Another Chilli Question

OK, so my chillies (cayenne) were sown end of Apr, and are about 10 - 15 inch high now, yet theres now sign of flowers :-( They've been in the unheated GH with the door open as the days got warmer, I potted them straightinto a big pot rather than stepping up sizes, so I know they may have concentrated on a larger root system.

I failed with chillies last year because I put them outside too early but now the same seems to be happening again
Have I stuffed up? Because the OH will kill me!

Paula

They really do need a good bit of heat to get them going. Perhaps if you keep the greenhouse door closed you might have a bit more luck. The hot and cold weather we've been having is'nt something they like. I've planted all mine (last week) in a small polytunnel with a few of the side flaps open just for ventilation and they are growing well......I think they just wanted to get out of the pots they were in and get their roots into the soil:)

They really do need a good bit of heat to get them going. Perhaps if you keep the greenhouse door closed you might have a bit more luck. The hot and cold weather we've been having is'nt something they like. I've planted all mine (last week) in a small polytunnel with a few of the side flaps open just for ventilation and they are growing well......I think they just wanted to get out of the pots they were in and get their roots into the soil:)

thanks agapanthus :-)

I had exacltly the same idea, so have been keeping the door shut these past couple of days..I just hope it aint too late!

Paula

I grew these last year and kept them in my greenhouse all there life. They took a while to flower but when they did.....oh my god.
They seemed to sprout chillies all over the place. I had 8 plants in a large belfast  sink and i must of got 200 chillies off these 8 plants. I pickled most of them and still have loads left. Taste really good pickled with couple of cloves of garlic and some black pepper.
Does anyone know the shelf life of these things pickled.
Funny enough there seems to be a chilli plant popping up next to my cucumber plant at the moment. No idea why, unless one of the seeds found its way into the compost.
Done peppers this year though as I just had far to many chillies to do anything with. Ended up giving the damn things away.

Still early for natural growing conditions.
It's a little early for fruit.
 Pimento De Padron, Little Elf and Birds Eye have there first fruit on them
but my others are flowering at the moment.(around 50 varieties on the go)

Ray

I just hope they dont cross pollinate with the peppers, Ive just found out that can happen! Still, that'll be a spicy bolognese  :shock:

Paula

That will only affect plants grown from seed saved, not this year's fruit!

I have experimented this year with pinching the tops off.
Verdict is dont pinch the tops off!.
The ones I have left alone are starting to flower and naturally starting to branch out into bushy plants.
The ones that I pinched the tops out of are miles behind, just starting to produce side shoots and no sign of any flowers.
BJ

I'm growing Cayenne too. Planted them around March. Kept them inside until end of May and then moved them onto our south facing sheltered patio. They are 12" - 15" and have just started branching out at the top and forming flower buds.

They just grew straight upwards until a week or so ago when they started branching out and developing lots of flower buds. There are two buds at the start of each branch.

I was getting worried as nothing seemed to be happening and had also read to pinch out at 12" if they hadn't started branching. I had 5 plants so pinched out two of them. Shortly afterwards the three I had left started branching out, the two I'd pinched aren't really doing much. I'll leave them all alone next year.