Bishop's Hat is a variety of Capsicum baccatum, so happily will not cross-pollinate with C. annuum or C. chinense that happen to be growing close-by.

The plants grow to about 1.5m tall, and, in a warm-temperate climate will live for around five years. Yields are best in their second season; thereafter fruits are smaller, though the plants are still very prolific, each plant yielding up to a hundred or more Chillis.

The flavour of Bishop's Hat Chillis is spectacular. Heat is around 6 or 7 on the modified heat-scale, though this is a subjective estimate, not a laboratory result. Around the blossom-end of the fruit, and in the petal-like lobes, almost no heat -- safe even for my mother-in-law -- but near the stem-end, watch out.

Plants grow easily from seed, but need a reasonably long growing season to reach full size. They are quite undemanding of soil, but benefit greatly from a mulch to keep soil cool and moist. Harvests suffer greatly from a shortage of water. Plants should be placed at least one metre apart; at a one-metre spacing the plants will overlap somewhat, helping to shade beds. Pruning back during dormancy in Winter seems to prolong the lifespan of the plants, and stimulates new growth in Spring, resulting in improved fruit yields. Like other Chilli varieties, high humidity during the flowering period seems to aid fruit-set.

The variety seems to be quite problem-free; the damage to crops we have experienced is from thieving Mousebirds.

SummerSeason09#

22-Feb-09

Planted 8 seeds in a cellpack with the intention of establishing the plants in pots through Winter for planting out early-Spring for a head-star