Anyone that loves hot peppers becomes obsessed with a frenzy of more hotter, more varieties, more of it all. Introducing hot peppers to people that have never experienced them always brings a giggle, but finding someone to share your enthusiasm is heaven!! I wanted to sell some of mine at market but it didn't pan out, so I put them up and eat them and share with others.

I grow peppers, eggplants, basil, etc. for a number of reasons:
-Fewer trips to the market and fresher ingredients
-More variety, although I have a pretty good selection locally
-Trying to find the perfect varieties for my climate
-It's fun, interesting and relaxing
-To share with friends and family

cuz they're hot

Just kidding :) I grow them for eating, of course...various uses like chili, dips, salsas, drying, making Chipotle's, etc..

Christmas presents.

For guacamole, to bribe the gardeners, for appetizers, to splash on the patio to discourage critters, and for wine! If you'd like to make wine from yours here is a recipe!

Here is a link that might be useful: Jalapeno Wine

To save money at the grocery store. Can't believe the price and lack of choice. Like many here have already mentioned, it's fun to share with family and friends. My husband's co-workers save compost for me, so I send them plants in late May. I give away half to two-thirds of what I germinate.

I grow them for many reasons, but now it has quickly become an obsession for me. I have always loved spicy
foods since I was young. Taco's, pizza, chili soup and
anything on the grill needs a spicy kick. I also think that the grocery stores charge alot for peppers also.

Many reasons; some of which have already been stated. The basic idea is it's gardening, good for the environment, great for your health, and being able to share with others the fruits (pun totally intended) of your labour. I LOVE sharing my peppers with those who think jalapenos are HOT, and watching them squirm and dive for drinks after nibbling on a good thai hot or jamaican red. Putting up salsa helps my family by reducing our grocery bill, and I've always got something on hand to share at potlucks or social occasions. The plants, fruits,and flowers are very aesthetically pleasing, and they help to brighten up my yard as well as my neighbour hood.

I grow them because I like the appearance of the plant mostly.
Here's an online guide to chili bonsai, which most of you have already
seen, no doubt. Anyhow, this is what really convinced me to give peppers
a try. Functional art that's edible!

Josh

Here is a link that might be useful: Fatali.net - bonchi's (bonsai chilis)

i grow them because i can and i like them and i make gourmet organic salsas .last year was my first year and i eneded up with just over 130 plants. and that was in a minimal space so i lost about 40 percent of them due to crowding and learning. i have just finished clearing about an acre and am looking forward to ramping up peppers as well as all kinda veggies. because i can and i like it .
:)
i have 2 1/2 acres so i might as well farm on it its fun.

I grow a small selection of hot peppers, but the main pepper I grow is a sweet pepper I've hybridized, semi-stabilized, crossed again, and I am about to grow out season 3 of that 2nd cross to see how stable things are.

The reason I go through this trouble is because if I want a sweet pepper (a truly sugary sweet one) I have the option of either a big ripe bell pepper or a small pint of these tiny 2" super-sweet snack peppers. The small pint of peppers are excellent, but expensive and too small to stuff with cheese or similar for roasting. The bell peppers are usually too huge for me to use a whole one at once...especially if I just want to cut up some in a salad.

Right now I have a very sweet 3" thick-walled chili that produces pretty well and has a small seed cap. I hope it continues to stabilize.

My main motivation isn't trying to breed some super pepper or something to sell...it's because at the time I started this there weren't a lot of good options for something like this...a small thick-walled sweet "snack" pepper.

It's not a lot of work. The total "work" involved over the years is almost literally about an hour combined. It just takes time.

Woops...wrong pepper lineage in the 1st paragraph. That's a totally different one.

The one showed in the picture and the one I'm supposed to be talking about has had 1 cross and is about to grow out into it's 5th line. It's all about this pepper from paragraph 2 on.

The one described in the 1st paragraph is my first project which I've pretty much given up on, though I still grow a few out yearly. The variation on size/vigor/pod-size/color are just too varied to keep messing with when i got something else closer to stable.

Sorry if this is all very confusing. I'm treating my insomnia with a little gardening reading. It's in the 30s outside. Blah.

Well, that's a good question.

I started out because I love the heat and I love to share the heat. But then it transmorgrified (sp?) into something else.

I'm on a quest to find the pepper, or peppers, that really suit my taste. The diversity of the pepper kingdom is well diverse.

