Of other popular Aeorgarden seed pods, oftentimes, the chilli pepper and Jalapeño seed pods seem less straight forward to grow. Hence, this article outlines the frequently asked questions and issues that come up with the purple super hot pepper seed pod.
Table of Contents
How many seed pods should you plant?
First of all, in a standard sized Aerogarden it is important you leave enough room for your pepper plant to grow in to a thriving plant that will yield peppers.
I wouldn’t take up any more than two seed pod spaces in your entire standard sized garden of 6 pods in the long term.
However, it is perfectly fine to sprout seeds in all 6 of your slots and transfer other seed pods to leave your purple super hot pepper alone when they begin to grow.
Perhaps you want to keep your strongest looking seedlings in your Aerogarden only.
It is perfectly fine to transfer other seed pods to soil to be grown elsewhere. Perhaps it could turn in to a fun experiment as you compare the growth of your plants in a hydroponic system as opposed to a conventional soil system.
When should you prune?
There is no need to prune your seed pod until it has grown to near the light. Even then, I would consider whether it is worth just raising you light height.
The only reason to prune is when you start to see flowering of your pepper plant and you want to make sure the energy produced by the plant goes in to producing peppers not leaves
Or
Your plant becomes too leggy and branches to snake towards the light fixture.
How long does it take to grow?
From germination to harvest, you should expect your journey to be around 12 – 14 weeks. Here are some of my Purple Super Hot Peppers after 10 weeks. They just started to produce purple peppers and some are still flowering.
When should you harvest your purple super hot pepper?
When you should harvest is up to personal preference. Generally, the longer you leave them on the tree, the redder, spicier and less tangy your peppers will get.
Peppers tend to go from white, to purple then to red.
White peppers will start to develop the tangy taste with a good hit of spice. Red peppers will be more flavoursome and spicier.
I recommend experimenting. Leave most of your peppers on the tree and try a pepper every few days. Once you’re confident on what you prefer and what you’ll use your peppers for then pick most of them.
It is of course important to note that peppers are edible and completely ok to eat and any stage of their growth.
However, most people tend to prefer to leave their peppers on till they’re red, more flavoursome and spicier.
What to use purple super hot pepper for?
These purple super hot peppers are extremely spicy. In fact they are three times hotter than the hottest other pepper in this seed pod, the chilli pepper at 150,000 – 180,000 scovilles!
If spice isn’t your thing or you don’t fancy growing peppers, check out our top picks on Aerogarden seed pods instead.
You can pick them to make your very own hot sauce or even pick them early and eat them instead of Jalapeños with your nachos. Below are some ideas.
- Spicy Jam
- Pickled peppers
- Pepper stew
- Pepper soup
- Chilli Con Carne
- Serve as flavouring
If growing your own is what you are after but you don’t want to grow edible food, why not also find out about how to grow your own firewood to scratch that self- cultivation itch!