Growing chilli in Helsinki

[luca]

Hi!

I moved to Helsinki 6 months ago and I'm starting to grow chillies :-) I was quite surprised to find this excellent site in Finnish! (I've been reading it with the help of my finnish girlfriend).

Being a brazilian, I've always been passionate about chillis and now I decided to start growing them.  So far, I've only succeded in getting one seed to germinate.  But I'm taking so good care of the one Ají Amarillo plant that germinated that it is now looking beautiful!

I'll be writing a bit more later about my results here later.  And hopefully I'll manage to read your site on my own soon (I'm leaving now for my Finnish language class)

Cheers,
Luca.

[Nuthead]

Wish you good luck growing that one specimen you got, and think I speak on behalf of everybody here by wishing you very welcome to both finland and this site!  
And just like a hint for you.... it's quite ok to write in english too. Know that most of us here do speak very good english so... just keep on writing!!  :shock:

yours
Kaj

[kyris]

Welcome to this great site and Finland!

Adverising for the next chili-meet must be also in english, so you can meet your fellow chileheaz in person  

[Aji Inferno]

Yes, my warmest welcome to Inferno as well!  As you may know, Brazil is currently the most "mysterious" and thus most interesting country for chili growers in the world..! Why? Because Brazilian scientists have recently found several completely new chili/capsicum species nobody had any idea of in the past. It's also, it seems, the only country in the world where these very strange, extremely rare chili species grow.

Even when we talk about more common chilies, Brazil offers many of the best: "Malagueta", "Pimenta doce", "Dedo de moca", "Cumari o passarinho"... and hundreds of more.

So, I believe your experience in chili will be extremely valuable among us who still a couple years ago knew nothing about "spicy food" or these wonderful plants!

[luca]

Hi all!

Thanks for the very warm welcome (or should I say HOT? ;-))

So, I'll shoot my first questions here:

- What kind of earth do you use? I've tried two different kinds (kekilän kukkamulta and biolan kaktusmulta), but I was not very succesful (as you probably noticed from my previous email).  Then I "stole" the earth from one of these "ready-made" chilli plants you can buy in Antilla.  That's when I got my ají to sprout...

- What do you do to keep the earth moist? My "techinque" is to spray some water on it in the morning and in the evening, but this is not very practical when I have to travel... I'm using some incandescent lamps inside a tiny green house in order to maintain the temperature at around 27-30 degrees, and I guess this makes the earth dry out faster...

Now about brazilian chilli, I agree that we have many great varieties there (I think you forgot to mention "pimenta-de-cheiro", which is not very hot, but has an incredibly nice aroma).  A friend of mine planted some "dedo-de-moça" and got quite good results, but I guess that was quite easy because brazilian climate is perfect for growing chillis outside.

Cheers,
Luca.

[Samppa]

Hello! And a "HOT" welcome to Finland as well.

I use Blumat, automatic drip-watering system for plants. You can buy it from Viherpeukku netstore. And it's prize is 75€ and in one set there are parts for 12 flower pot.

And some pictures of my system:
Picture 1
Picture 2
Picture 3

And I use "puutarha turve" (garden peat I think) for earth. It is very cheap, about 5€ for 85 litre. You can get it from almost every hardware store, but it's usualy in some storage, so you have to search it. Places to buy it: Bauhaus, K-rauta,  agri market etc. and some garden stores also.

[JartsaP]

Hi, and welcome,

I use mostly normal "kukkamulta", "puutarhamulta" or "kestomulta" (flower soil, garden soil or long-life soil respectively). Sometimes peat or peat-sand mix or "taimi- ja kylvömulta" (seedling and sowing soil). They all work very well, except first two may be too strong for germination and very small seedlings.

For small seedlings I use the spraying method, for a bit bigger seedlings I just water in normal way (watering can) and for big plants I mainly use underground watering. I have now a brand new Blumat drip feeding system, which I'm going to try in the greenhouse during next summer, it's not big enough for all the plants, but can easily be extended.

In a greenhouse, stronger culture medium and heavier watering may actually be required, because of the fast growing and heavy yields. On the window sill, however, light peat soil and moderate watering should be enough. Container or pot should be rather big for abundant yield.

Many people here are turning to water gardening, hydroponics, but I am a little sceptical about that, because hyroponic vegetables which are sold in supermarkets, don't taste all that good (actually they don't taste at all). I cannot believe that the chillies from a home hydroponic garden would be any better. But I really don't know, I haven't tried so this could be just my prejudice.

Extending the growing period is the biggest challenge in this near-arctic country. Even in a greenhouse, if it's not warmed year-around, the season is just long enough for some annuums, but certainly not long enough for South-American rare species. So additional lighting is also important, and some space inside needed for growing transplants, for ripening crop in autumn, or for overwintering planst. I use fluorescents, but high pressure sodium is also very popular.

I wish you good luck for this season and for becoming seasons as well!

-Jartsa-

[Fatalii]

Hot welcome!

In the greenhouse I'd recommend mild peat (or soil) and stronger fertilizing at early growing stage, this way it's easier to control the need of the nutrients more easily than with strong medium.

And don't forget the pig pots!

