2021 Season Chilli Growing

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So I had a tray of various neglected veg and chilli that I yeeted out of the tent and into the garden today. Needed the space in the tent and it was all getting a bit out of hand, couple of tomato, corn, beans and 3 squash varieties are not suitable for 60cm of vertical grow space if you're prone to just leaving them to it. 4 chilli plants outside now too, may Ganesh smile upon them. Still about 30-40 in the tent and more on the way :D
 
Soldato
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I haven't got round to the rhubarb anti-aphid spray so I'm still using the neem-soap solution. For some reason they've infested my Naga Viper and I can't find any on the other chillies. I mean infested too. After a day or two I see what I assume is dead aphids, but then I look under the (now crinkly) leaves and find a family of aphids just chilling. I have lifted every individual leaf and sprayed it. I am almost certain that 99% of the surface area of that Naga Viper plant has been sprayed with the solution. And the stones on the soil surface for good measure.

Is it because I said she was my favourite that the aphids picked her to bully?
 
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Mine still alive from last year one is tree like with a pretty fat trunk
W0Sfxy6.jpg
any white dots on the compost is diatomaceous earth not bugs..

my other is like 6ft tall probably but skinny as hell climbing a piece of string lol
the window gets over 35c some days though and the plant will drop leaves from it... like when I forget to open the curtains before I go to bed/to work and the sun roasts it

but the bottom half being bare I think is just because it gets the shade from the pvc splitting the window in two
DcrEFUv.jpg


I'm going to try growing a cauliflower in a pot :D might do some French beans and courgette too if I can find enough space.

Tempted to just line a window with cauliflour lol.. probably would be able to harvest one a week without even planting that many, the ones in supermarkets these days always seem like babies.


Water stick thing was free btw IDK if it only works for northumbrian water customers or not but your own water company probably has something similar https://nwl.watersavingkit.com/your-free-water-saving-kit/
click the items you want on each page then click next, gardening is the 3rd page

I've done it twice so you can probably do it multiple times, my first time the postman killed the "water sticks" :/ somehow snapped them in half..

you can probably just keep ordering to infinity lol, they are pretty crap though but free so...
 
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Soldato
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After moving countries and houses the last couple of years, it's good to have a crop on the go again.

This is a mix of Aji Red, Cherry Bomb and Orange Habanero. No idea how many of each because the germinating tray got spilled :p

tHTDzWF.jpg

Had one minor aphid attack on the big one on the right, but managed to get rid of them by a combination of manual squishing, and setting a ladybird loose on em.

South facing window so they should love life here..when it's not miserable and raining..
 
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Had one minor aphid attack on the big one on the right, but managed to get rid of them by a combination of manual squishing, and setting a ladybird loose on em.
I tried bringing a spider to my plants when they had black fly last year but it wasn't interested in being in my pots in the slightest lol....
they were literally crawling with black flies too, had to nuke them with food grade diatomaceous earth in the end

technically you could do the same with aphids as a last resort, just dust the plants and let it sit for a day or two then wash it off in the shower or whatever..
Wouldn't breathe it in though if your aphids come back and you try it.

it's supposed to be safe around pets some people use it for removing fleas etc or in there food for deworming, not good if they breathe it in though and it has to be food grade
 
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Just decided I'm going to do this. I think I'm too late in the year for planting seeds (I have a can containing a chilli growing kit) but am gonna buy a dozen various plants and pit them up until summer, then get them out in the garden.
 
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State of the tent yesterday:
mIku3Dy.jpeg


Due a tidy up and a bit of maintenance today when I have time. I'll post the more interesting chaps later on and some of the crosses I'm working on.
 
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Woah! And there was me feeling like a cool dude with my half a dozen flowers :p.

Looking great! I think next year i'll definitely be upgrading to panels. a 1 dimensional light source is too much of a compromise for even 4 plants.
 
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Some highlights from the tent...

