2021 Season Chilli Growing
- Thread starter pooey
- Start date
Be interesting to see how those lights pan out, your smoke detector comment has now spurred me into researching LED growlights catching fire
It's running fairly cool really, the back as shown in photo is metal and seems to be the heat sink. There don't appear to be any hot spots. Seeing as it's on for umpteen hours a day though, I thought I'd be a bit sensible.
By this evening this should be done:
This may be a giant kratky. Look viable?
My orange habaneros and cayenne are coming away nicely so far, I've also got some tomato's growing, although my space is limited to windowsills as I live in a flat. On the up side due to how my flat is positioned they get a lot of sunlight pretty much all day.
I have some tomato feed which I believe is good for chilli's also, I'm planning on feeding them once a fortnight but I thought I would check in here if that's the best way to do it? For reference I'm using 11lt pots for each of the plants, I used half that size last time I grew chilli's and it seemed to be a limiting factor -- although I didn't use feed that time around so that may have been a factor.
Any advice welcome!
I have some tomato feed which I believe is good for chilli's also, I'm planning on feeding them once a fortnight but I thought I would check in here if that's the best way to do it? For reference I'm using 11lt pots for each of the plants, I used half that size last time I grew chilli's and it seemed to be a limiting factor -- although I didn't use feed that time around so that may have been a factor.
Any advice welcome!
I feed mine sometimes, though I've never worked out a strict regimen, so I wouldn't like to say how to do it. Do bare these things in mind when growing chillies. Like tomatoes, roots grow mostly horizontally. I prefer using grow bags for chillis and toms for this reason. The will go down in a pot a bit, but you'll end up with less roots in a pot. Secondly if you want to make your chillies hot, you should mistreat them. Overwater them, underwater them, leave them out in the sun, whatever. Be nice to them until they fruit, then abuse them. Chillies produce hotter fruit so they're less likely to be consumed by mammals, which feel the heat and more likely to be eaten by birds which don't. This makes it more likely the seed ends up further away from the inclement climate they're in. The reverse is also true.
Here's my tent today.
Been waiting so long for the Sugar Rush Stripey to ripen! They're notorious for taking a while though and the stripes come right at the end apparently. I'm hoping I'm not just growing a new strain of Sugar Rush Orange
Been waiting so long for the Sugar Rush Stripey to ripen! They're notorious for taking a while though and the stripes come right at the end apparently. I'm hoping I'm not just growing a new strain of Sugar Rush Orange
Thanks for the information, I knew the bit about the way the seeds spread but I wasn't aware abusing the plants could benefit heat levels.
Haha that looks busy!Here's my tent today.
Been waiting so long for the Sugar Rush Stripey to ripen! They're notorious for taking a while though and the stripes come right at the end apparently. I'm hoping I'm not just growing a new strain of Sugar Rush Orange
Well I finally kicked off the Kratky Crackers attempt yesterday. I knew what order to do everything in... then immediately released one of the seedlings from its muddy home before sorting the nutrients out oops.
Anyway here we are. 18 hours later they're still standing upright with no obvious wilting so I'm hoping I got the levels etc right.
Decent
3.5 should get you a fair few chillis This guy had about 1.2 litres and he got pretty big and ended up with a load of pods:
Haha yeah I was pestering my growtent every 30 mins or so when I first got it up and running 
They grow quite insidiously, incremental enough that it's not super noticeable if you look at them regularly but if you take a picture then compare it a couple of days later it really shows
They grow quite insidiously, incremental enough that it's not super noticeable if you look at them regularly but if you take a picture then compare it a couple of days later it really shows
@Griffo Looks like things are really taking shape now. Top effort mate!
I'm having a bit more success now with better germination rates and existing seedlings starting on their first set of true leaves.
They seem to be loving the LED grow light in the light box
My issue with yellowing seedling leaves was definitely overwatering. I think sowing in 100% coir was an error maybe, next time 50% coir & 50% seedling soil mix.
I have started feeding a 1:1:1 liquid feed at 50% strength as coir is inert and they are going to need a bit of everything in terms of NPK to get going.
Weather here in Surrey is perking up a bit so I have cleared out the coldframe ready for a few weeks time when the plants are hopefully big enough to start playing outside a bit.
My mavity fed self-watering pot setup it ready to hit the balcony too!
The over wintered plant is looking great so hopefully that will give me some early super hot pods this season for some culinary experiments
I'm having a bit more success now with better germination rates and existing seedlings starting on their first set of true leaves.
They seem to be loving the LED grow light in the light box
My issue with yellowing seedling leaves was definitely overwatering. I think sowing in 100% coir was an error maybe, next time 50% coir & 50% seedling soil mix.
I have started feeding a 1:1:1 liquid feed at 50% strength as coir is inert and they are going to need a bit of everything in terms of NPK to get going.
Weather here in Surrey is perking up a bit so I have cleared out the coldframe ready for a few weeks time when the plants are hopefully big enough to start playing outside a bit.
My mavity fed self-watering pot setup it ready to hit the balcony too!
The over wintered plant is looking great so hopefully that will give me some early super hot pods this season for some culinary experiments
Oh yes, overwintered ones! I've been fighting a running battle with the fungus gnat things for the last 6 months! I refuse to use the microscopic sharp stuff as I assume i'll accidentally lick it and that will be that. So it's been those sticky yellow things, and checking the leaves almost every day and squashing babies. Oh and small gravel in every house plant pot, and ensuring I water from the bottom. Then seeing they're going in through the bottom holes in the pot too and cursing whoever invented these insects!
I have a fair amount of fungus gnats in the grow tent. For the most part they don't seem to affect the plants much as far as I can tell, I think they can possibly damage young seedlings.
I've got some of the yellow sticky pads which seem to attract them pretty well and I've tried covering all non hydro pots with diatomaceous earth and I think that's slowed them down a bit but there are still many
I've got some of the yellow sticky pads which seem to attract them pretty well and I've tried covering all non hydro pots with diatomaceous earth and I think that's slowed them down a bit but there are still many
I think what happens is the gnats eat the fungus that grows in the damp soil.
When the fungus runs out in an attempt to dry the soil and make it inhospitable for them then they go for the plant roots and stem.
On one of my overwintered I had them chew through where the stem meets the soil and the plant topple over
When the fungus runs out in an attempt to dry the soil and make it inhospitable for them then they go for the plant roots and stem.
On one of my overwintered I had them chew through where the stem meets the soil and the plant topple over