2019 Chilli Growing thread

Mr Joshua · 12 May 2020 at 10:04

Psycho Sonny said:
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

Thanks I'll take a look, I'd been thinking about grinding them but was curious as to the preferences of others on here.

Pigeon_Killer · 12 May 2020 at 10:41

Semple said:
I've been keeping mine outside in the small greenhouse during the day, and then bringing them inside for overnight.

I've got a smart sensor in there so I can keep an eye on temps etc...

Sorry, no idea why but I missed your response.

I've started the hardening off process with a few of my larger plants which has made more room for the others in the grow tent.

Does your sensor require mains power or batteries? Thanks

Semple · 12 May 2020 at 11:34

Pigeon_Killer said:
Sorry, no idea why but I missed your response.

I've started the hardening off process with a few of my larger plants which has made more room for the others in the grow tent.

Does your sensor require mains power or batteries? Thanks

They use a cell battery (CR032 i think), they claim the battery should last at least a year with very frequent updating. My understanding is the sensors only push an update when there's been a change in temperature, humidity or air pressure - which from my usage seems to happen rather frequently.

The sensor itself is probably no bigger than a 50p. They're Xiaomi Aqara sensors if you're interested. They also make one that you can stick in the soil, and it'll tell you moisture/nutrient levels etc, not got round to buying one/trying it out yet.

dl8860 · 12 May 2020 at 14:13

Mine have come on leaps and bounds, those black marks near where I picked out the side growth and up the stem have almost disappeared and the main stems have strengthened really well on the cayennes, almost like flopping over once or twice (and thankfully being saved) has encouraged them to beef up. Plenty of buds appeared on those and the bigger two are now 12".

Habaneros still slacking a bit, much shorter at more like 5" and much more compact. Wondering if all this bunching up of growth is a really bad thing? If so can I do anything about it? That's a 6" wide pot.

Starting to give a good bottom feed every 4 or 5 days and a light watering between those feeds if it feels like it needs it. Now judging based on weight rather than appearance, as I now think I was over watering before.

Semple · 13 May 2020 at 12:35

I would guess that's where it'll start "bushing out", although a 6 inch pot maybe a bit too small for it when it gets to full size.

Pigeon_Killer · 13 May 2020 at 16:17

Migrated 5 of my peppers in to bigger pots over the weekend and they've already grown an inch. The rest will be done over the weekend and the 5 biggest will be moved to the greenhouse next weekend. Seem to be about a month ahead of this time last year even though I planted them later.

Semple said:
They use a cell battery (CR032 i think), they claim the battery should last at least a year with very frequent updating. My understanding is the sensors only push an update when there's been a change in temperature, humidity or air pressure - which from my usage seems to happen rather frequently.

The sensor itself is probably no bigger than a 50p. They're Xiaomi Aqara sensors if you're interested. They also make one that you can stick in the soil, and it'll tell you moisture/nutrient levels etc, not got round to buying one/trying it out yet.

Thanks, have you got a link? Had a look on Amazon but didn't recognise the display in your picture.

Semple · 13 May 2020 at 17:10

Pigeon_Killer said:
Thanks, have you got a link? Had a look on Amazon but didn't recognise the display in your picture.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B07SB2C327

These look like the ones, but not sure why they're not branded as Xioami. I got mine a bit cheaper on ebay, and even cheaper on alliexpress.

You'll need either the xioami gateway, or a zigbee gateway as it communicates via the zigbee protocol. The data gets saved to a DB hosted by influxDB and then I use Grafana to display the data in various graphs. It's just another addition to my Smart home stuff

.

DarrenM343 · 13 May 2020 at 18:25

Here's my best performing one which is in an 8" pot. Counted 13 decent sized chilies earlier which I think are visible here with a few more tiny ones on the way. Next year I may grow more milder plants like this one and grow less plants overall as now think I'll have more than I can use so will to decide what to do with them all (freeze, dry, make sauce, give to others etc).

arknor · 21 May 2020 at 01:06

gave my plants some additional lighting after 7-8hours of sun, don't think the pepper plants are really interested in any more light.

