Chilli Plant Update - 18th May 2022

A week ago today I re-potted all but one of the chilli plants into their final pots and moved them into their positions for the growing season. Realistically, they could have done with being re-potted a bit sooner, but never mind, all is good. Everything is coming along nicely and we even have our first fruits of the season starting to form, which are Bangalore Torpedo and Bell Pepper. I was going to wait a couple more weeks before re-potting the Mako Akokosrade and Antillais Caribbean plants, but both were large enough and roots were poking through the drainage holes in the pots, so whilst I was at it I re-potted those too.

Chilli Plants in the Porch - 10th May 2022

Chilli Plants in the Porch - 10th May 2022

Ring of Fire - 11th May 2022

This year's Aji Largo plant is in an experimental compost mixture, which is mostly comprised of Westland New Horizon Organic Peat-Free Compost with a few of my own additions, including something to lower the pH. I put it into this mixture about four weeks ago when I re-potted all of the Capsicum pubescens varieties into 5-litre pots. It seems to be fine so far, but perhaps it may require a bit more fertiliser throughout the growing season than the other three Capsicum pubescens varieties. I was going to put a couple of other chilli plants into the same mixture, but I decided against that for this season. I figured I'd experiment with Aji Largo because I still have about 1.6 kilograms of Aji Largo peppers in the freezer from last year, and I cook with them on a regular basis. I'm getting through them slowly.

Compost Mixture - 11th May 2022

All four of the Rocoto plants spent their first night outdoors last Friday, and all four of them now have some sun damaged leaves. Silly me... If it's stupidity you're looking for then they don't come any more stupid than Spicemad! Ideally, they should be covered with two layers of horticultural fleece and one layer be removed after about two weeks and the final layer about two weeks later. I only have two small pieces of horticultural fleece, so for that reason they'll just have to harden up.

Sun Damaged Capsicum Pubescens Leaf - 16th May 2022

Here are a few photos that were taken two days ago showing some of the tribe members that you've met before. I didn't have time to get a group shot of all the new varieties this time around, but I'll try next time.

Aji Largo - 16th May 2022

Aji Largo Flower - 16th May 2022

Aji Lemon - 16th May 2022

Antillais Caribbean - 16th May 2022

Chocolate Habanero - 16th May 2022

Dorset Naga - 16th May 2022

Fatalii - 16th May 2022

Jalapeño M- 16th May 2022

Mako Akokosrade - 16th May 2022

Malawi Bird's Eye - 16th May 2022

Orange Habanero - 16th May 2022

Peruvian White Habanero - 16th May 2022

Ring of Fire - 16th May 2022

Some of the chilli plants have a bit of a calcium deficiency going on and I think this is caused by the pH of the compost being too low. When I re-potted them into their second pots on the 30th March I added too much of something by mistake, which in turn made the mixture too acidic. Rather than having a pH of around 6.5 it had a pH of 5.1 instead! I measure out my compost mixture using plastic jugs and instead of adding half a jug of something I added two jugfuls by mistake, which should have been two jugfuls of something else. It's just as well I'm not a pharmacist or I'd likely have poisoned someone by now. 😁

Interestingly enough, most varieties seemed just fine growing in that mixture. The varieties showing symptoms of calcium deficiency are Cappuccino Chiltepin, Orange Habanero, Papa Joe's Scotch Bonnet and Peruvian White Habanero (I think). However, on the plus side the mixture that I made up last Wednesday now has the correct pH and this should hopefully fix the problem. Nearly all of the plants now have roots poking through the drainage holes in the pots, so they're already well and truly rooted into the fresh compost mixture, but just for added measure I've given a CalMag foliar feed to the varieties showing symptoms of calcium deficiency.

Just over a week ago I noticed something odd going on with one of the top leaves on the Peruvian White Habanero plant, but it doesn't look much like the typical symptom of calcium deficiency. It then started affecting one half of the new growth at the top of the plant. It looks more indicative of mite damage than it does calcium deficiency, but at this stage I'm leaning towards it being a symptom of calcium deficiency, especially given how calcium is not a mobile nutrient and only the new growth is affected. However, now that it has rooted into the fresh compost mixture and been given a foliar feed with CalMag the new growth is starting to look normal. I've taken some photos of the odd-looking leaves and will include them in the next update, but if you look closely at the photo of it above you'll most probably be able to make them out. Hopefully, by the time I post the next update I'll know what the cause of it was. If the symptoms persist then I'll treat it will neem oil.

I have a hunch that Guampinha de Veado is going to be a very tall plant, probably too tall for my small walk-in plastic greenhouse. It was already 32-inches tall before I re-potted it into its final pot (7-litres) last Wednesday. If it ends up being a tall plant then it will have to live outside in the garden with the Rocotos. I did a little digging on it before buying seeds and I didn't see any mention of it being a tall variety. As some of you may know, I'm not a big fan of tall chilli plants because they're not practical for my growing situation.

