Grow Your Own Magazine

Hi just a quick bit of advice needed, do side shoots need to pulled out on chilli plants in the same way as on tomatoes?
Many thanks

Hi lfcjohn!

No, you dont need to side shoot chilli plants, the bushier the planst are the better you're crops will be! I asked the same question about 6 or 8 weeks ago, and fortunately got some quick answers and left ours well alone! We've now got lots of ripening Naga Jolokia and Big Jim chillies on the plants!

Just sit back, water and watch your chillies grow!

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Blessings
Suzanne (aka Mrs Dobby)

'Garden naked - get some colour in your cheeks'!

The Dobby's Pumpkin Patch - a blogspot work in progress!
Last updated 5th November2008 - new piccies!

Hi, I have a chilli plant I bought from B&Q which is about 8 inches high. Should I leave it in my little plastic greenhouse and should I put it in a bigger pot? Thanks - this is all so new to me!

I'd pot it on a bit - I assume it's in about a 3" pot? Try about 5 or 6". When it starts to get fruits on, give it some tom feed. Good luck!

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Earth laughs in flowers. Ralph Waldo Emerson

www.vegheaven.blogspot.com

Updated November 17th - The Big Dig

I woke up to flowers on my chillies this morning!

I am SOOOO excited!

C

One thing... I grow Apache chillis. Very easy and prolific... but...

I wouldn't advise trying to keep them in a pot smaller than about 9 inches diameter, as the tops can grow quite big. I had to stake mine a couple of times as they are not strong-stemmed. If I had used a smaller pot, they would have tipped over.

Hi, can I ask.... do I need to pinch out the tops of my chilli plantlets?
and
why have they seemed to stop growing, they are in the greenhouse, could it be too cold outside?
Thanks

The flowers can be as impressive as the peppers themselves.
Here are some currently in flower (black pearl, aji hot lemon, purple cayenne):




The best of all for fowers are the Pubescens species. I had one starting to flower this morning. I'll post a photo of it here later...

You can pinch out the tops to make them bushy, but you don't have to, I don't often. Pinching out will set the plant back a couple of weeks in terms of fruiting. It's up to you.

If it is too cold then they will stop growing. Should be warm enough in the greenhouse now though.

It depends how big you want your plant. The bigger the pot, the more soil, the more nutrients. It will keep growing. If you keep it in a smaller pot you will effectively bonsai it (as long as it has enough light and doesn't get leggy). Once the roots become bound and run out of soil to plunder, the plant will panic and fruit in an attempt to live on though it's fruit/seed. The smaller the plant, the less fruit it can sustain. But if you pot it up now, it will put its energy into green growth rather than fruit growth. It's up to you how big you want the plant. I have some in buckets that look like trees. I have some I am keeping in four inch pots.

Thanks again folks...loadsa help!
Unconcerned....the flower is beautiful, I thought they came in white, white, or white!

Annuums are the most common chilli you'll find in the UK (garden centres), and annuums tend to have white flowers (but not always). There are five main species (including annuum) and lots of smaller species. Baccatum species have the yellow/brown spots on white. Pubescens species have variations on the purple theme.