Must be a close friend or someone you trust a lot! It's not like you have a small setup!
2021 Season Chilli Growing
- Thread starter pooey
- Start date
Must be a close friend or someone you trust a lot! It's not like you have a small setup!
you can get a couple of kinds. One with a reservoir at the bottom which you fill by a spout that comes up out the soil. The plant wicks up the moisture as it needs. The other kind uses bottles - wine bottles, old milk bottles, whatever, filled with water and turned upside down then pushed into the soil. Again the plant can wick up the moisture as needed. The water doesn't just gush out, the vacuum effect sees to that. Slowly over time though the capillary action etc draws the water out and air gets back into the bottle,
Soldato
Chilli update:
They're all now bearing fruit. Some of them started long after others, but with there being several different varieties I'm not surprised:
One plant is very heavily laden, apologies for the naff photo:
They've been outside now, rain or shine, since 31/05/21. I'm feeding them with tomato food every other watering.
@Rathian I do have a couple of other burrowing holes, but they're, thankfully, very isolated. A couple of plants also have a bit of leaf damage from insects eating them but it's only a small portion of the plant itself and, again thankfully, nothing that has become rampant.
They're all now bearing fruit. Some of them started long after others, but with there being several different varieties I'm not surprised:
One plant is very heavily laden, apologies for the naff photo:
They've been outside now, rain or shine, since 31/05/21. I'm feeding them with tomato food every other watering.
@Rathian I do have a couple of other burrowing holes, but they're, thankfully, very isolated. A couple of plants also have a bit of leaf damage from insects eating them but it's only a small portion of the plant itself and, again thankfully, nothing that has become rampant.
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@Cadder No worries at all, happy to share my methods and also welcome any feedback on how they can be improved!
1. How big should you go with you pots? This I think depends on how much space you have, how many plants you want to keep, how big you want them to get & how quickly you want them to fruit. the bigger the pots the more space you need, the less plants you can keep, the longer they take to fruit and so earlier you have to start them and more reliant on a good season you are. General consensus seems to be the bigger the better but as ever there is bound to be diminishing returns at some point. I am working with 10L tubs for my biggest plants and 5L pots for my smallest. The 10L plants are still growing, 5L is about the limit for a window sill I think and 10L means you need at least a balcony but more like a small garden. Over 10L could grow some real monsters!
2. Sweets
I have a real sweet tooth and love the heat of chillis paired with sweetness and fruit e.g. chilli jam. You can make gummy bears that are sweet, sour and spicy that are a great novelty gift but if your pallet is like mine then you'll happily eat them like regular sweets. To make them you just need to mix:
1 pack of flavoured jelly (powdered or cubes), 1 pack of powdered gelatine, 100ml of fluid (i recommend 50ml water + 50ml of fruit squash to bump up the jelly fruit flavouring), chillis! (powdered or fresh, blended with the 100ml fluid then bits strained out), 1tsp food grade citric acid (if you want them sour), 3tbsp honey to sweeten, melt it all together on a very low heat, once liquid put into silicone molds (widely available on amazon, ebay etc), leave them to sit in the moulds for 10mins, transfer to the fridge for 1h then pop out of the moulds, leave them in a cool & dry place to firm up slightly for 24h + depending on how chewy you want them. Finally dust with some cornstarch to keep them dry and from sticking together. This sounds like a lot of effort but it is actually very easy just with a bit of waiting around. I did some yesterday, here are the pics...
3. Epsom salt foliar spray This is a mix of water (1L) and epsom salts (1tbsp - dissolved) that is sprayed on to the leaves of the plants once a week to keep the foliage (leaves) nice and green and healthy. The epsom salts contain Magnesium which is much more easily absorbed by the plants leaves that the roots which is why we apply it in this way Peppers have a tendency to need a bit more of this (as well as calcium and manganese (different from magnesium)) than other plants.
I'll come back to you a bit later on the self watering pots so as not to make this post too big for others.
1. How big should you go with you pots? This I think depends on how much space you have, how many plants you want to keep, how big you want them to get & how quickly you want them to fruit. the bigger the pots the more space you need, the less plants you can keep, the longer they take to fruit and so earlier you have to start them and more reliant on a good season you are. General consensus seems to be the bigger the better but as ever there is bound to be diminishing returns at some point. I am working with 10L tubs for my biggest plants and 5L pots for my smallest. The 10L plants are still growing, 5L is about the limit for a window sill I think and 10L means you need at least a balcony but more like a small garden. Over 10L could grow some real monsters!
