Ok so we brought some pepper seeds from Wilko’s and when we went to plant them the inside packet has Jalapeno peppers on it so someone made a mistake there. Anyway started them off inside and they are now in the greem house looking good and about 6 inches tall.

I am thinking they are going to out-grow their pots soon so going to put them ina grow bag and searching the net has shown they can get to about 3ft tall – has anyone grown them before and if so do you support them with a cane? Any growing tips appreciated!

We have just started growing our first plants and have beetroot, carrots, lettuce, peppers, pumpkins, strawberries, tomatoes and parsley on the way!

Not sure how useful it is, but I have a chili tray. I started by planting some seeds from supermarket chilis, then added some Wahaca ones and some Thai chili seeds into normal compost. Lots of water, south facing window and voila – I have a jungle of chilis! I live in a flat, though, so I’m happy to keep them at their current size (about 30-45cm tall) is fine for me! In fact, when they stop fruiting this time around (I have about 20 chilis ripening) I’m looking into how to prune them.
I have found that up to this height they seem to be able to support themselves just fine – the main trunk grows steadily more ‘woody’, and the main branches grow thicker too. In theory if they have a good enough root network (and a deep enough pot) they *should* be fine, but if you’re using grow bags that may not give the support they need.
Personally I love growing chilis – they’re low-effort and very satisfying!

ive had some for 3 years now (same plant)

deffo use a cane to support them. mine’s living happilly (& productively) on our kitchen window sill. plenty of sun and not too much water.

they are tough plants IME, mind you – my dad did the growing from seeds part. he just potted them up and left them in a sunny place to sprout – then moved them to a bigger pot eventually.

Actually, thinking about it, MrCrushRider is spot on – I actually used chopsticks to support my chili plants. Doh!

don’t know about jalapeno ones but the one were been given the last couple of years have grown to about 1.5ft and stoppped naturally (looking at the link below I think they were Garden Salsa). We’ve three “apache” this year and they’re looking great already.
Again I love growing chilli’s as they are so low effort (unlike the tomato’s which go mad in the green house) and great results – we actually have some of last years chilli’s still in the freezer.

http://www.chillisgalore.co.uk/pages/varietys.html

Oh and were tried several time with bell peppers to have them fail everytime, dunno why.

I guess it depends on the strain, but I have grown jalapenos from seed for the last few years and I just put them in medium plant pots (just potted mine on last night) and leave them in a sunny spot. The stems have always been strong enough to hold the plant and the fruits.

I always get plenty of fruit and usually spend my autumn pickling them Mmmmmmmm!

Of course the bigger you allow them to grow the bigger they may grow (ie, pots stop the root ball from getting too big so they remain manageably small).

Thanks for all the tips – that website is ace!

Don’t let them dry out and they’ll be fine. When it starts getting cold again bring them inside and they’ll survive the winter (one frost will kill them off).
Letting them grow outdoors will strengthen the stems but if they can’t support themselves thenuse a suitable stick/cane/chopstick.
A good size pot will allow them to grow into a nice bush and you should get loads of fruit. If you get too many to use then just allow them to dry out and grind them up.

If you get too many to use then just allow them to dry out and grind them up.

Nah – pickle ’em.

Another good site with good tips on growing and pollinating

I’ve been growing chillies this year. Picked the seeds out of one bought from Tesco and after getting capsaicin in my eyes, on my bellend etc potted them up.

They don’t like too much direct sunlight (wilt badly IME) but apart from that seem pretty tough little plants. Got my first few chillies growing now after pollunating them with my finger tips. 8)

A soft brush is better for pollinating, or a cotton bud… Been doing that a lot for the plants I have at the office.

A quick inventory of the office garden reveals six numex twilight plants (all in fruit and doing really well), a Scotch Bonnet (still coming up), a Cheyenne (still coming up) and a numex twilight that has been outside at home and is a little yellow and poorly right now. All the numexes were grown from seed, although I did lose about half of them over Christmas when the people here forgot to water them for a fortnight.

The trick to getting them started is to use moist/damp, not wet compost, then get the seed tray covered in a clear plastic bag. Seven to fourteen days in an airing cupboard should see them germinating, then it’s just a case of looking after them and re-potting as they get bigger. To be honest though a single plant in a six inch pot should do them fine.

Pruning is essential. Too “leggy” and fruiting suffers. A friend at work recommends following the main stem up and then cutting it at the first “V” up. This gets them bushing out, not up, and makes them fruit better.

A soft brush is better for pollinating, or a cotton bud… Been doing that a lot for the plants I have at the office.

Ok then do I need to pollinate them in order to get fruit then?

They don’t like too much direct sunlight

Only as small seedlings – they need plenty when established.

Ok then do I need to pollinate them in order to get fruit then?

Not necessarily – if outdoors probably not. If indoors and there are few insects around possibly – this is because the flowers depend (just like the vast majority of other flowers) on insects for pollination. No pollination, no fruit.

It defintely helds pollinating them. A damp cotton bud seems to work for my office chillies. They quite happily take full sunlight too when established.

One problem you may get inside is blossom or fruit drop. I was getting this with my first flowers but a water spray to help the fruit set does the job and I expect a good crop this year.

Looking forward to seeing how the Bhut Jolokia work out!

btw the J is silent 😀

Jalapeno

Yeah, I pollinate all mine by hand. I do also get problems of flower drop, so now I’m more careful when pollinating, making sure to hold the flower at the stem rather than just slapping the cotton bud about. And yep, v low effort!

Surely it is easier to just leave them outdoors for a few nice sunny days and let the wildlife do the work for you?

Not so easy to leave them outside if your office happens to be in a power station. The engineers think the resident treehugger is strange enough without me carrying plants around the site!

I’ve managed to get a bee colony to set up home in my garden this year so perhaps I need to persuade some of them to come to work with me 🙂

That is a fair point 🙂