2019 Chilli Growing thread

Mine seem to be drying out very quickly now even in 10" pots. Watering every 2 days but might have to water some daily. Being careful not to over water. They're indoors being glass. Might leave a few outside soon but they'd quite big now, getting on for 30" tall and not been hardened. It's pretty breezy where I live
Lots of flowers are dropping off. Not sure atm if lack of pollination/over watering (?being careful) or being being inside behind south face glass.
Lots of chillies now but all yet to start changing colour from green
 
Is it possible to overwatering if watering from trays underneath? Won't they stop sucking the water up if they don't want it?

I'm watering mine once at day and feeding once every 4 or 5 days, about 2 foot tall
 
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I do it like this guy but for my tomato plants I just drown them they are greedy as hell compared to peppers

you should really get used to watering by how heavy the pots feel.

sometimes I will totally submerge the pot and drown it then let it drain all the water to try and remove some of the salts that build up, but it will also remove any fertiliser too obviously and could wreck the PH levels

A ring of salt deposits may form around the pot at the soil line or around the drainage hole. Salts may also build up on the outside of clay pots. In house plants, signs of excess soluble salts include reduced growth, brown leaf tips, dropping of lower leaves, small new growth, dead root tips, and wilting.
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To prevent salt buildup, leach container soil every three to six months, states the University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Set a container plant in the sink and run water through the soil and the container drainage hole. Use twice as much water as the volume of the container.
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I've been pretty much watering mine daily. I actually use a spray bottle as it really gets the soil moist without using large amounts of water.

Watering chillies seems to be a science. Some will say that if the soil is drying out then you're not watering enough. Others say to only water once a week.

I'd be worried leaving mine unwatered for a week would just dry them out and kill them.

So my routine is pretty much water daily, and feed every 10-14 days. The bigger ones have just started producing flowers.
 
I water continuously, when using my quadgrows/chilligrows, always keep them full, after a month the roots are in water 24/7 in the tanks, you let compost dry out, your never ever get it properly wet again(for years i have always kept my chilli plants on the wetside, never had a problem, and always good crops), i was not going to do a chilli season this year, then decided to just grow non super hots, got a freezer full of hots from last year, i started late this year, did not even plant seeds to end of march, but dont matter really with mild chillis.
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feel free to update the thread with pics. I'm always curious to see how other peoples plants are doing.

I finally got a tiny tomato on one of my tomato plants lol.... my pepper plants I topped them a week ago and they responded very quickly to start bushing out, noticed a few buds appearing as well.

I really need bigger pots and more compost but can't find any locally :/ 2 of my tomato plants are still in the seedling pots but like 15inches tall with flowers....
rest of my tomatoes are in like 10litre pots and my pepper plants all in 7litre.
guess its not the end of the world but I'd like to go bigger
 
I learned a lesson with tomatoes. They need to be supported. I thought mine would be okay as they're a dwarf variety but the fruits grew quite large on the stronger of the two plants. I noticed in the morning it was leaning and thought I'd sort it in the afternoon but by lunch time it had gone over and snapped. I've put the green toms in a box to see if they ripen. I've tidied up the break and put the plant outside now to see if it recovers but if I remember correctly it's growth will be stunted due to the main trunk being broken.

Here's the weaker of the two plants that supported a few weeks ago. Luckily my parents had some old bamboo as I never had any and the garden centres were still closed.
Toms3.jpg


Also have Reapers starting to ripen. Will have to look in the background. It's only a small one. In the foreground are some large bonnets.

Ripening.jpg
 
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been spraying mine for 4-5 days now. i have aphids. seems to happen every year when we open the back door. no way would mine survive being outside.

anyone got any tips for killing them as spray seems to have helped but still fresh ones every day.
 
Mine on the windowsill seem to have more aphids than outdoor ones. I think if you just keep removing the aphids physically then after a few days they stop coming back.

Cayennes are fruiting nicely, habaneros are still taking a while but looking very healthy, got a few flowers open on them. I'm using bigtom feed every 5-7 days, is that too much?
 
Physically remove and then spray daily for 3-4 days with water/washing up liquid. Important to spray even if you can't see any

Worked for me.
 
