what to do with my windowsill chilli plant ?

[jockaneezer]

I got an unknown variety chilli plant at a charity plant sale back in May. Popped it in the greenhouse and watched the chillis appear. They started off black, turned green and then red. They're about the size of a man's pinkie and are pretty hot. As the growing season came to an end here, I brought the plant in and put it on the kitchen window. I let the chillis go dry on the plant and just picked them as required. The plant has taken on a new lease of life and has started to flower again ( little white flowers ) The problem is I don't know what to do with it now. Should I pick all the mature chillis off and store them, will I have to pollinate the new flowers by hand as there are no insects around at the moment or do I just let it be as a nice bit of greenery at this dull time of year ?

My pal has a Bradley smoker and brought round some cherry smoked wild goose jerky last night and said he is happy to give some of the chillis a little stay in his smoker, what are my options for this bearing in mind the chillis are "plant dried " ?

Graeme.

p.s. I will try and get some pics posted tomorrow.

 

[moikel]

Ok mate chilli is a really broad field . I would take the chilli off it ,maybe give it a bit of a prune / fertilise & just leave it until you can put it outside again.
Chilli do smoke well,just don't over do it on the temp.
It sounds like an Asian variety,some of those Thai birds eye chilli have that colour change . There are a huge number of varieties now.

 

[jockaneezer]

Thanks for that Moikel. I thought the chilli would fruit then die off, never expected it to keep going. I'll pick them later today and think about repotting it too.

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• jockaneezer
• Jan 13, 2014

 

[daveomak]

Nice and healthy looking plant...

Most chili's are self fertilizing... meaning, the wind will fert. them, or you can gently tap the plant to spread the pollen in the flowers... I think each flower is male and female so the pollen doesn't have to travel very far..... and I think tomatoes are the same.... don't know what you call it...

Dave

 

[moikel]

To me that's a Thai looking plant,a Birds eye or what my Thai friend Pontip calls "scuds" like the missile .
They sometimes get a late 2nd flower.If you keep them warm they will just keep growing.
I am obviously in a different climate but they are a tough plant. I tidy mine up in spring,prune the dead branches then just regular fertiliser. I have 3 in the garden that are into their 2nd year & look good.

 

[jockaneezer]

Hi Dave, yeah I've been tapping them in the hope it'll do the business.

Moikel, you're not wrong about your climate, my sister in law lives in Sydney and we've been over 3 times to visit her but not in the last ten years. It's a place I really like, drove up to Foster and Tuncurry and had agreat time just chilling, had a flight up to Cairns and out to the Reef and last time, drove to Melbourne to visit some distant relo's of the wife's family, think it's about time we should consider another visit if we can get the Lotto up !

I'll keep the plant in the window for the time being though as it was -2*c here last night !

Graeme.

 

[moikel]

Going to be 40c in Western Suburbs of Sydney this week,35c on the coast.Good weather for growing chilli.