2021 Season Chilli Growing

Soldato
Joined
25 Nov 2020
Posts
2,514
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. :)

Thanks @pooey I did see that at first but wondered if I'd ever get through 500ml.
I thought the neem oil was the repellant and the soap was the emulsifier, but I'm sure we could move to another oil - we recently bought plenty of different oils for our new carbon steel pans :cry:

I hope I can get rid of these pests
 
Associate
Joined
29 Jan 2020
Posts
136
Location
UK - Surrey
@pooey Loving the stripes on the pods and amazed at how you can get such comparatively small plant to fruit so well.
Would love to have a bigger collection of smaller plants all of different varieties and fruiting.
Do you just keep the pot size small...?

@Cadder Good effort on the repotting mate, looks like it all went smoothly.
I recon 8L should be fine, tbh the general rule is the small the pot the smaller the plant and so less fruit.
Go as big as you can especially for chinense (super hot) varieties as the bigger the pot the bigger the plant and the more chillies :)
Don't sweat 8L though, that will get you some decent size plants that fruit.

I have done a bit of pruning (topping) but I only really do it if the plant is getting to tall as a whole or stretched out.
It does in the short term set them back a bit and I only do it around now when they are not fruiting.
Means you can get some great shaped & bushy plants when it goes well.

How i the war against the aphids going, I am free of them so fa this year which is a first but I'm sure they will show up at some point!

In general my grow i going ok, struggling to get the transition out of the mini grow tent into the garden right.
Lots of wilting and stress in the plants and juggling them between locations, they should hopefully acclimatise soon though.
Rapidly running out of space!
 
Last edited:
Associate
Joined
29 Jan 2020
Posts
136
Location
UK - Surrey
Thanks @pooey
I think I might take a couple of my late germinators this year and just keep them in small containers in the grow tent in that case.
Would be cool to have a mini indoor garden as well as the outdoor grow too.

Quite cloudy but still mild today so I'm taking my chances and moving everything outside.
Had the window in the room the plants are in open for a few days so they should be temp acclimatised and with the cloud cover they shouldn't get scorched by direct sun.
Got some shade cloth kicking about somewhere if needed though. Love this part where you can get them outside and watch them really shoot up.
Getting the space back in the house is a win too!
 
Soldato
Joined
25 Nov 2020
Posts
2,514
Castile soap arrived today (thanks Amazon :)).

We noticed so many more of these aphids, eurgh. I'd dread to think how many more I'd see if they weren't elite level camo.

Mixed up a new concoction - Castile soap, neem oil, peppermint oil and water. The smell has slightly improved with the peppermint oil. Now the spray forms some tiny bubbles rather than just looking like water. Hopefully this makes a difference.

The main victim is my poor Naga Viper - my number 1. We even bought her a special pot to show she's the favourite... :(

Time to recruit some ladybirds I think.
 
Associate
OP
Joined
8 Mar 2004
Posts
721
Location
London
Don't be shy with spraying that stuff liberally - absolutely cover those aphids in bubbles! No mercy when pepper lives (especially favourite Nagas!) are on the line!
 
Associate
Joined
29 Jan 2020
Posts
136
Location
UK - Surrey
Nice day out there for the plants today.

I think mine have finally settled outside in the coldframe.
Some lessons learned this year on how to better manage the transition from indoors to out!
My mistake was keeping them in a room with windows open to simulate the great outdoors then putting them in the coldframe which is super hot and humid.
I would have been better off just keeping them indoors with windows closed as that is warmer and closer to the coldframe temp.

Got the first of my plants in my homemade self watering pot system yesterday eve.
Looking a bit sad today but I am hoping that just a touch of transplant shock.
If the self watering pot work as I hope then it is going to make watering and plant care while away from home so much easier!

@Cadder How is the war against the aphids going? Just keep spraying liberally as Pooey said.
You are unlikely to get rid of all of them and might have to somewhat live with them for the season.
So long as it doesn't turn into a total infestation though your plants will be ok. Otherwise they are looking great from your pics.

@Griffo How is the LST going or did you decide to prune?
My early pruning on one of my plants is really starting to pay off now but was a bit depressing / worrying at the time!
 
Last edited:
Soldato
Joined
25 Nov 2020
Posts
2,514
Thanks for the tips, this new solution is the biz. Couple more macro shots to show the critters dying already:

y4mj3qngWqx69zv1XbV7zHJ-ItC8XeG3PSaGzCAdZ86CvNVuvadcfslzP7kCjglXt4BBtI3iAwANxSzw3r2sgagQL5-xn37UEiJd3_ELC3o8H_wHLExyJNe_cb6gvtXyakqt0OkDf2O5gPudRRr1nRODqxWgrYW_PlO82k9U5pDu4IjOC49vg7xpMRxF4Y5mU90

y4mFTQ59skB1XhCFHvKbbGikblFHOmzK5T0hBA1eSxxmzVIVSWRvcBfaZiO8ctCrJPLKKg0Qh7Uyd8fcNnGZIBWiOZeqbgAb8mAUOZq1rF1KWsFAVW-pLgReFhwO_0t5jcBvMcmyhCJSojW4gcIKrWg6AQHoHoQ6BcLHl5RPg-GybBOB5aYFfijvS7ZCwT0L7rV

Hopefully they won't suddenly become immune, super-aphids that destroy my fave Naga.
 
Associate
OP
Joined
8 Mar 2004
Posts
721
Location
London
@Cadder Glad you're seeing good results!


