Grew Thai Hots last year and really liked the flavor. Packed a nice punch too.
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If you need help identifying a pepper, disease, or plant issue, please post in Identification.
favorite Your Favorite C. frutescens
- Thread starter Spicegeist
- Start date
My frutescens are the only plants I have that can be in full sun all day without looking like hell. Also, of the 3 tiny seedlings I put in the ground in February to test survivability, only the Thai hot survived.
Thai Hots are awesome, had grown them for about 20 years. I wish the indoor bugs didn't love them so much and I would still have my 5 year old plants...grrrr
Bob_B said:
That's really great. Do they sell seeds if you visit?
Hi Spicegeist
Yes they sell seed. I think it's the best item they sell - everything else is too expensive. Very touristy place -I went there to see the pepper fields but they weren't open. As you probably know, they grow the seed stock there but grow the peppers for sauce in South America.
The seeds I bought were part of their seed stock as best I can tell.
Anyway, they are incredibly prolific - easiest seed I've ever germinated.
Let me know if you want some.
Bob
Yes they sell seed. I think it's the best item they sell - everything else is too expensive. Very touristy place -I went there to see the pepper fields but they weren't open. As you probably know, they grow the seed stock there but grow the peppers for sauce in South America.
The seeds I bought were part of their seed stock as best I can tell.
Anyway, they are incredibly prolific - easiest seed I've ever germinated.
Let me know if you want some.
Bob
Yes, I think they grow them in Brazil? Thanks for the offer, but I already have two Tabasco plants in tiny pots I probably won't pot up...
Here's a picture of the Thai pepper I grew from a pod that I picked up at an Asian grocery store.
I transplanted the seedling as a test on February 12th, just to see how it would do in the conditions. I didn't know what the hell I was doing and I didn't even harden it off to the sun:
It hit 31f(~0c) the next week, and looked like this on February 23rd. It was sunburned and frostbitten and eaten up by aphids:
And here it is now:
If it keeps on as healthy as it has been, my uneducated guess is that I'll get at least 1000 pods off of it this year. It is one tough little bastard. That night where it hit 31 was the coldest night of the year, so I guess I'll just overwinter it in that same spot and see what kind of monster it can be next year.
I transplanted the seedling as a test on February 12th, just to see how it would do in the conditions. I didn't know what the hell I was doing and I didn't even harden it off to the sun:
It hit 31f(~0c) the next week, and looked like this on February 23rd. It was sunburned and frostbitten and eaten up by aphids:
And here it is now:
If it keeps on as healthy as it has been, my uneducated guess is that I'll get at least 1000 pods off of it this year. It is one tough little bastard. That night where it hit 31 was the coldest night of the year, so I guess I'll just overwinter it in that same spot and see what kind of monster it can be next year.
May as well just grow it from seed again too...
Thai peppers are not frutescens. At a distant glance,the pod shape looks alike. That is their only similarity.
They have got to be one of the most bullet proof peppers to grow. They seem to tolerate so much and still look great. In my zone the bugs even stay away from them. Nice Stupid Jerk.You be not so stupid. lol
Ahh, I was under the false impression that the upright pod cultivars were c. Frutescens. My mistake. Are Thais just anuum? The leaves seem so much different than most anuum.Pr0digal_son said:
Is there a guide anywhere to identifying species of chilis?
Btw, I really don't know what cultivar these are, they were labeled Thai at the grocery store, so that's how I labeled the plant.
Not trying to be a stupid jerk here, but I cant seem to find any info on how to distinguish a c. Frutescens from a c. Annuum. This source says there isn't a difference:
http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=200020513
"The practice of referring woody plants of this species to Capsicum frutescens Linnaeus has little merit since herbaceous plants often become woody with age, and other characters supposed to distinguish the two species occur in various populations in both herbaceous and woody plants."
