Sliced Cajun Belle Pepper

Cajun Belle

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One of the varieties I have grown for the first time this year is Cajun Belle. I wanted a frying pepper, something that I could stuff or chop fairly freely into my cooking that gave a bit of heat, but also acted as a substitute for heat free bell peppers.

Cajun Belle Peppers

Cajun Belle Peppers

I sampled a few the other day, but today I did the first big pick off of 3 plants. I didn’t pick all of them, only the red ones and a few green. I’d say that currently there is an average of 25 full grown pods on each plant. That is pretty prolific as I’m going to get at least the same again before the year is out. Generally they are 6-8 cm long and 4 cm across so these are really heavy croppers. They look just like mini sweet peppers but quite thin walled and heat-wise they are probably about 3-4000 SHU.

The plants are generally upright and only about 60cm tall, so they are heavily laden with fruit by the time of the first pick and some of the stems need separate support.

Cajun Belle Green

Cajun Belle Green

So my verdict is these are a real winner if this is the type of chilli you want.

  • Quick and easy germination
  • heavy cropper
  • Seed to fruit (green) in 17 weeks (in average greenhouse conditions)
  • Tasty and with a bit of heat
  • Thin walled so the can be easily stuffed

The seeds came from Nicky’s Nursery I would dispute some of the stats on the description there, 61 days to fruit from seed is a bit of a tall order for any chilli. From ‘planting out’ as they say in the USA, maybe, but from seed, I don’t think so, that would have meant picking at the beginning of May for me, which I have never done with any chilli or pepper plant. That said, Cajun Belle is really prolific and I would definitely recommend them, and I will be growing them again next year.

Cajun Belle Chilli Open

Cajun Belle Chilli Open

Salsa Macha

Salsa Macha – Filling, Indulgent and not too Healthy

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Salsa Macha Web

Salsa Macha

It is cold outside, Friday night is only hours away, and we need to kick it off with something a bit filling, satisfying and indulgent.

I can’t think of a recipe with such a fatty list of ingredients, (although I’ve seen a lot worse on the ingredients list of dips picked off the supermarket shelves), and worse still it is easy to polish off an awful lot of this stuff in a very short space of time. But hey-ho, this is an extremely versatile cooking sauce, dip or marinade; akin to satay sauce, but with a spicy and smoky taste. Traditionally it is heavy on chipotles, but I find that using a large proportion of the widely available chipotle morita is too overpoweringly smoky and gives it a burnt flavour. So I usually use less of them, or milder home-smoked chillies, as well as guajillo powder.

 

150g crunchy peanut butter

3 chipotle moritas (probably more if you have smoked the chillies yourself and they are less intense)

4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped.

100ml olive oil

2 tbsp brown sugar

2 tbsp sherry vinegar or red wine vinegar

2 tsp guajillo chilli powder

1 tsp sesame oil

 

This is almost a cheat’s recipe, as it uses peanut butter to dispense with the need to blend nuts into the sauce, but this doesn’t seem to affect the flavour and it makes the recipe so simple I am more likely to use it.

Soak the chipotles in a small amount of hot water for about 20 minutes, then take them from the water and chop them finely. Or you can grind them into a powder if you have a spice or coffee grinder.

In a small saucepan mix all the ingredients together and bring to the boil, simmer it for a minute or two whilst stirring constantly. Transfer to a bowl and leave to cool, as it cools the sauce will thicken.

This is a rich and tasty dip when served with corn chips or pitta breads. It is also a great thing to pour over barbecued meat, as you would chicken satay, but to my mind the extra smoked chilli gives it the edge.

Greenfly and shed skins on a chilli plant

6 tips on how to spot greenfly

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Greenfly, a menace to all, and particularly to chilli growers. Greenfly not only spread disease and drain a plant of its energy they often damage the fruit too. But how do you find them in the early days before they take hold and decimate your plants? Here are 6 tips for early detection.

1/ Look in the new shoots. Although they are commonly found on the underside of leaves, early in the year before the sun gets hot, they get into the tender new shoots where they damage flowers and leaf growth while the are still forming, so look there first.

2/ Use a magnifying glass or zoom in with your phone camera. It is so much easier to find and kill two or 3 today than 300 a week from now. In the picture below you can clearly see two fatties tucked into the new leaves plus a couple of smaller ones. The scars from their bite marks will cause the leaves to be contorted.