But, on the way, I discovered some pretty nice folks that either traded or gave me seeds. That's pretty cool also.

Then I must say that I also like the way pepper plants look.

It's a hobby and keeps me pretty busy.

Honestly its because me and my dad act like immature teenagers and dare each other to eat them. I grow the hottest ones I can find, he does the same,then we compare. I have a lot of family who loves hot peppers, so they never go to waste. I usually grow about 80 or so plants, and I use them in gardens and areas on my proptery where I can fit them in. They all do great for me!!!

I originally got into growing because I wanted hot sauce that didn't have any vinegar in it. Once I discovered there were more than just jalapenos, cayenne, and habanero out there, I kinda went nuts...

And its really fun to give away what you grow, to people that appreciate it.

Here's my story...

I am a newly engaged electrical engineer working on his master's degree. I am also a former collegiate pole vaulter, still training and competing post-collegiately. In the rest of my spare time I downhill/freeride/dirt jump mountain bike. I wanted to start my own garden of a few peppers to eat them, but found that a hobby that does not make your heart race and adrenaline gland pump out of control is kind of nice! So I went a little further, bought a few more heat mats, a couple more lights, and a few more seeds. Now I am running out of room, and I love the new hobby! I also have always enjoyed learning, and I am doing alot of it with my first year of pepper/tom planting.

It is relaxing to come home and check on the peppers and toms and see how everyone is doing each day... thats why I do it.

Oh, I also LOVE spicy food and eating my own produce sounds like a rewarding way to make a meal.

Like others ,I too garden and enjoy it.I've only grown jalepenos,bell, and sweet and hot banana peppers.I wanted to learn more and grow hotter ones and so I looked up this forum and read eveything I could about them.I also was looking at the pics of them and that's what really got me hooked.The plants looks good and has beautiful flowers.So now I have a few different kinds in an incubator and looking to get more.Hopefully,this fall I'll have a bunch to give away.
Gene

Hey, I'm an MS-EE IC designer. If you're an analog dude, sling me a resume' when you graduate. With the current malaise in the markets you might want to do the full PHD though. National Semi just laid off 1/4 of their workforce...

I'm growing peppers because I put cayenne powder on *everything* and would like a wider variety of hot stuff to play with. I've also got small kids and a wife in school, so it's easier to have hobbies in the yard. ;)

Cayenne powder instead of paprika on top of deviled eggs makes for a nice snack! :)

I enjoy nature! I find it very interesting what a human can do with nature if you follow the rules. If certain requirements are met you can make a mushroom that glows in the dark, or a pepper that burns through your stomach. Being able to produce something from virtually nothing is really crazy if you think about it. We all start with these tiny seeds, some dirt and water, and look what has been made. See the smiles that have been created. Nature is why i grow peppers, why i grow any of the odd ball stuff i grow. Its all really cool and i just cant seem to get enough of it.

Like many others here, I started growing peppers once I found out about the variety. I got tired of paying $4 a pound for peppers that weren't to my liking, or buying red pepper flakes/powder that are stale or bland.

I can from 30-100 quarts of peppers a year, but this year I plan to focus on drying them grind in to powder and flakes.

I bought a pack of Jalapeno Early seeds 2 years ago in Spring and they would not grow so I kind of lost hope for a while, then in October I threw all the seeds in two pots and by halloween 5 sprouted. I kep them all winter and by spring last year only two remained but they grew like crazy. I started doing a little research and found there were up to 4000 varieties, and went nuts from there and now I have 30 plants of 16 varieties with more being planted.. I also grow tomatoes and have a full veggie garden(beans, peas, broccoli, etc..)

They grow well for me without lots of insect pests. Rabbits and other larger animals leave mine alone. They look cool and come in many shapes and colors. I give most of mine away and people are amazed at the variety. That is fun to see. I'm too whimpy to eat many hot ones myself. I am searching out more cool looking mild peppers since many of them grow well for me also.

All the other postings show how you end up with lots of peppers. I grow only 2 or 3 varieties each year from among several favorites, saving them for use in following years as pickled, dried, crushed or powder. Seeds stay fertile for years frozen in a tight container. My parents use as many as seven different peppers in jelly for a complex flavor, varied each year. An acquaintance's southwestern native-American mother-in-law grew over twenty varieties every year, each having its use in one or more dishes. Find your favorites and only grow those, but be open to something new when you run across it.