Chilies growing SO slowly

[farmerjon]

Hey all!

I'm new to the country from sunny southern california. I'm an avid gardener who is now trying to learn how to plant and grow in a different grow zone.

When I visited last march, I planted some birds-eye chilies and some Kaffir Lime, as I enjoy cooking Thai food, left them with a relative, and when I finally got back to the UK recently they were only 6in tall for the chillies and 2 1/2 inches tall for the lime.

I've been reading through the forum, and it seems that window chillies do just fine here. Is it strange that its been 10 months and the chillies are still only half a foot tall?

I'd love any advice on how to make sure that they fruit this spring. To increase my chances, I've just planted seeds for more birds-eye and razzmatazz chilli a couple weeks ago. Keeping my eyes open for red spur-chillies, but haven't found any seeds for those yet.

Looking forward to spring!

[Scarlet]

Hello and welcome to the forum FarmerJon

I think you will fit in very well here there are a few chilli growers here - you'll mostly find them chatting in here
http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...7-a_92000.html
There's lots of advice to be found there, pop over and tell us more, we are only just starting to Sow our chillies now.
Chillies in the UK can be slow, they need a long growing season to fruit. We often over ŵinter superhot chillies as we don't always get a really big crop the first year. Your relative may not have watered as often as they should, potted on , fed it or had it in the sunniest spot.

Never heard of spur chillies...got any photos

[Mitzi]

Hi and welcome!

I'm relatively inexperienced at chilli growing but that doesn't sound much for a whole summer's growth. What size pots were they in, what sort of compost? Were they fed? Watered? Indoors or outdoors? How much light?

[Mitzi]

I've heard of something like Rooster Spur - could that be it?

[jackarmy]

Yep that sounds like a really long time .
My guess is their still in the same 3 inch pot ( if that ) they were in last march.

[Tripmeup]

Hi and welcome...

Doesn't sound right for nearly a full season's growth...possible care issues as others have said??
Start again yourself with new seeds now so you can be sure; if the others grow on and produce it is a bonus

[farmerjon]

Hello all,

Thanks for the helpful pointers. I think that I have too many variables happening at once to really determine what has been going wrong for these guys. A few things that I am guilty of - multiple plants per pot - Cold windowsill - and not repotting.

So I've gone ahead and repotted a few of the plants. Put a couple of them in a windowsill greenhouse, and also planted seeds to try again. I am hoping that out of all of the different options at least a few will keep on growing and produce.

I'm going to give them a few weeks to adjust to their new environments, but already one has grown by a fair amount.

Thanks again!

[vixylix]

Sounds hopeful Farmer Jon - I'd say if they've survived cramming / not feeding / a bit of neglect this long they probably stand a fighting chance!

[farmerjon]

Oh, and the chillies I am looking for are called red spur chillies. They are a Thai variety similar to Tabasco that are made into a paste for a lot of Thai curries. Haven't been able to find much info about them here in the uk.

Red Spur Chili – Prik-Chee-fa-daeng

[the big lebowski]

welcome farmer jon and welcome to the uk ,where abouts are you based ? i guess this must be abit of a shock to the system for you weather wise, looking at the link you put up they dont look like super hots so thats good for you as you might be able to start them abit later on and still get some crops ,if you still have some seeds left i would try starting seeds ever 3-4 weeks ,are you growing them on your windowsill all year or moving them after the frosts have finished ?

[Baldy]

Prik-Chee-fa-daeng uk search in google.co.uk gets a few hits - can't vouch for the sellers but

Thai Prik Chee Fah x 10 Seeds

[Baldy]

In fact - has anyone used
UK Chilli Seeds. Chile Seeds, Carolina Reaper in stock also Fatalii Jigsaw Seeds. Free International shipping & a huge variety of Chilli Seeds. Moruga Scorpion, Infinity, Ghost Pepper Seeds
they have some other seeds that look temping too,..

[farmerjon]

I'm based in Bristol. I'm not sure at this point if I will windowsill them all year or move them out to the balcony. I was assuming that they would do best on the windowsill even through the summer. How do chillies do here outside post-frost?

Thanks for the link, I think those are the ones that I am looking for.

[Baldy]

You pretty much need to decide whether you support Bristol Rovers or Bristol City as to whether I give you any more help... (born in Bristol = and not really, well, probably)

[the big lebowski]

they will do fine outside after the frosts im going to move mine around may up to my greenhouse ,the main problem we have here are the shorter growing season and thats why everyone starts them off now as they need 8-9 months growing before they have chillis that are ready