Habanero Pepper

After several months and many, many blooms, we finally have a pepper growing on our Habanero plant. I hope it doesn't prove to be the only one!

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BRRRR! It's Cold!

For the third day now, the early morning temperature has been in the 40s (7.2 c). The highs haven't been much better, climbing only into the 50s and 60s (10 to 15.6 c). That's about 20 degrees below normal for this time of year in Las Vegas. The wind has also been blowing nonstop. It seems to have gone from Summer to Winter overnight. Our plants aren't caring for the cold and blustery weather either. The Habanero and Tabasco plants looked so bad that I decided to bring them inside on Saturday. Our okra also looked very droopy by yesterday. But there is hope. The forecast calls for highs near 90 (32.2 c) by the end of the week!

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Habanero plant looking much better out of the wind and cold

Vegetable Update

Just a late Summer/early Fall update today on our various container-grown vegetables. The strongest producer at present in the okra. The four original plants are going strong and still putting out a decent number of pods. Over the last week, the two plants that I started later in the Summer have also started bearing. The daily high temperatures are still a bit hot for the tomatoes, but I have one Black Prince on the vine and just picked two off of the Sunmaster plant. We're getting lots of blooms but most are still drying out and dropping. Some of the plants are also looking a bit stressed and wilted on their lower parts. I'm hoping that when the highs fall into the mid to lower 90s (33 to 34 c) the tomatoes will pick up. The hanging basket cucumber plant is doing well. It now has a second cucumber growing. As for peppers, it seems that we are going to have several red bell peppers and the Habanero and Tabasco have put on lots and lots of blooms this past week.

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Cucumber #2

First Black Prince tomato of the Fall

Lots of blooms but no tomatoes on this Hawaiian Tropic plant

Pepper Buds

We have lots of buds appearing on our Tabasco and Habanero plants. Hopefully the weather has cooled off enough that the blooms won't drop this time. It would certainly be nice to get a few more peppers. So far our total for the year stands at an awe-inspiring two.

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Tabasco

Habanero

Growing Peppers

This certainly isn't shaping up to be the year of the pepper in our container garden. So far, our plants have produced only six small Jalapenos (four of which were on the plant when I bought it), two very small Tabascos, and one Bell that rotted before it ripened. The Tabasco and Habanero plants look great, but just aren't putting on any blooms or peppers. But at least they are still alive, which is more than I can say for the Jalapeno and Bell (granted, our Mastiff Tessa sat on the bell). Finally, the Purple Beauty Bell Pepper is the slowest growing seedling I've ever encountered. At its current rate it might be ready to set out by next March. Do any of you seem to have more trouble growing peppers than other vegetables?

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Habanero on left, Tabasco on right

Very slow growing Purple Bell Pepper plant

Tiny Pepper with Big Burn

Yesterday I decided to eat this little Tabasco pepper. For some reason, it just didn't grow very large at all. But don't let its tiny stature fool you. It was HOT. I mean that really painful, eye watering, give me something to stop the burning NOW, kind of hot!

Look very closely, it's in the palm of her hand

On a dime

After finally getting my mouth to cool down a bit, I decided to conduct a little research on the heat ratings of my Tabasco relative to other peppers. I found that the pepper industry uses a standardized measurement known as the Scoville unit to rate the capsaicin content (heat) of all peppers. The Scoville scale dates back to 1912 and carries the name of its creator, American chemist Wilbur Scoville.

My Tabascos are rated at a very respectable 30,000 to 50,000 of Mr. Scoville's units. Jalapenos, by comparison, come in at a relatively Arctic 2,500 to 5,000. Serranos are a bit warmer at 5,000 to 15,000. The Habanero kicks things up alot with a rating of 200,000 to 350,000. A Red Savina Habanero can surpass even that, reaching a very painful 580,000 Scoville units. But even that scorcher fails to approach the world's hottest chili pepper. The Bangladeshi Bhut Jolokia (also known as the Naga Jolokia or Ghost Chili) obliterates all competition by registering an astonishing 1,001,304 units on the Scoville scale. Wow! I don't think I want one of those.

Mystery Plant

This little seedling sprouted next to a Habanero that I planted last week. I have no idea what it is. I guess it could be another pepper plant or maybe some sort of weed....who knows? I'll just let it grow for a while and see.

mystery plant

My largest Heatwave tomato plant started from a seedling about the same size as the mystery one pictured above. I had bought a normal sized seedling to use in an attempt at upside-down tomato plant growing. As I transplanted it into the hanging basket, I noticed the very small plant growing beside it. I carefully removed it, planted it in a small container, and placed it under the lights for a month or so before transplanting it to an outdoor container. Meanwhile, the upside down plant turned out to be a horrible failure (but that's another story). The bonus seedling has since grown into a large plant with several tomatoes ripening on it at present.

Heatwave tomatoes ripening with basil companion plant