Best Hot Pepper varieties for hydro?

[Peppery1]

I grew the usual bells and some mini peppers for my first time out with hydro last year: they and my herbs were the only things that bore fruit Tomatoes grew like crazy, but didn't flower, even with careful pollination). I'm looking for some good tasty varieties of hot peppers to grow for cooking, other than just the usual habanero, serrano, thai chiles. (I'm kind of a foodie and like trying new recipes/ingredients and peppers are one of my favorite ingredients.)

Any suggestions on some good hot pepper varieties?

Thanks in advance.

[rainbowgardener]

Hi and welcome!!

"fruit Tomatoes grew like crazy, but didn't flower, even with careful pollination). " Did you mean the tomatoes didn't fruit? They couldn't have been pollinated if they hadn't flowered.

Not setting fruit could have to do with light intensity --you did say this is indoor hydro, right? Tomatoes need a lot of light to set fruit (some varieties more than others - check out some of applestar's indoor winter tomato threads).

The other issue might be nutrients. Tomatoes are heavy feeders, so in a hydro situation, would require lots of nutrients. They need different nutrient combinations at different times in their life cycle:

https://www.uvm.edu/vtvegandberry/factsh ... rition.pdf

https://www.yara.us/agriculture/crops/to ... l-summary/

[imafan26]

Pepper varieties
Anaheim. not very hot but good for chile rellenos and stuffing or frying
Hungarian Wax peppper- good for frying med hot, fruity
Serrano- good for salsa much more stable heat than Jalapenos and slightly hotter than them.
Giant Marconi- good frying pepper not hot. good in salads too, very versatile
Fushimi sweet- sweet Asian pepper used in stir fries and Asian stews
Cayenne-good heat
Thai dragon, or Thai hot
Tabasco ( Hawaiian favorite for everything)
Banana sweet pepper
Czechoslovakian Black Pepper- good combination of flavor, color and heat and very strong plant on in a compact bush
Corno d'toro
Red Knight- Improved King Arthur type pepper.
Chinese Giant bell- Heirloom
Chocolate bell


If you had a lot of leaves on the tomato and not much fruit. Did you prune or pinch the tomatoes? The nitrogen level may have been a little too high as Rainbow said, tomatoes use different nutrients at different stages.

[applestar]

Is there any limitation on height/size or lighting? Is this indoor?

If indoor -- Did you use an electric toothbrush to help pollinate the tomato blossoms? Apparently peppers are more promiscuous and can self pollinate without mechanical aid, but will still benefit from e-brushing with increased production. In my experience, hot peppers grown indoors need less amount of light than tomatoes to bloom and set fruit.

[Peppery1]

Hi and welcome!!

"fruit Tomatoes grew like crazy, but didn't flower, even with careful pollination). " Did you mean the tomatoes didn't fruit? They couldn't have been pollinated if they hadn't flowered.

Not setting fruit could have to do with light intensity --you did say this is indoor hydro, right? Tomatoes need a lot of light to set fruit (some varieties more than others - check out some of applestar's indoor winter tomato threads).

The other issue might be nutrients. Tomatoes are heavy feeders, so in a hydro situation, would require lots of nutrients. They need different nutrient combinations at different times in their life cycle:

https://www.uvm.edu/vtvegandberry/factsh ... rition.pdf

https://www.yara.us/agriculture/crops/to ... l-summary/

Wow, thanks for the great info! I have been thinking twice about trying tomatoes this year, but I will look at those links and see if I think I should try again, given the time I will have. Really appreciate the heads up.

[Peppery1]

Pepper varieties
Anaheim. not very hot but good for chile rellenos and stuffing or frying
Hungarian Wax peppper- good for frying med hot, fruity
Serrano- good for salsa much more stable heat than Jalapenos and slightly hotter than them.
Giant Marconi- good frying pepper not hot. good in salads too, very versatile
Fushimi sweet- sweet Asian pepper used in stir fries and Asian stews
Cayenne-good heat
Thai dragon, or Thai hot
Tabasco ( Hawaiian favorite for everything)
Banana sweet pepper
Czechoslovakian Black Pepper- good combination of flavor, color and heat and very strong plant on in a compact bush
Corno d'toro
Red Knight- Improved King Arthur type pepper.
Chinese Giant bell- Heirloom
Chocolate bell


If you had a lot of leaves on the tomato and not much fruit. Did you prune or pinch the tomatoes? The nitrogen level may have been a little too high as Rainbow said, tomatoes use different nutrients at different stages.

