The 2011 Chilli growing thread - it's scorching!

As mentioned earlier you can use old household adapters, I have my fan hooked up to a 12v mains adapter that is used for my AA battery charger. Just look at the voltage on the plug and the polarity of the connections then stick the red/black wires in appropriately and tape it up.
 
I thought I'd get in on the action a bit more this year.. A couple years ago I had a huge pepper plant that gave me loads of peppers, then last year my girlfriend bought me some Jalapeno seeds but they weren't very successful and I only got a handful of chillies from them as I started them too late.

I've bought myself some Jalapeno, Ring of Fire, Tabasco and Cherry Bomb seeds. Am not really into massively hot things but I find it fun trying to grow things! :)
 
AcidHell2 said:
Thanks, that's a darn good idea, can you buy hooks that fit inside the link though?

Will go investigate tomorrow.
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Sorry missed this, yes you can get loads of diff sized hooks, bear in mind how heavy your light suspension units is and double up a bit if you need to.
You can get heavier duty hooks at places liek screwfix that bolt through rather than screw directly into the wood.
But unless your light suspension unit is massively heavy I would suspect normal ones would do just fine.

Eg this for hook, although depending on your chain you may have to force it open a bit
http://www.screwfix.com/prods/16965...oks-Shackles/Standard-Hook-On-Plate-50-x-50mm

maybe be a bit long, im guessing you light units donw weight 200kg though ;)

http://www.screwfix.com/prods/25264/Ironmongery/Hooks/Storage-Hooks/100kg-Hooks-Black-210mm

You could always stick with your rope btw just tie some loops into it every 10cm or so, or however adjustable you want it to be, but chain is easier.
 
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My Chilli plants that I over wintered last year seem to have loads of little black flies hovering about near the soil. Anyone know what they are and how I can get rid of them?

I think they have laid eggs in the soil as I found some small eggs.

I was thinking of taking the plants out of the pots and shaking off as much soil from the root ball as possible and then re-potting in fresh soil. But is there anything else I can do? I seem to remember sand or perlite added to the top of the pot stops flies and other insects?
 
They are gnats. The grubs nibble young roots but older plants will survive them and young plants will survive usually too (just be a little slower growing).

If the soil is moist and exposed they'll appear. Also they can be in poor quality or natural compost. One option is to use bottom up watering and also put a layer of perlite on top to make them think it's not soil but dry sand etc.
 
Gnats shouldn't effect the plant they just live in the soil and eat the dead material and stuff they shouldn't touch roots.

They love vinegar tho so place a bowl of vinegar near your plants and they will drown hopefully in it.
 
Thanks guys, I'll try the vinegar trick :D.

Seem to be much less about now after my killing spree. But I have noticed quite a few grubs in the soil, so going to re-pot in fresh soil and cover with perlite.
 
Mark A said:
Thanks guys, I'll try the vinegar trick :D.

Seem to be much less about now after my killing spree. But I have noticed quite a few grubs in the soil, so going to re-pot in fresh soil and cover with perlite.
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Try placing the plant in a bucket of water for a while, or do all your pots in the bath once a week for an hour till they are all gone.
 
Orcish-Horde said:
They hatch that quickly that if you kill or remove the adults fast enought, there will be nothing left to replace the eggs. The grubs need air so an hour or to will kill them a long with the adults.
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meh i guess i dont think i would try it though seeing as the life cycle is around 5 days, i had them last year and it almost put me off growing again this year :mad:

i still see the odd one around the house and i hadnt had any plants until recently lol . ill just see the odd one every few weeks flying about in the bathroom etc its crazy!

i put some greenhouse sticky fly traps about around where my plants are already i cant have them again.

if we were america we could just buy some mosquito dunks and be done with it but it doesnt seem as though u can buy them in this country
 
I planted 10 Dorset Naga seeds last Thursday, this is my progress so far, I'm hoping they do as well as my chillis last year.

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You might want to pot them up now before the roots get too long.

In other news my jumbo bell pepper plant from last year has some leaves on after having cut it back before xmas and never watering it for months and left it on the main windowsill in living room. Gave it a drink about a month ago and another one today after seeing the leaves on it. :)
 
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Progress of mine so far. Left 4 are Scotch Bonnets, middle 3 are Tesco finest sweet red peppers and the 4 on the right are Antillas.

So far all I have used is a 40watt CFL grow light and home made reflector. Pretty pleased with the results. The stems are pretty thick and strong, much better then the spindly Cayennes I grew last year using daylight. And that was a month later that I started them.

I've also replaced all bulbs in the house with 21watt energy saving bulbs to offset the small cost of running this grow light :cool:.
 
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