Thursday 29 December 2011
Sometimes we grow peppers simply to see what will happen. We've done that with two peppers and had some interesting results.
Summer 2011
We grew a few more Siberian House Peppers and Larry's New Mexico varieties. The New Mexico peppers did well. The Siberians, however, caught the spider mite bugs and struggled all year. The one we gave to Keith Ramos was still growing and producing peppers as of Christmas Eve. Wow.
Siberian House Peppers
These interesting peppers came from an epic research project that I did several years ago looking for plant varieties which grow in boreal forest and subarctic climates. In that search, I came across a company called B & T World Seeds, which sells more than 35,000 types of seeds - including seeds from Siberia, and I came across this one-line mention of something called the "Siberian House Pepper." I bought 20 seeds at a very inflated price. The Siberian House Pepper is a small plant, about one foot high, with dozens of little peppers about fingernail sized. And are they hot! Just touch one to your tongue and you'll get a fiery experience. I suspect that they received their name because they were easy to grow in a moderate-sized pot for additional inside growth during the fall. We saved our seeds and plan on growing them every year from here on out.
Larry's New Mexico peppers
Hey, this is what happens when friends give you seeds. Larry said they would grow. As with many things Larry has said, he was spot on. They grew into small round globes (pictured above). I have no idea what the variety name is. I'm calling them Larry's New Mexico peppers.