Re: [CH] Intro/new subscriber:

W.A. Sawford (was1000@cus.cam.ac.uk)
Thu, 17 Jan 2002 14:46:42 +0000 (GMT) 

On Thu, 17 Jan 2002, Shaun Rimmer wrote:

> Hi Wendy, nice to err... 'E-meet' you :-) (knew I'd find a phrase for it
> eventually.)
> 
The e-pleasure is all mine :-)

> > I've been growing chiles for years in England, in fact it all got totally
> > out of hand and we ended up with a small business.
> 
> Congratulations! Now, if only things I did for fun could get similarly out
> of hand, I would have self funding hobbies, and could quit this job........
> 
I have to admit that so far I've still got the day job.  The business is
only a year old, and last year we were more concerned with market research
and breaking even, rather than actually making a profit.  This year
however...well, the hab is the limit! (as it were)

>  Admittedly we do use a
> > greenhouse, but if you want to grow in the garden simply harden off young
> > plants during May
> 
> By placing outside in pots? Covered? (sorry, not much of an educated
> gardner, but I learn fast!)
> 
I would pop them outside on a nice sunny day for say a few hours to begin
with, and slowly increase the time outside.  After a couple of weeks or so
you should have plants that are hardy enough to go out.  Always bung them
back indoors if there is any chance of a frost however. 

> hot banana,
> 
> What are these like? (appearance, taste, hotness?) I haven't heard the name,
> most of the chile varieties I've tried/have seen have been in large boxes
> outside of the many (very!) Asian food shoops local to me, and not even
> named in Urdu or Hindi etc.
> 
I should think that the chiles you've bought from your local Asian shop
have been some sort of cayenne.  By all means have a shot with some of
these seeds - if you are successful you have the pleasure twice over -
i.e. first you eat the chile, then you plant the seeds and (hopefully) eat
the babies!  

Hot Bananas are medium heat with a good sweet flavour.

> It's a long time since I delurked....hmm, feels good...
> 
> And rightly so! Personally, I got out of lurking pretty quickly on the
> lists/groups I was visiting, preferring to make a public nuisance of myself
> when I had nothing to say.
> 
I think that's absolutely fair enough!
> 
> Anyhoo, back on topic, are chile seeds difficult to germinate, from fresh
> chillies? Or is it just a case of letting them dry, and damp-germinating in
> a warm place?
> 
I have heard it said that you should dry out seeds to give them a
"resting" period.  However I've never had any problems planting the seeds
out of the chile I've just eaten straight in the compost, in fact the
germination rate is usually nearly 100% (using supermarket varieties such
as fresno, jalapeno, birds eye etc).  I should mention that for the
business we do buy in decent quality commercial seed however, as this is
the only way that you can be 100% sure that the varieties will grow true.

Regards,

Wendy
Easy Gardens