Chillies - what are you growing/overwintering?

[Chris11]

Evening all!

I'm looking to collect some seed from the Hungarian hot wax..I've read they must be ripe before taking the seed..trouble is I've not frown them before... Would these be 'ripe' or would they turn even more yellow!?

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Lovely plant and pods cptn. Hungarian Hot Wax is one of the earliest varieties and I'd bought some seed to grow this year but ended up running out of space. I'm hoping to grow it alongside Inferno F1 next year, to compare the two.

If yours are the standard Hot Wax variety, they are usually picked and eaten yellow. That's probably why they are often pictured yellow, but they will ripen to orange and then red. If you pick them now, the seeds are much less likely to be mature and viable.

Decide on the best looking pods and leave them on the plant for ripening and seed saving, and start picking and eating the others

Edit: Just found the Suttons link which has a good picture of the different colours as they ripen.
Pepper Chilli Seeds - Hungarian Hot Wax - All Vegetable Seeds - Vegetable Seeds - Gardening - Suttons Seeds and Plants

[Ms-T]

Thanks for the link Chris11 .

[Scarlet]

Hmm, the only problem with leaving them on until they are fully ripe at this stage in the season is the plant will stop producing flowers. As soon as they have several fruits on the plant at ripening stage they will slow down. It might be worth taking this flush off now and waiting for a second flush of flowers...or take a change and leave some on to ripen a little more.

[Ms-T]

Was wondering when is best to snip off the first few flowers on Chilli and pepper plants?

I always snip the first 5 (is that enough?) off before they even open but when i just did it before, I was wondering is it best to wait until the flower actually opens or does it not really matter?

Any advice would be great, thanks.

I take them off as I find them...how many depend on how strong the plant is ,if its looking good only about 3 or4 if its looking weak then a lot more.

[cptncrackoff]

Thanks for the link and advice Chris!

..and Scarlet.. that's what I was thinking..when you allow a fruit bearing plant to ripen a fruit, it thinks it has successfully reproduced and ceases to produce flowers!?

I don't mind sacrificing the production of this plant, I have the two much larger trimmed plants which are about a month behind this one and now starting to produce large quantities of flowers...


...on a more serious note.. 'Pretty in purple' on the kitchen windowsill isn't holding its fruit..just dropping flowers...help!!

[Scarlet]

Thanks for the link and advice Chris!

..and Scarlet.. that's what I was thinking..when you allow a fruit bearing plant to ripen a fruit, it thinks it has successfully reproduced and ceases to produce flowers!?

That's why I mentioned it. On your photo the plant doesn't look like it's got any more flowers so it could stop . That's why I often do a couple of plants...one yo save from and one to crop off. Dwarf beans are much the same.

You can hand pollinate your P in P. Take your finger, a flower, paintbrush, cotton wool bud and move the pollen around from flower to flower.

[Ladyslip]

Ladyslip, is this true of all chillis..??

Can you eat them (any variety of chilli) when green and through all stages of ripening ....
Or does it depend on what type it is....?

As I understand it Susie G any can be eaten green or when fully ripe...which may not always be green....or even red......passilla bajio for instance is fully ripe when brown....

[SusieG]

Thanks ladyslip, I can munch away at them as soon as they're big enough then ... !

[Scarlet]

Lemon drop are yellow when fully ripe and my black nagas are a deep chocolate brown.....love this time of year

[Small pumpkin]

while we are on the colour questions. how white are white habaneros when they are ripe? i've got some that are lemon/cream coloured.

I've taken yet another photo of Trevor's leaves (with a real camera and uploaded on my laptop, should be big pics). the holes are getting bigger. don't know if holes are bigger because the leaves have grown or because its getting worse? and the brown patches seem to be less? still not spotted any bugs of any sort.

[Chris11]

while we are on the colour questions. how white are white habaneros when they are ripe? i've got some that are lemon/cream coloured.

I'm growing a White Habanero too. With chillies, it's often hard to be sure about the exact variety because of conflicting or inconsistent information on different websites. There are at least two different 'White Habanero' types, probably three and possibly four or five.

How much do you know about the type you are growing, SP? Depending on what you've got, the pods may ripen to a very definite white, or otherwise a creamy yellow-white. Will be interesting to compare when we've both got more mature pods

[Small pumpkin]

Don't know much about my white habanero. I got it at the EGS from chilli Bob. It has lots of pods on and still coming but the majority are very small ( pea or smaller size ) including the ones ripening. It's not a small plant though and it's in a 7lt flower bucket.

[spamvindaloo]

while we are on the colour questions. how white are white habaneros when they are ripe? i've got some that are lemon/cream coloured.

When I grew white habanero, the fruit was a creamy colour and I recall torpedo shaped and less than an inch in length (I think) Fairly hot if I recall too.

[Scarlet]

SP, those holes look like snail damage.

[Ladyslip]

^^^^^^ yep I'd agree.......have one or two of my own ....rolls eyes......I've sprinkled pellets on the poly floor ��