Pepper/chilli plants flowering looking for advice

Outkast_IRE

Denis322 wrote: »

Thought I'd upload a few pics of what I have growing. First one's Naga bhut jolokia, second one's Dorset naga. https://us.v-cdn.net/6034073/
https://us.v-cdn.net/6034073/

First time growing them this year, and I was just wondering if anyone else has bought seeds from seedrack.com? I bought chocolate habanero seeds along with the others, but instead of a habanero I've got what I'm fairly certain is a tomato plant Germination rate on those was also very low
https://us.v-cdn.net/6034073/

Sorry pics aren't the best quality

you need to use photobucket and upload the photos there then link to them in order to be able to view them properly.

Havent used seedrack.com ......... i use south devon chilli farm and am very happy with the results thus far anyway.

Technophobe

Heroditas wrote: »

I'm in balmy Lucan.

What I do is put three seeds close together in each plug. Once they sprout and the first leaves appear, I snip the two smallest ones and am left with a healthy plant in each plug which I then transfer to a flower pot with a load of soil.
I've got over a 90% sprouting success rate from the seeds this year but it's all down to the light, nutrients and heat available in my own humble opinion.
Hence why I use full spectrum lights to give me equivalent strong sunlight for 16 hours of the day.


EDIT: the number of plants I have is completely deliberate. I'm going all out this year to grow as many plants as I can in my spanking new glasshouse.
I also have 6 tomato plants and basil and coriander plants growing.
The only problem is the ridiculously cold weather. My wife is going nuts at every single windowsill at the front of the house being cluttered with flower pots.
Once the weather finally gets a bit warmer, all the plants are going out into the glasshouse.

Not too far away from you so...I am about ten mins from Kilcock....

Not too sure from your answer whether it is something you would be interested in ? Hopefully a few others will be....

Good luck with greenhouse; what kind is it, glass or polycarbonate or what?
I am currently trying to finish my second build of a lean to poly greenhouse and cant wait for the extra space I will have for peppers, chillies, toms, cucumbers....


I have a good few tomato plants sown (prob over 12 varieties!) - all at various stages- and would have spare of those to swap as well in many cases..Oh I better not forget the early cucs I have up and running...


oh yea, forgot to say, I know what you mean about the windowsills..:D
Don't know what I'll do when the young lad is old enough to claim the spare room:(

Heroditas

I really think I need to chop a big chunk off this monster.
It's getting embarrassingly big!!




It's about 2m tip to tip now and a load of buds are appearing. I might be better off cutting a chunk off so at least it can put all it's effort into growing fruit as opposed to just taking over the whole office.

Heroditas

Technophobe wrote: »

Not too far away from you so...I am about ten mins from Kilcock....

Not too sure from your answer whether it is something you would be interested in ? Hopefully a few others will be....

Good luck with greenhouse; what kind is it, glass or polycarbonate or what?
I am currently trying to finish my second build of a lean to poly greenhouse and cant wait for the extra space I will have for peppers, chillies, toms, cucumbers....


I have a good few tomato plants sown (prob over 12 varieties!) - all at various stages- and would have spare of those to swap as well in many cases..Oh I better not forget the early cucs I have up and running...


oh yea, forgot to say, I know what you mean about the windowsills..:D
Don't know what I'll do when the young lad is old enough to claim the spare room:(

Aaaaah sorry, had misread part of your post. That actually sounds like a decent enough idea concerning swapping cuttings.
I'd be on for that. Would be great if a few others were interested and we could all swap some plants at various stages.

Bought the glasshouse from Polydome last year. 8ft x 6ft Elite with safety glass. It's 50% kitty apartment, 50% for the plants. Got some staging last week and will be assembling it this weekend in preparation for the plants going into it.
Assembled the glasshouse with two in-laws - it was quite possibly the most painful thing I've ever done in my life. I hated the world by the time it was finished and there's still the capping to put on it. :mad:

Have to keep the plants in rooms the cats aren't allowed roam in. The feckers eat them at any opportunity. I think I'll have to protect them with netting when they go out into the glasshouse.
Ridiculous!

Technophobe

Heroditas wrote: »

Aaaaah sorry, had misread part of your post. That actually sounds like a decent enough idea concerning swapping cuttings.
I'd be on for that. Would be great if a few others were interested and we could all swap some plants at various stages.

Bought the glasshouse from Polydome last year. 8ft x 6ft Elite with safety glass. It's 50% kitty apartment, 50% for the plants. Got some staging last week and will be assembling it this weekend in preparation for the plants going into it.
Assembled the glasshouse with two in-laws - it was quite possibly the most painful thing I've ever done in my life. I hated the world by the time it was finished and there's still the capping to put on it. :mad:

Have to keep the plants in rooms the cats aren't allowed roam in. The feckers eat them at any opportunity. I think I'll have to protect them with netting when they go out into the glasshouse.
Ridiculous!

