My Garden

Chilli seeds

Last post 26-07-2009 7:52 AM by headfullofbees. 11 replies.

• 18/07/2009 06:00 PM

  missoptimistic Location: wirral Joined on: 18 Jul 2009 Posts: 1

  Reply | Contact Hello I am really new to gardening and I have just bought a little four tier greenhouse. I really like the look & Taste of chilli's. Does anyone know if it would be ok for me to plant seeds now and what do I do with them? If I put them in now how long will I keep them in my mini greenhouse? Also,does anyone have any suggestions for some flowers which I could grow in there? Or maybe some other interesting veggi's?The truth is I haven't really got a clue! But I have a little victorian garden which I have recently placed loads of planted pot plants in.

• 18/07/2009 08:35 PM	In reply to
  Phot's-Moll Location: The sunny South coast. Joined on: 06 Jan 2007 Posts: 3,347	Reply | Contact  You probably wouldn't get fruit this year from chillies sown now, but the plants would grow and ifyou can keep them frost free over winter (on a windowsill perhaps) you'd have a head start next spring. Alternatively you could try to buy a plant from a garden centre. Whether you think you can do a thing, or think you cannot, you are right.

• 19/07/2009 09:39 AM	In reply to
  bogweevil Location: Joined on: 02 Mar 2004 Posts: 2,043	Reply | Contact The better sort of garden centre still offer chilli plants in flower/fruit and these will thrive until October - they will cost you though. Boggy Beware the bat-eared bogweevil

• 24/07/2009 07:59 AM

  In reply to

  headfullofbees Location: Cheadle Hulme Joined on: 13 Feb 2006 Posts: 114

  Reply | Contact I grow chilis every year. They are perennial, but I don't overwinter them as they are prone to pests, and so easy to grow. Having said that, I'm trying out some "cherry bomb" seedlings which I sowed only ten days ago, just to see what happens, since many are Southern Hemisphere plants but I have a greenhouse with a gro-light and heater. Buy a plant as already suggested, and start from seed next Feb/Mar. would be my advice. I've also found that I get a better germination rate from chili seeds I have taken from fruit than from seed sellers.

• 24/07/2009 09:45 AM	In reply to
  miranda Location: Oxfordshire Joined on: 17 Nov 2004 Posts: 2,976	Reply | Contact I do overwinter my chillies and find that they only get pests - aphids - if they're kept too warm. An unheated room, near a window works okay. One year we were picking chillies by June.  That's interesting, headfullofbees, I also get a much better germination rate from seed I've saved myself. That goes for other plants as well.

• 24/07/2009 10:37 AM	In reply to
  sue1002 Location: Ipswich, Suffolk Joined on: 06 Sep 2005 Posts: 5,200	Reply | Contact  I tried to overwinter chillies for the second year running and lost them again, some died off (went mouldy) and what did survive then got attacked by loads of whitefly, then got finished off by slugs/snails sue1002

• 24/07/2009 10:50 AM	In reply to
  miranda Location: Oxfordshire Joined on: 17 Nov 2004 Posts: 2,976	Reply | Contact I think you said you kept your plants in the greenhouse, didn't you, Sue? I still wonder if they had too much water. I keep mine really quite dry and they seem to do better that way. In the past it's been dampness that has done for them.

• 24/07/2009 11:34 AM

  In reply to

  sue1002 Location: Ipswich, Suffolk Joined on: 06 Sep 2005 Posts: 5,200

  Reply | Contact  Yes, they were in the greenhouse Miranda.  I did try to keep them on the dry side and was only giving them a tiny splash of water every couple of weeks (the same as I did with the Fuchsias which did ok).  Maybe because the greenhouse was heated at 10 degrees, it might have been a bit too warm for them, I don't know but I'll give it another go this year and if it's not third time lucky, I'll give up and make sure I have plenty of collected seed for sowing the next year. sue1002

• 24/07/2009 02:29 PM	In reply to
  Susiq Location: Northumberland Joined on: 16 Feb 2008 Posts: 1,104	Reply | Contact That's really good to know for future reference - as Sue1002 and I know, to our cost re buying seeds from suppliers! The saved bolivian rainbow seeds that Sue1002 sent me, nearly all of which germinated compared to the expensive supplier bought ones (naughties) had a very poor germination rate. Poor Anenome didn't have any germinate at all!

• 24/07/2009 04:05 PM	In reply to
  miranda Location: Oxfordshire Joined on: 17 Nov 2004 Posts: 2,976	Reply | Contact Wonder what it is then, why do our own saved seeds germinate better than bought ones? Those companies claim to be the experts, with their adverts for freshness and special packaging, but I just put mine in paper envelopes and they're fine.

• 24/07/2009 07:11 PM

  In reply to

  sue1002 Location: Ipswich, Suffolk Joined on: 06 Sep 2005 Posts: 5,200

  Reply | Contact  It could be that our seed is actually fresher than those of the seed companies Miranda.  After all, we save the seed from chillies in the autumn to sow the next year.  The new seed catalogues usually start arriving on the doormat from around September time and if their seed is already packed ready for distribution by then, it must have been collected the year before in order for it all to be ready to be despatched.  That's my theory anyway. sue1002

• 26/07/2009 07:52 AM	In reply to
  headfullofbees Location: Cheadle Hulme Joined on: 13 Feb 2006 Posts: 114	Reply | Contact I think we handle them more carefully. Time is money to the seed sellers, and it may just not be economically viable to handle them with tlc. I got a better germination rate from 21 month old saved seeds than from packet ones.