Post by Yoris on Apr 16, 2019 12:30:06 GMT -7
So, I've tried growing Capsicum chinense peppers every now and then, with low to moderate success, depending on the variety and the year. I seem to have had more success with Capsicum annuum and Capsicum baccatum, though. I've only tried one Capsicum frutescens (Tabasco), which was great, except that it was late.
One thing I've found is that starting them extra early seems to be quite helpful. I didn't do that this year, but I'm hoping to try it next year (starting earlier with my unheated greenhouse, and taking measures to make it warmer, earlier).
Anyway, one thing I tend to look for among all crops is inexpensive seeds. You might think the expensive ones are always better, but that's not my experience. However, my reason is a hypothesis. My hypothesis is that if the seeds are less expensive, they must have a lot more of them. If they have a lot more of them, chances may be higher than average that the plants are easy to grow and/or that they are prolific. (Either that or they just produce a lot of seeds, maybe.) Lots of seeds per fruit probably means that the fruit is more easily pollinated than average.
Anyway, so I look out for inexpensive seeds. So, I looked for inexpensive super hot peppers (historically, they're expensive); I hoped that they would be easier to grow. I was at Trade Winds Fruit, and I discovered the Mustard Bhutlah pepper for $2.50. So, I got it. It sprouted pretty fast; so, I was encouraged. Hopefully I get fruit from it.
I've also been considering early C. chinense peppers, such as Paper Lantern, and easy-to-grow ones, such as Scotch Bonnet is said to be, and seasoning peppers. Of those, I've only tried the seasoning peppers (and of those I'm fond of Aji Dulce 1 for productivity and taste).
I'm also hoping I can get my hands on some pine bark mulch to mulch my peppers. I have hope that this should make C. chinense a lot easier to grow.
[HASH]chilepepper