Anyone grow their own chillis?

EspressoJunkie

EspressoJunkie

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Given my love of all things hot and spicy, I thought I might have a go at growing my own chillis.

Has anyone here done it? Im pretty awful with plants, but it couldn't be that hard could it......?

There's a few kits on amazon so I'll probably grab one of those and see how it goes, bring on the heat!
 
I still have a few chilli bushes that started off life in the herbs and spices section in Sainsburies!

I also grow them from seed (they come from the chillies you eat

Literally just plant them in a moist tray of potting compost with a bit of clingfilm over the top
 
Done them from seed as well as from plugs (baby plants) from nurseries and plants from supermarkets. TBH, the best results as far as heaviest crops came from the home seeded lot. Pretty sure they were Apache F1 hybrids from Johnson's seeds but my memory isn't that great (pretty sure of the variety and in theory they should all be the same whoever produced the seeds!). We grew them on a bedroom windowsill and helped the fertilization (usually done by bees) with a soft paintbrush every other morning.

Results were plentiful and flavoursome with plenty of heat. No Johnny Cash moments the morning after IIRC though! Used the fresh and dried as flakes and also ground to a powder. Probably still got some powder somewhere, although it's probably a little tired by now.
 
Holy thread dredge batman. I knew there must be a chilli thread somewhere..

I broke a few rules with mine apparently, I started mine in September well out of season and just lobbed some seeds in a pot on a windowsill (moved to an ikea £12 windowsill greenhouse when the cats started eating the leaves :-/ ).

So far it's given me 3 smaller plants and 2 larger plants..

Chillies - Jan 2014 by -neilgates-

Chillies - Jan 2014 by -neilgates-

Anyone else got some on the go?
 
My wife has grown some for the last few years and we get a decent crop.
There are some still on the plant in the greenhouse. Not too bad for Edinburgh.
 
I don't grow them, because I wouldn't be able to keep up with my consumption of them.
Apart from that - good luck guys.
 
Yeah really easy to grow in a window. They are high yielding so you get a lot from a small plant. I picked them and froze them.
 
I used to, but don't have any at the moment.
My favourite is still the dorset naga. Hot hot hot but fantastic flavour.

Tempted to try some carolina reaper, just because.......
 
YOu can make growing as easy or as hard as you want.
Depending on what you want to grow some of the hotter ones can be a little tricky to grow (trinidad scopions and nargas being some)

I would recomend somthing like an apache chilli (Sutton Seeds F1 hybrid) They are "warm" on the scale but dead easy to grow. We had one plant in work that was up to 400 chillis on when we lost count!
 
I've been grow chillis for a few year now, both in the greenhouse and out doors with mixed results. Germination of some varieties proved harder than other but last years highlight was my Scotch-Bonnets, they grew perfectly and produced an abundance of very very hot fruits. The ways I preserve my surplus is by drying, smoking, freezing and whizzing them up with oil.

Ian
 
Yes, but depending where you are in the UK, need a greenhouse.... typically the hotter the chilli the warmer the temp is required (not a hard and fast rule of thumb) but without a heated greenhouse / sunny conservatory, Dorset Nagas and Scotch bonnets will struggle in the UK!

When it comes to harvest time, stress the plant (don't water it) to up the heat!
 
My seedlings started okay on a windowsill with no direct sunlight. Only really moved them into a greenhouse because one of the cats took a liking to the leaves :D Now I've figured out I haven't managed to kill them yet they've been moved to a sunnier (well, current weather allowing) window.

That said I can't remember what type mine are. Threw the packet out..
 
one good little idea is to grow or get a basil plant from a supermarket and keep that along side your chilli plants, it acts as a natural insecticide !
 
Kemble3 said:
I've been grow chillis for a few year now, both in the greenhouse and out doors with mixed results. Germination of some varieties proved harder than other but last years highlight was my Scotch-Bonnets, they grew perfectly and produced an abundance of very very hot fruits. The ways I preserve my surplus is by drying, smoking, freezing and whizzing them up with oil.

Ian
Click to expand...

How do you smoke them?
 
I've grown my own for the last couple of years.

