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Are my chilli plants ready to pot up?
Tina_i_am
Posts: 173
in Fruit & veg
Are my chillies ready to pot up? Currently, they are in 10cm square pots and most are about 30cm tall. The roots aren't exactly bursting out through the drainage holes. Should I move them to a 15cm pot or a 20cm pot next? I've only got some peat free compost, would a different compost be better?
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Yes, they are ready to be potted on. I would put them into 20cm pots now. Chillies don't need a rich compost so you'll be fine using what you have.
Hello, I was also wondering the same about my chilli plants. I know that this isn't my thread but i was wondering whether anybody knows how hardy chilli plants are? Can I plant them out or should the be brought in over winter? I was given a small number of seeds (without any care information) with my bill at a Mexican restaurant! I now have three decent sized plants.
Chili come from hot climates and are tender plants. They wont like temperatures below 13c, so will not survive outside in winter.
You can keep them indoors over winter keeping the compost almost dry and they may well spring back to life in the spring, but most people sow seed in early spring and dispose of the plants at the end of the season after harvest.
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
Thankyou for letting me know. I will clear a space on my sunniest window ledge for them then!
Lfin, as Pete says, they can be overwintered and I'm lucky enough to have a conservatory where I keep mine. Overwintering inside will give you a huge head start if they survive. I treat them as Pete mentions and cut them back to just the main stem in spring and give them a small amount of water when things start to warm up. As soon as I see signs of life, I shake most of the old compost off of the roots and repot into fresh, damp (but not wet) compost. The overwintered plants now have full size fruit which is ripening but the seed-grown ones I also started this year still have only tiny fruit. If you have somewhere suitable to keep them over winter, it is worth trying.
Great - thankyou!
Overwintering is a bit hit and miss with chillis. I now just grow chillies as an annual plant and re sow the following Feb for a new batch.
I sowed mine at the beginning of March and I've got my first red jalapeno
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
Nice one Pete, they are looking really healthy!
My ones from seed are rapidly catching up now. I always do both so have sweet peppers and chillies even if the overwintered ones don't make it (plus there are still some in the freezer I think.) No such thing as too many capsicums! 