7 Peppers We (Probably) Won’t Grow Anymore - Pepper Geek 

So grateful you listed California Wonder. It's a dismal plant to grow. Starts out looking great but just after the first pepper sets, it's downhill and not worth it. Thank you!!!

When you said 1 CR pepper is way too much for a bottle of hot sauce, that would have been good to know earlier this year when I made my first hot sauce using 12 dried reapers, w/ (grilled pineapple and some cayenne).

I’m in Minnesota and the Sugar Rush Peach has been one of my top producing peppers with the fewest issues. Excited to see what new peppers you’re trying this season. Thanks for the videos!

Rocoto... In the Andes at almost 10,000 feet I grow them like a weed. They love hot days and cool nights.

NJ grower here. Sugar rush were by far my best producer, had 0 disease issues, and survived over wintering. The only down side is the length to ripen. Suprised to see disease and blemishing mentioned. The peach is the best pickled pepper there is. The red makes excellent sriracha, and is great for a pop of color elsewhere. I will say, Jalapenos still stand as the most resilliant peppers I have grown. Resilient to drought, temperautes both high and low, pests, disease and damage. Everyone should grow jalapenos because they are a TANK.

I'm with you on the California Wonder peppers! I've replaced them with the Giant Marconi. Much more flavorful.

I TOTALLY agree with what you said about the Carolina Reaper!! I had my fun growing them for the last 2 years and they gave me HUGE yields. So much so that I had way more than I could give away because MOST people don't want them. I make my own hot sauces and it is just too hot for most people.

I'm glad to hear the Pepper Geek also has trouble with California Wonder. I thought it was supposed to be the gold standard of bell peppers and there was something wrong with my gardening skills! I will be definitely trying different varieties of bell peppers this year. Thanks! 😂

I work in a community garden here in southern Oregon, that produces food for the local food pantries. Peppers are popular. We grow rows of several hot types and many sweet/cooler types. Agree with you on the California Wonder bell pepper - it grows slow, distorted shapes, easily gets big rotten parts. But, the Big Bertha bell pepper is amazing! Highly prolific, huge peppers with a nice thick wall. These are easily 8" long, and 3" wide. Just take them at green stage. Don't wait for the red color. Just like all of the bells, the red happens too late or never. It keeps well in the fridge too.

I'm really glad y'all found each other.... Truly an inspiration watching you both. Thx

The absolute best thing about our hot peppers is the way, that just holding them in my hands, arthritis says adios and I feel good for the world.

Just founds yalls channel yesterday. This is my first year growing anything and I’m going all in and doing 10 different kinds of peppers as well as a few other things as well. Yalls videos have been some great education for me so thank you for making them!

I planted a California Wonder plant last year, it grew one pepper and then a storm came along and blew the pepper into the yard.

This year will be my biggest foray into peppers. Last count I have 22 varieties of peppers and at least one variety from each of the 5 species. Perhaps next year I will have a list of peppers I won't be growing. Keep the content coming...you guys are a big part of why I am so pepper crazed.

we had sugar rush peach last year worked perfectly with the pot in the greenhouse between the tomatoes, great harvest no issues we also had zhou pi la jiao which worked great, had a wonderful colour and made a good sauce

Love the thoughtful insights on your channel.

I grew my first Sugar Rush Peach last summer and is now my favorite. I only had six plants but had absolutely no issues. They were my best prolific pepper plant in the greenhouse (we live in North Idaho). I froze them, made Chile powder after dehydrating them, pickled and canned them. Best peppers ever. The flavor and aroma are fantastic. I don’t know why you had issues, I sure didn’t.

The best success I've had with Sugar Rush Peach peppers is growing them indoors as a fun winter project. I've never had problems with disease indoors. My biggest complaint is that the pods take forever to ripen! Beautiful pepper!

It was funny to hear Pepper Geek talking about the Carolina reaper, because this was literally me the first year. Had to grow it to get that “cred.” sugar rush stripey gave me so many issues last year. Thanks for all the helpful videos!

Funny about Carolina Reapers. I also grew them once, many years ago and found that the plants took way too long to get their arses in gear and by the time the peppers were set, our growing season (here in the Canadian Prairies) was all but over. My limited space was too valuable to waste with such a lackadaisical pepper. But now, after 15 seasons or so, I really just grow a few flavourful peppers without concerning myself about the Scoville heat level. Thanks for the interesting video.

