Re: [CH] Early Scottish Chile Madness...???
Joan McCutcheon (joan@mccutcheon.com)
Wed, 19 Feb 2003 04:10:19 -0800 (PST)
Hi John,
Well, I am another Scot who grows Chiles although, not
in Scotland.
I live in Amsterdam, NL and grew Chiles last year for
the first time. I had 200 plants in all of 12
different varieties. A lot were given away as presents
and I sold some at Queens day here in Amsterdam.
We too used propogators which worked very well. I like
your idea of the lamps. Were they special ones?
There must be some market gardener growing chiles in
Greenhouses as I noticed in Lupe Pintos, Leven Street
mexican store in Edinburgh fresh pods for sale. I
think the guy said that they grew them in East Lothian.
So, you are not the only mad scot growing chiles,
although, as you say, the scottish weather is not kind
for growing chiles.
Joannie
On Wed, 19 Feb 2003 03:58:06 -0800 (PST),
"CallCentreVoice" wrote:
> Importance: Normal
> Message-Id:
<2480.194.159.222.86.1045647314.squirrel@webmail.ednet.co.uk>
> From: "CallCentreVoice" <john@callcentrevoice.com>
> X-Priority: 3
> Reply-To: "CallCentreVoice" <john@callcentrevoice.com>
> X-Mailer: SquirrelMail (version 1.2.7)
> Received: (cpmta 2756 invoked from network); 19 Feb
2003 02:56:14 -0800
> Received: from 209.66.116.12 (HELO web02.bigbiz.com)
> by smtp.c000.snv.cp.net (209.228.32.58) with SMTP;
19 Feb 2003 02:56:14 -0800
> Received: (from majordomo@localhost)
> by web02.bigbiz.com (8.8.7/8.8.7) id BAA21592
> for chile-heads-list; Wed, 19 Feb 2003 01:35:25 -0800
> Received: from liszt-01.ednet.co.uk
(postfix@liszt-01.ednet.co.uk [212.20.226.18])
> by web02.bigbiz.com (8.8.7/8.8.7) with ESMTP id
BAA21586;
> Wed, 19 Feb 2003 01:35:22 -0800
> Received: from ednet.co.uk (mehul-04.ednet.co.uk
[212.20.226.6])
> by liszt-01.ednet.co.uk (Postfix) with SMTP
> id D0B9EDEBC5; Wed, 19 Feb 2003 09:35:14 +0000 (GMT)
> Received: from sbs1571.customer.demon.com
([194.159.222.86])
> (SquirrelMail authenticated user ccv)
> by webmail.ednet.co.uk with HTTP;
> Wed, 19 Feb 2003 09:35:14 -0000 (GMT)
> Date: Wed, 19 Feb 2003 09:35:14 -0000 (GMT)
> Cc: <Chile-heads@globalgarden.com>
> X-Msmail-Priority: Normal
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
> X-Received: 19 Feb 2003 10:56:14 GMT
> Subject: [CH] Early Scottish Chile Madness...???
> In-Reply-To: <200302182047.MAA16012@web02.bigbiz.com>
> References: <200302182047.MAA16012@web02.bigbiz.com>
> Precedence: bulk
> Delivered-To: mccutcheon.com%joan@mccutcheon.com
> Return-Path: <owner-chile-heads@globalgarden.com>
> Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
> MIME-Version: 1.0
> To: <owner-chile-heads-digest@globalgarden.com>
> Sender: owner-chile-heads@globalgarden.com
>
> Hi everyone, from a rather chilly Scottish riviera...
>
> AFter a lay-off last year whilst T. and I moved home,
I
> was champing at
> the bit to start my 2003 chile plants. Of course,
> living in Scotland I
> don't have what you'd call a 'sympathetic climate' so
I
> guess I must have
> been pretty mad to start the first of the seeds off in
> mid January :-)
> Nearly all the seeds germinated easily within one to
> two weeks, using a
> heated propagator (fairly cheap; I've had one for
> around 5 years but this
> year have added a second small one and a new larger
> one, such is my
> obsession to ramp up the quantities). So, now that we
> sit a couple of
> weeks shy of March, I've around 40 small plants, none
> larger than 4" tall,
> but all in excellent condition. I planted a whole
host
> of different
> seeds, mainly governed by what I could get hold of -
> 'super' habanero,
> jalapeno, cherry, tabasco, dundicut (thanks Graeme
> C@Chile Heads UK),
> bonnets, a variety called 'firecracker' and plenty of
> reserved seeds from
> the few varieties of chiles that it's possible to buy
> in the UK.
>
> Having done a bit of background, I decided to invest
in
> a pair of small
> 18" 20w flourescent (~100w tungsten equiv.?) tubes
> which provide the
> plants with light during the day (with vents on prop
> cover open fully) and
> at night the lights are turned off and the heated base
> turned on. To
> maximise the light, I drape some tinfoil loosely over
> each light,
> carefully leaving the vents uncovered for
ventilation.
> Though I've read
> that this can create hotspots, so far it's worked
well.
> Each plant is now
> relishing this 'routine' and I'm beginning to worry
> that I've started too
> early, as though I have a frost-protected greenhouse
> (thermostatically
> controlled electric fan heater helps), it's still too
> cold - soil temps
> reach a lofty 7C and air temps can dip to freezing).
>
> So, that's it started. The second phase - including
> Guajillo, Cayenne,
> some sweet bells and some seeds extracted from a
ristra
> of 'unknown'
> aji-like chiles which I brought back from Barcelona in
> October '01 - is
> now planted, though for reasons of abject laziness
I've
> planted directly
> into 2" peat pots and placed them on the prop base,
> rather than using seed
> trays - I think this should work and avoid the trauma
> of transplantation,
> though the first phase didn't bat any of their
communal
> eyelids at this.
>
> Most exciting for me is the promise of a plentiful
> supply of fresh chiles
> (along with tomatoes, garlic, salad onions, beans and
> herbs which are
> either planted in the greenhouse or in pots) for the
> summer and autumn,
> but in the meantime it's all about the waiting game.
> The plan for me is
> to either get hold of a macro lens for the camera or
> buy a cheap
> macro-capable digital camera and start logging the
> plants progress.
>
> I was wondering if there were any other Scots on the
> list - or am I the
> most northenly UK chile-head? The growing season here
> may be short and at
> odds with the chiles native climate, but the
greenhouse
> and a bit of TLC
> should help. It takes me back to my first plants,
> grown in 1996 - one
> Habanero, Hayley, grown from seeds obtained by a
chance
> encounter with
> fresh habs in the supermarket, produced 6 pods in her
> first year and 70
> (!!!) in her second. Sadly, in her third year she was
> barren, and died
> overwinter '98/99. If I get anything like her yields
> from my estimated
> 100 plants this year, I'm going to be stuck for ideas
> about what to do
> with the pods...
>
> So, not really a question, more of a 'status update'
> and hopefully some of
> you guys can give me some tips for keeping the chile
> plants in tip-top
> condition ready for the last frost - which could be
> April...
>
> Hoots from the Fife Riviera, hovering around -1C with
a
> wind-chill taking
> it down to -5C,
>
> John
Joan McCutcheon