Advice About Beginner's Chillis

[cuffbertt]

Hello everyone!

I’ve currently got some chilli plants growing in my back garden in pots, and I’ve got a few questions about them. Well, it’s more like I’m overthinking it all and I need some reassurance



There are three Cayenne and three Jalapeno, but I didn’t label them so don’t ask which is which! I didn’t start them until the first week of April, as I didn’t really think about growing anything before then. I started them off on the windowsill of my kitchen and when they were a few inches tall I moved them into 10cm pots, which I put in the conservatory. Within the last two weeks they were getting way too big for their little pots so I moved them on to 18-21cm pots in the garden filled with Wilkos general purpose compost, where they are now (I had to wait until recently as I was moving house).

The wall that they’re up against (see pics) faces south (SSE if we’re being accurate!) in a garden that faces WSW in the SW of the country. They get sun from mid to late morning when it pops over the top of the house until around 5pm when the sun disappears around the corner. I’ve been trying not to overwater them but this week they’ve needed a good drenching 1 or even 2 times a day when they start looking a bit sad and droopy in this scorching heat. They are kept out there day and night. I had a problem with greenfly a while ago but after mercilessly squashing every last one I could find I was told marigolds keep them away!





Ok, so that’s the overly long back story done with… Question time!

Some of the plants seem to have these weird looking black marks on the stems, at the “junction” (seriously, what is the proper word to use??) of where the leaves sprout off from them. Is this something to be worried about or is it normal?

I marked their height on the canes about a 10 days ago, and they’ve not grown even a millimetre bigger since. They are all 18-19 inches in height. What height to Cayennes and Jalapenos normally reach?

Do I need to “pinch” the tops off? I keep hearing that only “leggy” plants need pinching, but I can’t find a definition of what leggy plants are or what they look like!

At what point do I need to start feeding them? I’ve got some tomato food from Wilkos, but so far they’ve only had water.

Like I said, I’ve not grown anything before so I’ve got no idea what’s normal and what’s not, and no idea what I should and shouldn’t do! My butternut squash has a flower growing on it now mind, so I can’t be totally incompetent! Haha.

Thanks a lot,

Carl.

(p.s. sorry for the long post. I’m an engineer and an over thinker, so I have a habit of writing down as much information I can!)

[damian1225]

Hello mate the black marks on stems and branches are totally normal, I dont pinch any chilli plants out at all, just let them do their own thing, they are pretty hardy and will always recover if they wilt, you can feed with tomato plant food just use it slightly weaker or you can buy Chilli focus off ebay/amazon.. I feed mine when I see flowers opening and then feed twice a week when they set pods.. I hand polenate too when the flowers are open you can just tickle the inner flower with your little finger and then go around each flower on the plant spreading the pollen from flower to flower, as they are outside the bees will probably do it for you but I like to be sure and get maximum yield because im tight.

plant size can depend on pot size too but usually Up to 30" for a jalapeno, but going from your pics i would keep doing what your doing it seems to be working well, if the temp drops below 18c id bring them back in the conservatory.

Keep us posted how you get on with them

[Mitzi]

The proper word for junctions is nodes / leaf nodes. That colouration is normal, don't worry.

You'll know which plants are which when they set pods - cayenne will be long and thin and jalapeno will be fat.

I've not grown jalapenos but cayennes tend towards legginess anyway. It's personal preference whether to pinch them out or not; some people do, some don't. It sets back flowering & fruiting by a few weeks so, because you had a late start this year, I wouldn't if I were you. If I'm pinching out I tend to do it earlier, when the plants are still quite small.

Growth - I would expect them to grow taller. How long have they been in these pots? When potted up, chillies seem to sulk for a bit, but in fact they are concentrating on growing new roots in the new compost, and they don't put on any top growth while they're doing it. So if they're quite new to those pots, that's normal.

On the other hand, if they've been in that size of pot for quite a few weeks, then they need feeding. Does the compost sack say "contains feed for up to x weeks"? I've found that they normally need feeding a bit before that, i.e. mine says it feeds for up to 8 weeks but the plants start to look hungry from about 6 weeks.

There's a "Chillies - Growing and Overwintering" thread where you can share your progress with other chilli nutters. Good luck - and you realise it's addictive, don't you? Two varieties this year, 20 next year and 200 in 2019.

[cuffbertt]

Hello mate the black marks on stems and branches are totally normal, I dont pinch any chilli plants out at all, just let them do their own thing, they are pretty hardy and will always recover if they wilt, you can feed with tomato plant food just use it slightly weaker or you can buy Chilli focus off ebay/amazon.. I feed mine when I see flowers opening and then feed twice a week when they set pods.. I hand polenate too when the flowers are open you can just tickle the inner flower with your little finger and then go around each flower on the plant spreading the pollen from flower to flower, as they are outside the bees will probably do it for you but I like to be sure and get maximum yield because im tight.

plant size can depend on pot size too but usually Up to 30" for a jalapeno, but going from your pics i would keep doing what your doing it seems to be working well, if the temp drops below 18c id bring them back in the conservatory.

Keep us posted how you get on with them

Thanks Damian, glad to hear that I'm not going too far wrong at the moment! Chilli Focus seems reasonably priced so I'll add it on to my next Amazon order I think. I don't have a conservatory any more unfortunately as I've moved house now. All I have is a brick outbuilding with a tiny little window (you can see it in the photo) that's no good really. Hopefully it'll stay fairly warm outside or I might have to get a greenhouse!

[cuffbertt]

The proper word for junctions is nodes / leaf nodes. That colouration is normal, don't worry.

You'll know which plants are which when they set pods - cayenne will be long and thin and jalapeno will be fat.

I've not grown jalapenos but cayennes tend towards legginess anyway. It's personal preference whether to pinch them out or not; some people do, some don't. It sets back flowering & fruiting by a few weeks so, because you had a late start this year, I wouldn't if I were you. If I'm pinching out I tend to do it earlier, when the plants are still quite small.

Growth - I would expect them to grow taller. How long have they been in these pots? When potted up, chillies seem to sulk for a bit, but in fact they are concentrating on growing new roots in the new compost, and they don't put on any top growth while they're doing it. So if they're quite new to those pots, that's normal.

On the other hand, if they've been in that size of pot for quite a few weeks, then they need feeding. Does the compost sack say "contains feed for up to x weeks"? I've found that they normally need feeding a bit before that, i.e. mine says it feeds for up to 8 weeks but the plants start to look hungry from about 6 weeks.

There's a "Chillies - Growing and Overwintering" thread where you can share your progress with other chilli nutters. Good luck - and you realise it's addictive, don't you? Two varieties this year, 20 next year and 200 in 2019.

Cheers Mitzi. I'll try and remember the word for next time

Hmm that makes sense, I think I'll leave it for this time then. I just want to get one edible chilli from one plant this year and I'll be happy!

They've been in these pots for around ten days maybe? We did it the weekend after we moved in. I did notice this morning that there seem to be new smaller leaves growing from the nodes, so maybe that's where they're concentrating! I've just looked online and the compost says that it feeds for 5-6 weeks.

Ha yeah I bet it's addictive! First thing I do when I get home from work each day is go and check on them I was sure that I would kill the plants off so I planted extra seeds. Turns out that every one of them grew so I ended up with 18 chilli plants, most of which I've given away to friends.

[Deano's "Diggin It"]

Cuffbert!

No needs to worry is my thought, as Mitzi said! All's good!