Moruga Chocolate Chilli

[clumsy]

I received the chilli's on the 21st (thanks jayb) and sown them on the same day. I use jiffy peat pellets put in a plastic container on top of the radiator. Sorry about the photo not being great the sun was shining through the window.

[Galina]

Great and very quick germination for them. Nice to see the tiny emerging seedlings.

By contrast I have just removed your pepper plants from the greenhouse and planted them up as house plants, hoping for a second year.

[clumsy]

Hopefully they should survive as house plants. I've found in the past aphids can sometime's be a problem.

[Galina]

I agree with that. Q-tips and soapy water, but it is a bit tedious.

[jayb]

I must admit to squishing greenfly with my fingers. One year my Indoor plants had whitefly, they were really tricksy, clapping or quick squidges seemed to work.

[jayb]

Wow, they are speedy, good to know freebies from him are good. I think your radiator is just the job.

[clumsy]

Three are nearly up and running. Moved them away from the radiator the heat and less light will make them get leggy.

[clumsy]

I thought I would update. Out of the six seeds sowed only three germinated the other three are being stubborn. Still have two seeds spare for future use. No grow lights just natural light from the window that's it. They are slow but at least they are growing.

[jayb]

They are looking good and healthy, yes growing well, they look so much bigger and stronger in this picture. Not an easy time of year to start them.

[clumsy]

I feel they do well in jiffy pellets. It's just going to be interesting when potting on which route to take. I like we both are growing chilli's right now and get to compare with you using grow lights and me without so far. Good experiment.

[jayb]

Yes, it's funny how we both started seeds within days of each other and it will be interesting to follow. I have gone a bit overboard and started a few things now, I've been looking for short growing varieties mainly. I like that you get on well with Jiffy pellets, I've never had success with them and had given up trying to. But seeing how well they do for you, I might try them again, (no need to microwave my potting compost then!)

[clumsy]

I thought I would update to show progress.

[jayb]

Ah they are beautifully green and making steady growth, just what is needed

[clumsy]

Quick update on progress.

[jayb]

Steady as they go, onwards. They are looking good with you.
I'm thinking perhaps the slow and steady is the better way for winter.

[clumsy]

I still haven't made my mind up whether to pot them up. I'm thinking of going of another system I did by accident years ago letting the root expand in the container they are already in. From experience the hottest chilli plants are slow to grow, the medium or low heat variety's can get leggy very quickly.

[jayb]

That's interesting, do the roots almost air-prune themselves, helping to keep the plants smaller? It is amazing how much growing conditions affect chillies taste and heat.
Caldero is a fast to mature variety and quite mild.

[clumsy]

From experience they just grow like in hydroponics. I'll do the experiment with these to show how it's all done. Better to show than write it down.

[jayb]

Thank you, I'm looking forward to learning from your experience, your chilli plants always look fantastic to me.

[clumsy]

Update on the progress.

[jayb]

The leaves are looking fuller from the last picture. Little steps, first up then fill out and repeat.
Loving them, they look stocky and sound.

[clumsy]

Doing okay slow and steady.

[clumsy]

I haven't updated for a long while they seemed to be forgotten by me unfortunate. By now I should have loads of chilli plants but I haven't even started yet. Good job I started these back in October thanks to jayb.

[Jang]

I’m amazed they can look this good from an October sowing with just natural light. I think that’s on a window-will?
It seems really surprising that they haven’t gone leggy.
You say they’ve been forgotten but you’ve certainly kept them going well.

[clumsy]

The heat and less light would make them leggy. They're in a spare room which is not that warm but gets enough light I suppose for them to carry on. They don't need much looking after they cope well being mistreated chilli plants. You'll notice not much root system yet once they get more sun light the roots will get big then they will need attention.

[jayb]

They look really healthy with you, as your chillies always do.
I noticed similar with the some of the chillies I sowed in the autumn. When I potted them on, the ones under lights had good growth of both leaves and roots. The cool growing with just window light had few roots in comparison to leaves.