Chillies - what are you growing/overwintering?

[Scarlet]

Yes, I am a little persistent

I don't mean the Summer after, I mean the Summer before? Or didn't it fruit until Christmas.

[Scarlet]

I have brought a grow light garden and is now on just under 2 weeks!! .

You've got lights? Lucky! You can start end Dec/early Jan. What seeds have you got?

[JusPotterinTim]

Oh I see.

This is how it was during it's first flush that summer, as a teenager, on the 1st of June (right hand plant):



There's about 20 pods on there, later on in the next flush I got about another 40 from memory.

Also notable in that picture is 'Cousin It' the Satan's Kiss cherry type, which looked more like a shaggy dog than a chilli plant, it seemed to thrive under the grow lights.

[Scarlet]

Do you keep them pruned in the summer too?

[the big lebowski]

hi all ,lots of great advice on here the last few days ,for te people who start there seeds in dec/jan how do you keep the temp up without having a huge heating bill ? to start the seeds of i guess you use a heated propergater but what do you do when the plants hit the top of the cover ? cheers

[Tripmeup]

I sow in my heated propagator and transfer under my growlight once they are up and running..Last year was the first time I used growlight and the one obvious thing I found was how much more bushy plants were...Wouldn't be without my lights now..

[Tripmeup]

Red Manzano

Was a bit late bringing my Red Manzano ( thanks Scarlet) inside, so hope it survives...Gonna wait til a few more fruit ripen and then give it a trim...

[Small pumpkin]

I sow in my heated propagator and transfer under my growlight once they are up and running..Last year was the first time I used growlight and the one obvious thing I found was how much more bushy plants were...Wouldn't be without my lights now..

I'm going to have a go at growing them like that this year


Soon I need to work out how many of each variety I'm going to need/grow. Definitely only one of each of the super hots, but how do you work out how many jalapeño, lemon drops, habaneros and pretty much everything else?

[Scoot]

Just out of interest, what size pots does everyone use for Chilli plants?

I'm growing 6 or 7 varieties next year and was thinking 5ltr would be big enough?

[Scarlet]

I haven't got lights Lebowski..so I start of end Jan/beginning of Feb. As soon as they have germinated take them out of the prop to stop them getting leggy. Put them on the sunniest window to Let them get as much light as possible - preferably in a room that has a constant temp/not near a radiator.
Scoot, I use black flower usually although all my big plants are in double that size. The bigger the pot the bigger the plant.

[Scarlet]

Was a bit late bringing my Red Manzano ( thanks Scarlet) inside, so hope it survives...Gonna wait til a few more fruit ripen and then give it a trim...

Mine got frosted! It has a good amount of pods for its first year though.

[Small pumpkin]

Hi scoot
Rule of thumb is, the bigger the pot the bigger the chilli. This isn't true in all cases obviously. Ornamentals will be happy not going into really big pots. And if you use one of these
Chilligrow Planter for 2x Bigger Harvests
Really good for great crop without big pots.

What varieties are you growing?

What it really comes down to is personal choice and space.

Personally I wouldn't grow a chilli in anything smaller than a 7lt pot ( including ornamentals ). But I'm very lucky I have quite a lot of space.

[Scoot]

I haven't got lights Lebowski..so I start of end Jan/beginning of Feb. As soon as they have germinated take them out of the prop to stop them getting leggy. Put them on the sunniest window to Let them get as much light as possible - preferably in a room that has a constant temp/not near a radiator.
Scoot, I use black flower usually although all my big plants are in double that size. The bigger the pot the bigger the plant.

I see. I am going to be growing them all on window sills in the house so that was why i will probably use 5 litre. I'm growing Scotch Bonnet, Numex Twilight, Hungarian hot wax, Jalapeno, cayenne long slim and Ring of fire. Would they all be better in 10 liter pots? Just i know some plants aren't particularly big so a 5 litre pot would be just fine for them.

There we are Small pumpkin ^ lol

[Scarlet]

If you are just growing on windowsills it changes things. Use what's best for you for growing inside. The Jalapeno though will give you great returns if you can put it in something bigger. As SP has said, the bigger the pot the bigger the plant. The ring if fire and numex twillight are small plants do you can save your big pots for the others.

[Small pumpkin]

Nice selection scoot. I would say all of those would really like being in 10lt pots. But like I said before it all depends on available space. Hungarian hot wax will be a new one for me next year. All the others have a nice little kick to them, and produce well.