I've got two Chillies ripening now on the variety which I thing is 'Thai Hot'. (The plant looks a bit odd because I had to turn it sideways so you could see the fruits!) ;D
G x
(http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/georgie_girl15/Edibles/ChilliThaiHot02Aug08.jpg)
That looks a nice healthy plant - have you tasted them yet? :)
No Jenny, they are not quite ripe yet. I think I found the seed in a Chilli which had dropped off one of the plants in 'Sunflower Street'. ;) ;D
G x
Do you keep all your chilli plants indoors Georgie. ??? ;D ;D ;D
Hi Kev. I keep two types - the yellow one and the Thai Hot - indoors: both have had ripe chillies. Then I have Trifetti and Sicily outside. They have plenty of fruits but none are ripe yet.
G x
My Chi Chien and Kung Pau are outdoors (having been over wintered indoors) and have just shown their first ripe chillies. The other 'outsiders' have fruited but not yet ripened and those still in the greenhouse are only just beginning to fruit.
Quote from: Barnowl on August 04, 2008, 17:54:35
...and those still in the greenhouse are only just beginning to fruit.
Why do you think that is, Barnowl? Are they simply a later flowering variety? My indoors ones are always way ahead of those outside.
G x
Sorry, probably wasn't very clear: those that I over-wintered, all of which are outside, are ahead of the greenhouse ones.
Everything in the GH was started this year but in two phases about a month apart. There's not enough room to keep them all indoors, every surface is occupied.....
[attachment=1]
...so most of the ones from the first sowing also had to go outside because they were the first I could harden off. Some of them are ahead of the GH ones but only because they were sown earlier, and the GH ones are catching up.
So no real surprises :)
I have noticed that those with their roots constrained by too small a pot flower earlier, but of course without the resources of a bigger pot the plants stay smaller and the fruit isn't what it should be. On the other hand I find these are the best ones to cut back and pot on in the early Autumn for a better display at Christmas (bushier and more berries).
Quote from: Barnowl on August 05, 2008, 10:28:12
I have noticed that those with their roots constrained by too small a pot flower earlier, but of course without the resources of a bigger pot the plants stay smaller and the fruit isn't what it should be. On the other hand I find these are the best ones to cut back and pot on in the early Autumn for a better display at Christmas (bushier and more berries).
so october(?) time the ones that i didnt pot on, how far back do i cut them?
lbb
It depends to some extent on the plant's size. I would say leave about 4 or 5 inches of stem. This was taken in November after cutting back in October.
[attachment=1]
You can see they start sprouting where the woody part of the stem starts to thin out.
Tell me more about "Over wintering" chillies. I haven't got a greenhouse but do have a conservatory/just dump it in there till we think about where to put it place. Can all chilli plants be over wintered? The last couple of years I've just composted the plants :(
Might have to go back down t'lottie with the camera and show you my purple chillies.. I'm so proud of them!
Just to add... I thought I was being really clever with my 11 different types of chillies this year and carefully labeled evey plant.... I went back to them to see the water had got under the selotape and I've now no idea what's what ??? I think I've only got one type of purple chillies so they should be easy enough to spot!
Next year I'll be using different coloured tape on the labels. 1 strip of red means xxx chillies etc.
This is a pretty comprehensive advice page on overwintering
http://www.thechileman.org/guide_overwinter.php (http://www.thechileman.org/guide_overwinter.php)
Due to time factors I've only grown a few more than 30 varieties this year (which is only about half of what I planned and about a third of my seed collection) - I blame work interfering with my gardening duties :)
Cheers for that link Barnowl.
Thanks Barnowl for the link on over-wintering chillies. The conclusion of the piece was to use Pubescent varieties as the safest, but my Thomson & M. catalogue does not show which named varieties are of this species. Can anyone help?