Psycho Sonny said:
been spraying mine for 4-5 days now. i have aphids. seems to happen every year when we open the back door. no way would mine survive being outside.

anyone got any tips for killing them as spray seems to have helped but still fresh ones every day.
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Try to collect some ladybirds and place them on the plants. They will dine like kings.
 
Psycho Sonny said:
been spraying mine for 4-5 days now. i have aphids. seems to happen every year when we open the back door. no way would mine survive being outside.

anyone got any tips for killing them as spray seems to have helped but still fresh ones every day.
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How are yours going?

Ever since you lot mentioned aphids/greenflies, i now seem to have an infestation.

It doesn't seem to matter if they're indoors or outdoors in the greenhouse. The pesky critters still seem to be able to get on the plants.

I've been spraying each plant religiously with soapy water (leaves both sides, stems, and any buds/flowers). I'm confident that i'm killing the pets off before they can do serious damage, but it seems like you go back 2 days later and still see more on the plant.
 
RedvGreen said:
Try to collect some ladybirds and place them on the plants. They will dine like kings.
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Funnily enough, i did actually spot a ladybird on one of my plants. Tried to move her around to other leaves where there were aphids and she just wasn't interested - perhaps full up! :p
 
Semple said:
How are yours going?

Ever since you lot mentioned aphids/greenflies, i now seem to have an infestation.

It doesn't seem to matter if they're indoors or outdoors in the greenhouse. The pesky critters still seem to be able to get on the plants.

I've been spraying each plant religiously with soapy water (leaves both sides, stems, and any buds/flowers). I'm confident that i'm killing the pets off before they can do serious damage, but it seems like you go back 2 days later and still see more on the plant.
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It's a relentless battle. I've been spraying for 2 weeks. My plants have suffered a lot of damage. Leaves and buds. I think it's prevented a lot of mine from being pollinated too.

I've been spraying liberally several times per day and they are still surviving here and there.
 
Semple said:
Hmm very annoying.

Everything i search online always recommends spraying them with soapy water, so it's gotta work.
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if you want a more serious approach get some Diatomaceous earth food grade.

just don't breath in the dust or get it in your eyes.
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/silicosis/
nhs says it would take years of exposure but since your dealing with such a concentrated amount don't be stupid and risk breathing any in when you apply it.

you can apply it wet and it will kill whatever touches it once its dry.
or you could spray your plants with a mist of water outside and then dust them with it after to help it stick to the plants.

it's not toxic to humans or animals, but if breathed in can obviously cause problems.

pool grade is toxic to humans though!!!!!

technically I guess if you wanted to be really cautious you could just brush it directly on to any affected areas of your plants, also you can sprinkle it on the compost and anything walking in it will die.

it does nothing if its wet but once it dries out again it will cut them up and dehydrate them

even cockroaches will die if they come in contact with it.

it's basically a bag of these that looks like powder to the human eye
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it won't harm your plants or the roots.

personally I wouldn't touch it with my hands even if its safe.
people spray it on fruit trees to kill catterpillars etc its totally safe just dont breathe it in and you can rinse it from your plants once the infestation is gone.


I coated my pantry cupboard floor with a fine layer of it, kills any silver fish, beetles, spiders etc that find their way in there
 
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Will give it a couple more weeks and then give some other drastic measures a try.

I was actually just reading up on aphids, and they sound like absolute ghastly things:
During the growing season most greenhouse aphids are female and do not need a sexual encounter to reproduce. They do not lay eggs, but rather give birth to live young that are a perfect, though small, replicate of their mother. Not only are these newborns fully functional sap-sucking pests, but they are also pregnant – they actually have young developing inside them as they are being born themselves. In warm conditions the young aphids take about a week to grow and mature, before they too start giving birth to live, pregnant young.

Each aphid will give birth to about three to ten young every day for up to four weeks. Given these figures, in good conditions aphid populations can grow at alarming rates. When a grower notices signs of aphids on a pepper plant they should be dealt with immediately. If left alone it will not be long before there are thousands of aphids, and then hundreds of thousands.
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Can understand now why you can come back the following day and see a few more over the plant.
 
Should count myself lucky. Only things I've noticed so far are a small hairy jumping type spider with a white mustach :) and a red blood sucker on the compost of one.
I know a few who use Neem oil for pests.
 
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