[CH] Second try (first one was rejected)
John Clark (john@callcentrevoice.com)
Tue, 4 Mar 2003 10:36:07 +0000
Hi folks.
As I feel a bit isolated in my Fife Riviera growing escapades this list is my
only contact with other fiery frien's and fools alike, so I thought that rather
than lurking I'd update you on my own (small scale with ambition) chile growing
efforts.
If you caught my earlier post, you might recall I recently moved into a bigger
home with (hallelujah!) a greenhouse complete with heating, etc. So, you can
imagine how eager I was to get going and so it was the second (or was it third)
week in January when I started the first of my seeds. Fast forward to now, and
I have a 'wheen' (a nice Scottish slang for you meaning 'plentiful quantity')
of little chile plants fighting their little roots off to make the most of the
unusual conditions.
Most of the plants are pretty small still, but some are up to 6" tall. I
transplanted these into 8" pots and they had their first 'stay-over' in the
greenhouse last night. The hi-lo read 32C and 4C, so there's quite a range in
temperature at the moment, though the heater should kick in if the temperature
drops any lower than that at night, and I'm manually opening the vents and the
door during the day to try to keep the 'hi' down to around 30C or less (if
possible).
The transplanted babies wilted a bit at first, but rallied over the course of
the day and on checking this morning (after my 'get fit for my wedding' early
morning run - 3 miles at least five times a week, usually in the early evening
but today in the morning) they looked to be enjoying themselves immensely.
Now that the plants are beginning to mature - the jalapenos are beginning to
get that slightly black colouration on their stems and the leaves are generally
up to about 2.5" on most of the bigger plants - I am wondering how resilient
they actually are. Sure, the frost risk is minimal due to the heating, but
frosts aside, will temperatures as low as 4C harm the plants? I know that
excessive heat could - say, 36C+ - but I'm not so sure about the 'close to
zero' temperatures.
One problem I've gained is that I've lost track of what some of the plants
actually are =- don't ask! -= so it'll be a big mystery until the pods develop.
Another question: nutrient feeds - yes or no? I wonder if feeding the plants
now will cause excessive growth too soon (given the fact I'm ahead of the
growing season) - and if withholding the feed will strengthen the plants and
keep them more compact? Or should an occasional feed be administered? I fed
the plants on transplanting into the artifically lit propagator and they just
went mad - considerably overnight growth, it seemed - and I don't want to risk
the early plants as I'm trying to get as good a yield of pods as possible.
More later, all the best from bonny Scotland,
John the ScotChile man