-Please See our New Chilli Growing Guide Here-
Chilli Potting
You have a seedling plant that has either been growing in Rockwool Cubes or Jiffy Plugs and you don’t know when to put them in the pot of soil?
If you germinated in soil then obviously this task has already been accomplished
If you are growing in soil then you will not notice or need to notice this bit
However with Rockwool Cubes or Jiffy Plugs then when the roots start to show through their respective cases then it is time for it to be potted on into its next home
If growing Hydroponically then your re-pot is a larger Rockwool Cube. Adding some nutrients - full explanation on the Hydroponic Page
Plant is a Hot Rainbow planted seed 11.04.11 - Picture Taken 09.05.11.
If you germinated in soil or have a jiffy plug then re-pot into soil is your choice, whereas you can use jiffy plugs in grow tank set ups it is not recommended
When potting a jiffy plug make sure the soil is slightly wetter than you would normally so your new roots can draw nutrients easily from the start
See section on watering for full explanation
Plant is a Gold Cone planted seed 11.04.11 - Picture Taken 09.05.11.
Starter pots are recognised as 9 - 10cm Pots
After this the pots start to grow in litre size,2,3, 5, 10 15 and more
If you can step up slowly the better, if growing small plants then a 1 - 2litre pot is fine, especially if growing on windowsills
Remember what I said from the start about knowing what you are growing and where you are growing it will dictate the pot size you want to get to
10 - 15 litre pots will allow most chilli plants to grow to their fullest, while 30litre will cover all
Once you start to see Root Matter coming out of the bottom of the starter pot then it is getting close to potting up
If you have the nerve and practice then you can take the plant out of the pot and see for yourself - when it is like the plant on the left then you can re-pot
Depending on where the plants will be ending up will for me dictate the type of pot I will use
For plants going into the ground I use cheap 3ltr poly pots - great for easy storage and cheap on the pocket
I will add more pictures of my pots as the year progresses
Why do I Pot Up?
Plants grow root matter as well as foliage and the general understanding that there is as much root matter as there is stems and leaves
The plants grow roots to soak up nutrients including water and oxygen, which is obvious I know but it is for this reason we pot up
The plant needs to have access to water and nutrients to combine with oxygen and sugar created through photosynthesis
If the plant is placed in an environment then it struggles to take what it needs which stunts is growth and ultimately stops the plant from growing at all
Earlier this year (2011) I placed plug plants in the soil to demonstrate this effect
THE HORROR!!!
These pics show you the leaves have gone silver
Silver leaves means the plants are suffering from nutrient deficiency
The soil is not prepared to allow this process of killing chilli plants quicker - you can try your best with preparing the soil but if the plants don’t have great root mass to start with they will always struggle to cope
75 Plug Plants were used in this experiment
After 4 weeks all but 2 plants had been eaten, died due to nutrient deficiency or blown away as they were not hardy (See Hardening Section)
The two plants that survived seem to have enough root mass to soak up water but as they hadnt grown I assume that there wasnt enough root mass to take up nutrients they needed to grow
