Thanks, I'm just a collector at heart, and I started old school before there was an internet. When I first started collecting cycads, I wanted to acquire 6 to 10 specimens of every species I could get so I could someday use them for breeding. Back then there was no websites with people advertising what they had. It was certainly who you knew. I used to have $300 a month phone bills calling south Africa, Australia, and long conversations to people on California and Hawaii just to find what I was looking for. Then after I bought as many plants as possible, the more rare plants were not available for money, they were only available for trade, and that is when getting the plants got even more difficult. There are plenty of rich cycad collectors and you can offer them big money, and they will laugh, because they don't need any money. But, offer them something super rare they don't have, and you are good to go. Eventually, I would end up doing things with cycads that nobody in the world even thought about doing and I would eventually write articles that now have been published in 17 journals all over the world.
I am now taking this collector mindset to growing these seriously hot peppers. As an example, right now. I have a few experiments going on. One is, I should be raising the scoville level of the subject peppers by a good 300,000 SHUs, and my subject plants are the reapers and the 7 pod Primos. I'm looking into laboratories that can test the samples to determine the heat level. I know this is not natural, but these peppers will not be sold to people without their knowledge, but I found a product that helps plants produce essential oils. This was made mainly for the people in California, Colorado, etc. It is a resinator that makes their crop seriously more potent. In the case of peppers, it should increase the oil content in the peppers, which will make these hot peppers even hotter. Who knows, it might increase the terpine levels in the peppers which would make them taste better, or stronger as well. I'm doing this right now because July and August picked peppers are the hottest of the year. The hotter it is outside, the hotter the inside of the peppers. This is one reason the hot pepper institute was able to increase the level of their Morugas by 800,000 SHUs and get the new record. When I make the powder I use for myself, I keep powder from August peppers. Anyway, a fun project, and maybe I might get something hotter than has been officially recorded. To me, experimenting is fun and makes work into play, that is until I have to go out and pull weeds. Tom

I had no idea you wee hat deeply involved and I find it extremely interesting.

When I make my hot pepper sauce I take my hot peppers and put them into a blende and then I freeze them or later use. I found that the heat is still there after I defrost them. I recently bought what was called Ghost Peppers from our local super market. they were extremely hot and I froze them whole. When I defrosted a few the other day I found they were mushy but still very hot. Is there a right way to freeze hot peppers.??

Tom, I am filled with admiration!

Your kind of breeding is why we have so many crops today, instead of just big-seeded grasses and a few small wild berries.

Eventually someone will take the fun out of it by using new genetic engineering techniques like CRISPR to super-promote the genes that make the enzymes that produce the capsaicin. Or add super-effciient initiator DNA sequences to the existing genes. Then the breeding challenge will be to keep the pods strong enough that they don't just dissolve into 90% capsaicin oil. The pods might become like little glassine bags filled with oil.

RickCorey said:Tom, I am filled with admiration!

Your kind of breeding is why we have so many crops today, instead of just big-seeded grasses and a few small wild berries.

Thanks everyone. Rick, People are already talking about exactly what you mentioned. I'm just kidding, but it reminded me about a cultivation tip. Apply magnesium sulphate about once a month, or drench every couple of weeks and it will strengthen the walls of the peppers. Some people say they can actually tell the difference in the width of the walls of the peppers. I don't want to do this in case it messes my experiment up, but I'll be doing this with the other pepper plants to see how much it makes a difference. Since I ship fresh peppers all over the US, they should ship better, last longer during shipping. Tom

Tom - You ship peppers all over the US. does that mean you sell peppers to individuals or just ship them amongst the people who do what you do with them.??

Franklin, I think Tom is reluctant to sound like he's using the forum to push his products.

His one-man online company is listed in the ATP Green Pages: "Seriously Hot Peppers". It looks to me as if the website offers seeds, plants, fresh peppers and dried chili powders.

Rick - how the heck to I get to that site

Frank, you can get to the "Green Pages" by going to the top of the screen and clicking on "green pages" -- on the left, in the list with "plant database," "ideas and articles," etc. Then click on "S" and look for "Seriously Hot Peppers."

@cycadjungle -- Tom, I'm glad Rick pointed us in the right direction! You may not (or maybe you are?) be aware that you can post on the "classifieds and group buys" forum (and I think you should!)

Thanks, Rick!

Tom - what a fantastic web site you have and for sure you will be hearing from me next year. I will be ordered he plants themselves and also the powders.

