2017 Pepper Season: Two Week Update

It’s been roughly two weeks since some of this season’s pepper seedlings starting making their first appearances. And I couldn’t be happier with the progress thus far — especially considering this is my first crack at growing from seed. With the exception of my yellow Seven Pots that are taking their sweet time, I had 19 out of 20 seeds sprout.

So without further blabbering on my part, on to the peppers!

Tequila Sunrise

First up are a couple of seedlings that came from a package of Tequila Sunrise seeds that I purchased from Home Depot a couple of months ago. Since that purchase, I’ve read of many folks who ended up with green bell peppers with this package from Burpee, so we’ll see what I ultimately end up with. That said, this plant has thus far been the most aggressive in its growth rate.

Orange Habanero

These Habanero seedlings come from seeds that I harvested from a plant I purchased for the 2016 season. That little plant had gone through a battle with pests and a brutal trimming on my part to combat those pests, but in the end produced some full-flavored peppers with a solid amount of heat. Some of these seedlings appear a little leggy, but for the most part, they are looking good.

Carolina Reaper

The current Guinness World Record holder for hottest pepper, the Carolina Reaper is easily the hottest pepper I have personally ever tasted — so of course I had to grow more. These plants come from seeds that I collected from a purchased plant last year. That plant from 2016 produced a handful of ripe fruit, all of them fairly small and not the prototypical phenotype/shape, but man did it produce some fiery heat. I can’t wait to see where these plants go with their fruit.

Bhut Jolokia

One of my favorite peppers, the Bhut Jolokia (ghost pepper) was definitely a necessity to grow again. These seeds were also harvested from pods that were sizable and potently hot. Even if none of my seeds had germinated, this was going to be one plant that I was going to grow even if I had to purchase one from the local nursery. I love these things and these little fellas are looking great.

Peach Bhut Jolokia

I purchased the seeds for these Peach Bhut Jolokias from Puckerbutt Pepper Company and thus far they are only second to the Tequila Sunrise in terms of their growth rate. I wanted to add some more color to my plants for this year and these (as well as the yellow Seven Pot) were high on my list to purchase. I’ve never tasted this pepper, but from the looks of the seedlings, they appear ready to deliver some fire this Summer.

Chocolate Bhutlah

I’m not going to lie to you — these little plants scare the shit out of me. I’m a big fan of peppers and heat, but I don’t think I’m any where ready to taste the pods that will hopefully appear on these plants later this season. The videos online of folks that have been brave enough or fool-hardy enough to tackle the pepper don’t instill much confidence in my ability to handle the heat myself. Regardless, I’m still prepared to grow these little buggers out and see how much damage I can do to myself.

So that’s it for now. Like I said, I couldn’t be happier with the progress of these plants thus far. Now, if I can continue to keep one of our dogs from digging at them (he’s a weird mutt), I should have a good number of plants to transplant come the time later this Spring. I’m also hopeful for those yellow Seven Pots, but would really love to see some more progress from them.