Chilli heads.

Yes. Latest I would sow is end of March, but the most important thing is heaps of sun from May onwards.

Dang, came home from two nights away to find the heating bulb in my fridge had blown and inside probe was sitting at 10C. Critical time, they’d been in for a week. Only one started as far as I could see. I changed the bulb and it’s soon back up to temp but the damage might have been done. Just as well I kept a few seeds back.

We use cheap led panels from amazon for starting chillis last year. Also good for year round salad and shoots ;)

I’m gonna put seeds under tomorrow I think.

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Meh, couldn't resist and just ordered seeds, will go and set up a nice variety again (so here's fingers crossed that the coming summer will be remotely as great as the last one)!

Just ordered from semillas

..plus have seeds from 2017 / 2018 plants, that have also gone through hibernation in the cold stairway (though I have meanwhile learned it should be either bright and warm or cold (5-10°C) and quite dark - not quite bright plus cold-ish as I did - maybe that's why 2/3 of the plants did not make it, haha) -

Pinzón from 2017
"unknown yummy habaneros" from 2017 and 18
"funny little red bombs from hibernated plant"

I shall be a bit more thorough with the labelling this season, ha!

FFS, I just found an envelope with the remains from my 2017 order.
So that would be 26 plants total if I do one of each, which will be overkill (again).

If I get round to it I'm going to do half my chilli circle seeds this week and half mid March to see if there's a difference.

I certainly do not need any more seeds this year - but happy to give some to folks who like to try some of the rare kinds.
As you see there's only four each left from the 2017 order, but will share some from the new one (see post above) plus some from my own plants.
PM me if you're interested.

Also I'm sure you're dying to know how the little one is doing that spends it's days on the chilly windowsill.
It's still going strong - striving on neglect - and the one berry is still ripening (I guess).
Pics from beginning of October 2018, November 2018 and today (look closely and you can spot new flower developing in the center!).

Also here's a pic of a few in the bright-ish and cold-ish staircase.
Lost all tags so will be fun to see what is what when they bear fruit again this summer, haha -

Wow, quite the seeds collection! I’ve sent you a pm :)

Just popped the following in the propagator:
Biquino
Jalapeño
Doux tres longs
Romanian
Bhut Jolokia

Nice mix of peppers and chillis, ended up with too many plants overall last year so will just have one of each and maybe two of the sweet peppers.

Same plant as above - chili harvested and new flowers opening right after..

..gave it a bigger, nicer pot as a little reward!

: ]

Team 2019

Capsicum Lanceolatum     Lanceolatum (wild)     1
Capsicum Rhomboideum     Rhomboideum (wild)     1
Rocotillo                Chinense               2
Aji White Fantasy        Baccatum               4
Aji Tapachula            Baccatum               5
Brazilian Starfish       Baccatum               5
Rain Forest              Baccatum               5
Rocoto NOT brown         Pubescens              5
Capsicum Eximium         Eximium (wild)         5
Aji Cochabamba           Chinense               6
Aji Charapita            Chinense (wild)        7
Pinzón                   Chinense               7
Rocoto Canario           Pubescens              8
Bahamian Goat Pepper     Chinense               9
Aji Umba Red             Chinense              10
Ají Limo                 Chinense              10
Antillais Caribbean      Chinense              10
Fatalii White            Chinense              10
Habanero Gambia          Chinense              10
Habanero Peach           Chinense              10
Habanero Surinam Red     Chinense              10

#scenes

Still under neon?

Yea.

Well neon so I can start now / so they grow nice and compact and not leggy and shit, later most of them will go outside into the sun - guerilla gardening plus friends with balconies etc.

Spray delicately with washing up liquid diluted in water. 1 part to 4 parts water.

Little piece of advice for people starting from seeds and who are too cheap to get a proper heating mat for keeping the temperature nicely warm and stable -
put seeds in some kind of box that holds the humidity and put the box somewhere that's nice and warm 24/7 - like your router!

If anyone is interested in meeting up for a seed swap, I've just spoken with my gardeners and they'd be up for arranging something, we've got a about 40 varieties here, and they're interested in growing some rarer kinds, if anyone is interested in this PM me and I'll put something together.

Ooh, shame we’ve just completed a chilli circle... i’ve got no seeds left sorry! Keep an eye out for next years circle, i’ll invite you if I remember. 40 varieties, wow are they all sprouting yet?

More sowing today. I am trying the paper towel method to get them germinated.

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paper towel method

This is not a bad approach, yet I think it would be even better to have something that contains the humidity / warmth, and also gives them a little bit of room, so they can "stand up" and, more importantly, scrape the seed shell off.
If you plant them into the soil with the seedling just barely peeking out it will also work, but the shell will then dry out and seedling will have a very hard time getting rid of it.
Also you can watch better if you use clear plastic containers of some sort
: ]

Temperatures between 25 and 30°C worked well for me. On the router as I mentioned, and near the radiator of course (won't matter if it drops a few degrees at night).

Yeah I am going to plant them after they just start to germinate.

We have life. Chillis and sweet peppers are on their way. Jalapeño are in the lead along with some leggy toms.

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Got most chili seeds sprouting as well by now, growing slowly but steadily so far..

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