Anyhow, summer is well and truly on the way and hopefully we'll get a better one than last year. I hope your growing season is going well. All hail the Chilli Gods. 🌶

Chilli Plant Update - 2nd May 2022

It will soon be time to re-pot most of the chilli plants into their final pots and move them into their positions for the growing season. Two of my plants (Antillais Caribbean and Mako Akokosrade) are about four weeks behind the rest and are still a bit small yet for a new pot. I also have a small seedling that has just started to develop its first set of true leaves. I imagine I won't be harvesting the first ripe chillies from that variety until around late November.

I re-potted the Capsicum pubescens varieties into 5-litre pots on the 21st April and they have grown a lot since then and the roots are now starting to poke through the drainage holes in the pots. I re-potted them earlier than the rest because I didn't want to restrict their growth by keeping them in smaller pots. Also, the final pot size for all four of them is going to be 12-litres. They will be going outside around the middle of May, once the threat of last frost has passed.

This year's Aji Largo plant is growing in a different compost mixture to the other three Capsicum pubescens varieties. My regular compost mixture contains some peat-based compost, and given how garden centres in the UK are now only selling peat-free composts I wanted to experiment with a new mixture to see how well the plants do. I'll also be growing a couple of other varieties in it just to see how well it works. Chilli plants will pretty much grow in any compost so long as it has good aeration, good drainage and the correct pH, so it should be okay.

All of the Aji Largo plants I've grown over the past three years have developed oedema at this stage in the season, and this year's plant is no exception. However, a few weeks after being re-potted into their final pots it has always disappeared completely, regardless of whether the plants were grown indoors or outdoors. Oedema isn't a disease, it's just a disorder caused by the roots taking up more water than the leaves can transpire, resulting in ruptured cells. Wind increases the transpiration rate in plants, so I'm going to try pointing a fan at it for a few hours each day to see it helps. Aji Largo is one of my favourite varieties and I highly recommend it!

Most of the chilli plants were given a half strength feed of Chilli Focus about three weeks ago and they received their second dose last week. It's normally around this time in the season when I start applying fertiliser. I use a few different fertilisers throughout the growing season, but Chilli Focus or Tomorite are the main ones. Chilli Focus is good stuff and can be applied with every watering if necessary, but I don't bother doing that because it's not necessary and would run very expensive. I feed larger fruiting varieties about once every two weeks and smaller fruiting varieties about once every three to four weeks.

If I were to follow the instructions on the bottle of Chilli Focus and give it with every watering then a litre bottle of it would be gone in no time. I normally grow about 25 plants each year and during hot days some of them require water every day, others about once every other day. During hot days the tribe can guzzle anywhere from 7-litres to 13-litres of water per day. When giving Chilli Focus at this stage in the season I apply a half strength dose (5ml/L) and use on average about 2-litres of water. That doesn't seem like much Chilli Focus. However, later in the season when the plants are fully grown I apply a full strength dose (10ml/L) and would need to use anywhere from 70ml to 130ml at each watering. Hmm, I don't think so!

Some people say you shouldn't apply fertiliser to your chilli plants until later in the season when they're fully grown. This is good advice but it all depends on the type of fertiliser you're using and how strong it is. Some fertilisers are very strong and could easily burn your plants, even when applied at a half strength dose. However, Chilli Focus isn't a strong fertiliser and so applying it at half strength, even at the seedling stage, won't do any harm. When I re-pot my plants into new compost, as will be the case soon when they go into their final pots, I don't apply fertiliser of any kind for about three weeks afterwards because most good composts already contain enough nutrients to feed the plants for about three to four weeks.

Anyway, that's enough rambling from me. Here are a few photos that were taken over the past month showing the chilli plants in the porch.

Chilli Plants in the Porch - 6th April 2022

Chilli Plants in the Porch - 13th April 2022

Chilli Plants in the Porch - 20th April 2022

Chilli Plants in the porch - 30th April 2022

Chilli Plants in the Porch - 1st May 2022

Chilli Plants in the Porch - 1st May 2022

These next two photos show the growth progress of the Rocoto plants. The first photo was taken on the 21st April (the day they were re-potted into 5-litre pots) and the second one was taken yesterday evening, 10 days later. They're coming along nicely, as you can no doubt see, and in a couple of weeks these hermaphrodites will be re-potted into their final pots and moved outside for the growing season. However, first I need to go shopping on eBay and get myself some copper wire.

Capsicum Pubescens Varieties - 21st April 2022

Capsicum Pubescens Varieties - 1st May 2022

Adios, my fair weather friends. I'll see you soon. 😁