GardenBanter.co.uk - View Single Post

22-11-2005, 04:21 PM posted to uk.rec.gardening

wrote:

Can anybody tell me where I am going wrong growing chillis. I have been
growing bird seed chillis, the small very hot ones from Thailand, and
for the first few years the results were good. I grow them in an
unheated greenhouse starting them in a heated propergator about March
although the last couple of years I have started later in April as I
have been on holiday in March.

Probably not warm enough for them and/or build up of diseases in the
soil. Do you use growbags or plant them directly into soil?

Each year I have had fewer and fewer plants with chillis on them. This
year just one plant out of about 24 in my own greenhouse and two plants
out of a slightly higher figure grown in my parents greenhouse.
So why am I getting about 90% of the plants with no chillis and only
10% with chilles. The seeds come out of the same packet, propergated at
the same time but the majority just don't have flowers and fruit.
The ones without are much more vigourous growers and make the plants
with chillis look stunted.

Could be too high nitrogen feed and not enough potash. Try tomato feed
or Phostrogen. Never had too much trouble with chillis. Sweet pepper and
aubergine tend to be more tricky to get a decent crop on.

I was going to hold back some of the chillis to use for seed and not
rely on seeds from a packet. I have been buying the seeds whilst on
holiday and I was wondering if an airport X-ray machine can affect
them.

Only if you drop the Xray machine onto the seeds.

Regards,
Martin Brown