This year I have grown mostly tomatoes and chillies. I got the chilli bug quite late this year so the crop is fairly modest, but I am already starting to prepare for next year. Here is my current chilli list. Some will be overwintered for next year, some are only seedlings ready for next year and some were started very late from homegrown seed and will just produce a couple of chillies before the end of the year.
WARNING! This was meant to be a quick list of the varieties I am currently growing, My mistake was failing to realise the shear number of varieties I am actually growing. There are 45 varieties here and I still have seeds to start. I have not counted how many plants, the numbers too scary. I think if i new how many I might not be able to justify starting more and there is so many more I want to try. There is also all the chilli relatives I am beginning to start off. Hopefully this post will serve as a background for future posts and can be referred back to when needed.
Chilli Capsicum
There are many species of chilli pepper. Five have been domesticated. These are annuum, baccatum, chinense, frutescens and pubescens. As well as the domesticated species there are a few wild species it is possible to obtain seeds for and grow. The reason I enjoy growing capsicum is the huge variety in colour, shape, flavour and growing habit. Also the possibility of hybridisation between varieties and species. Genetics is something I have always been very interested in. I enjoy trying to predict how genetic traits are passed down (similar to why I enjoy keeping and breeding guppies in my aquariums).
Capsicum annuum
Chilli peppers from this species are often the easiest/fastest chillies to grow. They range in heat from the sweet bell pepper to the Thai chilli, which can be pretty hot. They can be overwintered but often work better as annuals, as they grow so quickly overwintering is often unnecessary work. There are some varieties developed as ornamentals. These are edible, despite what some garden centre plant labels may say, but were developed for looks not flavour.
Cayenne - Long, red, tapered hot pepper. Used for drying. Garden centre plants produced OK x 4
Cheyenne - Short, stocky, wrinkled, orange, mild pepper. Good for stuffing/sauces salads. Garden centre plants mislabeled 'Jalapeño' that produced well x 3
Superchilli F1 - Short, tapered, red, hot, Thai style peppers. Versatile in use. A garden centre plant that produced very well. x 1
Hot banana - Long, large, tapered, waxy peppers. Can be harvested green/yellow or allowed to ripen to red. Good for stuffing/frying whole. A garden centre plant labelled paper lantern that produced OK. x 1
Apache F1 - Short, wrinkled, red, hot pepper. Good for drying. Garden centre plants, some put in big pots some in small krafky pots (I will devote a post to explaining these at some point). Produced well. x 5
Gustav purple F1?- Small, tapered hot peppers that ripen from purple to red. Used in cooking. A garden centre plant that took a long time to establish. Produced OK in the end. x 1
Chenzo F1 - Small cone shaped, shorter than Gustav, hot peppers that ripen from black to green to red. used for cooking as too fleshy for drying. A garden centre plant that produced well. x 1
Caldero - Medium sized, tapered, chunky, waxy pepper. Good for stuffing and general use. A garden centre plant that produced well. x 1
Thai dragon - Short, Thai, very hot pepper that ripens red. Good for cooking sweet chilli. Garden centre plants that were slow to set fruit. Produced OK in the end. x 3
Rodeo - Round, cherry type, hot pepper. Good for stuffing. A garden centre plant that was slow to grow, produce and to ripen. x 1
Fresno - Tapered, cone shaped, red, hot pepper. versatile use. Garden centre plants that produced late but well. x 1