2. Sweets
I have a real sweet tooth and love the heat of chillis paired with sweetness and fruit e.g. chilli jam. You can make gummy bears that are sweet, sour and spicy that are a great novelty gift but if your pallet is like mine then you'll happily eat them like regular sweets. To make them you just need to mix:1 pack of flavoured jelly (powdered or cubes), 1 pack of powdered gelatine, 100ml of fluid (i recommend 50ml water + 50ml of fruit squash to bump up the jelly fruit flavouring), chillis! (powdered or fresh, blended with the 100ml fluid then bits strained out), 1tsp food grade citric acid (if you want them sour), 3tbsp honey to sweeten, melt it all together on a very low heat, once liquid put into silicone molds (widely available on amazon, ebay etc), leave them to sit in the moulds for 10mins, transfer to the fridge for 1h then pop out of the moulds, leave them in a cool & dry place to firm up slightly for 24h + depending on how chewy you want them. Finally dust with some cornstarch to keep them dry and from sticking together. This sounds like a lot of effort but it is actually very easy just with a bit of waiting around. I did some yesterday, here are the pics...
3. Epsom salt foliar spray This is a mix of water (1L) and epsom salts (1tbsp - dissolved) that is sprayed on to the leaves of the plants once a week to keep the foliage (leaves) nice and green and healthy. The epsom salts contain Magnesium which is much more easily absorbed by the plants leaves that the roots which is why we apply it in this way
Peppers have a tendency to need a bit more of this (as well as calcium and manganese (different from magnesium)) than other plants.I'll come back to you a bit later on the self watering pots so as not to make this post too big for others.
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@Cadder @rotters Here is a bit of a mini guide and materials to the self watering tubs I made this year.
Summary: My self watering tubs are made by stacking two cheap Ikea tubs on top of each other. The bottom tub can hold up to 9L of water and has a lid which I have drilled a hole in. The top tub sits on this lid and has a hole in the bottom. I thread a piece of capillary matting from the bottom tub, through the hole in the lid up into the top tub through its hole. The potting mix and plant are then placed in the top tub next to the capillary matting wick.
Step 1: Make a hole in the centre of the lid (I used a flat drill bit to get a nice even 2.5cm hole but you could just cut by hand with a sharp knife)
Step 2: Make a hole in the bottom of the top tub (so it aligns with the hole in the lid)
Step 3: Soak the capillary matting in water so it is saturated
Step 3: Take a strip of capillary matting thread through the hole in the lid and into the top tub (making sure you leave enough to touch the bottom of the bottom tub when the lid is on)
Step 4: Fill the bottom tub with water + soluble fertilizer
Step 5: Place the lid + top tub on top of the bottom tub
Step 6: Hold the capillary matting in the top tub up straight and fill with potting mix
Step 7: Transplant in an adolescent Chilli plant
Step 8: Fill once a month / even less with water + soluble fertiliser such as half strength tomato feed
Materials:
Tubs (£1.50): https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/uppsnofsad-storage-box-with-lid-black-s99393107/
Flat drill bit (£2.29): https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/121314592235?hash=item1c3ee9c5eb:g:QK0AAOSwYaFWeU~O
Capillary Matting x 10 strips (5.40): https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/194193846050?hash=item2d36daef22:g:I7EAAOSwE7tgXzOz
Pros:
+ Significantly reduced watering effort & ability to go away for a couple of weeks
+ No algae growth (as tubs are black)
+ No over / under watering
+ Cheap
+ Simple uniform look (to me at least!)
+ Have grown some of my biggest plants to date
Cons:
- A bit bulky
- Limited ability to increase water rate / decrease water rate (add top watering to increase & remove top tub to decrease / halt water)
- 10cm x 40cm wick seems to not deliver enough water for adult plants when the weather is very hot
- Dimensions of the tubs mean when plants get big then staking is difficult as the top tub is not that deep (I haven't needed to stake this year)
- Water can get super heated in direct sunlight but I havn't found this to be a big issue (perhaps keep shaded somehow?)
- No indicator to show water level (I have a few ideas on how to solve this but not actually tried any yet...)
Six tubs cost me £4 each but if you made 10 they would be only about £3.50
I think that covers it! I did intend to hook the tub up to a gravity fed trough but didn't feel the need to in the end...
Summary: My self watering tubs are made by stacking two cheap Ikea tubs on top of each other. The bottom tub can hold up to 9L of water and has a lid which I have drilled a hole in. The top tub sits on this lid and has a hole in the bottom. I thread a piece of capillary matting from the bottom tub, through the hole in the lid up into the top tub through its hole. The potting mix and plant are then placed in the top tub next to the capillary matting wick.
