I have some tomato seeds left from last year. They are good for 2009. My seedlings came out very well. The seed came from North of China, the fruit is medium size, pink, dense and high yield. I'd like to trade some of cilantro or chinese parsley if you are interested any of seeds on my list. thanks Wendy

Once your HHW peppers start turning orange, they will go to red relatively quickly. They start out more of a green yellow but soon turn to yellow as they grow to mature size. They then will sit in the yellow stage for some time even after reaching mature size. Then you will go out one day and notice a subtle coloring change on a pod or two. And within a day or so, you will notice a definite orange tinge appearing. It will go to a bright orange and then a week or so later will begin its change to a beautiful Red with a slight orange hue. It will stay that way for a good two weeks before you would have to pick it. The actual length in each stage is hard to nail down due to differences in soils, temps, sunlight, nutrients, etc... but they sit in the yellow stage for a long, long time. If you want max heat, you will just have to wait, but they are still quite stout in the yellow stage. Here is a photo of some of my HHW peppers from last year in early August. It shows all the color stages pretty well. Oh, and one other thing I have noticed about HHW peppers is that it seems like the smaller peppers ripen quicker than the larger ones.

Plantslayer, you're right, I used the waterbottles to cover the plants after I'd put them in the ground in May. I also used one for the past few weeks to protect an avocado. I dug everything up today, though, so gardening season is over for me. Thanks, Buzzsaw! This potting mix can be watered thoroughly without staying too wet during the winter months. It's lightweight but structurally stable, and it allows for good root-development. Since the pruned peppers might as well be rooted cuttings, I focus on healthy roots - as opposed to big foliage - for the Spring transplant. Hey, Rick! Thanks for the question. The plastic pots are to protect the roots from gophers, and to allow me to water/feed the root-zone efficiently. Those are just old nursery containers that have the bottoms cut off. I might try drilling a few holes around the outside next year, to allow roots to grow further, laterally. My largest pepper plant, this year, was indeed free-range. It was the runt, and I didn't care if the gophers got it or not. In July, a deer got into the garden and ate my pepper plants in half - Hungarian, and two Thai's. The runt plant was reduced to about eight inches. Then, in response, it shot up new growth and became the largest of my plants. Its peppers took the longest to ripen, however. Today, when I pruned it down, there were 76 peppers in varying stages of ripeness on the plant. Josh

It all depends. But the first pod is usually a runty mutant that has poor flavor. They tend to grow from the first fork, i usually snip those off. Personally i think this is what you are dealing with. But, the original plants could have been an F1 commercial breed labeled as "Hungarian Hot Wax". That would mean you have an F2 generation on your hands. If so, then if you had planted 10 of them, all 10 could have come out looking different. F2 is where crosses begin to change, sometimes revealing their parentage. The F3 generation will keep showing variance, by about F5 is when things begin to stabilize. The changes end around F8 or so. But, if the greenhouse starts were accidentally crossed in your backyard last year, then you would have an F1 cross on your hands. F1 plants almost always turn out looking the same as one another. Steve.