Chillies - what are you growing/overwintering?

[JusPotterinTim]

Just to add, Mitzi, if the underside of your leaves looks like this then it is likely they have a case of oedema:

http://www.georgiawx.net/pepper/nasty1.jpg

If so, it's not a disease as such, just a problem caused by the plants having too much water available to them, and should pull through I understand in most cases. Fungicide won't help with that.

[JusPotterinTim]

Sorry to bombard with another post, but here's a picture showing how the stumps are faring under the grow lights. A small Bulgarian Carrot pod is ripening and should be ready to sample within a week:



They look like bonsai chillies at the moment, but they are growing fast.

[veggiechicken]

I know nothing about chillies - the few I have acquired throughout the year are, I hope, dying
My question for Tim is - when your chilli stumps put on some growth and ?reach the light what will you do? Prune again?

[Scarlet]

I think for two chillies a month I 'd prefer to stick them on a dark windowsill.

Little update on a few of my chillies that I'm saving seed from shame I didn't get some of the others in before the frost hit!


My Numex Bailey piquin - seeds from Philty. Ripening up very well in my dining room. At nearly 5ft this plant is s little large to go on a windowsill so he's sat on my hearth.



My Royal black is looking gorgeous. It will look lovely come Christmad with its tiny chillies



My 3year old lemon drop - this has given me a huge crop this year and is still going strong. he was meant to be binned but he is one of the couple that managed not to get hit by frost. Not sure it will give me a decent crop in its fourth year though....decisions, decisions!

[JusPotterinTim]

I know nothing about chillies - the few I have acquired throughout the year are, I hope, dying
My question for Tim is - when your chilli stumps put on some growth and ?reach the light what will you do? Prune again?

I've found a good way of lowering them, which is to put books and magazines underneather, just slip one out as they grow.

The lights do keep them very dense and low though.

Last year my jalapeno was about a foot tall and I harvested 50 pods in december, this is about the maximum size it could get to under the lights without spreading out into darkness.

Here's a festive shot of a Jalapeno last christmas... (Only had two lights then, now I've got three):

[JusPotterinTim]

I think for two chillies a month I 'd prefer to stick them on a dark windowsill.

Nice photos Scarlet, however, you really aren't convinced about this grow light business that I an using, are you, as evidenced by your post above as well as several others? Each to their own I guess.....

I don't want to upset any apple carts with my technique, however I hope I continue to be welcome to post occasionally on here about my exploits.

[veggiechicken]

Thank you Tim. I see how removing books etc would work.

Regarding your technique, we all do things differently, there's no right or wrong way. If it works for you that's all that matters. I wouldn't use grow lights as there's nothing I want to overwinter that won't survive on a windowsill.

[JusPotterinTim]

No problem at all

Prime windowsill space is at a premium at my place which make the grow lights more useful for me.

[Philthy]

Here's a festive shot of a Jalapeno last christmas...

Impressive. What do you feed with? What is your feeding regime winter and summer?

You've mentioned leaf spot in quite a few of your posts; is this a problem you get often?
Maybe the siting of your light setup is not allowing for sufficient air movement around your plants? Combined with high temperature (high 20's I think you posted awhile back) and moist compost that sounds like a good recipe for something fungal to get a foothold.

With a dormant plant leaf diseases are virtually unknown; as alluded to already most leaves will have dropped by the time the plant is brought in from it's summer placement, and then in the cold room setup the compost is kept almost dry, and light is whatever natural light is available for the time of year - so not much.

Pros and cons for both approaches.

I've found your series of posts quite enlightening so far
Personally I think I'll stick with maintaining dormant plants for the winter period. I've still got frozen chillies from two years ago to use up so cropping continuity isn't necessary for me. The space thing is a big consideration due to plant numbers. But perhaps the biggest factor is that having spent months fussing over them and trying to keep them in peak condition, it's nice to be able to shut them away for a few months and not have to really think about them beyond a bit of water now and then.
Grow lights for me will probably be to advance the seedling stage.

