Chilli heads.

When are people planting outside?

I've repotted a load of trays of jalapeño, cayenne & something something, and am hardening them off outside during the day (when it's not raining...).

When's a good time to give them up to the great outdoors? I don't want them to just get slugged or catted straight away.

Ditto tomatoes, which are pretty much doing the same.

My tomatoes are out hardening off, I'm getting them in at night to avoid slug damage. My chillies have not grown past germination stage this year, no idea what's happened but I've had to buy plants in for the first time.

Keep them indoors a while. I’ve hardened and planted my stuff outside and I’m having a right fucking battle against slugs. They’re battering everything.

The overwintered ones I'm hardening off, bit scared to leave them out for the aforementioned slug and snail issue (never seen so many snails until I moved in here) but at the same time green flies have just reappeared (think I've caught them early) and fungus gnats are spreading (no joy with coffee, apple vinegar traps) despite drying everything out and when necessary only watering from the bottom

And like KatBalou, everything I grew from seed this year is stuck at 2 inches

I put mine out in the tunnel last month as I had a spider mite outbreak so didn’t want them at home.
They’re mostly clinging on to life but not really flourishing.
I have another batch in the potting shed that can replace the crap ones and I sowed some seeds in a panic for a potential late planting if it all goes belly up.

When are people planting outside?

Here in Germany there's "Die Eisheiligen" (the Ice Saints, which are mid of May - people (especially in the south / in Bavaria) don't plant anything outside before then that can't handle a frosty night.

So I'd never plant my chilies outside before mid May, and even then I'm keeping smaller / weaker plants in a little longer as in case they aren't hardened off already and are a bit more robust in general even a few nights in a row below 10° is too much for the little ones.
In fact today and tomorrow it'll be 7°C at night again and I'm definitely putting a few of them (that are outside on window sills right now) inside again.

I lost some to the cold already this year and it's super frustrating, as they seem ok at first but then leaves become manky over a period of about two weeks, and you can watch them slowly die 😐

Over watered mine and left them in small pots for too long - leaves started to curl and then yellow.

Lost a few weeks growth but they are now loving bigger pots, less water and sunshine - tripled in size in 2 weeks and find new leaves each morning.

Have started to take them outside in the day but night temps still getting to single figures, hopefully by end of May.

1 Attachment

Was genuinly worried about the plants getting behind.. only 5 days later! Carolina Reapers are spreading out fast.

1 Attachment

Got around to planting out into slightly bigger pots. And now running out of room.

I've had a terrible time with aphids last few summers so gave up growing :( One of the last things I did was used all my hottest chilli's - Carolina Reaper, Big Mustard, Habanero, and a few others - I made a daft-hot chilli jam, which got christened Devil's Discharge. I actually entered a jar of this into the Dog & Bell competition ('22 I think), but it was too crowded to stick around and see how much people enjoyed it. I didn't place anywhere.

...Although I stopped growing, I kept making, using Ugandan Scotch Bonnets from the market. I tweaked the recipe to add more earthy fullness (herbs and beetroot), and knocked back the sweetness, into more of a ketchup(*?). The heat is down to an acceptable level, still packs a nice flare but with tonnes of flavour - I also do a Double Discharge which is up there

The scale escalated, where I'm now making 20 jars at a time, and having a bit of fun with making themed labels for each batch, and it's getting a bit of a following. ...to the point where Dischargefest will take place on Saturday 31st August, Little Faith, Deptford.

Morning will be a ride into Kent, finishing at Little Faith for coffee/food, and segway into afternoon/evening of music, capsaicin, hopefully a tap takeover (TBC), food etc. Going to be lashings of Discharge to taste, eat, and takeaway. My plan isn't to sell this filth, but accept voluntary donations for a project I'm setting up at HHV.

If anyone would like a taste, I've got a few jars - and will be brewing up in near future - and give us a follow on @Devils_Discharge for more details on Dischargefest

*aiming for an all-round condiment with a bit of body, rather than a relish/jam/sauce. Also has fish sauce, like the origins of ketchup.

3 Attachments

^as a bit of explainer on the labels,
-I made the Steamboat Willy batch on the day the copyright expired. The concept of a 95 year old mouse was rattling round my brain all day
-The Minimal b/w one is when I had zero time - it was simply the quickest to weed and apply
-The middle red one, was around Saturnalia (mid-winter),
-And then the inverted cross was made on Easter Sunday

I was so excited right up until "Also has fish sauce".

Would you consider a vegan batch?! :D

....Yes! Definitely on the list - for Dischargefest certainly, but aiming to do this beforehand to see how much the sauce affects the flavour, and if it's even necessary.

Including it was part of effort to make it more savoury and less sugary, and I have a feeling it's not needed ...however, I listened to a podcast years ago about the origins of ketchup thousands of years ago, where it contained fish sauce, which gave it the sweet, salt, spicy, sour, and umami flavour profile. Including all these tastes is one of the reasons ketchup is so ubiquitous and irresistible to some.

(Also have massive concerns about allergies, but I'm labelling stuff ALL ALLERGIES)

Amazing stuff!! 👏

Also those black / gold labels look fantastic 👌

I'd try steeping some porcini or shitake mushrooms and nori for a while and see if that adds a similar taste, doenjang is wonderful too and will add plenty of umami.

I was also very excited until the fish sauce line.

I wasn't trying to be negative in any way! It all sounds epic, bet it's delicious. Put me down for a veeg jar pls.

+1 for a vegan jar.
Last time I accidentally consumed fish sauce I ended up needing the emergency epi pen 😅

Burning & swelling at the same time.

Sounds like a dose of the clap...

First fruit on a plant from seeds I dubbed "sunny yellow lanterns", also first flowers on the cardenasii - trying one more time this year with these rare & self-incompatible ones.. did three plants of them this year (last year I got two but one grew and flowered much faster than the other so there was no chance of actually pollinating 😅) - fingers crossed it works this year 🤞

2 Attachments

I have Turkish snake and sugar rush peach bell pods forming already on my early sowings that have been in the polytunnel for a month or so. Plants are still a bit stunted but I’m hopeful for a second growth spurt along with some early fruiting.

Super, on it later today, thanks for the input all. Will make a relatively small batch as a test. I'm pretty sure it won't make a difference, there's a lot going on now with rich flavours.

I wasn't trying to be negative in any way!

no negativity taken - all good feedback and appreciated! Had been thinking about this for too long - the transition from a few jars at home to releasing it into the world is two completely different things!

^looking good @Salad, hope this sunshine is making a difference. Maybe I should try an indoor poly box or similar, and order in natural predators if the aphids turn up again.

Update.

Early conditioning has not worked out as well as I’d hoped. 3 of them survived the cold, but have been stunted and are now wilting. I’m fairly said about this. Early May planting has not worked out well. Today was especially bad, way too cold for early June.

Anyone have any spare plants they’d like to donate?