Thanks, I'll give those types a look. Heard good things about that Giant Marconi, will def. try it if it doesn't require too much space. The tomatoes greened out like mad, but only had a few flowers and the ones that were on it dropped off. I wondered whether I'd switched from the regular nutes to the flowering nutes too late, and after hearing what you guys have to say, I'm thinking that's exactly what I probably did. I probably will try again and will follow the schedule for the nutes a lot closer. Unfortunately I kind of got sidetracked last year with two deaths in the family, so I really didn't have the heart to keep at it too much.

Hope to do better this year though. I feel encouraged just looking at the help I'm getting here so far. My luck with tomatoes has been iffy at best, even before hydro. They actually seemed to do better in the ground when I left them alone! Since my first attempts at gardening killed both a cactus and a mint, that any of them lived seemed like progress. ;-P

[Peppery1]

Is there any limitation on height/size or lighting? Is this indoor?

If indoor -- Did you use an electric toothbrush to help pollinate the tomato blossoms? Apparently peppers are more promiscuous and can self pollinate without mechanical aid, but will still benefit from e-brushing with increased production. In my experience, hot peppers grown indoors need less amount of light than tomatoes to bloom and set fruit.

Well, I have one small room where I'm doing the hydro. I'm just growing for 2 people, so I like doing a fair variety of not more than 1 or 2 plant types each. I've got about a 7 or 8 foot span from the shelving for the hydro to the ceiling and have some good homemade lights, trellising & stuff. The room gets a fair amount of sun from two windows during the day, though one is North facing and the other is South East facing. So maybe make sure the tomatoes are set up where they'll get the most amount of light and add some extra lighting there. I gave them probably a little less than I did the peppers, come to think on it...they grew so fast I was constantly having to adjust the lights, so..

Never heard of using a toothbrush for pollination before: that's new. I just used either my finger or a cotton swab. I also kept an oscillating fan going in there during the day.

[applestar]

Cotton swab is not actually a good tool for tomatoes and peppers. Pollen produced by the anthers of tomato and peppers pollinate own blossoms, though when transferred by small insects, they can also pollinate other blossoms. The blossoms have evolved to release pollen when buzzing bees visit, and the falling pollen land on the stigma of the same blossom. The stigma of tomato blossoms more often than not DOES NOT even protrude from the anther cone until after the same blossom is already releasing pollen and has been pollinated already.

When you touch the electric toothbrush to the top of the flower stem in good light, you will actually see pollen fall out of the down-facing blossoms like snow (or fairy dust). After a while you'll become familiar with when during the day they would most actively release pollen in your particular growing condition.

Outside during the growing season, I have watched bumble bees cling To the blossoms and THEN buzz to release and gather the falling pollen. Sometimes, I become aware of the bee activity nearby BECAUSE of the persistent intermittent buzz as they fly from blossom to blossom, buzzing at each one.

[Peppery1]

Cotton swab is not actually a good tool for tomatoes and peppers. Pollen produced by the anthers of tomato and peppers pollinate own blossoms, though when transferred by small insects, they can also pollinate other blossoms. The blossoms have evolved to release pollen when buzzing bees visit, and the falling pollen land on the stigma of the same blossom. The stigma of tomato blossoms more often than not DOES NOT even protrude from the anther cone until after the same blossom is already releasing pollen and has been pollinated already.

When you touch the electric toothbrush to the top of the flower stem in good light, you will actually see pollen fall out of the down-facing blossoms like snow (or fairy dust). After a while you'll become familiar with when during the day they would most actively release pollen in your particular growing condition.

Outside during the growing season, I have watched bumble bees cling To the blossoms and THEN buzz to release and gather the falling pollen. Sometimes, I become aware of the bee activity nearby BECAUSE of the persistent intermittent buzz as they fly from blossom to blossom, buzzing at each one.

I also just went in and shook them once a day (just remembered) because I read that somewhere. Would that do the same thing? BTW, you should be writing a novel with prose like that!