Chilli nightmare

[JJSH]

Chilies are the bain of my life. I love them. Really, really love them. I must have at least 8 different types of dried / ground / dried & flaked chilies in my spice rack, at the very minimum. When I go to Pak Foods in Nottingham, an Asian, (mostly Pakistani I think, but they have a huge selection of both Asian and Caribbean chilies ~ possibly the best scotch bonnets I have ever tasted) supermarket, I will buy shed loads of each and every one they have fresh. I must put them in 90% of everything I cook.

But I have had zero success in growing my own.

I tried to germinate 6 different types this year, and managed an entirely consistent 0% germination rate*. Hurrah. Then I went to Homebase with a friend who had been given two left legs for her BBQ and noticed that they had 6 plants for a fiver. I brought 3 sweet peppers and 3 Apache chilies.

Now, thinking the curse was broken, they appeared to be doing well on my bedroom windowsill. But then I noticed some tiny little white things on the leaves of one plant. I picked one off, and thought it looked like some kind of aphid or something but couldn't be sure. So, I left it.

I've returned from the allotment tonight to see that these things have spread to the next plant. So, I filled one of my pump spray bottles with a mixture of fairy liquid and water and given them a real soaking of washing up liquid heavy spray.

But I have to admit that I was rather heavy on the fairy liquid, and also gave them a right good soaking, both on top and under the leaves. Am I going to wake up tomorrow to a tray full of plants that are dead from washing up liquid poisoning or something?



* not entirely true. I returned from homebase, put my new plants on the windowsill, then went down to my greenhouse. Suddenly, all of my chilies had germinated. However, they will be far to late now to get a crop out of ~ this was three weeks ago and they are still only 2'' tall.

[SarzWix]

If it was me, I would: Take the plants into the bathroom, put the shower on cool and thoroughly (but gently) rinse all the plants off, wiping/squishing any bugs off at the same time, and making sure that the water runs through the soil too. Then replace any compost that you've washed away, and put the plants away from the window for 24 hours or so so that the heat doesn't stress them while they 'resettle'.

In future, any bugs you find are better just being squished by a finger and thumb (put a glove on if you're squeemish) or, blasted off with a plain water spray. Washing up liquid should only be one or two drops in the water, as a last resort - the plants don't like it really.

[iggyboy]

whoa!! you are wrong mate! Your chilli plants will put on rapid growth and you will get plenty of chillies as long as you can grow them on in either a greenhouse or polytunnel. Feed them with tom plant food to give a boost and be patient,you have nothing to lose by trying. I am another to go too heavy with washing-up liquid,its too concentrated these days,so try a weaker solution in future.

[sewer rat]

However, they will be far to late now to get a crop out of ~ this was three weeks ago and they are still only 2'' tall.

As Iggy says, put them in a greenhouse and you should get a decent enough crop. The only thing I would do differently is the feeding regime - I grow quite a lot of chillies - mainly cayenne and Jalapeno both of which I use to make sauces - and I treat them mean - watered only once a week and fed very very rarely, but I do grow them in the ground in my tunnel, so they maybe don't need as much fussing as they would in pots or growbags.

[danmon_81]

ok....

1. I think you've started too late to get any crop from your chilli's thios year...most of us start pre-xmas or around new year (although i was a late Jan starter this year)...

2. chillis are hard to germinate, they need 20* + to germinate and can take a few weeks...i find a heated propogator and some sandwich bags over the top the best technique (although read around - www.thechileman.org)....and plants lots expecting losses

3. it is a tiny drop of lipsquid but i wouldnt worry about it!

Get them outside...mine have been outside for 2 months (in a small polyhouse for a bit)....being indoors will increase the pest problem....pot them up in fresh compost (i've started using West+....very good!) and give them a weak feed of tomatoe feed every 2 weeks.

They'll be fine...and as said before dont water too much, let them run dry (they'll feel light when you lift them) then bottom water them.

Get on the 'early chilli sowing thead' on here and chiilis galore forum is worth a visit!

Good luck

dan

[nuttyrockeress]

Hi JJSH, i'm from Nottinghamshire too :waves:

I have loads of chilies growing in my GH at the moment, none have flowered yet and some are really tiny at around 3". I will leave mine in the greenhouse and hope for the best.

After some advice on here all my chilies are now in buckets in a mixture of sand MPC and manure mixed together - the ones planted 2 weeks ago are now going great guns!

So far, touch wood - no bugs on my chilies but I do love to have a good squish of any bugs.

I do find though that on here that people's growing techiniques conflict somewhat and think that if you have enough plants to do some of your own trial and error as well as some with given advice, you can see which works best for you!