Pathetic Chillies

[Marb67]

Well, I sowed these various chillies in March and yet they are still tiny. They have been in the greenhouse getting plenty of sun, potted on the seedlings in good compost and yet they are not getting any bigger. There seems to be some invisible force stopping my plants from growing, despite the recent long warm weather spell.

[ameno]

Well, the nights have been fairly cold until recently. Doesn't matter how warm the days are if the nights go below about 7c.
Or it might just be the compost. You say it's "good" compost, but on whose authority is that?
I would give them a liquid feed with something balanced, like liquid growmore, every week. Simply feeding seedlings often helps a lot of the problems caused by poor compost.

[Marb67]

Well, the nights have been fairly cold until recently. Doesn't matter how warm the days are if the nights go below about 7c.
Or it might just be the compost. You say it's "good" compost, but on whose authority is that?
I would give them a liquid feed with something balanced, like liquid growmore, every week. Simply feeding seedlings often helps a lot of the problems caused by poor compost.

Thanks. I have sprayed with liquid seaweed and also been given some vitax Q4 so will feed with that also.

[Nicos]

We planted ours out a couple of weeks ago - and they were much like yours Marb. The new soil with all the nutrients have helped them take off.
Do you bottom water?…mine struggled in pots until I started doing this.( Not sure if that coincided with the return if the warmer nights though.)

[ameno]

We planted ours out a couple of weeks ago - and they were much like yours Marb. The new soil with all the nutrients have helped them take off.
Do you bottom water?…mine struggled in pots until I started doing this.( Not sure if that coincided with the return if the warmer nights though.)

I'd say the bottom watering is likely either a coincidence or some unique quirk of the compost you use. I exclusively top water, and it has never caused any issues like this.

[Marb67]

Yes I bottom water.

[peacegarden2024]

looks like heat and light is issue. chilis like it warm lots and lot of bright light.

[smallblueplanet]

Well, I sowed these various chillies in March and yet they are still tiny. They have been in the greenhouse getting plenty of sun, potted on the seedlings in good compost and yet they are not getting any bigger. There seems to be some invisible force stopping my plants from growing, despite the recent long warm weather spell.

We tried some new organic bagged compost this year and stuff that was started/potted on into it seemed to go into a kind of stasis. Not sure if it's imagined or not with our chillis, but they and some other seedlings seemed awfully slow to get bigger.

[annie8]

Every year I get frustrated with how slowly my chillis grow. They usually get there eventually though. I am giving them a bit of seaweed feed this year to see how they do on that

[ameno]

I used to raise my peppers in my conservatory, which is where I raise most of my veg seedlings. They would always grow incredibly slowly to start with and only really get going after a couple of months.
Three years ago I started raising them in 3 cm pots on my bedroom windowsill instead, and the difference is like night and day. They grow so much faster and stronger. I'm pretty certain it's the temperature which makes the difference. The conservatory would often be warmer during the day, especially a sunny day, but in February and March it just is not warm enough at night. I now don't put them in the conservatory until they are large enough to repot into 8cm pots, by which point the conservatory has warmed up at night.

This year for the first time I also put slow release fertiliser pellets in my seedling potting compost (just 3-4 little balls per pot), and they definitely seemed more vigorous than in previous years.

[Marb67]

Mine have been in the greenhouse for a couple of months with plenty of heat and yet still tiny.

[Marb67]

looks like heat and light is issue. chilis like it warm lots and lot of bright light.

Which is exactly what they have been getting.

[ameno]

Which is exactly what they have been getting.

If they've been in the greenhouse fora couple months then they absolutely have not.
They may have been getting plenty of heat during the day, but it would have been cold at night.
A stable 16-21c is much better for pepper seedlings than swinging from 5 or 6 at night to 25 or 30 during the day.

[Marb67]

Well it would be much colder outside at night than in the greenhouse.

[ameno]

Well it would be much colder outside at night than in the greenhouse.

You want to know why your chillies are doing poorly. We have told you why.
I would advise you raise your chilies on a sunny windowsill in the house in future years, at least until late April. If you can't do that, then you may just have to give up on raising your own from seed. Maybe buy some plants instead.