Chilli's under lights

[Glen]

Hi all,

I started my chilli's off at the start of last month and have been growing them under 3 x 20w Day Light Fluorescent tubes. The lights are on for 16hrs per day.

All the plants are doing well and are about 4 to 5 inches tall and are fed once a week with Chilli Focus.

However, it looks like some of the plants are starting to produce flowers. Is this normal for such young and small plants to do? Should they not be producing more leaf growth?
Should I remove the flowers and will this have a bad effect on the plants?

Sorry for all the questions - Any advise would be really appreciated.

Many thanks.

[Glen]

[chriscross1966]

THey think it's midsummer so it's time to flower, remember chillis come from nearer the equator so they get less day-length variation than the lower latitudes..... might have been better off at 14 hours but that's hindsight for you, it's 20-20.... off the top of my head I guess don't reduce the daylength now, it'll make them think it's autumn, remove the flowers and switch to a feed with less potash and more nitrogen and phosphate plus trace elements, try to get them growing again..... or flog them all as "Bonsai chillis" at a carboot and spend the money on more plants from somewhere else.....

chrisc

[Glen]

Hi Chris,

Thanks for the info. Hind sight is a wonderful thing! ha

The research I did on the internet said to have the lights on for 16hrs. Also you recommend a different feed, do you know of any particular brands which would be effective?

In your opinion, do you think I will be able to get them produce vegetative growth again? I don't really want to get rid of them as I have grown them from seed and spent a lot of time nurturing them and have some 20 or so plants.

Glen

[markp2511]

The research I did on the internet said to have the lights on for 16hrs.

Are you sure that was for growing chillis, and not some other 'vegitation'?   :-X

[Glen]

Hi,

I read a few different theories which said anywhere between 14 hrs right through to 18hrs (Chilli king), so I opted for the middle and went for 16.

What amount of light would you recommend?

Thanks

Glen

[BarriedaleNick]

The research I did on the internet said to have the lights on for 16hrs.

Are you sure that was for growing chillis, and not some other 'vegitation'?   :-X

That would be 18 on 6 off then 12/12 for flowering!  Not that I know that of course...

[BarriedaleNick]

What amount of light would you recommend?

Try to emulate natural growing conditions but as Chriscross has said reducing the hours may do more harm than good.
If I were to use lights I would be looking at only 12-14 hours to start...

I'd leave them as they are now - Chillis will happily flower throughout they year.  I have some over wintered ones with ripe chillis and new flowers at the same time - I m sure yours will be fine..

[Glen]

Thanks for the advice BarriedaleNick.

Would you recommend that I remove the buds / flowers or leave them on to develop?

Glen

[BarriedaleNick]

I'd say to leave them but I'm sure more knowledgable peeps may have an opinion!

[Glen]

Thanks.

My reasonsing tells me that if they are flowering then their engergy will be going into producing the flowers and then fuit. However if these were to be removed then would'nt the plant switch its energy back to producing leaf growth - vegative.

I just don't know what to do for the best. ???

[chriscross1966]

It's a bit of a problem to know what to do with Chillis once they start flowering too early. If you leave the flowers on and they set fruit then everything the plant makes is going to go into the fruit pretty much, if you take them off the plant might push all its strength into making new flowers.

I don't tend to bother with brand-name fertilizers, I just look at the concentrations of the three biggies and generally use seaweed extract for the trace elements etc. With chillis of course you have to worry about magnesium cos they go through it like a five-year old through sweets compared to other plants. There are specific chilli and pepper fertilisers (indeed I have some at home somewhere but can't remember the name right now off the top of my head).

If it were me I'd give them a light top-dressing of blood fish and bone meal and pot them up into the next size pot with some extra BFB in the compost, assuming they're not in 8" pots already.  Water in with seaweed extract (or whatever you get trace elements from if not chilli fertiliser) and a pinch of epsom salts if you have it. I generally don't get too fussed about magnesium unless I see evidence of chlorosis but  YMMV.

chrisc

[Glen]

Thanks Chriscross.

