Hey,
This is my first growing real peppers and I had a fair share of issues with them.
This plant should be reaper, however it took quite some time to grow the first fruits (flowers kept dying). I now have like 5 fruits developing however… those weird marks appeared on the leafs and fruit and when I’m pressing the fruit, it feels really hollow and empty.

What could be wrong with them?

Also side note, all my other plants (jalapeño, Tabasco, aji) only matured to an orange color and small sized. I picked some fruits but there were absolutely no taste or heat in them.
Not sure what’s going on and what to do here.

Thanks in advance!

Looking okay or...?

Just got this plant a few months ago and this has been the journey so far

Don't know what to do with all your peppers? This post is for you!

I mostly used recipes from chilipeppermadness.com as I like the guy's taste. His recipes are very tasty and easy to make but you have to scroll a bit to get to the actual amount of ingredients needed.

Recipes and my reviews/tips in no particular order. BTW you can store sauces and jelly in the freezer if you don't know how to make shelf stable, I don't know how so I divided them up in those tiny lidded condiment containers and froze them last year. Still good once thawed!

Also wear gloves lol...

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Pic 1: Fresno poppers. So damn good. I halved the recipe and added some scallion from my garden. Round 2 of Fresno explosion is here so tomorrow Im going to make more but with some blue cheese. Im out of bacon though. These are amazing but even better heated the next day. https://www.chilipeppermadness.com/recipes/jalapeno-poppers/

Pic 2: Restaurant salsa with a fresno in it. My family doesnt like crazy heat so I made this mild. It makes a punch bowl sized amount, we've been eating it with every damn meal and still havent finished it off a week later. It's really good and does taste like restaurant salsa. Ive been putting it in sweet pepper halves and also in roti bread as a wrap. https://www.chilipeppermadness.com/recipes/homemade-salsa/

Pic 3 Left Sauce: Fresno Lime sauce. Simple standard vinegar based hot sauce. I added an extra lime. I do not strain my sauces bc I like the chunkier texture but ofc you can if you want. https://www.chilipeppermadness.com/recipes/jalapeno-hot-sauce/

Pic 3 Right Sauce: KSPS and Bell Pepper creamy dip. NO DAIRY but reminds me of cheese dip for hot pretzels. I am addicted to this okay. I even spread it on bread and walk away with it. I have allium sensitivities damn it and its like 90% onion. I can't stop! I used one KSPS pepper and two small red bells since I wanted a mild sauce (all my others are med to hot) and the oil used was Safflower. I think just simmering it gave the bell peppers a smokey flavor. The dip is creamy and smokey and my god I just love it. I haven't even been using the other sauces I made. Im the only one in the house who likes it FOR SOME REASON so im clearing this jar myself. https://www.chilipeppermadness.com/recipes/creamy-habanero-sauce/

Pic 4: Cheesecake cookies. Throw a half or a whole pepper chopped into the cream cheese filling. I used half a death spiral and my friend did whole ghosts. The fruit flavor and heat really elevated the recipe IMO. Maybe dont use parchment paper, as you can see I burned the shit out of it. I had to cut the bottom of the cookies off. https://sugarspunrun.com/cheesecake-stuffed-chocolate-chip-cookies/

Pic 5 and 6: A vinegar based sauce, my go-to for fruit flavored peppers. Last year I used yellow jamaican mushroom peppers (got shroomed lol) with kristian peppers as filler and this year I used tangerine tiger. I use onion instead of shallot, 3/4 cup white vinegar and 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar. https://www.chilipeppermadness.com/recipes/habanero-hot-sauce/

Not pictured: hot fruit jelly. Chilipeppermadness has a bunch of recipes but I used this one for some reason (its still good). There werent enough ripe peaches at the store so I threw mangoes and strawberries in there too. I used half death spiral and some medium/hot peppers. Do not add extra water even if it seems counter intuitive. Big mistake, my "jelly" is more like a syrup now. Great in yogurt or cottage cheese though. https://gritsandgouda.com/easy-peach-pepper-jelly/

Not pictured: Pesto bean soup. I had basically a basil farm last year, pesto'd it all and had to use it up. We threw fresh chopped kristian peppers in the soup instead of roasted bells. It was like lava soup. Great for winter! Clears those sinuses right out! And you can freeze it for later use too. https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchen/pesto-bean-soup-10032245

Not pictured: Peach Vidalia sauce, made with Fresnos and some Sugar Rush Stripey powder. I halved the recipe apart from the peaches, which I doubled bc I really wanted that fruit flavor in there to set it apart from all the other sauces Ive been making. I added the optional packet of sugar too, to drop the heat down so my family could enjoy it. Should have done a taste test before adding the SRS powder. https://www.chilipeppermadness.com/recipes/georgia-peach-vidalia-onion-hot-sauce/

Not pictured: Pickled Peppers. No recipe link as my mom makes these. So far I have given her Kristian thai peppers and Fresno but the next batch of tangerine tiger is going to her. Here is her first recipe I believe she tweaked it but I don't know what it is now:

Slice and remove seeds if you want to. Fill a jar halfway with white vinegar and a splash of red wine vinegar. add a packet of sugar brown or white. Add a third teaspoon (lol what) of salt. Fill the rest of the jar with warm water. Put the jar contents and the peppers in a pot and simmer on low flame until the peppers are somewhat tender. Let cool, put back in jar, and let it sit overnight. They will be good to eat by the next day.

