I just put my hand over the soil with the stem between my fingers, turn the pot upside down and gently slip the pot off from the roots to see if they're ready to re-pot. Usually you can see roots appearing in the holes at the bottom of the pot too when they are ready. To overwinter, I only water them when the top inch of compost is completely dry (stick a finger in to tell) and then only enough to dampen the soil. In the spring there will just be a (hopefully) green stem left with some dead bits. Cut the brown bits off and water them. Don't water again until you see signs of growth. At that point I take them out of the pots and shake off most of the old compost and repot them into damp fresh compost. It doesn't always work but after a mild winter like the last one you can get an amazing head start.
They do well in smaller pots, much better than tomatoes would. You'll get less fruit per plant of course but in the case of chillies in particular that isn't a big deal as a little can go a long way!
A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
Oh wow, that's really helpful, thanks Bob! didn't realise you could do any of that but feeling optimistic I'll be able to hang on to all six in that case - fewer chilies per plant but more varieties over all sounds better than more from fewer plants.
hi bobthegardener your peppers look good from last year are they seeds you planted your self or are they grafted plants I tried grafted chillies and peppers last year and had a brilliant crop of both I cut them down to about a foot hoping that they would grow no luck so am I right in thinking you just let them die back and just kept alive with a odd drop of water. my plants now are in large pots and growing well . I often let my peppers and chillis grow about about 3ft 6 in big pots then I use sharp knife and stop the plants I water with bio and feed when in fruit tomarite mild doseage we used the last chillis 2mnths ago used the last toms that we froze for spag/boll yesterday good advice bob will have to keep a eye on your blogs as I like to try things and try and experiment Michael
i have pinched out all my cyenne chilli plants which have come on really well since then, and also since planting from seed in February repotted on four times to now their final size
I have not as yet pinched outmy peppers however may try out an experiment to find out what is best and gives greatr return.
My greenhouse at the allotment is now the most stinking of places on earth as i am now feeding with comfrey tea twice a week and it is making a difference very quickly. Having to breath through your mouth whilst tending the crops is a nesessisty unless you like gagging from the smell.
I currently have a half bucket of the stuff in the greenhouse
good luck with the chilli's and hope all get a bumper harvest
Potted on into 15cm pots this weekend along with the sweet peppers (which have flower buds) and the "patio sizzle"
Must have spent half an hour finding and squishing tiny little caterpillars that had started to feast on my plants, hope I didn't miss any.
The experimentals will have to stay in 13cm pots for now but are getting bigger every day, no sign of flowers yet, they were sown later than the others.
Update on the experimentals: The plants grown from fresh seed taken from supermarket peppers have small fruits developing now.
Photo below shows the two plants from dry packet seed. One plant has 3 black peppers, the other has one green which is the largest one to grow so far.
On to the chillies: I've moved the "Apache" into the conservatory for easier picking, masses of fruits with a decent kick. Daughters boyfriend is using them daily and he likes scotch bonnets ?
Last is the "patio sizzle", a little disappointing, pale yellow upright fruits only at the top of the plant. Seed packet image showed a bushy plant covered in orange and red fruits.
Happy with the performance overall despite the ups and downs of the weather this year. I think Bob's advice for bigger pots has made a difference (thanks Bob ?).
Hoping to overwinter some plants for a head start next year. I just need to get some even bigger pots ?
Nice plants and fruits and good advice from many people on this thread
I grow a lot of chillies and often see people recommending Chilli Focus. I know there are plenty of positive reviews, although these reviews are usually only anecdotal. It's rare to see somebody say they fed half their plants chilli focus, half their plants tomato feed, then monitored the results. And if they did, most people don't grow enough plants to make any meaningful comparison when taking into account all the other factors.
Personally, I'd be interested to know more of the science behind the Chilli Focus formulation to justify the claims, as it's certainly not obvious from the formulations. I've done a comparison of the NPK+ formulations of Chilli Focus and several widely available tomato feeds, and Chilli Focus is typically 4 times the cost, and roughly half the concentration in terms of NPK+, so in effect it's roughly 8 times the cost. Obviously if you feel it is a better product, then it might be money well spent, but I'm not convinced.
Chilli growers often think their plants need more Magnesium, but Chili Focus doesn't even list the amount of Magnesium in it's formulation.