Get seeds from supermarket chillis - chuck them on some compost - leave in a sunny window - keep the strongest seedlings.

Great success.
 
Been growing chillis and peppers for a few years now in the greenhouse - I've possibly some snaps which I'll try and dig out.

We have various - from the mild to the comedy strength.

Some are OK for using neat in salads, some are better for chopping and freezing for cooking, some are used for home made chilli jam or oils.
 
Last year I went through a phase of trying super hot sauces and this year thought I would try and grow my own super hot chillies! Have a fair few on the go doing very well.
So far I have ..
Carolina reaper (hottest in the world)
Moruga scorpion red
Trinidad scorpion butch T
7 Pot primo
7 Pot brain strain
7 Pot yellow brain strain
7 Pot white
Jalepeno
Peach fatalii
Brown devils tongue
Bhut jolokia
Cheyenne
Hot Tomato
Sweet banana
Scotch bonnet
Nasu
Plus a few others I cant remember..All are growing on in a plastic greenhouse and doing great.Hoping to get some nice pods from them.
 
Looking good Neil..will grab some pics of mine in a bit..Just unpacking 2 yellow brainstrains that just arrived.If you ever need any plants I highly recommend Steve at http://www.chilliesontheweb.co.uk/ smashing guy and very helpful.
 
Quick video of main greenhouse,have a slightly smaller one with some more scorpion butch ts and yellow brain strains in.Excuse the video my camcorder is on its way out.
 
lol..what feed do you use?I was using tomorite but switched to chilli focus and they took off really well.

 
First chilli of the season from my cheyenne plant.This plant has almost 50 pods on


Another on its way

 
Just an update on mine..had to take some of mine off the shelving as it looked like it was going to collapse under the weight so now got them all on the floor.
All doing well although something is really munching on the scotch bonnets! Have purchased some copper tape to put round the pots and hopefully that will help if its slugs.Just starting to get pods on some of the superhots so fingers crossed they will do well.



 
Ajis are continuing to storm on, given them a bit of extra support..
Chillis 20/06/14 by -neilgates-
..as mine have got loads of flowers and iddy bitty baby chillis so may need it soon :)
Chillis 20/06/14 by -neilgates-
Even this little audacious little Hungarian wax is budding. Soon pinched those out..
Chillis 20/06/14 by -neilgates-
The rest of the new batch are having some fun in the sun
Chillis 20/06/14 by -neilgates-
Chillis 20/06/14 by -neilgates-
Mr Gororong and Choc Bhut have shot up since getting a nice dose of sun. Bhut has got 2 flowers so far out of loads of buds. Gororong has a nice load of buds too.
Chillis 20/06/14 by -neilgates-
Need to do something with the spares really.. Given some away to family
Chillis 20/06/14 by -neilgates-

Choc bhut roots
Choc Bhut roots by -neilgates-
 
Neil meant to ask are the other plants in your pic being used to dvert attention of earwigs bugs etc?
 
Ah right I see..I heard earwigs love marigolds,may get a couple to stop them eating my scotch bonnets lol
 
Nice one..I go out and have a look late at night..thought it was slugs at first but found load of earwigs on the plants.Only seen 2 slugs since I have been checking and now I have copper tape around the pots dont get any..fingers crossed! Neil do you use epsom salts?..fantastic tonic for any yellowing leaves or just as an alternative to chilli focus every other week.Just dilute 2 tsp in litre of water and mist directly onto the leaves especially the underside.Really is good.
 
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4 peppers on the plant but the hot spell you had while we were away didn't do the plants we had on the draining board any favours and they were all a little parched when we got home yesterday. They've picked up a bit after immersion therapy and hopefully the chilli plant will respond as well as the tomatoes have. The 2 cucumber plants seem to have aborted almost all the nascent fruits that were on the way before we went but have more on the way. Here's hoping!

I just use Tomorite as a feed - no yellowing leaves so far.
 
Your greenhouses all look so neat and tidy - almost like sterile labs :)

My greenhouse looks like Percy Throwers potting shed.

My Chilli plants are coming on but I've only gone for 3 plants this year due to overcatering last year. Cucumbers, Toms and Peppers are taking over though.
 
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