Chillies - growing and overwintering 2017

[Guest]

Sown the first of my seeds today (in my fab4 prop. )

Congo Trinidad
CGN 21500
7pot White
Devils Tongue Yellow
Rocoto Marlene SLP
Italian Mystery Sweet peppers (they didn't do anything last year so they might be shot )

[Deano's "Diggin It"]

My orders in!

Big Jim
Cayenne Long n Slim
Early Jalapeno
Hungarian Hot Wax
Big Sun
Scotch Bonnet Red
Scotch Bonnet Yellow
Bird Eye

Not a big list I know, as finding the time to nurture as well as my Tomatoes is getting thin these days!

[Deano's "Diggin It"]

Couldn't stop myself!

Added to the list!

Bulgarian Carrot
Nigel's Outdoor
Lemon Drop and a few others!

That's it! Honest I'm done!

[Scarlet]

Haha, love the...."and a few others"

Ive got some of the Nigel's outdoor chillies.(from Jackarmy) we will have to give it a review later in the season. Looking forward to trying it

[Philthy]

Well, I'm feeling a bit left out so I've dusted off the propogator and had a turnout of my seed box!
I tried my hardest to be disciplined but the original five varieties is now ten (definitely my maximum now though). Forgot I bought a couple of packets of seed at last year's chilli festival at West Dene.. and discovered no seed left of Hab Chocolate or Thai Dragon so a few switches made.

So I sowed five varieties last night:
- Paper Lantern
- Joe's Long
- Espelette
- Trinidad Scorpion
- Green Trinidad Scorpion (new one, much milder than original, olive green when fully ripe. Growing the two Trinidads side by side to compare them).

And in a couple of weeks ie. my usual sowing time I'll do the other five, which'll be:
- Lemon Drop
- Criolla Sella
- Apple Crisp (another new one [for me]; fruits are very mild and sweet, only about 400 SHU, about the size of a small apple, and plants should reach 1m or so. Probably not a million miles from the Alma Paprika I grew last year).
- Orange Thai
- Orange Thai hybrid from saved seed (no idea what I crossed it with so will grow it alongside the original and wait to be pleasantly surprised).

Incidently I've always used the peat pots + peat cells for seeds (I know there is mixed opinion on their advantages). I find it makes transplanting into a bigger pot later on much easier, the roots are contained and aren't overly disturbed, obviously the pot darkens when watered so it helps to gauge how dry it is by it's colour, and should any pots be left over, dry them out, knock the compost out, a quick brush and use them again the following year.

[Chris11]

Update: in the house for potential overwintering.

Growing slowly, limited leaf drop or dormancy:
-Orange Habanero
-Pink Habanero
-Golden Cayenne
-Cayenne Large Red Thick

Leaf drop, stems look ok, hopefully dormant and will overwinter:
-Burkina Yellow
-(Elysium Oxide F5xPaper Lantern) F1

Some leaf drop, stems going brown in small patches, uncertain surviving:
-Santa Fe Grande

Leaf drop, stems going brown in large patches, probably not surviving:
-Elysium Oxide F6
-(Elysium Oxide F5xBurkina Yellow) F1
-Numex Sandia
-Cheyenne F1

Plus the Turbo Alberto crosses which may be more cold tolerant, and I was originally planning to give them a chance to overwinter in the greenhouse. One plant dropped leaves and died after the first hard frost, the other one survived several before I decided to bring it in to the house.

[Philthy]

-Golden Cayenne
-Cayenne Large Red Thick

Hi Chris. Have you tried to induce dormancy of these or you happy for them to just tick over? Have you pruned them (or any of your plants for that matter)? Any chance of a photo of the cayennes?

How many plants of Santa Fe Grande did you achieve in the end? Much of a crop?

[Chris11]

Hi Philthy. I never try and induce dormancy, as that would likely reduce the chances of a plant surviving. If they are capable of ticking over, then that's what I let happen. I do some very basic pruning, to maintain balance and shape. For plants that enter full dormancy, I prune back a little more heavily.

Here's the cayennes. They're living indoors, but just took them outside to get a pic for you in natural light.