Thanks for the props everyone. Glad you liked the pepper site, bit I think it is way to basic. I did it myself and I know hardly anything about computers. I don't have the cart or automatic purchasing and all that kind of thing. I still deal with single people and will mix the boxes anyway they want, which nobody else is willing to do. Items funny, I didn't know about that section either and I see the pepper site is already there, but on the other hand, my main business site that has all my best cycad cultivation articles in it isn't showing. If anyone needs to know how to do something with cycads culturally, it's all there. Also have a section with Dyckias.
Franklin, as far as freezing peppers, obviously putting them in good freezer bags to reduce the freezer burn taste, but frozen peppers are going to thaw out mushy. Unless one day you just don't have the time, you may as well blend up the peppers and save space in the freezer. Pepper mash is awhole other product that people buy and sell. Many of the sauce people like to just buy mash and save all the prep. Also, what you need is a good mixed box of fresh peppers filled with yellows, reds, chocolates, peaches, and of course, the super burners that can light you up, or maybe unsuspecting friends this way, you can sample all the different pepper tastes and heat levels, so you know what you like. Tom

Tom - Thanks. when I buy my first batch of boxed peppers from you I will do as you suggest.

Frank, thanks for the reminder about that pepper site.

Tonight, I thought I would talk about, How do you know that pepper is seriously hot or not? Here is a tutorial for people who have never seen these peppers and don't know their names, nor do you have to taste any. And also a little bit about how they vary in heat.
First of all, in general, the peach or yellow form of a normally red pepper will be less hot, where many times, the chocolate form will be hotter than the original red pepper.



First question of the test, here are three forms of Bhut Jolokia, or ghost pepper. Which one is hottest?
Here is the fun part for me. As a general rule the bumpier the pepper is the hotter it is. Sometimes it will be little bumps, sometimes it can be big folds. Picture these as pockets of capsaicin oil. I kid around and talk about a certain pepper being really nasty looking, but that is a complement. So, even when you don't know the pepper, if it is gnarly looking, step back a bit. This is a good way to tell between different types of peppers, but interestingly enough, between different plants of the same type, and also peppers growing on the same plant.
OK, question 2, here are two Red Brain Strains, which taste wise treasures about 25% hotter than the previous hottest pepper, Moruga Scorpion. These came from two different plants, which one is hotter?




If you said the one on the left, you would be correct. If you taste a piece of each from the same location of the pepper there will be an obvious difference. This is the kind of thing I use to pick the best genetics and keep the best plants for the next year and slowly cycle out the ones that are not as good, since they will produce good peppers for 5 to 8 years. Above I mention the location of the pepper, for those who don't know, first of all the seeds are NOT the hottest thing in that pepper, in fact they don't have capsaicin at all. There is membrane, or placenta and that is where the majority of heat it, but also, super hots will have what looks like water in them and that is just pure heat. The tops are the hottest and the bottoms are less hot. If you want to get a good idea of the heat, taste a chunk of the top.
Anyway, a single plant will have peppers that vary in bumpiness at the same time, and yes, they will taste different. Then, the hotter it is outside, the hotter the peppers get. So a plant producing peppers in March will have comparatively another pods and will have bumpier pods in August. July and August peppers for me are the hottest for the year. Last two questions, here are two reaper peppers on the same plant, which one is hotter?



This one will be hard, especially with my tablet photo, which one of these ghosts are hotter?





You are now experts in heat and know what to look for when choosing your best genetics for the best seriously hot peppers. Tom

Yikes, I'm just sticking with my jalapenos!

Tom, you should write this up as an article and submit it!

Weedwhacker said:Yikes, I'm just sticking with my jalapenos!

Tom, you should write this up as an article and submit it!

I've only been here a week or so. I haven't even seen that section yet. Maybe this is an article already. I try to make posts that show people things or teach people things as it is. Tom

I just looked at the article area. I just wrote this one and one on bromeliads that would be better added in that section. Is there a way to copy the whole post including the pictures to that other area?

A great learning experience and I hope you keep up these kinds of posts here. I find it fascinating

These are some of my chillies - which someone turns up for to make a Balinese curry. He said they are a Caribbean chilli. I wouldn't know. However, they are very distinctly aromatic with a flavour that doesn't lend itself to all curries. They are also very hot. The man gave me some red ghost plants in exchange.

>> Is there a way to copy the whole post including the pictures to that other area?

There were some changes in the "Idea" editing system a few months ago, and I haven't started a new "idea" or "tip" or "article" from scratch lately.

But, in general, I'd suggest opening two tabs in your browser, or starting two instances of your browser, so you can have the forum post open in one tab, and your new "article" open in the other tab. You don't have to, but it seems easier for me to do it that way.

Then "edit" your current post. Copy all of that text, with the "lightbox" codes, into your clipboard (CTRL C). Exit the post without really editing it. Switch over to your new article. Paste (CTRL V) into the body of the article. save that, and then "preview" so you can see how it worked.

If that doesn't work, let me know, and I'll try some experiments with "the new way" of creating articles and get back to you.