So last year was my first year growing hot peppers. I put 10 Chinense plants in the bed, which ended up being too many, go figure. We got a ton of rain last year, like a ton. And the plants ended up growing into what I affectionately called the 'Pepper Jungle'. They were massive and there was a ton of foliage but because of how much rain we got I didn't have a lot of opportunities to fertilize. So while I did get a lot of peppers just due to their massive size, I think there could've been much bigger yields if they hadn't almost solely existed on rainwater. So this year we have not gotten a lot of rain and I've been able to fertilize more. So I'm doing an experiments of sorts to see how this year's plants will differ in yields and size. The first picture is how big the pepper plants got last year. The second picture is the size of the plants on June 13th last year and the third picture is of the pepper plants yesterday. Now additionally the plants' growth this year was slowed down some because I've been dealing with leaf spot. But they are definitely on the mend so to speak. Also, I only planted 6 plants in the bed this year to make my life easier when harvesting. – 1 Carolina Reaper, 1 Butch T Scorpion (which I don't think is a Butch T, I think it's an apocalypse scorpion), 1 7 Pot Chocolate, 1 Habanero, 1 Cayenne, and 1 Jalapeno. (I also have some pepper plants in containers which I am also monitoring for comparison to last year's container pepper plants)
by fire_and_spice