Easy to grow chilli plants in England?

Did a second sowing last week Harry, first lot just didn't happen & now the frost has killed the ones in the greenhouse.

 

Moles Seeds seems to have more than most - perhaps because they are selling to commercial growers they might be using F1 to get the crop to come all-at-once to make harvesting easier

Hot Pepper - Moles Seeds
Quality Vegetable Seeds through Suttons Seeds - Suttons Seeds and Plants
Buy Chilli Seeds | Marshalls Seeds (bit pathetic!)
Buy Sweet Pepper & Chilli Seeds - Order Online | Thompson & Morgan
Vegetable Seed P

Specialist sites - some are only suitable if you are wearing flameproof underware!

Chilli seeds 2 packets 50p: the hottest collection of chilli seeds available
chile seeds, chili seeds, hot pepper seeds, hot chili seeds, chile seeds for home growing
The Vegetable Seed Store Peppers Hot & Sweet
7 Pod (Pot) Chilli Seeds

no doubt there are others!

 

The place in that link (The Chilli Pepper Company/Chileseeds.co.uk - I've used them) also used to have lots of heirloom tomato seeds on their website, but they've stopped selling them online and trying to access the pages going via the 'Veg Seeds' ' link will only take you as far as patio tomatoes.

But the info is all still on their website and they do still have lots of the varieties available, and if you make some notes and phone them they'll check if still in stock before you click on the 'Buy Now' button. I thought it worth mentioning in case anybody was interested in combining some tomatoes with a chilli seed order.

Tomato Seeds Heirloom, Organic, new exciting varieties

Organic Heirloom Tomato Seeds & Plants

Organic Heirloom Tomato Seeds, great selection


P.S. Once you're on the tomato pages don't use the 'quick links' at the top as they don't work, but the 'next page' and 'previous page' links at the bottom work.

 

Thanks for that Kristen , I had actually bought some Fresno seeds and some Numex sunflare from Chileseeds.co.uk . My Hungarian hot wax are germinating fine now as well
The 7 pot Chilli you linked to actually looks evil :D 1,000,000 scoville that is crazy ! I like to have eyeballs left after I taste a Chilli - 5000 scoville is plenty

 

From post #82 above, 20 days from sowing:




They were then transplanted into 40x cell inserts and today 30 days from sowing they're 75mm high and will shortly be going into 70 x 70mm pots. I'm beginning to wonder just how big they'll be before it's warm enough to put them in an unheated tunnel.;



Maybe I should have selected a small variety for an early sowing? This is one I'm thinking of trying - Bolivian Rainbow - has anyone grown it ?

 

They are looking good Scrungee Did you germinate them in your grow box , have they been in the grow box for the full 30 days and when do plan to take them out of the GB ?
I have my chillis in my little GB and they seem to be doing well but with space being short I will need to move other plants into it.

 

"Maybe I should have selected a small variety for an early sowing?"

Indeed. That's one to chalk up to experience

 

I've just ordered the following small varieties (will be saving seeds for early planting next year). Kristen - it was reading about your 'very early' Cannas thread that made me wonder if I might be getting my chillies to full size a little too early:

Numex Twilight



Little Elf



Expolsive Ember



and Bolivian Rainbow

They were in the box on a timer until I started transplanting them so they took up double the space and since then all my plants have been sharing it on 12 hours shifts which will probably be reduced to 8 hours as I'm moving everything into my greenhouse now the heating's on.I've been buying 70 x 70mm square pots (20 for 99p) so I can cram them in.

 

Yup, its a bit of a question of "timing"

I sow seeds on 1st and 15th of the month (well, a day close to that date). Most stuff takes a couple of weeks to germinate, so they come off the propagator and the next batch takes their place. Hopefully they are pricked out by a month, releasing their seed tray for the next batch of seeds.

I don't sow things particularly early, but I do bring a few on under lights - Tomatoes, Aubergines, Melons particularly as it brings forward the cropping date. They go under lights at about the time that the things that were overwintering no longer need the lights, and the (unheated) conservatory is warm enough to sustain them.

Keep a notebook - dates for when you sow / germinate / prick-out / pot on / plant out and first & last cropping dates. Over a few years that is all the resource you need to plan when to sow such that you won't have a log jam!

 

Updates Requested

Kyle
how are your Apache chillis doing ? Must be nearly ready to prick out soon.
Kristen
I meant to ask this a week ago but why do you sow on the first and 15th of the month Is this some ancient Suffolk rite ?
Ziggy
did your second sowing go ok ?

Now the inevitable question . I forgot to save seeds from my Cherry bomb chilli last year. I got one from the freezer - it had been in about a month - got the seeds and dried them. Sowed them end of last month - nothing zilch zero. My friend gave me some that had been on his Cherry Chilli all winter and Bingo ! Germinated. The question is are frozen seeds unviable We all know some Ruski boffin has just germinated 30.000 year old seeds

 

Harry, I pricked mine out a week ago, they're very similar to how Scrungee's look, I'll take a picture later tonight and post

 

You've heard of Suffolk fertility rites then, eh? !!

I reckon that "timing-wise" I need to sow approximately twice a month.

Things that germinate quickly are ready to come off the propagator after a fortnight (sometimes sooner, things that need much longer to germinate I handle separately), so space is created after about a fortnight.

Similarly those seed trays are ready for pricking out after about a month (or at some time before a month is up).

These two factors lead to more space, and recycled seed-trays, being available each fortnight.

In practice I do it when I get around to it (15th Feb stuff STILL not done :( ), but my sowing-schedule spreadsheet is divided up into twice-a-month sessions.

There are people who will tell you that planting by the phases of the moon brings with it significant improvements in germination rates, and yield ... but I've never tried it. Something worth Googling if you are interested though.

 

As a self confessed Telegraph reader:

Take a fresh look at cool chilli peppers - Telegraph


EDIT: One of the links in that article is to Sea Spring Seeds, located in West Bexington, Dorset (you reading this ziggy?) where I go fishing and they have an Open Day on Sunday 26th August 2012 (must check the tides for that day). Mrs Scrungee told me about this - I think she wants to get rid of me for a day or so, but unfortunately it's neaps and the wrong times of day.

 

I really need to get these pricked out asap but here are my Vipers after 6 weeks under the Ikea light:
The others are doing well but for some reason the Vipers are growing like mad!

 

You really do need to prick them out nathan , they are on their third set of true leaves. I presume you do know that the Viper is virtually a weapon grade Chilli Seriously though be careful with them they can hurt !

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/world-hottest-pepper-hot-enough-strip-paint.html