Out in the chilli house the plants are doing pretty well. Maybe I’m being a bit impatient but growth seems to be a little slower than expected this year. I suspect it is the cool nights that are impeding growth rates. As a result I’ve started heating the grow house at night with my little electric Parasene greenhouse heater.
Chilli Light Cycles
It is important to alow young seedlings some break from grow lights. As a result I’ve got the plants having about 5 hours darkness each night, followed by about 6 hours under the CFL grow lights followed by the daytime on a sunny shelf inside.
Hopefully this new routine and extra night time heat will help to speed up growth. Also, the nice sunny weather we’ve been having has helped to really up daytime temperatures to over 30 degrees.
The One that doesn’t give up
Lurking in the back of the chilli house I spotted the Super Chilli F1 plant that got scorched early on last year. When I over wintered a selection of plants last year I also left a few plants in the grow house with full foliage and fruit on.
This Super Chilli has been watered and just left to it. It’s looking a bit sorry for itself right now with dried up fruit from last autumn, dead leaves and even a nice collection of aphid eggs but remarkably it is sprouting lots of new growth.
This just goes to show the resilience of chilli plants. Despite a severe scorching last Spring and being heavily neglected all winter it looks like this plant will reward me with another season of pods. I must get round to giving it a good tidy up as a reward for making it through the winter.
If you’re keen to get a little head start on this years growing, or fancy trying growing some new varieties of pepper this year then what dropped through the letter box this morning may interest you….
We were sent a little package from one of our sites kind sponsors Potter Plants earlier this week. Their business is simple, provide the likes of you and me with great quality, healthy chilli (and tomato) seedlings by post. Established in 2010 they’re a family run business based near Sheffield with a keen interest in using sustainable materials where possible. The plants are grown here in the UK in coco coir plugs, the plastic packs and label are made from recycled materials.
I’ve never received any plants through the post before (only seed) so when we got the email saying they’d been dispatched I was very intrigued to find out how they’d be sent and if they’d still be alive when the got here!
I needn’t have worried. The packaging is not only very sturdy but it also is see through so you (and your postman) can seed the little seedlings inside. I’m sure this will encourage postmen to treat them with even more care. Our postie was most intrigued as he reluctantly handed over the package!
Inside out pack was the following:
- 1 x Peter Penis Pepper
- 1 x Speed Ball
- 1 x Numex Big Jim
- 1 x Chilhaucle Negro
- 1 x Trinidad Scorpion Moruga
As you can see below the seedlings have been grown in coir pellets which were still nice and moist when they arrived, despite being stuck in the post for 2 days. All the plants look very healthy indeed with well developed root systems already bursting out of the coir pellets.
Every year I try and grow some new varieties but face the age old problem of buying a packet of seeds then ending up with 20 of each variety, meaning I only usually grow a couple of varieties. These multi packs from potters are a great easy way to experiment with several varieties without having to waste seed or grow hundreds of plants! We’ll definitely be using them in the future.
Discount Codes!
As an exclusive to ChilliKing readers Potters have offered a 15% discount on all orders using the following discount code: S1RJH07B189.
They also offer free local delivery to anyone in the Chesterfield/Sheffield area which will automatically be applied to your order at checkout. To take advantage of this discount just pop over to the Potters Plants website.
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