Re: [CH] Hiya

ken (kljones@eagnet.com)
Wed, 14 Jul 1999 14:45:53 -0400 

~(({[Endemic~Distortion]}))~ wrote:
> 
> Well...hello. I'm new here, but have been in long and deep love with all
> variants of the noble capsicum for a good 30 years. I have a question
> for the afficianados : exactly what is a "Caribbean Red"? 

Hiya fellow Chile-Heads,
	Caribbean Reds are a Habanero variety.  I'm growing a few myself this
year, and started harvesting them a few weeks ago.  They are supposed to
be nearly twice as hot as orange Habs.  They don't seem quite that much
hotter to me.  If I normally use 3 orange Habs in a recipe, then 2 Red
Caribbean Habs seem to do the trick.  The flavor of the 2 varieties are
nearly indistinguishable to me.
	The red variety appears to be more resistant to pests than the orange
Habs.  We recently had an extended spell of daily drenching rains and
frequent high winds here in south Georgia which left much of my garden
in a pretty sorry looking state.  As soon as the normal routine of
blazing sun and high humidity returned I had to deal with exploding
populations of aphids and then mites.  It quickly got to be more than I
could handle with the usual organic methods. Desperate situations call
for desperate measures, so I resorted to a single application of liquid
diazinon 3 days ago.  Almost all my chile plants and my watermelons
appear to be rebounding nicely now, with lots of new leaves
sprouting(that may be partly due to the Superthrive/fertilizer I watered
them with 2 days ago).  Before I got things under control the orange
Habs had lost most of their leaves and dropped some of the developing
pods.  The Red Caribbean Habs, although they were just as heavily
infested with the little critters, faired much better.  They stayed
greener, lost far fewer leaves, and continued to produce beautiful pods,
although in reduced numbers.  My lone Datil Pepper plant, the Super
Chile plants and the NuMex 6/4s had far less serious infestations than
the Habs.
	I would appreciate hearing about it if any of you out there have
discovered any other Chile varieties which are particularly resistant to
mites, aphids or any other pests.  Down here along the Georgia/Florida
border it is a paradise for innumerable insect pests.  I try to avoid
using chemicals as much as possible.  Planting varieties that require
less chemical intervention makes that easier.

	Keep it hot,             
                      Ken