Personally, I'm going with 4 pepperonchini because I want to can a bunch of those, and I only had 2 good plants last year and couldn't can enough. And I'm doing 2 hot paprikas for drying and powdering.

Of the rest, I'm doing several kinds, of one plant each. I've never grown any of them before, and wanted to see how prolific they are or aren't before deciding if I want to plant more of any specific kinds.
Typically for my household, 8-12 plants is enough to make a bunch of fresh eating/cooking, a big batch of salsa for canning, a few batches of canned peppers, and enough leftover for regular drying for various cooking applications.

And for the seed bank depends too- some peppers make a ton of seed, so you only need 2-3 peppers for a good stock, some produce less and you might need a dozen peppers to make good stock. Also depends on what you want in your seed bank- you happy with a couple dozen seeds, or do you want a hundred or two for trading, sharing, selling?

How much harvest too- for some, keeping up with 4 plants is all they can do, others have 50 plants and seem fine with it.

I don't think there is a magic number. I have a household of 4 to sometimes 6 people, but not all of us are hot eaters. Some people are just 2 in the house and eat lots of hots, others can have 8 people and not eat a lot of hots. So it might be helpful for you to describe how many people you have, how much you use, how much stock you want in the bank.

There are 4 in our immediate family. I'm the main hot eater in my family but I have a several friends I'd like to provide some super hots. I could personally eat about every meal with a little added heat to it. As far as amount of super hots I would, that's hard for me to quantify. At the end of the season I'd like to have a pantry stocked with enough salsa, spices/flakes, and hot sauce to last me until next harvest. I go through a lot of salsa (a jar or so every couple weeks) and pepper flakes/powder. Hot sauce not as much.

For the seeds, I'd like to have quite a few extras in order to participate in next years seed exchange. So going by the requirements (minimum 10 seeds per 30 bags) the goal would be at least 300 seeds per variety.

For the first time ever, I am growing 2 kinds of Trinidad Scorpions Butch T (yellow and red) But I will few more in the mid range (150k to 300k SHU)

Seysonn

If I were you, I'd grow at the least half a dozen. However, if you are including habaneros in that amount why not grow as many as you are willing to? It doesn't sound as if they'd go to waste and if you grow too many just dial it back next year. If you are anything like me you have a good idea of what you want to grow and then something will happen to screw you over so spares may not be a bad idea haha! I'm sure if you listed what types specifically people here can give you a good idea of how much/well they will produce. Good luck!

I've got some extras from the holiday swap coming from a couple generous folks on here (thanks Brian and Jeremy!). I'm not really sure what breeds I have coming from them though. The breeds I have so far are:

Carolina Reaper (Pepper Joe's)
Bhut Jolokia (Pepper Joe's)
7 Pot Douglah (Pepper Joe's)
7 Pot Bubblegum (Pepper Joe's)
Prik Chi Faa (Pepper Joe's)
Santa Fe Grande (Pepper Joe's)
California Wonder Bell (High Mowing)
Early Jalapeno (High Mowing)
Magnum Orange Hab (High Mowing)
I can update the list once I receive the extras in the mail

I talked the family into dedicating 4 - 21' x 3' beds. :-) possibly more... haha. My garden is 75' x 40' so I might be able to drop a bed of, say, potatoes, or something.

I'm considering experimenting with starting some seedlings via aeroponics to get a jump on the season and/or overwintering my favorite plants at the end of the season.

So I guess my question to the group would be, of those breeds, which seeds would be more appreciated for the exchange? Is there one on my list that weren't as plentiful? I want to help out but don't want to provide a bunch of seeds that no one really wants.

As lundaesundae suggested, of the listed breeds, which breeds are more/less prolific?

This post was edited by dustonj2008 on Tue, Jan 13, 15 at 20:42

As of right now, I have 34 varieties germinating, and another 12 - 15 that will be started in a couple of weeks. This is my second year growing, and I plan on keeping 2 of each of my plants. This does not count the 5 upstairs that were already started, and the 5 overwinters (if they survive). Yes, it is addicting. Out of all of these, 3 are mild, and the rest are hot and beyond.....

2-3 of each of your superhots will have you swimming in 'em. I had 10 Superhots a couple years ago and I'm still knee deep in powder and the 2 big bottles of sauce I still have will probably carry me through to harvest this year. That was giving away a ton to neighbors et al. Last year, I had 4 superhots, but it was dismal. Late start and weird weather, I blame. You may want to up those #'s though -- I always forget that I get to harvest more times than many others because of my climate.

Large fruited annuums like bells and the Santa Fe's, I usually go 3-4. If your family likes bells, you may want to plant more. And you may want to stagger the planting of them-- sucks to have them come in all at once and don't know how you're going to use them all. If you stagger the planting of them, you'll have a nice steady supply all summer.

