If youâÂÂre using fluorescent lights, then itâÂÂs just fine. You can fix fluorescent bulbs at 2-3 inches away from the tops of your plants. You can provide 24x7 light for your pepper sprouts for first 4-5 weeks; then you can switch to a 16:8 cycle for a week.

I freeze most of mine. For seed I let the pods ripen and dry while hanging on the plant... nature knows how to do that much right. My dry pods will just sit on a shelf until planting time next year... I don't even put them away. I rinse mine and dry them on my bread cooling rack. Then they get tossed in a ziplock freezer baggie. I use a ziplock because it is easy to add peppers as they ripen and pick them back out when needed... I get the fancy ones with the zipper device. I cook with them so no issues with texture. Frozen peppers can sliced up while frozen... I use lots of cayenne which I snip into the beans with my kitchen sissors. I tried mixing them with tomatos for chili.. then forgot which was which so the spagetti turned out rather warm.

When I grew cayenne last year, my peppers look like that. The upper part of the pepper near the stem was lumpy and some of my cayenne peppers do curl. I think they curl because of the proximity to other branches or if something is in their way. I bought my cayenne seed pack (Burpee Co.) from a box store. I believe mine was a cayenne mutt/hybrid. Check out the link. Here is a link that might be useful: Cayenne Hybrid

Anchos are a big componant of the chili powder that I make... 3 ancho chiles, stemmed, seeded and sliced 3 cascabel chiles, stemmed, seeded and sliced 3 dried arbol chiles, stemmed, seeded and sliced 2 tablespoons whole cumin seeds 2 tablespoons garlic powder 1 tablespoon dried oregano Place all of the chiles and the cumin into a medium nonstick saute pan or cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Cook, moving the pan around constantly, until you begin to smell the cumin toasting, approximately 4 to 5 minutes. Set aside and cool completely. Once cool, place the chiles and cumin into the carafe of a blender along with the garlic powder, oregano, and paprika. Process until a fine powder is formed. Allow the powder to settle for at least a minute before removing the lid of the carafe. Store in an airtight container for up to 6 months. 1 teaspoon smoked paprika This is the original recipe (from Alton Brown on the Food Network). I usually triple it at least because it is such a chore to make, but I like having the chili powder around. I also usually up the percentage of hotter peppers as well.