KELBYS CHILLIES

SOWING SEEDS IN WINTER

2010-07-21T01:25:00.000-07:00

It is July 2010 and the middle of winter in South Africa. Here in Durban it is a little warmer than the rest of South Africa thanks to the warm Indian Ocean. It is the time to sow seeds again for the next batch of chillies. They would ripen in December which is hot and can turn them red. Therefore I need to plant the seeds now.

NEW LOCATION

I have a sloping area of my garden which has concrete blocks to retain the soil. I am going to try grow chillies in each of the blocks. Since these are almost like pots I will plant the seeds in directly and water them daily until they germinate. With the winter weather it will take a bit longer to germinate and some may not. I will replant seeds if necessary.

FERTILIZER

Using poultry manure I have mixed this into the soil which is fine sandy type. The compost has a chemical composition as follows:

N - Nitrogen < 1,2
P - Phosphorous < 1.3
K - Potassium < 0.8

Higher levels of nitrogen will cause the plants to grow fast but may have weaker stems and break easily in the wind. It is essential to have nitrogen present in the soil for normal growth. I prefer natural fertilizers then processed chemicals especially since the soil type in my garden is very fine sand.

GROWING CHILLIES - PESTS & DISEASE

2009-12-21T06:41:00.000-08:00

Well something is attacking some of my chillies and stunting the growth. The new leaves seem to be the most attacked and where this happens the plants cant produce flowers or more leaves. This is really disheartening and it's either snails and slugs or aphids. But growing chillies in Durban South Africa this is almost a tropical climate and so could be a whole host of bugs.

Snails and Slugs

These only come out when it's dark so will go with a torch and investigate. Otherwise it's something else. If it snails i can pick them off one by one and eradicate them. Trouble is each snail can lay several eggs so there can be a hole army of them breeding now. There aren't any dry leaves at the base of the plants for them to hide to the other thing could be aphids.

Aphids

These tiny almost white spec looking creatures also could be destroying the new shoots. I have sprayed a mixture of soap once only, but have still noticed new chutes being chomped. I will try once a week but don't want to over do it as I'm sure the chilli plants wont be pleased. The other thing is to go the natural way and try get a whole bunch of ladybirds. Ladybirds are natural predators for aphids.

Anybody got any suggestions please comment?

CHILLIES BEGINNING TO RIPEN

2009-12-17T04:57:00.000-08:00

Ask me if I'm impatient and I will say YES. I planted the seeds in July and today have seen one of my chillies beginning to turn RED. Wow I just cant believe it took that long, or was it the weather in Durban was just not hot enough long enough. So much rain has fallen in November and December that the sun has hardly seen my chillies.

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TOAD IN THE HOLE - CHILLI TOADS

2009-12-11T04:21:00.000-08:00

When cooking toad in the hole and wanting to make your toads look scary. Use fresh chillies and cut 2 round pea sizes from toads eyes. Make it's mouth with a red fresh chilli and the combination of green and red will make your meal look extra scary.

Hey be careful it might attract the kids to eat all their dinner so use mild chillies. Now that reminds me next time I make toad in the hole I'll have to take a photo of my chilli toad. "Agh mom cant we have chilli toads tonight"

WORLDS HOTTEST CHILLI

2009-11-10T03:36:00.000-08:00

The hottest chilli in the world is the Bhut Jolokia which has allegedly been tested by the Chile Pepper Institute of the University on New Mexico at a whopping 1,001,304 Scoville units.

If anyone is growing them please post me some seeds. I would love to grow this chilli as well. Email salesdpa@gmail.com

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My Biggest Chilli so far

2009-11-09T04:32:00.000-08:00

I planted this chilli seed in July 2009 and now the plant is approximately 28 cm high. It has already produced 4 chillies. The photo shows the largest chilli now 9 cm with a smaller chilli on the right. A flower that has recently died can be seen in the centre. The next chilli will grow and a new flower on the left has recently bloomed.

As this chilli begins to ripen I will add another photo here.

This chilli bush has grown a little more and the header photo now shows 3 chillies. The longest is 10cm. I expect that since this plant is only 5 months old that the chillies will only be 10cm and growing to 14cm on average by next year.

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PREPARING THE BED

2009-11-03T03:51:00.000-08:00

I have weeded the new bed and added compost to boost the nutrients in the soil. Made 9 rows with 5 seeds per row. It is the 3 November so as soon as the first seedlings appear I will record it here.

Have waited some time to see if weeds grew in the top soil added. Only a few emerged and so the seeds were planted on the 23 November 09.

PLANNING A NEW CHIILI BED

2009-11-03T03:42:00.000-08:00

I have a section of my garden that is overgrown with grass and weeds and I have decided to grow chillies there. This section of my garden gets plenty of son and is sheltered a bit from wind.

I have 9 varieties of chillies that I want to plant here and I have decided to experiment. I am going to plant the seeds directly into the ground and with the space I have I will only plant 5 seeds of each variety.

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AFRICAN BIRDS EYE CHILLI

2009-11-02T05:29:00.000-08:00

In July 2009 I planted Birds Eye Chilli seeds in trays. It took approximately one month for the seeds to grow as it was winter in South Africa and the cold weather slowed down the germination process. The seed trays were also outside.

I watered the seed trays everyday and after 2 months the seedlings were ready to plant. Spacing the seedlings 60cm apart. It is important to allow enough spaces inbetween each plant so that they can develop properly.

The photo above shows the plant after 4 months and no flowers as yet have formed. It will take around 5 to 7 months from planting of seeds before the first chilllies ripen. In the first season I expect a few chillies from each plant, however in the next season approximately 500 chillies will be harvested per plant.

African Birds Eye Chillis are red when ripe and are extremely fiery. They have approximately 200 000 Scoville units. These hot chillies pack a real punch to your taste buds and are the main ingredients in peri peri dishes / sauces. Try making your own sauces with Birds eye chilli.

Now 2 weeks since I took the photo above and 4 flowers have appeared. They are'nt open yet but are erect and is the same way the that birds eye chillies grow on the plants. The 23 November 09 and 14 flowers are growing on the plant now. 4 are open and the first blossom beginning to die. Hopefully pollinated so that the first chilli will appear. Birds Eye Chillies grow green and then turn red as they ripen.

Grow your own African Birds Eye Chillies. 15 seeds R 30.00 plus postage. Email salesdpa@gmail.com

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