Here's my largest 'plant', it's actually 3 plants using seeds from the same crossed pod. It's one of my crosses, an F1 - Jay's Peach Ghost Scorpion x Padron.
It's an interspecific cross of chinense x annuum with annuum being the female parent. Although the seeds germinated OK and it's flowering and producing pollen, so far all the flowers have dropped and no fruit, hoping that it's not sterile and I'll eventually get something from it.



These are some more crosses that I just threw a whole pod worth of seeds into some spare coir without really caring about them much but I have grown fond of their determination to live in spite of my neglect and ambivalence :D

With 2 plants per pot, from left to right:

Orange Thai x JPGS (annuum x chinense)
Orange Thai x Big Mamma Caramel (annuum x chinense)
Sugar Rush Peach x Big Mamma Caramel (baccatum x chinense)



Here's some more Sugar Rush crosses:

SRP(Stripey) x Costa Rican Orange (baccatum x frutescens)
SRP(Bell) x BMC (baccatum x chinense)
SRP x Carolina Reaper (baccatum x chinense)



This is the biggest fruit I've got on the go. It's a sweet bell pepper variety called Ariane from Vertiloom
https://www.vertiloom.com/en/ariane-seeds.html

I have of course pollinated it with SRPS pollen so hope that I'll eventually have a big striped bell pepper that actually grows true from seed unlike that Aloha pepper pretender!



And here's a bunch of other things I thought you'd like to see :D








 
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And here's a bunch of other things I thought you'd like to see :D










@pooey I am loving the look of some of your plants. The black leaves on "Black Kathumby" are beautiful. Is the "SRPS x Orange Tiger" in its natural form or have you picked a few peppers off? It looks crazy good.

This is my latest photo. From left to right:
Mushroom Bonnet - Nothing to report apart from some growth and no pests
Hungarian Black - This was topped a few weeks back and looks nice and bushy
Naga Viper - Poor lass is being hounded by aphids. A lot of dead bodies about so the neem concoction is working. I'm spraying a lot nowadays as I want to knock the aphids back. Unfortunately it looks like it'll knock the plant back too as she has the most crinkly leaves with plenty of brown midrib and leaf edges
Choc BBG - Much thicker than the rest. Looks really strong, I'm well impressed.

y4mwmjRge24aZgcEkeEGhYRkapgk8zukds-Jat6DNtAB12EJZCSXijml7SMOyhZXVMDDi6mkYl25S2WGtTP3GXwSdTjPgJiFNAP-pGu8AwBE-upvCsWZO4J-Rzm1j6Vt-1R1FQGCsEzDZPkasf6oQ0edNzxHk58eBCeLwBzBHxDp_ipPuF-iS1w71En85dBxJya

You may also notice the pigeon mark on the window. Scared the life out of me while I was working :eek:

There was no room for the Aji Mango on the windowsill in my office so it sits behind me. I realised that's not great for her so I put her in the bedroom window until the missus gives punts it into the back garden.
Looking for some poly sheet and water pipe to make myself a mini chilli poly tunnel.

"Choc BBG" seems to be progressing the best.
 
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Soldato
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After that last post I decided to, with a lot of encouragement from my wife, top the Naga Viper. The top leaves looked awfully unhealthy and they were still crawling with aphids. Photos below, is she dead?

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y4m5_VGro9n2KX3ZThpcl1bMflWOKg_mw_cbQ_5JifoL77BIltegP2GJXl8JY_5f_T3n5eKEs3w1lB8TQN974sEweAT5dk_BRP6Y93PazYGeg_33d5ssQRRrPNT9zMCNu-iCqB8G49yuXkvaY8wXwe_APOxDXsEmQxBy5yPV7fwqn_ZbfenC6aMfZseEWXNrOnb


I used the pencil to hold up the leaves and spray the stinky neem mix on the undersides of the remaining leaves.
 
