Kitchen Garden Forum

I think Geoff may be right about them liking warm soil too. On various days last summer I felt the side of the chilli pots on our patio and the plastic was really hot. I was worried that the roots pressing against the inside of the container would have got scorched but as long as the compost is damp they don't seem to mind. I also gave the leaves an occasional misting too.

Interesting the mention of pinching out, found some interesting video on doing this.

Had to be brave to do this which I have just done, so fingers crossed.

I'll have to see if there is a Factsheet on it but Jim of Beechgrove always recommends pinching out. I just leave them to get on with it but I never get the waist high and bigger plants you see on TV and in magazines. Have quite a bit of fruit set, the biggest are Poseidon sweet peppers.

I just let mine get on with it. They branch and go bushy on their own and with our short summers I don't think slowing down flowering by pinching out has any benefits. If you've sown them early under heat and live in a warmer part of the country you will have more leeway where ripening is concerned.

While I was taking the polytunnel photos I snapped Sweet Pepper Poseidon

My chillies have obviously coped with the pinching out better than the sweet peppers because the former are getting lots of flowers on the branches now whereas at the sweet peppers are still growing the branches with no sign of flowers yet - nothing like as advanced as yours, Geoff!

Hi,

All of the plants which I kept inside in the bedroom windows have lots of chillies on. The ones on the patio in pots have just started to fruit.

The ones down the lotty are looking very sorry for them selves. I put them out before the storm a few weeks ago and the took a bit of a battering. But, I have hopes of them thriving in This weeks weather. The cherry picanti chilies which are at the lotty have fruit but the plants are no where near as big as last years, which were also down the lotty and from the same pack of seeds.

I pinched half of the plants to see what the difference is - still to check on this.

The three year old chilli plant (the one surviving over wintered one) in the kitchen window has yet to flower. Looks healthy enough though and has been fed ant top dressed. Just a bit slow.

I have so many jars of dried chillies from the last few years - I really didn't need to grow more, but it's a slight addiction!

Pawty

Pawty. I can understand your chilli addiction. I only grow Hungarian Wax chillies now but these are particularly rewarding to grow as a decorative plant as well as for the fruit, with their size and the way they turn from green to yellow to orange and finally to red.

I too have so many chillies in the freezer to use up that I!m not growing any this year and am going to miss their decorative effect on my patio. I wouldn,t bother growing them in soil again. They do seem to need a rich compost and a warm situation to thrive.

What do you find is best to feed them with and how often.

Is that a Keder you are growing in Geoff?

No it's a glass house lined with bubble wrap on the North side, polycarbonate on the South and Correx under the gravel benches. Here's a picture soon after I completed the insulation in January 2014. I remove the wooden staging later in the season to grow tomatoes.

Colin2016, tomato feed is very suitable for peppers as well.

Hi,

I agree with Monica and I use tomato feed. I use it a couple of times a week (when I remember) when the plants start fruiting.

And don't forget, if your plants are kept inside, you may need to play at being bee and polinate them with a small paintbrush/ make up brush.

Pawty

See me dashing down to the greenhouse with a small paint brush in my hand..............................