I need some chilli advice…
I’ve noticed quite a few chilli growers posting their plant pictures up online, with bushy plants and masses of pods. Mine don’t seem to be any where near the plentiful bounties I’m seeing and so I’m slightly worried, and feeling rather cynical about my chilli growing abilities right now.
Now before you say I shouldn’t go and compare myself to other growers it’s impossible not to.
After all we all pretty much start to sow at the same time (those with the extra heating and lighting tend to start before Jan), we all pot on and as you know this yr I’ve even potted mine into one container each, giving them the extra space.
Even more importantly I’m growing varieties this yr that others have tried and tested and they are growing varieties I’ve tried and tested.
And while some growers have rather cool looking poly tunnels and greenhouses the rest of us have just the plain old compact, plastic covered grow houses and yet still I’ve seen pictures of people’s plants doing exceedingly well.
Yes, I’m jealous
How come most of my plants are only just showing signs of flowering? What am I doing wrong? I’ve put some pictures below to show you how uneventful some of my chilli plants are, mostly the 7-Pots and Ring of Fire:
2011 was my best ever yr for growing chillies. The summer was a good one and I have many photo’s to prove my harvests went well (I say proved because I just had to to go and have a look myself). By mid-July 2011 I had Aji Crystals, Naga Jolokias and Hungarian Hot Wax’s all producing many pods by now. The only difference being that in 2011 they were all kept in a sunny and warm dinning room until they got booted out into a makeshift grow house but even then it didn’t stop them doing well.
I wonder if I need to regulate the heat in the garden grow houses better? After all one (the new makeshift one) has a front opening and I’ve noticed that while it keeps the heat in most of the day, we had some pretty cold evenings back in May. The other one has it’s door left open all the time so again maybe at night it’s still too cold for the plants?
I’m feeding them once a week with liquid seaweed, I’m checking them every day for greenfly. The plants growth looks all healthy enough.
So if anyone can tell me why my plants look like it will take months before I see pods – please tell me!