gardeners advice-Chilli plant

graham.hobart (Graham stevens) · #1 06-05-2016, 01:02 PM

HI All,
I recently planted a seed from a shop bought red chilli pepper and being inside- it has grown magnificently. I now have a two foot tall green plant with lots of little white flowers.
Anyone know if and when it will fruit? or is it a sterile one from the supermarket?

Cheers
Graham

Bart · #2 06-05-2016, 01:15 PM

I'm definitely not a botanist, but it may need to be pollinated to fruit so it might need to be outside where bees and stuff can get to the flowers before it will fruit.

Green thumbs please chime in.

bugeater (Marty) · #3 06-05-2016, 02:15 PM

I've grown some where some just flower and never produce fruit and others that flower and fruit by themselves. I could never work out what the difference was. So at least some of mine have self pollinated. Maybe you could help things along with a small paintbrush and the right technique?

traveller (Bo) · #4 06-05-2016, 02:53 PM

The fruits will appear once the flowers die down. Be patient.
Bo

graham.hobart (Graham stevens) · #5 06-05-2016, 02:57 PM

thanks Bo- I am relieved as it is such a healthy looking thing. May need to move it away from the window now Winter's here in Tas though. We had snow on the mountain yesterday.

lazjen (Chris) · #6 06-05-2016, 03:46 PM

We've got three chilli bushes in the garden that have gone ballistic over the last year or so. We do nothing special for them and get about 200 chillies each fruiting season, which seems to be every couple of months.

At least I don't have to buy chillies any more.

bugeater (Marty) · #7 06-05-2016, 04:10 PM

They do seem to do very well if you keep them warm. I had one in a pot outside in Perth that lasted for years and years. But in Melbourne I struggle to get them to grow at all and winter kills them very effectively.

Slawomir (Suavi) · #8 06-05-2016, 04:47 PM

Hi Graham,

As Bo has mentioned, fruit will appear after flowers die out. In winter things will go more slowly though. Most of my chillies have been dropping leaves recently but they will come back in spring. Still getting plenty of fruit though, including Carlina Reapers and Trinidad Scorpions...FIRE! LOL

inertia8 (Australia) · #9 06-05-2016, 04:53 PM

We keep our Chilli's in a little ebay greenhouse, which has kept many alive. Some winters can be tough on em though.

One thing we picked up from a chilli festival gardener was that he recommended stressing out the plant (witholding water/feed) to get hotter chilli's... not been able to prove that one yet..

bugeater (Marty) · #10 06-05-2016, 05:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by inertia8

One thing we picked up from a chilli festival gardener was that he recommended stressing out the plant (witholding water/feed) to get hotter chilli's... not been able to prove that one yet..

I'm a bit scared about trying the chillis on the plant I have at the moment then. It's had a pretty stressed and short life.....

el_draco (Rom) · #11 06-05-2016, 05:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by traveller

The fruits will appear once the flowers die down. Be patient.
Bo

Assuming they got pollinated....

vlazg (George) · #12 06-05-2016, 06:20 PM

We planted a chilli bush 12months ago and still producing, nothing is done to it, best advice is to ignore it

UniPol · #13 06-05-2016, 06:21 PM

Friends of ours who lived in Mole Creek (Tas) some years ago were into chilli plants and lost them all in their first winter. Seems they did very well on their sunny veranda but typical of Tas weather it only took one very cold night to shrivel them up.

Wavytone · #14 06-05-2016, 08:34 PM

Graham

Autumn isn't the time for planting annuals - as chillies are, just like tomatoes and lots of other common veg - try in spring !!!

In Asia its usual to see them grown through summer, the chillies are picked and hung up in long strings to dry so they have a supply for winter. They're hotter dried, too.

While in the warmer parts of Sydney they can survive through winter from to the next Spring, we find its better to rip the old plants out and start afresh with new ones planted in August.

And yes one frost will kill them.

big_dav_2001 (Davin) · #15 06-05-2016, 09:14 PM

Hi Graham

I currently grow 15 varieties of super-hot chillies (including the hottest dozen varieties in the world), have my own market stall selling my chilli products, as well as host an annual chilli-eating charity event...

The prime chilli season is just about to come to an end. From the time of flowering, they usually take about 30-40 days to ripen, but that slows down towards the end of the season due to the colder weather. Mine are still producing solidly, but it's a lot warmer here in Sydney than in Hobart...

If growing indoors, I recommend putting the plant outside whilst flowering to ensure they're pollinated... Or you could pollinate them artificially by tickling the inside of the flowers with your finger (this method is great for cross-pollinating to create new strains). In my experience, the first flowering of the plant will usually produce small, stunted chillies, removing these once ripened will encourage a second flowering very quickly.

The flowers usually drop off before the chilli grows, but with some varieties, the flower stays on and restricts the chilli growth, giving it distinctive shapes such as the 'scorpion tail' with Scorpion Chillies.

Depending on the variety, they may stay green for some weeks, then ripen suddenly, usually changing to a bruised-purple colour before going red (or their final colour depending on the variety).... Once they start to change from green, I usually stop watering them for a few days, which tends to increase the heat of the final chilli.

Hope it helps, feel free to drop me a pm if you need any more advice

Davin

graham.hobart (Graham stevens) · #16 09-05-2016, 02:17 PM

cheers all and Big Dav!
When the deluge stops in Tas I will take it outside- that's if there are any flowers left on it.

pmrid (Peter) · #17 09-05-2016, 04:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by graham.hobart

is it a sterile one from the supermarket?

The easiest way to see if it's sterile or not is to show it a picture of a curry. If it perks up, you know its a good ún.

Peter

graham.hobart (Graham stevens) · #18 11-08-2016, 09:35 AM

Hi folks -thought I would update you all on this topic. The tree is great- still going strong and I have now roughly 14-15 jalopeno chillies on it- about 50% red and 50% green. Am very impressed with it and plan to grow some habeneros from seed next. It stayed indoors as the temps and wind would kill outside even if the possums don't first. The kitchen window seems to be a good spot so I am looking forward to trying more varieties.
Thanks for all your help and advice and now have to decide what I will do them all- drying or pickling or maybe a sauce?

graz in Taz

Shano592 (Shane) · #19 11-08-2016, 01:29 PM

I would love to see a possum try it on with a chilli plant.

We have a few different types growing... Scorpions, Carolina Cayenne, Naga (Ghost), Purple Ghosts, Birdseye and regular Cayenne.

We dehydrate and then powder them up, seeds and all (except for a few for replanting). In tomato juice with garlic and ginger, it makes a real firey cold and flu cure.

To quote Billy Connolly: "Johnny Cash wrote a song about it... Ring of Fire."

If I could just get my coffee trees to respond as well as the chillis do.

multiweb (Marc) · #20 11-08-2016, 02:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shano592

I would love to see a possum try it on with a chilli plant.

My pet rabbit tried the red stuff once. He must have thought they were carrots. Never seen him run that fast. Well... maybe the day he sat inadvertently on a small cactus. Not bad for an old geezer (in rabbits years).