Grow Your Own Magazine

Don't think they are going to get the chance Nick! DDL

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Appreciate the little things in life because one day you will realise they are the big things

Cats will chew/lick/sniff some funny things. Although yes nick they may draw the line at chillis. Roxie rabbit doesn't go anywhere near them and she loves her greens.

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Bright Blessings
Earthbabe
If at first you don't succeed, open a bottle of wine.

Will let everyone know how I get on! DDL

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Appreciate the little things in life because one day you will realise they are the big things

speaking of which, i was up rooting my toms in the green house and some of my chilli's have been eaten by somthing, quite strange, i didnt think anything was daft enough exept us humans, (and no it was'nt OH) any ideas?

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Yo an' Bob
Walk lightly on the earth
take only what you need
give all you can
and your produce will be bountifull

Thank you all for the welcome. I'll try and be a bit quicker next time - too busy in the greenhouse!
Just about ready to harvest a large number of Habanero orange chillies. I can smell them as soon as I open the greenhouse door. Will keep you posted as to heat and taste.
Mike

Exciting isn't it Mike? I harvested a lot of my chillies and then dried them slowly in the oven. DDL

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Appreciate the little things in life because one day you will realise they are the big things

Found this:

Overwintering
Most chilli plants can be treated as perennial house plants, but will need some pruning in the winter. Some varieties are better suited than others, smaller hot varieties like Serrano and Twilight, and Prarie Fire fair better than the bigger fleshy plants such as Poblano and Anaheim.

I thought they must be. My 'second home' in Asia has a few large chilli bushes around the house which seem to produce all year round. They get to about chest height with about a 3 ft spread.

Thanks for that PT! I hadn't realised they could grow so large! will have a pruning session once they have finished growing the chillis! DDL

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Appreciate the little things in life because one day you will realise they are the big things

I've overwintered two of mine the year before last but i did'nt prune them. They wer'nt that tall so i left them as they were and they were fine.

I brought my chilli plant indoors last winter with great success. No cutting back or anything. Sat it on a sunny window sill. The leaves got a little crispy around the edges due to the central heating but a daily mist of water soon sorted them out. Kept the compost just damp all winter. The poor thing produced quite a few 'chilli flowers' but these soon dried up and dropped off.
Once the temperature and daylight hours improved I moved it to an unheated greenhouse. Well, this overwintered plant just shot off and produced so many yummy chillies it was difficult to keep up.
Kitchen now festooned with chilli 'streamers'.

That's good. I've brought the smallest ones in to overwinter. They all look like "bird's eye" chillies (the very thin ones). The jalapeno chilli plant is too big even now. Can I wrap it in fleece over winter or will that not be warm enough.

Hope they don't get too big as they are on the front windowsill.

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Bright Blessings
Earthbabe
If at first you don't succeed, open a bottle of wine.

Hi Earthbabe, don't think the fleece will be enough for it. Could you not prune some of it to a managable size and then perhaps you would be able to bring it indoors. Good luck whatever you decide.

I have AT LAST got a chilli growing on one of my chilli plants. Bit late, poor thing, just pops his head out and there's a frost forecast for Saturday night

are you getting frost in Shetland already? We're getting autumnal mists and fog in fife but there's no frost forecast as yet, thank god. I've not been in my greenhouse for weeks and so not sure what my chillies are up to - I've just not had time and at this time of year I always loose interest in gardening. I might try and go out at the w/e and do some tidying and see how my chillies are getting along.

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Lucky you Jenny, still none for me just get the flowers which then drop off leaving white flakes everywhere. Will try and overwinter them and hopefully next year will have a poly for them,they are not repaying my attention as yet......

I could try but I'd have to repot it and I'm not sure if I have a pot big enough that won't look seriously out of place inside the house. I'll see if I can check the size of the rootball. Will let you know.

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Bright Blessings
Earthbabe
If at first you don't succeed, open a bottle of wine.

My chillis are still "chilling" if you know what I mean! Bramble - how much should I "prune" off? should I just give them a quick trim, or a No4 which is what length my OH cuts my hair to! (which is plenty short for me!) (mind you he has a No 1!). Thanks in advance for your help! DDL

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Appreciate the little things in life because one day you will realise they are the big things

Hi

I have a few chilli plants that are grown from the Tesco Value chillis seeds believe it or not.

They are in my Grreenhouse beeing fed from an automatic watering system.

They are just going crazy. They are about 4ft tall. Got loads and loads of flowers and many chillis. They seem to be producing more too.

I will leave in greenhouse over winter I think. Although I dont want them to die. I got lots of growing projects next year and Im really excited. Will definatetly be growin some scotch bonnets next year.

This is my first time growing anything and really chuffed with myself.

Well done Fezionio - your chillis sound fantastic! .......... And welcome to the Vine! What are Scotch bonnets?

Extremely hot chillies Jennie.

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Hi DDL, i would just prune enough to make it sizable to go into your hpouse as you did say it was too big to bring indoors. Cut the weak bits off as well and see how that goes. As i said before i personally would'nt prune unless i had to, but it wont kill the plant so you've nothing to lose and all to gain. Good luck and lets know the result.

Hi Bramble - well, did a bit of pruning this afternoon - the chilli plants had got whitefly and a bit of mould on the leaves (oops, guess the ventilation in the greenhouse wasnt good enough!) so now pruned back and sprayed with a natural pest spray for whitefly.
Will wait and see how they get on. The chilli plant I bought earlier in the year from the garden centre is still going strong and still producing chillis! no white fly either fingers crossed!
DDL

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Appreciate the little things in life because one day you will realise they are the big things

God I cant believe it, I have nurtured my 3 damn chili plants all summer and got zip, not a sausage ( or even chili) I decide to give up on the damn things till next year move them into a room with very little sunlight, forget to water and I have just noticed I've got a chili!!!

I feel like a really proud mother, it only has one on and feel a bit mean taking it off too eat but just goes to show never give up!!!