Lots of re-potting in the April sun.

Today I spent a time re-potting my Bulgarian Carrot and Santa Fe Grande chilli seedlings. Still to this day I am unsure about the type of chilli plants the seedlings are. In my infinite wisdom I forgot to label up the pots. I guess I will have to wait to see if they produce fruit.  Luckily the fruit from these varieties are very visually different. I have 5 plants of one type and 10 from the other. I have two of each type on my windowsill. My brother has 3 seedlings in his room (another south facing room). The rest of the plants are in the greenhouse.

2 of each Bulgarian Carrot and Santa Fe Grande on the left and right of the tray. Hungarian Hot Wax is centre top and Apache F1 is bottom centre.

I also re-potted some of the Bell Pepper plants that didn’t have their own pots. I have also had to move all the sweet pepper plants (Banana and Bell) from my windowsill as the sunlight they received there didn’t suit them. They were wilting and some had weak stems. The Banana Pepper plants and 3 Bell Pepper plants are now in the kitchen and looking a lot healthier. My sister Emma has another one and the rest are up in my parent’s room.

Bell Pepper

2 x Bell Pepper

Banana Pepper

I have now re-potted all 5 varieties of chillies and peppers that my girlfriend gave me. Having already re-potted the Anaheim and Jalapeno seedlings the 3 which were left were the Tabasco, Demon Red and Hungarian Wax. Both the Tabasco and Demon produced quite a few seedlings while I only had one Hungarian Wax. I have 2 Demon Red, 3 Tabasco and the single Hungarian Wax seedling on my windowsill.

Demon Red (top) and Anaheim

 (Bottom)

Jalapeno

Tabasco

I have a new chilli plant. My mum got me an Apache F1 plant while she was on holiday in Buckinghamshire.  It looks like a mini version of my Habanero plant. 

My new Apache F1 plant.

My Habanero plant is thriving in this unseasonably warm weather. It has begun to branch off in places, especially at the top. A number of buds have formed which will hopefully develop into awesomely spicy Habanero chillies.

Buds on the top of my Habanero plant.

Another view of my Habanero

And finally an update of my 2^nd year plants. I am amazed by the amount of flowers the 3 plants on my windowsill have produced. The 4^th one which is in the greenhouse is doing a lot better but has a lot of catching up to do. 

Many flower/fruits

Saturday DIY

With the help of my dad, I have built a replacement for the fragile poly-tunnel structure. The tunnel was quickly becoming insufficient in housing my growing plants.
I had been planning a replacement for sometime and had drawn up plans which I used today.

Wedged until hinges are fitted.

Inside my new structure.

The project is not totally finished as can be seen in the photo on the right. Hinges need to be fitted to the door. I have wedged the door shut currently but the hinges should be fitted by Monday.


I also re-potted some 4 Jalapeno seedlings and 1 Anaheim seedling. One of each type of plant I placed on my windowsill. My sister had one of the other Jalapenos with the other two in the new structure.

Jalapeno (left) and Anaheim (right) before re-potting

All the seedlings re-potted

Nice weather = good chilli growing weather

This nice weather had given my chilli and pepper plants a chance to grow and develop. The poly-tunnel type construction in the greenhouse proved too hot for the Bell Pepper plants. They have been moved out. Two pots are now on my windowsill and the other twelve pots are in my parents room. I have also moved the pot named as "Miscellaneous Chillies". This is the pot with the seeds of unknown origin that I randomly planted. In this pot there are 3 plants.

Miscellaneous Chillies

2x Bell Pepper plant

4x Bell Pepper plants (2 strong 2 weak)

Both my Banana Pepper and Habanero Chilli plants have shown good growth in this beautiful weather. Although the Banana Pepper is taller, the Habanero is a much bushier plant. Neither are showing any buds yet but it is still early days. I am very encouraged with their progress.

Habanero Chilli

Banana Pepper

My 5 different varieties of chillies are also showing promise. The Jalapeno seeds that were the first to germinate are doing the best. I have 4 strong Jalapeno seedlings which aren't far away from re-potting. The Hungarian Hot Wax has been struggling. I have only 1 seedling which was very weak but has grown in strength during this lovely weather. Both the Tabasco and Demon Red have lots of small seedlings which are growing at a smaller pace. Tabasco has 4 seedlings, while Demon Red has 6. The single Anaheim seedlings have been doing well. However in my clumsiness i have broken one of the leaves while moving the Banana Pepper. I do not think this will be a fatal incident and do anticipate the plant to be fine.

Hungarian (Top), Anaheim (Left) and Tabasco (right)

Jalapeno

Demon Red

My 3 older plants which are on my windowsill are doing very well. My strongest one has 4 open flowers which look like will bare fruit. It also has many other buds. The smaller of the 3 also has 2 open flowers and many other buds. The other plant has many buds but no open flowers.

No flowers

Small plant with 2 flowers

4 flowers/fruits

Planted some more Jalapeno seeds. My lovely girlfriend gave me a propagator and Jalapeno seeds; a wonderful early Easter present. I will be keeping these seeds in the greenhouse for the time being.

Me and my new chilli merchandise

And finally there has been some activity in the pot where I made the mistake with in my last post. Yesterday I found a little growth popping through the soil. This seedling has been joined by 3 others today. I am still unsure about the variety of chilli.

Small seedlings plus the Bell Pepper seedling (top left)

But which type is it??

One of my South Devon Chilli Farm purchased seeds has germinated. Due to my outstanding forward planning I forgot to label the different pots. At least i know it could either be a Bulgarian Carrot or Sante Fe Grande.

Tiny Chilli plant, first SDCF seed to germinate.

Might have to wait till fruits grow to figure out which type of chilli plant this is.

CORRECTION as of 05/04/2011 - I believe the seedling to be a Bell Pepper. I am quite the silly billy. I thought I had removed all the ungerminated Bell Pepper seeds from the soil. Obviously I hadn't. 

Some progress (finally)

A lot has changed since Thursday. Little seedlings have been sprouting out of the soil everywhere. There are a potential 3 more Jalapeno seedlings to join the other one that was evident on Thursday.

Jalapeno seedlings (there are 4 seedlings, promise). Also this kind of looks like a smiley face :D

A strong Anaheim seedling has appeared but this looks like the only Anaheim seed to germinate. I also have two Tabasco seeds that have germinated which will with time hopefully turn into strong seedlings. I am excited about growing Tabasco Chillies as I am a not a fan of Tabasco sauce. Hopefully I will able to use them in a much tastier way.

Anaheim (Left) and Tabasco (Right)

Probably the type of Chilli I am most excited about growing is the Hungarian Wax. I like the interesting yellows and orange chillies that can be grown. This has been the least successful of the five varieties I got in this growing kit. There is one germinated seed that has pushed through the soil but it is the small.
The pot with the Demon Chilli seeds had shown some good germination. There are 4 little growths protruding through the soil. These can be quite exciting to grow as the fruit on this plant will grow upwards. This is similar to what will happen to the Tabasco Chillies.

Hungarian Wax (Left) and Demon (Right)

I have taken a Bell Pepper pot from my Poly Tunnel invention and put it on my windowsill. I am want to compare which is the best way to germinate seeds and grow my plants with the equipment I have at my disposal. I am planning to make a new structure to replace the Poly Tunnel. The current structure is not very high and some of the plants are quickly progressing towards the top of it.

Bell Pepper plants

 

 

My other five older plants (Habanero, Banana and the 3 supermarket variety (I think that is what I will call them)) are all doing very well. My best supermarket variety plant has two open flower with one already having a fruit growing inside.

My 5 older plants