I found the info about sugar rush really interesting as I have just planted the stripey for the first time and out of all my little plants, that is the only one with some sort of issue with the leaves. I'm still very excited about it and hope it will produce fruit but we'll see. Really good video as always by the way.

I’m not growing any peppers this year. My wife and I are expecting to be moving by July, so I don’t want to be starting to harvest them and then leave them behind. I have convinced my sister to grow some though, so I’m starting some for her.

Haha! I grow them pretty much because they're so pretty! I use a few peppers here and there in cooking but mostly the plants look so pretty when they're loaded down with all of those colorful peppers!

Interesting about the sugar rush. I had three sugar rush peach plants last year and they were probably my most productive plants and had no issues. I’m trying the stripey this year. I’m also doing the buena mulata so we’ll see how those go.

Greetings from the lower Hudson valley of New York. I gave up on bell peppers years ago and grow conical sweet peppers instead (Carmen has worked best for me). I love having guajillo peppers but they are a bit finicky & take forever to ripen so this year I am trialing Anaheims to potentially replace them. Lastly I decided to try Chinese 5 color peppers as ornamental additions to containers by our front door. The annual must-grows in my garden also include: poblano & Fresno & cayenne. I make a Louisiana style fermented sauce w the fresnos. Have just started my seeds for all!

Im going all out on sampling different peppers this year, have 32 varieties to try so far plus whatever I see in the nurseries, hoping to get near 50. Limited space so will have to build a few more beds and bought more grow bags, so hopefully I can make them all fit.

Great info guys, really appreciate your channel…👍

My daughter's Reaper plant is 3 years old (yes, years not generation). So, we will grow that one and whatever other seed she can get.

I love the reapers they are a big success with the family when I cook bengali curry dishes so I have 5 plants this year 😂 but yes I agree there are so many other varieties of super hots and I can’t wait to try and grow more of these next year.

Thank you for the video. I hope you update about the bell pepper varieties that work.

Rocoto peppers are probably my favorite. I have accumulated a fairly decent variety of them. I am in RI. I have had decent luck with them. Trying the Sugar Rush Stripey for the first time this year. Saw it on your channel.

Awesome video. I love the humor. Subscribed.

Totally agree on the reaper, but I LOVE my Buena Malata! I have been enjoying my indoor grown one for 2 years or so. Very plentiful and I love the straight black pepper taste with extra heat! And you can't beat that purple! The orange when going ripe is so inviting too!

One of my favorite things about your videos is that you so often refer to peppers or pepper plants as 'beautiful'. Your love for peppers really shows. Aww.

Love the new look Crystal! I got the Chillichump fatalii pack last year, and I'm with you guys on the Buena mulata - looks amazing (and was very productive all season for me) but not very useful for consumption. Sugar rush striped was great for me but I'm not doing it this year as it was very late producing. Had trouble with diseases on the Spanish Giant. The one from the pack I am growing again is the Bishops Crown which even though it wasn't a big producer, I loved the flavour of.

I'm growing reapers mostly as a personal challenge, just to see if I can actually get anything from them in zone 5b/6a. I can handle them, but they're not my favorite. I figure if I can grow a reaper I'll learn enough to be better at growing ghost peppers, which I absolutely love the flavor of.

I am growing the first three you listed. Having Peruvian friends I had to get Roccotto this year- it is such a beautiful plant but I only have one pod on it so far. Glad I’m not the only one not getting fruit.

For Bell Peppers I have always had great luck with the King Arthur Bell Pepper. Have grown them for 20 years here in the Southwestern Part of Virginia. Great taste and very thick and meaty.

Thank you for your input

Hi I live in Newcastle Australia & have had success growing red rocoto peppers. I also have a very healthy Marlene Rocoto pepper. I have them growing in the ground against my house wall on the eastern side. Also my soil is constantly damp. Still growing now in June, our early winter

I've always had issues with small peppers or blossom end rot when growing California Wonder. I have great yields of every other pepper but figured my issues with the plants were just me. Probably moving to better bell pepper varieties moving forward thanks to this video!

I'm not into Bell peppers,too. They just don't grow that good in my garden. But Rocotos do pretty well, cause it's not to hot here most of the time and they can handle that kinda weather better than the Chinense. They definitely take forever to ripen but it's worth it ☺️

I like your logic. I grew a ghost pepper a few decades ago and sold each pepper for two dollars using maybe 4.. now habaneros I would love a flavor recommends for that level of hot.