Of the commonly available tomato feeds, my personal suggestion is Westland Gro-Sure: NPK+ of 6-3-10 plus Magnesium and Seaweed. Magnesium at 0.02% is higher than other tomato feeds I've seen.
Overwintering is key to an early crop. I have been enjoying home grown chillies from overwintered plants since the end of February this year. My advice on overwintering would be don't be afraid to be brutal. I typically start prepping plants for overwintering end of September to beginning of October by removing all leaves and snipping of all branches to just above the main stem junction. Just make sure you cut a cm tor two above the junction to accomodate die back. I then shake out some of the old compost and snip the roots back so that the plant can fit comfortably in a 7 inch pot and fill with fresh compost, give it a little water and then it goes on the windowsill for the winter. I'll only water slightly once a week and then end of Jan I use a seaweed feed once a week and the new growth goes nuts. As soon as flowers appear I switch to Chilli Focus on half the recommended dose (I always feel that manufactures recommend higher doses than are required and this can be detrimental to the plants development). And by the end of Feb I'm picking fruit from some of the faster growing varieties like Jalapeño and Ring of Fire with the Habaneros and other superhots taking another month or so. My recommendation for watering chillies is once the plants are growing vigorously only water when they dry out. I tend to go by the leaves just starting to go limp and this has served me well for thirty years of bumper crops. These methods work for me 100% of the time so I hope this info proves helpful.
Here are a couple of snaps of this years offerings. Seed sown in a heated propagator at the end of Jan, potted on into 9cm pots last week.
Left to right I have, a mini sweet pepper, two patio sizzle and two plants grown from hot supermarket chillies..... (experimenting again)
One of my plants is looking a bit ropey, it's the other "mini sweet pepper" plant. I'm keeping it away from the others, not sure what's wrong with it, they've all been grown in the same compost and conditions.
Is it diseased?
I'm a bit miffed about it . Last year I had far too many plants for my small space and have scaled back this year. Losing one plant leaves me with only one other of that variety.
Posts
I just put my hand over the soil with the stem between my fingers, turn the pot upside down and gently slip the pot off from the roots to see if they're ready to re-pot. Usually you can see roots appearing in the holes at the bottom of the pot too when they are ready. To overwinter, I only water them when the top inch of compost is completely dry (stick a finger in to tell) and then only enough to dampen the soil. In the spring there will just be a (hopefully) green stem left with some dead bits. Cut the brown bits off and water them. Don't water again until you see signs of growth. At that point I take them out of the pots and shake off most of the old compost and repot them into damp fresh compost. It doesn't always work but after a mild winter like the last one you can get an amazing head start.
They do well in smaller pots, much better than tomatoes would. You'll get less fruit per plant of course but in the case of chillies in particular that isn't a big deal as a little can go a long way!
Oh wow, that's really helpful, thanks Bob! didn't realise you could do any of that but feeling optimistic I'll be able to hang on to all six in that case - fewer chilies per plant but more varieties over all sounds better than more from fewer plants.
thanks again!
I feed mine Chilli Focus food which Stacey our Guru recommended.
hi bobthegardener your peppers look good from last year are they seeds you planted your self or are they grafted plants I tried grafted chillies and peppers last year and had a brilliant crop of both I cut them down to about a foot hoping that they would grow no luck so am I right in thinking you just let them die back and just kept alive with a odd drop of water. my plants now are in large pots and growing well . I often let my peppers and chillis grow about about 3ft 6 in big pots then I use sharp knife and stop the plants I water with bio and feed when in fruit tomarite mild doseage we used the last chillis 2mnths ago used the last toms that we froze for spag/boll yesterday good advice bob will have to keep a eye on your blogs as I like to try things and try and experiment Michael
Hi all
i have pinched out all my cyenne chilli plants which have come on really well since then, and also since planting from seed in February repotted on four times to now their final size
I have not as yet pinched outmy peppers however may try out an experiment to find out what is best and gives greatr return.
My greenhouse at the allotment is now the most stinking of places on earth as i am now feeding with comfrey tea twice a week and it is making a difference very quickly. Having to breath through your mouth whilst tending the crops is a nesessisty unless you like gagging from the smell.
