[NRA_guy]

I grow all of them. I don't care for jalapenos---too thick skinned and way too variable on heat from one to another.

When to pick them depends on what you plan to do with them.

If you just want to chomp on them with your meal, pick all of them green.

If you plan to dry them wait until the cayenne is red and until the habanero is orange like a little pumpkin.

If you plan to make what southeners call "pepper sauce", which is just vinegar over them (you use it on field peas and turnip greens), you can pick them any time. Mixed green and red/orange is pretty in a bottle.

If you want something that is HOT, let the habaenros all turn orange. Then spread them out on a cookie sheet and put it on the dash of your truck parked in the sun with the windows rolled up for a few days.

They will get crispy.

Crush them down using a rolling pin or something.

Then get a cheap little coffee grinder and run the crushed pepper through it. It will make a very fine powder.

Put it in a salt shaker and use it VERY LIGHTLY on pizza or whatever.

Oh, you need to wear rubber gloves and a dust mask. Seriously. Ask me how I know.

You can do the same thing with cayenne but it's not nearly as hot.

One other thing: you won't be able to drive your truck for several days without the windows rolled down.