Little chiles

An update on my siling labuyos chiles: I planted seeds outside in April last year. Out of 7 tiny, unflowered plants brought in last fall, three survived. I put those remaining three outside and they survived even though only getting maybe 4 hours of direct sun a day.

One is now in a raised bed at a goodwill recyling center and is alive but not flowered.

The other 2 are sharing a big pot out on my back deck. After struggling along for 17 months, one plant has about 70 pods on it. I'm a happy Franklin! The other plant has no flowers.  When it gets desperate I'll fetch the goodwill plant and trim it and the other one that hasn't flowered and bring them in for the winter. I'll separate the fruiting one and bring it indoors too to hopefully allow the fruits on it to mature then I'll cut it back too. I'll do some seed sprouting experiments with the new seed.

So, the 18 year old seeds are still good. I have created a real genetic bottle neck though by only having one flowering/fruiting plant.

Here's some pictures of some very hot little peppers. Too bad the red color doesn't show properly. Anyone with a clue on how to fix that problem, I'm all ears.

That white thing is the cap off of a 1 liter soft drink bottle. They're not big, but they're big hot!


Hope every ones gardening efforts have paid off for them.

When I do this again I will start them indoors. Let them go for a few months till they get going good before putting them out in the spring. In fact I'm thinking of sprouting some now for next spring. Once they get going they are hard to kill.

These are definitely a tropical plant. These things take a long time to germinate and a long time to grow. I'm sure more sunshine than I have available would have helped too. The ones I have growing took maybe 2 months to sprout. Apparently the seed coats are pretty tough. They are normally propagated by birds, passing through their gut before being deposited elsewhere. I've read of success by nicking the edge of the seed before sprouting on a warm (85F) mat. So that's what I'll try.

I know that the ones that did sprout outside were under a little bit of dirt and then a bit of mulch, like what might be provided by a thin layer of leaves. I think it kept those seeds moist and dark and maybe a little warmer till the seed coat finally sprung a leak and allowed moisture in and they sprouted. The long germination time makes the seeds susceptible to rotting before sprouting.

The little seedlings are also susceptible to fungus fly larva and that's what got the roots of 4 of the 7 plants that I grew. The pictured plants are in a 2 gallon pot. 7 or 8 liters, I think. A "hotter" mix of soil and fertilizer and stuff in the bottom then the top 2/3rds or so regular potting soil, which gave the little plants a chance to make good roots before they got to the more intense feed available towards the bottom of the pot. Don't give up.

I wish I knew how to use, or even had a copy of photoshop.

White-balance and artificial lighting colour temperature - its a big field to learn.

Ann, chilies (any capsicums, actually) are traditionall started 8-10 weeks before last frost. That is two week earlier than tomatoes.

Rod Franklin wrote: I wish I knew how to use, or even had a copy of photoshop.

There are numerous free photo editors available.

Gimp is particularly good.

Here is a site that evaluates the best ones.

looks like mean chilli  .