I currently have a half bucket of the stuff in the greenhouse
good luck with the chilli's and hope all get a bumper harvest
Happy gardening
Apache is fruiting
Potted on into 15cm pots this weekend along with the sweet peppers (which have flower buds) and the "patio sizzle"
Must have spent half an hour finding and squishing tiny little caterpillars that had started to feast on my plants, hope I didn't miss any.
The experimentals will have to stay in 13cm pots for now but are getting bigger every day, no sign of flowers yet, they were sown later than the others.
Update on the experimentals: The plants grown from fresh seed taken from supermarket peppers have small fruits developing now.
Photo below shows the two plants from dry packet seed. One plant has 3 black peppers, the other has one green which is the largest one to grow so far.
On to the chillies: I've moved the "Apache" into the conservatory for easier picking, masses of fruits with a decent kick. Daughters boyfriend is using them daily and he likes scotch bonnets ?
Last is the "patio sizzle", a little disappointing, pale yellow upright fruits only at the top of the plant. Seed packet image showed a bushy plant covered in orange and red fruits.
Happy with the performance overall despite the ups and downs of the weather this year. I think Bob's advice for bigger pots has made a difference (thanks Bob ?).
Hoping to overwinter some plants for a head start next year. I just need to get some even bigger pots ?
Nice plants and fruits and good advice from many people on this thread
I grow a lot of chillies and often see people recommending Chilli Focus. I know there are plenty of positive reviews, although these reviews are usually only anecdotal. It's rare to see somebody say they fed half their plants chilli focus, half their plants tomato feed, then monitored the results. And if they did, most people don't grow enough plants to make any meaningful comparison when taking into account all the other factors.
Personally, I'd be interested to know more of the science behind the Chilli Focus formulation to justify the claims, as it's certainly not obvious from the formulations. I've done a comparison of the NPK+ formulations of Chilli Focus and several widely available tomato feeds, and Chilli Focus is typically 4 times the cost, and roughly half the concentration in terms of NPK+, so in effect it's roughly 8 times the cost. Obviously if you feel it is a better product, then it might be money well spent, but I'm not convinced.
Chilli growers often think their plants need more Magnesium, but Chili Focus doesn't even list the amount of Magnesium in it's formulation.
Of the commonly available tomato feeds, my personal suggestion is Westland Gro-Sure: NPK+ of 6-3-10 plus Magnesium and Seaweed. Magnesium at 0.02% is higher than other tomato feeds I've seen.
Often available at Wilko, £4.00 for 2L.
Hi all,
Overwintering is key to an early crop. I have been enjoying home grown chillies from overwintered plants since the end of February this year. My advice on overwintering would be don't be afraid to be brutal. I typically start prepping plants for overwintering end of September to beginning of October by removing all leaves and snipping of all branches to just above the main stem junction. Just make sure you cut a cm tor two above the junction to accomodate die back. I then shake out some of the old compost and snip the roots back so that the plant can fit comfortably in a 7 inch pot and fill with fresh compost, give it a little water and then it goes on the windowsill for the winter. I'll only water slightly once a week and then end of Jan I use a seaweed feed once a week and the new growth goes nuts. As soon as flowers appear I switch to Chilli Focus on half the recommended dose (I always feel that manufactures recommend higher doses than are required and this can be detrimental to the plants development). And by the end of Feb I'm picking fruit from some of the faster growing varieties like Jalapeño and Ring of Fire with the Habaneros and other superhots taking another month or so. My recommendation for watering chillies is once the plants are growing vigorously only water when they dry out. I tend to go by the leaves just starting to go limp and this has served me well for thirty years of bumper crops. These methods work for me 100% of the time so I hope this info proves helpful.
Happy growing. ?
Here are a couple of snaps of this years offerings. Seed sown in a heated propagator at the end of Jan, potted on into 9cm pots last week.
Left to right I have, a mini sweet pepper, two patio sizzle and two plants grown from hot supermarket chillies..... (experimenting again)
One of my plants is looking a bit ropey, it's the other "mini sweet pepper" plant. I'm keeping it away from the others, not sure what's wrong with it, they've all been grown in the same compost and conditions.
Is it diseased?
I'm a bit miffed about it
. Last year I had far too many plants for my small space and have scaled back this year. Losing one plant leaves me with only one other of that variety.
I've bought some 24cm pots though Bob ??
Bigger pots = good chillies...... Yes?