Chillies - growing and overwintering 2019

[Mitzi]

Mitzi I’ve never grown a red scotch bonnet before but this one I got from you in the plug plant swap has surprised me! I wasn’t expecting to see this colour during ripening?

Wow, that looks great. Mine is red. I think I told you previously, it was supposed to be peach but turned out red (for the person who gave me the seeds. ) He said it was still a good bonnet so gave it to me as a red.

I suspect that was a cross so the red was F1. Now at F2 yours has reverted to the peach parent but mine is red. You are lucky - seems like I sent you my best plants of that and the white BBG.

[Small pumpkin]

Wow, that looks great. Mine is red. I think I told you previously, it was supposed to be peach but turned out red (for the person who gave me the seeds. ) He said it was still a good bonnet so gave it to me as a red.

I suspect that was a cross so the red was F1. Now at F2 yours has reverted to the peach parent but mine is red. You are lucky - seems like I sent you my best plants of that and the white BBG.

Ooh that’s exciting, thanks, I’m attempting to save seeds from it. I must of forgot about the possibility of it being peach

I’m not sure about the bubblegum? It has the big calyx and It’s loaded with Pod but very few of them are big. I’ll try get some photos. He’s a tricky beast to photograph.

[Small pumpkin]

Here’s the bubblegum
Not great photos, hopefully you’ll get the idea.
It’s a good sized plant

[Philthy]

Afternoon folks, how goes it?

[Mitzi]

I know this won't be a patch on SP's crops and possibly some others of you, but here's what I picked on Sunday, which I'm pretty happy with:



Most of them are from overwintered plants. This year's plants are so far behind because of all the cold, wet weather we've had in spring and early summer.

[Small pumpkin]

They look fantastic Mitzi.
They’re all looking quite capable of blowing your head off as well

[Philthy]

Those look great, Mitzi, wow!

I've got best growth on my overwinters also, x3 plants doing well, couple of others no further along than this years' from plugs due to having to cut a lot of dead out of them.
Agreed also on the weather this year, it's been another less than straightforward one so far. Hot April, cold May, wet June first half, boiling 2nd half, July same pattern. No consistency. Result is plants delayed to get going as they've had to be indoors much later than usual, and then alternate between being chilled and cooked but settled down now.

No surprise the other side effect of extended confinement is having to spend most of that time trying to keep on top of the damned greenfly, no matter how diligent I am with hygiene and housekeeping they seem to be getting more prevalent and harder to shift each year. I've already thought more than once what is the point in all of this?? But then I had similar thoughts last year and have still raised new plants for this one I tried the ladybirds method earlier when the plants were smaller with mixed results, maybe I didn't have enough of them

So unfortunately I had to buy plugs this year due to no time really to raise seeds but I kept the numbers modest; x2 Thai Dragon, x2 Hot Fish, x2 Paper Lantern, x2 Chocolate Habanero, x1 Fairy Lights, x1 Pimenta de Neyde. The Thai Dragons and Fish have grown very well, others less so. The West Dene Chilli Fiesta is happening soon so I reckon I might buy a couple more plants there if I see anything I like; ideally I'd like to have a few more specimens going into winter (fifteen plants being my usual number). I discovered the other weekend garden centres have long cleared their chilli plant stock, seems it's only the runts left on their benches.

My best performing overwinters are one each of Tokyo Hot, Feugo, and my own mystery plant from saved seed that we concluded last year was most probably a Jamaican Hot / Jamaican Mushroom. Lots of flowers and green fruits coming through on those but still a few weeks off having ripe pods to pick I reckon

[Small pumpkin]

Here’s my cheiro roxa . Seeds thanks to philthy. It’s doing well.




Here’s a little update on my chillies. Just in case I haven’t board you all enough on my fb page



Don’t know that we’re doing quite as well as last year.

[Tripmeup]

My Ecuador Brown fruits are developing well and plenty of them..couldn't fit the full plant in pic

[Can the Man]

I know this won't be a patch on SP's crops and possibly some others of you, but here's what I picked on Sunday, which I'm pretty happy with:

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Most of them are from overwintered plants. This year's plants are so far behind because of all the cold, wet weather we've had in spring and early summer.

Wow they look beautiful, I’m hoping to grow some next year in my poly tunnel

[Can the Man]

SP they look fantastic, never seen those types of chillies before

[Can the Man]

Philthy you obviously know your chillies I’ve never even heard of these, looking forward to trying a few next year, do you recommend me getting a few plants to keep in the poly tunnel over the winter, or start from scratch next year.

[Tripmeup]

Philthy you obviously know your chillies I’ve never even heard of these, looking forward to trying a few next year, do you recommend me getting a few plants to keep in the poly tunnel over the winter, or start from scratch next year.

You'll get different views on this Can

Firstly within a poly tunnel your will be at the mercy of the weather we get in Winter here.
Ideally chilli plants like it above freeing
That said it is of course possible to do..
I have overwintered plants on many occasions and the next risk this brings is the dreaded greenfly.

Of course overwintered plants can be much stronger when they do make it thru to Spring and may crop better but often not worthwhile with annuals for example..

So you probably wont be satisfied until you have given it a go

[Philthy]

Hi Can

Yes generally I’d concur with Trip; your plants would most likely not survive the winter in your polytunnel, not without some form of heating or at the very least frost protection, but then in such a large space the cost of doing this would surely be detrimental to the overall goal. You could section one end off i.e. reduce the volume of space to be heated but good air circulation would be as crucial and getting power to the site is probably an issue(?) I would say the lowest temperature you could get away with consistently would be 5 Celsius at a push - general consensus on lowest recommended overwintering temperatures seems to be around 10 C. I’ve had plants in an unheated greenhouse survive lower - than 5 C - overnight temperatures but those incidences were random events i.e. isolated cold snaps occurring in autumn or spring as oppose to winter proper, and even then plants that were dry at the roots faired best. For plants still in active growth subjected to freezing temperatures, even one night, expect at the very least some damage but most likely death, though symptoms may not appear immediately. Chillies are not hardy plants enough to cope with a typical UK winter.

A far better plan would be to work out what space you have available indoors, in a cool space eg a porch, spare room, and then identify your strongest, healthiest specimens from the tunnel, and bring home to overwinter indoors. You shouldn’t need to be thinking about this for another six weeks or so at least though so plenty of time to prepare.

I’ve been overwintering my plants for practically 10 years so after the usual teething problems in the first few years I’m happy now with my method and success rate is pretty good year on year. Agreed annuums aren’t generally worth the effort of overwintering especially if you’re short on space as they grow quite quickly anyway and are a fickle choice. That said they would make a good challenge to try and overwinter.

[Small pumpkin]

SP they look fantastic, never seen those types of chillies before

Thanks never grown them before. It’s a good looking plant, looking forward to trying them.

Philthy you obviously know your chillies I’ve never even heard of these, looking forward to trying a few next year, do you recommend me getting a few plants to keep in the poly tunnel over the winter, or start from scratch next year.

As trip said your going to get lots of different options on this.
I don’t over winter any plants. Hate the aphid infestation which is inevitable & the lack of light up here really is a challenge . Especially living in a proper old Croft with small windows. I selfishly want the small amount of winter light that comes through them, not have my overwintering chillies hog it all . So I grow from seed every year and get a few plug plants as well. Mostly from here
https://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gr...wap_98417.html
(Not sure it’s going to happen next year, I’ve got a few other things on , more than happy for any of the other grapes to take over ).
You could join the seed circle as well that a great way of trying new varieties
https://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gr...9-a_98655.html.

I think I do ok with my chillies without overwintering. It’s all just a personal choice. You just got to do what works for you.