Anyone growing Chillies this year?

[garreth64]

I've planted the following seeds this year:

Twighlight, Tabasco, Masquerade, Orange Habanero, Scotch Bonnet, Naga Morich and Bhut Jolokia.

For the first time this year, I've used a heated propagator, which has made a difference especially to get the Naga's and Bhut's to germinate. The one's I've had the most difficulty with are the Orange Habanero, as from 5 seeds I've one plant left. Most germinated, then died. I've got a few more on the go now, but they are growing slowly and don't look as healthy as the others.

The Naga's, Bhut's, Bonnets and the new Habanero's are still in the heated propagator as the house can get cool especially at night. I now have them in my utility room under artificial light for 16 hours a day (only cheap strip lights from B&Q, so not proper lights and may be wrong colour?).

I tried leaving the propagator lid of the other day, but after a couple of hours a few of the leaves started to curl, so it went back on quickly. However, when they grow the lid is going to have to come off, so does anyone have any tips or tricks. I'm trying to harden them off slowly by leaving the lid slightly off and hoping that will help, and will leave them in the propagator base as long as I can.

I have started giving them a bit of chilli focus each week and they are mostly looking healthy at the moment. There are a few leggy plants, but they grew like this before I had the artificial lighting as they weren't getting enough light.

Anyway, here is how they look at the moment. Any tips or tricks for getting good healthy plants appreciated.


IMAG0173 by garreth64, on Flickr

[Mobile Chicane]

Looks good!

I started mine (Apache and Cayenne) in a heated propagator about 10 days ago and thus far have 7 seedlings (out of 14 so not so good). I think I got the compost too wet initially and they rotted.

I'm just using natural light, although the propagator is by a window. I'm not so sure whether fluorescent light is good for them - daylight has a very different 'colour temperature', which I know plants are sensitive to.

[smack]

I grew Serrano Chili's 2 years ago, which I germinated on a window sill, and was quite successful. I still have some seads left so I think I will try to grow them this year. OP, where did you get your seeds from?

[garreth64]

smack said:

I grew Serrano Chili's 2 years ago, which I germinated on a window sill, and was quite successful. I still have some seads left so I think I will try to grow them this year. OP, where did you get your seeds from?

The Scotch Bonnets and Masquerades were from fruit from last years plants, the others I got from http://www.southdevonchillifarm.co.uk/

[Tim74]

Fluorescent strip lights are a cheap alternative to more conventional growlights, but they do need to be mounted just a couple of inches away from the plants to have any kind of effect. Any further away than that and they are useless. Fluorescents will take the plants only so far too, although there should be enough natural sunlight and day length soon to be able to do away with them.

Your greatest enemy with leaving that propagator lid on is damping off which is caused by lack of air movement. Still air, high humidity and high temperatures are perfect conditions for botrytis. Try to keep that lid off and lightly mist the plants if the leaves start to curl.

I wouldn't worry too much with the Chilli Focus right now; there will be enough in the way of nutrients in the soil to keep them going until you see the first flowers. At that point you can start with a feeding regime. Over feeding can cause problems; it can lock out other important elements such as magnesium and calcium.


I germinate my seeds in Jiffy 7 peat pellets and the seedlings have just been moved into 7x7x7cm pots using a soil based mix. They'll go from those pots into two litre pots and then on into five litre pots when they get moved into the polytunnels during the first week of May. Towards the end of June they will all go into ten litre pots where they will stay until the frosts finish them off. Good luck!

[Spleeble]

This is the first time I've tried growing anything from seed (I do grow potatoes but they're easy) and bought a heated propagator to increase my chances of success. I'm growing some purple tigers, big banana and some seeds I harvested from a plant I bought from the supermarket. The tigers were old seeds but had a 70% germination rate, the bananas were a year old and had a 30% germination rate but the harvested random seeds all germinated. Some of them are a bit leggy and had some leaf curl when moved from the propagator but they are looking ok.

Has anyone got any tips for pinching out? Not really sure what this entails.

[Tim74]

Spleeble said:

Has anyone got any tips for pinching out? Not really sure what this entails.

The idea is that pinching out encourages the plant to bush out, producing more fruit bearing branches. You would normally pinch out the growing tip when the plant is 9-12 inches tall.

Personally I wouldn't bother and I don't know of any other commercial growers who do it either. Pinching out would probably leave you with a more aesthetically pleasing plant, but it's unlikely that you'd end up with much more fruit than if you didn't do it, if any more at all.

[garreth64]

Tim74 said:

Fluorescent strip lights are a cheap alternative to more conventional growlights, but they do need to be mounted just a couple of inches away from the plants to have any kind of effect. Any further away than that and they are useless. Fluorescents will take the plants only so far too, although there should be enough natural sunlight and day length soon to be able to do away with them.

Your greatest enemy with leaving that propagator lid on is damping off which is caused by lack of air movement. Still air, high humidity and high temperatures are perfect conditions for botrytis. Try to keep that lid off and lightly mist the plants if the leaves start to curl.

I wouldn't worry too much with the Chilli Focus right now; there will be enough in the way of nutrients in the soil to keep them going until you see the first flowers. At that point you can start with a feeding regime. Over feeding can cause problems; it can lock out other important elements such as magnesium and calcium.


I germinate my seeds in Jiffy 7 peat pellets and the seedlings have just been moved into 7x7x7cm pots using a soil based mix. They'll go from those pots into two litre pots and then on into five litre pots when they get moved into the polytunnels during the first week of May. Towards the end of June they will all go into ten litre pots where they will stay until the frosts finish them off. Good luck!

Thanks for that. They were about 6" below the lights, but based upon what you've said, I've just raised them up so they are now only 2" away.

