2019 Chilli Growing thread

Daytrader · 11 Jun 2019 at 11:17

Freezing down here in the west country, just 13c in my polly tunnel, has been 35c before.

Nazbit · 12 Jun 2019 at 18:53

Double post see below.

Nazbit · 12 Jun 2019 at 19:07

Psycho Sonny said:
the weather has gotten much hotter now up here. So I'm watering with 200ml every 3 days now.

i just glance at mine and look at the leaves. if they are erect they are fine. drooping then water needed.

little is best as you can't remove excess water. but if need be you can always add more water. mine are in pots with no drainage.

Thanks for the tips. I've been leaving it much longer now, did them this morning as they were drooping slightly which you've confirmed is right.

Got first couple of flowers. Do they need any help with pollination if they're inside a greenhouse and won't be visited by any bees?

Psycho Sonny · 12 Jun 2019 at 19:10

Nazbit said:
Thanks for the tips. I've been leaving it much longer now, did them this morning as they were drooping slightly which you've confirmed is right.

Got first couple of flowers. Do they need any help with pollination if they're inside a greenhouse and won't be visited by any bees?

You need a cotton bud.

As soon as the flowers open up rub the cotton bud inside a bit like the birds and the "bees". You then rub the cotton bud onto the next flower and next and go round the whole plant then rub the first one.

What you are doing is moving the pollen (sperm) from one flower to the other. As pollen from the same flower cant fertilise it.

I do this every day even to the flowers I've done before. I only do it once per day. You should be able to see the pollen falling off the flowers and into the air. You can after you are done give the whole plant a little shake to throw more pollen into the air.

Eventually a chilli will replace the flower if done correctly.

If done incorrectly the flower will drop off.

Daytrader · 12 Jun 2019 at 19:22

Mate a little shake of the plant is enough, chillis are self-pollinating anyway, its just that sometimes the stamen does not quite touch the pistil, thats why a little shake is done just in case, most of the time i dont even bother to shake my plants, and still get loads of chillis, but just putting your little finger into each flower does same thing still thou.

Armageus · 12 Jun 2019 at 19:24

Nazbit said:
Got first couple of flowers. Do they need any help with pollination if they're inside a greenhouse and won't be visited by any bees?

Should be fine, maybe just give the plant a light shake should be enough to distribute the pollen

dave_100 · 12 Jun 2019 at 22:13

With a week of cloud and rain forecast this week I'm a little concerned my chillies won't be getting the sunlight they need, I know they need at least 4 hours plus of sunlight. I guess they will just stagnate for a week or so?

Hoping someone can just reassure me that I'm on track for a good harvest and they aren't getting too stretchy/leggy searching for light? Here they all are.

https://imgur.com/AyvdtBb
https://imgur.com/u9ql2Jo

I have quite a few flowers pollinated now with chillies coming through so I'm probably being silly, but I'm almost obsessing over the weather forecast at the moment, knowing how much sun they thrive with!

Daytrader · 12 Jun 2019 at 23:00

There great plants, your get plenty of chillis, some of mine are only 5 inches tall and have not moved since i potted them to there final pots 10 days ago, and there still get chillis, remember, they could be growing until october even, i picked my last chillis off plants in november from my polly tunnel, your have loads by august i reckon, all your plants look like Annums, im growing mostly Chinense, they take ages to produce pods, and by end of season a lot stay just green.

Psycho Sonny · 12 Jun 2019 at 23:42

Daytrader said:
Mate a little shake of the plant is enough, chillis are self-pollinating anyway, its just that sometimes the stamen does not quite touch the pistil, thats why a little shake is done just in case, most of the time i dont even bother to shake my plants, and still get loads of chillis, but just putting your little finger into each flower does same thing still thou.

I never got a single chilli until I started pollination myself using a cotton bud.

Had at least 30-40 buds fall off.

Daytrader · 12 Jun 2019 at 23:58

Flower drop on chillis is a common problem, not always to do with flowers not getting pollinated, over watering/over feeding/unstable temps/lack of airflow etc, but it does no harm to shake your plant every few days, or do as you say just put cotton bud in flower, or use your little finger, but there is no need to transfer pollen to another flower, but your do that anyway when you use cotten bud or little finger, the pro's use a cheap electric toothbrush on each flower stem, but i just shake the plant whenever i remember.

RedvGreen · 13 Jun 2019 at 12:13

On our 5 Chili plants we have loads of flower heads emerging, 4 flowers are open, and i've spread the pollen about a bit (a little bit awkward as they're in the kitchen).

Our stems have absolutely flopped though, from the soil, to a right angle, to a 45degree upwards angle.

Daytrader · 13 Jun 2019 at 12:43

You dont need to spread the pollen, both the male and female part are in the same flower, just shake the plant a little.

Squid Vicious · 24 Jun 2019 at 13:14

You can also just stick the plants outside on a nice day and bugs will do the job for you.

The first fruit has started to ripen on the overwintered aji limon so looking forward to first harvest now.

Plenty of flowers on the scotch bonnet but no fruit yet - not to surprised as that plant was really late season last year.

Potted on the pardon, Apache F1 and paper lantern - looking forward to them later on in the year.

Daytrader · 24 Jun 2019 at 13:18

Had to open all windows and both doors on my polly tunnel and still 29c in there, to hot really, especially for the tomatoes, chillis can just about handle that temp thou.

Psycho Sonny · 26 Jun 2019 at 12:01

got quite a few fruit but i've no idea what type of chilli plant it is. i bought it reduced in b and q. the 2 i started from seed are far too small for this summer i will try and keep them as perennials and hopefully give me a big yield next year.

Daytrader · 26 Jun 2019 at 12:09

Yup over wintered chillis do really well the following year.

Mahonyy · 27 Jun 2019 at 10:46

Padron peppers

randomshenans · 27 Jun 2019 at 14:02

I just got, well a couple of weeks ago, 3 more plants. Bhut orange, normal and a Katie chili, which apparently took top spot for hottest chilli in the world. Heat here has been great, they came as small plants, tiny. Now they're pretty big with 2 chilies growing on 2 of them!

Street · 27 Jun 2019 at 17:16

My plants are doing well, it definitely helped getting them in earlier than I managed last year as I've got a decent crop on them already!

Squid Vicious · 28 Jun 2019 at 07:41

Took the first chilli off the aji limon last night to go into a lamb kofta wrap - yummy!! Some others starting to colour quite nicely as well.
One question though, quite a few of the early fruit have some very dark colouration - almost black - are these likely to ripen? If not I'll just remove them now...