Easy to grow chilli plants in England?

Nice one Kyle,

just checked my second sowing, still nothing.

 

You got a light rigged up yet? They'll get drawn and not make much leaf otherwise. Unless you've got one of the big-plant varieties I find that chillies are as slow as slow-things to make a decent amount of leaf and get properly underway

 

I use a desk lamp, been giving them about 5 hours a day between work, etc.. be enough?

 

Yes, I reckon. They may need a "night" too, so perhaps best that the artificial light is adjacent to daytime, and I have read that "daytime" should be the same time each day, so perhaps a timer is necessary.

Lamp should be as close as possible to the plants - without burning them (depends whether you have a bulb that gets very hot, or not - hold the back of your hand to the bulb at the same distance as the plants would be for a minute - if your hand only feels warm that's fine)

 

Just an FYI but IKEA do a CFL desk lamp which has a cool running 11w bulb for £13. I've got my chillies under one from 8am 'til 8pm and they're doing great.

The lamp has a clamp on the end so it's easy to position too.

 

Is this the desk lamp Nathan ? ~TERTIAL Work lamp - IKEA That is very good value for an Angelpoise® type light . Just been on the site - they start at £160 !! Thank you Pixar :gaagh:

 

20 days from sowing (year out of date) seeds. Pricking out this afternoon.

 

I remember seeing that when it was first on telly in the 1980s

 

How they so big?!? I feel ashamed posting a picture of mine, now :D

 

Never be ashamed, should have seen some of the stuff I put in the show last year

Mine still haven't germinated:(

 

I've been 'cheating' - they haven't seen any 'real' light yet, only artificial grow lamp light, and they've also been sitting in an electric propagator.

I got so fed up with slow/poor germination in the last couple of years, that I finally made the investment which might enable a few 'extras' (you can get loads of seedlings in a 3" pot) to go in and be passed on to somebody with the capability to take them to the next stage.

 

Mine have the first 2 true leaves, so put them in their own pot earlier. But took me 1 month and 2 days to get to this stage! I just hope one of them grows on really well, all I ask for..

 

My Chillis seem a little tardy this year, 10 days now on a prop and nothing yet. When did you sow yours Ziggy?

 

Chilli plants are quiet easy to grow, the hardest part is starting them off. When I sow them I like to have them in fairly high humidity and at least 23 Degrees Celsius. Depending on the variety's they will germinate in between 7 days to 30 days. Any F1 variety's will almost certainly germinate quicker than open pollinated ones.
If you have any specific questions i would be happy to help. The More chillis around the better in my book (not necessarily my wife's though lol)

 

Thanks Alan we need all the help we can get on here! :D My Hungarian hot wax have just started to germinate - Cherry bombs nothing yet.:(
I don't think I have seen F1 Chilli seeds Can you suggest any F1 types and suppliers - just Jalapeno strength for me - 5 to 10k scoville. No weapon grade ones .
I had just ordered some Fresno seeds before I saw your post . So any F1 will be for the 2014 season !! It pays to plan ahead :yess: