The 2011 Chilli growing thread - it's scorching!

topgun06 · 19 May 2011 at 22:16

What variety? Your one in the pic above seems to be going well with the flowers.

Glaucus · 19 May 2011 at 22:16

Hot cherry

Mercenary Keyboard Warrior · 19 May 2011 at 22:22

Acid you feeding your yet? Fed mine for the first time today, new leaf growth seems stunted so I am guessing lack of nutrients as they are now being diverted to fruit rather than growth

Glaucus · 19 May 2011 at 22:28

Been feeding them since they had about 8 leaves, first half strength and as soon as they started budding full strength. Chilli focus.

Mark A · 19 May 2011 at 23:40

Looks good that greenhouse Skeeter. I probably would have got something like that if I wasn't given one.

This is the progress so far on one of my Sweet pointed pepper plant. Wish I could fit more under the cfl light but they're far too big now unfortunately. The other plants are taller but none are fruiting yet.

Seeds were free, probably used about 10p worth of compost, and the peppers the seeds came from cost about £1.80 for a pack of 2 at Tesco

.

SkeeterUK · 20 May 2011 at 08:58

Nice.

valve90210 · 20 May 2011 at 10:45

Chiz said:
How do I know when I should leave the buds to grow? When I deem that the plant is at a decent size? or do I go by the month of the year or...

A good question and one I would also like ot know the answer to!

My plants are growing a bit still but are starting to put out little buds and I'm not sure if I should be picking them off or not...

topgun06 · 20 May 2011 at 10:48

Ummm... I haven't had to make this decision. But the things I would be considering are:

Is the plant of a decent size?
Are there plenty of nice leaves?
Does it have a good root system?

But I'm sure mother nature knows best.

Street · 20 May 2011 at 11:17

I've taken a couple days off work so got around to potting mine onto their final 5l pots yesterday. They look a bit better now, problem is they take up so much space inside, can't wait for it to get warmer out so I can leave them outside.

Here is a photo of my chillies and two lemon trees..

valve90210 · 20 May 2011 at 11:54

I keep seeing pictures of peoples chilli plants and they all seem to be taller than mine, I'd say mine are about 20 - 25cm tall, but they are growing huge amounts of leaves, is this normal/ok?

The variety is Super Chilli, grown from the seeds of chillis from a plant I bought last year, that plant was probably double the height...

Would being in too small a pot stop them from growing taller?

SkeeterUK · 20 May 2011 at 12:10

About sizes to let them bud and flower. It is up to you. If you want to find average sizes of plants search for them on google and some sites describe the sizes they usually get to. You can then determine if you want to let it bud/flower while small or pick em off and feed a bit of nitrogen to encourage growth and then let them bud/flower later on when they have got to the size you want.

Imo anything over a foot tall would be big enough for most chilli plants. Ideally 1.5 or better for things that arnt dwarf type's like jalapenos. Apache is considered a dwarf bush type where jalapeno isnt.

topgun06 · 20 May 2011 at 12:10

valve90210 said:
I keep seeing pictures of peoples chilli plants and they all seem to be taller than mine, I'd say mine are about 20 - 25cm tall, but they are growing huge amounts of leaves, is this normal/ok?

The variety is Super Chilli, grown from the seeds of chillis from a plant I bought last year, that plant was probably double the height...

Would being in too small a pot stop them from growing taller?

When did you sow them?

Don't worry too much about it though, I'm sure they will be fine. It has a lot to do with the variety. My cayennes are twice as tall as my scotch bonnets as the bonnets naturally take longer to grow. Id say they were only around 25 - 30cm.

Only re-pot them if its needed. There's no point putting them in a massive pot if it isn't required.

valve90210 · 20 May 2011 at 13:13

topgun06 said:
When did you sow them?

Don't worry too much about it though, I'm sure they will be fine. It has a lot to do with the variety. My cayennes are twice as tall as my scotch bonnets as the bonnets naturally take longer to grow. Id say they were only around 25 - 30cm.

Only re-pot them if its needed. There's no point putting them in a massive pot if it isn't required.

I really can't remember when I sowed them but it must be a good couple of months ago now.

I think I did slow down their growth by putting them straight from the propigator into some largish pots, after which they didn't seem to grow for about 3 weeks or so. They had since grown a fair bit but don't seem to be getting much taller.

I'll try to remember to get some pics up this weekend to show how they are looking.

Chiz · 20 May 2011 at 14:16

valve90210 said:
I really can't remember when I sowed them but it must be a good couple of months ago now.

I think I did slow down their growth by putting them straight from the propigator into some largish pots, after which they didn't seem to grow for about 3 weeks or so. They had since grown a fair bit but don't seem to be getting much taller.

I'll try to remember to get some pics up this weekend to show how they are looking.

I've just sowed a bunch of plants this week. Probably way to late in the year, but it's fun. I intend on just keeping these as house plants for as long as I can really. I may be forced to buy some sort or artificial lighting, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

topgun06 · 20 May 2011 at 14:46

Yes, especially in Aberdeen

Chiz · 20 May 2011 at 15:10

topgun06 said:
Yes, especially in Aberdeen

Ha!

But you're 100% right. I planted 10 outside and I don't think they've grown since I planted them. They are gripping to dear life by the skin of their teeth, compared to the luscious forest like growth of the plants inside!

SkeeterUK · 22 May 2011 at 12:57

Apache plants 2 in bedroom have a single flower each open. Bit worried cos the stems are pretty thing but well the plants seem pretty healthy and tall for being apaches. There near 2ft tall lol.

Also pic of the overwintered jumbo bell pepper has its first pepper coming through now.

Mark A · 22 May 2011 at 13:02

Hows your greenhouse holding up in this wind Skeeter? :eek:

SkeeterUK · 22 May 2011 at 13:07

Cover is filling with air and blowing up a bit but the frame is rather sturdy cos of the peggin down and the bricks i have on the skirts are helping to keep the cover not get out of control (so far). Brothers getting me more bricks today to help with more weig ht on the skirts.

Just hope it doesn't blow away tomorrow when the even stronger winds come.

Oh and if anyone wants to see what its like in my greenhouse i posted some journal entrys at MyFolia site. Some pics on the 2 last posts about the inside and how its going.

http://myfolia.com/gardener/Skeeter/journals

valve90210 · 23 May 2011 at 20:49

These are a couple of the chilli plants I ws asking about, they are only about 9inches tall but there are huge amounts of leaves etc growing on the stems as you can see in the last two pics.

I guess the plants are a bit on the short side really?

Is there anything I can do to get them a bit taller and ready for fruiting?

Would it be a good idea to pick off side shoots or something?

Any help much appreciated.

Valve