Yes, root rot can be an issue if standing in water. They normally prefer to be dry stressed.
Having said that, I have on occasion fed from above and below – they are thirsty buggers and you can literally see them soaking up the water.
Usually it just means that the pot you have the plant in is too small.

Tend to start mine going in late Feb, in beakers above a radiator in kitchen window (floor to ceiling window facing west-ish for as much sun as possible later). Kind of a guess so that once they have leaves there’s lots of spring time Sun.
Decent sized pots once established. Mine are just sat in a saucer.

Lemon Drop ones this year were ace. Nice flavour mid summer crop.

Habaneros seem to take much longer to germinate, and mine seem to start flowering at end of August.

Got most of my seeds from Seaspring Seeds, whose website does state how tall and wide most varieties of plants grow. My Habs usually end up ridiculously wide for a window. Lemon drop was taller, but less wide, so just needed a stake. Prairie Fire, small and bushy, but flavour not as good as habaneros (imho).

White flies and aphids have been a problem.

Have a friend in California, and another in Oklahoma, who both grow Habaneros and Trinidads, and they get way way more crop and months earlier too.

I’ve had limited success with chillies. Plants do really well and produce load of flowers. However loads of the flowers fall off just before they set fruit. Only ever had 3 or three on each plant at a time. Any tips or explanations?

Flower drop can be an issue – it’s normally associated with indoor bred plants where a lack of creepy crawlies means less natural polination takes place. I find it helps to induce early self-polination by using a (very) soft bristled brush and tickling the rude bits.

Also helps to keeps a local window open for long periods during the day, or indeed, take the plants outside for a few nights/weeks when the weather gets really good.

Avoid over watering, scorching sun, and cold (near freezing) temps too.

If you have lots of flowers(blossom) alongside a handful of fruits growing in tandem – it can help to pick these early fruits in order to promote more fruit growth.

As it goes, I recall last year being my lowest yield in general with a fair amount of flower drop. Perhaps the longer milder seasons have had a detrimental effect?
I didn’t grow this year but will have another go next season (Feb). I have some formerly worlds hottest ‘Infinity’ seeds, which I received personally from Woody, the guy that bred the Naga hybrid and owns ‘Fire Foods’. He’s usually at the East Dean Chili Festival in august – which is a good day out for chili heads.

I had a decent crop of prairie fire chillis this year, all started from seed that had come from fruits grown by my sister the previous year. Pretty easy to grow, P Fire aren’t very hot so you need a handful for cooking with (around30k shu) . I’ve also some young Trinidad scorpions I’m hoping to get through the winter as well as scorpion seeds for starting in the new year.

I agree that the central chilli in the pic looks a little like a scorpion, knobbly and with a curved tail. Treat with real caution. Incidentally, how the flip do I post s pic direct from Flickr

You can also ‘winter’ your chili plants after their first crop – by essentially cutting them right back to the first branch, and trimming the root ball to the size of a tennis ball. This stimulate another growth season, although normally not quite as abundant in fruit (see last pic for first new growth after winterising)

Interesting – I’ve never pruned them, just let them be… How much do you need to water them in winter if you do this?

I think the idea is that pruning them right back shocks them back into early vegetative state – hence restarting the growth cycle. I’ve yet to grow a plant that didn’t die of its own accord after around a year without pruning.

I admit – i’ve only ever tried it on 2 plants with varying levels of success – IIRC, as long as they aren’t exposed to freezing temps you can treat as normal, ie, water once/twice a week at the point you see the leaves start to droop.
Stands to reason that they benefit from the sunniest windowsill you can provide during winter daylight hours.

I’m actually tempted to try an indoor grow tent in the future – a fairly low wattage bulb should provide ample nutrition for a chili plant.

I’ve also some young Trinidad scorpions

Fantastic chili’s. A couple of those in a curry and you’re buzzing in a flame induced haze.
Super angry looking things. Generally, the more wrinkles and visual distortion, the more scalding hatred lies within. A bit like OAP’s from Kent I suppose?

.

Op.

Yours is clearly a ghost chilli

These people do mail order tomatoes and chillis, seeds and plants…

http://www.simpsonsseeds.co.uk/

Slim Jim – you mention a chilli forum, is there one you’d recommend? Maybe uk based? Cheers

iolo’s look like these – http://www.simpsonsseeds.co.uk/acatalog/Friar-s-Hat–Bishop-s-Crown–S_CAPH114.html

Tip for potential chilli growers – don’t open the window if they’re on a window sill. The breeze killed mine 🙁

Right, that does it.
I’ll try and grow some from these.
Let’s see what they look like next year.
I have enough sunshine where I am through the summer so should be ok.

you won’t necessarily grow a plant that produces that same chillies you got the seeds from…

(it’s a bit like apples, if you eat an apple, and plant one of it’s seeds expecting one day to grow a crop of tasty apples, you’ll probably be disappointed by the eventual crop of crab-apple-alikes)

Well, I’ve bought some seeds from that link posted on page 1, so we shall see!

you mention a chilli forum, is there one you’d recommend?

I used to frequent the forum on FireFoods website: http://firefoods.prophpbb.com/

Would be good to see the STW collective results from chili growing throughout next season!
Feel free to get in touch if any of my exotic seeds are of interest.

Yes a STW chilli collective . . . Happy to volunteer in any chilli chutney making. This year’s batches included a recipe I created for ginger and lemon chilli chutney – with the help of some yellow tomatoes I managed to keep it an amazing colour too

DezB – Member
Well, I’ve bought some seeds from that link posted on page 1, so we shall see!

well that’s different, if you’ve bought seeds you should expect to grow what you’ve paid for.

it’s not *exactly* like apples, which usually grow on trees, outside, so it’s harder to control the pollination process. Chillies are grown inside, so it’s easier to control what’s having sex with what. But if you’re growing chillies to sell for food, there’s no point taking care to ensure there’s no bugs crawling around your greenhouse pollinating like crazy – which is kinda what you have to do if your intention is to harvest the seeds.

make sense?

Duh

🙂 /\