Allotments 4 All

I've planted three peppers in a growbag in the mini greenhouse, two plants are going to be "house pets" and stay on a sunny windowsill.

They are showing their fruits. Do they need insect pollination? Or tickling with a paintbrush? Or just a squirt of water as per the Gardener's Almanac site? I'm just concerned that my indoor ones won't get to make babies if I don't help them.

Thanks,

Ten x

Never known a prob with fertilisation - & yours seem to be doing OK without any help?? = Tim

Whoops! I was in a rush when I typed this - I meant they were just showing their flowers!!! Does that change anything?

Ten x

If you are concerned, you could use a paintbrush (or small make up brush...)

Finally - a use for all those make-up brushes people bought me as a teenager!

I have never grown them in this manner Tenuse I generally let insects do the pollinating for me.

All I can suggest is; you give them a bit of a tickle with your 'tickling stick' to make doubly sure.

Just a point about Peppers, they attract 'white fly' like magnets so I tend to grow mine in relatively humid conditions to deter the whitefly.

The conditions (indoors) that you are suggesting might be a bit on the dry side so making you more susceptible to whitefly. I think a hand mister and yellow sticky trap at the ready might be the order of the day.

Good luck!

Regarding whitefly - get some french marigolds in before you get whitefly as this may deter them (no good once they are there though)

We ahven't grown peppers for a few years now - they were banished from the g'house for attracting whitefly and nothing must interfere with Mr W's tomatoes!! don't blame him really and we don't use all that many peppers so I just buy.  But there's an idea mentioned by Tenuse - could I grow them right through in a palstic mini g'house? Seems logical and we have a few of those. Oh but those whitefly might still find there way into the toms  ???>:(

I grow mine indoors on windowsills, where its quite dry I must say, and never seen a whitefly at all.....  red spidermites is another thing tho  ::)

Wicker - I have a plastic greenhouse as I don't have room for a proper one. I grew peppers in it last year and had a decent crop off them. It did tend to get very hot in the midday sun, even with front open, so some shading is probably a good idea.

Mine got a bit infested with whitefly last year, before the French Marigolds came out and the spiders &c. had bred up to get the flies, so I sprayed them with soapy water -I didn't have any soft soap so I used Ecover(at least that's what the bottle said, it came with the house). All the leaves dopped off  >:(, they did recover in the end and we had some decent peppers but it set things back a bit and killed some nasturtiums I used it on.

By the way -which varieties do people grow, we did 'Big Banana' last year and these which were ok conical ones -if not stunning. We also grew 'Purple Tiger' Chilies (because that was what was in the garden centre) small, quite hot, start purple and go bright red, got quite a lot off a small plant.

Ecover? An excellent organic detergent but, like any other, NOT designed for plants - however much others may get away with it! And I reckon that a detergent is as much a 'wetting agent' as a killer?

Types of chillies/peppers? Different every year. Depends on whether you want them for salads, grilling, stuffing etc - each has a purpose. We get all ours from Simpsons Seeds - a family concern. But, as you will have seen, there are several other small BRITISH firms. = Tim

I have never grown bell peppers before only chillis, this is my first year with sweet peppers.  Hope mine look half as good as yours Tim, they look glorious!  ;D

My two indoor plants are on a bed of weird gravelly things that my boyfriend gave me, that keep the air humid (stones basically so that water does not evaporate straight off). But I think I will have to humidify the mini-greenhouse and keep it from getting too hot. (I wish. Roll on summer.)

I hadn't even considered whitefly oh no! I will stand in front of the mini-g and fend them off.

I shall use my "tickling stick" just to be sure of pollination...

Cor blimey onions were a lot easier than this.

Ten x

Don't know about the 'tickling stick' for peppers. I know that for some (older) toms it can be essential - but the flowers are only 'amenable' for a very short period in the day.

Doing it 'when it suits you' might not work??

John?? = Tim

Oh good lord I can't take days off work on the off chance that my peppers might be feeling frisky!!

I'm going to put some flowers at the entrance to the mini-g and leave the doors open. That'll entice some nice pollinating insects in.

Indoors, well, they'll just have to get lucky on their own.

Ten x

Reading all of these posts has made me concerned now! I have about 10 little sweet pepper seedlings growing away in my plastic grow rack thingy and I was (stupidly?  :-[) thinking that I would be able to plant them out in a sheltered spot on the allotment....  One of the books said it was ok to do this but it seems all you guys use greenhouses.

Any advice?!!

Mum grows hers out in her back garden, but it is very sheltered and south facing.  I will have some on the plot, some in the conservatory and some in the greenhouse, purely because I do not have enough room in any of these places for all of them!!!  :-\

This got booted last night due to my slow typing. Tim is correct in saying that pollination has optimum time slots. With these warm weather crops pollination will be most effective when it happens early in the morning. This will allow the pollen to travel down the style during the time of the day when it is warmest and will effect better pollination.
Ten- if you put flowers in your greenhouse door pollinating insects, especially bees, may not get further than the doorway! Hand pollination takes a few minutes as you simply have to transfer the pollen and the pollen will travel on it's own accord.

Good point, would you walk right up to the bar if they were giving away beer at the door.

I'll just have to get up extra early and twizzle them before I head off to work then.

Cor this gardening lark is harder work than I expected!

Ten x