I grew Poblanos over the winter in my greenhouse and they were really pest-prone, slow growing and quite small. I may try growing them outside this spring/summer.

I grew sugar rush peach this year. I didn't have any of the issues you mentioned, I wasn't that impressed with the peppers, but it was CRAZY productive. I took over 300 peppers off that plant & it's still going.

I've been at this house for 3 years and have been working hard to get good soil in my garden. So far, Jalapeno's have been the best producers. I've been trying hard to get Tobasco peppers going and they grow but are lackluster. When we moved here the garden plot was pretty much a sand lot so we're heading in the right direction.

I just want you guys to know this is my favorite channel on RU-vid

Your first two on the list actually do well in my zone (9a). And i didn't have pests with my sugar rush'ies.

At like 50 seconds, "just one plant, just one" "..two?" Literally me and my mom trying to discuss how many plants I'm allowed to keep/grow indoors during the winter

I'm a first timer that saw Carolina Reaper plants at a local nursery. I couldn't help myself... I love Chili and Indian food... it came in a pack of six, so I'm growing 6 Reapers, 1 Green Bell Pepper (just learned that they turn red when ripe...), and 1 Super Chili.

I just want to thank you for the help you provided me through your links and everything. I started growing bell peppers indors last automn in order to be ready to plant them outside this year, and I made almost all mistakes I could, so I feel ready. The only thing I don't get with my peppers is that some of them (about 1 on 10-15) has some black area with weaker skin, almost a hole inside. I though it was sunburn from my lights as some of the peppers are not covered by leaves, but I'm not sure. I don't think that this is rot especially because my peppers are orange, and this even happen to the green ones. The dark patchs are relatively small, like about 1cm diameter max. The second thing I did not understand yet is why some of the peppers are small, and some others are bigger when I used seeds from groceries pepper (which are pretty bigs). It could be because my plants are small and I may have been inconsistent in fertilising, I'm looking toward being more regular. So, once again : thank you.

I'm growing 7 pot bubble gum this year... (3 plants) can't wait to try them!

I have 2 x sugar rush stripey's, 2 x Aji lemon's and 3 x orange fish peppers which have all reached fruiting stage now. They are all growing very fast and they love the sub tropical climate we have here in Brisbane , Australia. I will be at the stage of what to keep and what to throw away once the season is over and I have made some chutneys and jams full of chilli's of course to really put them all to test.

I love the Red Rocoto! I grow in a pot, and bring in during hostile weather. This one will overwinter under lights at room temps and produce if you use an artist brush to pollinate.

The thing I won't grow next time is the Brazilian Starfish. I have a quite small balcony and that plant grows huge. Has many-many pods but they don't ripen, just staying green (last year this happened and this year it seems so too, not sure if it's the climate or what). Btw I'm totally with you regarding the reaper and other senselessly hot ones.

Last year I had one mariachi pepper plant it grew well and produced well it had a very good flavor and had a little less heat than jalapeño I pickled them and canned them they were delicious pickled and mild enough to eat right out of the jar I will definitively plant them again

The 7 pot Brain Strain is delicious and versatile. I love em. I'm growing 2 plants of the Brain Strain this season. One plant I will not grow again, which I probably will try to grow again, is that of the Pacilla Chilaca. I grew a tall plant baring no fruit.

I'm curious I kept hearing about disease prone pepper plants. Have you tried grafting the plants onto diseases resistant varieties stalks? You could potentially double the harvest with one plant and get the benefits of the disease resistance and good tasting peppers

You described my experience with the Carolina Reaper perfectly. I grew 6 Reapers and 6 Trinidad Scorpions and realized I couldn’t use them or give them away (except to people trying to win bets with their friends). My heat level will probably only go to about Habanero or maybe Ghost this year. Also grew a Cajun Bell which is supposed to be a hot Bell, but it was terrible…very small peppers with a soapy taste. I’ve started 15 seedlings each or the Sugar Rush Peach & Stripy this year but now I’m a little apprehensive about growing them after watching your video. Still gonna try though. Good luck and bountiful harvest to y’all!

I've cut way back on my super hots too. Only growing 2 varieties this year

That ending is PERFECT! 😂🤣 I do the same thing. Kracken Scorpion and the 7 pot Slimer are great peppers to try.

I had the exact same experience with the Sugar Rush Peach and the Rocoto here in Oklahoma. They are also on my not-to-grow again list.