Great, so that's two of us in anyway; hopefully a few more will throw their names in too... the more the merrier and should mean a good selection of plants to swap..
Come on folks, don't be shy..!

Outkast_IRE

Technophobe wrote: »

Great, so that's two of us in anyway; hopefully a few more will throw their names in too... the more the merrier and should mean a good selection of plants to swap..
Come on folks, don't be shy..!

Im down in cork so bit of a spin from dublin !!!

Technophobe

Outkast_IRE wrote: »

Im down in cork so bit of a spin from dublin !!!

That motorway will have you up the country in no time!!

Outkast_IRE

Made a rookie mistake of leaving my plants out in the conservatory last night, temps dropped down to -2.
Some of the seedlings were very droopy this morning, not happy looking at all. Luckily a few hours in the sun today and they are looking better than ever.

Must bring them in now though before it gets too cold.

Heroditas

I chopped a big chunk off the monster naga yesterday. The bit on the right in the picture above was drooping down and touching the ground so I cut a load of it off. Hopefully that'll help chillies grow.
Also made a silly error in giving the Moruga plant that had just sprouted a tiny amount of neat Chilli Focus. It's now drooping over - an overdose of food.

Outkast_IRE

Heroditas wrote: »

I chopped a big chunk off the monster naga yesterday. The bit on the right in the picture above was drooping down and touching the ground so I cut a load of it off. Hopefully that'll help chillies grow.
Also made a silly error in giving the Moruga plant that had just sprouted a tiny amount of neat Chilli Focus. It's now drooping over - an overdose of food.

I have heard people saying flush it through with water if theres good drainage in the compost, if you have used bog standard compost its probably too good at holding water for it to work. If you have used a john innes compost and have perlite and vermiculate through it you could flush it no problem

Although it will probably be fine anyway.

Heroditas

It's still in the Aerogarden in the plug.

Hopefully it'll be ok in a day or two. A couple more are starting to sprout from the seeds so all is not lost yet.

Outkast_IRE

Heroditas wrote: »

It's still in the Aerogarden in the plug.

Hopefully it'll be ok in a day or two. A couple more are starting to sprout from the seeds so all is not lost yet.

Ya you might end up with some odd deformed looking leaves and the rest of the plant will carry on as normal.

Technophobe

If the weather doesn't improve soon, then it could be December before there are any chillies around:eek:

I half heartedly tried to overwinter a Numex Twilight (gave it a fair pruning), but it still looks pretty sad to me, so don't think it will make it...

Have a load of new plants to look forward to, so not too pushed...
Read somewhere that only certain varities of chilli plants are best suited to overwintering....Must look it up.....

bladebrew

I still have the worlds most unhealthy looking habanero plant, I don't think it has grown for about 4 or 5 months,one of his small fruits even fell off:(, is this normal as the plant goes through winter? Poor thing is only about 3 inches tall, I have ordered some jalapeño seeds online, hopefully I will have better luck growing them!

Heroditas

bladebrew wrote: »

I still have the worlds most unhealthy looking habanero plant, I don't think it has grown for about 4 or 5 months,one of his small fruits even fell off:(, is this normal as the plant goes through winter? Poor thing is only about 3 inches tall, I have ordered some jalapeño seeds online, hopefully I will have better luck growing them!

What size pot is it in? Have a look at the base of the pot and if you can see roots, it needs a bigger pot and will then start growing.
Can you stick it in a warm room like the utility if you have a tumble dryer being used a lot? If so, stick it under a fluorescent light and it should start growing.

bladebrew

Cheers for the quick reply, the pot is about 3 inches accross, it is quite small, i lifted the plant out and can see roots growing out to the edge, not many out the base of it though,
i can put in into the utility room thats fairly warm, can a normal bulb be used over it? i have it on the window but its getting feck all light there with all the rain!

Heroditas

bladebrew wrote: »

Cheers for the quick reply, the pot is about 3 inches accross, it is quite small, i lifted the plant out and can see roots growing out to the edge, not many out the base of it though,
i can put in into the utility room thats fairly warm, can a normal bulb be used over it? i have it on the window but its getting feck all light there with all the rain!

Preferably a fluorescent because it mimics daylight a little better than a regular bulb.
If you can see roots coming out to the edge, possibly time to re-pot it.

Outkast_IRE

Its almost defo the size of pot, small pot=small plant = small fruit.

If you increase the pot size to at least a 6 inch but i would consider a 9 inch pot Diameter.

Also get yourself a good feed if you pot it up, chilli focus is the best one i have used.

And personally i find a good sunny spot is better than the average flourescent bulb, especially this time of year becuase the plant will react postively to the increasing daylight and temps.

Outkast_IRE

I have decided to invest in this for the summer.

http://www.greenhousesensation.co.uk/planters/chilligrow.html

Basically a water reservoir, with pots that sit on top and there is a fibre coth that dips into the water and up to the soil, so the water is only drawn into the soil as needed.

