I usually try to grow chilli from seed each year. Last year was a disaster as I had 12 plants growing well in the conservatory but they suddenly became infested with aphids and as a result the crop was very poor. This year I have been more careful with respect to pests and grown 5 plants. I have been carefully monitoring watering them- starting slowly when young and increasing the water to almost daily as the hot weather took hold a few weeks back (I live in London) and increasing also as the plants grow. I also feed tomato feed once a week. Currently my plants are doing ok and chillis are growing on each. However I still see plenty of flower drop- the flowers look good and then the stalks turn yellow and the flower shrivels and falls off before producing fruit. This happens every year; I thought it maybe due to over-watering so have been careful this year as I mention. The pots they are in are 20 cm- could the pots be too small? I would be grateful if you could assist on whatever is causing the flower drop as its so frustrating to not get a huge yield. I have grown them in the conservatory again; intially they were in there then I put them outside in the middle of May but brought them in again as I understand they dont like wind.
i have been growing a chilli plant now for about 4 months but unfortunately the chillis are not growing no more than 1 inch long . am i doing something wrong? also when you want a chilli off your plant where about do you cut it?
I had a lot of flower-drop and wondered if it was due to over- or under-watering but I couldn't find any pattern. Then I read that [?some] chillies have male and female flowers and therefore I assume that the male flowers do their bit and then die, which would account for the large numbers of yellowed and dropped flowers that occur. What do you think?
Repl;y to A Walker: You should have taken a look at Toby Buckland's tip on drying chillies in the September issue of Gardeners' World Magazine (page 15).
Toby simply strings-up the chillies on thread, hanging them by their stalk, and keeping in the greenhouse or a warm room for them to dry in the air. You could probably just lay them on a warm windowsill to dry instead.
Once dry, store in airtight jars – either whole or broken into flakes.
I'm also told chillies can be frozen, and then used directly in curries or other dishes as you cook.
Hi! I have grown my chilli plant from a seed and it is quite big now. It has flowered with those little white flowers loads of times but so far I have only managed to grow one chilli! (it was quite big though). All the other flowers just wilt and drop off. Any advice on how to get more chillis growing? Thanks
Try Thai dragon chillies - they'll be fierce enough for you! I managed to get one plant to produce two years running - I got over 250 chillies from it this season - stopped in early December - I'm hoping it will flower this coming season. I'll let you know if it does.
Reply to falcon41: Yes, I've often heard that people manage to keep their chilli plants growing over winter, and get them to crop the following year. However, I've never done this myself. Do let me know how you get on.
Hi Chilli fans, over the past few years I have really got into my chilli plant growing and even go to local events to learn more. I have had quite some success with just pots of soil and droping seeds in and have slowly got more ambitious over the last few years trying to grow more. I have pulled together what I have learnt from other blogging sites, friends and festivals in a growing guide that may be useful so check it out if you are interested
Posts
I usually try to grow chilli from seed each year. Last year was a disaster as I had 12 plants growing well in the conservatory but they suddenly became infested with aphids and as a result the crop was very poor.
This year I have been more careful with respect to pests and grown 5 plants. I have been carefully monitoring watering them- starting slowly when young and increasing the water to almost daily as the hot weather took hold a few weeks back (I live in London) and increasing also as the plants grow. I also feed tomato feed once a week.
Currently my plants are doing ok and chillis are growing on each. However I still see plenty of flower drop- the flowers look good and then the stalks turn yellow and the flower shrivels and falls off before producing fruit. This happens every year; I thought it maybe due to over-watering so have been careful this year as I mention. The pots they are in are 20 cm- could the pots be too small?
I would be grateful if you could assist on whatever is causing the flower drop as its so frustrating to not get a huge yield. I have grown them in the conservatory again; intially they were in there then I put them outside in the middle of May but brought them in again as I understand they dont like wind.
A successful first year of growing them.
Toby simply strings-up the chillies on thread, hanging them by their stalk, and keeping in the greenhouse or a warm room for them to dry in the air. You could probably just lay them on a warm windowsill to dry instead.
Once dry, store in airtight jars – either whole or broken into flakes.
I'm also told chillies can be frozen, and then used directly in curries or other dishes as you cook.
If others have tried this please let us know.
http://chillipepperheaven.blogspot.com/2010/12/growing-chilli-plants.html