I don't know which of mine are which. All I can suggest is looking them up in the chilli database, but I wouldn't worry too much about it...
http://www.thechileman.org/search.php (http://www.thechileman.org/search.php)
Out of curiosity, I've just looked up ones I've over wintered and apparently they are all annuum - I suspect that the label given to all cultivars. They are all quite distinct from one another to look at (actually perhaps Twilight is a bit like the Bolivian)
Numex Twilight - Annuum
Apache - Annuum
Kung Pao - Annum
Fish - Annum
Bolivian - Annuum
Ciliega Piccante - Annum
Chi chien - Annuum
Orozco - Annuum
Quote from: Crash on August 06, 2008, 13:58:00
Might have to go back down t'lottie with the camera and show you my purple chillies.. I'm so proud of them!
I just checked on my purple chillies (Trifetti) this evening. Some have now turned green and others black so I guess it won't be long before they ripen to their final red. They are tiny in comparison to other varieties I'm growing. Anyone know how hot they are?
G x
Sorry still not been back with the camera.... Work doesn't half get in the way!
Quote from: Georgie on August 07, 2008, 21:13:25
................ They are tiny in comparison to other varieties I'm growing. Anyone know how hot they are?
G x
Very hot
We overwintered 5 plants last winter, they are now outside and doing very well. The varieties we managed to keep are ...
Thai Dragon
Bolivian Rainbow
Prarie Fire
Tepin
Peter Pepper
All are doing better than they did last year, the tepin is amazing, it didn't bother flowering last year but this year it is covered in flowers and tiny fruit :-)
I have no idea why these 5 plants lived but they seam happy enough.
Helen
Talking chilli's, we took some to my Pa (the master grower - well he has a GH ;D ) & these are some of the plants he has been looking after.
(http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/pigbun/DSC00182.jpg)
I think these are Pinocchio's noses.
(http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/pigbun/DSC00181.jpg)
And these are a mixture - labels lost in transit ???
When will they be ready for picking? Do we have to wait until they are red?
MP
You can eat them at any stage, be warned they get hotter as they ripen, it might be worth trying one when they stop growing but before they change colour to see if it's hot enough - if it is pick and eat green, if you want them hotter leave on the plant to ripen. At least thats what we do and it works quite well!
Put some loo rolls in the freezer if you don't know what you are facing!!
Helen x
I tried my World record chillies (Bhut Jolokia) this week when they were still green and very small,
they were unbelievably hot. (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v89/AnthillMob/devil.gif)
Here are a few piccies of some of our chillies:
chilli purple:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_SXMv2XhorB4/SJ_5E94QsMI/AAAAAAAAAKg/Ncohgxuce78/s1600-h/DSCF1480.jpg
praire fire:
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SXMv2XhorB4/SJ_413ZlHVI/AAAAAAAAAKI/eYfvUcWWQJc/s1600-h/DSCF1478.jpg
peter pepper:
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_SXMv2XhorB4/SJ_4xcShUVI/AAAAAAAAAKA/SrKWAxsZWks/s1600-h/DSCF1476.jpg
whippet's tail:
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_SXMv2XhorB4/SJ_5IqjUEGI/AAAAAAAAAKo/eQ4P1T3UcL4/s1600-h/DSCF1472.jpg
http://lottieplotfour.blogspot.com/
that purple one is such a great shape! Prairie Fire looks good also
Quote from: Rhubarb Thrasher on August 11, 2008, 10:02:37
that purple one is such a great shape!
Not all the fruits are this shape. The first fruits to form have now developed these 'petals'. Anyone know whether this is normal?
Odd - looks as if it's trying to turn into a Scotch Bonnet.
I love your Prairie Fire. ;D
G x
I tried a tiny piece of my small, upright Chilli yesterday (which I think is Thai Hot but I'm not certain) and it nearly blew my head off. I have no idea what it tasted like, all I got was heat. :o Now I'm terrified of trying 'Trifetti'. And I thought I liked my chillies hot! ::)
G x
Quote from: Tinkie_Bear on August 10, 2008, 20:53:31
You can eat them at any stage, be warned they get hotter as they ripen.....
Helen x
Too right :) Some of my (over wintered) Kung Pao, which I have always used green, have now turned red - taking a decent bite out of one I discovered to my pain that they are very much hotter red than when green.