As you can see below a few of my seedlings are becoming a little leggy. Since they germinated they’ve just had a regular 11W energy saving bulb over them as they’ve been kept in a dark room. I’m not too worried about this as I’ll just plant them a bit deeper when it comes time to pot them on.
In the meantime, to try and combat the legginess, I’ve decided it is time to get them under my 125Watt Nuturlite. I’ve started off with the light about 25cm above the seedlings. I’ll gradually lower this by a few cm over the next few days to avoid scorching/shocking the plants.
Out of the 20 seeds I initially planted 12 have germinated so far. To ensure a good succession of plants I planted a few more seedlings over the weekend, mainly Chinense varieties again. Here’s what I planted:
- 3 x Orange Rocoto
- 3 x Lemon Drop
- 3 x Peach Habanero
- 1 x Habanero Papafina
- 4 Naga Jolokia
I planted these seeds in these coir pellets which I’ve not used before. They’re basically small discs about the size of a watch face that expand when watered. Once they’ve risen to about 4cm you simply pop the seed in the small hole in the top.
The beauty is that they are freestanding so when it’s time to pot on you can simply plant the whole thing and not disturb the seedlings roots at all. I’d definitely use them again.
The 4 Naga Jolokias were planted using the wet tissue method discussed here. They tend to take quite a while to germinate so thought i’d try this to speed them up a bit. I’ll report back how they get on in a few days time…
So here’s a quick update on the chilli plants I’m currently over wintering. Most of the plants are kept in the chilli house which is a detached conservatory on the garden. They were all trimmed back in late November and re-potted into slightly smaller pots. I keep a greenhouse heater in in there during cold spells to keep the night time temperatures from dipping too low. I’ve not seen any signs of any new foliage yet but hopefully once this cold snap passes they’ll burst back to life.
Above is my trusty Orange Scotch Bonnet that has been going strong since 2010. This old boy has special privileges due to his age so he’s spending the winter in the conservatory (rather than the chilli house). I gave him a bit of a trim back in the autumn and there’s been no sign of any new growth yet but it’s looking reasonably healthy.
I just gave it a good wash with a hose as there was a bit of a white fly infestation – i’ll keep any eye on that over the next couple of weeks.
Here is my Rocoto Red. I kind of wish I hadn’t cut this plant back so much in the Autumn. C.Pubescens are generally known for tolerating cooler temperatures than the other hot pepper varieties as their native environment is on the upper hills of the Andes mountains. I’ve not over wintered a Pubescen before but looking back I would have like to have left a bit more foliage on the plant.
The hottest of last years chilli crop were definitely the Trinidad Scorpion Moruga chillies (above) that our friends at Potters Plants sent us. This one was a no brainer to over winter so hopefully it’ll make it through the winter and get a good early start to ensure a good crop next year.
If you want to learn more about overwintering chilli plants check out our guide. Or if you’ve got any tips or advice to improve your chances of success feel free to leave a comment below.
After sowing 20 seeds on the 10th of January I’ve been patiently waiting for the first loop to appear. Here’s what I sowed in my first batch of the year:
- Brasileira Marimbondo x 2
- Naga Jolokia x 3
- Spanish Naga x 2
- Dorset Naga x 2
- Scotch Bonnet Orange x 1
- White Habanero x 3
- Chocolate Habanero x 2
- Habanero Papafina x 2
- Lemon Drop x 2
- Bhut X x 1
All were sown in a regular cellular seed tray with some sieved all purpose compost. The seed tray was placed into a cheap heated propagator in the house.
Just when I was starting to get nervous that nothing was going to germinate, after exactly a week, up popped a Lemon Drop. Closely followed behind was a White Habanero and an Orange Scotch Bonnet.
As discussed previously I’ve been aiming to keep the propagator at about 25 degrees which i’ve just about managed with a little help from some bubble wrap, despite the bitterly cold weather we’ve been having lately. While i’m waiting for germination to occur I keep the vents on the propagator closed to keep the compost from drying out too much.
While i wait for the other seeds to germinate I’ve just put a regular cfl light over the propagator to ensure some half decent light for those seedlings that are already up.
With out the little clip light (from Amazon for £5) I find the seedlings tend to get too leggy far too quickly. Before i put the light up the lemon drop was already leaning over towards the window in search of daylight!
It’s just a regular 11Watt energy saving light bulb in the light fitting – they are ideal for young seedlings as they are cheap to run and don’t produce too much heat. I’ll probably leave the light on for about 16 hours a day to keep the seedlings happy.
Right now it’s off to the shed to finish building off my new grow box…more on that later….