I've been waiting patiently for this little Cheiro Roxa pod to ripen, I was really looking forward to trying it since it's meant to be a very tasty variety and it contains some seeds of a cross I'm working on. Part of the description from Fatalii.net:

"After tasting it it immediately became one of my favorites of all time.
The taste is on the best side of C. chinenses, the taste could be compared to pink habanero with something other unique freshness."

Well aside from being absurdly hot in a really harsh, back of the throat kinda way, it had a flavour that I can only describe as uniquely unpleasant :cry: I'm going to give it the benefit of the doubt and before I try it again I will flush the plant with straight water for a few days in case the bad taste was a result of the nutes although the flavour wasn't the 'chemically' nutes flavour I've had before when not bothering to flush.

He's a good looking pod though! Only about 15mm diamater and I got a whopping 4 seeds out of him


The plan with this cross is to develop pods which have the characteristic shape and size of the KSLSB with the colouring of the Cheiro Roxa. 4 seeds sent to the germination station straight out of the pod so hopefully we get at least 1 F1 plant.

Here's the rest of the plant :

 
Soldato
Joined
25 Nov 2020
Posts
2,514
That looks fantastic @pooey
Depending on my level of success this year I'd love to start looking into the more exotic varieties.

I think I may have oversprayed my precious naga, her top leaves are looking like wrinkly spinach now :eek:

y4mJxjbmPC-K3YAPKrAJti0WXrdGVSQMJXGgcTiJQuAOpJSIqf4j8kT9zsKD2qbAD_Th9f0P8MbO6MnSgIEfoc_OWJLtCpkoZQ1rNdjPXDn2FnyNAhIV_TwtMB_AoSNAABTAmnHhjbB0uqMPJyrot55EB4ygvgq8-TJYBbNI_Xnen-eFDdVmP6YH6tDcWHNZPtd

We have her new pot, I just need to drill some holes in it and half fill with compost so I can move her into her new (and hopefully final) home.
 
Associate
Joined
29 Jan 2020
Posts
136
Location
UK - Surrey
@pooey "Well aside from being absurdly hot in a really harsh, back of the throat kinda way, it had a flavour that I can only describe as uniquely unpleasant"

This made me laugh haha :cry:
Not come across the Cheiro Roxa before, let's hope flushing the plant next time gives a better flavour.
The pod does have some nice colouring so if you can get that adopted by a KSLS that would be epic (hopefully keeping the KSLS flavour?)
Only 4 seeds though, let's hope for some good germ rates.

My plants that are in the coldframe seems to be doing okay.
Perked up a bit but not really growing I wouldn't say, still a bit shocked I imagine.
Hope they pick up steam again soon!
 
Associate
Joined
29 Jan 2020
Posts
136
Location
UK - Surrey
@Cadder No need to worry as @pooey said about the wrinkled new growth.
I get that all the time on my chinenses and it normally kind of unwrinkles as the leaf gets bigger.

Loving the Chinese no name grow light, I didn't think that much of it when my chillis were under it as the growth was good but not mind blowing.
I forgot the chillis are quite low growing anyway though. I have got some other plants under it now and the growth is ridiculous!
Chard, spinach, radishes, peas all growing at a rate of knots!
 
Associate
Joined
9 Oct 2005
Posts
2,324
Location
Berkshire
...

@Griffo How is the LST going or did you decide to prune?
My early pruning on one of my plants is really starting to pay off now but was a bit depressing / worrying at the time!
Ah! I took the 3rd option: have a quick look and then give up and move the lamps higher :D.

The biggest one is overshadowing the other two at the moment. I surgically removed on leaf but not sure what else I can do. I can see where the wider/more square panels are useful now. Mine are like bars.
 
Associate
OP
Joined
8 Mar 2004
Posts
721
Location
London
..hopefully keeping the KSLS flavour?

Given the recent tasting.... Yes. Absolutely 100% aiming for preservation of KSLSB flavour! ;)

Loving the Chinese no name grow light

Really pleased it's working out :)

@Griffo - There's a few of my plants that get crowded and shaded, generally they can sort it out but I do occasionally also resort to surgical foliage removal :cool:
 
Caporegime
Joined
22 Nov 2005
Posts
45,278
Well I grow basil but the roots keep turning black cos I think I overwatered. I just simply clip the tops and regrow them, got some bigger pots and will use a spray bottle to water the soil now.
yea I had the same or the stems just rotted away, you can just buy fresh basil in a supermarket and root them in water btw ;) same for other fresh herbs
I gave up on basil though I guess you need compost with a lot of sand or whatever in it.

I'm growing oregano and it's a pain as well likes really dry compost it seems or it grows terribly slow.

makes me appreciate how easy tomatoes are to grow ,you can't over feed them even if you try and if you want to clone a branch they root in a couple of days.


still got 2 of my pepper plants from last year , I tried to clone want but it wouldn't root after like a month just had a bunch of white callouses or whatever they are called so I gave up.

one of my plants is like a small tree with a fat trunk and the other is like 6ft tall but pencil thin the whole length... got it supported from the ceiling by a peice of string, I'm surprised it can even pull water up so high when it's that tall and skinny
 
Associate
Joined
4 Jun 2020
Posts
2,401
I started with store bought, they all started going black, and the repotted clippings lasted a year before starting to go black from the bottom again.

Already in the process of repotting.

Wanted to try tomatoes next as well.
 
Back
Top Bottom