I leave the lid at an angle, so air can get in, but I'll get it off over the next few days and keep my eye on them. I was just worried that the Bhut Jolokia's and Naga's etc need more heat and humidity, and it can go down to about 15 degrees in my utility at night.

Interesting about the feed, as the instructions I read said to feed them weekly.

What plants are you growing?

[Sheets Tabuer]

I'm growing scotch bonnet, birdseye, tobasco, jalapeno and naga.

Must have grown chillies for 15 years now but this year I thought I'd try peppers too so have about 15 of them in the propagators.

[SwanJack]

I've got some 'Royal Black' growing in my Aero Garden. Poor germination rate on them though, hence some plants playing catch up

Edited by SwanJack on Saturday 10th March 19:59

[TheD]

SwanJack said:

I've got some 'Royal Black' growing in my Aero Garden. Poor germination rate on them though, hence some plants playing catch up

WTF....I need to get one of those

[Tim74]

garreth64 said:

I was just worried that the Bhut Jolokia's and Naga's etc need more heat and humidity, and it can go down to about 15 degrees in my utility at night.

Interesting about the feed, as the instructions I read said to feed them weekly.

What plants are you growing?

The superhots do need more heat for good germination but for seedlings 15 degrees is fine for night temperature. Our plants are held at 17 degrees during the night and 23 degrees during the day.

Feeding seedlings isn't going to bring them on at all; sunlight and water are all they need. The plants just don't need it at seedling stage; they'll either suffer from nutrient scorch which tends to cause irreparable damage, or because the feed dose is so light, they don't take up any of the nutrients. There is no middle ground where the seedlings will bulk up faster as a result of having been fed. I tend not to feed until I see the first flowers; occasionally I might need to feed before that, but only if I see a deficiency in the plants and can establish that a light feed will remedy the problem. I can't help thinking that feeding plants sometimes helps the grower feel better rather than the plants

This year I'm growing Chocolate Habanero and Yellow 7 Pod/Pot here and elsewhere we'll have Orange Habanero, Aji Limon, Jalapeno and Serrano grown for us. I don't grow Naga anymore; the demand for Naga products is so big now that it's easier for me to import Naga rather than devote most of my growing space to it.

[Bob the Planner]

I have grown cayenne and Dorset Naga in Warwickshire outdoors starting the seeds indoors in mid-late March. I also grew them in York starting about 2 weeks later.

I am currently growing a bird-eye 'hedge' from which I harvested 450g last weekend and a further 300g this weekend. The hedge overwinters at daytime temps of 15C and minimum of 5C at worst, In the UK you would probably need to keep seed and replant for the next year. I will be saving some seed just in case we get a cold one this year. I'm also growing Bhut Jolokia which also overwintered last year. NSW is a bit better for chilli growing than the UK but just means it can all be dne outdoors.

Todays harvest of birds-eye, bhut jolokia and lemongrass

[jmorgan]

Sod it. I had 29 plants last year from seed. None made it to fruit, all made it to 8 or 9 inches high. Nothing happened except for a few stragglers and I did a mix of indoor (sunny shelves) and outdoor and outdoor under glass (plastic).

[Bob the Planner]

Eyup Jeff, long time no speak. I would send you a kg or two but may spoil on the journey.

Most of my birds-eye are destined forf Sambal Trasi - not sure what to do with the bhuts yet - too hot for general use.

[jmorgan]

Wotcha Bob. Very kind thoughts, but I would not want to put you to any trouble on my part anyway. Not made any chilli preserves for a little while, work got n the way.

I did have a bonus last year in that I got well over 15lbs of black currant and a good stash of rhubarb. Just finishing the last batch of Jam with another 5lb of black and another 5 or so in white and red currants left to jam up and looking to do something with the rhubarb before this years kicks off.

Must get some chilli preserves down this year.

[Bob the Planner]

10000 mile journey may mean they are not in the best of condition and I'm not sure you can import them to Wales !

todays harvest


Plants early in the growing season (End Jan)




I'm hoping they will over winter again. Well over 2kg of birds-eye so far this year from the mature plants.

Edited by Bob the Planner on Sunday 11th March 10:48

[jmorgan]

Yep, just looked in your profile, thought Australia was not the same as Bournemouth (it was Bournemouth?).

I am going to give chillies again go next year now. Been wondering about ginger and galangal as well in the UK.

[garreth64]

A bit of an update to my original thread. Chilli's are doing well, these are the Twighlight, Masquarade and Tabascos:


DSC_0255 by garreth64, on Flickr

The Masquerade is more of an ornamental chilli, they have already started flowering (nice purple flowers) and my first chilli of the 2012 crop has set. The Twighlight's have just started to flower, but nothing on the Tabasco's as yet.


DSC_0262 by garreth64, on Flickr


DSC_0267 - Version 2 by garreth64, on Flickr

Now on to the mega hot chinenses. These are my Naga Morich and Bhut Jolokia's. They are growing well, and have shot up even in the few days since these pictures were taken. They all have small buds forming, so hopefully should be flowering soon.


DSC_0248 by garreth64, on Flickr

I haven't included the Scotch bonnets which are doing OK, and the Orange Habanero's which are a bit of a disaster. One good plant, 3 runty ones are all I got as several seeds just didn't germinate properly.

My scotch bonnet that I over wintered last year is now quite big and still producing and keeping me in stock at the moment though:



And a couple of arty one's to finish:


DSC_0274 by garreth64, on Flickr


DSC_0263 - Version 2 by garreth64, on Flickr


DSC_0277 by garreth64, on Flickr

[Cyder]

We've got Serrano's, Scotch Bonnets and Numex Twilights growing in the kitchen. They seem to be coming on well now it's warming up and the Numex's aren't far off flowering now.