2018 Chilli Growing thread

[Mark A]

I have had mixed results trying to grow seeds from supermarket chillies. The best ones I tried were Tesco finest sweet pointed peppers, they grew amazingly well and gave a decent crop of peppers, although not quite as big as the supermarket ones, but some I tried didn't grow at all. Worth a try though and its free if you buy the chillies anyway.

 

[NickK]

Looking at Pusa Jawala this year and overwintered Trinidad scorpions, Bhuts and Purfume Trinidad (bit hot).

 

[Mercenary Keyboard Warrior]

I have had mixed results trying to grow seeds from supermarket chillies. The best ones I tried were Tesco finest sweet pointed peppers, they grew amazingly well and gave a decent crop of peppers, although not quite as big as the supermarket ones, but some I tried didn't grow at all. Worth a try though and its free if you buy the chillies anyway.

Yeah good point. The key is you need mature fruit, if they are under mature the seeds will often not be fully formed.

You can usually tell, if the seeds look fairly milky/translucent then they are immature and will almost certainly not work, if they are hard and solid looking they should be mature.

 

[Squid Vicious]

I wish I'd overwintered my twilights, really beautiful plant with small purple, orange and red fruits on a nice little bush.

Will be growing a couple of those again from seed that have been saved.

 

[Glaucus]

don't use supermarket ones. For a start be cheaper just to buy them, secondly, supermarket veg is rubbish designed for shelf life and to look pretty. nit for flavour. Growing to me be it chillis or anything else is to get either stuff you cant get easily, or use old-fashioned breeds that are tasty and not designed for shelf life.

 

[Squid Vicious]

Seeds just arrived - got a bit carried away and order a few extra...
Pepperoncini - will be interesting to see if these are the ones used in kebab shop pickles
Padron - was gifted a 'Padron' plant last year but the things were all v.hot - far more than jalapenos so not sure what happened there...
Hungarian Hot Wax - also look nice for pickling (love me pickled chilli's)
Aji Limon - Looks nice - also wanted some options with a lil more heat
Scotch Bonnet - Cuz, scotch bonnet...

Some twilights from seed I saved last year - more for there ornamental value than anything else (they are nice and hot though!)

 

[NickK]

Ordered a couple of varieties from south devon chilli farm.

Some scotch bonnet and ghost chillis

Hehe that will be a nice crop!


Decided to get myself some Pusa Jawala - which is what the indian Jalfrezi seems to be made from (jalfrezi is basically chilli+onion+tomato without dairy which I can't really cope with).

 

[Mark A]

I'm going to get some Kashmiri Mirch to make a big batch of powder for curries. Along with Aji Limon, cayenne and maybe some Ancho, although i didnt get a very good crop last time I tried.

I was thinking of not going mad this year and doing one of each type, but i'll sow a few seeds in case some dont germinate and I just know I wont have the heart to bin any and will end up with loads of plants .

 

[Mercenary Keyboard Warrior]

Not quite doing my seeds yet but did an early batch of zimbabwe black for a friend who had them and forgot about the bush, he removed the pods and gave them to me to try to get some life from.
So far one has sprouted so I need to decide how to look after this one, took about 10 days, so going to give the rest another 10 days to see if I can coax life from any of the rest

Trying to decide if I should go straight to peat on this one, or go for artificial medium and a little fertiliser.
May try the direct to peat, but first giving the peat a good microwave to kill any nasties.

 

[samcat]

55w thermostatic 50cm propagator has arrived, and also scored a bargain £30 greenhouse that should be a perfect fit for the back corner of the garden.. Currently the corner is used as a tip/dump for rubbish for the tip and is an eyesore most times so this will force better tidying up habits. Compost heap will have to move.
Seeds are sat ready, I have the day off tomorrow so will be getting it all started then.

 

[samcat]

I was thinking of not going mad this year and doing one of each type, but i'll sow a few seeds in case some dont germinate and I just know I wont have the heart to bin any and will end up with loads of plants .

Exactly what I do... Then I end up with 50+ plants.. Keep the best/strongest for me, take the rest into work once they are potted into bigger pots.. Anyone who takes one sticks something in the charity pot and gets some simple instructions that I print out. Goes down really well, everyone loves it and most end up with plants on window sills at home that last a couple of years. One lad has a plant still going that is now over 7 years old (numex twilight that he is treating like its a bonsai tree!)

 

[samcat]

It begins:



5 varieties (numex twilight, joes long, purple princess, aji limon, Big Jim)
Heated propagator set at 22oC
Seedling compost (70%) with perlite (10%), vermiculite (10%) and regular peat free compost (10%).
Seeds soaked for 48 hours in rainwater that was gradually warmed to 24oC over first 24 hours.

Better get the greenhouse build started!

 

[topgun06]

Right, I need a kick up the arse to get mine sown!

 

[Gaijin]

Me too - had my first foray last year and got some good plants and a reasonable crop.

But I didn't top the plants and they got very leggy.

 

[tom_nieto]

Got mine propagating at the moment. A few early germinations which is great! Will take some photos and update the thread.

 

[Mercenary Keyboard Warrior]

Damn it, just ordered a heated prop because of this thread!

I was trying to delay a little longer as I go on hols in March, so now I may need a house sitter to look after the babies!

Think my red hab I was trying to overwinter has gone. It kept going black so I would cut a little lower then that would go black etc. All whilst constantly growing new leaves, very odd.
I hacked it right down to try to get well away from the black and now its started again, nowhere lower to cut

Also struggling with the Zimbabwe blacks i am trying to grow, a few sprouted but then died. They had been abandoned as plants, now I am starting to wonder if they just don't have enough energy in them to sprout and get some goodness from the root.

 

[wiiija]

I'm having a year off this year, got a spare 300W Viparspectra LED if anyone wants it, I don't have the room anymore. I grew the largest Scotch Bonnet plant I've ever seen under that light last year (among others) it was colossal.

 

[Mercenary Keyboard Warrior]

I'm having a year off this year, got a spare 300W Viparspectra LED if anyone wants it, I don't have the room anymore. I grew the largest Scotch Bonnet plant I've ever seen under that light last year (among others) it was colossal.

I would take please if its not going to cost a fortune to post!

 

[wiiija]

I'll investigate postage prices

 

[samcat]

Second in line, always wanted to try growing chilli under lights! (Bro wants me to go full hyroponics, but then seemed disinterested when Chilli was mentioned.)