Chilli's 2023

Got some week old seedlings in the propagator, no idea the variety. I'll give them another 2 weeks and I'll transplant them into bigger pots.

Transplanted these this morning, 2 really good ones, 2 weaker ones but they might be ok

Chilli plants flowering, not long now for some fruit!!

What variety of chilli?

Jalapenos starting to show fruit

And overwintered cayenne also motoring

Fingers crossed!

Flew too close to the sun this year - tried to do like 50 plants of 15 different varieties. Was much too much in my Dublin apartment 😂

Only have about ten left - my girlfriend also unknowingly mixed them all up when she temporarily moved them to a different room to do a tidy in the former. So they’re all mystery chilles now! Makes it kind of fun I suppose

Will stick to 5 varieties max next year, learned my lesson (until I can afford to buy a house with some land)

Moved my Chilli's out to my new greenhouse & got my first fruit 😊🌶

Still getting to grips with adding pics!

I have always let mine grow how they want. I've never tried to manipulate them to grow or flower in a certain way, maybe it's something I need to look in to.

In my limited experience I've only grown Chenzo, Cayenne and Jalapeno. This years jalapenos are the tallest I've had so far at around 60cm.

They are nowhere near as bushy/dense as the other strains though, and with the size of each jalapeno being relatively large the yield won't be as high as the smaller chilli plants.

The infestation looks like aphids to me. You can get a spray from any garden centre, just make sure it's suitable for edibles.

Apparently there are alternatives to treat them, such as soapy water. I've never tried this myself though so don't know how effective it is.

Well done on the buena mulata, that’s a beautiful plant

Did it turn red on the plant or after you picked it?

Interesting to hear that about overwintering. My friends gf had overwintered her plants for the first time this year - she’s been raving about it! Was definitely planning on doing it but your experience gives me pause. Sure will probably give it a shot, not a huge amount required.

That is a beautiful plant.

This thread is giving me serious chilli envy. Haven't grown any in a few years now. Definitely going to remedy that next year!

I left mine on the plant for ages & they never turned red. I picked one to taste it & I noticed the discarded end in the compost bin had turned red 🤔

Here's the latest pictures of my babies. Clockwise from top-left: Umm, not sure - maybe Hungarian hot-wax, or a purple Jalapeno that hasn't ripened yet; Jalapenos, Chocolate bell peppers (yet to brown), my buena mulata - which is producing loads of spicey chilis (a little like cayenne peppers), and my patio fire. Thankfully the spider-mites infestation seems to be gone after a couple of treatments (warm water, Neem oil, a little soap and some bug killer).

Lessons I've learned with this season's crops:

Planted 6 varieties with about 6-10 seeds each, and ended up with around 38 healthy seedlings, which was way too much effort and space. Probably do the same again next time, but be more ruthless about culling 3/4 of them. I'm now down to 9 healthy plants and two re-potted plants that will hopefully perk up, after spending too much time in small pots.

Picked up these three-way clover-like pots, in which I've mixed up the varieties. Dumb idea. Cross pollination may be a real problem, and very easy for any infestations to hop from plant to plant.

Maybe skip the bell peppers next time. At this rate, by the end of the season, I'll probably have 1-2 fully grown peppers (if they last that long). Probably more suitable for outdoor sunnier climates.

Hotter peppers! Most of the varieties so far are tasty but pretty mild. Hopefully they'll heat up as they ripen, but next year, I'll definitely try to grow some hotter varieties, even though they may not grow as well in our climate.

Couple of my plants are fruiting while other varieties are only beginning to set flowers now…concerned the late bloomers won’t have enough time to fully fruit and ripen 😞

Lemon drops fruiting in now - the plant is utterly covered in hundreds and hundreds of flowers, have had to take loads off, no way the plant could possibly support them all fruiting at once!

Was away for 16 days, as suspected alot of the jalapenos ripened right through to red... Some nice cayenne in there too