This year we have a good selection of Habanero's to grow to see how they compare against each other, along with Padrons for BBQ days and our favourite Serrano's for Mexican cooking, plus a few ornamental pot types.

This Years Varieties

Aji Limo: (Capsicum chinense) A Peruvian specialty that is one of our milder habanero's. The fruit are often top-shaped, though this can vary, even on the same plant. They are about 30 x 45 mm with a glossy skin that looks as if it has been polished. When they are young, the fruit are a light yellow colour punctuated with large patches of lilac purple. As they mature, they turn to orange and finally red. The plants are not overly tall and so can be grown in either in pots or the ground, though in both cases they will need support. A stunningly attractive plant that will lighten up any greenhouse or conservatory. Approximate heat level: 34,500 SHU
Aji Red Lemon: (Cap Baccatum) A taller growing Aji, over 1 metre, and the fruit that really do look like a lemon, although they mature to bright red and lack a citrus tang. The pods are very good, with thick crunchy flesh, they are also large enough to be stuffed and roasted. The heat was pleasant, no sudden burn, just a pleasant tang which lasted for a while before easing away.
Anaheim: (Capsicum annuum) Famous development from the original New Mexico State University in early 1900's, low to medium heat with thick flesh, good for sauces and salsas. 7" (18cm) long ripen deep red. Prolific.
Fairy Lights: (Capsicum annuum) Fairy Lights is a selection made from the ornamental variety NuMex Twilight. The plants have purple-tinged leaves matched by bright purple flowers that develop into small, cone-shaped fruit measuring about 12 x 25 mm. These put on a dramatic display of colours as they turn from luminescent purple to orange then red. The fruit are not only attractive, they are also hot. The spreading, bushy plants are quite short, and will grow unsupported both in containers and in the ground.
Fatalii: (Capsicum chinense) High yielding plants, wrinkled extremely hot peppers up to7 cm long by up to 2 cm wide. Fatalii fruits ripen from lime green to lemon yellow when mature. Native to Central African Republic.
Habanero Fruit Burst: (Capsicum chinense) Lower growing to 60 cm. Pods hang below foliage like apples. Even the green pods have a very strong fruity aroma. Very hot when fully mature at deep red.
Habanero 7-Pot: (Capsicum chinense) EXTREMELY HOT! Originally from Trinidad. Tested last year at 1,067,286 Scovilles, beating that year's Dorset Naga! Handle fruit with care. Tall plants 1 m x 6 0 cm with high yields. Pale green fruit mature to bright red, wrinkled in appearance.
Habanero Trinidad: (Capsicum chinense) Very hot. A slightly milder habanero. Fruity flavoured 1-2" wrinkled fruit.
Habanero Umba: (Capsicum chinense) This is extremely hot, peppers ripen from lime green through yellow to red. Originally developed in the Caribbean, by CARDI. There are many claims as to how hot some chillis are. Simpsons had this tested two years running, the first test, which included samples from 6 plants was 1,067, 286 SHU’s, last year samples form 25 plants was 1,111,735SHU’s.
Loco: (Capsicum annuum) Hybrid. An attractive chilli with dark green leaves and purple-fringed white flowers. The short cone-shaped fruit are about 25 to 30mm long and grow above the foliage. They change from a dark lilac purple to orange to red and are medium hot. The plants have a neat, slightly cascading growth habit that makes them ideal for growing unsupported in larger pots. Approximate heat level: 24,000 SHU
Serrano Del Sol: (Capsicum annuum) Hybrid.  Traditionally eaten green, the bullet-shaped fruit of Serrano chillis are one of the mainstays of Mexican cooking. Serrano del Sol is early and prolific, producing fleshy fruit that measure about 1.5 cm wide by 8-10 cm long. The fruit ripen from green to red and can be used at either stage of maturity. Unlike most chillis, the plants are characterised by hairy stems and leaves. They are tall and untidy, with many loose branches, and generally do better in the ground .The fruit are ideal additions to exotic fare such as guacamole and pico de gallo salsa. They are, however, very versatile, and are perfectly adapt to other types of cooking where some spicing up is needed. Approximate heat level: 22,000 SHU
Sparkler: (Capsicum annuum) A result of an accidental cross, these very attractive, small, compact plants produce elongated, pointed fruit that are 30 to 35 mm in length. The fruit are remarkably hot and grow upright above the foliage, changing from pastel yellow to orange to red as they mature. Though somewhat late to ripen, Sparkler has the potential to yield masses of fruit, and is ideal for growing in both small and large pots. A true edible ornamental.
Trinity: (Capsicum chinense) The deeply grooved fruit of this variety are quite erratic in shape and size, but can be as large as as 30 x 65 mm. They turn from lime green to red as they ripen and, as with other habanero's, are distinguished by a likable fruity aroma that adds a distinctive flavour to salsas and chilli sauces. They are not, however, overly hot,and are more manageable in the kitchen than other habanero's. The medium-sized, spreading plants are absolutely laden with fruit, and need support to stay upright.