Step 1: Make a hole in the centre of the lid (I used a flat drill bit to get a nice even 2.5cm hole but you could just cut by hand with a sharp knife)
Step 2: Make a hole in the bottom of the top tub (so it aligns with the hole in the lid)
Step 3: Soak the capillary matting in water so it is saturated
Step 3: Take a strip of capillary matting thread through the hole in the lid and into the top tub (making sure you leave enough to touch the bottom of the bottom tub when the lid is on)
Step 4: Fill the bottom tub with water + soluble fertilizer
Step 5: Place the lid + top tub on top of the bottom tub
Step 6: Hold the capillary matting in the top tub up straight and fill with potting mix
Step 7: Transplant in an adolescent Chilli plant
Step 8: Fill once a month / even less with water + soluble fertiliser such as half strength tomato feed
Materials:
Tubs (£1.50): https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/uppsnofsad-storage-box-with-lid-black-s99393107/
Flat drill bit (£2.29): https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/121314592235?hash=item1c3ee9c5eb:g:QK0AAOSwYaFWeU~O
Capillary Matting x 10 strips (5.40): https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/194193846050?hash=item2d36daef22:g:I7EAAOSwE7tgXzOz
Pros:
+ Significantly reduced watering effort & ability to go away for a couple of weeks
+ No algae growth (as tubs are black)
+ No over / under watering
+ Cheap
+ Simple uniform look (to me at least!)
+ Have grown some of my biggest plants to date
Cons:
- A bit bulky
- Limited ability to increase water rate / decrease water rate (add top watering to increase & remove top tub to decrease / halt water)
- 10cm x 40cm wick seems to not deliver enough water for adult plants when the weather is very hot
- Dimensions of the tubs mean when plants get big then staking is difficult as the top tub is not that deep (I haven't needed to stake this year)
- Water can get super heated in direct sunlight but I havn't found this to be a big issue (perhaps keep shaded somehow?)
- No indicator to show water level (I have a few ideas on how to solve this but not actually tried any yet...)
Six tubs cost me £4 each but if you made 10 they would be only about £3.50
I think that covers it! I did intend to hook the tub up to a gravity fed trough but didn't feel the need to in the end...
@Rathian - Cheers for the guide! I'm looking at going away maybe next month and it looks like I'll need to get something in place for the outdoor chaps.
I've been a bad chilli pappa and have been ignoring the indoor chaps much more than I should, last few times I've gone in for maintenance there's been a few properly shrivelled up! Not lost any yet though thankfully since some of these plants represent many, many months of effort.
Job for this weekend is to set up some larger containers, maybe go DWC for some of them, the tiny pots some of them are in combined with current heat means topping up every 2 days and I often forget
Anyway here's some recent pics:
Here's the current state of the tent, ignore the dead basil top right, failed experiment
This little KSLSB is 9 months old today! He's still suppling good seeds and pods (you can see a couple in previous pic)
Feels like I've been waiting forever for this CGN21500 to ripen. Someone needs to give this a strain a nice new name that sticks too!
Here's a semi-wild Annuum cultivar, such tiny leaves! Would make an amazing bonchi!
And here's some pics of an F1 Hybrid I'm working on. Costa Rican Orange x SRPS
I've been a bad chilli pappa and have been ignoring the indoor chaps much more than I should, last few times I've gone in for maintenance there's been a few properly shrivelled up! Not lost any yet though thankfully since some of these plants represent many, many months of effort.
Job for this weekend is to set up some larger containers, maybe go DWC for some of them, the tiny pots some of them are in combined with current heat means topping up every 2 days and I often forget
Anyway here's some recent pics:
Here's the current state of the tent, ignore the dead basil top right, failed experiment
This little KSLSB is 9 months old today! He's still suppling good seeds and pods (you can see a couple in previous pic)
Feels like I've been waiting forever for this CGN21500 to ripen. Someone needs to give this a strain a nice new name that sticks too!
Here's a semi-wild Annuum cultivar, such tiny leaves! Would make an amazing bonchi!
And here's some pics of an F1 Hybrid I'm working on. Costa Rican Orange x SRPS
Grew the Dorset Naga a few years back, too hot to eat lol. I would recommend though, if you put one in a 75+ litre pot they grow huge and you get loads and loads of pods.
