The hot chilli situation is still on the go. I believe that when I last posted on this, I was obtaining the Carolina Reaper seed from locally here in Australia which arrived in a small sealed bag, 10 seeds only. I did Google the best method to grow them and found that I required a temperature of around 26-27 deg for germination.
I thought I was going to be able to obtain this by leaving the them near the wood heater however after 3 weeks nothing happened. I parted the soil from around the seed and found that they hadn't germinated.
I had only 5 seeds left so I borrowed a small heat mat to slip under the growing tray. This worked well, they were just breaking the soil surface in 4 weeks however they were so slow in growing from there on. They took another 4 weeks to get to a height of 30mm I was too scared to apply liquid fertiliser to them just in case they died.
After 3 months they were still only 50mm in height. I transferred them into a larger pot and added some blood and bone to the soil mix. They must have liked this as they then took off. I have them currently in a 300mm pot now and they are approx. 800mm in height, however they have not flowered as yet. They do have a few stalks protruding from the plant that have a small bud on the end that look like they may turn to a flower.
I did also buy from Bunnings a Habanero variety just in case things didn't turn out. These are going well with some fruit forming and coming into colour.
I am still waiting on the Carolina Reapers to happen before I get the daughter’s boyfriend. My thoughts are if its going to happen I want it to be good and especially when I found out he had been into my fishing gear whilst I was on holiday in Qld.
I have the plants in a hot house, so with the good summer weather happening at the moment I am hoping it may be around Easter before they fully fruit and ripen to maturity.
The Mrs says it is cruel of me to attempt such a thing especially when the boy is on his way to be family. I told her it was normal boys play and to get used to it if he was going to be a part of our family.