Early greenfly infestation on chilli plant

Early greenfly infestation on chilli plant

 

3/ When the sun gets hotter they seem to take shelter. This is when you start to find them lower down the plant among the shady lower leaves. Look for the white shed skins, they are often the most obvious sign of a greenfly infestation.

 

Greenfly and shed skins on a chilli plant

Greenfly and shed skins on a chilli plant

 

4/ Look for twisted shoots as they emerge, this almost always  a sign of greenfly, not some other disease. The greenfly that caused the problem may have long since been eaten by predators, but it is best to give the tip a spray with an organic insecticide to be on the safe side.

 

Greenfly causing twisted leaf growth on a chilli plant

Greenfly causing twisted leaf growth on a chilli plant

5/ Look inside newly forming flowers, if the greenfly get hold before you stop them they will scar the flower tissue and this results in bent and badly formed fruit, more on that here. As soon as the bud starts to open they will get inside. A quick spray with a soapy organic insecticide should do the job, or there are lots in there you should nip the flower off and scrap it. There is no point in allowing the plant to put its energy into growing a malformed fruit, there will be plenty of other flowers.

6/ Look for white shed skins in spider webs or on the soil around the plant. This is the tell tale sign that greenfly are lurking on the leaves above. The shed skins are often mistakenly diagnosed as white-fly when they are just empty skins shed as the greenfly fatten ready to give birth to the next generation.

My Outdoor Chilli Plant Isn’t Growing!

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About 3 weeks ago I wrote a piece on moving chilli plants outdoors. It is often difficult to judge when it is OK to do it, and it is always a compromise, it is where I live anyway.

So I thought I’d update people as to what my plants are up to. Generally, I keep all mine in the greenhouse until they grow so big I have no choice, and if any go outside I’m always picky and try to keep the best ones under glass.

This time, just as an experiment I planted one outside on our patio in a stone pot to see what happens. I did this much earlier than I would normally do, but in doing so I was mimicking the dilema which most chilli growers that don’t have a greenhouse. I also put one in a raised bed, and kept the others from the same batch inside.

And after about 3 weeks, here are some results.

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The outdoor plant has had some pretty good weather, not perfect, but OK. It has had warm days and cool nights to start with, some rain, a fair bit of wind, and not too much in the way of pest damage, just a couple of nibbled leaves as you can see. But this has still taken its toll, down to 8°c on some nights, some cool winds and a max of maybe 23°c in the day times isn’t ideal. The leaves are curled and quite tough, but mainly the plant has grown slowly, maybe 20cm high and hardly branched out with not many extra leaves, though it is starting to flower.

I stress that this plant hasn’t been neglected at all, it has beeb watered whenever it needed it, fed, staked, and moved about to shelter it from the worst of any wind.

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The one in the raised bed (above), has fared better. The leaves have toughened, but not curled much, it has more side shoots and the flowers are more developed. This is because it has been protected from the elements with green mesh around and over the bed too stop the wind and raise the temperature, the soil temperature is warmer and more stable too.

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The third one (above), has been kept in the greenhouse all the time, and has grown a lot more. It is taller and probably has twice the amount of foliage than the outdoor one, there are more side shoots, more flower buds and it is looking generally more healthy.

All these plants are the same variety, grown alongside each other until they were separated for this experiment. They are a variety called Nigel’s Outdoors, not one I have grown before, nor one I am familiar with. The seeds came to me as part of a swap I did with Alex the Air-Pot Gardener, a friendly chilli grower here in the UK. I assume it has been bred, (no doubt by someone called Nigel), to be more tolerant to the conditions of my experiment. Other varieties may not have fared even as well as this one. I suspect a similar experiment with habanero plants would have resulted in the outdoor plants not growing at all.

So what is the lesson here?

  • In temperate climates keep your chilli plants indoors for as long as you can, it will pay dividends.
  • Don’t expect too much from your chilli plant if you put it outdoors before the warm summer nights and while it is still young and tender.
  • The outdoor plant won’t grow as quickly and you won’t get as much of a crop.

Watch this space for another update in a few weeks. I suspect we might be picking fruit of the one in the greenhouse.

 

 

 

 

 

When can my chilli plants go outside?

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Let’s be honest, unless you live in a Mediterranean or tropical climate, you will, like me and millions of other chilli growers, be looking to put plants outdoors as soon as you can because your window, conservatory, polytunnel, or whatever, is never big enough to house all of your chili plants. It is never big enough because we always grow too much, it’s a bad habit.

