Well, that's the 2019 chilli growing season done and dusted! Yeah, that's right; it officially ended for me on Saturday 23rd November when I took down both Red Mayan Habanero plants and the remaining Chocolate Habanero plant. During the last four weeks the night time temperatures in the porch have been sitting between 40–44F, and as a result the three aforementioned plants had started dropping lots of leaves. Things were beginning to look a bit unsightly in the porch, and nobody wants to be labelled as an eccentric witch without a broomstick, so I decided to take down the remaining three plants and call it a day for this season.
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| Chilli Plants in the Porch - 23rd November 2019 |
Some people believe you can grow hotter chillies by causing stress to the plants. There are numerous methods used for doing this, such as the Heretic's Fork, Spanish Tickling, Crucifixion, depriving them of nutrients, prolonged exposure to intense sun, or allowing them to dry out completely between watering, to the point where they wilt. I've even spoken with people who told me they'd inserted pins and screws into the main stems in order to mimic attack from predatory insects!
The reason I bring this up is because some of the late harvested
Aji Rainforest and Chocolate Habanero chillies were much hotter than those I ate from the same plants earlier in the season. I'd never thought about it until recently, but obviously cold exposure can have the same effect by causing stress to the plants. Incidentally,
Chocolate Habanero has been a very prolific variety for me this season, and from just two medium-sized plants I've harvested close on 840 grams of ripe chillies.
This next photo shows a chilli harvest I did on the 12th October, just six days after posting the previous update, and the following one shows another harvest from the 4th November. It took until early November for all the Aji Rainforest chillies to fully ripen, and by that time all the leaves on the plant had dropped off.
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| Chilli Harvest - 12th October 2019 |
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| Chilli Harvest - 4th November 2019 |
Here's a photo showing all the remaining chillies that were harvested on the 23rd November. I left the chillies on the plants for as long as possible in the hopes that most would be ripe or semi-ripe before doing the final harvest of the season, and my patience seems to have paid off in the end. I'll get the green ones used up first before delving into the ripe ones.
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| Chilli Harvest - 23rd November 2019 |
All the growing equipment has been washed and stored away ready for next season, and the only thing I have left to do now is bag the seeds that I saved a couple of months ago, all of which are still in small containers sitting on a shelf in the bedroom. They should be well and truly dry by now. Here's a little tip for you. If your cane caps are mouldy at the end of the season, just place them into bleach water for 24 hours and they'll be as good as new.
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Washed Plant Pots and Growing Equipment - 23rd November 2019
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The Chilli Gods have rewarded me well this season, and my hot and spicy freezer compartment is once again chock-a-block with lovely chillies. All my seed shopping has now been done (unless something else catches my eye between now and next February) and I'm already looking forward to next season, when I'll be revisiting some old favourites and trying out many more new varieties. The 2020 growing season will start in just over two month's time, and if you don't hear from me before, I'll see you then. Adios, amigos.
