[Closed] Grow your own chillies.....resources?

I've had interestiing seeds from South Devon Chilli farm

Personally I choose relatively mild but flavourful varieties as if you grow a few different things you end up with more than you can use so I prefer varieties I can use a lot of

Quite liked to Trinidad perfume from the the last lot I grew - flavour a bit like habanero but with less heat so you can use them more liberally.

Thanks. They dont have to be anything super hot. My GF isnt a massive fan so it would mean solo dishes.

I will check them out

Ian

A few years back I grew some from seeds from a supermarket chilli. I had about 8 plants and was getting half as carrier bag a week of fruit during the summer. Absolutely overwhelmed with the things. I would choose a few different types rather than slap a whole pack of one type into the ground at once. Also successional sowing can help - you plant a set of seeds each week from the start of season to the end and that way the plants mature at different time giving a longer picking season.

Langholm in the Scottish borders has a chilli festival. They grow all sorts. Join them on Facebook, there's a wealth of information there.

I grow them in peebles.

I would recommend spaghetti if you want to grow something you don't see in the shops, is mild enough to eat raw and looks ace as they from to 20/30mm long and only 8mm thick.

You do need sunlight and earth though, mine sit in a West South West window. Even that isn't really enough so on sunny summer days they get put outside on top of a nice warm Wheely bin.

I think they might have been from the Devon chilli farm aswell had had a great success rate from the seeds.

South Devon chilli for me.

The hotter ones do take longer to germinate and mature.

Check out Facebook for a few groups with useful advice.

I am just about to get my chillies on the go in the next week. I use a heated propagator to get them started.

Just registering an interest here

Not a chilli specialist but Real Seeds are excellent and have a good range of chilli seeds.

I came to the conclusion this year that growing chillies is pointless - they are slow to ripen, the plants get stringy , and they are very prone to aphids and black fly.

I buy them from my local farmers market - where the man sells them for 1 GBP a punt - and make up 2 litre batches of fermented chilli sauce ....

You need one of these - you’ll get double the chillies using it…

https://www.greenhousesensation.co.uk/chilligrow.html/

Good reminder, just ordered a few seeds from Devon. Jalapeno, Aji, Explosive Ember.

The main thing is to keep the seeds warm, 24 hrs a day to get them to germinate. We use a cheap heated propagator from Wilko but if you don't want to buy stuff / have space then use an airing cupboard.

We've used Real Seeds a lot for inexpensive seeds for all sorts of fruit and veg. We've also saved seeds for supermarkets chillis and pointed peppers and have reasonable success, as long as they get cleaned and fully dried out they germinate ok and we grow outside. Cayennes if you can find the thick skinned varieties have always grown well for us outside. Jalapenos grow ok outside although generally don't ripen but they are good green. For us, successional sowing is also important. We keep ours in until the weather improves so if you do early sowings and it's cold through April / May you get very leggy plants. Sometimes plants sow in April do best because they get out into warm weather early. So sowing a few seeds evert 3-4 weeks you'll at least get a few good plants.

My GF isnt a massive fan so it would mean solo dishes.

Hungarian Hot Wax might be good - almost not a hot pepper but quite tasty, nice chopped up into a salad

The main thing is to keep the seeds warm, 24 hrs a day to get them to germinate

That was the challenge for me when I first started growing them - quite a cold house and expensive oil heating at at the time that would be off at night or if we were out - so there was nowhere that was consistently warm day and night - getting seeds to initially germinate was an almost fruitless challenge - we're on a district system now and the cupboard where the heat exchanger lives is warm day and night so great for initially getting the seeds to germinate. Once germinated you'd actually struggle to be able to kill a chilly plant they're easy to look after and will bounce back ready from any neglect so anything else is just about making improving the crop you get - but you can easily get 'some chillis'

You do need sunlight and earth though, mine sit in a West South West window. Even that isn’t really enough

I tend to move them about the house a bit - what I think is sunny and warm and what they think is seems to be at odds and warm seems to count for more than sun - we've found an upstairs window that doesn't seem to get sun for as long works better just because they upstairs gets warmer through the day. I've not tried it but putting a reflector behind the plant is supposed to work well too

Think I used Seaspring Seeds and also South Devon Chilli Farm. Good service from both (shipping overseas too, although they don't now due to you know what).

They both have plenty of how to and tips iirc.

Anyone bought from Fatalii Seeds before? I think they're in Finland so ship to rest of EU (not sure about UK now). Might just risk it.

My favourites so far were Lemon Drop (fantastic flavour) and Chocolate Habanero. Was planning Lemon Drop again and some kind of mini/ornamental sized plant. The habs don't work so well indoors cos they take up far too much room, and even with a floor to ceiling window facing W/SW and lots of sun, I remember harvesting in late November.

Normally I start the habs and superhots on the radiator with the ziplock bag and kitchen roll method, last week of January right before ski trip, then when I get back they might just be starting to germinate. Mild ones I've started as late as May/June.

I bought some plugs (baby plants) from here last year: https://www.worldofchillies.com/chilli-plants/buy-chilli-plants.html

Despite be planting them too late, and I just whacked them in teh garden with no special treatment other than using the plant food they came with. The Jalepenos grew suprisingly well.

Simpsons Seeds
Massive choice and not just chillies 🙂
Need a lot of sunlight would be my tip.

I came to the conclusion this year that growing chillies is pointless – they are slow to ripen, the plants get stringy , and they are very prone to aphids and black fly.

Really? I grew so many from 6 plants, 4 years ago, I haven't grown any since, the freezer still full of the damned things & have a pot of kilner jar of chili flakes. Just order some more Apache F1 seeds (hot but not stupid), and will be sowing them ASAP. Don't be stingy about pot sizing is my advise, 10L+ for the win...

Anyone got any tips for restarting overwintered plants?

I came to the conclusion this year that growing chillies is pointless – they are slow to ripen, the plants get stringy , and they are very prone to aphids and black fly.

Depends which veriety I would say, avoid specialist/super hot verities and go for a more run of the mill comercial veriety, much less problems.

Seaspring seeds is a good shout, they do some excellent chilli plugs from April/may time.

Michael & Joy, the owners, also featured a bit in the River Cottage series with HFW.