Thanks for the welcome everyone
thorntad said:
Just a quick hello! Surprised to see a fellow Kiwi from Wellington in here. Full disclosure - I am actually an American but now am a NZ citizen and have been here for 6 years.
We live in Paekakariki at the moment. Just moved here in the last year. Looking forward to the coming chilli season!
I noticed you mentioned a greenhouse. Do you have any luck growing any chillis over winter?
Interestingly, there's a guy in Pukerua Bay who grows a lot of very hot chillis, including Naga Vipers and Reapers, who's on my gardeners ground. He gave me a few to put into some sauce. He'll be pretty close to you. He grows in a sun room, says his chilli plants get to about 2m high and 2m wide.
In summer my 8-10 jalapeno plants in the greenhouse go crazy, I could fill my BBQ / smoker every couple of weekends. Yes they continue to grow japalenos through winter, but at a much much reduced rate - instead of 50 a week ripening to red I might get 2-5 but can't really remember. This year I'm going to cut some right back. I'm also going to try a reaper and a competition that was linked to above.
A friend grows chillis outside, even in summer they have limited success. It's just not hot enough. I'll post photos of my setup maybe tonight, I grow semi hydroponically using growboxes. Since I've had the same soil in there for about 3 years and I don't touch the soil at all I'd say all the nutrients come from the ones I add now.