Noticed my first Apaches ripening today. Still got several dried and frozen peppers from last year's crop.
My "Basket of Fire" have plenty fruit on, inside and outside, and are starting to ripen. The rest of the varieties are between budding and flowering but no fruit yet.
Bonnets finally
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Mrs W is a keen gardener and has tried to grow chillis before and without exception they have all died and not borne any chilli fruit.
So I figured I’d have a go, I’m no gardener, I mostly mow the grass and view gardening as a chore. But I love chillis.
I can google the hell out of “how to grow chillis indoors”, but any advice from the STW crew ?
Finally getting flowers on my hungarian hot wax and apache. Looks to be a few chillies coming now too.
The pepper plants are going slow though
@walowiz I've always had reasonable success so here goes...
Sow in an unheated propagator in Feb and put on a sunny window sill. Only remove the lid to lightly water when necessary. Let the seedlings get there first two or three pairs of 'true' leaves then pot on to 2" pots. Pot on to final pots after a few weeks. Ideally keep them in as sunny a spot as possible. In late May start introducing some chillies to the outdoors if required. Keep watering every few days, don't over do it.
The variety is important. I've had mixed results with all apart from "Basket of Fire" which are heavy croppers and very robust.
Hope this helps!
@Coyote thanks for that, will order the supplies and regardless of the fact that it’s July not Feb will give it a go.
They should germinate this year no problem, just keep them warm through winter and you should have a head start on next year!
Had a 2nd pick over, 2 sieves full so far, unfortunately the Scotch bonnet are pretty poor this year.
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This whole town puts everyone else to shame.
https://welcometolangholm.co.uk/whats-on/langholm-chillifest-2021-2021-10-23
My plants didn't even flower this year. Hmph.
Red aji have done really well but the scary bit is the 5 fruiting carolina reapers.
I'm same as you Jimmy. None of my plants flowered for the first time in years. No idea why. It hasn't been the sunniest or warmest of summers.
Going to start again in December but unsure on variety. Plants that didn't flower I'll chop and overwinter.
Tried Hungarian Hot Wax two years in a row with little success.
Just harvested some of the Trinidad Scorpion fruit and halved them so that they dry more quickly in the machine. My fingers are tingling, even after washing them, and I am scared to put them near my face or go to the toilet
There are more on the plant...
Also have a lot of Lemon Drop on the way, but very few ripe yet.
Both plants are in a greenhouse and have had a lot of insect movement over the course of the season. I have found in the past that insects pollinate better than I do, so having them do the work is good.
Tried Hungarian Hot Wax two years in a row with little success.
Funnily enough I've done OK with these. Quite big fruit although they are still quite pale green. Will given them till the plant starts to die off before picking.
As above, Basket of Fire have been by far the best. I agree that despite the record temperatures it hasn't been overall warm or sunny enough this year. Will start planning next year's crop around new year.
I've got 4 plants, 2 have fruit starting to form, the others have flowers and the very start of fruit. I started them on my windowsill then moved them outside but they're a bit late fruiting. Next year I'll build a lean to greenhouse / cold frame as I don't think they like the cold.
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Plants aren't looking great but I've got plenty of chillis - Hungarian black, apache, hungarian hot wax, thai
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These have all been outside from end of May onwards, puppy only picked one (Picked and dropped, not eaten luckily!)
Got a fair crop of apache going on 2 or 3 plants, and a few hungarian hot wax coming, seem really late though .
Planning on trying to keep a couple of plants going over winter too get a head start next year
All mine grown in greenhouse, late but now heavy crops of Purple gusto, Scotch bonnet, Trinidadian Scorpions, Apache and some thai variety, was going to pick them all even if not ripe and then cut back to leave to overwinter, but have now taken biggest fruit off and leaving the smaller a little longer on plant whilst the sun is out...
Really like making chilli and ginger jam which is ace with cheese, but any other recipe ideas for storing and keeping what will be about 2-3kg of chilies? Do you just tend to dry them?
How much do you cut back to overwinter?
any other recipe ideas for storing and keeping what will be about 2-3kg of chilies?
I did green fermented hot sauce with about 250g ring of fire harvested at end of July. It is flipping hot but still good. Was hoping to do red hot sauce with a second harvest, but August was shit and I'll struggle to get 200g if any of them even ripen I think.
https://www.anarchyinajar.com/blog/2020/6/green-fermented-hot-sauce
Not the greatest of years for the chillies. The jalapeno plants are full at moment - although last year I had already had a kilo or two off them by now.
The orange habanero plants have all been slow. The plants are now heavy with fruit, although quite small and all green; I am not confident they will ripen before the first frosts next month.
I make fermented sriracha with my chillies; jalapeno and orange habanero are the perfect blend. Outstanding to add to a salad, sandwich or to liven up a sauce.
Just the one jar from 2020 left in the pantry - I have accepted that the 2021 batch will be very scarce and used a lot sparingly.
