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The 2024 Chilli Growing Season Has Ended

Saturday, November 30, 2024

Well, chilli folks, it's a wrap for 2024. All of the chilli plants have now gone, which is a sad sight to see. The weather this season has been the worst I've known it in all the years I've been growing chilli plants. The only plants that didn't do as well as usual for me this year were the Rocotos. The fruit production was about normal, but maturity wise they were a good six weeks or more behind where they would normally have been for the time of year. This is no doubt due to the poor weather and the late start. As usual, my Rocoto plants were grown outside in the garden and had to battle the elements, including a torrential hail storm which caused damage to one of them, but nothing too severe.

San Isidro Rocoto and Aji Largo - 20th November 2024

My one and only remaining Capsicum chinense plant succumbed to a cold snap in late November, and when I went to check on it one afternoon I was greeted by an unhappy looking plant that had dropped most of its fruit. I had no choice but to pick the remaining chillies from the plant (but not the floor) and then take it down. Whilst I was at it, I also took down both of the Rocoto plants. Most of the remaining peppers had started ripening, and so I washed and dried them and placed them aside for a week for some of them to finish ripening. Some did finish ripening and some just turned orange. Rocotos take much longer to reach full maturity than other chillies, and had I have left them any longer than a week they would have started turning soft.

Chilli Harvest - 20th November 2024

The ripe and semi-ripe Rocotos have now been frozen and will be used up over the coming winter months in chilli con carne, pasta sauce and stir fries. All of the unripe ones have now been pickled and will be ready for eating in a couple more weeks, if I can wait that long!

Pickled Rocoto Peppers - 27th November 2024

I now have three freezer draws full of wonderful spicy goodness to keep me company through the winter. Carrying all those buckets of water to the greenhouse during the growing season really does pay off in the end. Anyway, I'll leave you will this photo showing the end of season ripeness.

End of Season Ripeness - 27th November 2024

All hail the Chilli Gods! 😈

Chilli Plant Update - 8th November 2024

Friday, November 08, 2024

Greetings, chilli fans. Sadly, the chilli growing season has almost come to a close for me now. On the 27th October I took down most of my indoor plants and the following day I took down the remaining indoor plants plus all except three of my plants in the glasshouse. Both of my Capsicum pubescence plants have now been moved into the glasshouse, and along with Scarlet Lantern they are the only plants I have left. The good news is that the Scarlet Lantern chillies are now starting to ripen, and this also includes the pods that I've isolated for seed saving. The Rocoto peppers are also starting to ripen and I've already harvested quite a few, but given how long it can take for Rocoto peppers to ripen I think it's going to be quite a while yet before most of them are ready for picking. Either way, the plants can remain in the glasshouse for as long as necessary.

Chilli Plant Leaves and Stems - 27th October 2024

Chilli Plants Taken Down - 28th October 2024

These next two photos were taken on the 28th October and show the remaining chillies on one of the Chocolate Habanero plants and one of the Papa Joe's Scotch Bonnet plants.

Chocolate Habanero - 28th October 2024

Papa Joe's Scotch Bonnet - 28th October 2024

These next two photos show the Moruga Scorpion plants and were taken between the 3rd and the 28th October. I now have two big bags full of Trinidad Moruga Scorpion chillies in the freezer and they will be added to phall curries and hot sauces over the coming months. It's going to be a super spicy winter!

Trinidad Moruga Scorpion - 3rd October 2024

Trinidad Moruga Scorpion - 28th October 2024

These next photos show my Capsicum pubescens plants (San Isidro Rocoto and Aji Largo) and were taken between the 17th October and the 7th November.

Aji Largo - 17th October 2024

San Isidro Rocoto - 19th October 2024

San Isidro Rocoto - 7th November 2024

San Isidro Rocoto and Aji Largo - 7th November 2024

I've also de-seeded all of the chillies I isolated for seed saving and the seeds are now drying nicely in the lounge. 😁

Chillies for De-seeding - 28th October 2024

Chilli Seeds - 30th October 2024

Last week, I made three jars of pickled chillies, using mostly Capsicum chinense varieties, and a batch of Habanero hot sauce, using some of the remainder of last year's chillies. I also intend to pickle some Rocoto peppers and I have enough remaining chillies from last year to make another two batches of hot sauce, which I'll do in a couple of weeks.

Spicemad's Habanero Hot Sauce - 7th November 2024

Pickled Chillies - 7th November 2024

These next couple of photos show my two most recent chilli harvests. The first one was taken on the 3rd October, shortly after harvesting the remaining green chillies on the Bangalore Torpedo plant, and the other was taken on the 29th October, and shows the remaining chillies from the plants that were recently taken down. The varieties shown in the photos below are Bell Pepper, Mako Akokosrade, Bangalore Torpedo, Orange Habanero, Chocolate Habanero, Charapon Amarillo, Trinidad Moruga Scorpion, Papa Joe's Scotch Bonnet, Malawi Bird's Eye and Peruvian White Habanero. There was also a few Fatalii chillies hidden somewhere beneath the pile of spicy goodness shown in the second photo.

