2019 Chilli Growing thread

Mercenary Keyboard Warrior said:
Thanks, got me thinking. I found a cheap set on Amazon, so for now think I make take a punt and buy one of them and a cheapo lamp.
Will be inside till around mid march anyway, when they will move into the greenhouse
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Cheap bulb?

I wouldn't trust a cheap bulb to have the legit spectrum for growing.

IKEA is a brand you can trust and £10 hardly worth the risk of getting a dud. Plus you know build quality and reliability will be there too.

IKEA have rigorous testing standards
 
Psycho Sonny said:
Cheap bulb?

I wouldn't trust a cheap bulb to have the legit spectrum for growing.

IKEA is a brand you can trust and £10 hardly worth the risk of getting a dud. Plus you know build quality and reliability will be there too.

IKEA have rigorous testing standards
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Well took a gamble on a 50w cob one with the right spectrum
Will be using indoors till around mid march, then will relocate out to the greenhouse along with the heater so this will dual purpose to top up the natural light and also to help provide background heat

Plants are funny we have 4w LEDs round the edges of the garden on at night and you can see the difference the plants close to these grow better even with the limited boost these low energy non spectrum targetted bulbs give
 
I use my 13w 4000k Phillips led bulb as a starter light to get my chilli plants growing and it works fine, despite it not being the right spectrum even. The blub is just in one of them articulated desk lamps and I have it on all the time anyway, so just put my plants under it.
 
Hey guys, any major updates to share?

I now have 6 germinated seedlings on the window sill.
Hoping they get enough light and don't start getting leggy & bendy.
I'll see how it goes and it it looks like they aren't getting enough then opt for the £5 Ikea grow light / cultivation bulb to give them a bit extra.
The jumbo cold frame is now built :) lined with some bubblewrap on the floor along with some anti weed lining fabric, all held down with some stone aggregate.
It has survived the weekend storm so looks like my DIY skills have passed the test for the moment.

Really keen to get a multi LED grow light suspended in the cold frame but absolutely no idea where to start...
A lot of Chinese manufactured & imported options available on amazon & ebay but a lot of conflicting advice online as to if they are any good and most of it centring around growing something other than chillis if you follow me. Not really prepared to take a gamble...

If anyone has any DIY solutions or some experience with some of the products on offer then I'd be keen to know more :)
 
Rathian said:
Hey guys, any major updates to share?

I now have 6 germinated seedlings on the window sill.
Hoping they get enough light and don't start getting leggy & bendy.
I'll see how it goes and it it looks like they aren't getting enough then opt for the £5 Ikea grow light / cultivation bulb to give them a bit extra.
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It's certainly worth investigating growlights. Even if you have them on a south facing window, you're starting from quite a low point as days are short and grey a lot of the time. My wife has a few lights for her seedlings (not just chillies), and it's made a big difference even in a south facing room with a lot of light, mainly because she lights them for about fifteen hours a day, when otherwise there's a much shorter day.
 
Steampunk said:
It's certainly worth investigating growlights. Even if you have them on a south facing window, you're starting from quite a low point as days are short and grey a lot of the time. My wife has a few lights for her seedlings (not just chillies), and it's made a big difference even in a south facing room with a lot of light, mainly because she lights them for about fifteen hours a day, when otherwise there's a much shorter day.
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Thanks Steampunk for the advice.
I think I will just opt for the Ikea bulb and use that for the seedlings through till the plats are too big for it to have enough power/reach.
I'll keep researching and let you guys know if I manage to navigate all the info out there and find a proven budget friendly option for the cold frame.

Happy growing.
 
I've read that you can bury them deeper when repotting if a little leggy as long as you stay a bit below the bottom leaves that's buried. The buried bit will start rooting. Not tried this.
Mine are doing well. I've given a couple to a colleague after hearing how much fruit the plants could produce so am left with two reepers, 4 scotch bonnets (jaimaican yellow I think) and one generic milder plant. I'm not looking to go above a 7.5 litre pot but should be enough for me this year, my first year growing them. Next week they'll probably move up to a 1.5 litre point from 9cm pots.
One question I have. Do people use fertilizer and feed? If so, are the little fertilizer balls fine? Only using chilli focus atm.
 
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Yup you can bury down to first set of leaves, i lost my plastic polly tunnel in the gale sunday morning, was out there at 4am trying to hold it down, just gave up in the end.
 
i've just repotted my seedlings straight into a chilli grow system.

i watered them from the top (tank at bottom is empty). and this is what was advised.

i will water them from the top every second day with 250 ml of water each.

i hope my seedlings don't die as they are going from 30c to 15c conditions. freezing here in scotland.
 
Correct, you dont want to fill reservoir for at least a month i would say, let the roots move out in to compost first, when i use my chilligrow, i water from top for like 4 weeks, and thats in june.
 
Thanks for the advice @DarrenM343 & @Daytrader I won’t panic now if they get a bit leggy and just re-pot then nice a deep when the time comes.

@DarrenM343 I’m not sure what others do but I just use liquid tomato feed at 50% strength for feeding.

@Daytrader sorry to hear that the poly tunnel bit the dust in the storm :( Any plan B for the season?

@Daytrader & @Psycho Sonny thanks for the info on getting plants going in self watering pots with reservoirs. I want to give this a go at some point in the season.
 
A couple of mine are showing signs of improvement from repotting early.

Others aren't showing me anything yet.

Hope the other 4 pull through. I have a few as backup in any instance just in case.

