Chillies - growing and overwintering 2018

[Scarlet]

I overwintered a couple of annuums last year and the Aleppo has done brilliantly this year having had three crops already and is podding up again. I'm definitely glad I overwintered it. Peter Pepper not so much.

Deano overwintered Nigel's Outdoor I think last year and had a fantastic crop.....but If I've invested a lot of time on a super hot with little reward the first year they will be my first picks for bringing indoors. Second year harvest can be huge. My Black Naga year before last was 6ft high and was smothered in pods.

[Philthy]

Haha, no I've never used lights to aid overwintering, Scarlet

I'm a long time fan of the fully dormant, just ticking over method. Ultra low maintenance so long as temperature remains stable. I use my back bedroom, unheated so cool but frost free. One window, west facing, on an overcast winter's day it's quite gloomy in there. A custom platform in front of the window extends the sill into the room and can accommodate sixteen 4 Lt pots atop it. Anything bigger I put on a table which is set back in the room so light levels are even worse for those plants. But once they're slumbering they don't care, they're not growing. Think suspended animation. As such, over-watering is the commonest cause of death because water isn't being used like it would be in summer, and the pot itself takes a long time to dry out. A cold, damp compost only causes fungal problems and rots. I definitely wouldn't feed or repot during winter as this could stimulate new growth at a time when conditions would not support it, or be counterproductive by weakening the roots (the plant's life support) and reduce it's chances of survival.

I prune the foliage to reduce overall volume by at least 50%, and as with most pruning pay special attention to removing any weak, thin, diseased stems entirely, and cut back any that point outwards or down to a node that is upwards facing. Regardless of how you want the plant to grow later on, it's good practice not to prune too harshly to allow for some inevitable die-back (tips browning) which'll need removing. I've found the superhots e.g. anything Trinidad related will usually retain their leaves but generally leaves are shed as winter progresses. This isn't an issue and if anything is welcomed because it means the ****ing greenfly that will ALWAYS find their way to the plants eventually, have less places to live and colonise.

(Scarlet, I did briefly acquire a MarsHydro unit a couple of years ago to boost plants at the seedling stage, great light but not practical for me personally so had to stop using it soon after. Less said about that the better Back to growing with the seasons, which is at least familiar territory ).

[Philthy]

I currently have one each of fourteen varieties, two each of a further two varieties. Three plants are in 15 Lt+ pots, rest in 4 Lt. So I will be looking to retain all going into winter, as this is around the maximum number the space can accommodate. This year I will not be leaving it quite so late bringing them indoors as last year; I went on to lose 2/3 of those from effects of cold damage. Ideally they all survive but realistically a few won't. Most important to me from this year's grow are plants of Chocolate Habanero, Paper Lantern, Santaka, Lemon Drop, and Orange Thai (in name only) from saved seed

[the big lebowski]

hi all ,sp im after your thoughts on my chillis ,ive dried them in the oven and they are nice and dry but im not sure if i over did it ,they are looking slightly caramalazied ,they are dry and if i squeeze one in my hand it crumbles into a dust ,did i dry them too long or is this how yours look at this point ? any thoughts ? cheers

[Small pumpkin]

hi all ,sp im after your thoughts on my chillis ,ive dried them in the oven and they are nice and dry but im not sure if i over did it ,they are looking slightly caramalazied ,they are dry and if i squeeze one in my hand it crumbles into a dust ,did i dry them too long or is this how yours look at this point ? any thoughts ? cheers

I think you'll be fine. I've done a few chillies in the oven that weren't quite dry enough when I actually came to power them. They were slightly caramelised and the smell was amazing.

[Tripmeup]

hi all ,sp im after your thoughts on my chillis ,ive dried them in the oven and they are nice and dry but im not sure if i over did it ,they are looking slightly caramalazied ,they are dry and if i squeeze one in my hand it crumbles into a dust ,did i dry them too long or is this how yours look at this point ? any thoughts ? cheers

If they are crumbling TBL when you pinch or pressure them, then you have well dried chillies!
Ideal for putting in to a grinder or similar to make your chilli powder!!

[Bluenowhere]

Okay help needed. I’ve got the following chillis, bear in mind I know almost nothing so I’m not sure which I can/should/are worth overwintering.