How do you guys distinguish the two species?
http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=200020513
"The practice of referring woody plants of this species to Capsicum frutescens Linnaeus has little merit since herbaceous plants often become woody with age, and other characters supposed to distinguish the two species occur in various populations in both herbaceous and woody plants."
How do you guys distinguish the two species?
Darker leaves,greenish flower,purple anthers,multiple flowers per node. Always exceptions though. Annuums come in so many shapes,sizes and colors, but those are the basic differences. If you have the chance to taste them side by side,it is very clear.
With annuums I simply look for the often bigger distinctive white flower for ID.
Baccatums are easy because they have the green striping on the petals and are more triangular star shaped if that makes sense??
Frutescens as P-SOn said above
Chinense are often smaller flowers with a greenish tinge to the petals
Well thats my observations there are possibly/probably exceptions to the rules (I am far from an expert on plant anatomy) ... best ask an expert like Grant from Junglerain or someone of his ilk
Baccatums are easy because they have the green striping on the petals and are more triangular star shaped if that makes sense??
Frutescens as P-SOn said above
Chinense are often smaller flowers with a greenish tinge to the petals
Well thats my observations there are possibly/probably exceptions to the rules (I am far from an expert on plant anatomy) ... best ask an expert like Grant from Junglerain or someone of his ilk
Thanks for shedding some light, guys. Using your info and a few searches, and looking through a bunch of somewhat flawed tables I found this on another site. I don't think I'm allowed to link, so I'll just paste:
Alright, I'm done hijacking the thread. Hopefully this info is helpful to someone else.
I'm just getting around to planning my first Frutascens pepper, and was surprised at how many varieties there are out there. My growing space and budget are limited so I'd like my first plant to be a tasty one. So far, I have seeds for Piri Piri, Bradley's Bahamian, Siling Labuyo, and Dilley Street Tamworth. Do any of you have opinions on which of these is the tastiest? A pepper doesn't have to be extremely hot for me, I appreciate good flavor most. Also, are there any Frutascens varieties out there that taste better than the ones I've listed? Does anybody know anything about the Kambuzi pepper from Malawi? I was reading what they had on the Wiki site about this cultivar, but it wasn't much. Thanks folks!
stickman said:
The Bohemian pepper is the only one of those 3 I have eaten Rick. It is a good tasting pepper that is rather hot. I would guess it was around 100K.
To be honest though, you can't go wrong with the regular tabasco either. I love their flavor, even if they are only about 1/2 as hot as the Bohemian.
I'd love to hear more of the piri piri though. I have seriously considered adding it to my grow list.
I love frutescens varieties. Donne sali are hard to beat for flavor and heat combined, but I recently had one called "Chunpepe" from Ajijoe that was fantastic. A little larger than most frutescens, it was slightly sweeter and more fruity than Malagueta (piri piri), as well as being appreciably hotter. The Guam boonies are great too, but I prefer Donne sali over those. The Bradley`s Bahamian are also good, but I still prefer Donne sali to them. These are the "Chunpepe", the seed was wild collected in Honduras. It`s probably the hottest frutescens I`ve had.
I have a small plant of one that I'm bring it back from the dead I got seeds of it several years ago and started one in a 5 gallon bucket the thing grew over four feet and filled up which several hundred 1 1/2 inch long peppers, I had forgot about giving the plant to my brother who had promply killed it, then threw the plant outside, anyway I found it and collected some of the five year old pods, surprisenly I got two little plants going now from some of the seeds, it doesn't have a name that I know of as the seeds were collected from the wild, from what I remember it will be nice to grow a C. frutescens again I might see if any of the pods that my sister has in a jar will grow I think they might be from a C. frutescens called a dogs tooth or a wild malaguenta if I remember right.
I like the origenal Tobasco over the Green leaf variety they now sell as it is resistant to several pepper diseases that effects the origenal.
I like the origenal Tobasco over the Green leaf variety they now sell as it is resistant to several pepper diseases that effects the origenal.