Growing chillies

wayne1983

Ive got this herb book and it says chillie plants in pots look good, so i was thinking of trying this.
Now since i like spicy food i thought id give it a go, but are chillie plants a perrenial or is it like tomatoes , once its end of season its done?, thanks:beer:

Sally_A

Chillies tend to be very slow at germinating, mine tend to get sown January, in the hope I will get a crop from August onwards.

I did manage to overwinter one this year by bringing it into the house and keeping it in a warm light area, it's currently back in the greenhouse as the flowers were dropping in the house due to lack of pollination. The variety is Pretty in Purple, and is a small decorative one with fiery fruits, hot at purple, burning when red. On the plus side it is very prolific and you can just pop the chillies whole into the freezer and use one or two as needed, a quick rub between your hands and they thaw enabling them to be sliced.

Normally in the UK we treat them as annuals as they are a bit tempermental to overwinter, but it is possible.

wayne1983

Sally_A wrote: »

Chillies tend to be very slow at germinating, mine tend to get sown January, in the hope I will get a crop from August onwards.

I did manage to overwinter one this year by bringing it into the house and keeping it in a warm light area, it's currently back in the greenhouse as the flowers were dropping in the house due to lack of pollination. The variety is Pretty in Purple, and is a small decorative one with fiery fruits, hot at purple, burning when red. On the plus side it is very prolific and you can just pop the chillies whole into the freezer and use one or two as needed, a quick rub between your hands and they thaw enabling them to be sliced.

Normally in the UK we treat them as annuals as they are a bit tempermental to overwinter, but it is possible.

Oh right thanks, im going to try it anyway as im getting a bug for growing herbs and spices (dont ask why!:rotfl:) and thought since i like making my own curries that this would be an interesting plant to try.
Off topic but checked my sunflowers and chive seeds i set last week are coming up:beer:

ausmummy

I've just been having a nosey around the thred and just thought i'd put in my two bits. I've found the perfect place to germenate my chilli and pepper seeds is on my home made propagater (plastic tray and lid) sat on top of my modem. It just seems to be the perfect temperature for them, a couple of days and I get them sprouting up ready for the sun.

wayne1983

ausmummy wrote: »

I've just been having a nosey around the thred and just thought i'd put in my two bits. I've found the perfect place to germenate my chilli and pepper seeds is on my home made propagater (plastic tray and lid) sat on top of my modem. It just seems to be the perfect temperature for them, a couple of days and I get them sprouting up ready for the sun.

Cheers, odd place but if it works. We have a greenhouse but not sure if its warm enough for them:beer:
Actually could you grow these inddors full stop ?

ausmummy

I've got an extenstion with glass on two sides so I've always grown in there as it gets baked in the sun (still don't have greenhouse) but share the one we made at my mums. You can grow indoors but as the sun comes the greenhouse should be good.

Just to add if you germenate on moden, set top box whatever, make sure you use a lid as the soil can dry out really fast otherwise.

nuttyrockeress

You may be a little late sowing these now - mine were sown in Feb and I had a later sowing early April.

You can usually buy some well establised plants from garden centre's etc.

Re the modem be careful when watering, you may end up with a costly mistake

debralee_2

I have a chili plant which I bought last March as a seedling. I have it in a big pot on my kitchen window sill and it is now huge and I've had chilli's growing on it continually since about July last year. I think having the central heating on over the winter helped. It is the only plant I have ever had success with.

forgotmyname

I planted a couple of seeds from the bell pepper type saved from some supermarket bought peppers, I did not plant then until about march/april time. Took some time to start growing, I found out later your better sowing them in december.
End of the year i had 2 small peppers, But the plant kept going i was expecting it to die off like the tomatoes.
It survived in the unheated leanto until january then as the temp dropped really bad it died.

foreign_correspondent

I would buy a nice chilli plant or two now, rather than start from seed.

Lotus-eater

Chilli plants are often dirt cheap at boot sales, despite their needing to be sown very early to be any size. I sowed mine in early March (forgot about them) and they are still only a couple of inches tall at best.

On the other hand, I knew someone who sowed them in the middle of the summer, they grew fast, she then overwintered them inside and they got off to a flying start the following year.

I've managed to overwinter 2 plants this year, although they don't look as good as I'd like them to. It's not that easy, a balancing act between light, heat and keeping the wee beasties off them.

The only problem with buying chilli plants, is that you are never sure what you are going to get, if you sow your own seed you can grow any number of very interesting chillies, not to mention blisteringly hot if you are into that sort of thing.

Do both if you can, sow seeds (they really do need heat and time) and try to get hold of some seedlings.
Btw, those black flowerpots you can get in supermarkets (Asda do them free if you ask) I've found perfect for most chillies.