Well, after what has seemed like a very long wait it seems we are now finally seeing some consistently high temperatures and some decent sunny days now and again.
I’m pleased to report that most of this years crop seem to be catching up after the slow start from the incredibly wet and cold spring.
The Aji Hots despite making a good start have been not put on huge amounts of growth. Despite this they are fruiting pretty well and already have some decent sized green pods forming. Hopefully it won’t be too long until these are ripen from their current pale green through to red.
The Rocoto Red plant is looking really healthy but as yet has no pods set. It’s starting to come into flower so hopefully it won’t be too long. For a while I was doubting if this was a Rocoto plant at all. I’ve not grown this variety before and as it matured it’s hairy leaves and leggy branch structure looked unlike any types of chilli I’ve grown before. It’s strange but since it’s started flowering it’s started to look more like a chilli plant with it’s wonderful purple flowers.
The Trinidad Scorpian Moruga is also looking really healthy. It’s been growing in an old florist’s bucket in the conservatory and has produced some really big, lush looking foliage. Its just come into flower now and with a Scoville rating of about 2million I’m sure they’ll be worth the wait.
The Chilhaucle Negro also has a few fruit on it. I’m not sure but I suspect they’ll take quite a while to mature.
By far the most productive plant to date is my Cheyenne plant that is already producing ripe hot pods in abundance.
Just behind Cheyenne in terms of yield is the speedball pictured above which has about 30 fruits ripening away slowly.