OT: The Chilli Planting Begins
It’s that time already. Gosh how the time flies when you’re having fun.
This morning, following the great success with last year’s germinations, I have sown the seeds for this year’s Chilli harvest.
Six Chilli Varieties for 2010
- Portugal, a Jumbo Cayenne type that sounds great,
- the now [in]famous Dorset Naga, probably the hottest Chilli in the world,
- a Jalapeño which my wife bought for me, and as these are quite mild will be good for the family,
- Thai Mound, a very hot and tiny birds-eye type,
- Fatalii which are a yellow Habanero style that has a good reputation for flavour (citrus) and also for overwintering well,
- and finally a regular Cayenne chilli which my Sister-in-law very kindly gave to me at Christmas with a copy of the Grow Your Own garden magazine.
I used the same technique as last year. That is take a small plastic tub (the kind we get Indian and Chinese Takeaways in round here), lay a sheet of absorbent kitchen paper (we use recycled, non-perfumed and unbleached paper) in the bottom and then dampen liberally with tepid water. When I say liberally, the paper is pretty much saturated and there is small amount of water that will collect in the corner of the tub if you tip it up a bit. I then write on the side of the tray the two varieties I will sow in the box and then just lay the seeds on the moist paper keeping a decent distance between them.
Here’s one I prepared earlier 
Fatalii and Dorset Naga
All Set
Tags: Chilli
Thats a really interesting technique that I’m going to copy, I bet you get better results that germinating in my conservatory from march onwards!
[...] learning, life, ubuntu Having seen other peoples success of growing chillis from seed (specifically theopensourcerer) I thought this year I’d have a go. So in what could possibly be said to be a familiar [...]
I have never tried germinating the seeds like that, although I have read about it. I might give that a try either this year or next. I planted my chillies on the 1st Feb (last year it was mid March, and although they all did well, I think they could benefit from a head start) and I am sure they will be through in a few more days. I put mine in a heated propagator without the lid, I haven’t had much luck with leaving the lid on because it creates mold on the compost.
It definitely works.
The Jalepeno seeds sprouted within 3-4days and the Cayenne were ready for potting on in 7. The Naga haven’t germinated yet but in a pot they can take 4 weeks or sometimes more. IIRC last year they took a couple of weeks to get going using this method.
This method is fine for home growing but I don’t think it would be suitable for commercial growers as it requires quite a bit more time to move the seeds from paper to pot – another stage that would add time and cost.
Hah. I just checked the trays this evening and a couple of the Naga have sprouted today and several of the Fatalli too! That is 9 days since I started. Tomorrow I’ll pot them on.
can we have some more pictures and update Alan?
Sure thing Adrian, I’ll try and get a few piccys this weekend. All the seeds are now up and in pots. They all germinated within 2 weeks!
[...] It’s just over 5 weeks since my Chilli seeds were removed from their packets and started off in the airing cupboard. [...]