Chilli Grow a Go Go

I've had a savage restructuring of my chilli plants in preparation for the oncoming winter.  The plants won't survive outside so I've selected the most valuable plants to keep and the rest have been consigned to the great compost heap in the sky.

Those lucky few plants that made it through the selection process have been given a brutal haircut to encourage them to through out new side shoots and put more energy into growing a strong root system.

The Orozco gets a haircut

I've also invested in a couple of Chilligrow planters from Greenhouse Sensation. These clever planters have a reservoir of water and nutrients underneath which continually feed the plants via a capillary 'wick'.  The plants can never be overwatered because they only draw up as much as they need. In addition, any nutrients in the soil aren't washed out as they can be when watering from the top of the pot.

Yellow Scotch Bonnet, Red Habanero and Chocolate Bhut Jolokia fruits

The Scotch Bonnet and Red Hab had performed so well this year that they certainly earned themselves one of the coveted places in the Chilligrow.  The last spot was reserved for one of the Chocolate Habaneros.  These plants produced absolutely no fruit all year but they are sturdy specimens so I decided to give one a second chance and see if it could redeem itself.

Chocolate Bhut Jolokias and a Trinidad Scorpion

The other planter has two of the Chocolate Bhut Jolokias and a Trinidad Scorpion that I grew on late in the season.  Because I had a spare plant and in the interests of scientific endeavour, I planted a second Scorpion in a similar sized pot in identical compost, without the aid of the Chilligrow's reservoir.

The chillies in their winter residence on the windowsill.

This will be my experiment's control so it'll be interesting to see how it fares compared to the sophisticated planter.