A few pods

So a few more weeks gone, plus a little improvement in the weather and I'm starting to see a few pods appear. 

Most plants have now some level of flowers appearing, with only a few exceptions, and a couple of the over-wintered plants that were a little stunted have got going at last - whether this will be too little, too late remains to be seen. But it's something to watch. 

I'm getting a little greenfly from time to time, but a quick squirt of ultimate bug killer and all is well.

The really big plants are the Marouga Yellow, the Tepin and the Mini Rocoto, but everything seems to be benefitting from the improved weather and temperatures of late. We've not had a crazy hot summer as yet, but we are at least getting a little sun from time to time. 

I have a few jobs to do (weeding and cutting back) around the back of the greenhouse, but these are not major problems yet. 

I'm now feeding several time a week with low doses of chilli focus, it seems to be working with no signs yet of over-feeding.

So a few photos of the greenhouse and the varieties with pods to date:

Mustard Hab growing out from the centre of the flower

Marouga Yellow

Mystery 6 - some sort of chinense, maybe a long podded hab of some sort

Mystery 2 - an upright podded annum. Not a PC1 or superchili though.

Micro Fatalii pods - including my first ripe pod of the year!

CAP 267, these pods started by growing upwards, but then swung down with the weight.

A 7-pod pretending to be a trinidad scorpion :-)

A little update

So with the weather conspiring against me (will it ever stop raining properly), it was nice to see a good spell of sun at the end of May. This really got the plants going at long last, although I suspect I am a good few weeks behind where I was last year. 

Good news - most of the plants are now in flower. I've sorted out the greenhouse, potted on the last few stragglers and made space for chilli central. I now have one or two other (non-chilli) plants to find homes for. I have pods appearing on a few varieties now (Cap 253c, CGN 21500 & Fatalii to name but a few). They are small pods, typical of early season, but it's a start. 

Bad news - many of the over-wintered plants seem stunted. The Mustard Hab, 7 pod & Naga Morich are barely moving. Hopefully they'll put on a spurt, but maybe not. By comparison the Fatalii, Tepin and Marouga Yellow are going great guns. So maybe it's a 50:50 thing. 

Anyway a few random photos, the labels tell you what's what. Let's hope for some better weather.

Some of the plants from the greenhouse waiting to be re-homed

Quick update

So the generally poor weather continues - odd splashes of sunshine, some rain, but lots of cloud. Net effect is that the plants seem to be doing ok, but not great. A few greenfly have appeared lately, but a quick squirt and they appear to be sorted. 

However, I am starting to see a few tiny signs of progress. First pods have appeared on the Fatalii and the CAP 253-C, and possibly the Peruvian Purple (difficult to tell at the moment). Nothing amazing, but it's good to see some small signs that things are growing. 

Many of the plants so far are starting to show signs of early buds (in fact some of the Habs have a really good showing to far), but time will tell if the weather is warm enough for them to set in due course. 

Overall it feels like a really slow season so far. Maybe it's just me, but I suspect the poor weather has a lot to do with it.

The big pot-on

About a week ago, I finally succumbed and started to put the majority of the plants into their final pots. I quite enjoy this step, but it can be time consuming, so ideally I spread this out over a couple of days. I still have a few smaller plants in catch-up mode, these will be moved to the greenhouse as soon as the weather decides what it's going to do. (A record-breaking wet April and poor start to May are not helping much).

Anyway on with the process...

I jump straight from 13cm pots to 22cm pots as soon as I see some decent roots showing. This is probably a slight leap for some, but it works for me. Here you can see the two pots sizes side-by-side. 

As there is quite a lot of compost required, I like to mix it up in the wheelbarrow - this is handy if I need to work indoors (say in the shed) and helps reduce the mess. Here you can see the compost / perlite / vermiculite mix ready to go. A ratio of 5:1:1 works for me. I use bog-standard B&Q compost for my chillis and have done so for years - they seem to have changed the mix a little this year, hopefully I wont notice any ill effects.

Once mixed, I fill the pot about 20% full then add a few chicken manure pellets for extra feed. You only need to add 6 pellets, as they are very strong and ensure they are mixed well. You also need to ensure that the roots do not come into direct contact with the pellets (until they've rotted down) as this can burn the roots. Hence, they're mixed in and buried well below the level of the plant going in.  (If you premix these in with the main compost, you cant guarantee this). These are the pellets, this is enough for several plants - don't be tempted to overdo it!

For potting on, I like to bury a sample pot in the large pot to get the size, position and depth correct. Here you can see the small pot in the large pot. Then, gently you can lift this out to create the perfect whole for the plant. If you can use an empty pot, life is much easier - using consistent-sized pots help a lot with this. 

And then turn the plant out and simply drop it in. Tidy up and you're ready to go. 

Next, all plant get put in the 'dunk tank'. This is simply a drip tray next to one of the water butts. This usually has an inch or so of water in it (which the local wildlife appreciate) and is a good for giving the plants a quick soak.