Theres a lot of reviews of it on the internet etc and they seem very positive.
I will post pics etc of how these get on vs the normal potted plants this summer.

Heroditas

Transplanted 12 of my cayenne and jalapeño plants from 3" to 4" pots today. Still sitting on the windowsill in the front bedroom for the time being.
I'll tell you one thing, I'd never use that Lidl compost again, it's rubbish. Dries out far too easily and won't hold any moisture. Either that or if you use a tad too much water it turns into a horrible sludge.
I'm sticking with the likes of Shamrock or similar from now on.
7 tomato plants out in the greenhouse, along with a scotch bonnet plant too.

Tomorrow I'm removing the 15 bell pepper, habanero and naga plants from the Aerogarden and potting them.
They shall also go upstairs for the time being.

I also appear to have two Moruga Scorpions sprouting.
Shaping up to be a scorcher of a summer!!

Outkast_IRE

Heroditas wrote: »

Transplanted 12 of my cayenne and jalapeño plants from 3" to 4" pots today. Still sitting on the windowsill in the front bedroom for the time being.
I'll tell you one thing, I'd never use that Lidl compost again, it's rubbish. Dries out far too easily and won't hold any moisture. Either that or if you use a tad too much water it turns into a horrible sludge.
I'm sticking with the likes of Shamrock or similar from now on.
7 tomato plants out in the greenhouse, along with a scotch bonnet plant too.

Tomorrow I'm removing the 15 bell pepper, habanero and naga plants from the Aerogarden and potting them.
They shall also go upstairs for the time being.

I also appear to have two Moruga Scorpions sprouting.
Shaping up to be a scorcher of a summer!!

I honestly cant reccomend the John innes based compost enough and mix it through with equal parts perlite and vermiculite. Got it all in the local b&q .

Technophobe

I use John Innes too and find it very good...

Many of my chilli seedlings are struggling to put on growth, and remain quite small at this stage...Hopefully the milder weather and brighter days will get them moving....

talkabout

Is that the John Innes No 2 that most people are using?

Outkast_IRE

talkabout wrote: »

Is that the John Innes No 2 that most people are using?

Ya i think number two would be the correct one for seedlings/young plants and then onto number 3 for mature plants.
And as i said a bit of perlite and vermiculite works well with them.
I also reccomend to people to water from the bottom rather than the top if they are potted.

talkabout

Would you use No 3 as you pot on? My plants are currently in 10cm pots but i'm nearly ready to move to larger pots. I was hoping to only pot on once more this year but i think i'll have two more moves.

Outkast_IRE

talkabout wrote: »

Would you use No 3 as you pot on? My plants are currently in 10cm pots but i'm nearly ready to move to larger pots. I was hoping to only pot on once more this year but i think i'll have two more moves.

At that size no2 or 3 would be perfectly fine.
I would proably use no2 again as techincally its actually john innes no1 they should of been planted in from seed orginally.
have a glance at this.

http://www.johninnes.info/about.htm

Technophobe

A count of my Chilli plants and Sweet peppers of what I have at present...

Chilli Pepper:

Anaheim: 4 plants (from self-saved seed)
Cayenne: 7 plants
Habanero: 2 plants
Jalapeno: 5 plants
Satan’s Kiss: 4 plants

Sweet:

Bell Boy: 6
California Wonder: 1
Chocolate Miniature: 6
Mila’s Bulgarian: 1
Pimento: 4


I have a few more of Sweet Pepper just sown but not too pushed whether they make it or not, what with all the above! No doubt there may be a casualty or two along the way, but looking forward to sampling some of these.
Don’t ask me about all the tomatoes I have!!

Outkast_IRE

The chillgrow has arrived i bought 2 and have planted a range of plants in them, some are bigger than others, as some of my chilli plants were planted later than others, and some are more low bushy varities than tall plants.

Here is long slim cayenne, purple jalapeno and thai hot in a chillgrow planter.



Here is ring of fire, prarie fire and thai hot, in another chillgrow planter.


Here is purple jalapeno and birds eye in normal pots.


Here is birds eye , ring of fire, and various others


Here is a close up of the purple jalapeno, notice how this plant leaves have a purple tinge through them and the older first leaves are pure purple


I ran out of large pots before i got to these guys, im considering advertising them for a swap for some other plant types if anybody is down south and interested.

Heroditas

Apologies for the lack of updates from myself recently.
Anyway, all my chilli plants, bar three Moruga Scorpions, and my tomato plants are now fully transplanted from their "baby pots" and are in the glasshouse.
I'm keeping the Morugas in the house for another short while until they grow a bit more and are a bit hardy.
The great news is that I'm already seeing some chillies sprouting on my cayenne plants!

Technophobe

Looking good Heroditas...
..thought you were supposed to be sharing that greenhouse!!