Chillies - growing and overwintering 2018

[darraghb]

I put them in a bathroom in a converted attic. Out of the way, reasonably warm and a skylight to give them some light. Last year I had them on windowsills where I would see them regularly and tend to them. I guess the lack of attention did them in ;-)
A couple are completely dead, Some are in the process of dying off. One has mold. But all are covered in greenfly. I didn't think it would be much of a problem as I had no greeenfly this year but I guess as soon as you stop checking and bring them in you are goosed. If I can save the Choc, Orange and Peach hab's I'll be happy.

[MyWifesBrassicas]

Good Morning,

I have 4 varieties that I'm growing this year

Trinidad perfume
Peruvian Lemon Drop
Jalepeno
saved seed from last year ?long joe i think (it out performed everything)

I've noticed members here are sowing already, Is there anything to be gained by sowing so early?
I tried sowing early once and all i produced was spindly little soles that struggled
What do you guys do to produce great chillis?
Sorry if this has already been discussed, this is a huge thread.

Thanks

Darren

[Mitzi]

Good Morning,
I've noticed members here are sowing already, Is there anything to be gained by sowing so early?
I tried sowing early once and all i produced was spindly little souls that struggled.
What do you guys do to produce great chillis?

Hi Darren and welcome to the big chilli thread! You'll find there are always different opinions on things, so these are mine.

Sowing this early is only worth it if you have grow lights and can keep them warm enough (over 10 deg C.) If you have enough warmth and light then you can have big plants by the time the weather warms up and therefore theoretically at least, you should get earlier and bigger crops.

Two years ago I sowed my first seeds in November and lots more in December and grew on under grow lights. I did indeed get quite big plants by May but I only have very limited indoor growing space and they outgrew it which became a problem. So for me, it wasn't worth it.

Last year I started my first seeds (chinenses and rocotos) at the end of December, followed by baccatums in January and annuums in February and it worked quite well although I kind of lost interest in March/April and some of the baccatums and most annuums didn't get potted on when they should. Anyway, I'm planning to do the same this coming year.

If I didn't have lights I'd probably not start anything until February.

[Mitzi]

Always enjoy this thread, very entertaining to see how into chilli growing you all are. Don’t feel I often have much to contribute, more watch and learn. Anyway wanted to ask where in the 158 pages there might be something about how to overwinter my habanero plants. Almost all have ripened now so thinking I would chop the plants down a bit. Not sure how much to take off though. Am thinking will probably keep them in the kitchen over winter. Not much light but it would be warmer than the greenhouse.

There are several ways of doing it; some people cut back hard, pretty much to a stump, others hardly at all. I'm in the latter camp and the last two winters have got away with it but this year they don't seem to be doing so well. If you can give them enough warmth and light (e.g. on a south-facing window in a heated room) they will keep growing, so don't need cutting back as much (space permitting.) But on a north-facing windowsill in an unheated room, they will go dormant so it's best to cut back so that they don't have the leaf burden to sustain. They might drop their leaves anyway.

However much you decide to prune, bear in mind that they usually die back further, i.e. from where you cut it, the stems will die back a bit further, so I'd suggest leaving a bit more on than you might think.

[Scarlet]

Mine actually do better in an east facing window in the winter....as the sun comes up in the morning it's quite low so you can find they are quite sunny. Though what works for one doesn't necessarily mean it works for someone else.
I'm also in the latter camp - I don't chop off anything until early Spring if it looks a bit dead!
My chocolate jab is doing ok at the moment...still very green. I reduce watering so much that the soil is bone dry and I only water when it looks droopy.
Often they look dead and they aren't so check before you chuck! Aphids can be a problem so you need to watch out for those. You don't want the plants too warm as they will start throwing out some straggly green growth and you want to avoid that if possible.

[Scarlet]

Here's my chocolate hab at the moment, I posted when I brought them in- probably mid September?...still very much geeen. I find that habaneros are one of the easiest plants to overwinter.