 
After a few minutes in the dunk tank, the plants are moved into the greenhouse and placed in the trays. I'm trying to keep then in matched pairs of the same variety, but the plants are not all at the same stage yet. Here they will get another watering from the base and watched carefully - if they need more water in a few hours time I'll add some more.

I was getting a little worried about my over-wintered plants, as many seem to have stalled. However, I've potted these on too and they are now showing some signs of being reinvigorated. Time will tell. 

So a few final photos of the plants in the greenhouse, currently these are in their trays minding their own business, eventually these will be moved around a little more to give them breathing space, but no need to worry about that for a little while yet.

 

 

A few photos

So by way of catching up, here are a few more up-to-date photos.

Here are the last of the plants being potted on to 13cm pots (I'd said 11cm in earlier posts, but they're definitely 13cm, so this has now been corrected). A few of the plants are a little small for 13cm, but I didn't really want to leave a couple in smaller pots, especially when I had all the potting on stuff to hand. 

A few of the plants were not growing particularly upright, so these have temporary stakes on them - this usually sorts them out once the stems thicken up a bit.

Last batch in 13cm pots

Down in the greenhouse all is well, but a few of these need potting on. I've managed to do a few, but I need to have a clear out of other things first. 

This year's most advanced plants

And finally, the larger plants and a few potted on examples. Hopefully I can get another dozen or so one during the week. 

The larger plants in their final pots

The grow list

So I've just potted on a few plants, everything is now in 13cm pots or larger and the plants in the greenhouse are showing no ill effects of the cooler nights of late. To date I've only lost a couple of seedlings, both CGN22871's, both of which seemed to get to the seed leaves and then stop dead. Thankfully one has survived and is doing fine, so it's not a complete disaster.

So the final grow list for this year, figures in brackets denote quantity:

CAP 253-C (2) 

CAP 267 (3)

CGN 16944 (2)

CGN 21500 (2)

CGN 22163 (2)

CGN 22871 (1)

CGN 23251 (3)

CGN 23258 (2)

PI 260504 (2)

PI 260560 (2)

PI 281353 (3)

Habernero Cristina (3)

Habernero Hot Lemon (3)

Mini Rocoto (1)

Praetermissum (2)

Peruvian Purple (2)

Pimenta De Neyde (1)

M2 - Mystery chilli plant

M6- Mystery chilli plant

??? - Lost label, might be a missing CGN22163

Overwintered (1 of each):

White Habernero

Naga Morich

Fatalii Red

Fatalii

Mustard Habenero

7 Pod (Jonah)

Tepin

Marouga Yellow

I'm aiming to keep about 40 plants from this list, where I have more than 2 then the third will be found a good home to go to. 

More info on the varieties and a few photos to follow in due course.

Down the greenhouse

I moved my overwintered plants (or at least the surviving ones) down to the greenhouse a few weeks ago. We were having a spell of unusually good weather, so heating requirements were minimal, plus it made space for this years plants to get under the CFL. There was a little scorching of the Fatalii and Tepin, but all in all this was a good move. 

In the mean time, the two trays of plants in the 13cm pots were making daily trips outside to enjoy the sun. I tend to acclimatize the plants to the sun by ensuring they are in partial shade when I first start this process. I've found a spot on the decking where they get indirect/partial sun for most of the day and I find this reduces scorching dramatically. Although the plants are used to the CFL, clearly it's not the same as real sunlight. I find at this time that it is often necessary to stake the plants with bamboo canes, this encourages straight growth and reduces wind damage, although not ideal, according to some growers, it works for me. I did suffer one minor problem here though, a bout of hail damaged a few leaves, nothing serious, but I was just not fast enough to realize what was happening and move them back indoors - however, no real damage done.

Last weekend I took the plunge and repotted three of last-years plants on to their final pots. The Tepin, Marouga Yellow and Fatalii were really established up-top, so moving them on was a good move. Here I use my usual potting on mix but add about 8 chicken manure pellets per plant. I've found these give a real boost to the plants, but you need to ensure that they are not in direct contact with the roots, over time this slowly breakdown, by which time the root issue disappears, but care should be taken at this point. Some of this year's plants are not that far behind (size wise) so I can see some more major potting on coming soon. 

This weekend just gone (Easter) I've given the greenhouse a good once over - cleaned down the glass on the side where the sun shines, reorganized the other plants in there and had a general tidy up. Then it was a case of adding some temporary shading (a little membrane held up with string) and taking the first two batches of 12 plants down to the greenhouse. Two days in and all is well, I shall remove the shading in a week or two, but again I find easing in the strong sun to be beneficial. 

The plants seemed a little anemic to me, so have had a light spray with Epsom Salts, this should encourage a little greening up.

So a few quick photos:

Some of this year's plants under the CFL

Plants in the greenhouse - note the shading

Overwintered plants - note the giant Tepin in the big pot

Frost protection - set at 8 degrees C