Chilli Plants

[GrowerNewbie]

Hi long time reader, first time poster!

I've been growing chilli plants (jalapeno mostly) in my conservatory from seeds since late April early May. While some have grown to approx 18inches in height and producing chilli's not one of the chilli's are really longer than an inch (even though some have them have been on the plant longer than a month!)

Due to the warm conditions within the conservatory, I water them approx every other day (otherwise they'll wilt) and feed them with Miracle Gro, Organic, Fruit & Vegetable feed every 3-4 days ish.

So two questions,

At what point do I know when the chilli's are ready to be picked? (currently they're all still green).

Also, am I feeding them enough? Should I be feeding them every other day and watering daily?

I'm located in Cheshire so it mostly rains here in the summer but when we do get a few hours sunshine, it does get really warm in the conservatory - could that be affecting them?

Any suggestions would be appreciated!

[Millymollymandy]

I'm just wondering whether you are feeding them too much? Once a week for a chilli/pepper/tomato/aubergine (i.e. the potash hungry plants) in a pot is sufficient.

Or - can you look at your bottle of feed and tell us what the NPK is - it will be listed there. You may need to switch to a tomato type fertiliser which is high in potassium (K) rather than yours which might be more balanced and have too much nitrogen (N) or Phosphorus (P). Right now those chillies need potassium (also known as potash).

[GrowerNewbie]

Hmmmm just got the bottle from the shed....

Nitrogen - 3%
Phosphorus Pentoxide - 2%
Phosphorus Pentoxide (Soluble in water) 1.5%
Potassium Oxide - 6%

Is 6% a high concentrate of Potassium...???

[Millymollymandy]

That sounds about right for fruiting plants like toms and chillies etc. Usually it is listed as something like 6:6:6 (a balanced general purpose fertiliser) or 4:4:8 or something similar for toms - I guess yours is something like 3:3.5:6.

So maybe go easy on the fertiliser and just be patient? You should still be able to use the little green ones but if you don't have too many and you want them to grow bigger or turn red you'll have to wait! Also I don't know what Jalapeno chillies look like when not sliced and pickled from a jar so I don't know how big they are supposed to get - though longer than an inch I imagine!

Also if they look dry water them every day - you should be able to tell if they need watering or not (dry on the surface).

[GrowerNewbie]

Fair enough.......just seems an awful long time for these Chilli's to grow!

I'm sure I'm doing some thing wrong, but like you said, I guess I'll have to be patient

Thanks for the advice!

[GrowerNewbie]

My Chillies are turning red! My Chillies are turning red!!

Can you tell I'm excited!!

[chilimik]

I have plants that where started at the same time as the brother in law's but his Apaches went red long before mine. The only differences are he fed them on a seaweed fertiliser and his greenhouse gets to a better temperature than mine. His greenhouse is much bigger and in the sun all day so maintains a good temperature, which I think is the major factor in ripening !

[chilimik]

what varieties are you growing ?

I have some Bhuts one with 15 fruits on !, Aji Crystal, choc habaneros, a bolivian rainbow ( off Bro in Law ) loads of long chillis and loads of free jalepeno types ( magazines ) but they dont have the thick jalepeno skin.
I've given loads away as I had way too much when nearly all my seeds germinated !!

have you ever grown chillis from saved seeds ? I'm tempted but not sure about crosspollination .

[chilimik]

some of the Bhut fruits, about 30mm - 40mm

[Thomzo]

I'm growing a small variety (Fiesta?), the plants are in their second year and I have loads of fruit which are now all colours but they are small fruits, only about 1 inch long. They do like it HOT. If your conservatory cools at night, it might be worth bringing them into the house on a sunny windowsill. Mine will have to come in out of the conservatory fairly soon or it'll be too cold.

Cheers
Zoe

[Peggy Sue]

I had no success at all really last year with my chillis, a first attempt. A coiuple of plants looked healthy but with no fruit so I tried overwintering 5 in the house. One survived-ish, then looked so poor I chucked it outside the door having given up in May when the neighbour gave me a plant. Since it was warm I gave it a few days indoors and put it on the patio/ in the clotche at night.

Then I noticed the abandoned one had picked up, literally within days of going outside so I gave it similar treatment.

We ahve just built a greenhouse so both are in there now, they've had a few seaweed feeds/comfrey feeds but not much else. I have a small handful of purple chillis on my 2yo plant (I think thats underripe for that variety) and maybe a dozen v v small green chillis on the other.

I'm counting that as success compared to last year

So would I have had more/larger fruit with a 'proper' feed?

[suziq]

chillies very small this year and have 2.. count them 2 fruits!

just broughgt them and the peppers in, greenhouse is in shade of massive tree on allotments behind our house and still has a few panes missing, so i can almost see the plants smiling on the kitchen windowsill. mind you at least another month before the heating goes on here lol

[Peggy Sue]

. mind you at least another month before the heating goes on here lol

I suspect thats why 4 of the 5 I tried to overwinter indoors died in our house Ah well you can't have it all ways

[Mrs Moustoir]

I've tried to overwinter chilli plants a couple of times - without success. I don't think the house is warm enough for them. They've either died of cold or been infested with white fly but I'll try again this year.

Hope springs eternal and all that

[Peggy Sue]

I've tried to overwinter chilli plants a couple of times - without success. I don't think the house is warm enough for them. They've either died of cold or been infested with white fly but I'll try again this year.

Hope springs eternal and all that

The one of mine that survived had really bad whitefly, I actually had given up on it and stuck it outside ready to throw, thats when it recovered