Chillies - what are you growing/overwintering?

[Jay22]

I grew the cayenne last year but they grew too tall and although I got a lot of good chillies from the. They were just too messy looking. Anyone recommend a bushy chilli?

[Scarlet]

Basket of fire is a small plant Jay or try the numed twillight that scoot is growing, I think they are smallish.
Cayennes can be a bit straggly, did you grow indoors or outside? I know you haven't got a GH.

[cristalfiona]

All of my overwintered ones died because it's been far too damp in my 20 year old leaky garage this winter. I have hundreds of very old (5-10 years) chilli seeds so I sowed 30 of those in a propagator last week, more out of curiosity to see what would happen than anything else. I'll be sowing more of these every week at about the same rate just to see if I get anywhere.

I also have newer seed in various varieties so they will be going in at the end of this month for my genuine growing effort, as I don't have a grow light system.

[Scoot]

I grew some of them a few years ago. Very pretty plants that fruited really well. Have they sprouted yet?

Yes, one of them has. I had to resow another coupe of seeds as i want two plants. Hopefully one of those two seeds will germinate and i will have the 2 plants i want to grow this year. They do look a lovely plant on the picture on the front of the seed packet.

[Scoot]

All of my overwintered ones died because it's been far too damp in my 20 year old leaky garage this winter. I have hundreds of very old (5-10 years) chilli seeds so I sowed 30 of those in a propagator last week, more out of curiosity to see what would happen than anything else. I'll be sowing more of these every week at about the same rate just to see if I get anywhere.

I also have newer seed in various varieties so they will be going in at the end of this month for my genuine growing effort, as I don't have a grow light system.

I don't have a growlight (or a heated prop) either and I've had my chilli's and peppers germinating since mid January. They aren't at all leggy and are growing quite nicely. I've got them all on an east facing window which gets most of the sun and light at this time of the year.

You can see one of them in this picture...

[Bacchus]

I've tried to overwinter about 15 plants - but all I've done is prune them back and leave them in the polytunnel. Last night had a bit of frost - which was really the first this year - which probably hasn't done them any good. But they have been pruned back hard so they might live...

Most of them are Capsicum Pubescens so they've a better chance than the other varieties (the black seeded and hairy leaved type).

I've cut back on the varieties I'm growing from scratch too.
so far I've standard cayene's planted with some more capsicum pubescens which I find I can grow really well and some devils tongue. (about 40 or each in trays)

I might plant a few more varieties this weekend

[Gren]

Cutting back to only 3 varieties this year with some Marconi sweet peppers as well.

Cherry Bombs to stuff with ricotta
Scotch Bonnets for general use - such a heavy cropper, I always end up with so many fruits
Trinidad Moruga Scorpion for the challenge!

20 seeds have come up a week and half out of 30 planted so not bad. Surprisingly the scorpions were the first up.

[Jay22]

Basket of fire is a small plant Jay or try the numed twillight that scoot is growing, I think they are smallish.
Cayennes can be a bit straggly, did you grow indoors or outside? I know you haven't got a GH.

Thanks Scarlet. I grew them indoors and they were a bit straggly! Will have a look at your suggestions.
Have I mentioned before that I don't have a greenhouse?

[Scarlet]

I have the best luck of overwintering on my East facing windowsills too!

[Philthy]

Overwintered stock has been pretty good this year. These plants should re-shoot:
Moruga Scorpion / Fatalii / Serrano Tampiqueno / Peruvian Orange (similar to Hot Lemon but orange) / Thai Dragon / Hot Lemon / Paper Lantern / Orange Thai / Orange Thai from saved seed / Black Pearl / Espelette x2 / Habanero Chocolate / Habanero Monster x2 / Chinese Black / Medusa x2 (no heat but quite decorative).

Lost both Carolina Reaper which is quite annoying.

Seeds for this year I'll just do Hot Lemon / Espelette / Thai Dragon. These are my favourites and whatever else does / doesn't survive year on year I make sure I always have these at hand.

PS Moruga Scorpion is a brutally potent pepper - go EASY on them if growing / using for the first time

I keep hearing reference to Lemon Drop - are they volcanic hot?

Like Scarlet said not too bad. The attraction of this one is the genuine lemony taste and versatility in the kitchen. They're recommended for sweet as well as savoury - a flavouring for honey is one idea.

Anyone recommend a bushy chilli?

"Super Chili" is a good one - compact, bushy, and very productive. It works on a windowsill, sunny patio, OR greenhouse.
"Apache" is another option. Also suited for outside and doesn't get too big.
"Basket Of Fire" works well on a windowsill and is a prolific cropper.
"Demon Red" is a dwarf plant but punches well above it's weight with a plentiful supply (100+ potentially) of inch long red pointy fruits. Quite hot.

[Tripmeup]

Must remember to check my overwintered ones..
Think I had Red Hab, Lemon Drop and one other, maybe Scotch Bonnet..

Also have sown

Cayenne
HBW
Hopscotch
Red Hab
Lemon Drop
Fuego Ibrido
Palivec
Ohnivec
Anaheim (self saved seed)
Habanero
Scotch Bonnet
Sante Fe
Padron
Jalapeno
Purple Jalapeno


Might do a few more yet..

I love my chillies in all forms Still have lots of jars of pickled ones, chilli jam, flaked chillies and spicy tomato and chilli preserve/jam from last year...

[unclefudgly]

I've tried to overwinter about 15 plants - but all I've done is prune them back and leave them in the polytunnel. Last night had a bit of frost - which was really the first this year - which probably hasn't done them any good. But they have been pruned back hard so they might live...

Most of them are Capsicum Pubescens so they've a better chance than the other varieties (the black seeded and hairy leaved type).

I've cut back on the varieties I'm growing from scratch too.
so far I've standard cayene's planted with some more capsicum pubescens which I find I can grow really well and some devils tongue. (about 40 or each in trays)

I might plant a few more varieties this weekend

I have two hairy bolivian over wintering as well, have yours fruited yet as mine seems to be quite slow growing unlike other chillies

[Scarlet]

I grew manzano a few years back, hairy leaves, purple flowers, black seeded fruit. The first year I didn't get any fruit, second year it fruited, ghough not a huge cropper the fruit were tangerine size. They were gorgeous to look at, dangerous to touch! They really packed some heat. The fruit itself was very thick, my chilli jam was explosive! A little bit went a long way, chopped up and froze the rest. Worth the wait.

[Scarlet]

I should have added that I popped a few old seeds of the manzano in the heated propagator...several of them showed their heads today they've taken less than a fortnight to come.

[Jay22]

Going to have a bash at Basket of Fire and Apache! Thanks for the suggestions peeps!