Hey Todd here from southern Oregon HOTZ , we are a u-pick farm and totally agree with your choices, I run around 60 verity’s, question of your location,this is our 4th year,thanks for the vid

Spot on with the Rocoto and Sugar Rush being problematic (I'm in zone 6B, OH). Great point about Reapers, as there are so many other chinense varieties to grow. I am only continuing my Reapers because I let them cross pollinate and I want to see their evolution since I started back in 2019!

I’ll also grew a Trinidad scorpion a couple of years ago, it wasn’t for some reason not extremely hot, but a great flavor

I’m in NY and I stick to Thai peppers and jalapeños. I’m not a generic green pepper fan but love them red, so I’m gonna start those all soon. I love roasted peppers so, I’m planning that out. Thanks for your recommendations.

My California Wonder plant did very well here in North Alabama during the growing season last year.

I grew 1 bell pepper plant last year because my wife insisted. I protested, and once again it disappointed. Good thing I had 6 Ajvarski plants to compensate. That one will always be a staple in my garden now!

I stopped growing mexi-bells many years ago and probably won't again. It seemed like I always got them mixed up with sweet bells and then I couldn't give the sweets away. Going the other way, I grew lesya peppers last year for the first time and will grow them every year now. The plants were very prolific and fruit was extremely sweet. Among the thickest flesh of any pepper I ever grew, I left them on the plant until they turned a very deep, dark fire engine red. Never had any wrinkled or rotted. Best tasting red pepper I ever grew. I recommend for everyone to hurry and order lesya seeds ASAP for this growing season. I got mine from Baker Creek (can I write that?) Down side-not good for stuffed peppers because of its shape.

Love this channel 👌

I have grown a few of the "Bell Peppers" which I found issues with disease also. However, I found once I sprayed the peppers with a "Pest oil" the new foliage started coming through with no sign of disease so far. I am about to try the "Scotch Bonnette" not bad on the hot scales.

Great video!!!

I couldn't agree more on the sugar rush peach and Carolina reaper for exactly the same reasons. All the best from the south of France 👍

Oh man, we couldn't get the buena mulatas to slow down last year! It was by far our most prolific plant so it must have been our weather or something. We used them for several batches of our best hot sauce with roasted beets!

Funny enough, I started late this season, and started growing buena mulata, puma peppers, and black hungarians, but I learned a lot from this

Awesome friend👍👍

I am glad that they mentioned that they are having difficulty finding peppers suited to their area, as that is usually the biggest reason for disease issues. A stressed plant is far more susceptible to disease. And a plant that is not being grown in conditions that it is bred for, will always be stressed and more prone to disease. As for flavor issues with any given pepper variety, that could be an issue with growing in the wrong climate but could also be soil related or even a plant by plant basis. I always recommend that when trying a new variety, you grow at least 4 plants and make sure they are in soil with the best nutrient levels to give them the best chance at being what they are marketed as. If all four plants produce fruit (or other harvestable part) that are all the same and you do not like the results, then you can reconsider that variety. Otherwise you are just as likely to be writing off something that could be wondrous, simply because a single plant had one or more issues. And not all issues that can affect the flavor of a garden product present noticeable effects in the plant itself. Tomato plants for example can have sufficient potassium and phosphorus to grow well, but not sufficient levels to produce the most flavorful fruit. Many plants will change in flavor based on the level of nutrients in the soil. Sweet onions may be sweet no matter what soil you plant them in, but in soils with lower sulfur content they will be even sweeter. Other plants like celery, carrots, and parsnips will all take on a very salty flavor if grown in soils that are high in sodium, yet the plants will show no signs that the nutrient levels in the soil are off.

I've grown California Wonder Bells for 3 years with very little success too. Disease was a real issue. Needless to say I won't be growing them again here in Southeast Texas. This year I'm growing Serrano, Altiplano Serrano, Impala Serrano, Jedi Jalapeno, Gigante Jalapeno, Red Dragon cayenne, Habanero, and per your suggestion Ceyennetta.

I grew an Amazing Rocoto one year, lots of peppers, healthy plant and that was about 10 year's ago and i still try every year but with less than desirable results. This year I've germinated 3 from seeds that were harvested 2 years ago and im going to play with locations but i think i will put more effort into building good fertile soil instead of just buying miracle grow potting mix, which i did not do the time i was successful. I love these peppers so much I'm willing to keep trying until I get it right.