Only had one Santa Fe Grande plant. Here are pics of the same plant back in August and today.


There are some over ripe pods still on the plant, partly for seed saving and partly because I've got more chillies that I can easily eat

[jacks10]

My plants are thriving under the light.

love your set up the 1st one is doing well!

[jacks10]

Well, I'm feeling a bit left out so I've dusted off the propogator and had a turnout of my seed box!
I tried my hardest to be disciplined but the original five varieties is now ten (definitely my maximum now though). Forgot I bought a couple of packets of seed at last year's chilli festival at West Dene.. and discovered no seed left of Hab Chocolate or Thai Dragon so a few switches made.

So I sowed five varieties last night:
- Paper Lantern
- Joe's Long
- Espelette
- Trinidad Scorpion
- Green Trinidad Scorpion (new one, much milder than original, olive green when fully ripe. Growing the two Trinidads side by side to compare them).

And in a couple of weeks ie. my usual sowing time I'll do the other five, which'll be:
- Lemon Drop
- Criolla Sella
- Apple Crisp (another new one [for me]; fruits are very mild and sweet, only about 400 SHU, about the size of a small apple, and plants should reach 1m or so. Probably not a million miles from the Alma Paprika I grew last year).
- Orange Thai
- Orange Thai hybrid from saved seed (no idea what I crossed it with so will grow it alongside the original and wait to be pleasantly surprised).

Incidently I've always used the peat pots + peat cells for seeds (I know there is mixed opinion on their advantages). I find it makes transplanting into a bigger pot later on much easier, the roots are contained and aren't overly disturbed, obviously the pot darkens when watered so it helps to gauge how dry it is by it's colour, and should any pots be left over, dry them out, knock the compost out, a quick brush and use them again the following year.

The chilli festival sounds cool. Might have a wonder this year, I just googled it its in August

[Philthy]

..I never try and induce dormancy, as that would likely reduce the chances of a plant surviving.

That has certainly been my experience with the Cayennes. I'm yet to have one successfully regenerate the following year after going fully dormant. Though it does seem to be primarily the Annuums that struggle through the winter months. Obviously there's a chunk of winter still to go, but so far what you're doing seems to be working well. When I grow this group again I will need to tweak my method I think

The chilli festival sounds cool. Might have a wonder this year, I just googled it its in August

You definitely should! It's the highlight show in my opinion.
(Last year's Fiery Food Festival in Brighton was a load of rubbish. Hardly anything actually to do with chillies. Soulless...).

[jackarmy]

Chris
were those cayennes in their original pots or did you "pot down" so to speak.?

[Chris11]

Chris
were those cayennes in their original pots or did you "pot down" so to speak.?

Jack, I left them in the same pots they were in at the end of summer. Just identified the best plants, reduced watering, and brought them indoors. Agree with Philthy that annuums are difficult to overwinter, so early days yet. But so far, so good

If they survive and thrive, will pot them up to bigger pots in early spring.

[jackarmy]

Ah ok thought so.As an experiment ?
Dont want to preach to the converted so to speak, but if you put them into mfb size ( 10l) or bigger in their first season i mean ) they will get a lot bigger than that, four foot ish and give you enough chillis to last you a 12 month .)
They really so fly if given the room and even outside in sunny wales given a bit of shelter from the wind.

[Scarlet]

Yes, I found last year that even if I went from a small pot to a huge one the plant quadrupled in size overnight. I used to pot on properly but it didn't seem to make much of a difference - the smallest pot I would use is a MFB, I try to go bigger on my better plants.

I don't bother saving annums usually. It's not worth the hassle with whitefly, come early spring
But the royal black was such a slow grower and so was the tri colour varigata that ive given them some window space - I had to bring the royal black, tri colour varigata and the Numex Bailey Piquin indoors to let the pods ripen for seed saving. Last of the pods taken off a couple of weeks ago. The Bailey main stem just went brown.
The Tri colour has dropped loads of leaves the last couple of weeks, ive trimmed quite a bit. The royal black isn't looking great either but I think they may have a chance.