being mean to chillies to keep them hot?

  • 9 Replies
  • 2974 Views
*

Kirpi

  • Guest
being mean to chillies to keep them hot?
« on: May 14, 2013, 01:13 »
Am I right in thinking you keep your chillies slightly pot-bound and on the dry side to keep them angry (hot)?

Am I also right in thinking if you have them in too large and moist a pot they produce more foliage and less fruit?

If so, does the same appy to sweet peppers?

*

arugula

  • Winner - prettiest sunflower 2011
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Location: Coastal Argyll
  • 24904
  • hic svnt leones
Re: being mean to chillies to keep them hot?
« Reply #1 on: May 14, 2013, 07:12 »
Definitely keeping them dry makes them hotter, I can't say we've ever gone as far as to keep them how I'd describe pot bound though.

This follows on to your second point.. I haven't noticed as such as we don't keep them in pots far too large or far too small. :)

Haven't had much luck with sweet peppers so I can't comment on that part.
"They say a snow year's a good year" -- Rutherford.

*

sunshineband

  • Global Moderator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Location: Reading, Berkshire
  • 32056
  • Tallest Sunflower prizewinner 2014
    • A Little Bit of Sunshine
Re: being mean to chillies to keep them hot?
« Reply #2 on: May 14, 2013, 07:15 »
I have found that feeding them and watering them normally gives hot chillis too... heat depends on the ripeness and variety a lot.

Sweet peppers need to be fed and watered like tomato plants and enough room for their roots or they give tiny peppers rather than big luscious ones. Picking them before they are red keeps them flowering for more too
Wisdom is knowing what to ignore - be comfortable in your own skin.
My Blog
My Diary
My Diary Comments

*

New shoot

  • Global Moderator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Location: Reading
  • 18325
Re: being mean to chillies to keep them hot?
« Reply #3 on: May 14, 2013, 07:16 »
I've always just watered mine when I do the other greenhouse stuff and produced some super hot chillies  :)

You don't need to go mad on huge pots for chillies.  You get much more yield if you pinch them back to a leaf and don't let the shoots get too long.  This makes them branch and the more branches, the more flowers and fruit.  If you keep them compact, well fed (I use tomato food once they start flowering) and watered, they are really easy to grow.  I usually keep mine on the greenhouse staging in a maximum of a 2 litre pot.

This is a Scotch Bonnet chilli I grew a couple of years ago and you can see in the pic, that each main branch was pinched back.  I still have some of the dried chilli flakes from it and they are volcanic  :lol:



Peppers are generally bigger plants and do need a decent sized pot to produce a crop worth having, but the basic pinching back principle works.  I've grown them on the floor of the greenhouse in cheap builders buckets with a few drainage holes drilled in the base and done well with them  :)

*

JayG

  • Global Moderator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Location: South West Sheffield
  • 16722
Re: being mean to chillies to keep them hot?
« Reply #4 on: May 14, 2013, 07:29 »
Wow, that's one well-grown chilli plant New Shoot!  :)

Almost looks like one of those very colourful pictures you see in seed brochures (yeah, right, mine are going to turn out just like that aren't they!)  :lol:
Sow your seeds, plant your plants. What's the difference? A couple of weeks or more when answering possible queries!

One of the best things about being an orang-utan is the fact that you don't lose your good looks as you get older

*

BabbyAnn

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Location: nottinghamshire
  • 1478
Re: being mean to chillies to keep them hot?
« Reply #5 on: May 14, 2013, 08:32 »
I'm impressed with that chilli plant too New shoot  8) 

*

surbie100

  • Winner Prettiest Pumpkin - 2014
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Location: London
  • 4675
Re: being mean to chillies to keep them hot?
« Reply #6 on: May 14, 2013, 09:30 »
Me three - it looks great.

*

bigben

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Location: Sheffield
  • 1057
Re: being mean to chillies to keep them hot?
« Reply #7 on: May 14, 2013, 12:38 »
I have never managed to grow scotch bonnets that are hot - a friend said the same as Newshoot about putting them high on the staging in the greenhouse so they are where the warm air rises.

*

seaside

  • Guest
Re: being mean to chillies to keep them hot?
« Reply #8 on: May 14, 2013, 13:42 »
It's funny how some plants are more photogenic than others :)
That sure is a mean looking plant. I echo putting the chillies up high. Also this year the sweet peppers are going into the greenhouse border in a couple of weeks. I will be doing some judicious experimental pinching as well as some outdoor transplanting if the Summer permits. We have to have a good Summer some time. I would love just once to grow a successful chilli crop outside. of the greenhouse. It's becoming a goal of mine, a bit like catching a good wave.

*

New shoot

  • Global Moderator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Location: Reading
  • 18325
Re: being mean to chillies to keep them hot?
« Reply #9 on: May 14, 2013, 16:27 »
I have never managed to grow scotch bonnets that are hot - a friend said the same as Newshoot about putting them high on the staging in the greenhouse so they are where the warm air rises.

I think heat has a lot to do with the eventual hotness of the fruit.  Last year, although I didn't grow scotch bonnet, my chillies were not as hot as the year before and were really late to ripen.  I think the low light levels and cool rain filled summer did affect them.

The plant in the picture was one I bought from work on a whim, even though I had some other varieties grown from seed as well.  It was very productive, but was the last to fruit and ripen, so maybe this particular variety does need a good long sunny summer to do well  :unsure:

Thank you for all the nice comments about it  :) 



xx
Big Jim Chillies

Started by crilly on Grow Your Own

0 Replies
857 Views
Last post March 11, 2014, 07:08
by crilly
xx
Chillies

Started by carlrmj on Grow Your Own

28 Replies
6378 Views
Last post March 03, 2012, 09:52
by Chiswickian
xx
chillies

Started by kezlou on Grow Your Own

31 Replies
8925 Views
Last post March 26, 2008, 12:56
by Celtic Eagle
xx
Chillies

Started by hiccup on Grow Your Own

7 Replies
2430 Views
Last post April 24, 2017, 11:38
by jambop
 

Page created in 0.314 seconds with 40 queries.

Powered by SMFPacks Social Login Mod
Powered by SMFPacks SEO Pro Mod |