Hi Chris! Just to let you know... I got your package quickly but forgot they were pods and not seeds so by the time I got around to them they were a bit moldy. But no problem, didn't do anything special, and they germinated on a moist paper towel. Unfortunately Hurricane Wilma came and they got forgotten about during the days without power! I started another batch (including many that had the aforementioned dark spots) and no problem. Most of them germinated anyway! Tonight's going to be cold down here (50's) so I'll probably wait til next week to move them outside & get them potted up. How large do the plants get? And I'm guessing since they're named "hot peppers" they're edible (I only ask because people on the other forum keep asking for black prince ornamental! so I'm getting confused - doesn't take much) Thank you again sooo much> I am really looking forward to seeing my babies grow!

If you live anywhere in the northern hemisphere your plumeria is in it's dormancy period. Foliage on the plant during this period should not be an issue in most cases. After leaves fall their condition is defiantly not an issue. The following is an article I wrote several years ago which explanes the phenomena. Jack This is a subject that has attached to it, many falsehoods from some very prominent and serious plumeria growers. We have never subscribed to the theory plumeria go dormant to protect themselves from the cold. The following is our reasons: The fact is the plumeria growerÂs biggest losses are during this period of time in our area/latitude. So if plumeria go dormant as a protection from cold, why are so many trees affected so adversely by the cold? The answer is very simple: Plumeria in areas of their native habitat go dormant when the day length shortens. Why? Because it is the "DRY" season in this equatorial part of the world. If plumeria did not loose their leaves it would continue transpiration, i.e. loss of water through the leaves leading to total dehydration then imminent death. Length of day is called "photo period". So when the day length shortens (i.e. photo period) in autumn and winter plumeria go dormant. Because of plumeria genetics and physiology this dormancy is prevalent anywhere in the world a plumeria is exposed to sunlight. Much study has been done over the past 20 years on various tropical plants, succulents, cacti, true palms and plumeria showing their inability to "harden off" prior to winter as do "woody evergreens, coniferous evergreens and deciduous trees" native to our latitude. My personal experience and association with the Southern California Nursery Industry for over fifty years and growing plumeria for forty years has made this fact very obvious. The following science is an important fact about tropical plants: "Plants from tropical and subtropical regions tend to have more saturated fatty acids in their membranes than those from temperate regions (our latitude). Plants which acclimate to low temperatures increase the proportion of unsaturated fatty acids in their membranes." In Southern California and most latitudes in the US our plumeria become very stressed during this dormancy period. The plant is genetically expecting hot dry conditions but cold and rain is prevalent. Plumeria cultivated in out of doors conditions should be in the "peak of health" to best survive the conditions of dormancy in our latitude. This becomes the growerÂs responsibility.

Not at all Steve. The plant_lady was wanting to can in oil, big difference from using vinegar. Now that you mention it though, if you're not going to Pressure Can or Boiling Water Bath, you should at least sterilize your jars by bringing them to 185 degrees before packing, not just "keeping them hot." Personally though, I agree with the latest NCHFP guidelines that all should either be PC or BWB, depending on the acid levels of the approved recipe. With your method you have no idea if the PH is at safe levels of 3.8 or below, particularly if you pack the jars tight and use relatively little vinegar. Your peppers also needs to remain below 3.8 PH throughout it's lifetime to remain safe. I'm reminded of the ol' boy that just shakes out a bit of vinegar to flavor his BBQ, leaving the peppers behind. I learned many many years ago that you're supposed to refill the bottle with vinegar, otherwise the peppers will start to go bad. Granted, you may not do that with your peppers, but some do and when they do the PH level rises to dangerous levels as the amount of vinegar to pepper ratio declines. Anyway, to get back to the main point - If y'all would just take the extra step of running your peppers through a BWB using an approved recipe that insures you have the correct ratio of peppers/onions/*dried* spices/whatever to vinegar, it will not only sterilize the jars, vacuum seal the lids, but ensure the food will be absolutely safe a year from now. Just bringing peppers and an unknown amount of vinegar to a boil and packing into hot jars is very marginal. Why take a chance? Surely your friends and family are worth the best you can provide. PS I'm not picking on you Steve. I've seen several threads like this brought up recently and felt something needed to be said. ;)

"Save every seed you can from the red ones" That is my intention Peppermaster1. However, I don't know how many seeds each will have. I let my wife eat one of the runt pepper that did not look good for seed (genetically), it only had four seeds in it. Since it took all of the 50 seeds I had to get these two plants to germinate, I am worried about getting new plants. Both plants have only produced 30 pods combined so far after 6 months of hand pollination of each flower and the best care I knew how to give them (never done anything like this before). Once I get this process down to where I know I will be able to grow new plants, I would be glad to trade with you, especially if you have some Malagueta or Bode seeds. Yeay! I think I just found out what kind of pepper they are. I was looking for the correct spelling of the Bode pepper and struck an ebay page selling four types of Brazilian peppers. One of the peppers in the picture looked similar in shape to my pepper, but it was yellow, not red like mine. I did a google image search with the name of the pepper (Cheiro)off the ebay page and found the Cheiro pepper is a extremely tasty aromatic sweet pepper like the Bell pepper. But my peppers are really hot. The one my wife ate was about 90% as hot as a Habanero. After looking through hundreds of thumbnails on google image search I found a picture that looked like mine (http://www.pbase.com/chiles400/image/103079070). There is no other information with the picture, but the photographer called the pepper, "Cheiro Laranja" (Laranga means orange). Mine are red and not orange, but that is pretty close. Now the word "Cheiro" is a Portuguese word that means "Aroma" or smell (Positive sense only). There is no doubt that my peppers are related to the Cheiro, because they have such powerfully delicious aroma. I have actually eaten this pepper for years in a dried powder form that I brought back with me from the Amazon five years ago. Every single person that has ever tasted my pepper powder has declared it to be the best smelling tasting pepper they have ever tried in their lives. All my friends (and family) have all but exhausted my supply of powder(both my arms are broken from the twisting. LOL!)and it was because of this that my friend went looking for some seeds when he went to Brazil. He also brought me back some more powder (whew!). Anyway, I am now fairly certain that my peppers are some type of Cheiro pepper. The reason I think this is because when I first bought some powder at a farmers market in Manaus, Brazil five years ago, I bought two bottles from different native farmers. One bottle was yellow powder and the other was red powder. Both powders were unbelievably delicious, but the yellow was the better of the two. From what I know about my peppers, they are not commercially grown anywhere in Brazil like the Malagueta, Bode and Cheiro. In fact, the pepper powder is only produced by native amazonian (Indians). It was from an Indian that my friend got the seeds. So my uneducated guess about what type of pepper mine are is this. Either the Cheiro pepper came from the pepper variety I have, or the peppers I have came from the Cheiro. I think the former to more likely though. Oh by the way, I bought every seed that guy on ebay was selling; 120 total, 30 of each variety, Malagueta, Bode, Cheiro and Dedo de Mo�o. Luck strike for me. All the pepper seeds I wanted on one place.