Saved seeds from our stocks

Bhut Jolokia: (Capsicum chinense) Bhut Jolokia seeds, Ghost Chilli or Ghost Chile. The 'Blistering Hot' Indian Chilli Pepper that originates in the area of Assam, India. Bred and tested by the Chile Pepper Institute in Mexico (this source is one of the hottest peppers in the world) the origin of the seed they used was from Bih Jolokia bred in Assam India. Fruits of red/orange Bhut Jolokia ripen from green to orange through to red when fully ripe. Up to 1,001,304 Scoville Units.
Medusa: (Capsicum annuum) An old favourite, ornamental chilli Medusa Fruits are thin and twisted in a cone shape, held prominently upright over the foliage. Fruits start out ivory and as they mature turning yellow to orange and finally red. Can produce up to 50 fruits. Good manageable size to grow in pots.
Padron: (Capsicum annuum) When small, green and immature 1 in 10 are hot. they are usually fried and are very popular in Tapas bars. When red and mature all are hot. Good pot plant reaching over a metre high.

This Years Equipment

Growth Technology Chilli Focus Chillis and peppers have specific nutritional requirements. While it is true that they can perform reasonably well with general purpose “feeds”, the best results will be achieved by using a formulation designed specifically for them. Chilli Focus is precisely formulated for the needs of chillies and peppers – it does not contain urea. It supports the production of healthier, more vigorous plants and colourful, juicier fruits.
Growth Technology
Root Riot Cubes Made from composted organic materials, these cubes have a great spongy texture which retains the perfect air/water ratio for healthy, rapid root growth. Suitable for both cuttings and seeds, Root Riot® consistently outperforms alternative media. The cubes are specially inoculated with micro nutrients and biologically active ingredients to nourish young plants, and to aid root development.
Greenhouse Sensation Vitopod Precise control - the accurate electric digital thermostat can be set to any 1°C between 5°C and 30°C and the display shows the actual and the set temperatures. The lower temperatures are ideal for over-wintering cuttings and prized plants, the higher temperatures are great for getting hot chillis and exotic plant seeds off to a flying start and the middle temperatures are perfect for everything else. Large vents in lids and sides – for superior humidity control, so your plants don’t suffer from damping-off. Even Heat - our Vitopod delivers an even heat throughout the base, so there are no hot spots or cold spots and your seeds and cuttings will germinate evenly. Height adjustable – add the extra layers to give plants more space. Perfect for when the weather is taking its time to warm up enough for you to plant-out and for protecting taller mature plants from the cold. Robust - the Vitopod is built to last. The lids and sides are made from a robust acrylic and are treated to protect them against the UV deterioration which makes other propagators turn yellow and brittle.
Greenhouse Sensation
Chilligrow takes 3 young plants and grows them into mature plants that will produce bumper harvests. The 7 Litre Smart Reservoir keeps the chillis perfectly fed and watered at all times without ever over-watering.
Greenhouse Sensation Octogrow takes 8 young plants in 11 litre pots and keep them perfectly fed and watered at all times thanks to the large Smart Reservoir and FeederMat controlled watering, so that you raise healthier plants with bigger harvests.