I grow too much, I don’t need as many as I grow, I give them away, which brings me joy, but still I end up with an overflowing greenhouse and want to move them out into the elements as soon as I can.

So… When is it safe to do it and what special care should you take?

Remember, especially it the UK, it is always a compromise, they will never do as well as they would in the shelter of a greenhouse, but follow these guidelines to give your plants the best chance possible.

1/ My book has loads about temperatures, but just to summarise – If they go below about 18°c they won’t grow (some need even higher temperatures). You needn’t worry about them getting too hot. Even UK record high temperatures will make them jump for joy. Look at the forecast and judge accordingly, they can go cooler at night, but keep an eye on both daytime and night-time temperatures. For me this is, and it is the same most years, about the beginning of May through to early September.

2/ Think about bringing them indoors at night or in cold weather. They will benefit from this protection. It doesn’t matter if you put them in a dark corner, or even a garage, it is night time anyway.

3/ Try and only move established plants outside. Pot on your seedlings into their big pots but let them get established before they go outside. Tender small plants are more likely to get bashed by the wind and rain.

4/ Use big pots, these will keep moisture levels more balanced in drying winds and when the plants get bigger they won’t blow over. They also store heat during the daytime which keeps the roots warm at night.

4/ Protect them from the elements – Put them in sheltered warm spots, try and shelter them from wind as much as possible with trellis or other plants, anything to stop them being bashed.

5/ Stake the plants – Wind causes so many problems, in particular the constant swaying movement which loosens the stem at the base and tears at the roots. Also, use small sticks to support branches when the plants get bigger. Wind is your enemy.

6/ Don’t assume that rain is enough to keep them watered. I can’t emphasise this enough. Think about when you water a plant, you probably give it about 1/2 an inch at least. Very rarely do we have that amount of rain in the summer, especially on a daily basis. A light shower will get the surface wet, but it won’t reach the roots. Also, when they are kept against a wall they may be in a ‘rain shadow’; everything else nearby gets wet, but they get nothing.

7/ Too much rain can be a problem too. During we periods remove any trays from beneath pots so they aren’t sitting in water. If there is a storm forecast, then try and bring them into somewhere sheltered.

8/ Keep feeding them! Outside plants need all the help they can get, and regular feeding will keep the roots healthy and help them withstand the drying effects of wind. Use chilli plant feed or standard tomato feed.

A Miserable Chilli Plant

A fairly miserable, poorly fed and bashed chilli plant. (A deliberate experiment!)

8/ Move pots around regularly to search for slugs and snails hidden beneath. Look in the holes in the bottom of pots too. For small plants particularly this will be the biggest and most immediate threat the their existence.

9/ Holidays – If you entrust their care to a neighbour and you only have a few plants, they might get better care if you carry them round to their garden rather than making the neighbour come to you. Reward your neighbour with plenty of chillies, they might get hooked too. Alternatively consider planting them in a self watering system, more expensive, but at least it guarantees they are watered and fed for up to 2 weeks while you are away.

10/ Choose the right varieties – Be realistic, habaneros, scotch bonnets, and most of the super hot chillies need higher temperatures than our climate will give, and a longer growing season too, they really won’t do well outside unless you wait till they are fully grown, and you might not have the space for that. Stick to varieties that grow quickly or withstand harsher weather, Hungarian Wax are picked early, Bulgarian Carrot are very tough, and reasonably hot, Aji (Capsicum baccatum) varieties are also very resilient, with woody stems and small leaves. Apache F1 is nearly always foolproof as it is so quick and also compact, or for something hot and brightly coloured try Twilight.

Slug

Slugs & Snails the 2016 Battle

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My battle with slugs and snails is something that is close to my heart. Whilst I hate them with a passion there would be a gap in my life if they disappeared forever. This is an unlikely scenario, they are more likely to take over the world, and when they do I will be sent to the Hague to be tried for crimes against slugmanity, and there is no way I could argue my innocence.

Despite warnings in the media that our mild winter would mean the worst ever summer for slugs and snails, this doesn’t seem to have happened, yet. We had a cold snap recently, which was mostly charaterised by dry freezing northerly winds, so this maybe killed off a lot of the population at just the time they would be poking their noses out.