This is from last winter - scorpion butch...it looked really dead come January but a hard prune and it came back to life

[the big lebowski]

those look great scarlet , ive had mine indoors for about a month now and i havent watered them yet , how often should i water overwintering chillis ?

[Scarlet]

Well it depend on how warm it is/how big the rootball/pots are. I watered mine yesterday for the first time in a few weeks. The pot was well dried out ( shrunk a bit from the walls of the pot) and the plants had started to droop a bit. Keeping them dry helps them get through and I think makes a difference to aphids...wet soil seems to encourage fungus gnats.

[the big lebowski]

they were grown from seeds this year , most were in 25 liter pots , they are now in 3 liter pots ,v dry ,no aphids at all ,and they have been trimed down ,no signs of life atm (i thought thats how they are ment to be ,untill i saw your photos )

[Snadger]

I have two Jallies that I had on the South facing kitchen window sill until a couple of days ago. They aren't what I would call a pretty foliage pant so they have been relegated to the spare bedroom windowsill for the Xmas festivities.

[Scarlet]

they were grown from seeds this year , most were in 25 liter pots , they are now in 3 liter pots ,v dry ,no aphids at all ,and they have been trimed down ,no signs of life atm (i thought thats how they are ment to be ,untill i saw your photos )

I do both ways!! Honestly no right or wrong way, some years I do both methods. I would give them a drink occasionally- from the bottom and not too much. Just enough that they don't dry out so much that the roots dry up.

[MyWifesBrassicas]

Hi Darren and welcome to the big chilli thread! You'll find there are always different opinions on things, so these are mine.

Sowing this early is only worth it if you have grow lights and can keep them warm enough (over 10 deg C.) If you have enough warmth and light then you can have big plants by the time the weather warms up and therefore theoretically at least, you should get earlier and bigger crops.

Two years ago I sowed my first seeds in November and lots more in December and grew on under grow lights. I did indeed get quite big plants by May but I only have very limited indoor growing space and they outgrew it which became a problem. So for me, it wasn't worth it.

Last year I started my first seeds (chinenses and rocotos) at the end of December, followed by baccatums in January and annuums in February and it worked quite well although I kind of lost interest in March/April and some of the baccatums and most annuums didn't get potted on when they should. Anyway, I'm planning to do the same this coming year.

If I didn't have lights I'd probably not start anything until February.

Thanks Mitzi,

Regarding grow lights, anybody recommend any particular type/variety?
I remember huge energy guzzling monsters that took up huge amounts of space and took and age to wire up.
Does anybody recommend any of the new cheap LED ones?

[HoneyChild]

I just want to thank Mitzi for sending me some chili seeds . I couldn't PM as I got a message saying "Mitzi has exceeded their stored private messages quota and cannot accept further messages until they clear some space."

Now I just need to do some googling to find out what the heck all these seeds are!

[Deano's "Diggin It"]

Hi

Have trawled the seed stash ready for the new season, a few of the mainstays I am short of so an order will be going in quite soon, at the moment I have 40 varieties to play with, some will get grown some not, early planning days, but the props and lights are out of "Dry Dock" Dusted down and ready to rock!

I have also been awarded a few grow lights that, hmm, well, a failed grower of a plant which he thought was gunna make him a quick Buck! No more said!

Happily received, and have a few idea's!

[MyWifesBrassicas]

Good Morning,

I have 4 varieties that I'm growing this year

Trinidad perfume
Peruvian Lemon Drop
Jalepeno
saved seed from last year ?long joe i think (it out performed everything)

I've noticed members here are sowing already, Is there anything to be gained by sowing so early?
I tried sowing early once and all i produced was spindly little soles that struggled
What do you guys do to produce great chillis?
Sorry if this has already been discussed, this is a huge thread.

Thanks

Darren

I've gone and done it!
I've planted the 4 varieties and now warming in my propagator
Never planted this early before, at least 2 months earlier than I've ever planted chilli's, hope it's not a mistake.
any ideas for a cheap grow lamp?