Japs, normally 3-4. Always uses and takers for Japs.

Also, if you can, try to keep those beds dedicated to just peppers, and maybe herb/flowers. Because of peppers unique watering regimen(compared to many other veggies), they'll thank you for the special treatment.

Kevin

This post was edited by woohooman on Mon, Jan 12, 15 at 22:18

I agree with Kevin, 2 plants of each were enough for me, but a lot has to do with how big of a container you grow them in. The larger the better.

I only grew one Habanero last year. Since it was in a large pot though I ended up with just over 400 pods.

With the supers, I got a late start and used smaller pots in an effort to force them to pod sooner. It worked, but the most I got from each plant was about 100 (plenty enough).

It sounds as though I should dial back my number of plants but do more varieties based off of what everyone is saying.

I see some of you guys are in warmer zones than I am in currently. How much should I compensate for my shorter growing season here in 6A? For example, woohooman (zone 10A) said he did 10 super hots one year and he was swimming in pods. Obviously our respective harvests will be different. Does 3-6 plants of each variety seem reasonable for my zone?

All great advice above. You're going to find that this forum is full of helpful, knowledgeable pepper enthusiasts who are more than willing to help you out with answering your questions, advice or suggestions.

I'm also in zone 6a (in Connecticut). Last year was my first year growing anything. It turned out to be an extremely successful one also. If I remember correctly, I ended up keeping 4 Red Habanero, 4 Red Scotch Bonnet, 3 Red Bhut Jolokias, and a handful of Serrano, Jalapeño, Cayenne, and Hungarian Hot Wax. I was absolutely drowning in peppers, even after giving away gallon bag after gallon bag. Beginner's luck? Maybe. Either way. Investing in a dehydrator and/or some canning jars for salsas and jellies over the course of the season might be a good idea too. Buying all that stuff at once can add up pretty quickly.

If I were more computer savvy, I'd post the link to my harvests from last season. But, if you search this forum for "My First Real Pull in CT," that'll give you an idea of what to expect in our zone. After putting my plants out on Memorial Day last year, it looks like I started getting really good harvests in September. Just make sure you have a plan for what to do with them all! Once they start producing, it's like opening a flood gate!

Hope that helps, good luck,
Mike

The additional varieties I have coming are:

7 Pot Brain Strain Yellow
Big Sun Habanero
Chiero Recife
Chocolate Habanero
Fatalii Yellow
Fish
Inca Red Drop
Mako Kokasrade
Scotch Bonnet Yellow
Thai Dragon
Trinidad Chocolate Scorpion
Trinidad Congo
Trinidad Moruga Scorpion

This post was edited by dustonj2008 on Wed, Jan 14, 15 at 12:13

I do no less then 10 -20 per strain
Then I plant the most hardy plants from the groups
Dont waste time on stragglers

I've been planting 8 to 10 each, I figure that way if I'm really lucky I'll have 2 survive my attempts at growing them haha.
I'm also a newbie and agree with MikeUSMC everyone is real helpful.
Randal

I try to grow at least two of each variety. I used to do more but I have expanded my number of varieties.
These are just for personal use to make breads and jellies for my friends.

I plant as many as I have space for then quite a bit more haha. I find I have a growing number of friends around harvest time.
-chuck

2 of each variety works best, but for those plants that produce the best, I would grow more.

Thank you everyone for their input. I've officially decided to do smaller amount of plants of each varieity:

7 Pot Brain Strain Yellow - 4
7 Pot Bubblegum - 4
7 Pot Douglah - 2
Bhut Jolokia - 2
Big Sun Habanero - 2
Carolina Reaper - 4
Chiero Recife - 4
Chocolate Habanero - 2
Fatalii Yellow - 2
Fish - 2
Inca Red Drop - 2
Magnum Orange Habanero - 2
Mako Kokasrade - 4
Prik Chi Faa - 2
Santa Fe Grande - 2
Scotch Bonnet Yellow - 2
Thai Dragon - 2
Trinidad Chocolate Scorpion - 4
Trinidad Congo - 2
Trinidad Moruga Scorpion - 2

If anyone feels that a certain variety will over/under produce based off of their experience please let me know.

Thanks,
Josh

Josh, Carolina Reaper can be a bugger since it's quite unstable. I've planted 10 last year, only 3 of those 10 came out true Reapers. You can raise your odds of getting a true one by starting a few more. If you care about "trueness" that is :)

Djole

Good point Djole. I definitely want to provide seeds from true plants next year so that will be important. Are there any others that you see that are similar or low producers?

I avoid planting more than I have time to take care of. My wife keeps me busy with other stuff so I have to keep a balance. Though I still spend time tending to my plants. I try to keep from having so many that it is like having another full time job keeping up with watering, fertilizing, weeding, and the likes. Also I have limited space to work with as well.