10 seeds
scoville units - - 500–1,000 shu
(Capsicum annuum)
The Rezha Macedonian pepper is From the Christopher Phillips Rare Seed Collection R1Release #1 on September 26, 2014. It is what is known as an “embroidered” pepper. Traditional farmers save seed from the peppers that show the most pronounced corking. They are used to make a past called Ajvar. This is considered to be a rare an hard to get verity.Open pollinated 80 days
Rezha Macedonian Pepper
$2.99 FOR 10 SEEDS
Hot Peppers
Chiles have been consumed in Mexico for more than 5,000 years. The Aztecs had at least seven different words for hot peppers and the Incas used them as a form of currency. In the U.S. hot peppers have increased dramatically in popularity. Per capita consumption of chiles now exceeds that of peas, asparagus and cauliflower. 25% of the U.S. chiles are grown in Hatch, NM, the self-proclaimed Chile Capital of the world, which celebrates an annual chile festival each Labor Day weekend.
Can you take the heat? Hot pepper eaters enjoy the “constrained risk” of a pleasant thrill which, unlike alcohol, tobacco or coffee addictions, has only a short-term effect and is not health-threatening. A great website if you like your peppers hot is
< href="http://www.usHOTstuff.com" target="_blank">www.usHOTstuff.com.
Capsaicin compounds cause most of the heat in peppers. Warm nighttime temperatures stimulate maximum development of capsaicins and increase pungency levels. Pungency is expressed in Scoville units, after Wilbur Scoville, an Englishman who devised the method used for eighty years to measure the heat in peppers.
Some Scoville ratings for general categories are: sweet bell, Banana and Pimiento peppers 0,
Ancho & Poblano 1–2k, Anaheim 0.5–2.5k, Bulgarian Carrot 2.5k, Jalapeño 2.5–8k, Chipotle 5–8k, Long
thick Cayenne 6–8.5k, Hot Wax 5–9k, Serrano 8–22k, Aji & Cayenne 30–50k, Super Chili 40–50k,
Thai 50–100k, Orange Habanero/Scotch Bonnet 150–325k, commercially available pepper spray for
self-defense 2–3M, police-grade spray 5.3M, capsaicin 15–16M.
The world’s hottest pepper? That would be the Carolina Reaper, bred by Smokin’ Ed Currie of Fort Mill, SC, and grown by the PuckerButt Pepper Co. The bumpy oily fire engine–red fruits rate 1,569,300 Scoville Units.
If you overdose on hot peppers, milk is almost twice as effective as water in banking the flames, and bread, rice or tortillas are even better. Handle hot peppers with caution; capsaicin is highly alkaloid and can burn skin.
Hot peppers are arranged here from the least to the most hot as measured in Scoville units.
Peppers
Capsicum annuum ~160 seeds/g. Capsicum comes from the Greek kapto which means ‘bite.’
Seed-saving tips: Harvest only the first fruits for seed, allowing only three or four fruits per plant to grow and removing all others. Fewer fruits = larger seeds = greater seed viability. Later fruits often have germination rates of only 60%.
Culture: Very tender, will not tolerate frost, dislike wind, will not set fruit in cold or extremely hot temperatures or in drought conditions. Start indoors in March or April. Set out in June. Black plastic highly recommended. Row cover improves fruit set in windy spots. Pick first green peppers when they reach full size to increase total yield significantly. Green peppers, though edible, are not ripe. Peppers ripen to red, yellow, orange, etc.
Minimum germination soil temperature 60°, optimal range 68-95°, optimal temperature 80°. Emergence
is 13 days at 68°, only 8 days at 77 or 86°. 70% normal seedlings at 59° increases to 98% at 77°.
For all peppers, days to full-color maturity are from transplanting date.
Diseases:
BLS: Bacterial Leaf Spot
CMV: Cucumber Mosaic Virus
TMV: Tobacco Mosaic Virus
Solanaceae Problems
Diseases: Bacterial Canker, Spec and Spot
Cultural controls: Disinfect greenhouse materials & cages, farming tools & gloves, avoid overhead irrigation, don’t work crop when wet, rotate crops, use compost.
Material (see OGS catalog for these products): Copper (8861-3).
Disease: Anthracnose
Cultural controls: Rotation, mulching, minimize plant wetness, staking, use compost.
Disease: Early Blight
Cultural controls: Rotation, avoid stressing plants, staking, keep leaf wetness to a minimum, mulching, indeterminate varieties are more resistant/tolerant, disinfect stakes & cages.
Material: Trichoderma harzianum (Root Shield 8853) or Streptomyces lydicus (Actinovate 8851).
Disease: Late Blight
Cultural controls: Destroy cull potatoes & potato volunteers, avoid overhead irrigation.
Material: copper products.
Disease: Septoria Leaf Spot
Cultural controls: Space plants for good air circulation.
Materials: copper products.
Pest: Tomato Hornworm
Control: Look for frass (droppings) and handpick. Eeeuww!
Material: Bt kurstaki (8902), Spinosad (8922-4).
Pest: Tarnished Plant Bug
Cultural controls: Floating row covers (9101), good weed control.
Material: try Pyrethrum (8925) products.