They are all healthy looking plants and I have room for them all on the back bedroom window sill, until seed sowing time when I will have to do some juggling/face the wrath of my other half of plants/seeds on every window sill (although he loves eating chillis more than I do).

So I have:
Jalapeño (wilko seed so forgive my ignorance if there are different ones that’s all it was marked as)
Serrano
De Cayenne
Orange Hab
Biquinho Yellow

Are any worth looking after inside over the winter or should I just start again next year, they were all grown from seed this year in my heated propigator starting end Feb (it was a Valentine’s Day gift I’d start a bit earlier next year).

[Scarlet]

If you have the space you could try them all but if it was me I would choose the hab first, then the biquinho, then maybe the Serrano - I’ve never bothered with cayenne or a jalapeño as they give a great crop in the first year. Often over wintered plants can get green fly -more plants seem to encourage more??? Not sure if that’s true but with that in mind I usually start the annum of fresh every year. If you have s greenfly invasion your young plants might suffer if they are all on the same window ledge.

[Bluenowhere]

Thanks, that’s really helpful.

So the annums are Serrano, cayenne and jalapeño?

Crop on all of them - one plant of each - has been pretty good, but the cayenne and jalapeño definitely have more on them than the others, the hab is the smallest and has the least chillis on it but is very bushy so what you say makes perfect sense to me, overwinter those that are smaller/slower growing so they get bigger and crop more in subsequent years

Another very silly question, this is my first year growing chillis, assuming you can keep them healthy do you overwinter the same plants for many years?

Good warning on the greenfly, if that becomes an issue I’ll move them to another window sill and clean down before I sow my seeds.

[Small pumpkin]

Picked a couple more chillies today

[4Shoes]

Got my freezer delivered yesterday, so started to harvest produce from the tunnel



Started with the Sweet Pepper Glut (Enjoys and Bell Peppers)

Then I remembered that I had not posted the link to Blog for Chilli challenge Update August. It is here - now 2 or 3 weeks old.

https://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gr...st-update.html

So just to ensure I have a record of all plants grown, took a sample of each -
Here is the full list of sweet pepper and chilli plants grown this year.



Note, still not having any luck with Chocolate Habanero. Need to get fresh seed next year.
will post final blog at end of month. Happy chilli growing

[4Shoes]

Picked a couple more chillies today

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Snap - Yours are looking good.

[Small pumpkin]

Got my freezer delivered yesterday, so started to harvest produce from the tunnel

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Started with the Sweet Pepper Glut (Enjoys and Bell Peppers)

Then I remembered that I had not posted the link to Blog for Chilli challenge Update August. It is here - now 2 or 3 weeks old.

https://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gr...st-update.html

So just to ensure I have a record of all plants grown, took a sample of each -
Here is the full list of sweet pepper and chilli plants grown this year.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]83238[/ATTACH]

Note, still not having any luck with Chocolate Habanero. Need to get fresh seed next year.
will post final blog at end of month. Happy chilli growing

I like your labelled photo that's brilliant. Are you finding the yellow cayenne and Bulgarian carrot insanely hot ?
Wish I'd thought to harvest my sweet peppers as well. They look really good with all the chillies.

[Small pumpkin]

What do you think? Could this be orange wonder ? Do they start off purple? This did.

Same plant from both sides
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It looks quite close to pictures I looked up earlier but not sure the leaves are the right green.

OMG! I want to try those! What do they taste like?.... Have you got any wedding favour bags for some of those flowers?

Not tried one yet. I pick a load of them yesterday but forgot to try one they are all in the freezer now. I could try bagging a couple of flowers. I haven't bothered because I didn't know what it was. Still not 100%.

Will try one over the weekend and let you know what it's like. I'm finding most of my chillies stupidly hot this year ! Guessing it's something to do with that nice weather we had. Tried a tiny slither of cherry bomb yesterday. My mouth was on fire for a good 10 minutes!

Finally got round to trying one of the (quite likely) orange wonder. It's actually pretty nice. Quite thin walls, but good flavour and good heat, not stupidly hot ( with seeds and membrane removed).

[the big lebowski]

wow those pics of your harvests are great well done