Hi all! As you know, I live in a wet, rainy climate... It gets a bit warmer in the summer, though. Anyways, I want to grow hot peppers from seed. I remember last year I bought an established plant with green peppers already on it, and I had a couple red peppers I harvested. I don't have a fancy greenhouse or anything, but I do have some shelves with a plastic covering that goes over it. (It is kind of like a small, unheated greenhouse.) Do you think I can grow hot peppers here? Or at least try? And does anyone reccomend any early, tasty, (not terribly hot, please!) :) varieties of hot peppers? I'd love to try anything! Thanks for the help! ~tgplp
Hot peppers don't seem to get as hot in the cool PNW summers. However, they will grow just fine, especially if you start them early enough. If you plan to grow them outdoors, it really helps to cover them with a cloche until the weather warms up. I grow Jalapeno and Anaheim and get good crops of both. The heat in Anaheim is quite variable, from extremely hot to practically no heat at all. It makes eating them more interesting, since you don't know what to expect. They are fairly early for a hot pepper and are very productive. The Jalapenos are later, but I always get plenty of fully ripe, red ones. The plants are smaller; so the overall production is less than Anaheim's. I have grown some of the small, extremely hot peppers in the past and gotten good crops of really hot peppers; but, like you, I don't want so much heat that it overwhelms the taste of the pepper.
Last year, when I bought the transplant of the pepper plant- I got a 'Big Jim Anaheim', and it did turn out a bit spicy- I chopped it up and put it in spaghetti- yum! What time should I start seeds of hot peppers? Do you have any other hot pepper varieties you want to reccomend? ( As you have noticed, I loooooove trying tons of types of veggies) Thanks, Vitog! ~tgplp
If you are going to protect the pepper plants with a cloche, you can start them in February and set them out in April. Without a cloche I would start them a month later. I grow sweet peppers mainly; so I can't really recommend any other hot varieties. I would think that any early variety would work, especially if we get a summer like last year's.
I'm adding to this existing thread, hoping for useful information or internet links about overwintering peppers. It has always seemed like a waste to toss pepper plants after a summer. I have built a greenhouse this year and I'm hoping to increase my pepper production by growing my peppers in it, but I'd like go save my plants for next year. Has anyone ever tried to bareroot pepper plants and store them for another year in the garden. I would also consider other methods and if I do nothing else I'll probably dig up my plants put them in containers leave them in the greenhouse and hope for the best.
