Chilli plants potted up ....

Thanks

 

What is that you are growing them in @OxfordNick ? Looks like a growstation of some kind ?

 

Yeah, I know about Greenhouse sensations, I was looking at using their Quadgrow systems, as I have seen quite a few of the chilli growers using them.

Single Quadgrows at £42.90 or a pair for only £64.90.

 

Looks good but seems an expensive way of doing things.

I realise that if you're not around to water them then you need to do something but a cheap bit of capillary matting and a bowl of water works quite well. I think that for a fiver you could cover an area about 6ft x 3ft.

 

And once you have bought them, you can re use them the for years, so if you look at the initial outlay Vs How many years use you'll get (and the fact you haven't got to be on top of them constantly), I feel it's a worthwhile outlay for the long term.

Alternatively, keep n eye out for used ones on certain Auction sites , I was also considering the autopot systems, as these can easily be extended to huge systems.

 

I'm now picking about 100 chillies every other day. The seeds were propagated in a seed sprouter, potted on into a seed tray as soon as viable, potted on into 3.5" pots and then into 9" pots. We just used multi-purpose compost and started feeding them with tomato feed once the flowers formed.

None of the plants are higher than 12" from the top of the pot and we water them with the hose every evening. Once a week they get a small amount of tomato feed.

 

Naga Chillies doing well.

@Lolimac This is the plant you gave me.

 

I've just done some picking.

The first of the Nagas and a few of the Cayenne. These Nagas should be somewhere between .75 - 1 million SHU's. The ones on the left are the Cayenne and should be somewhere between 30,000 and 250,000 SHU's (I don't know which variety they are).



These are a home hybrid that started off as one of the Tabasco varieties but, over the years, they've crossed with other varieties (cross bred them for about eight years but now let them do their own thing). They are now, at a guess, somewhere between 150,000 and 350,000 SHU's. They crop much earlier and much more prolifically than any of my other chillies and are my favourite.
Yesterday I stopped counting them when I reached 500



Although, nowadays, we don't do much in the way of preserving any of our crops As these chillies are quite small they dry easily on kitchen paper just left in the sun on the windowsill.

For those of you that are interested in getting your chillies as hot as possible: most varieties will reach their best heat if they receive more sunshine/heat and more water. So, if you're able to do so, keep them in a greenhouse even if the weather is hot. You will need to water them every day.