[JusPotterinTim]

Thanks for the positive comments, yes it seemed like a happy plant.

I was feeding it with Chilli Focus, once every two weeks while it was growing strongly, at the mature plant dose, diluted with rainwater. I think that's roughly equivalent in terms of NPK to a 1/2 to 2/3 strength tomato feed solution, but it has trace elements and calcium & magnesium so is quite a complete fertiliser. I flushed the pot a couple of times during the year. The compost was Homebase's John Innes no. 2 with 30% perlite.

This year I'm using Tomato focus from the same manufacturer, it looks to have the same makeup pretty much with calcium, magnesium and micronutrients, and is cheaper. There's also hard/soft water versions of the tomato focus that supposedly optimise the nutrient uptake characteristics using the two types of water. I use the soft water version with rainwater now.

I feed according to growth, so at the moment I am giving the plants a drop of water, and will probably give them some fertiliser once a month until they larger and growing fast, then go to every two weeks.

Yes I think humidity and air movement are probably behind the leaf spot spreading. It took off about two days after I flushed the Cherry Bomb pot, and boom, about half the leaves had spots. Normally I wouldn't keep the compost that wet, although I do try do get a bit of water draining from the bottom when I water so I know all the compost has received some water.

If you haven't got leaf spot, you are lucky, it needs to be introduced, I think it hitched a ride on my Jalapeno seed, then causes problems for keeping it under control.

If I was lucky enough to have a freezer full then I might consider taking a break too, nice to have a break sometimes.

If you do fancy a grow light for seedlings I would recommend a single T5 high output grow lamp which should allow seedlings around 2 months of decent compact growth before needing a bit more light or more bulbs. Something like this: Sunblaster T5HO Propagation Light £15.99 - Mellow Yellow Hydro

The 60cm one should allow 4-6 seedlings in small pots to have a good start, and if if you run it for 18 hours a day for maximum growth, would cost about £8 a month to run, if you run it for 12 hours for moderate growth then it would be just over a fiver in electricity a month. If you have economy 7 it would cost less if you ran the light at off peak times.

[JusPotterinTim]

Whoops, I messed up on the calculations, a single 2ft/60cm tube would cost about £1/ month to run for 12 hours, or £1.50/month to run for 18 hours a day.

Here's a shot of a Jalapeno under two T5HO bulbs, run for 18 hours a day, early last November:



It is maturing some existing pods, and growing lots of new flowers at the same time, I got about 50 pods at the beginning of December. This year I've gone for three bulb, but cut the time down to 12 hours, to allow a larger plant to receive light all over the plant, but overall about the same amount of light in a day, as the Jalapeno was getting a bit too bushy for two bulbs to cover.

[Scarlet]

But perhaps the biggest factor is that having spent months fussing over them and trying to keep them in peak condition, it's nice to be able to shut them away for a few months and not have to really think about them beyond a bit of water now and then.
Grow lights for me will probably be to advance the seedling stage.

Im a bit like that. When I first had my GH I grew overwintering lettuce, and other greens that I could pick (very sparingly ) through the cold months. I was often plagued by whitefly. These days I can't be bothered. I rip out my toms and stick in my overwintering plants that I keep in pots etc around the garden, flowering stuff that I started in September for an early start next year, shut the door and don't venture up there until I start my broad beans in Feb.

I was hoping to get some gro lights for Christmas, would love to start some seedlings off early.
I thought you already had lights?

[Scarlet]

I got about 50 pods at the beginning of December..

How many pods did you get in the summer?

[jacks10]

Wow so much talk on overwintering chillis. A lot of reading.


Where I am is that my first year I pruned way too early and very impatient as I have brought a grow light garden and is now on just under 2 weeks!!
I have lots of spare seeds so I can sow early spring the normal time.

[JusPotterinTim]

Wow you're very persistent in your enquiry Scarlet.

I had to throw the plant away as it had leaf spot and I didn't want it infecting the others. I will let you guys know how the new plants fare over winter and into next year.