Klinger’s Florida Grove

• Grown, sold, and described by Bunny Hop Seeds
• Time to maturity: midseason to late (red)
• Heat: very hot
• Approx. number of seeds per pack: 20+
• Capsicum frutescens
• Bagged Bloom Seeds

“Klinger’s Florida Grove” is the most determined survivor of the Bunny Hop Garden yet. This is a very hot large bird pepper, said to grow wild in Florida’s orange groves. It is a perennial in warm areas, reportedly keeping its roots alive with temperatures down to the 20’s(F). It is not fruity in aroma as Tabasco is, and it has bigger fruits than Tabasco. Otherwise, they are very similar. Having read the claim of growing wild in the orange groves, I decided to test its growth under adverse pepper conditions. I planted one in a 5 gallon pot and put it in full, deep shade. I planted one in a pickle bucket and stuck it deeply into my 15-foot tall blueberry thicket. And I took one plant in a 3 gallon pot and stuffed it in the crotch of a pear tree, about 5 feet or more off the ground. I didn’t feed these plants. I didn’t water them. If it rained, they got watered. The plant in the tree dried out frequently, and once lost its leaves, then bounced back with leaves and fruit. All three plants had their leaves and green fruits blown off by Hurricane Sally, and then just as they were recovering, Hurricane Zeta gave them another good thrashing. Despite these challenges, I harvested as many fruits as I cared to deseed (deseeding tiny very hot peppers drives me nuts). If you are challenged in the hot pepper-growing department, and you like a piquant pepper vinegar or fermented hot sauce, you might want to give Klinger’s Florida Grove a try.