Cayenne vs Scotch Bonnet

This are 2 plants planted in the same conditions and at the same time - see the difference in shape and amount of peppers. Scotch Bonnet is so much wider in the way it grows, while Cayenne is more slender and taller.

Very hot chilli pepper for hot pepper sauces - meet Scotch Bonnet...

Yes, Scotch Bonnet is very hot chilli pepper - on the heat scale it get 7 points out of 10, while 10 is capsicum in pure state - which means that there is no such plant in the world to get 10 points. This capsicum is great for producing hot pepper sauces at home. I think one plant will do to satisify entire family for entire season plus winter :) it is really, really hot - remember to wear gloves while working with this pepper in the kitchen.
In total I collected 11 peppers from this beauty pictured below - isn't she lovely?
I grew it in the pot, because I was planning to make overwintering trial. Unfortunately I am not very good gardener and snow caught my babies outside... I will give them chance this year again.

First pepper comes from Scotch Bonnet - day 155

This year all my peppers are late. At this time, last year we already had nice crop of Cyklon peppers. I dried all of them and as powder they were enough for us until now.

This year we grow Scotch Bonnet, Cayenne and Zvonek - you can see the size they have reached in May just before they went to garden.

Looking at the time of blooming and fruiting, my conclusion is that first half of March is too late for us to start the seeds. Coming year I will do it in February.

Look at this first fruit of Scotch Bonnet. It has surprisingly nice shape.....

but surprisingly small size (this is one of the smallest coins I have in my pockets) .........

Such small size is not surprising at all if you know that the plant was in the constant flood in June - in fact, I am surprised it is still alive and producing fruits. Coming fruits seem to be bigger.

Capsicums like painting - May 2009

They are just about to get out to the garden, so I made last windowsill report.
So far Red Rocoto is my biggest dissapointment - first, they were very long to germinate, then from 10 black seeds only 3 sprouted, then ony 1 have survived. As you can see on the picture it is very small at the day 70 from date of sowing.

I do not have previous experince with C. pubescens, I kno that they are late to grow and also best to overwinter. I looked for the seeds in many places. Finally got them from Hungary. Internet wonderful thing!

See the difference in Cayenne size? It became available in 2 different sizes, even if it is at the same age. Maybe soil caused it? In few days I will plant them in new soil, outside in the pots.

Chilli Pepper on the Windowsill - Cayenne Pepper has red leg!

I realised that Cayenne pepper differs from other peppers - it has red leg - can you see it on the picture? While Scotch Bonnet on the right and Zvonek on the left are green.

Difference in size comes from differences in sowing time (Scotch Bonnet is 11 days older) and in germination time and vitality. Cayenne and Zvonek were planted at the same time, in the same soil, but Cayenne seems to be stronger.

Scotch Bonnet day 52
Cayenne day 41
Zvonek day 41

Pepper Plants - Day 52 - Scotch Bonnet growing on the windowsill

I noticed, that it started to grow faster - see how much smaller it was 7 days ago.

Day 45 - Growing organic Scotch Bonnet (Naga morris) - Capsicum Chinense

Growing organic Scotch Bonnet (Naga morris) - Capsicum Chinense, Day 28

My two Scotch Bonnets I grow from the seeds coming from grocery shop, got their second pair of leaves. Now is time to start to add fertiliser.

Growing Red Rocoto, Capsicum Pubescens, Germination Day 14

From 10 seeds - 3 sprouted after 14 days in temp. 26C/16 hours a day. Germination box placed on the top of the heater. Waiting for next seeds to pop out, however 14 days is very good result - I've red that it should germinate in 3-4 weeks. Great.

Hot Scale differs from 4-7 (max.10) in Scoville Scale

Growing Cayenne, Capsicum Annuum, Germination Day 14

From 4 seeds - 3 sprouted after 14 days, in temp. about 26C (16 hours in a day) - the germination box is placed on the top of the heater.

Hot scale 5 (out of 10) - up to 50,000 Scoville Heat Units.

Growing Hot Pepper Scotch Bonnet (Capsicum chinense) - day 12

Scotch Bonnet (Capsicum Chinense) seems to be very vigorous - I germinated fresh seeds taken straight from the fruit bought in the grocery shop.
This is day 12th from the day the seed was placed in the small turf-pot for ensuring better germination temperature - it should be about 23C/73F.
I place little pots in small plastic containers, to make the conditions moist enough and then I place it on the heater. It takes 10 days to make seeds germinating.

