Chillies - growing and overwintering 2017

[Scoot]

Mine are coming along slowly but surely at the minute. I'll get a picture of them at the weekend.

[Mitzi]

Do you pot your chillies on gradually increasing the size of the pot or can you go to the final size(8 inch terracotta ones)once the plants are 6 inch or so high?

In my (admittedly limited) experience, the ones I potted into intermediate pots did better than the ones which went straight into larger pots as they went absolutely mad with growth when put into the larger pots, whereas the ones which went straight into them took longer to establish themselves. When potted up, the plants seem to stop their top growth and concentrate on root growth, then once they've grown lots of roots they start growing up top again. At the end of the day it probably doesn't make too much difference but you have to be careful not to get waterlogged compost if they are in large pots.

[Mitzi]

Great to hear that everyone's plants are doing well and SP congratulations on your first harvest of the year!

I haven't got any ripe pods from this season's seedlings, yet, only from the overwintered plants. The first NotScotch pod has turned red in the last few days, adding to the Superchilli and Gusto Purple which I've been picking for several weeks now.

My Reaper pods don't seem to be growing, they're staying really small (couple of cm diameter max.) Ah well, I wasn't expecting any sort of pods from them this early in the season. Maybe once I can pot them up into larger pots they'll produce some larger fruits?

[DataMonkey]

Mine are all romping away and a good few are now spending their nights in the greenhouse with some covering for colder nights...Have been pinching off flowers so far on many of them but might let an odd one stay now...

I've got a couple of chilli plants that I overwintered in the spare bedroom, and now one of them has a dozen small flowers on.

Should I be removing these flowers ??

[vixylix]

If they're big enough to support fruit Data Monkey they should be fine - I assume they are big enough if they've been overwintered?!

You'll need to hand pollinate to get fruit though!

[DataMonkey]

If they're big enough to support fruit Data Monkey they should be fine - I assume they are big enough if they've been overwintered?!

You'll need to hand pollinate to get fruit though!

Hand pollinate ?

I wouldn't know where to start !

I'm going to have to get onto YouTube and get busy tonight.

If my wife catches me though, I'm going to have some difficult questions to answer...

[Tripmeup]

Hand pollinate ?

I wouldn't know where to start !

I'm going to have to get onto YouTube and get busy tonight.

If my wife catches me though, I'm going to have some difficult questions to answer...

Get yourself some cotton buds or a small cheap paint brush and away you go

[Scoot]

Just a quick snap of mine sitting on the windowsill.

[burnie]

Get yourself some cotton buds or a small cheap paint brush and away you go

Don't forget to hum like a bee or it won't work......................................

[Welsh76]

Just a quick snap of mine sitting on the windowsill.

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Looking good, but I'm surprised they haven't slid off that vertical windowsill..

[Scoot]

Looking good, but I'm surprised they haven't slid off that vertical windowsill..

I've glued them on haha.

[DataMonkey]

Just a quick snap of mine sitting on the windowsill.

That's pretty well where my newly sown ones are at the moment. I have a load of green peppers at the same stage and I can't tell them apart though.

[Chris11]

Update with final growlist. Was kindly given four plants, but also lost the overwintered Golden Cayenne. It looked ok until recently but just didn't start growing, and the stem started to get brown patches.

Aji Pineapple
Akabare
Bahamian Goat
Barancio
Big Sun Habanero
Bishops Hat
Cayenne Large Red Thick (o/w from 2016)
Chenzo
Cheyenne F1
Chocolate Habanero
Congo Trinidad Yellow
Hungarian Black
Elysium Oxide F6
Elysium Oxide F7
Joe's Long Cayenne
MoA Scotch Bonnet Yellow
Numex Sandia
Numex Twilight x Cayenne F2
Orange Habanero (o/w from 2016)
Orange Habanero
Palermo Pointed Red
Piccante Calabrese
Pot Black
Ring Of Fire
Santa Fe Grande
Space HJ10 Afterglow
Sweet Banana
Thai Orange Large
TSM Medium Red
Turbo Alberto Cross (o/w from 2016)
Turbo Alberto Cross
7 Pot

Plus six seedlings that survived the feline related accident and are now small plants. Could be duplicates from the list above, or additional varieties that I didn't re-sow. Looking forward to trying to identify which ones they are

[Mitzi]

Hand pollinate ?

I wouldn't know where to start !

I'm going to have to get onto YouTube and get busy tonight.

If my wife catches me though, I'm going to have some difficult questions to answer...

If they are outdoors then insects can pollinate them. Indoors, they can set fruits all by themselves but you will most likely have a higher set rate if you give them a helping hand. Basically, you're just trying to ensure that some of the pollen transfers from the male parts (anthers) onto the female part (stigma.) Up to you how intimately you want to get involved in the process!

You can tickle the open flower centres with a cotton bud, soft paintbrush or your fingertip.
Alternatively, just give the plant a bit of a shake every time you're passing, tap the stems a few times, or stick your electric toothbrush on them (that's supposed to mimic a bee's vibrations quite well.)

Oh and pollen is supposed to be released most readily in the middle of the day, so bear that in mind. And an occasional mist of water is supposed to help them set.

In real life, if you're butterfingers like me, your attempts at pollination will likely result in half the flowers falling off. But then again, they would fall off anyway if they don't get pollinated, so it's got to be worth a try.

[maverick451]

The chillis I put in the greenhouse a few weeks ago are really suffering from the cold weather even though I heat it at night, lesson for next year

The ones I have in the conservatory look very healthy