Breaking bad with Chillies

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So Summer 2019 I got impatient as my Jalepnoes where growing buy the million but decided they wanted to stay green forever, I had killed my third wave of Thai chillies (I love them to death every time). I happened across a bush in a store that was loaded to the hilt with ripe red chillies it was an ebony black chilli.

This one Ebony black plant has provided as much as a jalapeno and has given me really hot nice chillies to spice up a dish or add to sauces, nice hot burn that doesn't linger, really versatile and would recommend ebony chilli its is still producing and loaded with chillies.

What are your tips for helping chilies be perennial?

I have it in a pot on the Western side of the house with sunlight but also a lot of cover from trees and Agaves. Have not moved it and have had to fend the aphids off. Live in Mildura
 

Vicky

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oh no, I have a heap of green jalapenos on my bush but I've picked all the red ones, I hope they change colour, does it matter to the end result as in taste or heat? I was just thinking that it would look better if I preserved them when they were all the same colour! And, oh dear, an Ebony black giving red fruit? does it grow black and then change colour or is it supposed to be the other way around? I've heard of chillies and tomatoes and eggplants being perennial but there was never any effort or special attention on the part of the gardener, just plants that found a good spot and kept on keeping on!
 

Mark Seaton

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I planted some Jalapenos, cayenne and red hot embers last spring. I have 1 of each in a raised garden bed and 1 of each in a large planter that I sat next to a colourbond fence as I read that they like heat.
So far, I have picked them green, red and some of the jalapenos turning almost black. I did what I thought was a final pick a couple of months ago as it started cooling down early Autumn. But then they all just went nuts fruiting again.
I have dried them, blended and jarred them with olive oil and had some raw.
As far as heat goes, the first ones we picked were almost like capsicums, nice flavour but no heat whatsoever. We were using them in salads instead of capsicum, as I never planted any of those.
Put then the next time I picked some, my wife cut some up, threw them into the salad on top of the lettuce, then her eyes started stinging, so she removed them from the salad immediately. Well, by then it was too late, the lettuce was now like an incendiary device in my mouth. I started gagging and my eyes were watering and nose running. Just from them touching the lettuce.
needless to say, the heat had arrived. The jars of chilli in the olive oil takes 1 teaspoon in a family pot of whatever to turn it into a dish a Mexican would love!
So what I am saying is.... The plants are still producing strong in both areas and we have already had 2 frosts so far this Autumn, and I have no freaking idea what causes the heat!
 
Joined
Mar 19, 2020
Messages
20
Climate
Arid, Desert, or Dry
oh no, I have a heap of green jalapenos on my bush but I've picked all the red ones, I hope they change colour, does it matter to the end result as in taste or heat? I was just thinking that it would look better if I preserved them when they were all the same colour! And, oh dear, an Ebony black giving red fruit? does it grow black and then change colour or is it supposed to be the other way around? I've heard of chillies and tomatoes and eggplants being perennial but there was never any effort or special attention on the part of the gardener, just plants that found a good spot and kept on keeping on!

yeah the ebony’s start jet black, go purple then finish red. Will be a recurring plant in my garden considering even taking cuttings or sprouting some seeds come spring.

I really like green jalapeños for jalapeño poppers, they are milder and a bit sweet
 

Wanda

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Letting the plant get stressed from lack of water and it wilts before you water it again. That’s what makes the peppers hotter.

Keeping them well watered or using a self watering container can reduce the heat of some peppers. Part shade can also reduce heat stress on the plants and keep them less hot.

Picking them young and green does yield a milder pepper, as Charles stated above. Letting them ripen fully is best if you are going to hang them to dry.

If you care for them over winter and keep from freezing they can last several years and still produce a fair amount of peppers.

Tip: don’t rinse peppers while/after you scrape the seeds out. The heat is in the seeds and veins that hold them. Rinsing raw peppers makes the capsaicin airborne and it can irritate your eyes and respiratory tract.
 

Sam Jones

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What are your tips for helping chilies be perennial?

I have it in a pot on the Western side of the house with sunlight but also a lot of cover from trees and Agaves. Have not moved it and have had to fend the aphids off. Live in Mildura

My birds eye chilli plant’s three years old here in Adelaide. It’s grown from seed, sits in a pot, the pot is on paving by a northeast facing wall and it gets full day sun in the cold months. The leaves turn yellow in winter and it looks like it’ll die but when spring warms up the whole plant revitalises with lots of flowers and nice green leaves again.

In the hottest months I protect it from burning from afternoon sun.

I’m now testing this on my capsicum plant and a few other chilli varieties, both potted and planted in ground. Hopefully the capsicum lives on because it’s been the slowest grower so it wastes a lot of time growing from seed.

Aphids were attacking some of my chilli and capsicum that had large leaves but never my birds eye chilli plants for some reason- maybe because it has the smallest leaves.
 
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