[Heather_S]

If you give your chilies ventilation, bees (and probably other insects) will come in and pollinate for you. After they flower, they fruit... well the fruit grows behind/in the middle of the flower. To hand pollenate, wait until the flower is fully open, take a soft brush and brush it on the male parts (they surround the centre part usually) and then brush onto the tip of the female part in the middle of the flower.
http://plantphys.info/Plant_Physiology/images/flowerlabel.gif --- you want to get the stuff from the yellow balls (or whatever colour they might be, I think they're darker in chili peppers but it's been a year since I saw any   ) to the top of the middle pointy bit.

[mellowmick]

Anyone coming to Lincolnshire in the near future???

I'll be visiting my folks at Hunstanton for Christmas, so just float them across the Wash around then, and I'll pick them up on the beach.

[GrannieAnnie]

Nice idea Mick, but by Christmas, all the chillis will be frozen and would melt in the water!!!  If you are going to Hunstanton at Christmas, are you driving?  or by the sound of it, going by boat??  lol  If driving, you will probably go past the end of my lane,

[twhincup]

If you give your chilies ventilation, bees (and probably other insects) will come in and pollinate for you. After they flower, they fruit... well the fruit grows behind/in the middle of the flower. To hand pollenate, wait until the flower is fully open, take a soft brush and brush it on the male parts (they surround the centre part usually) and then brush onto the tip of the female part in the middle of the flower.
http://plantphys.info/Plant_Physiology/images/flowerlabel.gif --- you want to get the stuff from the yellow balls (or whatever colour they might be, I think they're darker in chili peppers but it's been a year since I saw any   ) to the top of the middle pointy bit.

thanks very much for that, very helpful indeed

[sally_cinnamon]

HI Sally, A pic would be great! I feel terrible that I threw some away. I rescued some out of the bin, they are growing in pots away from the bed with the others (which now look the same) :? The peppers in the bed are growing really quickly now some have flowers!! How often do you feed you peppers? and whats the best feed?

All the best

Hi Biscombe, sorry its taken so long to get this pic on, I'm sure you're probably perfectly happy with you ridges by now but thought I'd stick this on anyway!

[shaz]

Thanks to grannieannie i have 3 chillie plants in my greenhouse doing lovely no flowers yet. thanks again for plants and a lovely morning.

[Oliver]

How big should the pot be for peppers?

She grows her peppers one to 12" top diameter pot as they make lots of fine roots and are very thirsty (they are almost all water anyway!)
She also removes some of the budding fruits if they get a bit congested and tangled up between the stalks and end up mishapen or look as if they may be a bit small. They are in the poly (the temperataure fluctuates fantastically! Hot as blazes in the sun and much cooler at night but they seem to be OK). Germination, though, is in the greenhouse.
This year she has grown 'Tasty Red Grill' (4) - a sort of Romano pepper - long, for stuffing and baking, 'Gypsy Orange' (2) traditional pepper shape, but ripens to orange. 'Granny Smith' (2) traditional pepper shape, ripens to red. And 'Yellow Pepper'! (bought from the local plant sale). She eats some of the peppers while they are green while the others ripen.
Also Jalepeno peppers - 6 plants. She bottles these for use through the year and for Christmas presents.
'Californian Wonder' slightly pointed opposite the stalk (NONE came up - this might be because she labeled the pots but forgot to sow them so she has been watering seedless pots.   Oh well, he says wiping his eyes she has plenty of others! She is trying some peppers outside in the allotment plot this year, seltered from the wind.
As for keeping seed, Mr Size (www.seeds-by-size.co.uk) says you can keep most seeds for quite a time if you store them well - remove as much air as possible, seal the bag and keep it in the fridge. Keeping seeds in the greenhouse or shed subject to temperature changes and moisture probably results in seeds getting totally confused and giving up the ghost. Some seeds, like beans and peas, seem to be more resilient. (Kew Gardens keeps seeds in a seed bank supposedly for posterity, but I suppose they have a special way of storing the stuff!)

[SweetPea]

My chilli plants have just 'flopped' over! :?  They are still green and healthy but they look drunk now!  

I wonder if they got a little too leggy, and now the stem can't support the weight of the plant?  My basil plants did the same thing last month, but they recovered...

[Oliver]

'flopped' over!.

Hello SweetPea
I forgot to say she supports all her peppers with bamboo because they do get pretty heavy. If they have flopped now, be very careful how you straighted them up that you don't break the stem! Lets see a picture of your final crop? Oliver

[GrannieAnnie]

Thanks to grannieannie i have 3 chillie plants in my greenhouse doing lovely no flowers yet. thanks again for plants and a lovely morning.

Hi Shaz, there are no flowers on my chilli's either yet, but pleased to be of help!!!  Hope you get loads of chilli's!!!

[John]

Well I've just played about with Annies post and I'm flummoxed - why the quote isn't working !
Strange things these computers.

[Biscombe]

HI Sally!! thanks soooo much for the pic xx my pepper stems look the same! I'm very pleased to say that i'm now eating my first peppers! the plants are really healthy and I worried for nothing! well..... always learning! My peppers padron are doing the best followed by Boule de turque chilli!! Thanks again for your help  

[twhincup]

I've pretty much left my two pepper plants to their own devices and for the last 2 weeks i've left them outside.

A couple of things:

1. the leaves on top look a little shrivelled (like plastic thats been subject to heat) - any one know why?

and

2. They had white flowers on, but they dropped off overnight - is this okay ?

regards

tony and tor

[Oliver]

the leaves on top look a little shrivelled  - and - they had white flowers on, but they dropped off overnight

Shrivelled leaves - look underneath, maybe they are being colonised  by greenfly. Are there ants running up the stem? They are the greenfly farmers. Where there's ants there's greenfly! They find a greenfly, bring it to your nice juicy plant and when it has babies (lots and lots of them, they stroke them with their antennae which help the greenfly produce 'honedew' - a sweet liquid - which the ants feed on.

If the greenfly are in a tree (elder and hawthorn are favourites) the honeydew falls on everything underneath it - if its the car the car gets sticky and HE gets cross! If its the bonsai SHE gets cross because the honeydew encourages sooty mould to grow. You have to be awake all the time!!

Flowers dropping off - some flowers do just drop off - usually there are several others still on the plant. if they all drop off consider either too much or too little water, or too much variation in temperature.

She is walking around today with a long face today - she went away for the weekend and has come back to find 3 of her peppers in the poly have got GREENFLY. She has sprayed them with Murphys because sure as check they will spread to the aubergines and the other peppers. AND to add insult to injury, one of her melons has dropped off. There are still three branches so maybe another flower will produce the goods. Sigh ...

[hermon]

my pepper plants took about a month to germinate they are in a large pot on the patio the photos look ok of the pepper plants. i have heard they are hard to get peppers off them. so good luck everyone!