2014 Chilli Growers Thread

neil_g said:
never too late for seeds :D
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Yup they could do well if you move them back indoors in late summer.

I've had an infestation of aphids on my two plants this year, little green menaces! Check the undersides of your leaves, folks.

FrenchTart said:
I'm going to get a few chilli plants/plugs I think. A friend has all the seedlings I germinated in his green house but I have a south-facing windowsill that is just begging to be filled with plants...
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Do it! And please order from these guys - I really can't recommend them enough, lovely people and excellent strong plants/seeds. http://www.seaspringplants.co.uk/
 
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I transferred most of mine to the greenhouse a couple of weeks ago and they haven't really done too well. They haven't really grown any since they went out - although the Cayennes are now starting to fruit. Also, I didn't harden them off properly so most plants have leaves with the colour drained from them :( They're still alive but a bit short on greenery. Most of the rest of them either have flowers or are starting to bud. I transferred one of each of the Chinense into bigger pots (Naga & Hotscotch into huge pots and Scotch Bonnet into a big pot) and put them on the sideboard in the bay window in the living room (south(ish) facing). They're doing splendidly. The Naga is flowering and is now 17" tall (it has grown 3" in the last 9 days :eek:). In contrast, the Naga in the greenhouse is still barely 8".

I only put them outside so soon as they were taking over the living room and the grow light was bugging me.

Lessons learned for next year:

  1. Move grow light to another room. I'm going to switch rooms around so I don't have to sit in the same room as the light.
  2. Plant some early to keep indoors for earlier cropping and plant some later for the greenhouse. April isn't warm enough to be putting stuff outside - even in a greenhouse.

I was unprepared for how successful the grow light would be and the plants matured much quicker than I thought they would. I'll know better next year and will be petter prepared.
 
no ive been watching the temps in the (plastic) greenhouse for a few weeks now, while the upper temps are spot on (and sometimes a little high with the door shut) the low temps are dipping into the 5c area.

the last few nights its not got any colder in there than 11c but the overnight temps are forecast to drop again over the weekend.
 
It's strange because I found no problem with the plants I moved to the greenhouse, they have grown a lot more than the ones I have inside now, they have been in there for weeks now, the only problem is something eating the leaves :)
 
caff said:
I've had an infestation of aphids on my two plants this year, little green menaces! Check the undersides of your leaves, folks.
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I would use natures own pest control and to do this you can try growing some Marigolds near your chilli plants. This will attract natural predators of Aphids, like Hoverflies, and they will get to grips with the infestation. If you don't have the option to grow Marigolds, you might want to look at other options. I grow as organically as I can, so pest control of the chemical kind is not an option.

RHS has some good info...
http://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=181
http://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=507

Also, I am pretty certain using pro-biotics (I think is the term?) like Seaweed feeds can help protect your plants by making leaves healthier. I use SM3 liquid seaweed feed as both foliar feed via spray and added to water. You need to do this every 2 weeks.
 
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Noxia said:
Some good photos in here, seems more of a turnout than 2013 :)
Here are some random photos, I'm really going to start running out of space soon as I'm slowly potting up to 6" so the weather really needs to get better so I can ship some outside.

Photos in tags. The one you see in the 'greenhouse' was just an experiment, it hasn't died but it sure as hell ain't growing either.

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Looking good Noxia!
 
neil_g said:
herman, how goes the coir?
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Sorry, I had to do some training and was in London for 3 days.

Coco Coir blocks are really good so far. I bought some organic coco and I was concerned about getting cheap blocks as these can be salty from being from areas where brackish waters can make the coco salty. I think I have avoided that problem as my plants growing in coco are doing well.

I mixed mine up with some wormcasts (no more than 10%) to give it the goodness it was missing, and a small amount of vermiculite. Water retention is really good!

This is the one I got:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3-Organic...Bottle_Warmers_Coolers_LE&hash=item3a8ac8b0d5
 
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CHokKA said:
Well sadly, as I've missed the start of the seed growing by a good few months, I decided to cheat this year and purchase some plugs. I hate the fact that I'm not growing them from scratch, but being able to have a nice harvest of chillies this year is far more important!

So anyway, this is what I've ordered:

Chilli Plant, Cayenne Plug 2014

Chilli Plant, Orange Habanero Plug 2014

Chilli Plant, Trinidad Morouga Scorpion Plug 2014

Chilli Plant, Red Seven Pot Plug 2014

Chilli Plant, Scotch Bonnet Plug 2014

Chilli Plant, Fatalii Plug 2014

Chilli Plant, Antillias Caribbean Plug 2014

Chilli Plant, Paper Lantern Plug 2014

Chilli Plant, Thai Demon Plug 2014

Hopefully that will get me a lovely variation of chillies so that I can make some lovely jams, chutneys and sauces, as well as to add to currys and chillies that I'll be making over the winter :)
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Great selection
 
Stan_Lite said:
I transferred most of mine to the greenhouse a couple of weeks ago and they haven't really done too well. They haven't really grown any since they went out - although the Cayennes are now starting to fruit. Also, I didn't harden them off properly so most plants have leaves with the colour drained from them :( They're still alive but a bit short on greenery. Most of the rest of them either have flowers or are starting to bud. I transferred one of each of the Chinense into bigger pots (Naga & Hotscotch into huge pots and Scotch Bonnet into a big pot) and put them on the sideboard in the bay window in the living room (south(ish) facing). They're doing splendidly. The Naga is flowering and is now 17" tall (it has grown 3" in the last 9 days :eek:). In contrast, the Naga in the greenhouse is still barely 8".

