Chillies - what are you growing/overwintering?

[Chris11]

The lemon chilli is aiji citrus, ive just looked it up, and was the only ones i bought as plants but did not produce a single chilli. Fingers crossed for next year

Aji Cito maybe?

[Scarlet]

They need a long growing season, hence advice to sow early e.g. January, but if you do, you’ll need grow lights to bring them on until we get decent amounts of daylight. If you don’t have lights then it’s recommended not to sow until March, but then it would be difficult to get fruit to set and ripen within the season. But they’re perennials, so you can always overwinter them next winter and hope for a good crop in 2018.

I havent got grow lights but I would never wait until March to sow any super hot chillies. That's much too late to expect any crop. Chillies are also hit and miss with overwintering, they don't always make it.

[Scarlet]

Ok ive goe a bit mad and ordered

Dorset naga and Trinidad scorpion to go alongside Carolina reaper.

I dont even like chillis But I like a challenge

Ive grown trinidad scorpion two years in a row...it's been brilliant!

[sparrow100]

I havent got grow lights but I would never wait until March to sow any super hot chillies. That's much too late to expect any crop. Chillies are also hit and miss with overwintering, they don't always make it.

All my annuums have taken themselves off to the Thereafter. On the plus side that gives me more space for seedlings in a month's time. (just a month to go! wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!)

[Mitzi]

Exciting news!!! (Well, it is for me, no doubt it won't be of interest to anyone else.)

The first one of my Peter Pepper seeds has started to sprout a root! I've taken it from the damp tissue and put it in a Jiffy 7, still in the propagator. Now I just have to wait and hope that the shoot pops up too.

In other news of no interest to anyone except me, I visited a local hydroponics shop on Sunday. That was fun. Didn't buy much but they have a huge range of stuff e.g. grow lights so I will no doubt be visiting again in the near future. (I know online is often cheaper but I do like to support bricks and mortar shops where possible.) I'm not planning to go down the hydroponic route but they do other stuff too.

[jacks10]

We can celebrate together as I have little showings on the 3 out of 4!!
Have kept advice I have sat on my hands and only shuffled them yesterday after a week. Grow lights are only about 5 hours a day and will be giving them a little spray of water as a celebration lol!!!

[JusPotterinTim]

I thought I would post some pictures to brighten up the thread a bit during the winter...

As a reminder to anyone, I brought my chilli plants in a month ago, put them under some T5 HO grow lights (using 2 at the moment), and pruned them hard to tidy them up and try and control some leaf spot.

My goal is to get a crop in time for Christmas, I think I might just achieve that.

Here they were on 11th Nov after pruning:



Here they are now:



I've been running two bulbs, for 12-16 hours a day (I've ramped it up over the last two weeks to increase growth), @ 16h/day it costs about £6/month in electricity.

And some close ups:

Cherry bomb (left) and Hungarian Hot Wax (right):



The Cherry bomb continues to show it's desire for world domination, it was just a stump three weeks ago with no leaves. I flushed the pot a few times with water to cleanse the compost, then fertilised once, as it had recived a lot more fertiliser as it grew much more than the others in the summer, so the compost needed a flush really. It needs some more fertiliser now as the leaves are pale now - will wait until it dries out a bit as it hates being sat in waterlogged compost. The Hot Wax has a couple of dozen flowers, if their size is anything to go by the fruits will be whoppers.

I have also done a bit of select pruning, nipping off a couple of straggly shoots that were growing far taller than the rest tall on a couple of the plants (think they were scouting out a new place for the plant to expand to). The slight pruning seems to have sent the plants the message that something is grazing them at higher levels, so the rest of the growth has been very uniform and compact after that.

Bulgarian Carrot (left) and Jalapeno (Right):



The Carrot has stalled a bit, I am determined to get a ripe pod off it soon, this has slowed it down I think. It started putting out loads of flower buds but I've removed these as it's too small to support them.

The Jalapeno started off a bit slow but the leaves are now quite big and it has 40-50 ish buds, so happy with that.

[sparrow100]

Nice choices Tim. I grew Bulgarian Carrot this year and am now a big fan. Much better than Orange Wonder.

[JusPotterinTim]

Thanks Sparrow. I hear the Carrot is nice and thick walled which is what I prefer, looking forward to trying it out.

Iam impressed with the others too, they are all very palatable. The Cherry Bomb especially so, I stuffed a dozen with tuna and salad cream, and baked them, a few weeks ago. They were very tasty and not too hot, just right, I scooped out the seeds etc. before filling.

[Mitzi]

Looking good, Tim!

I love reading everyone's opinions on all the different varieties. I know it's subjective but it's all interesting information, so thanks everyone and keep it up.

[JusPotterinTim]

Looking good, Tim!

I love reading everyone's opinions on all the different varieties. I know it's subjective but it's all interesting information, so thanks everyone and keep it up.

Thanks Mitzi. Apart from the Carrot which I haven't sampled yet, the others are all quite succulent juicy varieties that are nice to eat, no superhots for me. The Jalapeno is like the everyday chilli, it will go with anything, eaten raw it's fine, no need to blend it into a dish to reduce the heat, but the one I've got does have a good enough kick to it (think it's a "Jalapeno M").

The hot wax should be quite prolific and has more heat, and massive pods, and the Cherry Bomb are in the middle for heat, and very nice stuffed or sliced onto a pizza.

I stunted the Hot Wax a lot this year due to potting up too soon and in the big volume of compost for the size of plant the compost was too wet for several weeks (wouldn't dry out and the plant wasn't using the moisture) - it suffered lot, and dropped leaves and sulked for a month or two.

P.S. the Cherry Bomb was very prolific this summer, it grew very fast once it got going. It's an F1 seed type and I got the seeds from South Devon Chilli Farm.

[the big lebowski]

thanks for the update tim ,they are looking nice and stocky ,cheers

[JusPotterinTim]

thanks for the update tim ,they are looking nice and stocky ,cheers

Cheers the big lebowski. Yes a bit of selective pruning of a couple of shoots has encouraged them to stay stocky it seems.

[jacks10]

Wow what a difference in that time. They look amazing. Your grow lights how far would u say they are from the top of the leaves.

As u know mine are under grow lights from start and keep adjusting the height in the early days as I sit on my hands now.

I am getting some showings but hungarian wax is the last to show
Pictures will follow soon

[Chris11]

I am impressed with the others too, they are all very palatable. The Cherry Bomb especially so, I stuffed a dozen with tuna and salad cream, and baked them, a few weeks ago. They were very tasty and not too hot, just right, I scooped out the seeds etc. before filling.

I like Cherry Bomb and Hungarian Black stuffed with Mascarpone cheese, really good way to enjoy the mild varieties like this.