We've got chillies, they're multiplying!

This week it really has seemed that the chillies are taking over our house....and life!

30 different varieties have been sown since the end of December and at the moment we have over 100 in pots slowly taking over every available shelf or sill.

Some germinated more quickly than we anticipated and some are being really slow or perhaps we are just being very impatient?.....you do get a bit addicted to the thrill of seeing them emerge from the soil.

The Trinidad Scorpions are ahead of everyone at the moment, strong, healthy and looking great. No signs of germination yet from the Serranos or Habanero Orange which were both sown back on Dec 21st. We haven't given up on them....a lot of the hot chillies can take a good six weeks to germinate but just to hedge our bets we've done a second sowing of both and soaked the Serrano seeds in weak tea (no milk or sugar added!) before sowing them to hopefully aid the germination....known as Chemical Scarification. Fingers crossed it works....will keep you updated.

All the little chilli kids are being rotated between the grow light, to stop them getting leggy (we are using a Mars Hydro SP150) and the heat mats. The real babies are in the nursery (propagator) in their coir plugs being cosseted and looked after.

Its time consuming, that's for sure but the satisfaction gained from nurturing these plants to maturity and then harvesting the fruit can't be beaten.