2019 Chilli Growing thread

Squid Vicious · 27 Feb 2019 at 13:23

Mr Joshua said:
Interesting to read this as I was planning of making a small greenhouse with the double walled stuff. Did your cat go through it?

I'd already moved the chilli's down to the second shelf as she'd already been showing a little to much interest in them - but the top was down and she must have jumped on, at which point it just folded and was partially pulled out from the wooden frame - enough for her to get inside and onto the top shelf allowing her to fish for the supposedly safe chillis on the middle shelf.

Mr Joshua · 27 Feb 2019 at 14:06

The little rascal! We have a cat who looks for any mischief he can get into, guess I'll have to make something strong too

.

rhysduck · 27 Feb 2019 at 14:16

I really would love space for a greenhouse

Pigeon_Killer · 27 Feb 2019 at 19:14

Does anyone soak their seeds in tea or anything before planting them?

Never tried growing anything before and I don't want to wreck them.

Psycho Sonny · 28 Feb 2019 at 11:35

Pigeon_Killer said:
Does anyone soak their seeds in tea or anything before planting them?

Never tried growing anything before and I don't want to wreck them.

https://www.instructables.com/id/12-Tips-on-Growing-Hot-Chilli-Peppers-in-a-Cold-Cl/

Gaijin · 28 Feb 2019 at 13:12

Squid Vicious said:
I'd already moved the chilli's down to the second shelf as she'd already been showing a little to much interest in them - but the top was down and she must have jumped on, at which point it just folded and was partially pulled out from the wooden frame - enough for her to get inside and onto the top shelf allowing her to fish for the supposedly safe chillis on the middle shelf.

That enclosure is awesome! Did you make or buy that?

Squid Vicious · 28 Feb 2019 at 13:26

Gaijin said:
That enclosure is awesome! Did you make or buy that?

Bought it off Amazon , I'd seen the brand in some local garden centres and had a look around at alternatives but that one seemed to be reasonably good quality and price.

Easy to put together, pretty solid though obviously not built to resist slightly chubby cats jumping on it.

Moved it outside when weather started warming up to start hardening the chillis off.

Gave it a few coats of teak oil to help protect it and it's been outside over winter and seems to have withstood the elements well enough. It'll be coming back indoors when the new seedlings are big enough to come out of the propagator.

Really shouldn't be that difficult to knock something together if you've got the skill, time, tools and materials though - sadly I'm lacking most of those

rhysduck · 28 Feb 2019 at 13:41

There's a nice little (similar) wooden enclosure coming up in Aldi on Sunday that I'll be getting.

https://www.aldi.co.uk/small-wooden-greenhouse/p/097341253270300

Gaijin · 28 Feb 2019 at 14:47

Squid Vicious said:
Bought it off Amazon , I'd seen the brand in some local garden centres and had a look around at alternatives but that one seemed to be reasonably good quality and price.

Easy to put together, pretty solid though obviously not built to resist slightly chubby cats jumping on it.

Moved it outside when weather started warming up to start hardening the chillis off.

Gave it a few coats of teak oil to help protect it and it's been outside over winter and seems to have withstood the elements well enough. It'll be coming back indoors when the new seedlings are big enough to come out of the propagator.

Really shouldn't be that difficult to knock something together if you've got the skill, time, tools and materials though - sadly I'm lacking most of those

Thanks mate - that's really useful

rhysduck said:
There's a nice little (similar) wooden enclosure coming up in Aldi on Sunday that I'll be getting.

https://www.aldi.co.uk/small-wooden-greenhouse/p/097341253270300

Likewise - will pop up Aldi on Sunday too - seems they release in ireland on the same day too.

Street · 28 Feb 2019 at 16:27

I might have to invest in one of those to keep the missus happy. She's not as keen on having the porch filled with chilli plants as I am and has been nagging me to get a green house.

ShotInTheAss86 · 1 Mar 2019 at 07:41

5 days in and no sign of life yet, hopefully over the weekend get some good news

psd99 · 1 Mar 2019 at 08:08

Looks like I am behind or ahead in some ways with the plants from last year

it's going to be poor weather here in the next 10 days but I will try to water the old plants

as for growing new ones, I'm going to need a bag or two of compost but just feels a bit early as I write this
I like seeding when the weather is a bit better.

Gaijin · 1 Mar 2019 at 10:34

Street said:
I might have to invest in one of those to keep the missus happy. She's not as keen on having the porch filled with chilli plants as I am and has been nagging me to get a green house.

Ha, same - was originally looking at the flimsy polythene enclosures, but I think it wouldn't pass madam's aesthetics test. And could get blown away.

Current state of affairs as per a couple of days ago after pricking out:

Lytton · 1 Mar 2019 at 19:14

I went full on this year. Built myself a grow cupboard using some old bits of kitchen cabinet and IKEA billy bookcase + bubblewrap and reflective radiator sheeting. I also got a mega 200W CFL bulb which gives off some serious heat.

Also acquired heated propagators for additional win:

Current seed list:

Biquino red (C. chinense)
Biquino yellow (C. chinense)
Demon red (C. annuum)
Lemon drop (C. baccatum)
Purple flash (C. annuum)
Cumari Alongado white flower pheno (Now in its third year) (C. praetermissum)
Purple flowered baccatum (C. baccatum)
CGN 22084 (C. chacoense)
Tepin x Lemon drop F5 (C. annuum x C. baccatum)
CAP 1141 ( C. praetermissum)
Jalapeno Rocky F1 (C. annuum)

Sweet pepper seeds planted (All C. annuum):

Mini red
Mohawk
Snack box mix

Sorry for all the pics

ShotInTheAss86 · 3 Mar 2019 at 10:39

First signs of life, 1 of each so far hopefully the rest follow in next couple of days

Street · 4 Mar 2019 at 10:31

My habaneros still aren't growing at all. I've had 5 out of 6 Basket of Fire, 3 out of 6 Reapers but 0 out of 10 Habaneros! I'm hoping I'm just being impatient but they have been in a fair while now.

ShotInTheAss86 · 4 Mar 2019 at 11:13

Had another 5 appeared this morning and moved the propagator to one of the sunny windowsills to keep them happy until i can re-pot them

Moonpie2 · 4 Mar 2019 at 12:07

No idea what my little forest is made of.
They're seeds bought online that are supposed to produce turquoise chillis.
(Not sure I believe that)

I usually sow seeds nice and carefully and in neat rows and good spacing, but after a couple of weeks of doing that and having no germination, I just threw the entire packet of seeds into the soil and said 'have at it'

Mark A · 7 Mar 2019 at 14:56

Moonpie2 said:
No idea what my little forest is made of.
They're seeds bought online that are supposed to produce turquoise chillis.
(Not sure I believe that)

I'll be interested to see how they turn out. I don't think I have ever come across turquoise chillies before.

Mine are doing pretty good after the few days of freak sun we got. I have them sat under my desk lamp, which is just a 4000k 13w led bulb, so not the ideal colour temp, but they seem to be doing ok. I always have this lamp on anyway, so thought I might as well put the chillies under it while there is no sun.

I had a thought about a way to stop fungus gnats using insect mesh inside the pots before adding the compost, then adding some on top of the compost before adding a layer of sand or perlite. Would that work? I have never seen it mentioned before, so not sure if its a stupid idea or not, but I might give it a try as I have tried everything else and get an infestation every year without fail.

mikedigitales · 7 Mar 2019 at 18:17

I've always just popped a decent layer of alpine grit on top of the compost to stop the gnats - I've been told it can be tricky to find, but it's normally available in one of the garden centres near me.