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Hot Pepper

. 'Aji Dulce #2'. 90 days. fruit looks like a small habañero or scotch bonnet but without the scorching heat. Retains the aroma and taste typical of its C. chinense (habañero) brethren. Ripens red. Mildy hot.
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Hot Pepper

. 'Aji Panca'. 90 days. Andean Aji Type 4 to 6 inches long by 1/2 inch to 1 inch wide. Thin fleshed, pendant pods mature from green to deep brown. Plants can grow to over 36 inches tall. Fruits have rich sweet flavor with little heat.

Hot Pepper

. 'Anaheim'. 68 days. A California type chile that is mildly hot with fruits about 7 inches long and about 2 inches in diameter.

Hot Pepper

. 'Balloon'. 100 days. Very distinctively shaped fruits look as though they were squashed. The center holds the seeds and all the fire while the wings (3 or 4 per fruit) remain sweet.

Hot Pepper

. 'Bhut Jolokia/Ghost Pepper'. Description not available at this time

Hot Pepper

. 'Big Chile'. 68 days. Gigantic yields of chiles in the mild Anaheim class. Huge 4 oz fruits reach 8 to 10 inches long and have thick flesh and mature red.

Hot Pepper

. 'Black Pearl'. 110-125 days. 2006 AAS Winner! This unique variety looks marvelous in mixed containers and is the perfect backdrop in garden beds. Bushy, upright plants have a well-branched habit, producing shiny black fruits that are very hot. Fruits eventually mature dark red with a rounded, slightly pointed shape. Vigorous, with a high tolerance to heat and humidity.

Hot Pepper

. 'Bolivian Rainbow'. 80 days. A beautiful ornamental pepper with purple foliage and flowers,bearing a profusion of fruit in a rainbow of colors on 2 to 3 ft. tall plants. Very hot peppers are edible, but are mainly grown for their striking appearance.

Hot Pepper

. 'Cayenne'. 75 days. Slender, long fruits are about 6 inches long and an inch in diameter, maturing red and very hot. Our Cayenne is very productive and good for drying.
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Hot Pepper

. 'Cherry Bomb'. 65 days. Round to top-shaped fruits are very hot and about 2 inches in diameter. Hybrid plants are productive and tall. Fruit is easy to pick. Nice fresh and good for pickling.
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Hot Pepper

. 'Chile De Arbol'. 80 days. A Cayenne type of pepper with pointed pods, 2 to 3 inches long and 3/8 inches wide. Thin flesh makes these ideal for drying and grinding into powder. Mexican common names for this type are pico de pajaro (bird's beak), and cola de rata (rat's tail).
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Hot Pepper

. 'Chiltepin'. 90 days to first green fruit. Don't let the small size fool you. The pea sized fruit is extremely hot in both its purple and mature red phase. A bird's eye type hot pepper.

Hot Pepper

. 'Chocolate Habañero'. 85 days. Intensely hot, chocolate colored fruit same size as regular habañero.

Hot Pepper

. 'Early Jalapeño'. 65 days. This familiar hot pepper, a regular work horse, producing very hot, small, green chiles that mature red. Plants 3 feet high are loaded with fruit.
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Hot Pepper

. 'Fatalii'. 80 days. Originally from Africa, these wrinkled, yellow fruit, with a citrus like flavor, rival the habañero for intense heat. Loads of 2 to 3 inch tapered chiles are produced on plants reaching 3 to 4 feet tall.

• Thomas DeBaggio
  (1942-2011)

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• Before You Visit Us
  • This is not an availability list!
    Please call to check our supply before you visit.
    

    This catalog lists most of the varieties I am growing or plan to grow, however, it is not possible to list everything. Some plants are tricky to propagate; others are too new for me to describe in any detail. Demand for certain varieties is sometimes greater than I anticipated and we run out. Usually, during the Spring season, there is another crop on the way.

    
    

    I can guarantee the quality of our plants because we grow them ourselves. I cannot guarantee that every item listed will be available at any given time.
    
    

• About Our Veggies
  • About Our Veggies
    The strength of the vegetable garden is its ability to yield the freshest produce from superior varieties that are unobtainable in the supermarket. That philosophy carries over into what I select to offer you. The way my plants are grown also offers you benefits. All vegetable plants are sold in individual pots to permit you to select just the number you need when you need them. Plants in individual pots tend to be more vigorous, grow faster, and produce a larger harvest. For you this means better vegetables sooner. Tomatoes, Peppers, Eggplants, and most other vegetable plants are $1.89 each. Lettuce, Italian and Asian greens are $1.29 unless otherwise specified.
• Hot, Hot, Hot-Ranking Chile Heat
  • Hot, Hot, Hot-Ranking Chile Heat

    Several factors play a large role in determining pungency or 'heat' of a particular pepper. Aside from genetics, environment plays a major role in determining chile pungency. The same variety can vary wildly from year to year or even plant to plant. According to Dave Dewitt, author of The Chile Pepper Encyclopedia, "soil, fertilizer, and stress from over or under watering; excessive summer heat, winds, and solar radiation; excess or lack of humidity; as well as ambient insecticides and air pollution" can all increase the pungency level of fruits. This was proven to me by accident when Susan Belsinger grew one of my white habañero peppers in her Maryland garden while I tested one of its brethren in my own garden. She reported that her harvest yielded fruits that were hot but nothing she couldn't handle. Upon trying a small piece of one from my garden she declared, with watery eyes, that they were much hotter than hers. Attempting to rate and compare heat levels is therefore difficult at best and at worst a little silly. For comparison's sake I have put together the following chart. As pointed out, your results will vary. From high to low pungency:

    Red Habañero
    White Habañero
    Chiltepin
    Thai Hot
    Jamaican Chocolate
    Super Chile Hybrid
    Piquin
    Cayenne
    Tabasco
    Kung Pao
    Mushroom
    Cherry Bomb
    Serrano
    Garden Salsa
    Jalapeño
    Big Jim
    Mexibell
    Hungarian Hot Wax
    Poblano/Ancho
    Anaheim
    Pasilla Bajio
    Pimiento
    Pepperoncini
    Sweet Bell Pepper
    
• Supporting Tomatoes and Peppers
  • Supporting Tomatoes and Peppers

    Supporting tomato plants helps control disease and makes it easier to harvest the fruit. The support systems I have seen for sale at garden centers are generally laughably short; a contraption three feet high and a foot around is not going to provide much support for a six-foot plant three feet in diameter. My grandfather favored large home designed tomato cages made from concrete reinforcing wire. The cages were 6 feet high and nearly three feet in diameter and provided support for lush growth and heavy yields. The cages had some drawbacks, however; they were heavy, hard to move, and they took up a lot of storage space. My father started out with stakes made of stout pieces of wood, but found they could be snapped easily when a strong, wet wind blew against a mature plant. He used 1/2-inch diameter by 10 foot long metal, electrical conduit for a number of years and found it worked well for tomatoes as well as eggplant. I usually cut the conduit into 8 foot lengths. It's light and easily pushed into garden soil, and is easily stored. The metal conduit lasts for years with virtually no maintenance. To tie the stems of tomatoes and eggplants to the conduit, I use plastic stretch ties (available at the nursery). Old pantyhose or cheese cloth work well also.

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