Things have been a bit slow here this year at the chilli house, and this is no doubt due to the poor weather that we experienced in July. Temperatures were quite low for the time of year and light levels weren't that great either. However, thankfully there was a break in the weather last week and since then the whole tribe seems to be much happier. We've had some really scorching hot days recently and today is certainly no exception. It's only in the past couple of weeks that some of the
Capsicum chinense varieties have started setting fruit, so it's going to be a long growing season I think.
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Chilli Plants in the Porch - 11th August 2020
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Chilli Plants in the Greenhouse - 11th August 2020
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I picked the first ripe chillies from one of the
Aji Mochero plants 10 days ago and at the end of the season I'll be making a batch of my hot sauce using this variety. The plant on the left is growing on the landing windowsill and the one on the right is growing in a kitchen window. The one on the right gets less sun and is ahead of its counterpart on the left.
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Aji Mochero - 9th August 2020
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Aji Mochero - 9th August 2020
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Aji Mochero - 9th August 2020
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About four weeks ago I re-potted the
Alberto's Locoto plant into a 12-litre pot and moved it outside into the garden. The plant is coming along nicely and has set about 50 peppers thus far, although none have ripened yet.
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Alberto's Locoto - 10th August 2020
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Alberto's Locoto - 9th August 2020
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Alberto's Locoto - 9th August 2020
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Alberto's Locoto - 11th August 2020
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Alberto's Locoto - 9th August 2020
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Alberto's Locoto - 27th July 2020
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Alberto's Locoto - 27th August 2020
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Alberto's Locoto - 10th August 2020
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The
Aribibi Gusano plant has been quite prolific considering it's only growing in a 5-litre pot in a bedroom window. These chillies make for a very tasty addition to any homemade salsa.
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Aribibi Gusano - 31st July 2020
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Aribibi Gusano - 31st July 2020
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Aribibi Gusano - 31st July 2020
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Aribibi Gusano - 31st July 2020
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Aribibi Gusano - 31st July 2020
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Both
Chocolate Habanero plants are coming along nicely, although only the porch plant is shown in these next five photos. When I took these photos the greenhouse plant had droopy leaves and was in dire need of water. The porch plant has set about 40 chillies thus far, but its counterpart in the greenhouse is slightly behind and has only recently started setting fruit.
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Chocolate Habanero - 9th August 2020
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Chocolate Habanero - 9th August 2020
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Chocolate Habanero - 9th August 2020
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Chocolate Habanero - 9th August 2020
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Chocolate Habanero - 9th August 2020
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The
Habanero Numero Diez plant is still producing lots of flowers, but all of the chillies it has produced thus far are undersized, just as I expected.
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Habanero Numero Diez - 9th August 2020
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Both
Inca Red Drop plants seem very happy as usual and I started picking ripe chillies from them about three weeks ago. I've been using some of these in my tuna and pasta salads. About four weeks ago I finally got around to moving the greenhouse plant outside into the garden.
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Inca Red Drop - 9th August 2020
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Inca Red Drop - 12th August 2020
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Inca Red Drop - 9th August 2020
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Inca Red Drop - 27th July 2020
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About five days ago I picked the first ripe chillies from the
Mako Akokosrade plant, and today I noticed that several more are now starting to ripen. This variety has a very pungent aroma and flavour and I already have a great idea in mind for how I'm going to use these.
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Mako Akokosrade - 9th August 2020
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Mako Akokosrade - 9th August 2020
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Mako Akokosrade - 9th August 2020
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Mako Akokosrade - 9th August 2020
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There are some strange goings-on with this year's
Red Mayan Habanero plant. Some of the leaves are misshapen and the chillies don't have the correct shape. In fact, I noticed yesterday that some of them appear to have the same pimply skin texture that you'd expect to see on a
superhot variety. It may be possible that the chilli I took seeds from was the result of an accidental cross with either
Dorset Naga or
Trinidad Moruga Scorpion, but it still doesn't explain the misshapen leaves though. When I grow this variety next year I'll use my 2016 seed stock instead of the 2018 seed stock, just to be sure.
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Red Mayan Habanero - 9th August 2020
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Red Mayan Habanero - 9th August 2020
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Red Mayan Habanero - 9th August 2020
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Red Mayan Habanero - 9th August 2020
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The
Ring of Fire plant didn't like being in the kitchen so I found it a new growing spot and it has now set another 20 chillies. Originally, I had intended to dry all of the chillies on a windowsill, but given that the weather wasn't very nice in July I decided to freeze most of them instead. However, it turned out that even though the weather wasn't very nice, the chillies that I did leave on the windowsill
dried out very nicely in the end. At one point I was concerned about them turning mouldy.
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Ring of Fire - 9th August 2020
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Ring of Fire Flower - 9th August 2020
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Ring of Fire - 9th August 2020
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Dried Ring of Fire Chillies - 9th August 2020
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Both
Yellow Jelly Bean Habanero plants are producing very nicely and at the end of the season I'll be making a batch of my hot sauce using this variety. Yellow Jelly Bean Habanero is one of
my favourite varieties. The chillies have an excellent aroma and flavour and they pack a real punch for their size.
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Yellow Jelly Bean Habanero - 9th August 2020
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Yellow Jelly Bean Habanero - 9th August 2020 |
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Yellow Jelly Bean Habanero - 9th August 2020 |
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Yellow Jelly Bean Habanero - 9th August 2020 |
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Yellow Jelly Bean Habanero - 9th August 2020 |
Here are a couple of photos that were taken recently showing two small chilli harvests. The ones shown in the first photo are: Ring of Fire, Inca Red Drop, Aji Mochero, Yellow Jelly Bean Habanero and
Aji Largo. The ones shown in the second photo are: Aji Mochero, Aribibi Gusano, Inca Red Drop, Mako Akokosrade and Heat n' Neat.
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Chilli Harvest - 27th July 2020
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Chilli Harvest - 11th August 2020
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Here's a photo that was taken about an hour ago showing three of the greenhouse plants enjoying some much needed summer sunshine.
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Aji Limo (top), Dwarf Chiltepin (centre) and Aji Arnaucho - 15th August 2020
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Hopefully, this nice weather will continue for many more weeks to come and then the greenhouse plants can spend the days outside in the garden. All hail the Chilli Gods. 😛