Chilli and Sweet Pepper

General tips / questions on seeding & planting

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Colin2016
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Thanks Tigerburnie
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Geoff
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RHS 'The Garden' had a pepper article recently. I can't remember where the discussion about pinching out was but as you see they suggest you don't then say you can prune so even they can't decide. As opposed to Monty who suggested you do on Friday, mind his plants looked more in need of pitching than pinching.

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JohnN
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Earlier in the year I bought some different "sweet" pepper plants, one of which was labelled "Celica". It has grown well but the fruits are round, like small tomatoes and when I tasted one that had turned red it was really hot, like a chilli! Could it be a Chilli and been mislabelled, or can "sweet" peppers grow rogue?
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Geoff
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Googling Pepper Celica does turn up a strange set of images with various shapes of fruit which makes you wonder. The seed listings for F1 Celica do show fairly large round fruits a bit bigger than you describe and say it as sweet. I doubt a sweet can turn hot, a mix up seems most likely.
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Pawty
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Hi Colin,

Yes they look healthy - you often see this darkening on the stem. Here's a piccy of one of mine.

Pawty
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Colin2016
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Thanks Pawty. You have got a good grop there picked a few of mine and they spot on.

Thanks for the check list Geoff.
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Ricard with an H
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Geoff wrote: Two years ago we lost a load to voles; went down one morning and they had nipped the chills off, stripped them open and eaten the seeds.


That made me smile, capsicum is even transdermal on tough outer skin never mind lips and gums.
How are you supposed to start and maintain a healthy lifestyle if it completely removes a wine lover’s reason to live?
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Monika
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I grew our sweet peppers this year from a free seed packet of "Mixed sweet peppers", so have no idea what varieties they are, but one plant is very intriguing: the peppers (fairly rounded, green at present) all grow upright on their stems, not hanging down or even at an angle, completely upright. Does anybody know what variety they could be?
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Primrose
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Don't know about sweet peppers growing rogue but I've certainly experienced this with chillies. I only grow Hungarian Wax these days which is supposed to be a fairly mild/medium heat variety and every so often come across an occasional fruit which blows your head off.

I used to grow the Californian bell peppers Monika but now grow the Italian pointy variety so no idea what your mystery pepper could be. Possibly from a variety which the supplier couldn,t get rid of because nobody wanted to order them ?
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Geoff
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Can't find an upright round sweet pepper, some upright pointy ones. Who was the packet from? Perhaps they sell individuals as well.
Monika
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Sorry, Geoff, but I have just recently had a clear out and threw the packet away together with many others. I know it was just labelled 'Sweet pepper - mixed" and was a free packet which tend to be from T&M but some are from Fothergills, too. It's just intriguing because I have never seen a pepper like it.
I think you might be right, Primrose, about seed merchants wanting to get rid of them which I suspect (I know I have mentioned that before) is the case with many free seed packets.
(Just as an add-on: I have at the moment about 30 each of viable free vegetable/herb and flower packets which I don't want. Hopefully, they will find grateful owners at our village show in early September.)
jeff64
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this is my first year growing chilli/peppers, I have only just found this topic and found it very helpful, thanks to all of you who have posted on the subject, I think next year will be much more productive. What a lovely forum to be a member of!
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Primrose
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Jeff, I think one of the secrets is to start them off very early in the sunniest, warmest place you have. I don't have a greenhouse (well, only a mini plastic one) so I start mine off about the third week in January on my lounge windowsill. They take quite a long time to germinate and if you wait until March or April you'll be well into autumn before they start cropping.
jeff64
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Will do Primrose I have just the right place for them, thanks
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Pawty
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Jeff,

Onc you start growing them, you'll be hooked. I start mine off in February. This year I put some (when warm enough) in raised beds at the lotty, kept some in pots in the bedroom window, and some in pots on the patio. All have done well.

This is what I picked at the wekkend. I would say I have at least 10 times this to come. Making Chilli jam this weekend for Christmas presents but I'll still be left with more than enough to last me years!

Pawty
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