So last night, rather late in the year, was my first big slug hunt. Temperature 14.5°c at 9pm following a day of rain showers, this definitely demanded action. They breed like rabbits, and every one that wasn’t killed last night will produce 10 million by August, or something like that. So I left no corner of the garden unexplored. I have seen much worse, in fact I was pleasantly surprised, but I still had a job to do. The veg patch was pretty clear, mainly due to ‘good garden hygiene’, i.e. no old pots and rubbish lying around for them to hide under. Not so the rest of the garden, under the lilies by the cat’s graveyard there were plenty. I’m not sure what type of lillies, you can’t eat them so they are of limited interest to me, I only go there to kill slugs.

These days I mostly use what I call the ‘double tap’, named after the special forces method of shooting someone. One smash or slice with a trowel, then a quick flick to toss the remains into the shrubbery, a bit like the sport of hurling. I don’t want their rotting remains on the lawn, nor do I want to see their carcasses being eaten by their hungry brothers and sisters the following evening. There is more of this in a slightly more serious piece on slugs, what they eat and how to control them here.

Snail

Snail on Chilli Plant

The final tally was about 40 slugs and 55 snails and there weren’t many big fat Spanish slugs, which is good news. I have done much much worse in my evening rampages and I will continue this fight over the next few nights before I can sleep easily, but this isn’t victory, I will never win.

 

 

New Chilli Seedlings

Why didn’t my chilli seeds germinate?

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It is getting a little late to plant chilli seeds now, in the northern hemisphere anyway,(although there are still a few you can get away with). But there is still time to dwell on why your seeds didn’t grow, and time to learn some lessons, so here are a few reasons why your’s may not have done well.

1/ Poor quality seed. Seed that has been stored in damp or warm conditions isn’t going to germinate well, also the older seeds get the less viable they become. I still germinate seeds after a couple of years, but after 3 year or more they really don’t do well unless you have stored them in laboratory conditions of controlled temperature and humidity.

It may be you to blame, or it may be the seed seller. Reputable seed sellers should ‘germ test’ each batch of seeds before they are packaged, this involves germinating a few of them each time and working out the germination rate. If it isn’t up around 90% they should either not sell them, or at least warn you of the problem and give you extra ones to plant.

2/ Too dry  – If your seeds are allowed to dry out after you have planted them, it is likely they won’t survive. Keep the compost moist, but not too wet. If you think you could grab a fist full of it and squeeze water out then it is probably too much.

3/ Too cold – They won’t germinate at all if they spend too long below about 18°c. You will only get the best germination rates if you keep them constantly above room temperature.

4/ Too hot – A heated propagator, in direct sunlight, where the temperature might reach 50°c is going to kill of newly germinated seeds before they see the light of day, either by inhibiting germination, or baking them dry. Always try and keep your seeds warm, but don’t overdo it.

5/ Damping off – Strictly speaking this isn’t a reason for non germination, it is an affliction of seedlings, not seeds, but it is one reason why germinated shoots never make it to the surface. Damping off is simply a term used to describe rotting, when bacteria in the soil thrive because of wet conditions and lack of airflow. Think of where mould grows and you will get the idea. Usually it happens to crowded seedlings emerging from soil that is contaminated with bacteria and mould spores but it can happen to seedlings before they emerge from the soil. To guard against it, use clean new compost, not stuff that has sat in a damp shed all winter. Don’t water-log it, and don’t plant the seeds too deep, 1cm is more than enough. I generally use vermiculite to cover seeds, it is sterile and holds a little moisture but drains well.

For something more on germination times have a look at this earlier blog entry.

Newly emerged chilli seedlings

Newly emerged chilli seedlings

Chilli Seedlings - From the book 'Growing Chillies'

How cold will my chilli plants go?

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We had some unseasonably cold weather in the UK recently, and where I live near the south coast of Devon frosts at the end of April are almost unheard of. But we had some all the same, and it caused a few problems. For me it wasn’t so much the night time lows, but the general cold, when the sun wasn’t out greenhouse temperatures during the day were too cool for plants to grow quickly, so everything is behind.

There were a few touch and go nights though, and towards the end of April I had just too many plants to bring indoors, so they had to run the gauntlet of some near freezing temperatures.