Greenhouse Sensation Quad Grow
Bluebell keeping seedlings warm

February - March 2011

Feb 13: Propagator is full of first batch, all sown into root riot cubes and fleximix cubes. Vitopod is currently sitting in our conservatory at the moment and seems to happily hold 25-26°C. Some of the strains this year are repeats but we have decided to re grow as they are our favourites to cook with, amongst them the Padron and the Anaheim. As usual fresh new seeds are starting to germinate within 3 days, being kept even warmer by the cat.

Mar 6: Very good germination rates of nearly all the seeds, the only stubborn ones which are proving hard to germinate are our own saved Bhut Jolokia's. Almost 100% germination on most except about 10% on the Bhut's, not too good! Using these plugs is probably not the cheapest way to start seeds, but it is quick, clean and tidy if you only grow a few at home, and they don't usually suffer from wilting when transplanting into next pot.

Greenhouse Sensation Quad Grow
Seedlings showing in root cubes
Greenhouse Sensation Quad Grow
Label them well

March 2011

Mar 20: All plugs are now potted on into 60 mm square pots and labeled up. The weather is unpredictable with odd days of good sunshine and heat and the the next day starts off at -2°C. Be careful not to leave them with propagator in full sun with lid on as you may well loose the lot in a few hours. They are all still in our conservatory but a move to the greenhouse is imminent.

Greenhouse Sensation Quad Grow
3 inch rockwool cubes

April 2011

Apr 1: The roots are now showing well through the plugs so they are now dropped into the 70 mm rockwool cubes. To help with the roots coming through the base quicker we scrape out some of the base of the rockwool cube as the roots need to be well established and showing before putting into NFT

Apr 24: All are now ready for planting on, and this year we are trying out the growing kits from Greenhouse Sensation. The 8-pot Octogrow and the 3-pot Chilligrow along with our NFT Hydrosystems which we use each year, one of them being the Greenhouse Sensations Hydrogrow NFT - hydroponic kits which is many years old now and still going strong, and the rest will be in pots from 3 - 5 litres.

Trinidad 7 Pot Brown
Greenhouse Sensation Octogrow
Trinidad 7 Pot Brown
Octogrow pot with wick
Trinidad 7 Pot Brown
4-pot Octogrow filled
Greenhouse Sensation Quad Grow
Greenhouse Sensation ChilliGrow

Grow Systems

The 8-pot Octogrow has 2 sets of 4 x 11 litre pots keeping plants perfectly fed and watered at all times with the large 30 litre SmartReservoir and FeederMat controlled watering system. The FeederMats take water from the SmartReservoir up to the soil in each of the pots when the plants need it, this ensures your plants always receive the perfect balance of water, nutrients and oxygen, putting an end to under-watering and over-watering.

The 3-pot Chilligrow takes 3 young plants and grows them into mature plants that will produce bumper harvests. The 7 litre SmartReservoir keeps your chillis perfectly fed and watered at all times without ever over-watering. Each pot is 6 litres, large enough for healthy root growth but small enough to encourage early fruit development, giving fruit time to ripen and giving the plant time to produce bigger chilli harvests. The Chilligrow is also drip-proof, meaning it can be used indoors and ideal in a conservatory.

Greenhouse Sensation Quad Grow
NFT Hydrogrow 5 Plant Kit
Greenhouse Sensation Quad Grow
Filling the NFT tank

May 2011

May 03: Good progress as its only early May, must try and keep a good regular check on the watering and feeding of the pot plants this year and hopefully the weather will do the rest.

NFT Hydrogrow 5 Plant Kit has all 7 pot chillis planted in it, and with the Ferro 2 part start nutrients are making rapid progress already, so hopefully a bumper crop. Weather has now been good for a couple of weeks with good sunshine and plenty of heat during the day but still fairly cold at night.

Greenhouse Sensation Quad Grow
First greenhouse up and planted
Greenhouse Sensation Quad Grow
3-pot ChilliGrow

May 2011

May 04: Great!! groundfrost this morning, had to scrape ice of the van windscreen, this is MAY nearly for Summer heavens sake. Strange weather patterns nowadays. Its been nearly 2 weeks now and the Chilligrow and Octogrow are doing fine so must be taking the water up, that's some I won't need to keep an eye on as much this year. Just deciding whether to pinch a couple of tops out before too late as they are reaching skyward quickly now.