I agree with you it is difficult to know what to do. The BFB sounds like a good possibility. Don't think I want to re pot yet as I have just put them into 9cm pots and was wanting to grow them on a bit before potting into larger pots.

Sorry but as a newbie, whats YMMV?

Glen

[loulu]

Hi,

Sorry to intrude here, but just about to start some chilli seeds indoors. However, I have West facing windows so will probably need some grow lights to aid growth. I've been reading so much stuff on the net but just getting really confused - can anyone please advise on what type of grow lights to buy, and what kind of rig I need - the cheaper the better I'm afraid  ???

[BarriedaleNick]

I have my chilli seedlings on a west facing window - they get the Sun in the afternoon and it's light enough for growth albeit moderately slow.  This has worked for the last few years for me - no need for lights.
If you want to use lights you can speed things along.
There have been some discussions about lights
http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php/topic,58036.msg594272.html#msg594272
http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php/topic,56846.msg579308.html#msg579308

but basically if you just want to help em along just go with cheap floro fittings with a grow bulb http://www.lightbulbs-direct.com/category/44/gro-lux-plant-growth-tubes/?gclid=CNDDx5a2oaACFYMA4wodzl0KZw or at a push a CFL growbulb like this http://www.shopwiki.co.uk/Plug+and+grow+125W+6400K+BLUE+CFL+Hydroponics+grow+lamp

Everything else would be overkill...

[chriscross1966]

Thanks Chriscross.

I agree with you it is difficult to know what to do. The BFB sounds like a good possibility. Don't think I want to re pot yet as I have just put them into 9cm pots and was wanting to grow them on a bit before potting into larger pots.

Sorry but as a newbie, whats YMMV?

Glen

Ooh sorry... "Your Mileage Might Vary" In the long ago days of the internet, before the web we used a lot of contractions and acronyms. It's where LOL, ROFL and IMHO come from etc...I'm old enough to remember being wowed by a mates then brand-new 2400 baud modem and wondering what on earth he'd do with all that bandwidth....

chrisc

[loulu]

Thanks BarriedaleNick,

Most helpful information! I did a search for 'growlights' on this forum and nothing really came up! The lights look good and reasonably cheap too, I think i'll give it a go. I have grown some herbs on my windowsill and they are long and spindly despite the light coming through. I keep rotating them as they are bending to the light, yesterday half of them looked very sorry for themselves...

[BarriedaleNick]

Ooh sorry... "Your Mileage Might Vary" In the long ago days of the internet, before the web we used a lot of contractions and acronyms. It's where LOL, ROFL and IMHO come from etc...I'm old enough to remember being wowed by a mates then brand-new 2400 baud modem and wondering what on earth he'd do with all that bandwidth....

chrisc

Ah Im not the only one then!  What can compare to the joy of watching images download from usenet on a 1200 baud modem - flame wars were much slower in those days..

[Glen]

Ah I see Chriscross.

Hi Loulu - this is my first year starting chilli's under lights. I use three fish tank fluorescents - Life Glo tubes (£17 per tube) mounted onto a piece of MDF and I have made a small light box out of MDF.

This seems to be working well for me and my plants are growing well and it is also cheap to run.

Hope this helps.

glen

[loulu]

Hi Glen

I had wondered about Aquarium lights because I have a couple spare indoors, but wasn't sure if they would be the right type or not. Hmmm interesting.... of course its got to be cheap to run (as you say) because otherwise its not worth it. I would love to get a successful crop though - last year I tried Chilli's and failed miserably but that's because I hadn't got a clue what I was doing then.  :)

[Glen]

Loulu,

Yeah I was the same last year - I was not very successful and only got a few chillis.

This year I have started them off under lights in the hope to get them really going before I put them outside in the warmer months and hopefully get a few more chillis. Well thats the plan anyway!  ;D

Glen