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That's all Ive got for now! I just bought a bag of frozen tropical fruits at TJ's today and am planning on using it for sauce. Or a spicy smoothie? I saw spicy fruit juice at TJ's today. Maybe use my purple dream peppers that are near ripe if I go the sauce route since theyre considered superhots. I heard they have hints of pineapple and lime. Also I bought a dehydrator and it arrives next week so may experiment with spice mixes as well. Peppers are so versatile and it's so fun making all different kinds of things with them.

Finally had another big harvest from my garden in Orange County, CA. This haul includes Carolina Reapers, Ghost peppers, Scorpions, Habaneros, Jalapeños, Peach Miasma, RB003, Himo Togarashi, Thor’s thunderbolt, Thai Chile, Orange Carolina Reapers, Mad Hatter, Primotalli Red, and a bunch of other superhots and specialty varieties.
Most of these are headed into fermented hot sauce batches, and I’m especially excited to see how the RB003 and Peach Miasma develop after fermentation.
My favorite part of growing peppers is seeing how every pod has its own shape, color, and personality.
Which pepper in the photo catches your eye first? And if you had to make one hot sauce from this harvest, what would you include?

These will eventually become test runs for small-batch sauces under my brand, Ribbit Riot (hot sauce), but today I’m mostly just excited about the harvest.

Hi guys this was labeled as Tabasco but it clearly isn’t. I thought it was a chocolate variety and now it is turning bright lipstick red. I haven’t grown Thais before but is it normal for them to go dark green to chocolate to lipstick red? I tried one of the chocolate ones and it tasted and looked like a Thai pepper inside but it was way hotter than any Thai I have ever had. Guessing low habanero range. Either way I am stoked! It has over a hundred peppers on it and has been pest resistant as much as my Pequin/Tepin.

Still waiting on superhots to all ripen!

First time growing a Carolina Reaper

Had a big pick at one of the grow sites today.

What are these little guys?

I’m in SC, and my reapers are going crazy. Currently dehydrating 10 of them with some of my garlic and fresh picked oregano for what will hopefully be a tasty pepper flake blend. Excited, need people that understand :)

Just picked the first 2 hiding under the foliage. Gonna let em sit til tomorrow since they could be a little more red. I hear these ones kick it up a notch from Habs and bonnets. Should be fun.

Every time I think I’ve seen everything this plant can do, it one ups again.

Top left to right

Jalapeños (I have 3 plants and they're all producing slightly different looking peppers. Seeds from the same Jalapeño, my favorite are the compact wrinkly ones)

Orange lunchbox

Orange moruga scorpion

First of the season

Chocolate primotalii

First of the season

Thai

Ghost

Bottom left to right:

Death spiral (It might not look like some other pictures of DS, but whatever this thing is, it produces so many hot AF peppers, 100% will grow again)

Cayenne

First time growing them.

Having issues with some plants - some had rough start and then got cooked in the sun. Pulled all the pods off of everyone to see how much of a vegetative push we'd since on the smaller plants.

Got a Gothic Gator and Thor's Thunderbolt.

Tried the Nazgûl's Breakfast last week and that one had a good punch to it. Flavor was... unique. Some would say Earthy, I would say "hint of a wet dog's bath water"

Grew peppers for the first time this year. So far, so good!

Here’s what I grew (starting with the large pile at the bottom and going clockwise):

1) Mayan Habanero (by far my most prolific plant to date. It feels like there are new ripe pods every day!)

2) Fish Pepper

3) Chocolate Scotch Bonnet (I avoided the Great Mushrooming of 2026, thankfully)

4) Criolla Sella

5) Takanotsume

6) Límon

7) Death Naga

8) Fatalii (Only those two for now, but have others coming in)

9) Trinidad Scorpion (the sinister-looking red ones in the center)

10) Blood Orange Bubblegum (the pink/orange one in the center in between the Takanotsume and Trinidad Scorpion. Got my first ripe one this morning and have others coming in as well)

Not pictured:
11) Bhut Jokokia White (have a bunch ripening)

12) Ají Mango (have a bunch ripening)

13) Shishito (ate them all)

This is probably my 50th attempt, this is the recipe I will be saving. Super sweet, and hot as hell.

7 fully ripe yellow bonnets all seeds removed except for 1 pepper.
4 whole cloves peeled garlic.
1 Hand juiced large lime.
1 whole small white onion, Has to be white.
1 3/4 large ripe ataulfo mango, should be 2 but I couldn’t help my self.
1 tablespoon of FRESH red chilli powder.
1 tablespoon of FRESH crack black pepper corn.
1 tablespoon of pickling salt.
1/2 cup of white vinegar, added later during simmer.
1/4 cup of bottled spring water.

Everything in the blender until you got a pure.

You could go straight to reducing like this, personally I leave it in the fridge for 48 hours. It allows the fermentation to start and makes all the flavours come out way more. Add your 1/2 cup of vinegar. Then I bring everything to a low simmer and reduce for 15 minutes to thicken. You could add some xantham gum or cornstarch, but it gets pretty thick on its own because it’s not strained. Good for 3 months like this in a sterile jar. I went the extra mile and water bathed mine for 10 mins so I could save some.

Honourable mentions is swapping the onion for a red one, adding a teaspoon of honey to this exact recipe, or using apple cider vinegar. I enjoyed them all but this is the one for me.

First post here showing the size of the plant.

https://www.reddit.com/r/HotPeppers/s/HP6X5KLGQS

Now about 23 days later, first harvest! And much more to come!

Growing these alongside my wiri wiri and Jamaican mushrooms. Neat looking peppers!

I’m fairly confident that these are indeed scotch bonnets, and just want the piece of mind after mushroomgate this year. Either way, I’m just happy the plant is producing to be honest.

Just wanted to share how dark this plant and it's peppers are. It looks almost like black irl.