Peppers & Chills- Light v Heat

[amandaandherveg]

Didn't have a great deal of success last year with peppers or chillis so trying to do my best this year.

I grow in 2 GH's - one is glass and is in a sunny position an the other is polycarb and slightly more shaded. Although the glass one is sunnier for longer the polycarb is cosier for longer.

All the chillis and peppers are in flower with half forming fruit. Would they prefer to be in the brighter GH or the one that stays warmest?

[Herbie]

I don't know the answer but if it helps mine have been outside for 2 weeks and are ripening.

[rustylady]

Wait and compare results. I personally believe they're better in what you describe as "cosy". Extremes of temperature aren't good for any plants.

[Noodles]

A always thought chilli plants liked it warm, but the ones I've planted out on the lotty are way ahead of the ones I've left in the greenhouse!

[zazen999]

A always thought chilli plants liked it warm, but the ones I've planted out on the lotty are way ahead of the ones I've left in the greenhouse!

Ditto, plus the ones that I put on the decking...miles ahead of the greenhouse ones.

I'd put half in each and see what happens.....

[hsthst]

Depends if you want loads of under-matured chillis or not. Most chillis need a pretty dry compost and not much nutrient in a hot environment to develop good strong mature flavoured fruits. I have some apache ( amongst others) in a green house which haven't been watered in over 2 months and they are full of chilli's and I know that when they are harvested they will have a really good strong flavour. "Growing hard" is what gives you chillis with amazing flavour and the worst thing you can do is to feed them, their flavour decreases with each feed.

[SarzWix]

You can grow perfectly good capsicum plants without the use of extra fertilizer, however, you can grow much bigger, healthier and more productive plants if you use fertilizer to give them the nutrients that they need.

Taken from - thechileman.org - chile pepper fertilizer

Taking up too much water may slightly dilute the heat of chillis, feeding them is unlikely to make a difference. Keeping them on the brink of death will force them to very quickly reproduce, and may increase the heat of the chillis, but will more than likely reduce yield... I prefer to aim for a middle ground with my plants - excessively dry plants/atmosphere also attracts red spider mite and stressed plants are more likely to die from an infestation...

[zazen999]

Well, having taken a chilli from a plant today that had been sat in a tray of water thanks to the torrential rain we've had of late - I'd hate to think how hot it would have been if it had been dry. Still a bit numb from licking it to see how hot it was. Answer: VERY.

[hsthst]

Agreed.........you'll get hot chillis whatever you do with them, but I was talking about their flavour. My family are from Peru and we still eat lots of peruvian dishes here in the UK. Most hot dishes in Latin America are based on the chilli's flavour not their heat ( except cebiche) and to get that they need to be grown how they grow in the valleys around Cusco and Arequipa. Very wet and humid in the first part of the growing season and hot and dry in the middle summer months.

[cupcake]

I think when we start to grow chillies that all we are after is heat. It's only when the obsession with them takes hold that you come to appreciate how many different flavours chillies have, and your palate develops. I love the citrusy ones.

[gojiberry]

I like a nice chilli dish but am the only one in our family, consequently I am not looking for to hot a chilli. I grew some last year and they are (to me ) a little to hot, had so many that a lot were dried and I am still using them.

Ian

[sarraceniac]

I have a medical condition that doesn't allow my to eat anything really hot and spicy so when my Naga bhut were harvested last year I gave them to our local greengocer who is very obliging. I also warned him about them. He nearly went mad when I next saw him. His wife had made them a chilli con carne for two people and had put 6 Nagas in. They had both taken a large mouthful without testing.