A kind soul has just informed me that he’s importing some, eh, robust chillies and asked if I’d like a couple. Naturally I tore his arm off and have a ghost pepper and a “reaper” (lolwut?) pepper on their way.

I’m planning on growing them, then making chilli sauce. However, I’ve never done either of those things before. So,

1) How do I go about growing them, what do I need to know? Any tips gratefully received. And,

2) Anyone have any good recipes before I hit Google?

Cheers.

“The previous world champion, Moruga Scorpion has been dethroned!! The new Guiness World Records World’s Hottest Pepper is the Carolina Reaper. On November 20, 2013 the Carolina Reaper was given the title as the Hottest Pepper in the World.”

Oh dear. (-:

In my experience they’re pretty easy to grow, just make sure they’re somewhere hot and sunny and water them when they need it. I’ve never managed to get any of mine to survive over winter though mind!

I bought small plants last year. Thai, cayenne and 2 others I can’t remember. Also got cuttings from butch t scorpion and a chocolate butch t. Easy to grow here in Oz. They seem to self seed too. Neighbours got a chilli tree it’s huge.

Keep them warm, we’ll drained soil and watch what ya touch after you’ve chopped some.

just make sure they’re somewhere hot and sunny

I’ve got a feeling Cougar lives in Lancashire.

Used to grow them on my windowsill, as a younger man – was a bit hit and miss so I’d advise planting quiet a few pots to improve chances of success.

If growing from seed they may need propogating first, which is a bit of a PITA.

I do. Perfect time to start growing things that need sun, end of August in East Lancashire. He’s thought about this.

Propagating? What’s all that then? (I *think* they’re whole chillies, so presumably I’d have to extract the seeds.

The enzymes in saliva help to ensure stronger seed growth in the first month or so.

Traditional method is to chew the chilli whole, then spit out the seeds which should be planted straight away.

Let us know how you get on.

Nice try.

Rather than piss about drying and growing the seeds, just buy some plants (or packet seeds) and stick them near a sunny windowsill. Near Spain, preferably.

That said, if you’re determined to dry and ‘propagate’, google is your friend 🙂

Edit: First match on Google. Sod that personally. Get some packet seeds, it’s just as satisfying to grow

I couldn’t help it.
Sorry.

Handy link, thanks. (I didn’t actually Google at all, I was looking for first-hand UK-centric advice, plus figured it’d be a good topic of conversation.)

Dry seed should be fairly brittle and will not dent when you try and bite them.

Again, nice try.

(-:

Chillies in East Lancs.. that could be a world record

What Could Possibly Go Wrong.

I wouldn’t expect you to get great results just on the windowsill. I understand that chilli growers are the reason for all those hydroponics shops you see around.

I think that you might want to being them inside for winter too (if growing outside). From what I remember they really don’t like frost.

Strawberries in Lancs and blackberries have done far better this year than West Yorks, but not sure that translates across to chilies.

If you want some propagator trays (not that you know what they are), happy to drop some off on my travels.

They grow enough Cannabis in East Lancs so chillies shouldn’t be a problem.

If you want some propagator trays (not that you know what they are), happy to drop some off on my travels.

Nice one, ta. Do they come with instructions?

The seeds won’t grow true to type unless the plants were isolated, you might get some nice hybrids though.

No. No they do not! Seems there are more experienced chilli growers joining, so see what advice they come up with and I can probably drop off stuff to help whatever’s suggested, apart from a greenhouse.

“The previous world champion, Moruga Scorpion has been dethroned!! The new Guiness World Records World’s Hottest Pepper is the Carolina Reaper. On November 20, 2013 the Carolina Reaper was given the title as the Hottest Pepper in the World.”
Oh dear. (-:

Has ‘Ring Of Fire’ as an earworm… 😀

FWIW, I always get great success using tomato feed on my chili plants once they’re fruiting. Nice, big fruits on there.

For mild – Pick after a few days of watering.
For hot – Starve ’em. Make ’em suffer. Then pick!

How do you know when they’re ready for picking? Mine have gone fruit s**t mental. Loads of peppers, still flowering, but when do I pick?

Oh and bell/sweet peppers are successful too and I’m further north.

I’ve gone for “ring ‘o fire”* this year got 5 plants looking very good, but had a poor start due to this years cold spring & my seed taking ages to be delivered, had previously just treated them as tomato plants but a little basic research this year boiled down to:

10 -12 Lt. pots tall not stubby
Potash feed (tomato feed) twice weekly

Starting pepper seed:
20-30degrees C water, ‘flavour’ with a used tea bag (pre-soak seeds in the mixture). Soak a peat pellet with mixture, & push your seed into the pellet.
Use a heated propagator to start them

Chillies: Soil-based Composts
We recommend J Arthur Bowers with John Innes loam based seed compost for germination.
We recommend that you use soil-based seed and potting-on composts – chillies really appreciate good drainage.

