Bulgarian Carrot

10 Chillies You Don’t Need to Plant Early

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In the northern hemisphere, early March is the time of year some people start to worry about not getting their chilli seeds sown early.

Don’t panic! Planting now is the perfect time, as long as you give them a healthy start and don’t stunt their growth with cold dark conditions they will perform perfectly. Too many people fall into the trap of planting earlier and earlier each year because last year their plants were slow. Change your conditions not your planting time and remember a laboratory grown habanero plant given perfect temperatures, light, food and humidity, will go from seed to fruit in 3 months. Most of us take nearly twice that time to achieve the same, but keep chasing that goal all the same.

But for those that are behind the times and haven’t even bought seeds yet, you still don’t need to panic, here are 10 chillies that will guarantee a bumper crop even if you don’t plant them till the end of March or April. If they are planted in the middle of March all of these bar the last one should bear you fruit by early July, so you see there is plenty of leeway, and they will do most of their growing, and catching up, in May and June when days are long and temperatures warm. For more info on germination times here is a page entry from last year.

1/ Apache F1 – This is definitely one of the easiest; almost foolproof germination, super-quick to grow, and pretty hot too. Its compact size means that it can be kept in a warm window without fear that it will outgrow its space. In the UK buy them from Sutton Seeds or any garden centre.

Apache Banner

Apache

2/ Pimento de Padron – This is quick, because the fruits are picked immature and fried to eat whole, instructions on how to grow and prepare them are here. They are very quick growing plants but they do get big, well over 1m tall, so they need the space of a greenhouse or conservatory to prosper. You can buy them from most garden centres or South Devon Chilli Farm.

Pimiento de Padron

Pimiento de Padron

3/ Hungarian Wax – These are another one that benefits from early picking, they end up red, but are most often picked when they have turned from yellow/green to a nice yellow banana colour, in fact they are often referred to as banana chillies. They can be chopped into salads or stuffed and grilled. they grow on a bushy plant, up to 75cm high and the same width. All garden centres and online seed sellers will stock these.

4/ Cheyenne – This is a compact plant with a slightly trailing habit so it is great for windows and smaller spaces, even hanging baskets. They are mildly spicy, good for general cooking and turn from green to orange when ready. Most garden centres stock this, or get it direct from Sutton Seeds.

Cheyenne

Cheyenne

5/ Bulgarian Carrot – For something reasonably hot, around 25,000 SHU, and great flavour, try this one. They are quick to ripen and grow close to the stems on strong upright plants, this makes them a manageable window plant. They have a distinctive fragrant taste and the fruits are firm and meaty with a long shelf life. In the UK you can buy them from Nikky’s Nursery, but most online seed sellers will have them.

Bulgarian Carrot

Bulgarian Carrot

6/ Chimayo – This is an old breed, but one that is renowned for an early crop of tasty red chillies. If it is classic looking red ones you are after, but don’t have much time, then this is the one for you. They are incredibly quick, almost as fast as Apache, but the plant is a bit of a rambler so they need some space. If you are into drying chillies and making powder this is a great one to grow. If you buy from the USA you can get them anywhere but in the UK try Nikky’s Nursery (again).

7/ Caldero – This is a Santa Fe, type chilli. Similar in uses to Hungarian wax, but smaller, a bit hotter, and slightly earlier to fruit than the standard Santa Fe. It is also more compact so it serves as a good window plant.

Caldero

Caldero

8/ Jalapeno la Bomba – You will always need jalapenos however late you plant, and this is quicker than the standard by a few days. In the UK you can buy them from Nikky’s Nursery, if you can’t get La Bomba, try Chichimeca, another quick one.

Jalapeno la Bomba

Jalapeno la Bomba

9/ Prairie Fire – Small hot chillies tend to be slower growing, but not Prairie Fire, they are probably the quickest of the little multi-coloured ones and of the 10 on this list they are the most compact too, so you can keep them in the window into the winter to maximise your crop. They are hot, at least 100,000 SHU which makes them a very quick win in terms of heat against time. You can buy them in most garden centres or online.

10/ Habanero – Paper Lantern – I would steer clear of Habaneros if you are planting late unless you have a warm greenhouse to keep them going into the autumn. But if you want to try it then go for paper lantern, they are a bit quicker than the standard ones and also a little bit hardier with their furry leaves and stems. In the UK get them from Thompson and Morgan but you can find them elsewhere online, particularly in the USA.

Paper Lantern Habanero

Paper Lantern Habanero

Don’t limit yourself to this list, there are many many more and most chillies don’t take that long too grow, just be sure you read the description and don’t overstretch your limits by choosing something that just won’t fruit in time.

Carolina Reaper – Growing the Hottest Chilli in the World

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I grew the Carolina Reaper for the first time last year, so I thought I’d relate my experiences and give a bit of info on what to expect.

This is the current record holder for the hottest chilli in the world, over 1.5m SHU.

I have probably grown most of the very hot ones over the years, but I don’t grow an awful lot of them as I’m not mad keen on super hot sauces and I find them quite difficult to offload onto other people, either as seedlings, mature plants or fruit. I obviously move in the wrong circles, most of my friends are happy to take anything I give them, but whether it is plants or fruit, they tend to prefer milder stuff.

Carolina Reaper

Carolina Reaper

The seeds, which came from Nicky’s Nursery and germinated well. I got 7 out of 10, which is pretty good going. On milder chillies I would expect 9 or 10 out of 10, but I am happy with 7 in this case. I always bang on about how difficult some of the very hot chillies can be, and how you have to get conditions absolutely right to get good germination but I’d say these performed well, proving that the seed stock was of good quality. I germinated them next to some Bhut Jolokia which did almost as well, so I must have got conditions right as Bhuts are very temperamental, susceptible to drying out or temperature fluctuations at critical times, and often take a long time.

These were all germinated in a heated propagator, in the region of 28-32°C and with constant humidity, and most were up within 12 days. More on germination times here. I used to use capillary matting in the bottom of propagators but these days I use about a cm of slightly moist sand to maintain a more steady level of warmth and humidity. This takes away the need to water the seed pots much at all, and the sand dissipates the heat coming from below so the pots don’t dry out from the bottom up. Once seeds have been planted in moist soil & vermiculite there probably won’t be much evaporation as the propagator lid is closed, so they won’t need to be drenched every day. As soon as seedlings start to emerge in a pot I move it to another propagator with a more open lid (or none at all)  to give them more air flow.

I started the seeds along with most of my others, during the first week in March. I know these have a long growing season, and need the best start as possible, but I am an advocate of not planting seeds too soon. Experts in growing super-hots might start them earlier than this, but only do so if you have the conditions to keep them healthy when the nights are still cold, even indoors. You may need artificial lighting too, don’t put yourself in a situation where they grow tall and straggly. You are better off planting a bit later and growing healthy plants. more on light here.

Generally the plants grew well, out of 7 plants there were a couple that didn’t seem to take and were slightly stunted, so these were relegated to the compost heap. The Carolina Reaper fruited a bit earlier than the Bhut Jolokias nearby, which is great, and generally had more fruit on them too. Like all of the super-hots these definitely respond to being given big pots and more room for root growth, you can get a pretty big plant if you give them a good chance in life. By big plant I mean up to 1.5m high, and 1m wide. I put one in a bucket sized pot, and got it to 1m. Put it in a barrel for something bigger, but don’t expect it to fruit quite as early, and consider where you might put it if you want to keep it over winter. Often it is best to keep things like this in a more manageable pot.