Chilis (I know - chilis again!)

[MKG]

I stopped growing chilis a couple of years ago as OH has an adverse reaction to them (and sweet peppers), and the gap has made me realise that I simply enjoy growing them. Don't ask me why - but I've missed them. So next year they're back. But I used to always end up growing jalapenos, as they're so useful in the kitchen (for everyone except OH, poor deprived lady that she is).

So I'm planning for next year. Of course, jalapenos will still be there. I don't want to grow any of the wonder-chilis which are so far up the Scoville scale as to be be silly, but it would be handy to have a choice. Nor do I want to grow a chili which has so little bite that it may as well be a sweet pepper (the first time I grew jalapenos they were so inoffensive that I thought I'd made a mistake and grown something else entirely, but a few years of further crops have convinced me that I did something terribly wrong to that first lot - I've no idea what, but it's never happened again). I know my jalapenos now, so I tend to think of them as standard, middle of the road stuff, and they'll form the basis of my cooking with fresh chilis. But I also want to make my own chili powder - the jalapenos are OKish for that but I think I need something a little hotter - but still controllable - and it would be nice if that something provided a bit of interest in the growing, if you know what I mean.

Any suggestions to perk up my drab chili existence?

Mike

EDIT: If it helps, I'll have the sunny half of a bog-standard 8 x 6 greenhouse (bog-standard but super-efficient in the heat stakes) to grow them in. The tomatoes and aubergines are in another greenhouse, so all I have to compete with is OH's cactus and Epiphyllum collection on the shady side.

[Green Aura]

Too soon to tell, Mike. We're not harvesting any yet.

This year we're growing jalapeno, habanero, koral, scotch bonnet, cayenne, medusa (now in its third year on the windowsill) and hungarian hot wax.

The medusa are only tiny little things, probably supposed to be decorative, but they taste OK.

The scotch bonnet is currently up to the top of the window.

The Koral isn't doing too well, the plant is still quite small and feeble, but we'll see how it does.

None of them get really hot up here, I assume the season's too short, but they're hot enough for us. Hopefully the scotch bonnets will be a bit hotter.

In the past we've grown paprika and friars hat (neither did particularly well) and serrano - we're still eating hot pepper sauce made from that one plant, the chillies dried and transported up here when we moved - a large sweet jar full of them.

[Brewtrog]

Cayenne seems a good place to start if you want to make powder. Our cayenne has gone crazy this year, absolutely coated with chilis. Bit too soon to pick them, but we're planning on drying some out and trying to grind them in cayenne powder (one of my favourite spices). We have some sweet banana peppers growing but they have absolutely no bite to them. Our scotch bonnet has on just started to flower (except one early flower that has started to grow a pepper), can't wait to get a few of them about though.

[doofaloofa]

I have had terrible results this year with my chillie plants. The are small and slow to grow

Had to get some from a friend

[Green Aura]

Well don't chuck em out, doofa. They're perennials so may give you tons of chillies next year. Just keep them somewhere that's not too cold.

[Pumkinpie]

Mine are frizzled and dead at the bottom of a small poly greenhouse.
Didn't look after them and now feeling guilty and regretting it.
Going to be more organised next year and have a good growing season.
Also got a lotty buddy to help me.

[doofaloofa]

Well don't chuck em out, doofa. They're perennials so may give you tons of chillies next year. Just keep them somewhere that's not too cold.

You are exceptionally helpfull GA

thanks

DnD...your fired!

[Green Aura]

I don't know how long they last but we've currently go one that's in its third year.

[MKG]

What's "not too cold", Maggie?

Do they need to be inside (as in house) during the winter, or would an unheated greenhouse do it?

Mike

[Green Aura]

To be honest, I'm not sure, ours just sits on the windowsill in the living room. But as we have a multi-fuel boiler that has been known to go out in the middle of the night, I'm guessing it suffers some relatively cold temperatures, although not for very long.

[Biscombe]

Spicy but not blow your head off chillies to consider are Lombardo and Aji Angelo, I love these varieties, you don't have to handle with care or wear goggles! Plenty more but those are my favorites

[Carltonian Man]

Hungarian Hot Wax fits the bill for us. Young fruits are pleasantly fiery when eaten raw but mellow right down to almost sweet pepper status with cooking (great for stuffing the cooked shells with cream cheese and herbs). They can be left on the plant to gain heat for pickling and grow well outside in a sheltered position. Plants produce anywhere in the region of 16 fruits that grow from an iridescent yellow/green to bright lipstick red.

[boboff]

There was a dog in town on Saturday with a.......

[ojay54]

I've over wintered chillies,they were OK,but for some reason every aphid in Shropshire,and some of their friends and family from other areas, homed in on them.

[tosca]

We don't use chilli much, but have a dozen plants in the garden....because we can. I think I might try overwintering a few so I don't have to sow seed and get far too many again. OH wanted them because they are an unusual shape

As to what type they are, well, there seems to be an argument about that, some countries calling them scotch bonnet (but not as we know them) others Christmas bells, or Bishop's Crown. Whatever, they are pretty. Though whether they are fiery or not seems to be another argument.