chillies

nokiatom

has anyone grown chillies successful here ? I have set some seeds but only a few have germinated. any advise, thanks

cowboyjoe

Grew some from seed last year for first time. Take 3-4 of the strongest seedlings and grow individually. Then take the best one or two from them after 2 weeks and grow on. Attach to a cane or stick to help keep them upright as they grow bigger. Keep in a warm sunny place indoors (window sill/sunny porch), more heat the better. Use a spray container to water the base of the plant daily and add plant fertilizer once a week. Prune the very top bud when flowers appear first, flowers are where the chillis grow from eventually. My plant did produce lots of nice chillis but they had little heat however. Good fun though.

fred funk }{

nokiatom wrote: »

has anyone grown chillies successful here ? I have set some seeds but only a few have germinated. any advise, thanks

I grow them every year with a decent success rate.

Germinating should be done somewhere warm and the soil kept slightly moist. I germinate mine on top of my aquarium hood and they break soil sometimes within days.

Once they break soil they need loads of light or else they get tall and stringy which isn't good.

nokiatom

unfortunately I do not have a hot place to make them germinate quicker but today I notice another few breaking the soil....that's 2 weeks since they were sown. when Cowboyjoe says you cut the top off when the first flowers appear....does that mean only those flowers will produce fruit?

Gloomtastic!

^ No, it will keep flowering throughout the summer/autumn.

When the flowers appear, get yourself a little paintbrush and pollinate the flowers by brushing them gently. You'll see the pollen being released into the air. The flowers will then develop into little chillis - green then eventually turn red.

If you don't pollinate then the flowers will just fall off.

cowboyjoe

Gloomtastic! wrote: »

^ No, it will keep flowering throughout the summer/autumn.

When the flowers appear, get yourself a little paintbrush and pollinate the flowers by brushing them gently. You'll see the pollen being released into the air. The flowers will then develop into little chillis - green then eventually turn red.

If you don't pollinate then the flowers will just fall off.

I kept my seedlings that were germinating in the sitting room, so basically anywhere warm indoors, near some sunlight.

Yeah +1 on the pollination tip above, your basically acting as a honey bee doing that. Flowers will and should appear well into autumn, nip the top most bud as the flowers appear to keep the plant low , wide and bushy with lots of flowers/chillis.

Souness

Grew yellow fresnos last year from seeds off fresh chilli. Grew very well on windowsill and each plant produced more than a dozen hot chillis. Very attractive plant too.I overwintered two of them and they are now flowering again. Also trying out a few bell peppers (from fresh pepper),pimientos de padron and jalapenos (from seed pack) this year. Sowed early feb, poor germination from the shop bought seed but bells very good.

nokiatom

hi Souness, you must have grown them in pots? if so, what size pots did you use ?

fred funk }{

I have never pollinated the flowers myself and have always had plenty of fruits. Don't think it's necessary TBH.

nokiatom

with tomatoes grown indoors I would always give the plants a little shake to help pollination

Gloomtastic!

nokiatom wrote: »

hi Souness, you must have grown them in pots? if so, what size pots did you use ?

I have one in a nine inch diameter pot (how are pots measured?) sitting on the windowsill.

Don't water too much, wait til the soil is dry (every 5 days/week) and add a few drops of tomato feed to each watering.

Pollinating the flowers yourself leaves nothing to chance....

fourmations

hi

Im no expert, but is it not a bit late to be trying to germinate seed?
I planted from seed in Mid march and i reckon i was too late
see attached, thats what they looked like about two weeks ago

you can buy decent little plants from Homebase (apache) or B&Q (lots of varieties)
for about e1.40 each to give you a head start



cheers

nokiatom

I think I left it too late too, the few that germinated are very slow to grow

Gloomtastic!

nokiatom wrote: »

I think I left it too late too, the few that germinated are very slow to grow

How do they know it's too late? I think you'll be fine. Mine was still flowering in November last year....

nokiatom

weather was good into November last year. I picked the last of my tomatoes in the first week of november

Souness

nokiatom wrote: »

hi Souness, you must have grown them in pots? if so, what size pots did you use ?