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@Cadder The SRPS has been pruned to hell and back! He's 190 days old and that's only his first pod :eek:
Pruning does set them back but is often necessary
:cry: sorry I did notice it had been pruned but worded my question badly. You've answered it though - it seems crazy to me that put all its efforts into growing that one, impressive pod
 
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Once I saw that particular flower had successfully pollinated and was growing a pod I pinched off all the other flowers and developing pods so it had no choice :cool:

Ahhhhhh makes so much sense now. A case of one super beasty awesome chilli vs a load of chillies of random size and quality?
 
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Ahhhhhh makes so much sense now. A case of one super beasty awesome chilli vs a load of chillies of random size and quality?

Yea pretty much, not sure how much of a difference it actually makes but it made sense to me that if it had finite resources then best to pump them into one fruit. Might be using more energy to heal from my attentions though for all I know :cry:
 
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Hey guys, been off the radar for a bit but really enjoyed catching up on the thread today.

@Cadder plants are looking good mate, shame the naga viper has taken such a bettering from pests.
I think the topping was a good call and it is far from dead, it will just take a bit of time for the new growth to kick off but will recover I'm sure!
Plenty of time left in the season too at this point for an already established plant like that so if you were going to do it then now was the time, no point in waiting any longer.
Looking forward to seeing how the mini poly setup goes! Love a chilli DIY project!

@pooey I can't get over some of those plants! You have a full blown chilli farm going on haha. I don't know how you keep up with them all
Wicked to see so many different varieties especially the custom crosses, I'm definitely going to give this a go this year.
Would be cool to see further updated on the Ariane and how big that one gets and what the taste on the JGPSxPadron is like...

My plants are exploding in the coldframe now I think the heat and humidity is really bringing them along plus the self watering tubs and nutrients.
Going to have to move them out soonish which is a shame as the stacked self watering tubs mean they are quickly approaching the roof...
Been doing a bit of pruning here and there, mostly removing sick leaves from nutrient deficiencies I had a few weeks back now.

I'll get some pictures up later of where I'm at :)
 
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@Rathian - Ha my partner keeps calling it a chilli farm and I've been resisting the label :D Not showing her this thread ever now :p
Glad to hear your plants are doing well - Looking forward to some pics!

@Griffo - How are the lads doing?
@Cadder - Prize Naga recovering?
@rotters - Any news? I'm still wondering how you manage to grow so many different things!

We've got a tiny puppy so chillis have been neglected for a couple of days - I'll get my head in the tent later today :cool:
 
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@Rathian - Ha my partner keeps calling it a chilli farm and I've been resisting the label :D Not showing her this thread ever now :p
Glad to hear your plants are doing well - Looking forward to some pics!

@Griffo - How are the lads doing?
@Cadder - Prize Naga recovering?
@rotters - Any news? I'm still wondering how you manage to grow so many different things!

We've got a tiny puppy so chillis have been neglected for a couple of days - I'll get my head in the tent later today :cool:

Congrats on the new pup, what breed?

Prize Naga seems fine - here she is:
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What is really baffling me is the Choc BBG seems to be experiencing a growth spurt. The stem base is thinner than the rest above it so it looks a bit odd too...

y4mJPx3CZjIhmSCmP2ZpKoCN63YfIgCswXCHNfWPep-nwyXtZddHtM-xSDXMycMLUa9qfeEZZs8Zm7QftIVu99KJPD2kBI-qBY9jPIXI0GEC1Ruul1I-xMm1_eCLInVsw1sR8zKe7xuPOANiSRuOFEJgreOK13fWrpyNJMQdTobC48B_EsAbxLct6mp4r2CX5mF
 
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Congrats on the new pup, what breed?

He's a 'Coton de Tulear' - I hadn't heard of them before this guy was on the cards :)

Choc BBG - although he looks a bit odd with the thinner base I'm sure he'll be fine - I've seen similar on a couple of my plants in the past ;)
 
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