There are actually competitions who can get the most ripe pods, i knew someone who put one in a 1000 litre bag and it was a monster plant
There are actually competitions who can get the most ripe pods, i knew someone who put one in a 1000 litre bag and it was a monster plant
good work not paying 30quid for such a simple thing...
I always wonder how much of a scam they really are.
check this time-lapse, look at the roots they are pretty much just chilling underwater in an aquarium the whole grow, no aeration stone or anything
you can probably just skip the capillary matting, it doesn't seem like roots can drown as long as the whole roots aren't submerged. (if you think about it in nature the roots will probably be growing in the water table anyway totally submerged at the bottom)
I know tomato plants aren't as sensitive to over watering but still.
self watering pots just seem like an attractive solution to people with more money than sense
So another cross I've been waiting on for literal months due to germination failure is this Big Mamma Caramel x Cheiro Recife. I saw a couple of days ago that one of the seeds had finally shown some small sign of life. When I looked today, we had an instance of the dreaded helmet head!
The seed casing hadn't opened and it is stuck over the developing seedling.
Step 1 in saving the plant is to moisten the seed case, I do this with a wet cotton bud but any method of getting water onto it would do. Leave for a few minutes to soak in and soften.
Step 2 is to carefully snip the seed case. I tend to do this on the thick part of the seed close to the stem of the plant. Care is required here to only cut the seed case, sharp accurate snips are a must!
Here's what I used - Snips link
We can now carefully remove the casing with some tweezers, again being careful not to destroy the fragile seedling.
The seed casing hadn't opened and it is stuck over the developing seedling.
Step 1 in saving the plant is to moisten the seed case, I do this with a wet cotton bud but any method of getting water onto it would do. Leave for a few minutes to soak in and soften.
Step 2 is to carefully snip the seed case. I tend to do this on the thick part of the seed close to the stem of the plant. Care is required here to only cut the seed case, sharp accurate snips are a must!
Here's what I used - Snips link
We can now carefully remove the casing with some tweezers, again being careful not to destroy the fragile seedling.
So another cross I've been waiting on for literal months due to germination failure is this Big Mamma Caramel x Cheiro Recife. I saw a couple of days ago that one of the seeds had finally shown some small sign of life. When I looked today, we had an instance of the dreaded helmet head!
The seed casing hadn't opened and it is stuck over the developing seedling.
Step 1 in saving the plant is to moisten the seed case, I do this with a wet cotton bud but any method of getting water onto it would do. Leave for a few minutes to soak in and soften.
Step 2 is to carefully snip the seed case. I tend to do this on the thick part of the seed close to the stem of the plant. Care is required here to only cut the seed case, sharp accurate snips are a must!
Here's what I used - Snips link
We can now carefully remove the casing with some tweezers, again being careful not to destroy the fragile seedling.
This post was quite intense but I'm glad it had a happy ending!!
I took some photos today. I'll get them all in order and post an update on mine.
First harvest today. Just a few cherry bombs that I'll stuff with cheese...and a handful of Aji Orange.
Chopped up a few of the Ajis and have them bubbling away in a chilli at the moment. Has a nice warm kick to it....but I can't make the whole pot too strong as the other half doesn't like it too hot.
Chopped up a few of the Ajis and have them bubbling away in a chilli at the moment. Has a nice warm kick to it....but I can't make the whole pot too strong as the other half doesn't like it too hot.
OK here's a decent update from me. First I'd like to thank @Rathian for those very informative posts. much appreciated!
In the Cadder household, the Hungarian Black is taking the lead. Question: Is she too leafy?
I also thought you would appreciate an update on Aji Mango - the one a few pages back was flopping all over the place throughout the day. I didn't end up changing the potting mix, I just held off watering for a short while. She has grown a lot since then. I will need to trim her down at the end of the season:
And how about some measurements?
@pooey & @Rathian may be interested to know my prize Naga, the lady I all but killed with major surgery, has caught up with the others and now has a few pods showing. Here's the largest:
So that's my progress. These photos were taken yesterday.
I'm really curious as to when I can pick my first Hungarian Black... Any thoughts?
In the Cadder household, the Hungarian Black is taking the lead. Question: Is she too leafy?
I also thought you would appreciate an update on Aji Mango - the one a few pages back was flopping all over the place throughout the day. I didn't end up changing the potting mix, I just held off watering for a short while. She has grown a lot since then. I will need to trim her down at the end of the season:
And how about some measurements?
@pooey & @Rathian may be interested to know my prize Naga, the lady I all but killed with major surgery, has caught up with the others and now has a few pods showing. Here's the largest:
So that's my progress. These photos were taken yesterday.
