Author Topic: chillie plants not growing  (Read 3130 times)

staris

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chillie plants not growing
« on: June 17, 2013, 19:19:22 »
i'm at a loss with my chillie plants this year, i have a trinadad scorpion which i grew last year and had a decent crop, i overwintered the chillie and has been in my polytunnel for the last 2 months and has not grown an inch.
i've also got a Cheyenne chillie which i bought from the garden center and again no growth at all, in fact it looks smaller than when i bought it.
they are both planted in growbag compost the same as i used for my tomatoes and cumbers which are doing great.
anyone got any ideas as to what might be going on.

BarriedaleNick

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Re: chillie plants not growing
« Reply #1 on: June 17, 2013, 19:57:19 »
Pretty much the same here.  I think it has been cold at night still and they haven't put on much growth at all.  They were fine indoors but even in my small poly they haven't enjoyed being outside.  Some are starting to pick up a little but my Thai Dragons are looing limey green and not moving.  Not much you can do - chilies do tend to grow in spurts, then flower and then grow on again so I am hoping for a decent spurt of growth. Looking at the forecast - the temps are still struggling to get above 10 c at night
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Vinlander

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Re: chillie plants not growing
« Reply #2 on: October 07, 2013, 17:11:31 »
Every year I wonder about overwintering - so annoying when I see the new seedlings overtake the few sulking plants that survive the winter.

C.annuum is the sulkiest - pretty pointless unless you have a stove house or live in a mediterranean climate;  C.baccatum is slightly better - at least they often flower around the same time as the new seedlings.

The good news for fans of hot chillies is that overwintered C.pubescens take off like rockets in March/April and are generally twice the height and width of the new seedlings (or more) all through the season.

And no sulking in a bad summer either - if it wasn't for the pubes I'd have had no peppers of any kind last year - though there weren't a lot, and they were so mild from lack of sun that I nearly blew my own head off when I fell back on frozen ones from 2011.

Last year's plants are now around 1.3m each way, and if I bring them in soon I'll be able to use them as pre-baubled Xmas trees before I collect the main crop of fruit.

They are too late to grow as annuals - but who cares if you get fruit every year afterwards by treating them as perennials.

The bad news is that I won't find out if the new (rare) sweet variety is any good until next year.

Cheers.
With a microholding you always get too much or bugger-all. (I'm fed up calling it an allotment garden - it just encourages the tidy-police).

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staris

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Re: chillie plants not growing
« Reply #3 on: October 20, 2013, 13:44:55 »
mine finally got going and has had a big crop of chillies ,any one tried overwintering one in a polytunnel is was thinking of cutting it back and covering it in fleece until the spring.

BarriedaleNick

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Re: chillie plants not growing
« Reply #4 on: October 21, 2013, 08:01:12 »
I've not overwintered one in a poly - just getting them through the winter indoors can be tough enough.  I'm not sure they would enjoy the conditions..
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