I only put them outside so soon as they were taking over the living room and the grow light was bugging me.

Lessons learned for next year:

  1. Move grow light to another room. I'm going to switch rooms around so I don't have to sit in the same room as the light.
  2. Plant some early to keep indoors for earlier cropping and plant some later for the greenhouse. April isn't warm enough to be putting stuff outside - even in a greenhouse.

I was unprepared for how successful the grow light would be and the plants matured much quicker than I thought they would. I'll know better next year and will be petter prepared.
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:( Yours were looking so healthy, I would have expected them to do really well. What sort of compost are they in? What feed and how often? Hard/Soft/Rain water?

I suspect that my tap water is toxic to some of my plants.. I use filtered water for seedlings but I can't do that for big plants. I tend to get problems most with small to medium sized plants and this has happened for a few years. I live in a hard water area.

I don't have an option to use rainwater this year but I would if I could.
 
Herman Gelmet said:
I had a surprise delivery this morning (as I must have ordered when drunk!) from US of A:

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Dried superhots and some more seeds!!! Chillies are Jay's Peach Ghost Scorpion and my thinking (now I recall!) was to use the chillies and test the seeds they contain for viability, as they don't always work after the drying process.
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I can confirm I now have 3 Jay's Peach Ghost Scorpion babies, hatched from the seeds within the dried chillies from Refining Fire (US) :) Not very good rate of viability though, probably threw about 15 seeds in and got 3 babies, but these are bonus seeds. I'm certain that if you bought the seeds of this strain from Refining Fire you would get much better viability.

The others were highly viable and I got 70% + from the Jamaican Red Mushrooms and Goronong.
 
Herman Gelmet said:
:( Yours were looking so healthy, I would have expected them to do really well. What sort of compost are they in? What feed and how often? Hard/Soft/Rain water?

I suspect that my tap water is toxic to some of my plants.. I use filtered water for seedlings but I can't do that for big plants. I tend to get problems most with small to medium sized plants and this has happened for a few years. I live in a hard water area.

I don't have an option to use rainwater this year but I would if I could.
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It's almost entirely caused by putting them out too soon and not hardening them off properly. They went from a pretty much constant 22-24 degrees to an environment where they get occasional brief spells at up to 35 degrees but mostly around 10 degrees or below.

I also used filtered water when they were young. I'm now using an in-line filter on my garden hose which is supposed to remove the chlorine etc from the tap water. I'm not sure how effective it is but the plants were starting to show signs of deterioration before I used the water from that so I can't blame that. In fact, they've been out there 2 weeks and I only had to water them 3 days ago - that's how cold it's been. If I had the space, I'd get a water butt to collect rainwater but my back yard is quite small and space is at a premium. I'm using Chilli Focus every second watering.
 
Mr Jones said:
How did you deal with them aphids?
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As I've only two plants, I've been flushing them (i.e. turning them upside down and spraying them with finger on a water tap) to get rid of the bugs underneath the leaves.

It has been a slow process, though.
 
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Stan_Lite said:
The Naga is flowering and is now 17" tall (it has grown 3" in the last 9 days :eek:). In contrast, the Naga in the greenhouse is still barely 8".
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We had a couple of sunny days over the weekend and the Naga in the window looked bigger so I just measured it again. It is now 19" - it's grown 2" in 3 days :eek: At the last count, it had 8 flowers and around about 50 flower buds. I think this could turn out to be a good producer.
 
I took a bit of a punt and left my larger 5 and 2 Romanos out in the greenhouse the last 2 nights.. Seem okay, a little bit droopy maybe. But then I have transplanted them at the same time into some coir and perlite diy self watering pots..

The ajis and choc bhut

Greenhouse 04/05/14 by -neilgates-

Greenhouse 04/05/14 by -neilgates-

Greenhouse is looking a bit more purposeful now

Greenhouse 04/05/14 by -neilgates-

And still got tonnes more to put in it

Chilli seedlings 04/05/14 by -neilgates-
 
Diy ikea hack :)

Ikea trofast storage box and lid £2 (per box + lid), the lid has a handy hole for a capillary mat £3~ (b&q pack makes 5 wicks) wick.

6l square pot £1.50~ (each) sits nicely on top, drill a matching wick hole in the bot base and a couple of drainage holes in the trofast lid (use those holes to zip tie the pot to the lid personal preference). Drill a filling hole, I used some spare hose to help but not necessary.

The trofast storage box I used is the smallest and holds about 3l water/nute mix.

http://m.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/art/00252578/
 
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