Chillies - what are you growing/overwintering?

[Scarlet]

Great idea SP

[vixylix]

Sounds like you could start your own chilli festival SP!

[Chris11]

Overwintered: Big Sun Habanero, Mushroom Red, Bishops Crown.

Germinated so far: Bulgarian Carrot, Cherry Bomb, Cheyenne F1, White Habanero, Cayenne, Burkina Yellow, Orange Habanero, Elysium Oxide, both Cayenne Yellow and Golden Cayenne (to see if they're the same variety?), Santa Fe Grande, Numex Sandia.

Have lost others to feline damage, either by being knocked on the floor or nibbling. I've only got one windowsill that's both sunny and wide enough for plant trays, and of course it's a feline magnet as well as the best place for my seedlings.

[vixylix]

Snap chris!

[Deano's "Diggin It"]

Philthy! Help needed!

Although over wintered successfully, now coming into new growth with no help from me!

A little Lop sided rather than upward growing!



Actually as a pepper and putting out flower!





A little guidance would be lovely!

[jackarmy]

RED MANZANO

Thanks Scarlet for the seed (i have shedfulls of them germinated) but damn, are they usually this slow to grow?, taking an immense time to put any lenth on them, so much so i put them back in the heated prop and they seem to be ok , at least not stretching for the light and the ones who seemed to have stopped with their heads in the sand now seem to be moving, are they crazy chillis or ?

Think they may be a bit early Deano, certainly in need of a prune, fruit already?, good to see but is it really viable this early? ( still learning myself)

[Small pumpkin]

My facing heaven has germinated . Thank you scarlet

[Scarlet]

RED MANZANO

Thanks Scarlet for the seed (i have shedfulls of them germinated) but damn, are they usually this slow to grow?

Yes, they are slow, have some patience they are a plant you have to invest some time in. In the first year I only got around 10fruit but the were very big, large satsuma/ kids lunchbox Apple size. But they over winter with little difficulty and if you have the room indoors the second year crop was fantastic. Be ruthless, just keep two and chuck the rest!
# A good one to save seed from as they don't cross outside their chilli "family" .They are "c. Pubescens" so can save seed without worry unless you are growing another variety of pubescens chilli.

[Scarlet]

Deano, I would repot into a bigger pot, give it some support, fresh compost and start feeding. Yes, it is early to fruit (even for a second year plant) but you've got new plants on the go to take over later on in the season. Possibly a bit stressed but I'd let it carry on.

I've got two lemon drop plants, one I pruned and it dropped most of its leaves, the other pruned and it stayed green all winter, that one iis flowering and fruiting now. I'm happy to let it carry on as ive others to take over when this one is spent - though mine have never got as big as Philthys lemon drop plant (the one he posted in the best container vine comp)

If it was a plant that was only sown this year I would nip the early flowers so that it could put its energy into growing.

[jackarmy]

Brilliant info , many thanks.
My Black Naga is also very small but has about 6 true leaves but its a giant compared to the Monzanos lol, ok it had a head start but still
happy growing chilli heads

[Scarlet]

my black naga didn't germinate....but ive two that have overwintered. Potting them on today, fingers crossed I'll get some flowers soon.

[Philthy]

Definitely need to give that one a trim, Deano. Don't worry about that newly forming pepper. I'd cut the whole plant back to within the diameter of the saucer. You want to create a sturdy framework that'll encourage more shoots and ultimately more flowers later on.

Now is indeed the time to be thinking about potting on; obviously you want the plant to grow strongly and the nutrients will be depleted in the existing pot. Plant variety (and therefore future requirements) plus intended location are important considerations. I've found support frames to be invaluable with my plants over the years (they feature in most of my posted pictures). Now would be the time to include one in your potting up if you think the plant would benefit. A frame now saves a LOT of hassle later on trying to tie in unruly stems to canes and the like. If it's a naturally compact chilli like Super or Apache then a frame shouldn't be necessary. And with a dwarf one like Prairie Fire it definitely isn't needed.
When you pot on add a bit of BFB to the compost. Half a teaspoon to a 10 litre pot is about right.
Water the plant an hour or so BEFORE removing the existing pot. Otherwise you may find the combined stresses of pruning + minimal available nutrition + root disturbance AND dry roots are too much for the plant to cope with at one time.

The biggest influencing factor for ME regarding potting on is the temperature outside (as the bulk of my plants are destined to wind up in my GH); if spring is off to a cold start I'm happy to delay potting on until April, even late April / early May if need be. The size upgrade to summer pots are much too big to be able to keep the plants indoors, so potting up + putting out happen in tandem. The risk of putting out newly regenerated plants too early is that the cold shocks them into shutting down again, and you lose your advantage of having overwintered the plants in the first place.
NB: Plants from seed sown this year would (for me) be much too tender to put out then; these younger specimens usually go out late May / early June.

Whether you pot on the plant now or a bit later, after you've pruned it give it a soluable feed with something like seaweed or Chilli Focus. I personally wouldn't worry too much about heavy feeding at this point in the season. The emphasis now is on stimulating new growth so I'd keep feeding with chilli focus if you have it, and alternate with a nitrogen feed. Nip off the odd flower as it develops until later on. If the leaves are paling add a dose of magnesium salts to the compost (a teaspoon's worth per 10 L pot works well if scattered around around the plant stem, before lightly mixing in and watering).

The only other thing I'd add is that if the plant has continued growing - albeit slowly - throughout the winter period, rather than going truly dormant, you may find it runs out of steam midway through the year anyway. (But you'll have backups waiting in the wings I'm sure)

Bare in mind I'm in the southeast; other parts of the country will be colder and later

[SusieG]

Alright, all you chili heads!
Is this normal then :-
Sowed my chilli pepper seeds into small unheated modules, mid-February - put on windowsill by radiator
All have germinated, apart from a complete no-show from 'Choclate Habanero' ?
And should I leave the seedlings where they are? When should they be 'potted on'??
Thanks!

[Deano's "Diggin It"]

Cheers Pilth! Your a star!

[Scarlet]

How big are the modules Susie? Did you sow one seed per module?