Chillies - growing and overwintering 2017

[Chris11]

Welcome hop, great first post and look forward to seeing you become a regular contributor.
Interesting selection of some rarer varieties on your list

Looks like you're having success with overwintering. With aphids I just check plants regularly and keep squishing between fingers. Other people here have given their plants a rinse in the shower, so that might be worth a go if the plants are robust enough.

With small seedlings, I use a pair of tweezers to avoid damaging the delicate leaves and stems. Just try and stay on top of it so plants never get too infested or weakened.

[Mitzi]

Does anyone have any tips on controlling the aphids?

I read somewhere (haven't tried it myself) that you can wrap sticky tape around a cocktail stick (sticky side out) and dab it into the difficult-to-reach areas.

As Chris11 says, you can use the shower or a water spray to wash them off.

Ladybirds are my favourite aphid control method; you can order ladybird larvae. If you get a native species, you can release them in the garden once they are adults.

[Scarlet]

Welcome to the vine Hop-a-long aphids are often a problem on overwintered plants. They can be very difficult to control if they've already taken a firm hold....often keeping them can do more harm to your new plants...try to keep them separate from your new plants...its a hard decision to introduce them into your GH later on in the year too as when in the GH they will multiply fast and can ruin every plant you have. How big are they? You could wash daily for a week and then give them a prune...
Fly tape hung above your plants may help...I'm another that use the water method, I use the spray attachment and wash off daily. There are some links somewhere for making a garlic spray at home.

Ladybirds are my favourite aphid control method; you can order ladybird larvae. If you get a native species, you can release them in the garden once they are adults.

They are really for use underglass, I wouldn't want to introduce those in your home. Much too early for ladybirds too, you will possibly be able to pre order only.

[fishpond]

Unless you are totally against it.
Nuc 'em with pesticide, certainly at this time of the year.
Otherwise it may be a long battle that you will not win.

[JusPotterinTim]

Welcome hop-a-long. That's an interesting selection of chillies you're growing there! I use T5s too.

In addition to the advice given already, what worked for me in curing aphids was the following:

- Rinse under the shower.
- Shake a bit to remove some water.
- Add washing up liquid to a spray bottle. I used about 5ml (about a 2 second squirt) per 500ml of water.
- Spray the plants thoroughly with the washing up liquid solution.
- Leave for 1/2 hour
- Rinse (if you leave the solution on it can harm the leaves).
- Shake dry

The gestation period of aphids is a few days, so I did the above treatment for every 2-3 days for about 10 days in total, to catch any offspring of the ones that were there at the start of the treatment. This completely got rid of aphids on my indoor plants. Also, I am a bit cautious of putting wet plants right under the T5 lights, as I think it can burn the leaves. I make sure plants are over about 20cm away from the lights when wet, then when they've dried, put them right up close to the lights again. Apparently the washing up liquid suffocates the aphids (I think it's the bubbles that clog their breathing holes).

Good luck with it!
Tim

[Mitzi]

They are really for use underglass, I wouldn't want to introduce those in your home. Much too early for ladybirds too, you will possibly be able to pre order only.

I agree it's a bit too early for ladybirds but you can get them now:
Buy Adult ladybirds and ladybird larvae to release in your garden. Ladybirds are aphid predators, so by releasing ladybirds you can tackle your pest problems such as aphids and boost the numbers of our native ladybirds.

The larvae are fine in the house because they stay on the plants. I got some last summer and released them outdoors when they turned into adults (they are a native species.) I somehow missed two, so they are still in the house, but they stay in the spare bedroom and don't bother me. They're not eating the aphids fast enough, though.

[burnie]

I now have 4 Cayenne(100% germination) and 1 Sweet Pepper(25%) growing in the heated propagator, no sign of 2 rows yet doing anything, these were un soaked seeds, just planted in moist compost.

[Scarlet]

I agree it's a bit too early for ladybirds but you can get them now

It's too early for ladybird Larvae too - pre order only. They will be available in May.

[jacks10]

Hi all,

I've got 5 sweet pepper varieties coming along well from seed I planted about a month ago under T5 lights- Antohi Romanian, Friggitello, Hungarian Hot Wax, Sweet Boneta, and Ingrid Pepper.

I planted 6 seeds of each and all sprouted well except the friggitello, which were a bit slow, and only 2 popped up.

Cheers

It was mine hungarian hot wax that didn't germinate for me and the Friggitello seem to be doing the best.

With the aphids problem I put washing up Liquid in some water and spray

[Mitzi]

It's too early for ladybird Larvae too - pre order only. They will be available in May.

On the link I posted, near the top, there's a "larvae available now, click to buy" button. Then further down are all the pre-order ones.

[hop-a-long]

Thanks for all the great suggestions!

I will give the squishing by hand & taking them to the shower a go, followed up by a washing up liquid spray for a week or two, if I can get them looking more under control then I'll be happy. Cocktail stick with sticky tape is a great idea for the seedlings by the way!

I'll definitely keep the ladybird larvae in mind too though, I'd nearly get them now but I kinda feel its a bit too early for them to settle in as they might go hungry after an initial big feed.

Once I get the plants back into the greenhouse I'll stick an order in- Roll on spring!

Cheers again

p.s. Yeah I'll report back anyway, glad I stumbled across this forum over the weekend- full of useful info!

[JusPotterinTim]

It was mine hungarian hot wax that didn't germinate for me

If you want to give the Hot Wax another try jacks, you could try the kitchen roll in plastic bag method. This has worked well for difficult to germinate seeds for me in the past. I think it reduces the risk of damping off, seeds going rotten or being buried too deep. You get them to germinate in moist kitchen roll in a freezer bag or similar, kept somewhere warm (25-30C ideal), check/aerate every couple of days, and keep it slightly moist. When the seeds sprout you move them into compost buried a few millimetres deep (very carefully!), and water them a bit.

The Hot Wax is a good plant, big sized chillies and a fast grower and producer. The pods ripen about a month before my Jalapeno if both are started at about the same time. It is definitely worth pinching off the first flowers for 2 weeks or so, otherwise the plant gets bogged down and production stops.

[jacks10]

If you want to give the Hot Wax another try jacks, you could try the kitchen roll in plastic bag method. This has worked well for difficult to germinate seeds for me in the past. I think it reduces the risk of damping off, seeds going rotten or being buried too deep. You get them to germinate in moist kitchen roll in a freezer bag or similar, kept somewhere warm (25-30C ideal), check/aerate every couple of days, and keep it slightly moist. When the seeds sprout you move them into compost buried a few millimetres deep (very carefully!), and water them a bit.

The Hot Wax is a good plant, big sized chillies and a fast grower and producer. The pods ripen about a month before my Jalapeno if both are started at about the same time. It is definitely worth pinching off the first flowers for 2 weeks or so, otherwise the plant gets bogged down and production stops.

Thanks I will try the kitchen roll method again next time when I have some free pots left. I did try that way the second time but I don't think I left them long enough.
But I have done that method with cayennes and they have germinated in heaps and just shooting up on the window sill!

[Scarlet]

On the link I posted, near the top, there's a "larvae available now, click to buy" button. Then further down are all the pre-order ones.

Hmm, you are quite correct. Although I wouldn't touch them with a barge pole. It's really out of season for them, there's little point releasing them when there's no food available outdoors. I think they are best used when the time is right for their natural life cycle and not before.

[Sappidis]

Might buy and start some new seeds next week, anyone think it's a bit late though for these?

Naga morich
7pot Brain strain
Caramel Scorpion