First chillis are up

[the big lebowski]

thats the same lamp i use ,new poly tunnel ! wow nice one i`ve got a grrenhouse that im fixing up now for this year then im going to save later on in the year for a poly tunnel for the lottie next year, pls keep us posted on how the are doing and keep up the good work ,cheers

[Bacchus]

It's hard to say how many I'll grow this year - I've a new poly tunnel up to house then so whatever fills that

I'm using a Blue 125w 6u CFL Hydroponics Eco Grow Light Lamp at the moment - pic attached. I've to sort out the best arrangement for them yet.

It's too cold to put anything in the grow tent in the garage (it was minus 8 last night) but I have a heat lamp in there so everything will go out in March .... probably

[the big lebowski]

wow bacchus thats a great selection how many of each do you grow ? do you fit them all inside your tent ? and what sort of light are you running ? cheers

[sparrow100]

I put in some old Facing Heaven seed from the VSP a couple of weeks ago - last year the other half of the packet completely failed to germinate, but this year I have at least 3 poking through. Hopefully tinfoil collars + windowsill will be enough to keep them going. I didn't think they would come up...

Another few weeks and I have the rest of the chillies to go in - padrons, alberto's locoto rocoto, orange rocoto manzano, peppadew, joe's long, aji fatalli, trepadeira werner, royal black, fish and lemon drop plus some sweet peppers too.

[Bacchus]

Best of luck - While that one is a little leggy the one on the left is worth persevering with. The one thing with growing lots of chillies is "Keep everything labelled" I think that message should be stickied on every forum post for ever

[Lamboluke]

Can't argue with that advice. Spot on, thanks.

[Scarlet]

Keep the shortest one. Bury it's stem when you pot on. Give it as much light as you can during the day. Compare with the plant you sow at the end of feb...you'll have the info that's best for you next year

[Lamboluke]

OK thanks for the advice. Not sure if I should scrap these and do some more late Feb/early March or if I should keep on going with them. I don't have any more space. Decisions decisions haha.

[Scarlet]

That's what I would call leggy. You can pot on the seedling up to its first leaves and they should be ok.
Are these the ones you kept in the prop? They have had too much heat heat and not enough light. Both of those are capsicum annums - they germinate quickly unlike the duper hots that can takes a couple of weeks or more. Seeds sown late feb/ early March will usually catch up and can be much stronger plants as they haven't been put through the stress.

[Lamboluke]

Possibly best to put a photo up but a leggy seedling has a tall, weak stem that eventually cannot hold itself up. How tall is the stem before you get your first true leaves?

Here's a quick photo of my medusa and jalape�o plants. Excuse the cat....I know the medusa isn't a huge plant so I.just wondered if the jalape�o is too leggy? If so do I just keep it on the sunny window or earth it up/repot higher with them all?

[Scarlet]

Really good info on starting chillies off under different circumstances here, much appreciated!

I'm grow light and heated propagator free (tho my unheated propagator on the windowsill gets the radiator heat when it's on) so I have only sown a couple of chilli seeds for curiosity really.

I guess I need to start thinking about sowing the ones that will eventually go into my greenhouse in 3-4 weeks time.

Have you got an airing cupboard? Or a warm spot like the top of the fridge? They don't need light to get them started...My chillies don't venture out to the GH full time till the end of May as anything below 10 stops them in their tracks.

[the big lebowski]

thanks ryswales, ive got a few other trays germinating in there at the mo so ill keep the temp up till they are good then ill put i little computer fan in ive modified and see what i can come up with ,cheers

[rhyswales]

Mine are a little leggy, I would'nt worry about them though. See if you can put a small desk fan on them for a few hours and keep the temps cooler. If they are really bad, re-pot up to their first true leaves, should keep them steady.

[Scarlet]

Possibly best to put a photo up but a leggy seedling has a tall, weak stem that eventually cannot hold itself up. How tall is the stem before you get your first true leaves?

[Lamboluke]

What actually defines a leggy plant? I cant tell if my jalape�o plants are leggy or doing well and growing nicely. Not at home at the minute so I can't take a photo but I'll try later. They have two sets of leaves at the top of the stem.