1st Chilli Cull, :(

Well it had to be done, the 1st round of the chilli plant cull, the weaker seedlings in all the pots have been removed. I have still left 2-3 plants in each pot for now to make sure that as they grow some more I have the strongest left to go into the Allotment green house. So there will be another cull in a few weeks time.

As an experiment I have left all the Jalapeno plants growing but twisted the stems together. To maybe create a Bonsai Chilli (Bonchi) not sure yet if I will, the keeping the option there just in case.

Chillies growing great in the Growlight Garden

Well the chillies are doing really well so far, the extra light they are getting and using the compost and feed really seems to be doing the trick. Nice green foliage short and firm stems, far better than last year. The capillary watering system works really well, and I'm glad I got this growlight garden system now.

Some of the chillies and peppers have had more than one successful germination per pot, so I'm going to have to "cull" quite a few chillies and keep only the strongest plants to grow on, seems a pity, but from what I have read in books and on-line having more than one chilli pepper per pot has a negative effect on fruit production.

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Chillies have germinated

Well just about all of the chillies and peppers have germinated, still waiting on a couple to spring into life, the Birds Eye, Goats Ear, Habanaro, and Praire Fire hot chillies are still showing no sign of life as yet. The only sweet pepper that hasn't germinated so far has been the Ingrid.

They have been re-potted into small 6cm plastic pots by just putting a little compost in the bottom of the pot, dropping the coir plug in and packing around the coir plug with some more compost. I'm trying out Indoor Plant Compost this year while they are in the small pots.

The ones that have started have been moved to the light box so they don't start getting leggy.

The chillies and peppers are all being fed and watered via the capillary matting system using Chilli Focus at 5ml per litre. So this year they should all get off to a great start.

 

Hot Chillies that have germinated so far are :

 

Anaheim
Apache F1
Cayenne
Demon Red
Gusto Purple F1
Jalapeno
Krakatoa F1
Long Slim
Pimiento de Padron
Scotch Bonnet
Superchili
Masquerade

 

Sweet Peppers that have germinated so far are :

 

Barancio (s)
Big Banana F1 (s)
California Wonder (s)
Gypsy F1 (s)
Patio Red (s)
Peperone Corno di toro rosso (s)
Redskin F1 (s)
Worldbeater (s)

Yummy (s)

It's chilli time

This year, due to the bad summer we all had, I have started my chillies and peppers off early.

I've sown 4 seeds of each of the peppers into coir pellets and popped them into the heated propagator.

 

Even though this sounds like a lot of plants, I'm only growing on one of each plant to see which does best and also which ones I like to eat and store for powders etc..

Chilli List for 2013

Hot Chillies

1. Anaheim 900-3,000 Scovilles.
2. Apache F1 (dwarf chilli outdoor) Scoville Heat Rating : 75000-80000
3. Birds Eye (Very late maturing. 100-175,000+ Scoville)
4. Cayenne (Scoville Heat Rating : 30000-50000) *** Grew well 2012 ***
5. de Cayenne x 2 packs
6. Demon Red
7. Goats Ear Chilli (Seed swap seeds) (Habanero???)
8. Gusto
9. Gusto Purple F1
10. Habanaro
11. Jalapeno x 3 packs
12. Krakatoa F1
13. Long Slim
14. Pimiento de Padron (The plants can grow to 2m high so plant in the ground (1,000 to 12,000+ Scoville)
15. Praire Fire *** Grew well 2012 ***
16. Scotch Bonnet (late maturing. 100,000 - 300,000 Scoville)
17. Superchili (30-40,000+ Scovilles)
18. Masquerade (seeds saved from GC chilli) (Hot. Very early and ornamental. Long fruit start purple then turn yellow, orange and finally red.)

Sweet Peppers

1. Barancio (s)
2. Big Banana F1 (s)
3. California Wonder (s) x 2 packs
4. Gypsy F1 (s)
5. Ingrid (s)
6. Patio Red (s) *** Grew well 2012 ***
7. Peperone Corno di toro rosso (s)
8. Redskin F1 (s)
9. Worldbeater (s)
10. Yummy (s)

Hopefully they will all germinate, and this year get a massive crop of peppers. The good lady wife has let me have the total space in the greenhouse for this project.

Christmas Veggies

Had a lovely Christmas with the family and had vegetables from the allotment gracing our Christmas Day dinner table.  Got some curly kale, parsnips and leeks from the top plot, leeks were HUGE!  Really pleased with them, bigger than any we could see in the shops!  And harvested more than enough brussel sprouts from the bottom plot, some a bit small but very tasty.  The bottom plot has been suffering a bit as it is right next to the river and in a dip.  With all the floods we have been having in Somerset the plot didnt escape.  Simon went down there to survey the damage and the water line was 4ft up inside the shed!  Wellington boots floating around and plant pots everywhere but luckily the veg in the ground survived.  And the flood waters reached the shelf in the greenhouse but luckily the chillis were overwintering on the shelf and didnt get submerged.  Thats the 2nd time the plot has been underwater this year but it doesnt seem to do much damage, just makes the ground easier to dig!  Glad I didnt see it when it was all underwater, want an allotment not a swimming pool!

Our best parsnip this year....

One of the Girls

Thought I would quickly post a picture of one of Janes hens having a cuddle on one of those rare days that the sunshine appeared. The chicken's are doing great and we now get 4  good sized eggs per day. So many that I was allowed by my good lady wife Jane to pickle 27 of them ready for Christmas. I just love a pickled egg..

Attempting to Over-Winter my Chillies

 

Well winter is fast approaching and the chilli plants are now past their best. After chatting to other chilli growers this year i am attempting to over-winter some of the chilli plants that did well this year dispite of the weather.



Following the guide in 'grow-it' magazine, I've cut the plants back to about six inches above the soil. Shook away nearly all of the old compost from the root system.



Repotted the plants into single large pots with new compost and added some slow release 14:14:14 feed just in case.



Put some old bubble wrap on the cold greenhouse stageing, wrapped up the pots with more bubble wrap. Gave all the chillies a final small watering then covered the whole lot up with some garden flease.

 

So hopefully now next year, they should get off to a head start over the seed that i'll plant next year.