Chilli Plants and Water
One of the most common questions ever asked when growing Chilli Plants is how often and when
The main difficulty in advising when and how much is often down to the environment the plant has grown in
If warmer than normal, growing on windowsill or greenhouse in front of glass, the growing stage etc all are contributing factors to when to water
As you can see from the picture - this is a seedling plant taken from a 9cm starter pot
The soil is extremely dry at the top but gets darker in colour as you move down the media - which means the water content is increasing towards the bottom
So even if the top is dry as a bone, the rest of the plant is not
Little and Often is better than a lot and less
You have to consider where these plants originated - dry, warm climates
Water is not always available to plants in these climates so they can spend a long time without water and even though look sick, they can recover from quickly once receiving a fresh drink - so if you come home and find them withered don’t panic, just give them a drink and within a few hours they will recover starting with replenishing water in the top leaves and working downwards
Leaves are wilting due to lack of water
Plant is Watered and after a few hours they recover
Bottom or Top Feed
Keeping with the origin of the plants - Chilli plants don’t get a lot of rain water as their source of drinking, instead they have underwater sources
So again with the picture above this is an accurate picture of what the plants genes are designed to work with
If you are growing in pots then ensure you have saucers to be able to add the water/nutrient feed rather than feeding from the top
If growing in the ground then add the water and feed in the evening, this will allow solution to travel down through the earth and by morning the nutrients will be delivered to the area required
If you water in the morning then the majority of the solution can be evaporated away leaving a salty nutrient top lower of soil which is no good for the plants roots (explained further in Nutrient Section) and the plant does not drink properly which causes stunted or slow growth
Top Feedling and Fungus Gnats!
Top feeding plants can cause the perfect breeding ground for insects especially fungus gnats
These are the pesky swarm of insects that hang around dying plant matter and water - they drive all of us nuts!
If you get an infestation then they leave their eggs nears the plants roots so the young insects have something to feed on
Adult gnats will push themselves out of the pots and look for a mate to repeat the process - and they breed like anything!
If you get an infestation, take the plant out of the pot, run 20c water over the roots to wash away all of soil and hopefully eggs, shake gently and re-pot in fresh compost - feeding water from the bottom!
Growing in the ground will still attract these insects but they have natural enemies to help keep the numbers down and controlled - hydroponic growing will not attract them
Tap Water
Tap water contains a chemical called Chlorine, which destroys disease causing bacteria that affects humans
However plants cannot process Chlorine and they leave salty deposits within the plants veins which cause the leaves to turn yellow
This reduces the amount of photosynthesis and ultimately energy available to grow which will cause a deminished harvest
If you can fill a clean bucket of warm water the night before and leave for the Chlorine to evaporate out of the water - this will give you great looking green leaves
Once a leaf has been turned yellow it will rarely fully recover as any Chlorine cannot be processed out
Over watering a plant will only cause damage to the plant
By overwatering you are removing oxygen available to the plant to use by removing the air in the soil
Plants use Oxygen as a transport device taking nutrients to all parts of the plants including the sugar created in photosynthesis
A lack of oxygen means a lack of transport vessels available which reduces the plants ability to grow and flourish
It also causes a nutrient build up - as the plant has less energy to use these nutrients for growth it leaves deposits behind as it breathes out what oxygen it did have
As you can see in the picture - the damage is caused by over feeding creating a nitrogen build in the leaves which is the brown or burnt edge
Effectively over watering will destroy large parts of the leaves and reduce your harvest
Water Ph Value
Most food has an Acid Ph Value; rain water also has a neutral or slightly acidic value
Tap water though is often alkaline in nature - around ph7.0 - ph8.0; however as a general guide most plants prefer ph 5.0 - ph6.0
There are plenty of solutions and ph meters on the market that are really easy to control your ph water solution
Drop a few ml of acid in your prepared water and stir well, your ph water value will be reduced down to what the plant prefers