Suggestions for Early Maturing Tomato/Pepper Varieties?

[TheSeedObsesser]

The last time we grew habaneros they did great! They were the orange type and we probably got 40 peppers from two or three plants. We had so many we threw them in the compost because they were too darn hot! I'm guessing it's probably our difference in climate.

The first time I tried a habanero we thought it was a bell pepper! Ma brought it in and asked what we thought it was. We all thought that it was a little stunted bell pepper or something. I remember somebody mentioning that it could be "one of those hot ones that we planted." I hesitated a while. "Only one way to tell." So I stuck the whole thing in my mouth and chewed it really fast. At first I was like "It's a bell pepper." Because the heat takes a while to set in. I must have drank a gallon of milk, still didn't go away completely for a few hours...

 

[Dave2000]

For the peppers, just about any capsicum annuum meant to be eaten green or for a little longer wait, yellow, though central ohio isn't a particularly cold or hot climate. You're only ~ 100mi NE of me and I can grow just about any tomato or peppers, BUT I start them from seed inside under lights in March then transplant outside after the last anticipated spring frost, roughly the first week of May here.

If growing capsicum chinense peppers (the really hot ones) they have to either be in the ground or a huge pot that gets watered daily from July through October, or even earlier in the season if the plant is more than a season old already. It's all relative, if I gave them less TLC they'd be smaller and need less soil and water.

That doesn't necessarily make them something to avoid though, IF they get the nutrients, water, and of course sun they need then you can get hundreds of chinense pods per plant over a season in our region.

Particularly, keep feeding them NPK, calcium and magnesium. It need not be exotic sources, I use plain 'ole 10-10-10 granular fertilizer, egg shells and epsom salt. If using mostly tap water to water them, put plenty of fibrous material in the soil to lower the pH over time, and that also helps to keep the soil from compacting too much.

Chocolate Jamaican, 9-2-2013

 

[thistlebloom]

Impressive pepper plant Dave!

 

[Dave2000]

^ Yeah I was happy with it, just that one plant is more Chocolate Jamaicans than I can eat in a year myself and nobody else around me is crazy enough to eat more than a tiny fraction of one at a time in or out of food, so the extras get put into hot sauce.

 

[thistlebloom]

Dave, you mentioned "mostly tap water" to water them.
Do you use rain water instead? And I assume that tap waters pH would be a local issue, but probably tends to be on the alkaline side?

 

[Dave2000]

I catch rain off my gutters for watering but only a barrel full at a time, nowhere near enough water so I'd say I use 90% tap water. Tap water from my municipal source is usually slightly alkaline though I would expect it is everywhere that uses similar treatment methods and chemicals, especially if the water isn't extremely soft then the pH would rise as the minerals dissolved away.

Rain water is definitely better at my location up to a point, that point being turning the minerals like calcium into a form the plants can use at a fast enough rate.

Before I started collecting rain water I would notice that the day after every rain my plants would shoot up an extra inch or two, much faster growth than usual. After I started using rain water I collected, they didn't respond very much to rain falling in the pot any longer but still get to be just as large if not more so. It's hard to gauge from year to year with different amounts of rain, sun and temperature for each and the weather being odd the past 3+ years, but I definitely get a lot more yield per plant than I did years ago.

I'm referring mostly to my potted plants though, while the pepper I pictured was the only one I grew this year in the ground due to an expected excavation to lift a sinking foundation on the house. I just ran out of good sites in the ground with other things like okra and tomatoes seeming to need more soil than peppers to reach their maximum potential, so all but one pepper ended up in pots.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Dave, I’ve got three rain barrels and that’s still not enough for all the watering, especially in the heat of summer when it often quits raining and you really need the water.

My theory is that rain washes stuff out of the air we call pollutants but the plants called them nutrients. I’ve also noticed even a light rain does a lot more good than me watering, either from a barrel or using tap water. Maybe in that rain barrel some of those pollutants settle out to the bottom and cause sludge? Those plants really appreciate their pollutants.

 

[catjac1975]

Beautiful plant.

 

[Dave2000]

^ Thanks. I'm slowly developing what I call my Soylent Green theory... that they grow better if they eat the remains of last year's plants. Dried pepper leaves crumble really well into practically dust without much effort then I shred up the stems and mix it all into the soil that I prepare each spring as well as excess seeds I accumulated which get turned under if they sprout.

They also seem to like my yard waste like pine needles and spanish moss that grows on a few adjacent oak trees then falls off around April. These things would probably make less of a difference if I didn't reuse the same soil every year, and if that soil hadn't started out with high clay content. Some people just buy tailor made fertilizers and soil instead but it made sense to me to put the waste to work and save some money while I'm at it.