Hello all! Let me start by letting you know a little about me. My name is Jay Calvert and well, when I set my mind to doing something, I learn everything I can about it then try to get it right the first time. I have many hobbies that have come from this, cooking, woodworking, gardening and that technical stuff that I get paid for on a day to day basis.
I have been growing peppers for quite a few years I have soaked up a lot of information on the subject of growing hot peppers and I would like to pass that along to you. One thing I must stress is that I am not a horticulturalist, I have no formal education in gardening, pest control or plant diseases, I am just a guy who loves growing hot peppers and the many rewards that follow.
Now, I don’t have the luxury of living in one of the warmer climates of the world but luckily enough do have a summer that generally lasts for about 4 months of pure sun. To get around this shorter growing season, I start as early as possible. Most pepper plants have a maturity period that goes from 70 – 90 degree days (that means from rock hard seed to producing edible peppers). Some can be really stubborn to get going so extra care is really required if you want to fit it into that 90 days (before the frost comes). For example, I have seen cases where Habanero seeds took 60 days to get to a seedling. The main reason for this is that the Habanero is from a really warm climate, starting a seed in a cold environment can really hinder its growth if not properly planned.
Now is about the time that I get started planning for my First Weekend in March seed planting ritual. What we are about to cover in the coming articles, anybody can do. You do not need to have a large garden already prepared for our plants, nor do you really have to even have a balcony. All you really need is room to put some pots that will get as much sun exposure as possible. If you are looking at growing some of the more prolific plants such as Habaneros, I suggest a larger pot (1 foot across) but if you are looking at some of the smaller bush peppers, you can get away with a 8-10 inch pot that you can probably sit on a window sill or even still – a planter box. These plants actually do not even need to be outdoors.
Coming up we will cover seeds, soil, containers, lighting and heat.
— Jay
Written by Jay
Nick Lindauer founded Hot Sauce Blog in 2004, making it one of the internet's very first hot sauce review sites. After 20+ years of tasting, reviewing, and attending every major fiery foods event in the country, he's back behind the keyboard covering the hot sauce world he helped build.
17 responses to “Makin’ Habaneros”
Jay, nice piece. I am curious if anyone experimented and planted more than one kind of seed together in the same pot. For example a orange hab with a tepin. Just to see what might happen. I had the strangest trees in my old home backyard when I was kid. There were 3 different trees grown ontop of each other, and they became intertwined and they all strived. I don’t remember which trees they were because I was about 10-12 when my parents decided to do away with them. I always thought it looked so cool how the trunks twisted around each other.
I just wonder if you took an ordinary bell pepper and planted a very hot pepper with it, would the bell pepper be effected heatwise by the soil around the two types of seeds? This might be a question for Jim Campbell.
Peppers are very easy to cross pollenate. This is the main reason I don’t keep seeds from one season to the next. If you have a Habanero plant next to say a Jalepeno plant and a bee comes along and stops at the habanero plant then on to the Jalapeno plant right after. The seeds that that one pepper that came from that one Jalapeno flower, planted the following year, will have a Jalapeno look but quite possibly the heat of the habanero.
I have heard that if you want to avoid this the plants have to be almost 100 feet away from each other.
Jay
I’m getting anxious to start my plants. Jolokia, Scorpions, Fatalli, Red Savina all from seeds. First time ever doing this so I’m reading up all I can about growing em.
Welcome Hudd,
We are going to be going through this from start to finish. Hope you have a good crop!
All it takes is a little know how, and you are off to the races.
Jay
I grew some KILLER HABANEROS last summer. I put the habanero plants in front of everything else in the garden. When an animal would come to front for some free food they smell the habaneros and would leave all the other plants alone. I used as many fresh habaneros as I could and then dried the rest. If you use a razor blade and slice the peppers into quarters they dry really nice. Once dried I used a spice chopper and finely chopped up the rest of them and put them in a spice jar on the rack.
Anybody ever try one of those Aerograden thingys?
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Buddah – Yes, good for herbs and the like and will grow peppers, but I find that the aerogarden is invaribaly too small for the pepper plant and it’s forced to a limited pepper production (which is good if that’s what your going for).
Jay – Thanks for doing this piece – very interesting and like most others out there I’m gearing up to get my pepper plants ready as well. But I’m going to be building raised beds outside
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Beware- the Jalokias take a LONG time to mature. Here in San Diego, it hasn’t been too cold this winter, so my yield on last years Jalokia planting should be a lot better (god- those things are toxic!).
Nick, have you seen the newer AeroGarden Delux? I think it is a lot bigger than the original.
MY FIRST JOLOKIA JUST POPPED UP THE OTHER DAY. I GOT SEEDS TWO YEARS AGO FROM ENGLAND. I HAVE THE PEAT POTS IN THE SPARE BEDROOM SITTING ON A HEATING BLANKET.
i ordered seeds last year from england,they told me they could not send them to the u.s. anyone know where i can get some jolokia seeds?wow, starting peppers already;5 below zero & snowing like crazy.guess ill need more hot sauce to get me thru the night. i mixed some savina’s & jalapeno’s in the same pots last year[on purpose] & the jalapene’s definately came out hotter. yeah.
Gary, you could try checking with chilewoman.com as I believe she had them in limited quantities last year.
There are several places that I am mentioning in the next article but I would recommend http://www.chilepepperinstitute.org/ for Bhut Jolokias.
Jay
thanks for the info, i will definately find some this year. anybody know where to find fresh jolokias? i sure would like to try some of those darlings. thanks again
well my dads friend grew peppers and didnt know what to do with them so he gound them up into a spice almost. if you plan on growing a lot of peppers how can you keep them fresh during the winter or is there a better way to do it??
Cross country nurseries has Jolokia plants (dunno about seeds) and fresh peppers (when in season). I ordered a few of the fresh peppers last season and this year I’ll be planting them myself.
Is it possible to grow Habaneros in Southern New England? Or would I be wasting my time?