Chilli Harvest - 3rd October 2024

Chilli Harvest - 29th October 2024

So, as you can see, the 2024 chilli growing season has almost come to a close for me now, but I'm still not quite there just yet. I'll hang on to the Rocoto plants for a while. They're not in the way in the glasshouse, but if I change my mind and decide to take them down early I'll just pickle the remaining unripe peppers. I've got isolated fruits on both plants for seed saving, so I want those to ripen at least. Have a great weekend! 🌶️

Chilli Plant Update - 27th September 2024

Friday, September 27, 2024

Hello from North Wales, on this somewhat cool, windy and partially overcast day. As of writing this post, it has just finished bucketing down with rain and now the sun is shining, but for how long, I wonder? Yesterday, it pretty much rained non-stop all day, and quite heavily at times too. Sadly, you know what that means, right? The weather has definitely started to change for the worst now and the 2024 chilli growing season is almost finished. Then again, the weather here in the UK is unpredictable at best, so it could change and turn quite nice again for a while. We can only live in hope! The chilli plants have done remarkably well this year considering the poor weather and the late start. I'm now beginning to wonder whether chilli plants even like sun or whether they just tolerate it because they have no other choice. 😁

The porch plants have been producing very well. I've been picking green chillies from the Bangalore Torpedo plant for several weeks now and using them in my Indian curries. I'll most likely harvest the remainder of them at the green stage and freeze them for later use. I'll just leave a couple on the plant to ripen so I can save seeds for next year. I've also been picking and freezing ripe Mako Akokosrade chillies for several weeks. A few weeks ago, I marked out two pods for seed saving and I'll leave those on the plant for a few more weeks yet before de-seeding them. At the back I have a Papa Joe's Scotch Bonnet plant and a Chocolate Habanero plant. Both have lots of pods on, but given how the plants weren't started off until April there is still a few weeks remaining before the bulk of the fruit ripens.

Chilli Plants in the Porch - 21st September 2024

The Aji Largo plant has produced a respectable amount of peppers given the terrible weather it has had to endure. However, it's only now that the first pepper is starting to ripen, so Gods only know how long it will be before the others begin to ripen. There are some good-sized peppers on the plant too. Along with my other C. pubescens plant, it will be moved into the glasshouse in a few weeks once the remainder of the tomatoes have ripened. There is no room at present.

Aji Largo - 26th September 2024

Aji Largo - 27th September 2024

I have two Bell Pepper plants and both have done quite well. Over the last few weeks, I've picked quite a few of them at the green stage to use in salads and stir fries, and the ones shown in this next photo have been left on the plant to ripen. Some of the peppers on the plant shown below have grown very large. The other plant has produced peppers that start off purple and are smaller and thinner-walled. I have no idea what colour they ripen to because I haven't had a ripe one yet. The seeds for both plants came from a packet labelled as 'Spectrum', so they could be any colour.

Bell Pepper - 26th September 2024

The Fatalii plant has performed very well in a 5-litre pot in a window, which is less than ideal conditions for most chilli plants. Since harvesting the remainder of ripe chillies the plant has now produced another 10 pods (that I can see). This variety is definitely not a great choice for window growing, but it can be done.

Fatalii - 23rd August 2024

The San Isidro Rocoto plant is doing okay, but as with its cousin, Aji Largo, the weather hasn't exactly been kind to it this season. It is growing very slowly and a couple of weeks ago some of the top growth was damaged in a hailstorm. It too will be moved into the glasshouse in a few weeks.

San Isidro Rocoto - 26th September 2024

The Scarlet Lantern plant was slow to get going but it has now produced a respectable amount of chillies. I've no idea how long they will take to ripen, but given how it is a Peruvian variety it should be able to handle slightly lower temperatures than many other C. chinense varieties. If the weather gets too cold I will move it indoors to give the chillies chance to ripen. We haven't come this far just to give up! The first photo was taken on the 7th September and the other two were taken yesterday.

Scarlet Lantern - 7th September 2024

Scarlet Lantern - 26th September 2024

The Trinidad Moruga Scorpion plants have been like pod factories this year. I already have a decent amount of ripe ones in the freezer and they will be used up over the coming months in chicken phall curry and in batches of hot sauce. Here are a few photos that were taken over the last month or so.

Trinidad Moruga Scorpion - 23rd August 2024

Trinidad Moruga Scorpion - 27th August 2024

Trinidad Moruga Scorpion - 7th September 2024

Trinidad Moruga Scorpion - 26th September 2024

Due to a lack of time and poor weather conditions I haven't had the chance to take photos of the plants, but here are a few photos showing some of my recent chilli harvests. All but four of the Papa Joe's Scotch Bonnets that are shown in the following photos were harvested from just one plant growing in a 5-litre pot in a window. The bulk of Papa Joe's Scotch Bonnets, Chocolate Habaneros, Moruga Scorpions, Aji Largos and San Isidro Rocotos have still yet to ripen. Fingers crossed that there is still enough time left for them to do so.

Chilli Harvest - 27th August 2024

Chilli Harvest - 31st August 2024

Chilli Harvest - 2nd September 2024

Chilli Harvest - 7th September 2024

Aji Mochero - 7th September 2024

Chilli Harvest - 26th September 2024

I hope that your chilli growing season has been bountiful and that the Chilli Gods have blessed you with lots of wonderful spicy goodness! 😛

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The 2024 Chilli Growing Season Has Ended

Chilli Plant Update - 8th November 2024

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