The 2011 Chilli growing thread - it's scorching!

xJcBx · 9 Jan 2011 at 18:20

Unfortunately, unlike last year I have no access to the poly-tunnel as I have moved out into Bristol. However I am hoping to try and grow some chillies in the flat in a pot.
Any suggestions to 'what do?'?
I have never tried growing chillies indoor before, but I still want to grow at least 1 variety indoors.

NickK · 10 Jan 2011 at 14:35

xJcBx said:
Unfortunately, unlike last year I have no access to the poly-tunnel as I have moved out into Bristol. However I am hoping to try and grow some chillies in the flat in a pot.
Any suggestions to 'what do?'?
I have never tried growing chillies indoor before, but I still want to grow at least 1 variety indoors.

Most will grow on a window sill quite happily. Usually it's the larger chilli plants that cause a domestic as they take over the entire window

TheMightyTen · 10 Jan 2011 at 14:47

Justin said:
Last year was the first year growing them for me and a bit of an experiment, this year I'll grow less as I had more chillies than I knew what to do with!

This statement does not compute :confused:

There is no such thing as to many Chilliies, use them for other purposes, toothbrush, nasal cleaner, toilet paper, all are good

randal · 10 Jan 2011 at 14:52

NickK - did you have my request/details for seed postage out of interest?

Cheers

randomshenans · 10 Jan 2011 at 14:54

Mine didnt survive (were not cared for enough) over the winter so I'll be starting again I think!!
WIll get the prop out this week and start to get some up and running again, need to find a good spot in this house though.

Looking forward to starting growing in general this year!

NickK · 10 Jan 2011 at 15:12

I have emails for seeds form the following (from september last year to-today):
randal24
robskinner
Jadds
edgedemon
mattd938
paulStat
jack.mitchell
kinobestew123

I'll send you all an email to ask if you're still interested

and then I'll get them out to you this week. According to the weather charts this coming week is quite mild so they're not going to freeze in the mail.

Overwintering - you may still need to water them a little. I've not watered mine since cutting them back until today when I noticed the small leaves that have remained were wilting a little so I gave them a mug of water each and the leaves have perked up again.
If the plant is green then it's alive still, if bits are brown then they're dead bits (it may still be alive if the stem still has green bits).

edit: email sent to those above - some have already give me your snail mail but others will need to before Tuesday. I'll then post them Wednesday.

Mark A · 10 Jan 2011 at 15:12

I was surprised mine survived the winter. The Naga is still full of leaves :eek:

and the window its been sat next to is single glazed and there was ice in the inside quite a few times last month. I think they're hardier than people make out lol.

randal · 10 Jan 2011 at 15:13

Sweet, cheers matey.

JAYJT29 · 10 Jan 2011 at 15:13

Nick,

Out of the 4 seeds you sent me last year, 1 plant survived and produced some HOT nagas! The plant is sat on a window sill at the moment and seems dormant, will it start to grow again when it warms up? Any tips ?

Thanks
Jay

neb1355 · 10 Jan 2011 at 15:17

NickK said:
Usually it's the larger chilli plants that cause a domestic as they take over the entire window

Been there... done that :rolleyes:

lol.

NickK · 10 Jan 2011 at 15:49

MarkST said:
I use a CFL that is half Blue and half Red and it works absolutely fine.

The only difference I found with HPS type bulbs were:
Metal Halide 'blue' - a stark cold blue-white light that made the plants grow foliage like crazy but no flowers or fruit (because they were too busy pushing out all the foliage and using their energy towards doing that).

Sodium 'red' - a really warm orange light that made the plants grow with a balance in producing foliage, flowers and fruit.

So I agree - just use a balanced bulb and everything will be fine. Once the days get long enough then the bulb isn't needed and the plant will have all the light it needs usually.

NickK · 10 Jan 2011 at 15:59

JAYJT29 said:
Nick,

Out of the 4 seeds you sent me last year, 1 plant survived and produced some HOT nagas! The plant is sat on a window sill at the moment and seems dormant, will it start to grow again when it warms up? Any tips ?

Just give it a little water just so it doesn't completely die of dehydration - we're emulating a droughty cold period

The plant will naturally just start up when the temperature and the daylight time increases.

Then, once they've started - I would think about giving them a good bucket drench (ie lower the pot into a bucket of water for 5-10 minutes to soak then allow to drain for another 10 minutes).
I'd use some chilli focus in the water as the plant soil may be a little devoid of nutrients now. You'll need to feed them on a regular basis too unless you repot them (if you reduced the root mass before winter but I've never been brave enough todo that!).

