Growing chillies on my balcony

[Bmouthboyo]

I wanted to make some jerk chicken the other week and could not source Scotch Bonnet chilli anywhere so ordered the following fromhttp://seedrack.com/08.html

• 2 packs of 35 Hot Jamaican Red Scotch Bonnet Pepper seeds
• 1 Pack of 35 Hot Jamaican Yellow Scotch Bonnet seeds
• 1 pack of 10 Trinidad Scorpion BUTCH T seeds!

I guess the advice I mainly need is in relation to the climate I live in and that I will be growing these on my west facing balcony on the 7th floor. This is my first time growing chilli however my wife has experience growing vegetables in an allotment back in Blighty.

To start with a few questions if I may:

• Will I be able to harvest these plants over and over?
• Will these strains I bought be OK with the tropical climate?
• Would I be able to use the seeds from grown chilli to plant new ones?
• What essential equipment will I need?
• Any other advice you guys can recommend?

Other than that great to meet you all and thanks in advanced

[soidog2]

# 1, plant you seeds on trays, will take two three weeks to get going; they will do fine in Thailand.

# 2, once they are about 6/8", tall pick the healthiest ones and plant in your permanent spot; do not crowd them.

# 3, rich organic soil/ good sun/ not over-watering them/ is your key to success. (Look for caw manure and spread some or mix a little bit with your soil; bone meal is also very desirable for chillies)

# 4, seeds are open pollinated, you can save the seeds and grow again but they do cross pollinate easily, so what you will get may not be what you expected.

# 5, with good, care they will produce year around for a while.

# 6, plant some thyme as well for your jerk, allspice and the other condiments available dry.

# 7 enjoy; I have been growing them for years.

[Bmouthboyo]

Wow that is a seriously good harvest there! Can't wait. Thank you for the advise. Are Thyme seeds easily available in Thailand?

[Bmouthboyo]

# 1, plant you seeds on trays, will take two three weeks to get going; they will do fine in Thailand.

# 2, once they are about 6/8", tall pick the healthiest ones and plant in your permanent spot; do not crowd them.

# 3, rich organic soil/ good sun/ not over-watering them/ is your key to success. (Look for caw manure and spread some or mix a little bit with your soil; bone meal is also very desirable for chillies)

# 4, seeds are open pollinated, you can save the seeds and grow again but they do cross pollinate easily, so what you will get may not be what you expected.

# 5, with good, care they will produce year around for a while.

# 6, plant some thyme as well for your jerk, allspice and the other condiments available dry.

# 7 enjoy; I have been growing them for years.

I ordered my seeds from seedrack and had them delivered to Thailand.

I am growing:

• Hot Jamaican Red Scotch Bonnet Pepper seeds
• Hot Jamaican Yellow Scotch Bonnet seeds
• Trinidad Scorpion BUTCH T seeds!

I had to make do with what I can get hold of here. There was a pretty well stocked plant seller nearby and so I bought this lot:

Seemed OK, the soil looked pretty rich but no idea what it says on the front. I just told the shop lady I was growing chilli and she pointed to this one.

There was no way I was going to be able to communicate vermiculite so I grabbed what I thought looked about right.

I only got 10 Butch T seeds so I decided to use 2 of the 4 troughs I bought, planting 5 in each evenly spaced out.

The Scotch Bonnet Red and Yellow I more sprinkled half a pack in a trough for each so about 15 seeds of each. So in the end I have 2 troughs with 10 Butch T seeds, 1 with about 15 Red Scotch Bonnet and 1 with 15 Yellow Scotch Bonnet.

Sprinkle of water.

And covered to stop any nosey birds having a go.

So far my chilli seeds have not fared too well outdoors after 4 weeks. After 3 weeks one of the Butch T and Scotch Bonnet sprouted and had small growth but wilted away and died within a few days! The rest show no signs of life. I water them most days but starting to think they have been killed somehow. Any ideas? How often should I water in the seed stage? And how much water? Should I cover with cling film to increase heat and moisture? Or better to bring indoors? Are the seeds most likely dead now? Does the soil look OK even though seems to have lots of stringy coconut type fibre in it?

[DerkMR]

When I seed out chillis I do it on moist kitchen paper in covered plastic containers.

So the air is moisture saturated and I can identify any non germinating seed which starts to grow fungus.

Also from seeding a little complicated varieties like Tepin I put the seeds in strong chamomile tea for one day which reduces the probability of fungus growth.

Bye,

Derk

[Bmouthboyo]

Thanks derkmr, I like idea of helping some along with tea.

Can anyone translate the information on my soil? The lady didn't have much choice so not sure if suited to germination and seedlings?

Many people on forums recommend certain mix's but I don't know where I would find anywhere that sells a range of soils, vermiculite, perlite etc? I would also like some propagation trays with lids, seed trays etc but again no idea where to source in Bangkok?

