Chillies - help please.

[TPeers]

The OH has requested that I try to grow him some chillies - I don't like them but in a sense of continued permission to go to garden centres without loud complaints......


So..... I have some seed which came with GYO last year - will it be any good? I know some types of seed needs to be fresh each year.

I know he likes his chillies on the warm side but not too hot - any suggestions as to type? Not scotch bonnet I assume!

Do I grow them like tomatoes, or do they have special requirements?

Is their a variety that can be grown as an ornamental for the desk at his office? (Don't ask! )

I know all this sounds daft, but I've never grown them before!

As an addition he wants some peppers too - they always die on me - do they like to be dry? Have I been overwatering them?

Would like to try some of the long ones that look like oversized chillies - any suggestions as to a name?

Thanks in advance for all the help

Terry

[ysb33r]

Is that the pack of Cayenne Pepper? I think I have a similar pack of seeds. Anyways I managed to sprout some on wet paper towl in the airing cupboard. they took about 7 days to sprout and get to a size where they could be moved to pots.. After sprouting, OH just cut out sections of the paper towl and placed each sprouted seed into a separate paper pot. They are happily growing on in the mini-greenhouse (against an east-facing wall).

[rustylady]

Last year's seeds should be OK. I've sown a selection pack of 6 varieties and the germination is good. Variety depends on personal taste, I grow Jalapeno and a few others, Scotch Bonnet is very hot, but I've found home grown chillies vary in heat according to growing conditions. Hence it's a bit of a guess in the kitchen as to how hot the resulting dish will be. Chillies and sweet peppers like similar growing conditions to tomatoes. Pref greenhouse but may be OK in garden in a good year.

[TPeers]

OK! So that's my work for the next few months! And I thought I was just going to have melons and cucumbers in the G/house.....

Thanks guys, much appreciated, I'll get the seed onto some kitchen paper tonight and see what happens. I'll let you all know....

[pigletwillie]

Apache are supposedly ok as a pot plant outside, but its down to how good the weather is ultimately. I grow about a dozen varieties from pimento de padron (mildish) to dorset nagas (atomic+++) and they go into the tunnel. The poorer the soil, the hotter the chillie. I reared several varieties outside in a raised bed last year, fairly well sheltered from the wind and they gave good results.

[ysb33r]

Last year I grew both Jalapeno (chilli) and California Wonder (pepper) outside with good results. The sweet pepper plant that was outside actually outperformed the one that I had in a pot.

[Protea]

I grow tons of chillies each year, its a jungle in my very small greenhouse!

Jalepeno types of chillie are generally milder than the chinese types (scotch bonnets etc), i'm growing hungarian hot wax (supposed to be quite mild), Joe's long (mild -medium heat), Chilli long red (no idea - but prob medium) and some other bits and bobs.

I've grown Etna and Prairie Fire before which are smaller and ornamental (Prairie Fire in particular) but they will take the roof of your mouth off! Fiesta is another ornamental sized plant (still edible, but hot!)

[Waffler]

last year's seed should be fine - I've only just sown mine, but I expect most to germinate. I think the cayenne are a medium heat chilli, but if you think of the dorset naga being a 10+, they're probably only about 2. I also grew numex twilight last year which are quite pretty as plants, so maybe are an option for the desk; the chilllis range through yellow, orange and red aswell as green and also purple, so they look a bit like little jewels on the plant. Don't know how well it would perform on a desk - if the place of work has air-conditioning I should think it would be a no-go, otherwise it might be worth a try. Anyway, the chillis produced off that are probably mid-range aswell.

I grow my chillis (and peppers) in the greenhouse: I start them off in an unheated propogator in an unheated greenhouse. As seedlings I pot them on to individual pots (3"?), then once they've outgrown those I plant them in to the greenhouse borders, spacing them about a foot apart, although I reckon they could get a bit closer and I shall do that this year as I'm planning on having so much in the greenhouse! Keep them quite well watered, but not water-logged - after all they are indiginous to hot, dry countries. I tend to give them a potash feed whenever I feed my toms - once a week to once a fortnight. Last year they performed brilliantly and I still have plenty of dried chillis and also some which I froze in ice-cube trays.

As to the sweet peppers which look like over-sized chillis - I'm growing 'big banana' this year, which look a bit like that. There's also one called Ringo which is yellow.

I did a brief bit of digging, and found these types which are supposedly mild varieties:

Raja's pride
Anaheim
Hungarian wax
Poblano
Also look for 'salsa chillis' which are generally milder.

Good luck with it - I hope you find one YOU like, as it's more fun growing stuff you like yourself. There are so many varieties out there, with a bit of experimentation and asking around, I'm sure you'll find one.

[Alison]

I've grown Prairie Fire in the past and it's a very neat plant which I'm guessing could be grown on a window ledge - certainly did well for me in a pot in the greenhouse.

[Two_Sheds]

The heat of the chilli varies even on the same plant, and even on the same fruit. The heat is generally stronger at the 'shoulder' where it joins the stalk, and cooler at the tip.
I love chillies, I put a little bit into most dishes. Growing some 'black' ones this year to satisfy my fetish for unusual colours

[TPeers]

Thanks very much all of you, I'm off to the garden centre this afternoon so I will 'indulge' in a few extra packs of seed - after all, I need to give him a choice don't I?


... Me! a seed-a-holic, no! surely not!

[TPeers]

Well! went to the garden center and had a lovely time! got four types of pepper/chilli; Prairie Fire,Bolivian Rainbow (Both chillis) and Big banana and Fruit 'n' Spice (Sweet) add in the cayenne from last years mag..... and I will need to get the water main enlarged to cope with the thirst!

There were no Anaheim types and nothing that admitted to being less that hottttt! So the only dish I am likely to use them in for me is a really good courgette bake which has oddles of cream (yum!!!!!!!) I'll try to remember to dig out the recipe and put it on the cooking section.

I've just been told that all chillies are related to deadly nightshade - and you all eat these things?!

[terrier]

Hi folks, I have been told that most of the heat in chillies is in the seeds, so if you remove the seeds prior to cooking, the chillie is not so hot but you still get the full flavour? Any one else heard of this?

[Protea]

Hi folks, I have been told that most of the heat in chillies is in the seeds, so if you remove the seeds prior to cooking, the chillie is not so hot but you still get the full flavour? Any one else heard of this?

Often believed, but in fact incorrect - most of the heat is in the very thin membrane on the INSIDE of the skin, hence if you want to reduce the heat of a chillie in cooking carefully scrape the inside of the skin to remove the white pith and membrane before adding to the dish (but be careful not to get squirted in the eye - it hurts!). The seeds however, can also be quite hot so its a good idea to remove them if you're not used to eating them (they're also a pain if you get them stuck in your teeth !)

[Protea]

I've just been told that all chillies are related to deadly nightshade - and you all eat these things?!

So are potatoes....go figure!!