Growing Chillies

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Soldato
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Work colleges here grow chillies in the office. Now our system admin is a bit of a guru and so to make it more challenging I've challenged him to a Chillie growing contest :D

I've been advised to start with Jalapeño so I've ordered these.

For the fun of it I've also ordered some Dorset Naga.

I know it's not spring but our office is warm enough to grow them.

Anyone else here grow Chillies?
 
My seeds have arrived :D

The Dorset Naga has a warning on the packet "Handle seeds with gloves".
5 months till first harvest.

I think I'll pop up to homebase later and see if you have any mini environments for germination.
 
The Naga requirements are:

Germination: 27 degC
Later: 18-24 degC day, 16-18 degC night.

They're big plants - 4-5ft!

So basically I need a micro-environment for the inital germination and seedling (say 4-8 proper leaves) then I can move them to the office.
 
This is one of those things I think about but never actually get around to doing.

Now this thread has reminded me I'm definately going to give this a go.

Which is the reason I thought I'd give it a bash.

My plan is simple - use an indoor hydroponics to get from germination through seedling till the plant has a good few leaves, repot it and then move it to the office.
Unfortunately in the office I'm stuck in the centre, so I may have to find a willing victim to take their window space.
The office climate control keeps it at a good temperature and as long as it's not in a draught then it'll be ok. I'll give it some support too.

When I see the first signs of flowers I'll bag it and then the office air con will not suck the pollen away from the plants and use a small paint brush to pollenate.
 
Me dad grows some type of Fijian mutant chilli that grows in odd shapes. The stuff doesn't half hurt when you eat em though :( Below is a pic of a few from last year. We just have a small make shift 'glasshouse' in the garden made from old double glazing panes :o

Nice! I was thinking of creating a mirror-house which is basically a box that fits over the hydroponics that reflects the light back in - adding to the light available for the plants.
 
Just talking to a girl and we got onto the subject of cooking - she thinks it strange that she likes making Chutneys. I've asked her for some recipes. Chilli Chutney :D

Thanks LeftfieldTilt - I'll look into that.
 
This has totally got me wanting to start some Chilli plants going!

From reading through this thread is it something I would have to wait until the summer / spring to start up?

If you want to do it naturally then yes - some species need starting earlier still.

If you're prepared to foot the electricity bill then it's possible to grow them (or at least start them) inside artificially at any time.
 
Trying to find a good electric propagator.. anyone have any good recommendations?

Would like to get one that will allow a reasonable height for herbs later
 
Well just planted the Dorset Naga in the propagator which seems to be stable at 26-27degC at the moment.

The centre of my hand, where the chilli seeds sat whilst I sowed actually feels like it's been burnt..
 
Main things for Germination is maintaining a warm, moist (not flooded) environment. Once the shoot appears it should have good lighting (especially at this time of year) and then it's just like a normal plant... except never give a chilli a cold draft - it'll kill it stone dead. Just feed with a bit of BabyBio and repot as it grows..

You can get little trays of dehydrated peat pellets (made by Sutton) from HomeBase - use one of those and keep it in a warm place (27-29degC).

There are plenty of lighting solutions - the main thing is to match the wavelength to the chlorophyll requirement. For growth it's in the blue range, in flowering/fruit add red too.
Plenty of info (including a discussion on using christmas LED lights) in the forum I posted earlier.
 
Going to have a look at Pusa Jwala too as the guys have suggested this is the best chilli to make an authentic Jalfrezi :D
 
Looks like I have some activity :D

On of the Dorset Naga seeds is close to the surface and the root has gone up then looped down into the pellet.. so I assume that the other seeds are germinating or are close too it. Time to sort out some lighting I think!
 
Dorset Naga just starting to show signs of life:
IMG_0874.JPG


Now in tiz to work out the best form of lighting for them as I don't know how quick this will need more than the two blue LED (465nm - just optimal for foliage growth but small enough for a seedling)..
 
Shooting up- day after..
IMG_0881.JPG

IMG_0876.JPG


The odd colour is the 465nm wavelength light produced by this (set to lowest brightness atm!)
IMG_0875.JPG


(Overclocking lights :D)
 
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The propagator is a Stewart, just a basic non-thermostat 22W heated through the base - it's missing the handles, has been melted slightly (oops one of the hot components on the light touched it!

The light is actually an Enfis light engine which is basically an array of LED packed together with a heatsink attached to the back and integrated PSU/dimmer control by USB. More info here: http://docs-europe.electrocomponents.com/webdocs/0913/0900766b8091353d.pdf

The model I selected is the 465nm (+/-20) which corresponds to the Chlorophyll maximum absorption wavelength for vegetative growth. Chlorophyll fluoresces at something like 467 so that why the leaves have some florescent appearance too.
Chlorophyll A has peaks at 430 and 662.
Chlorophyll B has peaks at 453 and 642.

Normal light power (watts) corresponds to the area under the spectra over a wide range over wave lengths - usually a couple of hundred nanometres. Lumens are based on the human eye sensitivity which looks like a bell distribution curve so you may have high lumen but low power output at a specific wavelength.

The engine at max pushes 5750mW which doesn't sound like much but given that the output is a narrow band (40nm in total) with it's peak at 465nm the efficiency in terms of power-to-light is higher than the ~6 watts indicates. I wear sunglasses to cut down the glare when working near it (and it's on minimum power!). So basically it's the same idea of a laser to provide a narrow wavelength band to maximise light output for the power. Power is 38W max.. brightness and monitoring via USB :D

Still it's not quite the same as a 400W bulb pushing out 55,000 lumen which would require a goof 3 feet between and the top of the plants!

The temps inside range from 26-32 depending on how much I cover with the towel.
 
just use some high power CFL 'energy saving' bulbs.

I may move to some low power ones (150W) later but I may move some plants to the office too.

I'd like to grow some chillis but don't have a great deal of space, and any window sills I have where I could put them have radiators beneath them, which I assume probably wouldn't be great for the plants?

Are there any varieties which will produce fruit even when stuck in a fairly small pot?

Germination requires at least 27degC but after that 17-30 is fine.. just don't give them an icy blast. Germination can take a while too - just keep it moist but don't drown them.
To get chilli you'll need a decent 'day' of light to give them enough energy otherwise they'll drop the flowers and not fruit.

There are varieties that will work in a pot. Nagas will get to 4-5 foot so that's not the one you'll need!
 
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