Here're some examples growing in mild peat.
Some even without any fertilizing at all!
(Most in the greenhouse)
I've used both stronger and milder soil each year in the greenhouse but with mild soil and subtle fertilizing I've always acquired the best results:

http://juuri.org/fatalii/?u=g&c=search&word=cristal&id=701

http://juuri.org/fatalii/?u=g&c=search&word=grif&id=2130

http://juuri.org/fatalii/?u=g&c=search&word=maraba&id=2212

http://juuri.org/fatalii/?u=g&c=search&word=lemon+drop&id=2298

http://juuri.org/fatalii/?u=g&c=search&word=2598&id=1901


but, if you want grow seriously, choose hydroponics:
http://juuri.org/fatalii/?u=g&c=search&word=dutch&id=2511

Good luck!

[Herpiili]

Welcome!

Peat seems to be best choice, my experiences with garden soils etc. have been quite bad.

You should try hydroponics also, seems to be superior compared to other methods.

Nice to see "real" chileheads here

[Gekko]

Hi and welcome!

And don't forget to inform us when you can find some of these rare seeds from Brazil and share them with us! I'm sure we also have a lot of interesting seeds to trade...   :wink:

[luca]

Hello!

Thank you all for the good hints! I'm going to the shop to buy some soil now.  I also got a small ikkunalaatikko.  I'll try to sow some more seeds there.  I actually have a bunch of different species I ordered from "Nicky's Nursery" in the UK:

- Habanero Chocolate brown
- Ají Rojo
- Chiltepin
- Scotch Bonnet
- Courgette de Nice
- Hercules F1
- Paper Lanter

Does anyone know which ones of these germinate more easily? My main objective right now is to get some more seeds to sprout.

About the brazilian seeds, I can probably get the most common ones quite easily next time I go there, but as to these rare ones I don't know.  thietavu, where did you read (or heard) about those "completely new chili/capsicum species"? I have some contacts in the Brazilian Institute of Agriculture (EMBRAPA) where they make lots of research... Maybe that they could help find these new species...

Sorry for the many beginner's questions here, but I am really a beginner in the chilli growing field... even though I've loved (eating) chilli for so long time! ;-)

[kyris]

For germinating I suggest rockwool cubes (from Viherpeukku. They have small hole where to drop the seed. Rockwool cubes are quite cheap also £0.20 a piece.

I have switched to rockwool completely as medium for germinating, and the results are fantastic!

I put the rockwool cubes in miniature greenhouse which I warm up with lamps.


You can find those miniature greenhouses from almost any bigger store. Viherpeukku does sell them. but for germinating they are rather big and expensive. I currently use a small one I bought for €4 at Ruoholahti CityMarket. I holds 15 small rock wool cubes.

[Nuthead]

And if you want to get some new varietes a bit easier while staying here in finland the best place to get them is: fatalii@sci.fi
He´s got over 1000 varietes so.... and very nice prices too.  
As the last thing on my mind, if you do get your hands on some newly found
chilies, I'm more than happy to buy some from you if you can spare any!! )

take care


Kaj

[Aji Inferno]

Hello!

About the brazilian seeds, I can probably get the most common ones quite easily next time I go there, but as to these rare ones I don't know.  thietavu, where did you read (or heard) about those "completely new chili/capsicum species"? I have some contacts in the Brazilian Institute of Agriculture (EMBRAPA) where they make lots of research... Maybe that they could help find these new species...

Please, read this document: http://www.saunalahti.fi/thietavu/Chili/Brazil%202002%20bp037.pdf. It's in Portuguese and I could only translate it rather poorly, but there's the info about newly found Brazilian capsicums. Especially the last paragraphs are quite interesting...
Your contacts to EMBRAPA could well prove to be invaluable because if you see "Villichilit" section of "Inferno" and where most extremely rare chilis grow - it all leads very often to Brazil... The Chili Wonderland!

[luca]

Please, read this document: http://www.saunalahti.fi/thietavu/Chili/Brazil%202002%20bp037.pdf. It's in Portuguese and I could only translate it rather poorly, but there's the info about newly found Brazilian capsicums. Especially the last paragraphs are quite interesting...
Your contacts to EMBRAPA could well prove to be invaluable because if you see "Villichilit" section of "Inferno" and where most extremely rare chilis grow - it all leads very often to Brazil... The Chili Wonderland!

I'm writing a translation of this document and I'll post it here as soon as it is ready, in case you're interested in going into more details about the new species found in Brazil.

[Aji Inferno]

Please, read this document: http://www.saunalahti.fi/thietavu/Chili/Brazil%202002%20bp037.pdf. It's in Portuguese and I could only translate it rather poorly, but there's the info about newly found Brazilian capsicums. Especially the last paragraphs are quite interesting...
Your contacts to EMBRAPA could well prove to be invaluable because if you see "Villichilit" section of "Inferno" and where most extremely rare chilis grow - it all leads very often to Brazil... The Chili Wonderland!

I'm writing a translation of this document and I'll post it here as soon as it is ready, in case you're interested in going into more details about the new species found in Brazil.

Excellent!!! Thanks in advance, Luca!

[Fatalii]

I'm drooling all over my keyboard!

Can't wait to read the document.

But what could be more interesting than GROWING those new capsicums.... nothing can!!!

[luca]

The study is very academic and full of genetics terms and stuff.  But there is also some information about the new varieties and whether they should be included in the Capsicum gender or not...

I hope I can finish the translation soon, latest during the weekend ;-). Unfortunately, I don't have too much spare time to work on it during working days' evenings...

[H-Bomb]

I also can't wait to read it! Thanks for translating it, Luca. The wild species have always fascinated me, so every bit of information is appreciated.

-Harry

[Anonymous]

Drooling here also

Every bit of information is very welcome