Chilli Growing 2002


Growing Diary 2002
This years chillis we have selected to be grown with approx chilli size, all varieties will be grown under glass as the UK seems to be having another ice age nowadays. The growing seasons seem to have shifted slightly to the last 5 - 10 years as spring is now may to june and chilli harvesting now goes into December. Some of the plants have been grown before which are easy to grow and good for eating like the Anaheim, Jaloro and Super Chilli.

A growing diary for these years have been kept, see the success and failures of each year.

Anaheim: Pale to medium bright green, medium thick fleshed chillis12cm long, fairly mild Antohi Romanian: Pale yellow/red tapered pointed fruits, sweet pepper about 16cm long. Aurora: Upright ornamental hot tapered fruit ripening from purple to orange to red 4cm long. Candlelight: Ornamental, clusters of small tapered fruit ripening from green to yellow to orange to red 2cm. Cherry Bomb: Early hot 4cm pendant fruit ripening green to red, thick fleshed. Chinese 5 Colour: Upright 3cm fruit, ripening from purple, to cream, to pale yellow, to orange, to red when mature. Jaloro: Similar to a Jalapeno, early good crop of 7cm golden yellow fruit. Jamaican Yellow: Hot scorching 5cm bright yellow fruits relative of the habanero. Medusa: Upright small ornamental, 5cm tapered fruits ripening yellow, orange to red. Purple Banos: Upright fruit ripens green to red. Beautiful plant that has purple stems, light purple leaves, and white purple flowers. Ramnad Mundu: Thin wrinkly skinned tapering fruit ripening from green to red. Stripe: 8cm fruit ripens green with light green stripes to red. Super Chilli: Good early cropping bush, plenty of 6cm fruit ripening green to red. Tepin: Small orange to reddish brown, thin fleshed oval fruit. (no germination)


March 24 - Nearly all seeds are now germinated 1-2 weeks except no anaheims. All plants are indoors at the moment		April 1 - All plants are now potted on into 3 inch pots and have been moved into the greenhouse, keeping a watch on forecasts just in case of any frosts.
Chinese 5 Colour	Jamaican Hot Yellow	Purple Banos	Ramnad Mundu
April 28 - All plants growing strongly, 2-4 inches high. Weather warm during the day but still cold at night, all require watering now daily. Some will be planted on soon into the ground in the greenhouse and the ornamentals potted on for some windowsills. Don't forget for sturdier compact plants pinch the tops out soon. June 6 - Ornamental plants now all potted on into 6 inch pots, with the others all planted straight into the ground in the greenhouse. Some of the taller ones have had their tops pinched out at 6 inches and are already showing signs of bushing up. Flowers also starting to develop.
Pinch out the tops	Ornamentals Potted Up	Lemon Drop	Bolivian Rainbow
June 21 - Some plants up to a foot high, with fruits forming on some of the earlier ones like the Antohi Romanian and the Cherry Bomb, most plants now have a few flowers on and are now starting to get a regular weak tomato feed every few days.
Antohi Romanian	Aurora	Candlelight	Holiday Cheer
Click to enlarge picture of fully developed plants
July 7 - All the ornamentals now have small chillis forming, as do the earlier types like the Antohi Romanian, Cherry Bomb and the Super Chilli..... Antohi Romanian - pale yellow tapered fruit 4 inch Aurora - purple tapered upright fruit 1 inch Candlelight - green tapered uprights 1 inch Holiday Cheer - small round yellow fruit Bolivian Rainbow - purple tapered upright fruit 1 inch Cherry Bomb - green lozenge shaped fruit 1-2 inches
Stripe	Purple Banos	Cherry Bomb	Chinese 5 Colour
Click to enlarge picture of fully developed plants
Aug 4 - All plants now have some chillis on except stripe which is still in flower.... Antohi Romanian - now starting to ripen Aurora - strong 12 inch pot plants with tapered upright fruit ripening from purple through oranges to reds Bolivian Rainbow - full of purple fruit Candlelight - compact pot plant with plenty of clumps of tapered uprights Cherry Bomb - 2 foot high bush with lots of fruit now ripening Holiday Cheer - compact 12 inch pot plant with chillis just starting to ripen Jamaican Hot Yellow - 2 foot bush with a few small green chillis developing Purple Banos - 2 foot bush with small purple upright chillis now forming Ramnad Mundu - A few upright green chillis developing, plants a bit weak Stripe - Still in flower, the latest of them all to develop although the plant is 2 -3 foot high with variegated leaves
Jamaican Hot Yellow	Ramnad Mundu	Ready to Dry	Chillis Everywhere
Sep 29 - All plants now have ripened, including the Jamaican Hot Yellow which took the longest. Some of the earlier ripeners to grow are Cherry Bomb, Super Chilli for a big crop and the Antohi Romanian for a bigger sweet pepper for frying or stuffing. All the ornamentals done well in 8 -10 inch pots growing to about 1 foot high with a good crop of chillis on. The Cherry Bombs have been strung up for drying which takes about 2-3 weeks hanging in our kitchen, while most of the rest will be frozen with a few pickled. All plants are now being trimmed back to get as much light and air through the plants to try and ripen the crop before it gets too cold and damp in the evenings and throughout the night increasing the risk of mildew and rotting. 2 ornamentals, Candlelight and a Tri Colour Variegated have now been taken indoors to try and overwinter, the rest will be picked in the next few weeks. That's it for another year a few good successes and a few not so good, the trouble in the UK is as usual the weather or lack of it we just do not get a long enough season to get good crops of the Habanero style hot ones they always need to ripen in about October when its too late, and Spring time is just not hot early enough to get a good start.