2019 Chilli Growing thread

[Semple]

Have I dun goofed? I've been picking out the little growths between the stem and the main leaves as I thought you should do that to encourage further growth upwards. Each time I do it the area blacks off a little but I thought that wasn't an issue. Overnight one of my cayennes toppled over, and I can see in one place the blackness is spreading up the stem and has joined up between leaf joints. Have I killed it? Was it wrong to be picking out those little bits of growth?

Chopstick inserted to prop it up for now.

I know you're supposed to do that with Tomato plants to allow the original branch full access to water/nutrients rather than having to share (which reminds me, i need to check mine).

I don't think you're supposed to do that with Chilli plants though. None of my cayennes' have black bits on them.

 

[DarrenM343]

I never touch mine you will end up doing more damage than good.

I let them grow naturally.

However topping them off usually makes a bushier plant which may give more yield.

I topped off most of my bonnets and they are indeed more bushy. They have more buds on them and lower down. The one I didn't top is the first one to flower. All of its buds are towards the top. It also has the strongest/healthiest main trunk to my non-expert eye . Bit early to come to a conclusion although I think the reason I didn't top it was because it was the weakest looking one.

The best performers at the moment for flowering and starting to produce fruit is the weakest of the two reepers which is not as big or healthy lookng as the other one(leaves not as green or shiny) and some unknown plant I have in a smaller point. That one already has quite a few pods growing.

 

[Psycho Sonny]

I've just seen the pics on a big screen now those black marks don't look healthy the plant is probably spending a lot of time and energy healing itself instead of growing

 

[arknor]

I never touch mine you will end up doing more damage than good.

I let them grow naturally.

However topping them off usually makes a bushier plant which may give more yield.

last time I did some years and years ago I remember we were all topping them at a certain height so they would split off in to like a Y shape with 2 main shoots instead of 1.

technically you could probably do what cannabis growers do to improve yield.

Don't plant in the centre of the pot but towards one edge then force the plants stem to grow horizontal at a 90 degree bend by tying it down with string until it goes hard as wood and cant bend back on its own.

do the same with all the branches and try to create a small bush thats almost totally flat on the top but a huge surface area compared to normal

 

[edgedemon]

I'm having a mare this year...
First I have 2 ungerminated seeds trays, though one tray is beginning to show signs of life with a 3 or 4 appearing yesterday, but it is probably too late now
I also moved from the flat to a plastic greenhouse and lost half my crop to pests
Can't put them back inside as per wife agreement, germination only until they have 4 leaves, we don't have the room inside.
You can see the survivors

And I have white leaves on a couple, not powdery mildew, see below

Should I remove the leaves leave it? They had 1/2 strength tomato feed last week, but it hasn't seemed to have helped

 

[dl8860]

******* pests, that's so frustrating.

My cayennes have recovered, both now freestanding which is good news. Need to start making a feeding diary as I keep wanting to give them more but I'm sure it's not a good idea to overfeed.

Loving this blazing sunlight through my kitchen window

 

[arknor]

what are the white dots in the last photo? do they actually move?

I'm not a fan of potted plants outdoors even indoors you get enough issues with spider mites and those black or white flies that invade your plants and suck out the sap.

I used to put mine on the balcony during the sunlight years back, came to move my chilli plant back indoors and something had laid like 60 eggs in a really nice tight pattern on the underside of one of the leaves lol..
that was the last time I thought it was even worth it.

Here's mines, been adding more compost as they grow, not sure how deep you can plant pepper plants though, so I will have to google that. I was also going to kill the smallest pepper plant in each of the two pots but I might just split them whilst I probably still can


I checked my bank statement the other day to check when I actually bought the compost and seeds and I think it was the 14th or 16th of April so I guess mine aren't doing too bad.
for like the last week they've just been sat in a cardboard box with a 1600 lumen desklamp on them for 12hours a day or however long I stayed awake though.

which is probably better than they would have done in full sun since they are so small the suns heat would probably almost kill them.

I will start putting them in my balcony window from 9am to 5pm though which is how long the sun hits that area for, then move them back under a light until I go to sleep to give them that extra boost.

bought a small fan on ebay to try and stiffen them up a bit simulating a nice breeze


I think it was like £2.50 or something crazy cheap like that but came from the UK.

it's actually a lot louder than I expected but does push a fairly decent amount of air
the blades are made of rubber and as you can see they are fairly chunky, with thinner stiffer blades it would likely be better.

but it does the job and was cheap (cables stiff btw you can bend it to whatever angle you want)

 

[Semple]

which is probably better than they would have done in full sun since they are so small the suns heat would probably almost kill them.

Really annoyed myself yesterday. Was nice and sunny all morning and early afternoon, so had my chillies out on the patio table. By 4pm it had gone grey and was just starting to rain, so stuck them in the greenhouse and zipped the door down.

Few hours later took the dog out for a walk and the sun was out bright and warm again. Didn't realise till I got home that I had forgotten to open up the greenhouse again. It had peaked at 47C in there, quite a few of my smaller chillies shrivelled up a lot

Will have to see if they can recover.

 

[DarrenM343]

what are the white dots in the last photo? do they actually move?

I'm not a fan of potted plants outdoors even indoors you get enough issues with spider mites and those black or white flies that invade your plants and suck out the sap.

I used to put mine on the balcony during the sunlight years back, came to move my chilli plant back indoors and something had laid like 60 eggs in a really nice tight pattern on the underside of one of the leaves lol.
that was the last time I thought it was even worth it.