9' terracotta pots is what I have them in. This time last year was quite cool as well but once the fine weather hit the plants thrived. Like Gloomtstic said they fruited till late last year. So not too late.

Mat the trasher

Speaking of chillies, anyone know where I might find dandicut chillies in Ireland, they're used in Pakistan and are very good for beef stews etc, missed out on taking a bag of them home while there, hadn't a chance to get some from the market.

worth a try if you find them.
http://www.chilipeppermadness.com/dandicut-chili-pepper.html

Cheers.

Shemale

I planted some Habanero seeds last week, I have them in seed trays wrapped in cling film in my greenhouse.

My tomatoes were very slow to get going but they are thriving now, hopefully my chillis follow. I will post a few pics when there is sign of life from them.

fred funk }{

Shemale wrote: »

I planted some Habanero seeds last week, I have them in seed trays wrapped in cling film in my greenhouse.

My tomatoes were very slow to get going but they are thriving now, hopefully my chillis follow. I will post a few pics when there is sign of life from them.

Very late in the year for Habs. They're very slow growers and need a long warm summer to be successful.

Shemale

fred funk }{ wrote: »

Very late in the year for Habs. They're very slow growers and need a long warm summer to be successful.

I love a challenge

This year is my first year gardening, parents have a huge garden and were going to let me us it but a last minute u turn by ma and some negitiation got green light to use our garden, we have a 2 yo boy and a dog and the garden is only 50ft long.

nokiatom

I planted more chilli seeds two weeks ago and are coming on well now. lets wait and see how the summer goes

fred funk }{

How are your chillies coming along folks?

Mine are doing well except for a few weeks ago when the shade fell down in the greenhouse and they got a bit too much sun. All is well now and growing very well.

Gloomtastic!

fred funk }{ wrote: »

How are your chillies coming along folks?

Mine are doing well except for a few weeks ago when the shade fell down in the greenhouse and they got a bit too much sun. All is well now and growing very well.

Started flowering last week, chillis now developing after pollinating.

gucci

fred funk }{ wrote: »

How are your chillies coming along folks?

Mine are doing well except for a few weeks ago when the shade fell down in the greenhouse and they got a bit too much sun. All is well now and growing very well.

Mine are growing well, looking quite full but no sign of flowers yet. Should I be giving them a little bit of feeding? I am afraid of messing them up as its my first time growing them.
I have 4 nice little plants about 5 inches high.

*edit* i re read and seen the feeding advice above, I will give them a little weekly snack so!!

fred funk }{

Yeah, a little weak feed weekly will bring them on. I haven't too many flowering myself but that's fine because I'll be picking off the flowers for this month anyway. Hopefully it will produce a bigger crop later in the summer.

iainBB

I have some in their final position about 12in high flowering now. And the late crop about 3 4 inches high only started to grow faster I think I have too many this year.

Gloomtastic!

Anyone wishing to catch up with the Chilli Club, Aldi have chilli plants on sale this week that are flowering.

paddylonglegs

Hi folks,

My new plants are about 4 inches high with a few rows of shoots. Iv noticed that there are small shoot growing from the base of the more larger shoots. Should I pinch these out to help the larger shoots?

I let my last plant run wild and it has been so-so with flowering

Thanks

fred funk }{

paddylonglegs wrote: »

Hi folks,

My new plants are about 4 inches high with a few rows of shoots. Iv noticed that there are small shoot growing from the base of the more larger shoots. Should I pinch these out to help the larger shoots?

I let my last plant run wild and it has been so-so with flowering

Thanks

What type of chilli plant is it? Sounds mire like a tomatoe plant to me.

tsuzmir

My first chilli plant ever. Good few flowers on her

nokiatom

my chillies are doing ok....about 4 inches now but the look healthy. starting to transplant the tomato plants into their final pots now.....they are coming on very well. some will be indoors and some outside