Peppers and chillie questions from a novice!

[AdamB1978]

Hello

Its my first season growing veg and am quietly pleased about how its gone.

- my Romano mixed pepper plants mainly have say 3-6 peppers on them but are all green....should I expect them to change colour and if so when? Half the plants are in the greenhouse, half outside....there doesnt seem to be much difference in how advanced either group are. They were sowed in late March so are 5+ months in...

- my chillie plants (Little Elf) have all done pretty well and each (apart from one) has 10-20 chillies....however they're still that creamy type colour, about 3-4cms. When should they change colour? Also planted in late March

Actually, whilst I'm asking stupid questions, the lower leaves of the pepper plants are quite droopy and, given no fruits grow down there, am I meant to lop them off? I was wondering whether the plant was using energy keeping them alive when that energy could be used on other things.

Many thanks in advance (and apologies for the numpty questions!)

Adam

[Ladyslip]

No such thing as a numpty question ....only a daft answer ......cue daft answer.....

Your peppers have plenty of time to ripen .....I have big green fruits on my yellow peppers....they were March/April

As for you chillies.....still plenty of time....many folk are only just getting ripe fruits now....and march plants are quite late by some standards....I know some start Dec/Jan

The drooping and discoloured leaves are likely to be where the leaves are now exhausted and can be removed.....Many growers start stripping lower leaves out to aid airflow and ripening hth

[piskieinboots]

Definitely not numpty questions. If we don't ask, we don't learn

I grew chillies this year for the first time (I've been a gardener pretty much for ever!) and whilst my plants were giving off a decent amount of chillies, they were quite weedy - as in, no heat to them. I asked the question on a FB group and it seems I was not treating them mean enough. I was over-watering.

Sure enough, when I started to be mean to them, the fruits now have some heat to them.

[jacks10]

I too have started to do chillis and peppers this year for the first time. I've learnt a lot with the help of this lot!

[AdamB1978]

Cool, thanks both for the replies. I can breathe a sigh of relief!

Have removed some of the droopy leaves on the pepper plants. I dont feel that I'm over-watering the plants, though truthfully I have no idea....! I'm giving them a small drink every (perhaps 100ml? Not more than 200ml) whenever the top of the soil is dry, which has pretty much been every day for the last month or two. Fingers crossed!

Thanks again for the help

Adam

[Scarlet]

Hi Adam, what size pots are they in? Have you got a photo?
It is wiser to give a good watering once a week than a small cup daily, it may well be that the roots aren't actually getting enough water when you water from the top. Sit the plant in dome water and let it take it up from the roots. Also it could well need a feed...dilute tomato feed works well for chillies.

[Ladyslip]

Mine are bottom watered.....cept the ones in airpots we all have a way of doing things and sometimes it works sometimes it don't

[SusieG]

Hi AdamB, we love any questions on here, and there's no such thing as a numpty question ~ if you don't ask you don't learn .....

Give us some piccies to look at ~ it always helps to see what you're describing..! (And we're nosey ...!)

My sweet peppers are only just this week starting to produce flowers ~ I was a little concerned, too. Nice tall healthy green plants - no fruit! So just hoping for a bit more sunshine to help them along - mine are in GH ...

So, don't give up hope ~ they sound as if they're doing fine!

[jacks10]

Talking of sweet peppers. It's now getting a bit leggy for its small pot in the conservatory so thinking of moving it outside on a container with other veg that attempting to grow. They are still early stages apart from courgette plant which is its last legs.
Have runout of pots,. If it doesn't work I will just have to get another big pot @!@

[Scarlet]

It's a bit cold now Jack. If you want to move a plant outside you need to get it used to being in outside conditions. You leave them outside for a few days and bring them indoors at night and then leave them out at night somewhere sheltered. Pointless doing this now when the nights will be getting cooler soo, chillies really need more warmth than most plants ideally 12/13 or over. Keep it inside.

[Tripmeup]

Talking of sweet peppers. It's now getting a bit leggy for its small pot in the conservatory so thinking of moving it outside on a container with other veg that attempting to grow. They are still early stages apart from courgette plant which is its last legs.
Have runout of pots,. If it doesn't work I will just have to get another big pot @!@

As Scarlet said, too late now to be putting outside..Get yourself a new pot!!

[jacks10]

thank you, think I will have to get a new pot, but will have to wait til I get back from holidays unless I get my mother in law to get me a pot when she is house sitting!!!

[the big lebowski]

if your looking for pot sizes then check out "growing chillies;effects of pot sizes " by "seaspring seeds" on you tube and also check out there dorset narga ! they got over 2000 chillis of 1 plant ,cheers

[Bex2012]

Sorry to hijack, but can chilli and pepper plants be overwintered? My chillis have flowers, but no sign of fruit. They were part of that cheap James Wong offer, so I got them really late.

[Tripmeup]

Sorry to hijack, but can chilli and pepper plants be overwintered? My chillis have flowers, but no sign of fruit. They were part of that cheap James Wong offer, so I got them really late.

Yes is the simple answer...You still have time to get chillies from the plants this season..Are you tickling the flowers??