Chillies 2019

Thank you for sharing the fact that all is not lost

 

I sowed some of mine without heat in the tunnel and they have now germinated and are growing well

Jalepeno, habanero, ring of fire, big jim and serrano tampiquento have all germinated. Just waiting for pusa jwala to show its face. I may put it on the heated bed to encourage it.

This weekend I need to put the support in place to tie the canes to. I don't want another year of holding canes up with string tied to bags of compost

 

I'm getting worried about my chilis. They're in the kitchen on the window sill and are looking really strong and healthy.





So as shiney said in post 220, they've to stay inside for the moment, but they do look very big. And I'm worried about the temperature, as it's now the end of March, and it's still falling to just above freezing every night (1.4°C this morning at 05:59).



So when am I going to be able to get the blasted things outside?

I'm sort of hoping for a heatwave again this year, so that they can be sitting out there soaking up the sun, and growing to be a foot long. :-P

 

@joh98.mac , chillies / plants take time, they will be ready soon enough. I know you're eager for your first chillies, they will come. Pot on as they get bigger, a little deeper ( if they are leggy ) but don't move them into huge pots to soon. Chillies seem to do best( in my opinion) in smaller pots, confined roots, and dry periods.
Pot them on as they grow, if roots are coming out of the bottom of the pot, move them to the next size up.
They will hate leaving your kitchen! If you want chillies don't move the plants outside yet.
Mine go in the greenhouse at the end of May.
If you're stressing about window ledges, believe me, I think we are all in the same boat

 

The thing is, I don't know how big they'll be in May. I might actually not have enough room in the kitchen! And when I do move them out in May, will there be enough time left for fruit to appear?

 

@joh98.mac take comfort in knowing that over here, where we have to wait even longer to plant out, most of us only have window sills that are 3 or 4 inches deep so you have lots more window staging to begin.

I put together a growing area in the cellar because I run out of room on the main floor. Even stacking things! I've had to turn on the heat in the greenhouse and filled it too. (The LED lighting makes everything look purplish but in reality they are a deep green)

Once you can plant out you'll suddenly feel like you have a bigger house due to all of the freed up space

 

Just going with a few here, 4 each of carolina reaper and scotch bonnet and will probably just keep one of each if they all grow on well, the last time I grew a chilli plant outside there just wasn't enough sun heat for the chillies to ripen so they'll be grown in the greenhouse this time.

 

The one and only time I managed to grow successfully from seed, I had about 10 x 12'' pots on a balcony of our maisonette, and took absolutely no special measures other than growing them inside for a month and then popping them into pots.

Tomorrow, I'm going to move some of my more exotic seedlings from the sprouter, into small pots. Our window sill is getting very full. We can't put them on the floor of the kitchen as we have rabbits, and we can't move them out of the kitchen as we have cats - one of whom loves eating plants!

 

End of May before you can risk them outside Jon. How many Chilli plants do you want to grow on? You have about 20 plants there, do you really need the fruit from 20 plants? Space does become a big issue, as plants get bigger.

 

I agree with @HarryS if you have too many seedlings, when tney get too big for your place, maybe you can donate them to friends. I'm one of those people who can't kill a seedling unless it's aa weed so my friends are used to me foisting my extra green guests on them

 

Yours are so large, though. Mine are so small in comparison. Maybe it's just my imagination, but they don't seem to be getting any bigger.