So after 2 disappointing years of chilli growing I've bought the seeds for this years plants. Its a little bit late in the year o be planting them but I usually keep them in our conservatory so they should be fine.

In 2009 I grew Super Chillies which were very prolific and looked pretty cool but the chillies weren't hot at all. I would add about 20 to a chilli con carne and still have to add lots of hot chilli powder.

I also grew Dorset Naga's which took an absolute eternity to germinate but eventually I managed to get quite a few fruits. While they were clearly stinking hot, the pungent taste was pretty revolting. It completely overpowered everything else anywhere near it.

So last year I went for Jalapenos, pinnochios nose and pusa jwala. It turns out fresh jalapens on pizza aren't as nice as pickled ones from a jar. The Pinnchios nose were good fun to grow and they really were enormous! The pusa jwala I grew as a green finger chilli but they weren't right. They were too light in colour and didn't have a lot of heat in them.

So this year I have already planted some seeds that I dried from green chillies I bought at the Indian grocery store. 2 weeks later and no shoots so I'm thinking they probably aren't going to germinate.

I have also bought 3 types from chilliseeds.co.uk. They have a new type in called curry chilli which is apparently specifically designed for the green finger chilli curry market. We shall see! I also will be growing some birds eye chillies which I use all the time. Then purely to see the WI lady judges face at the annual show, I'll be growing yellow Peter Peppers. If you don't know what they look like do a quick Google images search!

Also got some on the go including Satan's Kiss, Cherry Bombs, Jalapeno's and Scotch Bonnets some are just starting to leave in total have around 50 but don't think all will come good.

This year i've got Dorset nagas, Grande Jalapeno, White habanero, Lemon drop, Pepperdew, Scotch bonnet, Red and Chocolate habanero, Birds eye, Volcano and Thai Hot - Cayenne varaiety. all are potted up into 4" pots now and will soon end up in my hydro system  ready for this years sauce making

I had one season growing under lights in an nft system but at around ?1 a day in electricity I only did it once, i now use autopots in my greenhouses for growing.

For chilli related info, growing and using get over to www.chillisgalore.co.uk it's a great site for info and recipes. That site, this and sausagemaking.org are my 3 regular haunts

Quote from: MrCurryLover on April 24, 2011, 07:54 PM
I am trying a homemade hydroponic system this year to grow 24 chillies, I am also growing plenty of chillies in soil as well and the. The system cost me just over ?100 to make but I am sure it will repay itself as I don't have to buy soil and the water is recirculated.

Hells bells, man, you must eat a serious amount of chillies if you can recoup an investment of GBP 100 over a reasonable timespan; I think it would take me at least ten years to recoup that investment, at an absolute minimum !

** Phil.