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. 😁