grown up with people (chilli fanatics) who were helping me in the beginnings.
The reason why I started to grow chillies was because I became an addict, and I just needed more and more peppers, and I was eating first a Sriracha hot sauce, then raw Thai chillies, and in 2010 or 2011 I have tried my first Capsicum Chinense - Red and Yellow Habanero which was a big step up in the heat.
Every year I'm trying to consume new varieties and grow more productive and better tasting peppers indoors since.
 
I am growing several varieties, but one of my favorites is still the Tobasco pepper.  My over-wintered plant is doing extremely well, and has at least 1,000 peppers on it.  My plan is to pick them green (or red), and put them in vinegar.  Just munched on one in the garden, and it lit me up moire than some of the "hotter" varieties I am growing. 
 
Bike, can I call you Bike?  Anyway, while looking for some Mad Hatter for luvmesump3pp3rz, I came across some Mucho Nacho Jalapeños which people here have raved about.  I have Biker Billy and Purple Jalapeños already, but I got two to try, and one has two plants in it, so I actually got three - score!
 
If I can do it for no good reason, then so can you.  I'm an enabler.  Go forth and buy some pepper plants.  None of us here will judge you. 
Bicycle808 said:
True, true.... But I'm not even sure why I want to?


Do I want to...bc I want to??

I think it's mostly bc they seem like a classic intro to growing frutescens...
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Hey Bike,
 
I have a plant, so I should have seed this fall.  Remind me and I'll send you seed.  Yeck, I'll try to remember and send you a SFRB of pods and you can save your own seed. 
Bicycle808 said:
I'm just gonna score some seeds and grow them in 2020, I reckon. Too much going on right now
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Bicycle808 said:
Yup. You can absolutely call me Bike. Bike, Rob, 808, whatever. I respond to almost anything...
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Orekoc said:
Bike, can I call you Bike?  Anyway, while looking for some Mad Hatter for luvmesump3pp3rz, I came across some Mucho Nacho Jalapeños which people here have raved about.  I have Biker Billy and Purple Jalapeños already, but I got two to try, and one has two plants in it, so I actually got three - score!
 


The Mad Hatter. That's just a renamed Christmas Bell, right? Which is a renamed Bishops Crown, which is a renamed Uba Tuba, right?
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BrendanPicante said:
The Mad Hatter. That's just a renamed Christmas Bell, right? Which is a renamed Bishops Crown, which is a renamed Uba Tuba, right?
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I've seen multiple references to Bishops Crown peppers having a much higher SHU rating (5,000 - 30,000) than Mad Hatters (500 SHU). I haven't tried Bishops Crown to confirm that heat level, but I grow Mad Hatters, and 500 is just about right.
 
I've got Bishops Crown and a Mad Hatter for this year.  I'll see how they compare.
Marruk said:
I've seen multiple references to Bishops Crown peppers having a much higher SHU rating (5,000 - 30,000) than Mad Hatters (500 SHU). I haven't tried Bishops Crown to confirm that heat level, but I grow Mad Hatters, and 500 is just about right.
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Marruk said:
I've seen multiple references to Bishops Crown peppers having a much higher SHU rating (5,000 - 30,000) than Mad Hatters (500 SHU). I haven't tried Bishops Crown to confirm that heat level, but I grow Mad Hatters, and 500 is just about right.
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The Bishop's Crown that I've grown and some that were given to me were sweets, so 500 works for that. I did a Mad Hatter last year that was no different. I'd love to find a hot Bishop's!
 
Great thread!
 
I've always enjoyed growing things.  Just to be able to put a bean in soil and watch it sprout is fascinating.  Sometime around 2009, I came across a YouTube video (probably this one - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaEjcY30wgY) of Neil from The Hippy Seed Company (https://thehippyseedcompany.com/) reviewing a Bhut Jolokia (AKA Ghost Pepper).  I said to myself, "Wow, this is me - I want to be part of this."  Having caught the fever, I sprouted some seeds from a store-bought pepper (don't remember the type - probably something ordinary like a Jalapeño) and transplanted them outside.  I made a rookie mistake of not hardening off and the babies (still without true leaves) all wilted and died after a few hours in direct, hot sun.  
 
I joined the forum, got advice regarding hardening off, and had a successful season the next year.  2,323 posts and many pods later, I'm still here!
 
 
 
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