Putting them outside does allow insects such as ladybirds to eat mites and things however .
I was thinking about getting a small polytunnel type greenhouse and putting some outside soon but might just continue growing inside this year. End of the living room is going to look pretty busy with nine growing (2 are small tomatoes). I've put the occasional one or two outside but have been a bit concerned about getting something on them that I then spread to the other plants when I move them back indoors, especially as I live next to lots of trees and bushes.

 

[Psycho Sonny]

one of mine fell over a bit as no wind being indoors they are weak. so i tried bending it up and it snapped. was a big healthy plant so i just pulled it out rather than leave what was left. still got plenty and i had 2 in that pot anyway so the other has more soil to grow into.

 

[arknor]

one of mine fell over a bit as no wind being indoors they are weak. so i tried bending it up and it snapped. was a big healthy plant so i just pulled it out rather than leave what was left. still got plenty and i had 2 in that pot anyway so the other has more soil to grow into.

some people tickle their plants daily but I don't know if it works but I guess in theory it should but its only a few minutes a day compared to wind that would be pushing against them and making them vibrate constantly

 

[arknor]

I noticed in my pots some little white pin heads walking around on the compost but they don't seem interested in my plants and they only come to the surface if it's uber bright

probably something already in the compost when I bought it.

none of my plants seem upset by them, even my microsopic oregano seems fine, (oregano is a joke btw, had to check some time lapse on youtube to check its supposed to grow this ridiculously slow)


edit: must be soil miteshttps://www.guyabouthome.com/soil-mites-and-should-you-get-rid-of-them/

 

[Armageus]

Grrr looks like I have aphids on some of my plants again this year. Physically removed the few I could see and have sprayed with washing up liquid/water solution.

Not sure where they have come from though?

 

[arknor]

pretty sure insects can sense fresh rotting compost from miles away and then if you have an open window the gold rush is on.

 

[Semple]

some people tickle their plants daily but I don't know if it works but I guess in theory it should but its only a few minutes a day compared to wind that would be pushing against them and making them vibrate constantly

I heard that for tomato plants, you can gently brush a hand over the tops of them to encourage them to stiffen up.

I've got mine loosely tied to mini stakes, they've been outside lots so some of the bigger ones do have nice strong stems. My reason for staking them was to correct growth direction (some were growing at an angle), also to provide some support for when they've wilted. As they're quite top heavy, if they wilt they tend to just flop over and risk snapping the stem.

none of my plants seem upset by them, even my microsopic oregano seems fine, (oregano is a joke btw, had to check some time lapse on youtube to check its supposed to grow this ridiculously slow)

I actually gave up growing oregano, i got them to germinate fine, had hundreds of shoots as they're extremely small. But after that they barely grew at all, not sure if putting them in the greenhouse caused them to stop growing, eventually they just died off.

 

[arknor]

I think mine are 3+ weeks since I tried to germinate them and they are just on the second set of leaves but still really tiny, I dare not put them in direct sunlight the roots must still be only a few centimetres long

they seem okay in my south facing kitchen window thats got a net curtain up so I guess it provides enough shade to stop them drying out and I squirt them with a fine mist of water a few times a day.

oregano is definitely the hardest thing I've tried to grow so far

it's supposed to be a plant that loves the sun as well, yet they grow so slow I don't see how they would survive the heat and dry soil in the wild, unless they germinate a long time before it gets sunny weather

3 weeks for that lol.....

 

[Semple]

I think mine are 3+ weeks since I tried to germinate them and they are just on the second set of leaves but still really tiny, I dare not put them in direct sunlight the roots must still be only a few centimetres long

they seem okay in my south facing kitchen window thats got a net curtain up so I guess it provides enough shade to stop them drying out and I squirt them with a fine mist of water a few times a day.

oregano is definitely the hardest thing I've tried to grow so far

it's supposed to be a plant that loves the sun as well, yet they grow so slow I don't see how they would survive the heat and dry soil in the wild, unless they germinate a long time before it gets sunny weather

3 weeks for that lol.....

Yeah i would say mine looked like that still after 2 months.

As you say, i'd read that they thrive in sunlight, yet mine seemed to have died when exposed to it.

 

[Mr Joshua]

What methods do you guys use to preserve your chilli's for cooking in the future? I have a couple that have already ripened on my ring of fire plant that I would like to use at a later date.

 

[arknor]

I've just seen the pics on a big screen now those black marks don't look healthy the plant is probably spending a lot of time and energy healing itself instead of growing

black marks on the stem, or leaves browner than they should be especially the vein areas is over watering usually, although purple stems can also happen from cold (cannabis growers often do this on purpose for looks, feeding the plant in the last week ice cold water)

too long and the plant will not be able to get oxygen and is essentially drowning, the roots will start to rot and the plant will die in a week probably.

when it happens the leaves will droop and look like they are not getting enough water, but its because the plants drowning.

the top half of your compost should be almost dry, when you water you plant don't water from above.

filll a bowl with water that is deep enough for about 30% of the pot and let it sit in it for a few minutes and do that every few days.

your compost doesn''t need to look completely wet, there has to be oxygen in the growing medium

 

[Psycho Sonny]

What methods do you guys use to preserve your chilli's for cooking in the future? I have a couple that have already ripened on my ring of fire plant that I would like to use at a later date.

you can dry them out then either keep them like that or grind them up.

you can also pickle them - which will add a vinegar taste to them

or you can make a sauce with them - youtube should be able to help you out