Chilli's 2023

Ms2011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120795400#Comment_120795400

Did it turn red on the plant or after you picked it?

Supercell

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120797417#Comment_120797417

Turned red on the plant.

Stephen_Maturin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120795400#Comment_120795400

Interesting to hear that about overwintering. My friends gf had overwintered her plants for the first time this year - she’s been raving about it! Was definitely planning on doing it but your experience gives me pause. Sure will probably give it a shot, not a huge amount required.

Stephen_Maturin

Also my mystery star performer pant finally opened its flowers last week - I’d expected some plain white flowers leaving me none the wiser as I germinated about 8 different Capsicum annum varieties. However these flowers are spotted with green, so it must be the sole C. baccatum i germinated - the lemon drop! Delighted!

Dial Hard

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120753558#Comment_120753558

That is a beautiful plant.

This thread is giving me serious chilli envy. Haven't grown any in a few years now. Definitely going to remedy that next year!

Supercell

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120800071#Comment_120800071

In fairness, whilst the over wintered chili plant hasn't grown much, it is covered in fully grown (but not yet ripened) fruit, whereas the bigger, younger, ones are only in flower or with tiny fruit. If i had a greenhouse they would probably be a few weeks further on by now growth/fruitwise I'd imagine. Still plenty of summer left!

Ms2011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120798761#Comment_120798761

I left mine on the plant for ages & they never turned red. I picked one to taste it & I noticed the discarded end in the compost bin had turned red 🤔

Krusty_Clown

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120795400#Comment_120795400

Do you mean that you're going to compost the plant at the end of the season and start again with seeds next year, or you're just going to skip cutting it all the way back and let nature run its course?

Supercell

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120803025#Comment_120803025

I was wondering where that question came from!, I suppose some varieties ripen more quickly than others? Maybe on the compost heap they were facing directly up towards the sun rather than in leafy shade on the plant?, just a theory.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120803180#Comment_120803180

It will go on the compost heap, the veggie plot is small, so i'd prefer bigger chilli plants that produce more overall even if later. My wife makes a brilliant chilli sauce with it that we refrigerate and freeze and get best part of a year out of it. Next year I won't be growing tomatoes or chillies there , maybe some chillies in pots instead to keep the plot soil fresh. It's going to be bean and green land next summer

Ms2011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120803396#Comment_120803396

They're in a greenhouse so get alot of sun, maybe they're just a variety that ripens off the plant, I know that's the case with some tomatoes.

Krusty_Clown

Here's the latest pictures of my babies. Clockwise from top-left: Umm, not sure - maybe Hungarian hot-wax, or a purple Jalapeno that hasn't ripened yet; Jalapenos, Chocolate bell peppers (yet to brown), my buena mulata - which is producing loads of spicey chilis (a little like cayenne peppers), and my patio fire. Thankfully the spider-mites infestation seems to be gone after a couple of treatments (warm water, Neem oil, a little soap and some bug killer).

Chillies.jpg

Lessons I've learned with this season's crops:

Planted 6 varieties with about 6-10 seeds each, and ended up with around 38 healthy seedlings, which was way too much effort and space. Probably do the same again next time, but be more ruthless about culling 3/4 of them. I'm now down to 9 healthy plants and two re-potted plants that will hopefully perk up, after spending too much time in small pots.

Picked up these three-way clover-like pots, in which I've mixed up the varieties. Dumb idea. Cross pollination may be a real problem, and very easy for any infestations to hop from plant to plant.

Maybe skip the bell peppers next time. At this rate, by the end of the season, I'll probably have 1-2 fully grown peppers (if they last that long). Probably more suitable for outdoor sunnier climates.

Hotter peppers! Most of the varieties so far are tasty but pretty mild. Hopefully they'll heat up as they ripen, but next year, I'll definitely try to grow some hotter varieties, even though they may not grow as well in our climate.

Dial Hard

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120838494#Comment_120838494

I always found bell peppers a very slow-moving chore alright. Not worth the effort.

In terms of heat, obviously the variety is the most important factor but also don't underestimate the impact how much you water them can have. Once the fruit have set, only water them when they're visibly in need of it. Generally the drier you grow them, the hotter the fruit. Ime, anyway.

Stephen_Maturin

Couple of my plants are fruiting while other varieties are only beginning to set flowers now…concerned the late bloomers won’t have enough time to fully fruit and ripen 😞

Wolftown

Took some jalapenos off the plants, still plenty more to go over the coming weeks!

Stephen_Maturin

Lemon drops fruiting in now - the plant is utterly covered in hundreds and hundreds of flowers, have had to take loads off, no way the plant could possibly support them all fruiting at once!

Ms2011

Going on holidays so decided to harvest my chilli's, not bad for 2 plants

Supercell

Congrats, that's a great haul!

Stephen_Maturin

Some pics of a few of my chilli plants in the polytunnel - one of them (4th pic) is about 5ft tall!

But I’m distraught at the worry we won’t have time left in the season for them to set and form fruit and for the fruit to ripen.

Have a couple of plants in the house that are in fruit but would be v disappointed to get nothing out of the polytunnel chillis at all…been such a crap summer

Wolftown

Was away for 16 days, as suspected alot of the jalapenos ripened right through to red... Some nice cayenne in there too

Supercell

The final pickings, happy enough given we don't have a green house so all grown outdoors after starting indoors as seedlings. Summer this years wasn't chili friendly but we did ok.

Deub

At last, my chilli fruits are changing colour. It was about time as some of them didn’t seem to grow since the end of august. I took seeds from chilli I bought in supermarket, so I have no idea what they are. They are long with a nice yellow colour.

Harvested this week

Supercell

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121267602#Comment_121267602

Wow fantastic variety and colours! Are you going to make a chili sauce with them? My wife made a Chinese recipe one with apples from our garden and its brilliant on just about anything.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121267650#Comment_121267650

I pickled some of them and dried others in the dehydrator.

Got 1.5kg