>>>Hey, Steve! No, I've never grown a Cayenne. Closest to the plant was a Chocolate Ghost, then a Yellow Ghost and Moruga. JoshLol, yea i guess none of those are close to a Cayenne. I wonder if your HHW last season was an intentional F1 hybrid, bred for better disease resistance or production. But chances are they would have labeled it accordingly. I've seen pictures of ghost x banana hybrids, but the pods looked different, thicker, bumpier etc. Edit: I posted a link below of one of the Bhut x HHW crosses i've seen, it would be great if it's been stabilized, and sold, imho. I just checked JungleRain.com.au and they don't have it :( Steve Here is a link that might be useful: Bhut x HHW This post was edited by sjetski on Sun, Jun 8, 14 at 11:56

Here is the recipe from Rita Heikenfeld and you can google the recipe and video on the web. I don't have a canning machine and it was very user friendly:) You don't have to chill them unless you want to but they came out fabulous. Here it is: Pickled peppers I donÂt have to tell you that these are the best and easiest pickled peppers you'll ever eat. And if you grow peppers, you know how abundant they are this time of year. Now I usually don't add 2 cups sugar; I'll start out with half a cup, taste the brine, and go from there. If you have extremely hot peppers, though, the 2 cups of sugar is not too much. My sister, Christine, makes a version of these pickles and uses no sugar at all. Sterilizing Jars: Wash jars and lids, then place in big pan, covered with water. Bring to a boil and boil 15 minutes. Keep in hot water until you're ready to fill them. Meanwhile, make brine and prepare peppers: Brine: 6 cups clear vinegar, 5% acidity 2 cups water 1/2 to 2 cups sugar (see note above)* Place brine ingredients in non-reactive pan (that means either stainless, enameled or anodized aluminum, not the old fashioned aluminum pans). Bring to a boil. To Prepare Peppers: Wash. Leave whole with a slit down the center, or cut into slices as desired. I like to remove seeds if I slice them, but this is optional. Remember the membrane that the seeds are attached to is the hottest part of the pepper, and the seeds are the second hottest part. Place peppers in sterilized, hot jars, packing tightly. Pour boiling brine over, covering peppers. Add seasonings, such as garlic, bay leaf, slices of sweet bell, herbs, etc. as desired, or leave plain. Seal and let cool away from drafts. Store away from heat and light. No need to process these as the vinegar, if you use 5%, keeps bacteria out. That's all there is to this wonderful pickled pepper recipe. Making your own is so easy and much more crisp and tasty than the store-bought variety. Chill in refrigerator before serving Dusty

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