I have bell peppers that survived the insane bug pressure, humidity and mold/diseases of Florida. They were planted last year, survived all through the winter and are already making bell peppers for me. One of them is already huge and turning yellow. I have red, yellow and orange pepper plants. My jalapenos are also producing fruit right now. They are from Bonnie and I got them at the local Lowes in town.

I have the same experience with Roccoto, and that is so sad. I will give it another try this year but I really don't have high hopes for it. It thrives in cooler summers.

Wow! As a newer gardener it’s validating to know it’s not just me feeling 🤷🏻‍♀️ about California Wonder peppers! 🫑😂

I'm still working my way through all the different varieties I have bought seeds for over the years, and since I live in an apartment and only have a small balcony to grow on there's not a lot of room to continuously grow some varieties each year while also testing new ones. But in general I'm mostly growing Chinense varieties since I love that type of flavour. I'm not a big fan Baccatum, so I guess for personal reasons I'll probably not grow any of those (beside the occasional one just to test some cool variety, like the stripey).

I didn't get much of a harvest with my rocoto the first year but the second year they produced a lot more.

Oh wow, surprising list. Popular varieties.

I grew Rocoto last year, one in the greenhouse didn’t give any fruits whereas one outside gave loads! (UK zone 8b) As you say amazing looking plants just to grow for appearance but we found them too hot (we like very mild), only grew since plant looked so cool! Luckily have one friend who was very grateful for large bag of Rocoto to make hot sauce.

I've had great luck with mixed hot and mixed sweet peppers Peppers. Hungarian wax is one of my favorites for production and disease resistance.

I gave up on bell peppers because of pests and sun scorch. I'm now focusing on Anaheim, Jalapeño, and serranos. I like shoshito, and long hots, too, so maybe 1 or 2 each.😊

Definitely interested in your bell pepper testing, I love them but have never had good production.

I too have given up on the California wonder pepper. This year I'm trying touchdown bell peppers from hoss tools. Crossing my fingers!

German here, California Wonder bell pepper has never worked out for me here either. On the other hand Jalapeño and Pimentos de Padrón produce like craaazy

With the reapers, I like to dry them and then powder them. I cant handle much of them, but a tiny (and I mean tiny) sprinkling into stews, or on eggs etc is not bad at all.

Totally agree on the sugar rush! I’m in Florida but I still had the same issues it sounds like you had.

My bell peppers were ravaged by BLS (bacterial leaf spot). This year I will try to grow a variety that claims to be resistant to races 1-10 of BLS. Fingers crossed. Not sure if BLS is in the soil if it can be successfully eliminated. Thanks for your videos. Very informative.

I’ve just moved a bunch of firewood off of my garden spot. I had a garden last year but it’s much bigger now. So a full garden of vegetables this year. Question: have you tried putting just 2 pepper plants just at random places in you garden? Like 2 banana peppers in a spot away from any other plants in your garden!! I want to grow corn,cucumbers, and bush beans and they take up large amounts of space. They will be lots of peppers but space is the big question!!!

I won't be doing the Sweet Pickle again this year, the plants stayed small without much yield last year. I'm in zone 6b and will be trying out 3 new bells, King of the North, Yellow Monster, and Zulu.

Last year I bought Striped Holland Bell Peppers before I watched the Pepper Geek video explaining how the seeds unfortunately only produce yellow peppers. I can confirm this is true and while the peppers did excellent and had almost no pests/diseases, I probably wouldn't bother ordering seeds all the way from the Netherlands again. This year I'm going to try the Stripy Sugar Rush featured in Pepper Geeks video. Hopefully I don't get the disease problems you describe. Honestly, I've never had a disease problem here in Western Mass with my peppers and I do grow alot of variety. Occasionally I get problems with scale bugs or aphids but we have alot of natural predators such as ladybugs 🐞 and wasps/hornets that control that pretty well. Really hopeful for the Stripey Sugar Rush this year. 🤞

This is probably my favorite video you two have done 😂 love how the content from this channel keeps just getting better and better 👏 ❤ 🌶

I've never had luck with Cali Wonder. Charleston and Jupiter Bell Peppers do well for us here in TN.

Really surprised to hear your takes on the Buena Mulata. It is the cayenne-like pepper I liked the most and it is not going to be the most planted hot pepper in my garden. I saved like 300 seeds because of how much I enjoyed it =)