• Blog your pepper progress. The first image in your first post will be used to represent your Glog.

early days of first time grower and very excited!

I'm your typically obsessed and addicted chilehead, from the UK. I'm a regular abuser of chilli pods and hot sauces (every meal more or less! my sauce buying is on the cusp of becoming 'collecter' but I know thats for another post) and I'm 'growing my own' for the first time. I'm not a gardener and have never grown anything before. Here is my early progress, it's also the first time I have ever put anything online, just to mention. I'm so glad to have found this excellent site. I think about and talk about chillies all the time, so my girlfriend will be so relieved I have found a new outlet for my ramblings! I also have a young 'basket of fire' plant growing but as I haven't done that one myself from seed I wont follow its progress online so much.
 
Just over 3 weeks ago I put my 'hot chocolate habanero' seeds in the dirt, I also popped in a few 'norfolk naga', so I'm not sure exactly which of the 29 plants are which. Time will tell!
 
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Today, it's potting time! Thanks to this unusually glorious british sunshine things should to be thriving!
 
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Yes the tools I'm using are made as infants toys but as I say I'm not the gardening type!!
 
The only problems experienced so far was curling of leaves when removing the propagator lid a few days ago, that was sorted by returning the lid followed by careful venting. Everything seems great now. Going to practice making a chilli jam tomorrow with a trinidad morouga from the freezer, so I will have perfected the art by the time my harvest eventually comes. I'm wanting to try my hand at drying, sauce/chutney making etc
 
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Hi Robert, Things are looking pretty good. I hope you have a heated greenhouse or some way of growing indoors this winter since you're off to a late start for your latitude, but hey, it's all part of learning and we've all been there. Good luck with your grow!
 
Thanks Rick, I really do appreciate that. When our typical weather resumes I shall be growing them indoors and the room tends to stay nice and warm, so fingers crossed! I do feel a bit like a fish out of water but any concerns/complications I have should be sorted out on this site hopefully. Thanks again and all the best to you!
 
Firstly thanks to both guys from Texas for your kind words.
 
I just thought I'd post a couple of pictures of the 'basket of fire' I have growing as previously mentioned. It has come on really well in the last fews days and now has nice looking white flower heads.
 
Just a quick question- I know the plant is very far from being fully grown but do the flowers mean I will be getting a few pods/fruits coming through quite soon? Info will be greatly appreciated. I do not have the internet at home so apologies for any delays in correspondence, thanks.
 
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... also, to swellcat, good luck with your crop surviving the extremes of heat in your climate! I'm sure you know what your doing but all the best anyway. Your grow list is great, I'd love to achieve something similar myself in future years. 
 
Hi Robert, once the flowers start to "stick" it means the plant is ready to begin producing pods. If the plant isn't in a good place due to any of a number of factors it will usually drop the flowers, stem and all, so no possibility of pods. This could be because the plant doesn't have enough root structure to support pod production, or stress caused by any number of environmental factors. If you're just starting out, familiarize yourself with the basics by reading the threads pinned  up by thehotpepper or one of his admins. Some examples...
http://thehotpepper.com/topic/10245-all-about-soil-a-great-resource-i-thought-i-would-share/
http://thehotpepper.com/topic/25876-article-light-101/
http://thehotpepper.com/topic/25596-the-comprehensive-guide-to-over-wintering/
If you don't see what you need to know in one of those threads, start a new one in the appropriate place to ask your question and somebody will probably either know the answer or where to look to find the answer... and above all, loosen up and have fun. Why else are you inflicting all this pain on yourself anyway? ;) Cheers!
 
Thanks for sharing those links, Rick. Robert, welcome and these guys are soooooooooooooo helpful. You may surpass us all! This site is unlike any other I've ever been involved with. People share, people help. People understand, members empathize. Real "community," man! Looking good; if those flowers hold on, you're gonna have pods! Much peace, Annie!
 
Hello people!! Just updating the progress of my little ones. The plants are doing really well, aside from a big scare yesterday! I noticed my 'basket of fire' was riddled with aphids, which had also gone on to 4 of the chocolate habaneros plants that were closest to it. Naturally I freaked out! After a small amount of research, I isolated the troubled plants then sprayed them with a heavily diluted drop of washing up liquid. I was cynical it would work and also very concerned it would harm my babies! Amazingly it did the job very well and within a couple of hours the infestation was sorted, so I sprayed them with fresh clean water and as of now it seems no damage has been done  :dance:
 
Sorry about the first photo I do not know how to rotate it!
 