Been using last years stock to make chilli jam (bottom of the page)

*hoping for better results after an extremely disappointing results last year from a scotch bonnet

MrNice,with a user name like that i presume you know a thing or two about Hydroponics?

They’re heee-re…!

I’ve been growing chillis in Surrey for about 3 years now.

Some observations;

1. Take them in in the winter. They are alpine plants and don’t like the rain.
2. Consequently over watering is a real issue.
3. Get a good specialist liquid fertilizer.
4. Put them in larger pots and in a breeze free sun spot; they are a bit fragile.
5. They are semi perennial. You will get 2 years out of them, but not 3.
6. Chili oil is easy to make and a great gift.

Have a look at these bad boys;

El Thirko’s

El Thirko’s speciale reserve

El Thirko’s tres

Innnnteresting.

How many tonnes do you want as I can get them from far east … me friend is growing them by the way.

Try make it to taste like Tabasco as I normally stock at least 5 bottles of them in the kitchen. 😀

Seriously? Ooh!

Any decent sauce recipes before I employ the tried-and-tested method of “making it up”?

And,

From this,

To this,

Means that “Pain in the Bhut” is complete. And if I say so myself, it’s really nice.

How many tonnes do you want as I can get them from far east … me friend is growing them by the way.

Oh my!

I know someone who grows his own chillies and makes his own sauces, may have to ask him if he’d be interested in these bad boys.

eerrmmm … I just counted the chili in my kitchen (quick glance) and I think I have at least 20 bottles of chili ranging from sweet chili to extremely hot ones then several bags of 1kg dry chili … ya, I know I know I love chili. 😯

Drac – Moderator

How many tonnes do you want as I can get them from far east … me friend is growing them by the way.

Oh my!

I know someone who grows his own chillies and makes his own sauces, may have to ask him if he’d be interested in these bad boys. [/quote]

You can grow chilies in the UK btw not easy but you can.

I know my friends have tried to perfect his recipe but they tasted shite and I dare not tell him coz he gave me bags of chilies. I want to maintain the good contact and free chilies … 😆

I have asked him to make something like Tabasco for local Borneo market as they are especially good to go with breakfast noddles.

I am also getting 2kg of Korean chili flakes soon for making Kimchi. The Koren chilies are made or dry differently …

Plenty of people use Poly tunnels to grow in the UK. As you say the like warmth and slightly arrid conditions, I’ve done the odd plant in the past just on the kitchen window.

i’ve got 3 plants on the go at the moment.
– Nago morich (http://www.fatalii.net/FG_Naga_Morich). Used one chili as part of a dry rib rub for 5kg of ribs and it was too hot! Grows very well on my windowsill. The plant is nearly 2 years old.
– Black Rocoto (http://www.fatalii.net/Chile_Peppers/Species/C_Pubescens). No fruit yet. This plant is about 8 months old.
-Something unknown, like http://www.fatalii.net/Chile_Peppers/Species/C_frutescens. This plant is about 3 years old and still delivering fruit.

You should be able to get them to survive over winter in the UK if you’re careful. I’ve done it in Finland!

They’re really easy to grow in the UK. I’ve grown many different varieties over the years and now live off the west coast of Scotland so location isn’t a problem.
The don’t like cold (a frost will kill the plant)
Keep the soil moist (if it dries it will kill the plant) – that’s moist not water logged.
Little black flies love the plants and are a pain to get rid of.

To grow stick some seeds in a pots of compost and keep the compst moist. No need to do anything fancy, just be patient. Don’t try replanting seedlings until they have at least 4 leaves as they will be very fragile.

Oh, and top tip for cooking. For chopping hold by the stalk and use scissors to chop direct into the pot.

Did quite well growing chocolate habaneros last year (my first attempt). Quite interesting comparing my batch with those a friend grew in california. His were cropping before mine even got flowers (approx end august), and both cropped thru to end Nov at least. Had to start mine in feb on the radiator and hope for a nice sunny march.

Tried some more this year, plus a small early cropping windowledge compatible variety (habs grow all over the place), but have a 100% failure rate this year. Not watering them for 3 weeks didn’t exactly help.

Still got some seeds, so will try again.

Cheers for that, Wiksey. Gives me some confidence to try it.

Oh, and top tip for cooking. For chopping hold by the stalk and use scissors to chop direct into the pot.

I was separating out the flesh from the seeds, so needed a bit more control. Scissors, it turned out, were absolutely the best for it’s initial dissection, but then I took to it with a knife for the finer work.

I grow from seed – usually plant about 12 in a seedling tray on the cill of my potting shed then pick out the four best looking seedlings and pop them into a tomato grow bag and leave them on the cill all summer. My watering regime is more of the ‘when I remember’ so they often dry right out then get waterlogged but they never seem to mind.

I have just bottled two big jars of jalapenos (which is all I grew this year) and have another set of fruit coming on so I reckon I will get two more jars out of them before it gets too cold.