Chillies Ahoy

[Admin aka Dan]

Welcome aboard,

Welcome to a new subforum dedicated to chillies!

Biscombe is your host and moderator.

Cheers

Dan

[BarriedaleNick]

I saved some seeds from bought chillies and have just planted them, does this work or is it a waste of time
should I buy some more.
any views ?

It works fine as long as the seeds have been dried for a day or so...
You may get some surprises when they mature (if they do) as they may not come true from seed.  If you want to know exactly what you will get then buy standard seeds but saving seed is great fun and can result in some good finds..

[greenhousegirl]

Oh I like suprises so I'll stick with it and see what happens

[Vinlander]

I saved some seeds from bought chillies and have just planted them, does this work or is it a waste of time
should I buy some more.
any views ?

Generally I find bought chillies carry seeds that make identical plants and fruits - much more identical than my own seed-saving efforts because I grow several varieties close to each other and commercial growers do the opposite - big time!

The scare stories say F1 varieties can produce very variable seeds but this assumes that the parents were wildly different. Not always the case.

Commercial growers may use F1s more than I do but I've yet to find any shop fruit that produces the divergent offspring you hear about in the scare stories.

The packet of "Black Cherry" tomatoes I was sold by T&M in '07 was at least 100x more divergent than anything I've bought from the greengrocers... about 20% came out as Black Krim beefsteaks.

[NICI]

I agree with Rhubarb too
My boyfriend and his dad are MAD for chillis and both complained mine werent hot enough last year
Whats the hottest variety you have would love to get some from your website 

[carosanto]

My husband, a chilli freak, never showed any inerest in gardening until he bought some Bhut Jolokia seeds, having heard they were the hottest ever.  I've grown chillis before,so under my guidance, we now have 10 perfect tiny plants. But I've got cold feet, having read these are many thousand times hotter than anything else with a Shu of 1,000,000 and professional growers handle them all kitted out like beekeepers!.

I've even heard that from just one ingested seed you could get anaphalactic shock because it is so hot!  Am I being alarmist? should I wear gloves when potting them on, and - honestly - how would I use them in cooking?

Any help would be appreciate, as my husband is so proud of his little plants!

Reards, Caro

[Sparkly]

I grew these. I don't think you need to wear gloves when potting on, but I would very careful when chopping up the actual chillies. Also use sparingly, even if you like hot stuff! 

[chappy]

Hi All,

I've been growing chillies for a few years now with varying success.  But one thing I would like to crack.

I absolutely love green Jalapeno's. I buy jars and jars of the pickled or brined ones.

But, I've tried growing them 3 years running now and at best I may get one, plant, produce once chilli.  But rather than the "thick walled" chillies you get in the jars, they are usually thin walled.

So firstly, why would the walls not thicken?

Secondly, if Jalapeno is a bit of a bugger to grow.  Can you recommend a similar tasting, strength and wall  thickness which grows easily?  I have a poly greenhouse and have heated propogators to start them earlier but they never quite work out.

Also what would you consider the best chilli to use in curries like Jalfrezi, where you add fresh sliced chillies at the last moment.

[chappy]

Sorry Biscombe, I just realised I should have started a new thread.  Delete my last two from here if you can.

[AceOfSpades]

Hi - I'm new here and a new gardener (compared to many).  Just thought I would shre my excitment at growing my 1st ever chillie.  PIcked this morning :O)  I woudl post a pic .. but I can't work out how to do this??