Growing Chillies

[NickK]

Got my first experience of the Nagas last night.

I decided to make chilli oil. So I'd previously dried them out, then boiled them in malt vinegar followed by heating the oil and placing the chopped chillis in the sterile bottle along with the 180degC oil.

I was also busy making dinner (toad-in-the-hole) and decided to use one of the slithers of chilli (after vinegar boil) in one of the sausages.

The experience was certainly hot but due . I'd suspect the drying, vinegar boil and partial cook in the toad-in-the-hole would have taken a lot from the experience compared to raw.

So I'll wait while the chilli oil infuses..

 

[NickK]

once you pick a chillie from the plant does it flower again or does it just grow another chillie or nothing?

It will flower again although not from the exact same point.

I've just cut back each of my Nagas to the stems (*heresy!*) the first one has stated to product foliage again.

I've also decided to focus entirely on getting a Naga So the Jalapenos have gone (still have a harvest in the freezer).

Should be interesting..

 

[NickK]

What happens if you cross-pollinate?

I have jalapeños and Hungarian hot waxes on the grow, could I create hybrid chillies?

Some chilli varieties will pollenate with anything. Others won't and I can't remember which are which but the majority will cross.

If you cross pollenate the chill from that generation will look like it's parent plant. The seeds from the crossed chilli will then be a hybrid plant and the chilli fruits would then be hybrids too.

 

[NickK]

If it's turning black it's quite possible that one of the green/white fly carried something nasty to it.

Do you have any photos of the affected plant?

 

[NickK]

Right, my first 2 pot are sprouting up nicely now, and I was wondering how long the 60mm tall, 85mm diameter pots will be of sufficient size.

I can plant the pots (made of coconut husk) into larger pots, but I need to know what size I need to buy in the first place.

Normally you can tell because you'll find that they just stop growing. A large root mass will suck the pot dry quickly too.

 

[NickK]

I was going to make a Chilli tonight but instead I changed my mind whilst shopping and so it's going to be red Thai king prawn curry with a green Dorset Naga and noodles washed down with Singha beer

Tomorrow it's Chicken Jalfrezi, then day after it'll be Beef chilli.

 

[NickK]

the type i am growing is De Cayenne

Cayenne - that'll dry well too. Curries, Mexican etc all have cayenne in.

I got myself a Curry Bible. Unlike many other curry books it has curry recipes from everywhere and not just India.

 

[NickK]

ISBN please.

"Madhur Jaffrey's Ultimate Curry Bible", Madhur Jaffrey, Ebury Press.
ISBN 9780091874155 (works with Amazon)

It's ~350 pages give coverage over India, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, South Africa, Kenya, Great Britain, Trinidad, Guyana, Japan and USA.
Recipes include different meats, veggie, rice styles, naans, raitas, chuntey too including pasta based curries (noodles etc).
It also gives a little summary of the background of the curry too.
Yes it even has "Chicken Tikka Masala" attributed to England!

 

[NickK]

quick question, do chillies go red on the plant or once picked? ive got a couple that look ready to be picked now but their still green.

They'll ripen on the plant naturally. You can ripen after picking assuming the chilli has enough nutrients.

If you want red then just leave them on the plant.

 

[NickK]

IT BURNS MY PRECIOUS!

So that's a simple King prawn red curry with noodles. The single shredded green blob is a Dorset Naga sliced so that it can infuse without breaking up.

Lip burning, stomach warming and each of the king prawns is like a hot lava coal. I think I have a sweat on and my nose is running

Luckily it's served with a nice pint of Singha beer which only serves to make it hotter

 

[NickK]

One of your seeds has sprouted NickK

Superb - was going to post last night and ask but I thought you'd say something if it they did. (Not asking means if they didn't then I could quietly forget about it )

 

[NickK]

Not sure. NickK what are they?

They're "Caldero Jalapeno" the plant was from the really cool seeds (basically the people that 'invented' the Dorset Naga).

 

[NickK]

Any thin skinned chill will dry better.

You could try drying a store bought Naga then using it in chocolate

 

[NickK]

When the temps drop, the chilli will stop producing and the leaves may drop. You basically cut the plant like this:

Then over-winter. If they're warm when you do this they'll start growing again:

 

[NickK]

If you keep them in summer conditions with lighting and heating they'll continue as if nothing has happened, fruiting all the way through the seasons.

The plans I had (in the photo) were too big and hadn't fruited. When I mean big I mean 2+ metres across as they splay out if not supported to keep them growing upwards.

 

[NickK]

Hehe. I made two batches of Jalfrezi sauce last night for freezing.

Then it's just a case of cooking the marinaded meat, adding a few fresh onions and chillies along with the sauce.

 

[NickK]

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/5852/chicken-jalfrezi

I'd vary this by having the onion mixture and then cook a larged sliced onion so that it's got crisp chunks of onion and chilli in addition to the blended mixture.

 

[NickK]

Can you list your feed/watering regime Smokes?

Also what sized pot (and does the pot had a hole in the bottom)?

 

[NickK]

Our chilli shed it's main leaves recently (after producing lots of chillis from feb to may) - there are still quite a lot of small leaves remaining. It looks quite stalky but the small leaves and stems are quite green, and it seems healthy. We're watering it fairly regularly.

Will it come back with full leaves and chilli fruits?

What happens in the cold and when the light time shortens is that the sap draws back into the centre of the plant. The result is that the plant leaves then shrivel and drop off. In the process of overwintering you reduce the size of the rootball and chop the plant back.
Given light and warmth the plant will create new growth and new buds for flowers.

I've read that some chilli growers have had plants as long as ten years although their ability to produce chillis in quantity tends to be within the first three years. Oddly the plant tends to produce more/better chilli fruits in it's second year as it's not spending the time doing the initial growing.

I just cut them back to promote new growth and more buds I've not cut the root mass back.

Although fungal infections can cause the leaves to drop but the plant is dying from the inside out - especially true with fungal rot that starts below the soil line or in the roots.

 

[NickK]

Nick what is that you have your plants poted in? is that just a gravel over the top of the soil?

That's just pearlite on the top.