I'm really curious as to when I can pick my first Hungarian Black... Any thoughts?
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@Cadder So pumped to see your update!
Your plants have come a long way and are looking great.
I think the Hungarian Black looks fine I wouldn't be pruning any leaves if I were you. If the plant doesn't need them it won't maintain them and they will die off.
If it does and you trim them then it will have to divid it's energy between fruiting and growing new ones which isn't ideal.
The recovery of the Aji Mango is epic, just goes to show sometime you gotta just sit back be patient and let the plant do its thing.
Great to see the Naga Viper is at a decent size and fruiting too!
On the Hungarian Black and when you should pick the pods they should start very black then take on a green hue and finally be a very dark red / black colour.
You can pick them like jalapeños at either the green or red stage. Might be worth trying both to see which flavour profile you prefer.
@pooey amazing to see more fruit from your crosses. I need to get my act together now all my plants and fruit and try my. hand at crossing a couple of my varieties.
also top work on your Chilli surgery, you have a steadier hand than me. Just thinking about the number of cotyledons I have damaged over the years
Your outdoor plants are looking great, out of interest which do you prefer the controlled indoor micro growing or the outdoor stuff?
Looking forward to seeing what you new watering setups turn out like for both the outdoors and indoors.
Your plants have come a long way and are looking great.
I think the Hungarian Black looks fine I wouldn't be pruning any leaves if I were you. If the plant doesn't need them it won't maintain them and they will die off.
If it does and you trim them then it will have to divid it's energy between fruiting and growing new ones which isn't ideal.
The recovery of the Aji Mango is epic, just goes to show sometime you gotta just sit back be patient and let the plant do its thing.
Great to see the Naga Viper is at a decent size and fruiting too!
On the Hungarian Black and when you should pick the pods they should start very black then take on a green hue and finally be a very dark red / black colour.
You can pick them like jalapeños at either the green or red stage. Might be worth trying both to see which flavour profile you prefer.
@pooey amazing to see more fruit from your crosses. I need to get my act together now all my plants and fruit and try my. hand at crossing a couple of my varieties.
also top work on your Chilli surgery, you have a steadier hand than me. Just thinking about the number of cotyledons I have damaged over the years
Your outdoor plants are looking great, out of interest which do you prefer the controlled indoor micro growing or the outdoor stuff?
Looking forward to seeing what you new watering setups turn out like for both the outdoors and indoors.
@Rathian - I'm into the outdoor at the moment, such glorious freedom to enjoy all the vertical space and the plants can get big, so much less management too. It's fleeting though, the indoor micro stuff is nice because it's so solid and predictable all the time, lots more work though.. If I had to choose only one with my current circumstances and climate it'd be the indoor although probably not such tiny pots 
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@pooey I'm with you I prefer growing outdoors.
Love watching he plants grow big and because of the size they are much more resilient too.
Overall much less management you're right, bar any major weather events. I can get a bit lazy though with pruning, feeding, watering etc.
Nice to have indoors as a little side project for sure, stuff just seems to grow so slowly in my setup in comparison though.
I ordered some nylon bags today so will being trying to setup sone crosses in the next few days.
FYI I am pretty sure 2 of my biggest plant are your crosses (A & B seeds) hopefully once the fruit size up a bit you can confirm.
Love watching he plants grow big and because of the size they are much more resilient too.
Overall much less management you're right, bar any major weather events. I can get a bit lazy though with pruning, feeding, watering etc.
Nice to have indoors as a little side project for sure, stuff just seems to grow so slowly in my setup in comparison though.
I ordered some nylon bags today so will being trying to setup sone crosses in the next few days.
FYI I am pretty sure 2 of my biggest plant are your crosses (A & B seeds) hopefully once the fruit size up a bit you can confirm.
Oh for sure, I'm super lazy with the outdoor plants, that's the joy I don't think I've done a single thing with them aside from one or two waterings in the last 2 months
Looking forward to seeing how your A & B plants are doing - I'm not seeing much variance in the fruit between plants of each here so I should be able to see what's what
I don't think I've done a single thing with them aside from one or two waterings in the last 2 months Looking forward to seeing how your A & B plants are doing - I'm not seeing much variance in the fruit between plants of each here so I should be able to see what's what
@Cadder - Plants are looking good man! Glad the Aji Mango has more stability now, the hungarian black looks fine foliage wise, I'd be inclined to leave (ha!) it be. That naga viper pod is looking pretty pale for a red variety, usually pale green immature colour results in peach pods from what I've seen, peach naga would be cool!