Intro
I’ve grown peppers idly for a number of years but only a few varieties. Cataloguing what’s been happening and when it’s happening is helping me to figure out the variations and errors and the kinds of peppers that grow best in this corner of Cornwall. It’s the first time I’ve given it any thought.
In the past I’ve grown almost exclusively Annuums and have had some luck with those. I’ve been given the odd plant of other species now and then, with at least one Baccatum, but even gift peppers have been mostly Annuums. I’ve never tried growing either Chinense or Pubescens (or Frutescens) at all.
So the progress of these different species and varieties is interesting to me and I’m noting what’s happening when and with which species.
Progress
A crude summary might be:
· The month of April is for Annuums
· The month of May is for Baccatums
· The month of June is for the Pubescens
The Chinense are still slow. I’m not sure they have a month.
Chinense. The Orange Habaneros have very, very slowly crept up, begrudgingly, swearing and spitting. A couple of them look pretty healthy, but they haven’t had any sudden moment of joyous frondescence. Maybe slow and steady will win the race. But the other Chinense, the Lemon Starr Burst, has not grown at all. It’s little more than a seedling. I’m going to keep them in place for now, just to see what happens, but I don’t have much hope.
Annuums. These took off early. In April the Jalapenos and the Cayennetta shot up and the Ring of Fire were close behind, having been disrupted by an early accident (see here). As of today, the Cayennetta has continued to thrive. They are exactly where I’d want them to be, with three plants exceptional and a couple of others very good, flowering exuberantly. The Ring of Fire are okay, way behind the Cayennetta, but they’re branching out and I have some hope. The Jalapenos, however, have paused. Since they came outside a month ago they have stopped growing. The temperatures out here are a little variable, and I reckon that’s the issue. We have had some cool nights and some very hot days in the greenhouse. Even with the windows and doors open it has been regularly over 30C degrees in the day and fairly regularly around 10C at night. So I think the Jalapenos are slightly fussier than the Cayennetta. But - and this might be important - I started the Cayennetta earliest. Maybe I should start everyone off earlier next year.
Baccatum. I was really despondent about these through April and then in May their leaves started broadening. They have a really pleasing leaf shape. I grew two varieties from seed, the Sugar Rush Peach Stripey and the Zebrange, and have since been given an Aji Cristal. I’ve been enjoying watching them catch up and I’ve enjoyed following their moods. They seem the most temperamental, in terms of either looking really broad-leafed and jolly or completely sulky and I wouldn’t be surprised if they either fired out mountains of flowers imminently or just died. They have slowed down again in June so we’ll see what happens next.
Pubescens. Like the Chinense, these stopped when they were very small and did nothing for months. Over the past fortnight, however, they have started pushing out lots more lower leaves and their tops have sprouted upwards. It feels pretty sudden. I think it is due to the warm cloudy weather we’ve had, so that they’re staying a nice temperature but not soaking up too much direct sun. I really like these plants so far.
Two lessons I need to remember for next year are using better seed compost at the beginning and maintaining early light and warmth (as much as possible) so the plants are as strong as they can be by the time they need to start flowering.
Comments