Off-Topic

lukusis

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Sep 3, 2014
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Chilli Heads On The Reefuge
OK, time to fess up all you chilli heads out there...

What are you growing and what's your favourite?


I've have growing now:

Orange Habs
Bhut Jolokia
Aji Limon
Naga Viper


Keen to get some of the Reaper though :D
 

ReeferRob

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Oct 22, 2014
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Bel Air
Heirloom Jalapenos
Bhut Jolokia
Jamaican Scorpion
Heirloom hybrid Jamaican Scorpion/ Habernero 1,800,000 hu Happened on its own, WICKED LONG LASTING HOT
Habernero
Thai bird's eye
Thai chili
 

lukusis

Member
Sep 3, 2014
415
144
Nice collection Rob!

I have a orange hab right next to my Bhut's, and I'm certain they have cross pollinated. The Habs look normal, but the heat is insane. Feels hotter than the Bhut's do (housemate agrees).

Just purchased some Reaper seeds too, keen as mustard to get those going.

Will start making some oils again :D
 

ReeferRob

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Oct 22, 2014
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Bel Air
If you don't wanna make them hot enough to peel the paint off a battleship, keep them watered. If you dry them out somewhat before you harvest, it causes them to store more oils. Here's another trick I've been doing. All that old substrate out of your reef tanks? It makes a nice buffer for your soil, tomatoes and peppers LOVE it. Just be sure you let it sit outside about 3cm deep and keep changing the water to get rid of the salts. I keep it outside for at least 6 months just to be sure.
 

lukusis

Member
Sep 3, 2014
415
144
Funny thing is, they are well watered and still freakishly hot!
The area they are in gets natural run off and also the neighbours additional run off too. Great sun coverage during the day too, shaded to full early morni.g, full blast in the middle of the day and then dappled till the sun goes.

Also have Vietnamese mint, capsicum and rosemary and coriander there too.

In my book though, the hotter the better.... if I feel like I need to call an ambulance, then I'm happy.


But that's just me, and I'm clearly deranged in the taste bud department!
 

lukusis

Member
Sep 3, 2014
415
144
You could cross polinate some by hand next season with a quetip and compare? That would be interesting.
I usually just hand pollinate (with a finger), so I suspect this is what has occurred already.

The best bit is that they are super juicy, like when you bite into a capsicum and get a squirt of juice.... that always seems to hit the back of the throat first.
:D
 

lukusis

Member
Sep 3, 2014
415
144
Went to grab a few pics from the PC..... freakin HDD died *not happy Jan*

So there's a few from my mobile, taken a couple of months after they were planted...

@Agent M @ReeferRob
 

ReeferRob

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Oct 22, 2014
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Do you get 2 growing seasons there or just one? They get 2 plantings in The Florida Keys and across the lower US mainland. My tropical hots have to stay in the greenhouse until June.
 

lukusis

Member
Sep 3, 2014
415
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Depends on where in Aus you live.

In QLD they can be grown year round (unless there's flooding of course).
VIC can get frost on the ground so usually only the one season (afaik)
SA can get super hot sun so have to be grown in shade or greenhouses.

And on and on.

I'm in NSW and for the last few years I've managed to get year round fruits :D
 

Agent M

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Oct 21, 2011
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Melbourne
Wow, they are just perfect those plants - do you get snails and slugs predating the leaves or do they dislike the taste?

@ReeferRob here in Vic they are either grown as an annual, dug up and put in a pot seasonally or planted in a warm spot and treated as though they are deciduous

I have burned my hand from putting a splash of chilli sauce on the back of it and having to wait while everyone else put theirs on - we were dared to lick it off our hands at the same time. I was out camping and it was a freezing cold night so I had my hands up in front of my face while I was sleeping and I spent the night in this half asleep state because every time I breathed out, the spot on my hand would burn like hell. It was a nasty experience, lol!
 

ReeferRob

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Oct 22, 2014
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Bel Air
Just be glad you didn't go pee and forget to wash your hands before you wiped. o_0 A girl I knew in high school said that the pain from doing that would bring a tear to a glass eye, lol. Same with guys, you'll only make the mistake of puling it out before you wash your hands.

I was making hot sauce one day when M came home, she had to leave the house and take the pups with her. The hybrid I grow is so hot that the Mexicans won't touch them.

I also grow Chili De Arbo as well, they have a short intense heat, great for Mexican food.
 

lukusis

Member
Sep 3, 2014
415
144
@Agent M no snails that I've seen. Slugs yes, but I have a trap for those (cut the top off a 600ml water bottle, Bury it in the ground with the open end at ground level, fill half way with beer. Works a treat!)
The main pest is the bloody bush turkeys hunting around for food (tonnes of worms in my soil).

If I can recover anything off my HDD I'll post some more mature pics, they are several times the size.

@ReeferRob..... you may not hit the old fella twice, but that doesn't mean you don't occasionally smear it elsewhere (eyes/nose etc) hahaha
 

MQ-9

Member
Nov 25, 2014
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108
No love for Fatalii? Always thought they were the cutest of the chilli, and they have a nice citrus taste before the burn.
 

lukusis

Member
Sep 3, 2014
415
144
I never figured out why exactly, but out of the (many) fatalii seeds I planted, hardly any of them germinated, and those that did never made it past their second set of leaves...

Tried about 4 different sources for seeds, all with same results.

They are a nice chilli though I agree. The Aji Limon (lemon drops) have a nice citrus flavour. I love them in salads.

I've grown (at varying times, and no particular order):


Dorset Naga
Naga Morich
Trinidad scorpion
Trinidad butch T
Bhut Jolokia (regular and a peach variant)
Cayenne
An Indonesian strain that I forget the name of
Jalapeno
Birdseye
Bulgarian carrot
Habenero (different types)

Fair few others too, but I'd have to go check the seedling archives/storage, and it's late.......

Usually have a good mix of herbs and seasonal veggies going though to :)
 

MQ-9

Member
Nov 25, 2014
281
108
Hardcore gardener here, without a garden, but back in day I kept about a dozen people in bell peppers year round, these days I have to raid the bags of chilli I stored in the freezer years ago. Not the same.
 

lukusis

Member
Sep 3, 2014
415
144
Not even a couple of herbs etc in a pot/planter?

I.find even that is enough to get me by back in the times I only had a balcony to use.


Or even the 'vertical gardens' that are in vogue now?