The lowest my max/min thermometer read was -1°c in the greenhouse, but don’t take this as definite. Have you ever browsed the range of thermometers available in a garden centre? Have a close look, last time I bought one the readings on all the thermometers on offer ranged from 18 to 21°c, and they were all hanging from the same shelf! I bought an average one, but there is no telling how accurate it really is. I suspect the temperature didn’t quite reach as low as -1°c, or if it did it wasn’t for very long, maybe only 15 minutes before dawn.

So did my plants survive? Yes, they all did, (not so the courgettes planted outside). And what does this tell us about the lowest temperatures young chilli plants can endure?

My experience tells me that as long as there is no cold wind or rain blowing directly against the plants, which means they need to be in a greenhouse not outdoors, and as long as the cold temperatures only go on for an hour or two, then the air temperature can go down to just 2 or 3°c and still recover happily, but who wants to gamble on a couple of degrees this way or that? And remember this is far from desirable, they aren’t actually growing at these temperatures, as they would if they were bottoming out at 19°c, so warmer is always better.

Another factor that can seriously jeapordise the well being of small tender plants is how quickly they warm up. Generally the soil in their posts will retain a little heat to insulate the roots. The plant might wilt slightly when it draws down fluids into the roots as a reaction against the cold. When the sun suddenly starts to warm the greenhouse then the wilting leaves can’t transpire quick enough to offset the rapidly increasing temperature and the drooping leaves shrivel. In the past I have seen chilli plants looking healthy before sun-up, but two hours later they have died. This is a particular problem where a greenhouse is sheltered from the rising sun and remains cold until later in the morning when suddenly the strong sun peeps over nearby buildings or trees and the temperature rises from nothing to 30°c in a matter of seconds, rather than a gradual warming as the sun rises. This is why instructions on constructing greenhouses always tell you to site it somewhere away from such situations.

Finally, of course, different varieties react differently, tepin, most Capsicum pubescens, (so rocoto), and many aji varieties will be slightly more tolerant than others.

 

 

 

8 tips on keeping your young chilli plants at the right temperature

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One of the best things you can do to make sure your plants grow at optimum speed is to look after the temperature and try to give them constant warmth. In the spring time this can be difficult, but here are a few tips as to how you can do your best to keep temperatures high, and consistent.

Plants aren’t human, they don’t have feelings and moods. They are simply a load of chemicals jumbled together, and each type of plant has it’s own slightly different composition, which is why some like damp, some like dry, some like heat and some cold. High temperatures are a big part of what makes chilli plants grow, and when the temperature is right for them, they grow, and when it isn’t they don’t. Look at weeds in the hedgerows, one week nothing, next week a foot high. You want your chillies to go from an inch to a foot quickly, so let’s get the temperature right.

For optimum growth rates you should be aiming for a constant 27-31°c during the day, and slightly lower at night, say 23-26°c. At these temperatures your chilli plants will almost grow before your eyes, and maybe two or 3 times the rate of something kept at ‘room temperature’ with a bit of extra sunshine during the day.  Put simply, they will grow when the temperature is right, and stop when it isn’t, so any extra time or money you can spend on maximising this growing period will be rewarded with better results.

Chilli in black pots

  1. Firstly, and probably most importantly; remember, half the plant is roots, so soil temperature is at least as important as air temperature.
  2. A heated propagator – For germination and for young plants this is the easiest way to keep them warm. When they have germinated and are growing nicely, you can remove the lid and the warm tray will continue to keep the roots warm.
  3. Soil warming cable – For a larger number of plants, and if you can afford the luxury, then this is the best way of optimising soil temperatures to grow your plants as quickly as possible. It means you need a big sunny window if not a lovely greenhouse, with a big tray or specially constructed bench, a purpose bought warming cable, some insulation and some sand or inert substrate. Then you can thermostatically control the temperature of the roots of your plants accurately.
  4. Let sunshine get to the pot – When sunshine is hard to come by arrange your pots so they get the maximum benefit. If they are in a position where the side of the pot is exposed to direct sunlight, then the warming effects of the sun will mean the pot and therefore the roots are warmer than the surrounding air.
  5. Use black pots rather than the traditional red ones. These are often cheaper and they absorb the heat of the sun more.
  6. Bigger pots – there is no harm in potting small seedlings straight into their final big pots, the big volume of soil acts as a heat sink to keep roots warm long after the sun has disappeared. It also stops the big temperature fluctuations that small pots suffer from. Beware – if big pots are kept in a cold place and never get a chance to warm up, then the opposite will happen.
  7. Move them around! – The simplest job is sometimes the hardest as it involves time and effort. Put them in the greenhouse or the sunny window during the day and move them into a warm room at night. The more you keep them at their optimum temperature, the more time they will spend growing.
  8. Hydroponics – This is a more expensive alternative than traditional pot growing, but once you have made the initial investment of time and money the rewards will be higher with quicker growing plants, bigger plants and ultimately more chillies. Depending on your setup, the root temperature, and possibly that of the whole plant, are thermostatically controlled. Top this with the perfect nutrient mix and you will be way ahead of the competition.

