Chillies - Growing and Over wintering 2020

[Mitzi]

Seeds soaking today:

Choc Hab
Purple Peach (attempt 2)
Aleppo (old seeds)
Rocoto La Paz Rojo
Rocoto Manzano
Turbo Pube

[Small pumpkin]

You just reminded me I hadn’t done my final tally for my 2019 harvest.

Just under 55kg

Not great but not to bad, especially as I didn’t harvest all the tiny ones or the none ripe ones.

Must do better this year

[Mitzi]

It varies a lot and I don't particularly count (or weigh them like SP does.) I'm sure you've asked this before and I don't really know the answer. Ethiopian Berbere is really too big a plant for a pop bottle and only had four or five peppers on it. The outdoor plant (in an MFB or might even have been a Stewart pot) had lots more pods, but they didn't ripen before the frosts, so maybe it's better to have a few ripe ones than lots that don't ripen. Nagabrain Chocolate (second year plant still in a pop bottle) had three or four crops with up to 20 pods each time so somewhere in the region of 50-70 pods. Others somewhere in between.

[Scarlet]

The plants I mentioned are all still in pop bottles i.e. small pots approx 1 litre

How big do your plants grow in pop bottles and how many pods do you harvest per plant? Obviously dependant on variety but interested.

[Scarlet]

It is "feeding" but it doesn't seem to make them put out too much fast growth, just enough to give them a little pickup.

[Mitzi]

Obviously everyone is different but I don't feed my overwinters even if they have pods on because I think it encourages sappy green growth which can encourage the aphids. I report into something bigger and renew the compost. This seems to give them enough boost without too much growth.

Potting compost normally contains up to 8 weeks worth of feed so potting on into a larger size means that you are feeding them, surely?

The plants I mentioned are all still in pop bottles i.e. small pots approx 1 litre, so the compost is exhausted. I have seen a few aphids but still have a few ladybirds around so hopefully they will keep on top of them.

[Scarlet]

Greetings chilli heads, belated Happy New Year

I'm not growing anything, as I decided to have a year off, first since 2006.
Relentless greenfly and erratic weather these past two seasons, and the subsequent mediocre crop last year particularly, have taken a lot of the shine off the hobby. I didn't have pest problems to this degree five years ago so not entirely sure what has changed, just got theories at this point. Tried numerous fixes, though each seems to incur other problems so no one solution just yet. Either way, not going to dwell on it.
No plants overwintered - washed my hands of them (literally) and left them to their fate in the GH in the autumn.
Quite refreshing actually. I shall instead focus my energies on the numerous DIY projects that until now were always sidelined as soon as the days started lengthening...

Oh, I missed your post!! What a shame but some years I've reduced growing on lots of stuff and the following year my enthusiasm bounces back! Enjoy your break. Time to open up the green house and give it a good clean out

[Scarlet]

Most of my overwinters are doing well. In the last week or so, some pods have set on Fatalii Peach, White Lightning and Ethiopian Berbere. The pods that set in Nov/Dec on the Moruga Caramel are starting to ripen. Nagabrain Chocolate is flowering. Happy days!

None of these plants have been fed for several months; they've been on a diet of water only when they are dry. The caramel moruga pods are much smaller than the ones I got off the same plant last summer, although the peach fatalii pods seem to be growing to the same size. I guess it might be time to give them a bit of feed, although it seems wrong, as it's only January.

Obviously everyone is different but I don't feed my overwinters even if they have pods on because I think it encourages sappy green growth which can encourage the aphids. I report into something bigger and renew the compost. This seems to give them enough boost without too much growth.

[Mitzi]

Greetings chilli heads, belated Happy New Year

I'm not growing anything, as I decided to have a year off, first since 2006.
Relentless greenfly and erratic weather these past two seasons, and the subsequent mediocre crop last year particularly, have taken a lot of the shine off the hobby. I didn't have pest problems to this degree five years ago so not entirely sure what has changed, just got theories at this point. Tried numerous fixes, though each seems to incur other problems so no one solution just yet. Either way, not going to dwell on it.
No plants overwintered - washed my hands of them (literally) and left them to their fate in the GH in the autumn.
Quite refreshing actually. I shall instead focus my energies on the numerous DIY projects that until now were always sidelined as soon as the days started lengthening...

I don't really want to "like" your post as it's sad, but I guess if you've been growing them since 2006, you deserve a break. Have you tried biological controls (ladybirds, lacewing larvae, parasitic wasps etc.) for your pests?

[Mitzi]

Most of my overwinters are doing well. In the last week or so, some pods have set on Fatalii Peach, White Lightning and Ethiopian Berbere. The pods that set in Nov/Dec on the Moruga Caramel are starting to ripen. Nagabrain Chocolate is flowering. Happy days!

None of these plants have been fed for several months; they've been on a diet of water only when they are dry. The caramel moruga pods are much smaller than the ones I got off the same plant last summer, although the peach fatalii pods seem to be growing to the same size. I guess it might be time to give them a bit of feed, although it seems wrong, as it's only January.

[Scarlet]

Yes!! It's fab for chillies

[Small pumpkin]

Man up! I put mine in the warming oven of the Aga!!

I miss having an Aga. Just one big propagator that you can cook in

[FBI]

They are 3 very different and fairly easily identified pods. The Russian roulette shouldn’t be to bad.

I told her I'd made this post and she, quite reasonably, asked why I didn't just Google it... Dammit!

[Scarlet]

Forgot to say. The compost in the pots has been in a heated propagator before putting seedlings in.

Man up! I put mine in the warming oven of the Aga!!

[Small pumpkin]

I work for a Famous Large Heritage Organisation (:-D) and the gift shop at my place was chucking out some unsold Christmas gift sets - the sort where you get three crummy little pots, a bag of rubbish compost and three tiny packets of seed, in this case Cayenne, Jalapeno and Habanero. I grew a handful of each and brought them indoors for the winter from the greenhouse so they can sulk (and in one case die) in the window of our loft conversion.

Having completely forgotten they were there, I've just been up and picked the semi-dried fruits off 'em...

The other thing I'd forgotten was that, when I'd brought them in from the GH, I'd intended to re-label them as woodlice had eaten the labels, but I never did. So I have, effectively, just presented the OH with a Russian Roulette of chilli.

And guess what's on the cooker tonight? :-o

They are 3 very different and fairly easily identified pods. The Russian roulette shouldn’t be to bad.