Chillies

[LEE]

My wife bought 2 small Chilli plants and put them on the Kitchen Window Ledge.

Now we have (so far) 117 of the spicy little blighters and they are still flowering !!

They've gone in Currys and Chilli con Carne amongst other things. We have a load strung up, like Onions, drying, we are going to pickle some and also put some in oil.

Looks like a good return on investment and they look great as "house plants"

[Regulator]

We got about 300 chillies off one plant - and ended up giving many of them away.

We also froze them (flat on a tray then bagged up) and they lasted us right through to the next crop.

[Oaky]

I have a few plants on the go this year (from seed).

It's a while since I grew any, but by the end of the summer I will hopefully have the fruits of the following plants:-

8 Aji Limon
3 Caribbean Red Habaneros
8 Orange Habaneros

I plan to smoke/dry most of the ones I can't eat fresh.

Hickory+mesquite smoked habaneros, powdered quite fine makes the most fantastic condiment/ingredient.

If I get a big enough crop, I might try and persuade a local smokehouse to string some up and cold smoke them for me.

[Si]

I got one chilli off mine...the birds ate it before I picked it.   

[Oaky]

I got one chilli off mine...the birds ate it before I picked it.   

mmm... chilli-stuffed pigeon.

[longers]

I've got one on my windowsill doing ok, starting to flower nicely. The care instructions say to start feeding liquid tomato feed as soon as the fruits start to swell but I'm not sure what that means.

I understand the liquid tomato feed bit but are the fruits "starting to swell" when I can see them forming in the first flowers?

[LEE]

I've got one on my windowsill doing ok, starting to flower nicely. The care instructions say to start feeding liquid tomato feed as soon as the fruits start to swell but I'm not sure what that means.

I understand the liquid tomato feed bit but are the fruits "starting to swell" when I can see them forming in the first flowers?

My wife used a small artist brush to pollonate the flowers in the absence of insects indoors.  That seemed to trigger a plentiful bounty.

[Wobbly John]

I've got one on my windowsill doing ok, starting to flower nicely. The care instructions say to start feeding liquid tomato feed as soon as the fruits start to swell but I'm not sure what that means.

I understand the liquid tomato feed bit but are the fruits "starting to swell" when I can see them forming in the first flowers?

As I understand it, high potash tomato feed will encourage flowering and fruiting - if you feed with it too early, the plant will produce more flowers - too many for it to support full size fruit. I start feeding once the chillies are an inch or so long (for the sort that grow to about 4" long).

[longers]

Thanks, I got a brush out and will guesstimate when to start feeding them.

[Welsh Man]

My chillies are starting to get very red and some look very hot pictures to follow.

 

[nuttycyclist]

I plan to smoke/dry most of the ones I can't eat fresh.

Is that legal?

What's the name of a chillie spliff?

[Cudzoziemiec]

It's a chilli bangh bong!

[longers]

The plant grew well and I got quite a few off it but they're a bit bland. Can someone recommend a couple of varieties that are a bit/a lot hotter and where to get them from for next year please?

[nicknack]

My brother's successfully growing Scotch Bonnets. They're not bland.

[longers]

I know of those, a friend gave me a recipe for spaghetti with anchovies and a whole scotch bonnet. I couldn't finish the first bowl I made but could the second with just half of one in.

A friend of a friend can eat them whole like a piece of fruit.

[Martin109]

Is there a best time to buy chilli plants?  I'd like to give one as a present to Mrs 109 in October/November.  Is that sensible?

[Edit: for typos]

[SteveC]

The plant grew well and I got quite a few off it but they're a bit bland. Can someone recommend a couple of varieties that are a bit/a lot hotter and where to get them from for next year please?

When Gardener's World had their chilli trial a few years ago, Nicky's Nursery was the only place I managed to get all the varieties they were testing.  I have used them since.  Good service and no frills packaging.

Is there a best time to buy chilli plants?  I'd like to give one as a present to Mrs 109 in October/November.  Is that sensible?

Chillies are tender.  They won't cope with our winters at all.  However, if you can keep it warm you might have a chance in October (if you can find a plant).  Kew Gardens have a good display all year round!

Most people grow them as annuals in this country.  Sow in January or February and keep frost free, harvest from August onwards (they need a long growing season).

For an ornamental variety try Numex Twilight as you get different coloured fruits at the same time, including purple-ish ones.

Hope some of that helps

S

[Clandy]

My brother's successfully growing Scotch Bonnets. They're not bland.

My neighbour makes a goat curry using the bhut jolokia chilli. I tried it once and had to give up after two mouthfuls. It was like napalm.

[longers]

Thankyou very much for the link Steve, they've got something like 260 varieties to choose from!
I think this might be appropriate.

I might have missed it on there but do the ones described as ornamental produce edible chillies?

[SteveC]

Longers

Sorry for the delay in replying, particularly as the answer is 'I don't know'.
However, many chilli varieties do look quite ornamental, particularly if you get enough fruits on them.  The smaller fruits tend to come in larger numbers (and tend to be hotter).
The Numex Twilight I mentioned before is a case in point.  The fruits are fine to eat, but the plants are sufficiently ornamental that the waterlily house at Kew Gardens uses them as part of the display.  They must have dozens of them around the wall of the big greenhouse, with the huge waterlilies in the middle.

Choose one or two you like the sound of and give it a go!

S

[Oaky]

A few gratuitous chilli pictures:-

My orange habaneros are starting to ripen:-



They're huge - here's my hand for scale:-



More orange habs (mostly still green)



Caribbean red habaneros (still green as yet):-



Aji Limon chillis, in a patio pot with petunias and other stuff:-



More Aji Limons, this time in a wall basket:-



I've used a few places for seeds in the past, the last batch were from The South Devon Chilli Farm

[brodie]

We got about 300 chillies off one plant - and ended up giving many of them away.

We also froze them (flat on a tray then bagged up) and they lasted us right through to the next crop.

I agree - they freeze very well.

Buy an ice cube tray or two - get a bunch of fresh chillies in a food processor and blitz them. Then put them in the ice cube trays - instant fresh chillies all winter.

I also freeze fresh ginger - grate it and freeze it in small amounts.

Fresh coriander - just but a shedful and chop up the leaves and put in a big bag in the freezer.

They all freeze brilliantly and give a freshness to curries you can't get any other way.

[longers]

Sorry for the delay in replying, particularly as the answer is 'I don't know'.

No problem! But thanks anyway. I was thinking the ornamental description meant they look good as well as being edible rather than being one or the other, I'll ring them and check if the varieties we decide on have that description.

Nice photo's Oaky, they look good.

Interesting about freezing them, hopefully we'll be doing that with the bumper crop we get next year. I was reading last night about freezing grated courgette for use in cake making as I got given a kg of them yesterday.

[SteveC]

I was thinking the ornamental description meant they look good as well as being edible rather than being one or the other, I'll ring them and check if the varieties we decide on have that description.

Thinking more about this, 'ornamental' tends to mean 'not edible'.  Probably not poisonous, but just not particularly nice.

Nice photo's Oaky, they look good.

These pics perfectly demonstrate my point about the edible varieties looking good as well.

Steve

[Oaky]

I've seen a couple of places that state that the ornamental chillis are also edible.

I once grew a purple variety whose name escapes me at the moment.  They were surprisingly hot.  (The other varieties I grew that year were Thai Hot, Scotch Bonnet and Orange Habanero, so they had a fair bit of competition ).