Growing Scotch Bonnet (Capsicum chinense) - day 11

This is Day 11th. I pinched the second germinated seed to make proper room for the bigger=stronger seedling of Scotch Bonnet.

Growing Scotch Bonnet Pepper (Capsicum Chinense) - day 10

From six seeds, after 10 days in temp. 25C, 2 seeds germinated. We wait for the next ones.

Scotch Bonnet (naga morris) is one of the hottest peppers in the world, cultivar of habanero chilli . This pepper is so hot, that 2 sq cm added to the regulat 3 persons salad, makes it very spicy.

Hot Scale 7 in Scoville Scale.

Seed Germination - Seed Starting - Seed Propagator

Seed germination at home is very easy with this method. From recycled plastic boxes, washed carefully, you can make your own homemade seed propagator. If you keep it not too big, you can place it on the heater at home to ensure high temperature. In such case there is no need for electric propagator.
This way you can easily germinate seeds, that are very difficult to germinate due to to high germination temperature requirements.
Read more about germinating seeds, in order to understand the process.

Pepper Hot - Capsicum Annuum Overwintering

In contrast to popular belief chilli pepper plant (Capsicum) is perennial and one plant can give you fruits for several years, if it will be overwintered in proper conditions.

The control of growth, proper period of rest, limited watering and removing the flowers from September are the key to success in overwintering capsicum.

How to make this, you will find out reading further this post.

My 'Cyklon' Capsicum Annuum (origins from Poland) gave me about 18 fruits from each plant - see here how they looked last July.

I have read, that it is possible to overwinter Capsicum for over 5 years, however they are most productive in the first years. If successfully overwintered Capsicum plants, have much better take-off next season, so it is possible to get more fruits from one plant.

In this post I'd like to share my experience in overwintering Capsicum, so maybe you will also try it coming season. It is good time now to start the seeds for coming summer.

From my three plants growing in pots, two are overwintered in good condition. They poped-out tiny green leaves already and wait for better growing conditions. I watered them every two weeks. They are stored in bright cellar, in temperature 13 C. Third plant, which I tried to overwinter at home, died before Christmas - temperature was too high.

The growth and dormancy period

Some species of Capsicum that need longer growing season like habanero (one of the hottest), will bear more fruits starting from second season, so it is worth to overwinter them.The control of growth, proper period of rest and limitation of watering are key to successfull overwintering. In October, before bringing plants to cool room, cut plant back to 20 cm of height and remove all leaves. So prepared for dormancy period, keep it in the temperature about 10C.

Which plants to overwinter?

Easiest to overwinter are Annuum, Chinense, Pubescens and Frutescens. Pubescens are best for beginners - their natural environment are the cool slopes of Andes, so they grow well in moderate climates. Eximium, Chacoense and Pratermissum as near related with Pubescens overwinter also well.

Removing mature fruits.

I observed, that keeping mature fruits on the plant causes laziness of plants, which understands, that in this season it had worked enough. Such plants gave me last year about 3 fruits only, while these from which I have picked fruits immediately, they bloomed again and in total I had abour 18 fruits from one plant. Removing mature fruits gives signal to the plant, that it was not sufficient yet and it needs still to keep producing seeds. After every harvesting, feed the plant nicely by giving them a good fertilizer. Additionally when plant begins to bloom again on beginning of September, chance on growing fruits is small, so better to remove it, which gives better chance for the plant to overwinter.

Watering while overwintering Capsicum.

This is major factor for success or failure in overwinter your Capsicum. So generally, hot papper does not like having wet feets, and in the winter particularly. Watering every second week will be enough. I watered my plants once 3-4 weeks until January. And they are well somehow, though I dry up the soil completely between waterings. I think, that many misunderstandings in recognising Capsicum as perennial results with Latin name of the most popular specie (Annuum), which suggests that it is annual. This is mistake of naming made by scientists, similarly the whole kind named Chinense, because the scholars judged initially, that so is the origin, what turned out not truth also.

For this season I started today the seeds of Scotch Bonnet, Santa Fe and Jalapeno. So there will be more seeds to swap next winter :) If you are looking for hot capsicum seeds, that don't come from large seed producer, I still have some spare ones for swaping :)