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A close up of one of my chocolate habanero plants, the photo doesn't do the growth justice:
 
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Im confident I only have one norfolk naga growing, the leaves look completely different to all of the other plants:
 
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The norfolk naga is growing so much quicker than any of the others:
 
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A final little note (with a lot of love): thanks to this site and all of its users (you!). I've not updated for a while but Im always on these forums, the information available is incredible. Its great to have a site that feeds my obsessions for all things hot! 
 
Cheers.
 
Just a quick update:

I'm confident I have erradicated all of the aphids but my 'basket of fire' plant looks pretty unhappy at the moment, I'd add a photo but I'm doing this off my phone. During the infestation and spraying all flowers were destroyed yet there is a new single fresh white flower head on the plant so I hope this means its on the path to recovery after all of the trauma! All of the chocolate habs that were effected are looking great.

Any thoughts? Many thanks.
 
Hello! Time for an update I think...  
 
I have 4 pods ripening on the 'basket of fire' plant, I cant seem to take a photo that shows of the beautiful colours well. The small one has a really nice deep orange to red glow whilst the others are still green/purple, which doesn't come across properly but hey, what can a man do?! 
 
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Im still having a near on daily battle killing/removing aphids which plaque my babies, just part of my life now I guess! I regularly have the dead critters coating my fingers after a clean up, my girlfriend tries to hide her disgust!  ;) I spend far too much time just looking at my plants, even though they are not really doing anything, Im sure you guys understand that even if no-one I know does. Im seen as a freak round these parts! haha  :drooling: I re-potted 20 plants the other week, just wondered if investing in a couple of heated mats would really help me keep them going now our summer has gone? I can't see them fruiting otherwise this year.
 
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On a final note the plant I believed to be the only norfolk naga growing seems to be a crazy weed, or nettle or something!! Not a chilli plant Im sure, it did come out of one of the seed packs though. I must take a photo and get it identified just for curiosity's sake.
 
I've finally had a chilli ripe enough to eat! :cool:  From the 'basket of fire' plant: 
 
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The pod was nice and had a satisfying burn, obviously nothing like a mental 'melt your face off' super-hot but a decent kick. The flavour was a straight chilli taste as expected, a crisp texture to bite and a pleasant lingering heat which went to the top of the throat (the burn I enjoy the most!). 
 
I also bought a grown chilli plant last weekend, labelled as a 'bonzi' (pictured below). I've searched for the variety online and found nothing relevant, as far as I can tell I'd say the pods on it are like little birds-eye chillies. There are so many pods on it all over the plant which keep on coming and ripen fast, which is great. The fresh pod had an instant good strong burn at the front of the mouth and lips, yet faded fast. Due to the abundance of the pods I was able to add loads to a curry I made, it tasted great but didn't reach the heat levels I enjoy, so I would still add more fire with a decent hot sauce the next time I cook with them. They are perfect for just taking a few off the plant and snacking on!
 
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Firstly I just want to say 'hope you've had a great christmas' to all members. As the year is soon coming to an end I wanted to put an end to my first glog and growing year. I'm sorry my entries haven't been very interesting (ie very boring and mostly irrelevant) but it has all been new to me so put it down to my lack of experience and over-enthusiasm!! I promise not to litter my glog next year with any rubbish about plants not grown from seed by my fair hands. I was going to over-winter my hot chocolate habanero plants but couldn't decide what to do, they already seem dormant but are alive so I'm hopinng they won't get too cold where they are and will be good for spring. I'm planning on taking next season far more seriously and I'm hoping to do everything much better. I've got plenty of seed packets already- scotch bonnet, prairie fire , paper lantern and more hot chocolate. I've got 3 of each packet but only limited space so I can't decide what to do because I'd really like to try and grow some 'brain strain 7' and fatalli (my favourite pepper). Looking forward to 2014 and wishing you all the very best, peace and love, Rob x
 
Sorry I got here late, Robert, but your first season
is in the books!  Good job.
The second go around will be much easier.  Rick
is right, time and patience are crucial elements for
growing chilis where they don't normally grow!
Looking forward to your second season!
 
Happy New Year!
 
Oh, yeah, and a belated   :welcome:  to the forum!
 
S'right Robert... the only way out is through! You've gotten through your first year and it sounds like you've been assimilated... :P Too many people want a shortcut to the good stuff, but it pretty much always requires an understanding of the process and a lot of work to get there. It sounds like you're rarin' to go on 2014... so good on ya! We'll see ya around the campus, and don't forget to post pics. Cheers!
 
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