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Wednesday 29 June 2011

Grow Your Own: How To Water Chillies

I have pulled together some watering tips to help you give your chillies the right amount of water they need to flourish with out damaging them when you give growing your own a go.

Chili Plants Cant SwimChillies hate wet feet! Ensure your plants have lots of drainage and don't sit in a tray full of water where they would need a snorkel! Water from the top and allow the excess water to drain out of the roots by putting holes in the bottom of the pot. This will help to reduce fungal infections of the roots.

Keep it Natural
If you have a water butt at home, great use this water where possible. If you don't and if you have time try to avoid using tap water straight away. By letting it stand overnight in your watering can it will firstly let the temperature get up to room temp so as not to shock the plants and let some of the chlorine evaporate giving your plants get cleaner water.

Dont Forget Them.
Regular watering in crucial, letting your plants dry out then giving them a big water can flush out valuable minerals from the compost. I aim to water at least every 2-3 days. If its sunny and your plants dry out obviously water as needed. Regular watering will place less stress on your chile plants and lead to less flower drop and a better crop.

Liquid Feed
When combining watering and liquid feed avoid the temptation to use strong doses. I have learnt this the hard way in the past being too eager. For basic feeding using liquid tomato feed dilute it to half the recommended strength.

I am testing out an optimal watering and feeding system to see how good it is. Its called the ChilliGrow, check out my review here or click on the picture below for more information.


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