The Heat is on!!!! 2013 chilli growing thread

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I've cropped my 3 Jalapeno trees and pickled them, managed to get 4 decent sized jars out of them so very happy.
 
Cropped and stopped yesterday:



I have prepared four plants for overwintering: my Infinity will be four years old in Feb and my Naga will be two. Kept the Trinidad Scorpion 'Brain Strain' and the 'Nagalah' too.
 
It has been pretty constant except for this year when it struggled to get going again in April and consequently had a smaller yield, but there were plenty of unripe fruit on it when I cut it back. I expect it will be decimated by some ghastly disease eventually, since their resistance is *supposed* to reduce over time. Kind of hard to dump a plant you have nurtured through three seasons.
 
Anybody have a few butch T's seeds they would like to go to a good home, i have some yellow 7pot if you would like to swap.
 
Bit of help please, I've been given some Naga and Scorpian seeds, i have a heated propagator, to start them in but i have never been very successful growing chillies they always seem to get about 10" in height then die no matter where in the house i put them.
 
Bit of help please, I've been given some Naga and Scorpian seeds, i have a heated propagator, to start them in but i have never been very successful growing chillies they always seem to get about 10" in height then die no matter where in the house i put them.

I'd be happy to try and help you.
 
I just dont know what goes wrong when they die off, are they not warm enough, too much too little water, where to put them, front of the window or in the corner. Maybe wrong sort of compost, is normal soil better.
Its the first plant i have struggled with for some reason.
 
It's sounds like germination isn't a problem.

I try to use a good quality multi-purpose compost (Durstons) but have had success with B&Q's bog standard stuff. I ignore the Miracle-Grow nonsense.

Chillis pretty much always prefer to be in drier soil. I water from the bottom (ie. into the saucer/tray) little and often. It cuts down on the gnats that lay eggs in the soil (the larvae eat the roots). Perlite on top helps to reduce this too. They don't like draughts and they need as much light as possible. If you aren't using artificial lights you should aim to have them germinating in Feb/March. Otherwise there won't be enough light. South or south west facing windows are best. They also benefit from having a good rootball when you pot them up. Never pot up until you can see PLENTY of roots sticking out of the bottom of the old pot. Don't feed them at all until they have been flowering for a week or two. I use tom feed (tomorite) at quarter strength. Others report good results using chilli focus but I don't know about that. I start mine in germ trays and they end up in Wilkos 25cm diameter x 20cm deep pots (via one intermediate size). The big ones are black so I use white card to stop them overheating in direct sunlight.

Anything I missed ?
 
There is a lot of info out there on growing under lights. I used to start late December and keep them in a light box until March. I used Spiral CFLs (to keep costs down) at 6000K colour temperature (aka Cool Daylight) and fastened two to a plank which was attached to the inside of a hinged lid on a sealed box which had the shiny white side of some plyboards facing inwards (for reflection). An earlier version used tin foil and some people use Mylar. This worked very well for me. Other people use LEDs or EnviroLights in the same way. LEDs generate their heat at the rear so, despite their relatively low power, you can get them really close to the plant without burning them.

Others use lights for the entire growing season. With CFLs you would have to change to a warmer colour temp (2300K) when they start to produce flower buds. Similarly you would change from the blue to the red EnviroLight. The only lights that you can use throughout the season are metal halides but they are expensive to run and the police might come a-knocking (they generate a massive heat signature visible to police choppers). Plus you need to know about electric ballast and all that. Hope it helps.
 
One germinated of the four that I planted. The fruit were stupidly hot. Be careful ;)

ok will do, did you get many from the plant or was it a bit slow, just so as i can have an idea what to expect if i can get them to germinate. Thanks again very much appreciated. Nice to know there still people willing to lend a hand and give someone a leg up.
 
It wasn't tremendously prolific, fruit-wise. It grew to a fair old size, though. If you want lots of fruit you need the scotch bonnets.

It really is my pleasure. Just sharing the chilli love.
 
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