First chillis are up

[Bacchus]

I went up my allotment and my new cloche/pollytunnel hoop thing was 3 plots away!!!!

More concrete needed Hope you get it sorted out.

The plastic is still on my poly tunnel thankfully, but there is a goodly amount of water blown in under the door - but given the rain I'm not surprised. I think the stone shore I put in helped a bit anyway...

[Bacchus]

Just as an update - every seed planted is now up, so no complaining there. I took a chilli off the plant, stripped it of the seeds (and used the rest for cooking) and planted the seeds the same day so freshness is certainly a good thing.

[Scarlet]

Is that a cayenne type chilli Bacchus? Cayennes are usually the easier of the chillies to germinate and probably one of the first to fruit. You should be in for an early bumper crop if you can give them what they need. Super hots can take much longer to germinate.

Lamboluke...even though your prop isn't heated (I also thought it was) I would take the lid off during the day and put it back on at night. Or at least wipe the condensation off the inside, that may well cause you damping off, rotting problems.

[Lamboluke]

Is that a cayenne type chilli Bacchus? Cayennes are usually the easier of the chillies to germinate and probably one of the first to fruit. You should be in for an early bumper crop if you can give them what they need. Super hots can take much longer to germinate.

Lamboluke...even though your prop isn't heated (I also thought it was) I would take the lid off during the day and put it back on at night. Or at least wipe the condensation off the inside, that may well cause you damping off, rotting problems.

Thanks for the advice. I'll start doing that. First time growing anything from seed so it's a huge learning curve but massively exciting.

[Scarlet]

To be honest, I live in an old farm house and it's not the warmest! Chillies can't cope in temps lower than 10 but I very much doubt your house is lower than that when the heating is off. It is best to grow chillies in cooler temps when the light levels are low. Give them too much warmth (cosied up in a prop, even unheated) and they will grow much faster causing leggy plants.
I only germinate in a propagator and then they are on the windowsills during the day and moved off during the night. Chillies don't like the draughts either.
Why don't you keep a few in and a few out to experiment?

[Bacchus]

Is that a cayenne type chilli Bacchus? Cayennes are usually the easier of the chillies to germinate and probably one of the first to fruit. You should be in for an early bumper crop if you can give them what they need. Super hots can take much longer to germinate.

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They were "ring of fire" seeds that I had on a plant from last year. I really just stuck them in to see how they would germinate. My main sowing won't be until the 2nd week of Feb. I'm probably a couple of weeks behind you's in the south of England.

[Bacchus]

I took this picture a minute ago. It's my heated prop. There should be enough room in there for about 60 jiffy 7's. Once they are up I'll put them in the grow tent and start another batch off to germinate - but it's really too early for me just at the moment. The grow tent is in the garage - it's 2m squared so a bit big for the cupboard

[rhyswales]

Planted 5 Apache, 5 cayenne, 5 habenerro, 5 jalepeno 2 weeks ago. Was hoping to get 2-3 of each. Every one has germinated and are growing well under lights. All germinated in 10 days, good start to the year Now to sow some peppers.

[Bacchus]

Planted 5 Apache, 5 cayenne, 5 habenerro, 5 jalepeno 2 weeks ago. Was hoping to get 2-3 of each. Every one has germinated and are growing well under lights. All germinated in 10 days, good start to the year Now to sow some peppers.

Sounds great - lets see pictures when you can.

It's put me in the mood for planting a few varieties in all seriousness now

[Scarlet]

I haven't got any lights so I don't sow too early. They become a little leggy. Mid February for me but I really have itchy fingers....

[Bacchus]

This is a pic of what I have to plant

Trinidad scorpion butch T
Palermo pointed
Red Ricotta
Ring of Fire
Sweet Banana
Jalapeno
Sweet chocolate
Jimmy Nardellos
Midnight pearl babies
Black Hungarian
Bulgarian Carrot
Golden marconi
Golden Treasure
Georgia Flame
7 pod (pot)
Hungarian hot wax
Bhut Jolokia
Apache

and some others I saved from last year

[rhyswales]

Sounds great - lets see pictures when you can.

It's put me in the mood for planting a few varieties in all seriousness now

Here's a quick picture from this morning

[chilli_grower]

another 2 weeks and I will sow the habaneros!!!!!

[Bohobumble]

Really good info on starting chillies off under different circumstances here, much appreciated!

I'm grow light and heated propagator free (tho my unheated propagator on the windowsill gets the radiator heat when it's on) so I have only sown a couple of chilli seeds for curiosity really.

I guess I need to start thinking about sowing the ones that will eventually go into my greenhouse in 3-4 weeks time.

[Bacchus]

I guess I need to start thinking about sowing the ones that will eventually go into my greenhouse in 3-4 weeks time.

That might still be a little early if your greenhouse isn't heated. A frost will kill them and I noted minus 5 in my polytunnel at the weekend.