Chillies - growing and overwintering 2018

[Philthy]

Evening, SP What mix do you like to use in your final potting up? For me I generally use a ratio of 1/3 grow bag + 1/3 homemade compost + 1/3 vermiculite, with some BFB mixed in. Once actively fruiting I supplement with weekly doses of potash feed. The stages prior to final potting I just use 2/3 sieved MPC + 1/3 vermiculite, and feed weekly with Chilli Focus (I know you guys have moved on from that but I'm a creature of habit )

[Small pumpkin]

Evening, SP What mix do you like to use in your final potting up? For me I generally use a ratio of 1/3 grow bag + 1/3 homemade compost + 1/3 vermiculite, with some BFB mixed in. Once actively fruiting I supplement with weekly doses of potash feed. The stages prior to final potting I just use 2/3 sieved MPC + 1/3 vermiculite, and feed weekly with Chilli Focus (I know you guys have moved on from that but I'm a creature of habit )

This year for the first time I'm reusing a lot of last years chilli compost. That I've sieved. So I'm going with 1/3 used compost, 1/3 MPC, 1/3 perlite, a hand full of blood fish & bone, and a big scoop of chicken manure pellets.
My really big tubs get half filled with well rotted manure then the mix on top. The 3 big tubs would take 5 bags of MPC ( after perlite & chicken manure had been added ) all by them selves.

I feed weekly with chillie focus (those that aren't in a chilli grow system). I start feeding as soon as they start going on day trips to the tunnel. It's a nightmare trying to feed in the house (watering is bad enough )

In previous years it's been 2/3 MPC and no blood fish & bone.

Managed to save 8 full compost bags of last years compost. So if it works it'll save me a small fortune.

[Small pumpkin]

So does anybody else walk round their polytunnle or greenhouse with 2 sheets of A4 ? So you know where everything's going and in which pots.







Or is it just me

[Scarlet]

^^^^^thats just you! What a nutter!

[monkeyboy]

So does anybody else walk round their polytunnle or greenhouse with 2 sheets of A4 ? So you know where everything's going and in which pots.
Or is it just me

Believe it or not, I do it but on my smartphone.

Then again, I've got only two raised beds, some toms in growbags, and pots in, er, pots.

[bario1]

I generally use a ratio of 1/3 grow bag + 1/3 homemade compost + 1/3 vermiculite, with some BFB mixed in.

What's the thought behind adding so much vermiculite/perlite? I'll add it to my final pots if it's a tried and tested technique... something i've never done before, so maybe it's the missing link!

[the big lebowski]

good question bario ,it seemed alot to me too

[Mitzi]

So does anybody else walk round their polytunnle or greenhouse with 2 sheets of A4 ? So you know where everything's going and in which pots.

Or is it just me

Oh to have this problem! (I.e. to have a greenhouse or polytunnel with room for lots of pots.) Actually, early in the season when I'm deciding which varieties to sow, I do a spreadsheet of the spaces I have and what will go in them. Then I update it when I know what's germinated.

It's currently standing at 7 overwintered chinenses + 13 chinense varieties from seed (including Genghis Khan from SP) = 20 plants to stay indoors on the windowsills, assuming I keep only one of each variety - I have multiples of some of them. I have space for 14 (4 chilligrows plus room for two more pots or pop bottles.)

3 overwintered annuums, 2 overwintered baccatums (possibly - they still haven't made their minds up if they are alive or dead and it's getting rather late in the season now.) 9 annuum varieties from seed, (including Twilight from SP,) 3 rocotos and 4 baccatums = 21 plants to go outside, again assuming I keep only one pot of each variety. I have room / pots for 16.

I think I must have done my sums wrong.

[chillithyme]

Hi all, this thread is great

I'm new and said a quick hello on the intro page, these are some of my chillies, I bought them reduced at wyevale as this is the first time in 10 years that I wasn't able to sow my own chillis for various reasons. I love growing chillies. I also use my notepad to keep a track of everything, I can get very forgetful remembering what is where on my windowsill

[chillithyme]

I tried to upload my phot but as you can see, not successfully, oops

[chillithyme]

I am growing 6 scotch bonnet chilli plants and a sweet pepper(unicorn)

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

My chilli collection update:

4x healthy padron peppers, about 20cm tall now. Two planted out in the square foot garden raised beds, two potted on into 15cm pots in the greenhouse.

1x apache planted out in the square foot garden. Another 4x in the greenhouse waiting to be potted on/planted out. I think I'll put a couple indoors, maybe one in the small kitchen herb garden outdoors and give one away.

3x prairie fire looking healthy but a bit smaller. I think they are naturally smaller anyway but I'm going to grow them on a bit in the greenhouse. One will be going in the square foot garden, one indoors, maybe one given away.

My understanding is that both Apache and Prairie Fire are easy to overwinter, is that right? I'd like to overwinter one of each if I can, especially if I can then harden it off and re-plant outdoors the following Spring after last frosts.

Here's the Apache and Prairie Fire, the two padrons at the bottom just out of shot:
https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#...6-7D3C1A7EA4A2

The ones I planted out:
https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#...E-1ECFEB1EF724

I assume the Padron will need staking at some point.

[4Shoes]

I tried to upload my phot but as you can see, not successfully, oops

Reduce the file size or save as gif or jpg. There is a file limit so many raw pictures will not upload.

[4Shoes]

So does anybody else walk round their polytunnle or greenhouse with 2 sheets of A4 ? So you know where everything's going and in which pots.







Or is it just me

I suspect I'll be doing that soon. Should make some plant labels, but so much other things to do.

I saw you have a 100l planter and thought it must be a type (10l), but now that you say it takes a trailer load of muck, bag of BFB and all other things - now must ask... what do you grow in it?

[Mitzi]

Most of my plants - well, the chinenses and pubescens anyway - are about ready for potting up into their final pots. Last year I just used MPC (I think it was Levingtons) mixed with perlite and chicken manure pellets. This year I've decided to treat them to something fancy. I've been down the Hydro shop this lunchtime and bought three different potting composts - Plagron bat guano stuff, Biobizz All Mix (they are currently in Biobizz Light Mix so this is the natural follow-on) and a third one which is a bit more basic and I've forgotten the name.

I also had to take back my big drum of Chilli Focus because I couldn't open it. Turns out they have a special gadget which breaks the seal. So the plants will be able to have a feed while waiting to be potted on. (Yes, I've read Chris11's post about Chilli Focus but I had already bought it by then. And to be fair, my seedlings seem to be thriving on it.)

Edit: I got the compost wrong. The Plagron I bought wasn't batmix, it's this one: https://www.plagron.com/en-GB/produc...ised-soil.html
The bat guano one was this one: https://www.onestopgrowshop.co.uk/pr...o-mix-50-litre
The other was, as I said, Biobizz All Mix.

Also I got the Chilli Focus can home again and STILL couldn't open it. Very frustrating.