Remember there is more to it than just heat, you need to juggle all of these tips with lots of lovely bright light too.

 

 

 

I wish plant sellers would get it right

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I wish plant growers would get it right. I saw this in my local garden centre; they took the trouble to make a special label with the name Paper Lantern, but the picture, maybe some kind of Italian long sweet pepper, is almost as far from a paper lantern as you could possibly get. How misleading for new chilli growers is that?

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For anyone interested in what a paper lantern really looks like, here is a picture of one.

Paper Lantern Cropped

 

Bulgarian Carrot

10 Chillies You Don’t Need to Plant Early

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In the northern hemisphere, early March is the time of year some people start to worry about not getting their chilli seeds sown early.

Don’t panic! Planting now is the perfect time, as long as you give them a healthy start and don’t stunt their growth with cold dark conditions they will perform perfectly. Too many people fall into the trap of planting earlier and earlier each year because last year their plants were slow. Change your conditions not your planting time and remember a laboratory grown habanero plant given perfect temperatures, light, food and humidity, will go from seed to fruit in 3 months. Most of us take nearly twice that time to achieve the same, but keep chasing that goal all the same.

But for those that are behind the times and haven’t even bought seeds yet, you still don’t need to panic, here are 10 chillies that will guarantee a bumper crop even if you don’t plant them till the end of March or April. If they are planted in the middle of March all of these bar the last one should bear you fruit by early July, so you see there is plenty of leeway, and they will do most of their growing, and catching up, in May and June when days are long and temperatures warm. For more info on germination times here is a page entry from last year.

1/ Apache F1 – This is definitely one of the easiest; almost foolproof germination, super-quick to grow, and pretty hot too. Its compact size means that it can be kept in a warm window without fear that it will outgrow its space. In the UK buy them from Sutton Seeds or any garden centre.

Apache Banner

Apache

2/ Pimento de Padron – This is quick, because the fruits are picked immature and fried to eat whole, instructions on how to grow and prepare them are here. They are very quick growing plants but they do get big, well over 1m tall, so they need the space of a greenhouse or conservatory to prosper. You can buy them from most garden centres or South Devon Chilli Farm.

Pimiento de Padron

Pimiento de Padron

3/ Hungarian Wax – These are another one that benefits from early picking, they end up red, but are most often picked when they have turned from yellow/green to a nice yellow banana colour, in fact they are often referred to as banana chillies. They can be chopped into salads or stuffed and grilled. they grow on a bushy plant, up to 75cm high and the same width. All garden centres and online seed sellers will stock these.

4/ Cheyenne – This is a compact plant with a slightly trailing habit so it is great for windows and smaller spaces, even hanging baskets. They are mildly spicy, good for general cooking and turn from green to orange when ready. Most garden centres stock this, or get it direct from Sutton Seeds.

Cheyenne

Cheyenne

5/ Bulgarian Carrot – For something reasonably hot, around 25,000 SHU, and great flavour, try this one. They are quick to ripen and grow close to the stems on strong upright plants, this makes them a manageable window plant. They have a distinctive fragrant taste and the fruits are firm and meaty with a long shelf life. In the UK you can buy them from Nikky’s Nursery, but most online seed sellers will have them.

Bulgarian Carrot

Bulgarian Carrot

6/ Chimayo – This is an old breed, but one that is renowned for an early crop of tasty red chillies. If it is classic looking red ones you are after, but don’t have much time, then this is the one for you. They are incredibly quick, almost as fast as Apache, but the plant is a bit of a rambler so they need some space. If you are into drying chillies and making powder this is a great one to grow. If you buy from the USA you can get them anywhere but in the UK try Nikky’s Nursery (again).