Cheers

[loong]

Unfortunately, most, if not all, of the bagged compost in Thailand is carbon rich and nowhere near fully composted. In my experience anyway. This means that the nitrogen content of such composts is close to zero and what nitrogen is available will be tied up by the continuing composting.

When nitrogen is not available for growth, many seeds will simply not germinate. Those that do will often be weak. You may need to add some nitrogen fertiliser .

Do not place your trays where they will be in direct sun, especially between 10AM and 4PM. Germinating seeds will burn up and may not even break through the surface as the top level dries out between waterings.

As for what is written on the bag, there is not much info there.

The top left diagonal says "organic soil"

top curve - "Agricultural soil" . The next word may be some sort of trade name or place name, it says "Bahng Sai" , Bahng means "Some" and Sai can be "Banyan tree".

Bottom curve "Golden agricultural".

Then, "For flowers, ornamental plants/trees, pot plants. The last words, I cannot make out, but it starts with "all/every"

[rice555]

Hello All, if you can get coir, powdered coconut husk, you can start your

plants and grow till transplanting. Plants can start being feed after they

get their after they get their second set of true leaves, the first leafs that

show when first sprouting are not true leaves.

I use plug trays as they are easier to transplant without root damage trying

to separate them from a larger pot/container.

This year I had 20+ trays of chilies(Mex) started under plastic with 50%

shade cloth in full day sun, with the best germination rate I've had in 13 years

in LOS. I used 50% coir and 50% peat moss substrate, kept moist, NOT

soaked.

Again, this is what worked for me here in Korat by trial and error, everything

but the seed I was able to buy at stores in town.

rice555

[Bmouthboyo]

I have now put my seeds into a mini propagation type container to hopefully control the moisture, I think I was overwatering them before.

I however cannot source proper seed composte anywhere and all the garden places just sell this coarse soil mixed with what seems coconut strands. Anyone know where in Bangkok I can get some proper stuff? I am out Bangna way.

Cheers

[rice555]

Hello All, Bmouthboyo you can't find a roadside nursery that has coir?

For starting plants, coir or peat moss or mix of the two are hard to beat.

I would use your compost and worm stuff after transplanting, I on the

other end growing by hydro transplant into poly bags of of 100% coir.

1. Bags of coir, @Bt.20

2. Plug trays, @Bt.17.5 to 20, (50/60/72/105/128 cells), the 72 on the

L/H side is marked a,b,c,d has 4 different chilies, same with the 50 on

the R/H with the toms.

3. I've used these baskets to as starting containers many times, they

hold coir/peat/mix well and it doesn't wash out trough slots, these

anaheim's(2 verities) I'm harvesting now.

4. Jals and two types of serranos, all started 50/50 mix and 100% grown

in coir.

I don't know your side of town, but JJ market and surrounding garden

shops should have coir and KU Graden Center should have peat moss

or peat tray substrates.(Klasmann or Esteem)

I'm picking up some more coir like the first pic today and later next week

will be starting 10 more trays, will post some pics as they progress, will

do the same seed in 3 different trays with the 3 way I've talked about

so you can see what works best.

rice555 growing and eating

[Bmouthboyo]

Hi rice555 that is some great info thank you

I am fairly new to growing chillis with only a little experience with veg from seeing what the wife was up to when we were back in Blighty.

I was in Tesco Lotus near Bangna yesterday and found they had a small selection of bits and bobs, and I think I remember seeing coir but it was loose not in a small pad or block:

Would this stuff be useful? I am a little unsure how I would use it. Whenever I indicate to the local garden sellers I want good soil for seeds they just point to the generic stuff.

So would you use core alone? Surly there isn't enough nutrients? And as I cant source pete moss to mix the coir with I am unsure how I could use it? I guess in the near future I could go over to JJ but its a long old way from Bangna. Someone recommended ACK Hydro Farm for some trays but I cant seem to see if they sell compost as they are Hydroponics.

Cheers

[rice555]

Hello All, ACK only has perlite and vermiculite, compost/peat F'sU a NTF system.

the black tray is from them.

Round 60 and 104's, square 50/72/105's, again, Bt.20.

rice555

[rice555]

Hello All, I'm following up on what I use for starting seeds, the 3 50 plug trays have 25 Ancho

Master Hyb and 25 Anaheim G-76 Hyb. Tray #9 is 100% Klassmann Terrahume, #10 is 50/50

with the other half being coir, and tray #11 100% coir.

trays were seeded on Jan. 8, 2014, the pics run a time line to today, pics are from the front and

from behind. I'll let the pics show the story. The little specks that look like perlite is flowers that

have fallen from the mango trees.

The plants have only had water, no added fertilizer, will start some tomorrow, 2/12/14.

The plants in the 105 tray and white tray behind #9 is Fr. Marigolds.

rice555