Greenhouse Sensation Quad Grow
4-pot Octogrow
Greenhouse Sensation Quad Grow
NFT Hydrogrow full of 7 pots

May 2011

May 29: Everything is doing well this year, been especially hot in the greenhouse for most of May with windows and doors fully open. Compost was mixed with good amounts of perlite this year and has held the water well considering the constant high temperature. Octogrow and Chilligrow have had a top up and holding up well, I thought they might have struggled to draw enough water to start with in this sudden heat but seem to be coping and have had to string them up as they are growing so quick. The smaller pot plants like the Medusa are flowering.

Greenhouse Sensation Quad Grow
Medusa

June 2011

June 20: First of the chillis forming are the Anaheims and the Serranos, which are all growing in the GS octogrow, these are now consuming a tank of water every 2 weeks. Some of the smaller ornamentals have a few fruits formed, with the Medusa looking the best. Just noticed small white specks, whitefly on a few of the annuum leaves, and the odd greenfly on the tips of some, these will now have a spray of invigorator, a soap and foilage feed to try and eradicate them, may take a few goes. All plants are doing well this year as we had such a good Spring for a change, I should thing this has brought everything forward by a few weeks and hopefully earlier chilli harvests.

June 25: All Medusa in pots have a good head of chillis on and the Loco's are also doing well with a few purple conical fruits on. Aphids still being troublesome so now spraying with pest off as well and then giving plants a good wash down the next day.

Greenhouse Sensation Quad Grow
Padrons
Greenhouse Sensation Quad Grow
Padrons

June 2011

June 30: Just picked the first of the Padrons for a bit of tapas tonight. (Heat a frying pan, add some olive oil and fry the Padrons until the skin begins to blister, drain them and drizzle with olive oil and a generous sprinkling of sea salt). All the Padron plants are fruiting but the ones in the self watering Octogrow are slightly bigger with more fruit on, same goes for the Anaheims which are also ready to harvest a few.

Trinidad 7 Pot Brown
Sparkler
Trinidad 7 Pot Brown
Aji Limo
Trinidad 7 Pot Brown
Habanero Trinity
Greenhouse Sensation Quad Grow
7 Pot
Greenhouse Sensation Quad Grow
7 Pot

June 2011

Sept 08: August weather wasn't that great, but all fruits now ripening well. Most of the Padrons and Anaheims are over as we have been eating them as soon as they were ready, so mainly hot types left now to harvest. Here can be seen the many similar shapes of the 7 pot to scorpions. All these strains produce similar characteristics, and grow very differently on bush to bush, from almost round dimpled pods to ones with stinging tails

Trinidad 7 Pot Brown
Medusa
Trinidad 7 Pot Brown
Fatalii
Trinidad 7 Pot Brown
Fairy Lights
Trinidad 7 Pot Brown
Habanero Trinidad
Trinidad 7 Pot Brown
Aji Limo
Trinidad 7 Pot Brown
Habanero Trinity
Greenhouse Sensation Quad Grow
Serrano
Greenhouse Sensation Quad Grow
7 Pot

September 2011

Sept 21: Big pick, with most of the fruits now reddened, nice big crop of Habanero's and 7 Pot. the QuadGrow, ChilliGrow and NFT all had, hopefully the last top up this year as it seems to be ending quicker this year with cold and damp mornings already. By the size and spacing of the plants I think the QuadGrow is more suited to a greenhouse having the space to grow larger plants while the ChilliGrow is ideal for 3 smaller types on a windowsill or similar. Masses of Aji Red Lemons now starting to turn, the plant must be 2 metres high in the QuadGrow.

November 2011

Nov 13: One of the Trinity's which was picked last month and cut back to a 2 cm stump and left in greenhouse has burst into life and is now looking like a nice little healthy bushy plant, so it has been trimmed up on the roots and re potted for a winter in the house, hopefully giving a good head start next year.

Nov 27: The last two plants in the NFT have just been picked and composted. These were the 7 Pods which were just left to finally ripen in the warmer then usual November.