7/ Caldero – This is a Santa Fe, type chilli. Similar in uses to Hungarian wax, but smaller, a bit hotter, and slightly earlier to fruit than the standard Santa Fe. It is also more compact so it serves as a good window plant.

Caldero

Caldero

8/ Jalapeno la Bomba – You will always need jalapenos however late you plant, and this is quicker than the standard by a few days. In the UK you can buy them from Nikky’s Nursery, if you can’t get La Bomba, try Chichimeca, another quick one.

Jalapeno la Bomba

Jalapeno la Bomba

9/ Prairie Fire – Small hot chillies tend to be slower growing, but not Prairie Fire, they are probably the quickest of the little multi-coloured ones and of the 10 on this list they are the most compact too, so you can keep them in the window into the winter to maximise your crop. They are hot, at least 100,000 SHU which makes them a very quick win in terms of heat against time. You can buy them in most garden centres or online.

10/ Habanero – Paper Lantern – I would steer clear of Habaneros if you are planting late unless you have a warm greenhouse to keep them going into the autumn. But if you want to try it then go for paper lantern, they are a bit quicker than the standard ones and also a little bit hardier with their furry leaves and stems. In the UK get them from Thompson and Morgan but you can find them elsewhere online, particularly in the USA.

Paper Lantern Habanero

Paper Lantern Habanero

Don’t limit yourself to this list, there are many many more and most chillies don’t take that long too grow, just be sure you read the description and don’t overstretch your limits by choosing something that just won’t fruit in time.

Carolina Reaper – Growing the Hottest Chilli in the World

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I grew the Carolina Reaper for the first time last year, so I thought I’d relate my experiences and give a bit of info on what to expect.

This is the current record holder for the hottest chilli in the world, over 1.5m SHU.

I have probably grown most of the very hot ones over the years, but I don’t grow an awful lot of them as I’m not mad keen on super hot sauces and I find them quite difficult to offload onto other people, either as seedlings, mature plants or fruit. I obviously move in the wrong circles, most of my friends are happy to take anything I give them, but whether it is plants or fruit, they tend to prefer milder stuff.

Carolina Reaper

Carolina Reaper

The seeds, which came from Nicky’s Nursery and germinated well. I got 7 out of 10, which is pretty good going. On milder chillies I would expect 9 or 10 out of 10, but I am happy with 7 in this case. I always bang on about how difficult some of the very hot chillies can be, and how you have to get conditions absolutely right to get good germination but I’d say these performed well, proving that the seed stock was of good quality. I germinated them next to some Bhut Jolokia which did almost as well, so I must have got conditions right as Bhuts are very temperamental, susceptible to drying out or temperature fluctuations at critical times, and often take a long time.

These were all germinated in a heated propagator, in the region of 28-32°C and with constant humidity, and most were up within 12 days. More on germination times here. I used to use capillary matting in the bottom of propagators but these days I use about a cm of slightly moist sand to maintain a more steady level of warmth and humidity. This takes away the need to water the seed pots much at all, and the sand dissipates the heat coming from below so the pots don’t dry out from the bottom up. Once seeds have been planted in moist soil & vermiculite there probably won’t be much evaporation as the propagator lid is closed, so they won’t need to be drenched every day. As soon as seedlings start to emerge in a pot I move it to another propagator with a more open lid (or none at all)  to give them more air flow.

I started the seeds along with most of my others, during the first week in March. I know these have a long growing season, and need the best start as possible, but I am an advocate of not planting seeds too soon. Experts in growing super-hots might start them earlier than this, but only do so if you have the conditions to keep them healthy when the nights are still cold, even indoors. You may need artificial lighting too, don’t put yourself in a situation where they grow tall and straggly. You are better off planting a bit later and growing healthy plants. more on light here.

Generally the plants grew well, out of 7 plants there were a couple that didn’t seem to take and were slightly stunted, so these were relegated to the compost heap. The Carolina Reaper fruited a bit earlier than the Bhut Jolokias nearby, which is great, and generally had more fruit on them too. Like all of the super-hots these definitely respond to being given big pots and more room for root growth, you can get a pretty big plant if you give them a good chance in life. By big plant I mean up to 1.5m high, and 1m wide. I put one in a bucket sized pot, and got it to 1m. Put it in a barrel for something bigger, but don’t expect it to fruit quite as early, and consider where you might put it if you want to keep it over winter. Often it is best to keep things like this in a more manageable pot.