THE CHILLIES THREAD 2018

My Tokyo Hot - Cayenne Chillies are cropping nicely now . It's quite prolific , so only growing one plant this year. I gave all the others away . A nice mid-heat chilli for kebab marinades etc. We freeze some to last us through to next July .

 

It will be too cold outside. If you have a sunny window you might be able to grow them inside. You could also top up with a few hours of LED lighting every day.

I have some outside now and plan to bring them in when the temperature drops.

 

We have an interesting variety of chillies this year. I've given a rough flavour and heat breakdown below, which may be of interest...

For info, all seeds sown 14th Feb or thereabouts. ALL Grown first indoors with daytime temp of 20c, nighttime of 16c, then moved outside when night-time temps safely holding above 10c, in June this year. Nearly all plants in a 2litre pot, with suplimentary feeding (liquid tomato feed) when I remember.

Our verdict so far:
("BBQ-Ed" Many have been tried roasted on gas BBQ)
Hungarian Black - after years of trying to get the seed, we have grown them for the first time.
Large purple flowers, early cropping, stopping after first flush for a few weeks. A tasty chilli, not v hot, BBQ-Ed - tasty, tingle-hot
Hungarian hot wax - first time again. Good cropper for large fleshy chilli. Mild Tingle-hot when eaten banana-yellow; strong tingle-hot, one in ratatouille for 2!, when eaten scarlet-red. Bbq-ed (yellow) - tasty, tingle-hot
Basket of fire - first time grown. Quick to grow, and start cropping. Small fruit carried laterally, attractive cream streaked purple, before they turn red. Heavy cropping. V hot, building heat. BBQ-Ed - hot, with building heat. (An Indian friend who comes from chilli-growing area was speechless after eating one! Poor lad, his Indian colleagues will never let him live it down!)
Patio sizzle - many years grown. Quick to grow, but slower than Basket of fire to crop. Small chunky fruit carried above leaves, turning fiery red. Heavy cropping. V hot, one chilli will do a pasta dish! BBQ-Ed - hot, but below basket of fire.
Lombardo - many years grown. Slow to fruit, but long slightly curved fruit ripen quite quickly. Not v hot, but good for chopped raw in salad, guacamole etc. Around 20 per plant, so good cropping for larger fruit. Pickles v well, holding good colour for over 12 months. BBQ-Ed - tasty, very little heat.
Jalapeño - first time grown. V slow to fruit. Surprised to find a date-shaped fruit (was expecting more cayenne shaped). Good when used raw, a little heat, not as much flavour as Hungarians.
Biquino - first time grown. Delicate fruit, like inverted tear-drop. Heat, building slightly. Great if cooked whole on a pizza! BBQ-Ed - flavour and heat, building quickly, then subsiding. Problem with this plant - grows tall, then lateral (almost cedar tree in form), with brittle stems fruit carried below stems like little lanterns, v attractive. We had 2 plants, both snapped in high winds, so needs more support and shelter than other plants.

In summary, our default "if we only grow one" chilli is Patio sizzle. I can also add it dries and freezes well.
Edited to add comments from hubby:
Patio Sizzle is a great "starter" chilli. The seeds are widely available (wilkos, I think 99p?) with lots of seeds to a packet. Fast to germinate, a compact plant, they crop heavily, even if you don't pick the first few chillies (most chillies we find fruit better if you pick the first few before they fully ripen, to encourage more flowers). We can pick 50+ chillies from a plant, with ease. The chillies have a good flavour, and plenty of heat. Being small chillies, they even take little freezer space!

We will grow the others again but not necessarily all, each year.

 

I've had a really good crop of jalapeño so I've pickled some with a couple of habs to make it interesting. I've got lots though, so any recipes are welcomed ( I find they don't freeze as well as other chillies)
Another question, if you don't mind, it's my first year growing lemon drop. I've picked a few ( green ) but found them disappointing, do they ripen to ..... lemon ? Is that the problem?

 

And how hot would a ripe lemon drop be ? Was thinking of trying them next year .

 

Thanks @shiney, I thought they should have a bit more flavour

 

My Thunder Mountain Longhorn chillies have nearly all ripened and been picked.

 

Anyone overwinter their chilli plants if so how to please.... One plant in particular is potentially giving me a good crop this year that I would like to keep/save or at least have seeds or cuttings. (Bhut jolokia)
@shiney what do you do with your Naga's
Loving those Naga's..the shape is superb ..Can I get some seeds from you they look excellent. (please advise)
Can you also give me an insight into your sowing planting and time of year regime specifically for the Naga's
Regards
C

 

They look evil , so bet they are hot

 

Re the above, because I live in Scotland and it takes longer for our temperatures to rise each spring/shorter growing season, I try and over winter a few plants as they will produce chilli sooner than those sown in February.
Mine are brought into the house from the greenhouse around end of September or whenever temperatures start to drop away.I keep mine in the bathroom as it is very light and south facing. No extra heat and the house can get quite cold at times (big house and not a multimillionare to afford to heat it to roasting!). I stop watering completely until about middle of March and at the same time prune the plants down to about a 1/3rd the size, then start to water a little and give a feed of weak Tomato feed. Not all the plants survive the winter (usually about 75% do) and there may be a better method but this works for me.

 

Thanks @silu