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New to growing chilli

S

skybluestratocaster

Hi.Im new here on this site and have a few questions for you guys.For the last few yrs i have been growing plants in my attic but had to stop for certain reasons and have chosen to grow chillis instead for a while......I have a 250 watt daylight envirolite...200 watt flowering envirolite and a 600 watt hps and ballast that i used to use for flowering....i have fans for pumping air in and for extracting....
The plants i used to grow were vegged on 18 hours of light and when i wanted them to flower i switched them to 12 hrs....do chillis need a certain light cycle to enable them to produce fruit or do they just automatically grow fruit?
What temperatures will i have to stay between to keep my chilli plants happy?
Is humidity a factor?
Are there male and female chilli plants?( the plants i used to grow were either male or female ..the female plants produced what i wanted and the males were culled :-(...poor guys...but everynow and then due to stress or bad genetics the girls used to show male and female characteristics)...do i need male and female chilli plants in order to pollinate to grow fruit?
I have some dorset naga seeds ready to germinate but want to learn a bit before i do..
Thanks in advance
 
A single plant will fruit when it is ready and they have both male and female parts. They don't need a special light cycle so maybe do 16-18 hours. You can probably grow 4 Nagas under the light. Try to keep temps under 85, not sure about the humidity probably under 50%. Get those seeds going ASAP, they take a long time to grow. Go light on the fertilizer. Good luck.
 
skybluestratocaster said:
Hi.Im new here on this site and have a few questions for you guys.For the last few yrs i have been growing plants in my attic but had to stop for certain reasons and have chosen to grow chillis instead for a while......I have a 250 watt daylight envirolite...200 watt flowering envirolite and a 600 watt hps and ballast that i used to use for flowering....i have fans for pumping air in and for extracting....
The plants i used to grow were vegged on 18 hours of light and when i wanted them to flower i switched them to 12 hrs....do chillis need a certain light cycle to enable them to produce fruit or do they just automatically grow fruit?
What temperatures will i have to stay between to keep my chilli plants happy?
Is humidity a factor?
Are there male and female chilli plants?( the plants i used to grow were either male or female ..the female plants produced what i wanted and the males were culled :-(...poor guys...but everynow and then due to stress or bad genetics the girls used to show male and female characteristics)...do i need male and female chilli plants in order to pollinate to grow fruit?
I have some dorset naga seeds ready to germinate but want to learn a bit before i do..
Thanks in advance
Click to expand...


First off, Welcome!

Ok so you have a lot of questions so I'm just gonna answer a few of them:
- Peppers do not need a specific light cycle to flower. I don't believe you can shock them into flowering as with "other crops".
- 80-85 degrees F for germination on peppers. It makes a huge difference as compared to anything below that.
- No male or female flowers. Flowers are both male and female. They will self-pollinate. No need to cull plants in this manner.
- Dorset Nagas are pretty.
 
skybluestratocaster said:
Hi.Im new here on this site and have a few questions for you guys.For the last few yrs i have been growing plants in my attic but had to stop for certain reasons and have chosen to grow chillis instead for a while......I have a 250 watt daylight envirolite...200 watt flowering envirolite and a 600 watt hps and ballast that i used to use for flowering....i have fans for pumping air in and for extracting....
The plants i used to grow were vegged on 18 hours of light and when i wanted them to flower i switched them to 12 hrs....do chillis need a certain light cycle to enable them to produce fruit or do they just automatically grow fruit?
What temperatures will i have to stay between to keep my chilli plants happy?
Is humidity a factor?
Are there male and female chilli plants?( the plants i used to grow were either male or female ..the female plants produced what i wanted and the males were culled :-(...poor guys...but everynow and then due to stress or bad genetics the girls used to show male and female characteristics)...do i need male and female chilli plants in order to pollinate to grow fruit?
I have some dorset naga seeds ready to germinate but want to learn a bit before i do..
Thanks in advance
Click to expand...
How will they fare under the cfl envirolite?Would i be better to veg them under the cfl for a while and then switch them over to the hps as they start to flower?
 
skybluestratocaster said:
How will they fare under the cfl envirolite?Would i be better to veg them under the cfl for a while and then switch them over to the hps as they start to flower?
Click to expand...

Yes, they don't need much until they get bigger, CFL would be great at first. You could probably even do a single plant with only the CFL that would produce plenty. It's not as important that you use different bulbs for different stages, it's more that you have enough light for the area the plants occupy.
 
I'm new to chiles too. According all the good info I've gotten here, unlike the other herb:beer: you were growing once they've germinated and are established they need to be hardened off outside and will produce much better outside.
 
Sounds like you may be right at home here my friend. :high: Welcome from Atlanta!
Chili's are very easy to grow, dirt,water..You got it made!
Kevin
 
Thanks for all the replies...1 more question....I used to cut the tops off the plants that i used to grow so that they didnt grow too high and grow out bushier.Is this possible with chilli plants?
 
skybluestratocaster said:
Thanks for all the replies...1 more question....I used to cut the tops off the plants that i used to grow so that they didnt grow too high and grow out bushier.Is this possible with chilli plants?
Click to expand...

it's possible, but predicting whether the plant with get bushier or straight up bifurcate is like rolling dice.
 
20 hours of light is said to be optimal after the first 6 weeks(at 24 hours) and chiles will continue to grow and flowers/fruit at the same time so you probably want to use a well balanced fertilizer throughout their life

Plants will get much bushier if you decide to "top" them
 
skybluestratocaster said:
Thanks for all the replies...1 more question....I used to cut the tops off the plants that i used to grow so that they didnt grow too high and grow out bushier.Is this possible with chilli plants?
Click to expand...

IME, yes. I've topped 3 of my Habaneros (well, a bird did one) and they are all bushing out nicely.
 
1st...welcome to the site! LOTS of good info on here.
As far as growing peppers in general, this is my first year of growing anything other than Serrano's and Jalepeno's, and the main thing I have learned is chilli's are a SUPER easy plant to grow. Starting them is the hardest part because you have to babysit them. After that, they do all of the work themselves. Just water them when they need it, and fertilize once a week, or however you like. Then just watch 'em grow and enjoy!
 
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