Krakatoa F1 - Small, stubby, ornamental pepper. OK for drying. Garden centre plant that shows much longer peppers on plant label. Bought as ornamental but hasn't produced well. x 1
Masquerade F1- Small, thin, tapered, hot, ornamental pepper. Peppers start off white, change to purple, then ripen red. OK for drying. Garden centre plants bought for ornamental purposes, but produced well enough to make a good drying pepper for bulking out other varieties with more flavour. x 2
Hungarian black - Small, chunky, cone ended, hot pepper that ripens from black to deep red. Plant has purple flowers. Good for drying. Plants grown from un-isolated homegrown seed that conformed to correct phenotype (the plants and peppers were correct for the variety). seeds were started late as I only got the chilli bug again in late may, so these seeds were started in early June. Plants have lots of flowers and small peppers on but rill need to ripen indoors. x 2
Hungarian black x ?(something bigger) F1 - This pepper is larger and wider, in relation to length. The peppers are still green, some have some stripes of purple/black but this maybe just sunburn. Plant grown from un-isolated homegrown seed. I grew at least 40 varieties the year I collected these seed so the other parent of this pepper could be almost anything. That said I would guess a bell or sweet-bite pepper by the size of the first pod. I will write this pepper its own blog post at some point, maybe when the first pepper ripens. x 1
Cyklon - Medium size, cone shaped, sharp, red, mildly hot peppers. Polish paprika pepper great for drying. Plants grown from un-isolated homegrown seed conforming to phenotype. Plants are fast growing (often overly so plants becoming leggy) but still only ave a few green peppers on as were started so late. x 4
Sweet bonnet - Seedlings started in September for overwintering and early start next year. Bought seeds in garden centre on introductory price 99p. x 1
Italian market red cherry - Seedlings started in September for overwintering and early start next year. Round, cherry type, hot pepper. Good for stuffing. Seeds were grown from a cherry type found on an Italian market by my mum while she was on holiday. x 4
Yellow tesco chilli - Seedlings started in September for overwintering and early start next year. Pepper was tapered, cone shaped, like a yellow fresno. x 3
Capsicum baccatum
This species is "wilder" than the previous but still has many cultivators. Plants tend to grow fairly quickly, getting large and requiring support. The peppers often have a citrus like flavour and are usually hot. The peppers need a long time to ripen so overwintering is worth trying but can be difficult with this species.
Hot lemon, aji lemon drop - Flattened, tapered, yellow pepper with especially citrus like flavour. Meant to be good with fish. I have found it nice in sauces. Two plants grown from garden centre plants, two from unisolated homegrown seed. The two from homegrown seed did not produce peppers this year so may not conform to phenotype but have still been cut-back for overwintering. x 4
Aji ominicolour - Seedlings
Aji crystal - Seedlings
Aji amarillo - Seedlings. Large peppers I probably will not ripen in a year but everyone raves about The flavour so I will try.
Capsicum chinense
This species of pepper contains the superhots like the scotch bonnet. The peppers within this species have a characteristic fruity tropical aroma and flavour. Most of the varieties within this species are cut above the other species in heat. There are however exceptions with all the trademark flavour and no or very little heat. I have collected quite a few of these varieties for next year. Chinense varieties like hotter and dryer growing conditions than either of the previous species, which means they struggle to produce outside.