600x speed, Really didn't expect so much extreme movement, thought some of the leaves would just change angle

rotated the bigest tomato plant for the second video to see which light it would go towards.
300x speed

6500k vs 3500k.

seems it likes the daylight bulb better, but its also about 50% brighter.
tempted to get 2x t5 HO lamps.

used framelapse on my tablet to capture them which has a really terrible camera

Mercenary Keyboard Warrior · 21 May 2020 at 22:25

My chilis moved home to the allotment poly today

Left the door open as well, time to grow up fellas

arknor · 26 May 2020 at 01:44

this is how my chilli pot soil is getting or will be in a few weeks

not sure his are exactly the same, mine seem to move a lot slower but they look identical to me
really don't know if I want to see that in my pots all the time tbh even if they are supposed to be harmless and beneficial

and what do they do when they have consumed all rotting organic matter? will they start on plants or die off :S

dl8860 · 26 May 2020 at 11:22

I think I've let my cayennes get too tall, they're about 2 foot now.

One of the lower flowers has had the whole bit fall off the other day when I sprayed it with water (gently) to get aphids off. Is that a really bad sign or is it normal for buds that you might expect to fall off lower down as more energy is being diverted higher up the plant? Or have I been underwatering?

arknor · 26 May 2020 at 12:18

after looking at more vids of soil mites on youtube, found one guy who had tons of them crawling all over the outside of his pots....

no way I'm letting it get to that state so I've sprayed it with diluted washing up liquid like only 1 drop to 100ml though and stuck an order for some cheap diatomaceous earth on ebay, hopefully it's actually food grade like it claims and not some pool grade rubbish

dl8860 said:
I think I've let my cayennes get too tall, they're about 2 foot now.

One of the lower flowers has had the whole bit fall off the other day when I sprayed it with water (gently) to get aphids off. Is that a really bad sign or is it normal for buds that you might expect to fall off lower down as more energy is being diverted higher up the plant? Or have I been underwatering?

Did you pretend to be a bee?

it's normal for some to drop before they finally set, usually temperature related but could just be that your plant doesnt think its quite ready yet

dl8860 · 26 May 2020 at 12:41

Lol what do you mean about pretending to be a bee? That's reassuring if it's normal for a few to drop off, was just worried they might all end up doing the same thing.

Psycho Sonny · 26 May 2020 at 14:16

i've had a few fall off the rest are all doing fine and i have 2 of the biggest chillies i've ever grown this year.

chilli grows are paying me back leaps and bounds

arknor · 27 May 2020 at 04:41

dl8860 said:
Lol what do you mean about pretending to be a bee? That's reassuring if it's normal for a few to drop off, was just worried they might all end up doing the same thing.

you could also vibrate the plant a tiny bit but any wind would do this anyway but if its indoor in a window or whatever

they self pollinate some of the pollen in the flower just needs to touch the stigma.

some other plants are male and female but chillis/peppers get themselves pregnant just consider yourself to be the fluffer

BTW this is what's supposed to happen to the flower

Semple · 27 May 2020 at 11:11

Has anyone moved their chilies outside yet?

I've been putting mine out in the sun for an hour or so (more in the mornings) but after an hour of sunlight (bare in mind it's only 18C at the moment) and the leaves are starting to curl up. The soil still looks nice and moist, so i'm sure it's not drying out. They just do not seem to like the sunlight.

dl8860 · 27 May 2020 at 11:58

Mine are outside now, they are in my cold frame but I take the shell off during the day as it gets too hot otherwise. I have a bit of curling on a couple of leaves which is probably because I left them in the shell for too long when it was hot, but I'm not too worried.

How do people fare with planting out? I'd love to plant mine out so I can put my collapsible cold frame away until next year.

nst68 · 27 May 2020 at 13:20

I've got various varieties of chilli plants next to each other, if I want to "be the bee" do I have to make sure I only do the same variety?

arknor · 27 May 2020 at 22:38

nst68 said:
I've got various varieties of chilli plants next to each other, if I want to "be the bee" do I have to make sure I only do the same variety?

only if you are saving seeds for next year

Cross-Pollination

Though peppers are self-pollinating, cross-pollination may occur. Insects, such as bees, or wind may deliver pollen from a sweet pepper to a hot pepper, and vice versa, if they are planted close together. The flavor and appearance of the pepper fruits is not immediately affected when this happens. The peppers develop normally and taste as they should, but seeds collected from these cross-pollinated vegetables may not produce plants and fruits of the same variety. You may find a sweet pepper has spicy notes or the color of the pepper is different than expected

This is how new breeds are made

in theory you could breed the new worlds hottest pepper in your own home/garden if you really wanted to