2021 Season Chilli Growing

[pooey]

Yea I do some topping and FIM'ing on some of my plants. Mostly because I have limited vertical space so want to maximise lower branching and more even canopies.

Peppers will mostly do this themselves eventually though but usually just slightly higher up than I'd like (and different species will have different ideas of when / if to start branching off the main stem and different strains within species have differing habits too)

In the first 2 pics, a Hainan Yellow Lantern that I didn't trim/top/mess with. It started to split about 20cm or so up the stem

Spoiler: Left it alone 1

Spoiler: Left it alone 2

The next pics are also a C.Chinense (BOC x Primo Cream) but this one I topped fairly early on and he did the whole Y split thing at the point I topped him. Obviously he's in a smaller pot so comparison isn't exactly fair here but generally if you top they will bush lower. However, I have several plants that didn't seem to care about the topping and just sent 1 new main stem up anyway so results are never guaranteed

Spoiler: Topped 1

Spoiler: Topped 2

To really get a low bush going its sometimes best to let it grow tall and then give him a major chop. This CGN 21500 is a victim of exactly that. Obviously this will considerably lengthen the time to any crop yield.

Spoiler: Late chop

Here's an SRPS that I topped fairly early on and he's done a lovely low Y-split.

Spoiler: Nice Y

I'm not sure if I would bother if I wasn't so limited by height and have all the time in the world since no seasons in the grow tent. The plants I intend to grow outside are generally left alone.

 

[Cadder]

I might do it on my tallest 2 then, and see how it goes. Height may end up being an issue for me, thanks @pooey

 

[rotters]

but but all my gains....I know...off I go.

 

[Cadder]

but but all my gains....I know...off I go.

What do you mean?

 

[Griffo]

Hmm so my kratky kids have done this now:

To my mind it looks like the split and then following splits seem to be telling me it won't get much higher, right? If so then I can avoid considering a bit of the old chop-chop, as they say.

 

[rotters]

What do you mean?

I was joking about lopping the new growth off the top. But I know its for a good reason.































Still pretty little but roots appearing at the bottom of the pots so a pretty decent root ball which means that theyll go nuts when it gets consistently warm.

rotters

 

[pooey]

@Griffo They will probably stretch a little more, you could try some 'Low Stress Training' (very common in cannabis growing) either using some cord/wire or a screen to bend the upper stems down gently so they form a flatter canopy and avoid any chopping

@rotters Nice looking chaps! That mushroom bonnet is looking real dense after a trim! The BMC x SRPS is looking mighty interesting with its rounded leaves, I've not had much luck with that one at all so if you get some seeds off it eventually I would be super grateful for a few

 

[Cadder]

Looking good there @rotters !!

 

[fez]

I'm very jealous of all of these. I put a load of seeds in a germinated them in the airing cupboard for warmth. I stupidly left them in there too long while I waited for them all to sprout and now they are all too leggy and died a death.

Do many of you grow them outside of greenhouses?

 

[Cadder]

I'm very jealous of all of these. I put a load of seeds in a germinated them in the airing cupboard for warmth. I stupidly left them in there too long while I waited for them all to sprout and now they are all too leggy and died a death.

Do many of you grow them outside of greenhouses?

I have only just started growing them, they're on my office windowsill, west-facing. They get rotated whenever they lean too much. That's pretty much the extent of my experience. I haven't put any outside yet, not sure if I will.

 

[rotters]

@pooey I have a practical kratky question. My plants have been in their water for 2 weeks. They are due a change, If I fill to the top the air roots will be submerged..do I replace the nutes in the water volume now in the bottles so as not to drown the "air" roots?

 

[Griffo]

@Griffo They will probably stretch a little more, you could try some 'Low Stress Training' (very common in cannabis growing) either using some cord/wire or a screen to bend the upper stems down gently so they form a flatter canopy and avoid any chopping

...

Ah i'll give that a go, I just gained a load of lengths of cord after disassembling some blinds... knew i'd kept it for a reason!

@pooey I have a practical kratky question. My plants have been in their water for 2 weeks. They are due a change, If I fill to the top the air roots will be submerged..do I replace the nutes in the water volume now in the bottles so as not to drown the "air" roots?

Good question! I didn't put too much thought into that though, and have now twice re-filled to where it started, i.e. 2/3rds of the way up the baskets. And that's for the ones in the photo in my previous photo that are doing super.

 

[pooey]

@rotters I fill back up to the bottom of the net cups each time, this leaves enough breathing space in the height of the net cup it seems and I've not had any issues. Like @Griffo I didn't put a whole lot of thought into it either and it's seemed fine

 

[pooey]

...knew i'd kept it for a reason!

It's not hoarding if it's useful!!

 

[rotters]

OK thank you both... Will stop overthinking.

 

[Cadder]

I was just having a look at the plants this morning and noticed what appeared to be little white "fluff" balls. So I tried the super macro setting on my phone again and this is what is going down:

Spoiler: Pest

I sprayed with the neem oil mix I have and then decided to take another photo. Only then did I notice other bits moving. I look back at this photo and see plenty of these camouflaged bugs just chilling. It was these that were moving when sprayed. The white things appear to be skeletons of the deceased - though I'd be happy to know more.

I've been spraying with neem oil for a week or so. Not to a set pattern, but enough to make my home office smell unpleasant. Are these going to be difficult to eliminate? If so, will they be harmful to my chilli plants?

 

[pooey]

The aphids will absolutely be harmful if left unchecked. They will suck the fluids from the plant stems causing them to wilt and die.
If the soapy oily mixture isn't helping then you can essentially dunk the entire plant upside down into a bucket of water and drown them all, keeping the roots/growing media out of the water. This will be fine for your plant for a few minutes. Might be a bit awkward depending on how you're growing but you can support the soil with one hand over the top of the pot maybe to stop it all falling out

Edit to add, I have an aphid problem on a honeysuckle outside, I spray any aphids I see with a soapy mixture of castile soap, olive oil and water - does the job. I'd suggest adding more soap maybe, at least enough that you get some bubbles in the spray before resorting to submerging the entire plant

 

[Street]

Best to deal with them sooner rather than later. Last year I was fighting a losing battle to aphids on a couple of my plants. They just kept coming back and I couldn't shift them. Luckily it was towards the end of the season so in the end I just binned the plants off.

 

[Cadder]

I'll get some castile soap then. This stuff OK? https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00119Q8RI/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_R1DV01JE91ZW7Y26SJ0M

Also - I have other essential oils, can I add them in the mixture just so it doesn't stink? Neem oil rams.

 

[pooey]

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07D8Y4ZWQ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

This is the stuff I use, pretty much the same stuff but way cheaper.

Use some other oil if neem oil stinks - I just use whatever cooking oil is going at the time. Same results with olive oil, veg oil and hemp oil so far.