Big sun habanero - Large (for a chinense), boxy, habanero-shaped (yes I know, but look it up!), very hot, yellow pepper. good for sauces and Caribbean cooking. Garden centre plant that has grown very large as was in a large flower bucket with a wick into reservoir. Initially set 8 pods but now has hundreds of small pods and flowers. x 1
Chocolate habanero - A small, boxy, habanero shaped, super hot, chocolate brown pepper. Meant to be good for hotter sauces and Caribbean cooking. A garden centre plant that grew fairly large. This is the second time I have tried to grow this pepper and although it seemed to grow well, it produced very little. I may try to overwinter but I won't be trying again from seed. x 1
Paper lantern habanero - a longer, sharp ended, very hot, red pepper. Good for sauces and Caribbean cooking. Garden centre plants that grew quickly but didn't set many fruit. The two plants I kept in small pots produced better than the much larger plant that was in a flower bucket. This variety inspired me to maybe keep lots of plants in small pots next year rather than few plants in large pots. x 3
Carolina reaper - a wrinkled, boxy, tailed, stupidly hot, red pepper. Currently the hottest pepper in the world but this changes fairly often as new peppers are tested. Also I am pessimistic about this being a stable variety as many pictures I have seen around do not conform to phenotype(mine doesn't). A garden centre plant that stayed fairly small even in a large pot. Despite this it produced more peppers than my other chinense varieties. I have tried the heat by piercing the pepper with a knife and then touching knife to my tongue. It was a searing, probably unusable heat. I will probably overwinter just for the novelty value. x 1
Trinidad scorpion Moruga - A wrinkled, boxy, tailed, stupidly hot, red pepper. Similar to the reaper, it was the previous hottest pepper in the world. A garden centre plant that grew large, got attacked by aphids, so did not produce well. I doubt I will overwinter because I am limited on space and as I have the reaper I don't need two stupidly hot varieties. x 1
Tobago seasoning - Small plants started in September for overwintering and early start next year. A low heat chinense variety. x 2
Frontera sweet - Small plants started in September for overwintering and early start next year. A low heat chinense variety. x 1
CGN21500 - Small plants started in September for overwintering and early start next year. Pepper has not been named but has amazing colour. Peppers start purple and ripen peach. x 2
Gambian red habanero - Small plants started in September for overwintering and early start next year. A large podded, hot, red, habanero type. x 1
Chupetinho - Seedlings started in September for overwintering and early start next year. A little lower heat chinense variety. x 4
Rocotillo - Seedlings started in September for overwintering and early start next year. x 1
Italian market yellow scotch bonnet - Seedlings started in September for overwintering and early start next year. Very Large (for a chinense), typically scotch bonnet shaped, very hot, yellow pepper. Seeds were grown from a scotch bonnet found on an Italian market by my mum while she was on holiday. x 3
Tesco habanero - Seedlings started in September for overwintering and early start next year. Two shapes of red, and one yellow habanero type pepper from Tesco. I have a pair of each type growing. x 6
Capsicum pubscens
This black seeded pepper is the "wildest" of the cultivated chilli pepper species. Plants are hairy, hence pubscens. Plants can take, and in fact prefer cooler temperatures than the other cultivated species. These peppers overwinter well and can live many years. The peppers use different levels of chemicals to produce heat to the other peppers. This gives them a unique heat and flavour.
Rocoto red - a large, round, juicy, red, hot pepper. Great for stuffing. The first plant I got this year. Bought from eBay as small plant for too much money. One of my favourite varieties because of its unique flavour. Produced well, better than I have done other years. Seemed to like the partial shade outside I planted it in. x 1
Giant red rocoto - Seedlings started in September for overwintering and early start next year. x 2
Large red rocoto - Seedlings started in September for overwintering and early start next year. x 2
Giant yellow rocoto - Seedlings started in September for overwintering and early start next year. x 2
Mini rocoto - Seedlings started in September for overwintering and early start next year. x 2
Rocoto Montufur - Seedlings started in September for overwintering and early start next year. x 2
Turbo pube - Seedlings started in September for overwintering and early start next year. x 2
Capiscum frutscens
Similar to and possibly should be part of annuum.. peppers tend to be hot, juicy, and tappered
Tabasco - Seedlings started in September for overwintering and early start next year. Used to make the famous sauce. Strangely "Tabasco sauce" is copyrighted, the pepper variety is not, so you can't call sauce made from this variety "Tabasco sauce". You CAN call it "Sauce made from Tabasco peppers". I may attempt to make some Tabasco style sauce but mainly growing this variety so I have a frutescens variety in the collection. x 2
Wild species
The are a few wild chilli pepper species available. These have different characteristics to the domesticated varieties, often with interesting all detailed flowers. Usually the peppers are small, round and red. So far I have only started one wild species for next year. I will try to collect and start of a few more for species for next year but I am at the limit of what i can justifiably spend on seeds this month, so maybe next month.
Capiscum praetermissum
Cumari pollux - Seedlings started in September for overwintering and early start next year. Peppers are small and red and are meant to have a unique flavour. x 2
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