Thinking of germinating a few more just in case.
 
Lost my allotment greenhouse in the gales.
It wasnt funny seeing a greenhouse manage to get circa 15 feet into the air then setoff like some sort of rocket. I aint joking
Luckily it hit an old redundant telegraph pole and smashed to bits.

So I am going to build a new one, looks dont matter, doubling up as a nuclear shelter will ;)

Ive got a lot of seedlings up and really noticing them desperate for light. I bought a decent grow light but not actually installed it yet.

I am not 100% sure i am going to get them to survive a week away in march as they seem to be drying out fairly quickly.
May try potting them on even though thats really early and put them in a fairly flooded tray to hope they manage to draw up enough water.
 
Mercenary Keyboard Warrior said:
Lost my allotment greenhouse in the gales.
It wasnt funny seeing a greenhouse manage to get circa 15 feet into the air then setoff like some sort of rocket. I aint joking
Luckily it hit an old redundant telegraph pole and smashed to bits.

So I am going to build a new one, looks dont matter, doubling up as a nuclear shelter will ;)

Ive got a lot of seedlings up and really noticing them desperate for light. I bought a decent grow light but not actually installed it yet.

I am not 100% sure i am going to get them to survive a week away in march as they seem to be drying out fairly quickly.
May try potting them on even though thats really early and put them in a fairly flooded tray to hope they manage to draw up enough water.
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Sorry to hear about the Greenhouse. It sounds like it really went out with a bang!
I think all my seeds that are going to germinate are up now too, I have 8 total :)

Also noticing them stretching to try and get more light. I have gone for an Ikea cultivation bulb and a desk lamp to try to give them a bot more of what they need.
What dod you decide to go for in terms of a grow light? Lights are something I don't know much about or have any experience with so I'm keen to learn!

My seedlings seems to dry out quite quickly too, I won't be repotting but putting them in a tray like you and perhaps back in the prop (turned off) to try and trap the moisture that evaporates and keep thing damp. Might result in lack of light though when the prop mists up so not sure how good an idea that is...?
 
Rathian said:
Sorry to hear about the Greenhouse. It sounds like it really went out with a bang!
I think all my seeds that are going to germinate are up now too, I have 8 total :)

Also noticing them stretching to try and get more light. I have gone for an Ikea cultivation bulb and a desk lamp to try to give them a bot more of what they need.
What dod you decide to go for in terms of a grow light? Lights are something I don't know much about or have any experience with so I'm keen to learn!

My seedlings seems to dry out quite quickly too, I won't be repotting but putting them in a tray like you and perhaps back in the prop (turned off) to try and trap the moisture that evaporates and keep thing damp. Might result in lack of light though when the prop mists up so not sure how good an idea that is...?
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Assuming the link works I bought this. Plan is to make a square box, line with foil and suspend this over the top (but box open at the top)
Later in March I will reloacte it outside to my small home greenhouse, I have a 80w heat tube to add as well so hopefully will be enough background heat

I have never used lights either, to be honest you can leave it a bit later and windowsills are fine. I supply a few work friends with some chillis and tomatoes as well so I end up with quite a lot, hence the plan on changing around a bit this year and hopefully doing two batches of seeds.

Definately dont keep the seedlings on the prop heated, I did this the other year and if they spend too long at heat they tend to go super unhappy when taken away most of mine died. So I germinate the immediately once they break through I remove the heat.

I don't think you should see massive light issues keeping them in a sealed(ish) pot, I don't think the water absorbs much of the light energy
 
Sounds like a plan @Mercenary Keyboard Warrior :)
Really keen to see how you get on. I'll let you know how my experiments go too.

Re the foil apparently painting the inside of the box white does as good if not a better job than foil...
Something to do with the crinkles in the foil affecting how evenly the light gets reflected back & heat hotspots.
Painting might be easier than trying secure foil too?

Thanks for the advice on the prop, I think I'll go for heat off & vents open.
Hopefully retaining some moisture while I'm away stoping them drying out but also not making then too heat dependant.

Can't wait until I have a couple of sets of true leaves and they are a bit more robust!
 
i've been using ikea bulbs for 2 years now iirc. i put them on when i wake up and turn them off when i go to sleep just now whilst the seeds are really small and first leaves only just sprouting. when they have developed a bit i will use my smart plug to turn them on and off and reduce the number of hours they are needed.
 
Rathian said:
Sounds like a plan @Mercenary Keyboard Warrior :)
Really keen to see how you get on. I'll let you know how my experiments go too.

Re the foil apparently painting the inside of the box white does as good if not a better job than foil...
Something to do with the crinkles in the foil affecting how evenly the light gets reflected back & heat hotspots.
Painting might be easier than trying secure foil too?

Thanks for the advice on the prop, I think I'll go for heat off & vents open.
Hopefully retaining some moisture while I'm away stoping them drying out but also not making then too heat dependant.

Can't wait until I have a couple of sets of true leaves and they are a bit more robust!
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Thanks for the comment in regards foil, seems even though that sounds wrong in fact your right.
rather than foil I may just cover in white paper in that case. I cant be arsed really to start painting the box.
 
Think i am going to just buy in my seedlings, or wait until late may, like last season and buy plants in 4" pots ready to put straight into my quad/chilli grows, they all done well, and i did not buy until first week in june, last time i grew from seed was 2013, a lot of work looking after them, but you cant beat bringing on your own seeds, i still may do just a few.
 
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