JAYJT29 · 10 Jan 2011 at 16:33

Cheers Nick

xJcBx · 10 Jan 2011 at 17:06

I'm going home at the weekend and I'll see if there is any chillies left in the poly-tunnel. IF there is I would be happy to send seeds out to people. There's quite a few varieties and the only ones I can remember off the top of my head are called something like Long Joe and of course Jalapeño.
I could just throw a mixture in a send them off, might be sort of fun seeing which ones grow and testing their hotness

I'll update when I know for sure Saturday/Sunday.

Mark A · 10 Jan 2011 at 17:06

My Naga is still full of leaves, but as there has been very little daylight the 2 main branches have gone very long and thin, as they're reaching for light.

What would be the best thing to do, cut the branches back to encourage it to bush out?

NickK · 10 Jan 2011 at 17:42

Mark A said:
My Naga is still full of leaves, but as there has been very little daylight the 2 main branches have gone very long and thin, as they're reaching for light.

What would be the best thing to do, cut the branches back to encourage it to bush out?

They do that even when they've got light in my experience. I cut mine back part way through the first season, it didn't affect them at all, although I would leave them till it starts to warm up.

I've not tried nipping the tip to be honest. I may do that this year to attempt some bonsai nagas

MarkST · 10 Jan 2011 at 20:27

Here's how I do my plants.

Chilli setup by mrberra123, on Flickr

I use Hydroleca (clay balls) instead of soil as it makes looking after the plants rather easy, all I do is is fill the pot with the Hydroleca and stop 2" from the top and then place a Coir plug with whatever seed on that and then top the Hydroleca to the top of the pot.

Because the Hydroleca doesn't contain any nutrients you have to feed the chilli plants with a suitable nutrient by filling a tray with a water and nutrient mix that absorbs into the clay balls, the great thing is that you can constantly keep the tray topped up with feed and not overfeed the roots as there is a lot of air trapped within the clay, so whilst the clay on top of the pot may dry out, the underneath is nice and moist. It worked great with a Tomato plant I grew over the winter.

Here is the bulb I use for getting the plants going, as you can see, the bottom half Blue and the top Red, just twist it round when the plant starts to flower, although I will be putting my plants outside when the weather starts improving.

Hydro light by mrberra123, on Flickr

arknor · 10 Jan 2011 at 20:36

i dont know if i can be bothered this year ive still got fungus gnats in my overwintered chilli plants and i havent watered them hardly at all they are almost bone dry ive wrapped carrier bags around the pots to try and stop anything escaping but even then i was killing 5-10 fungus gnats each day...

i havent really seen any recently but i know if i start watering again ill probably end up with an epidemic, u cant even get mosquito dunks in the UK as far as i can see and im not willing to spend 10+ quid on something to kill them.

Enzo · 10 Jan 2011 at 21:08

NickK said:
I have emails for seeds form the following (from september last year to-today):
randal24
robskinner
Jadds
edgedemon
mattd938
paulStat
jack.mitchell
kinobestew123

Overwintering - you may still need to water them a little. I've not watered mine since cutting them back until today when I noticed the small leaves that have remained were wilting a little so I gave them a mug of water each and the leaves have perked up again.
If the plant is green then it's alive still, if bits are brown then they're dead bits (it may still be alive if the stem still has green bits).

edit: email sent to those above - some have already give me your snail mail but others will need to before Tuesday. I'll then post them Wednesday.

I've also got a fair few Nagas, Antillais, Fatalii, Chilli Bomb, Scotch Bonnet & Choc Habs going spare if anyone wants some free

e-mail in trust

NickK · 10 Jan 2011 at 21:10

arknor said:
i dont know if i can be bothered this year ive still got fungus gnats in my overwintered chilli plants and i havent watered them hardly at all they are almost bone dry ive wrapped carrier bags around the pots to try and stop anything escaping but even then i was killing 5-10 fungus gnats each day...

i havent really seen any recently but i know if i start watering again ill probably end up with an epidemic, u cant even get mosquito dunks in the UK as far as i can see and im not willing to spend 10+ quid on something to kill them.

A layer of perlite may work well for these. It stops them thinking the top of the soil is moist from what I remember. Also dunk watering helps as the time between watering is longer and therefore the top dries out for longer periods.