Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I have just pulled my chillies out after poor results,i had chillies nice and red and hot but,not that many. Also i struggled with a fungal disease,where the leaves would yellow and develop dark grey spots then drop off.
Thoughts, is the poor growth due to my constant flow system ? I have read they don’t like there feet wet all the time,i did drop the water level with no effect,by the way when i pulled them the root system was,stunted for a word.
So i was thinking of putting two beds with a syphon and flood and draining them,trying to give the roots more time in the air than water, how do other chilli growers do theres.

As you suspected it's a water level problem, from my experience chillies as well as pepper definitely do better in a Flood and drain system or even NFT.
I had great success with my chillies and the peppers and they are growing on 2x flood cycle x hr, for a total water contact time of 20 min x hr.
You at least have the hot temperature needed for them to get spicy hot!

WHen i grew chillies 'professionally' as in liek 20-30 plants the most common problem for any chilli grower in the first year is overwatering..they hate it.

Thats why i wondered if they were work in AP

In my experience, peppers can be one of the more difficult plants to water correctly. Peppers seem to prefer things to be a little bit more dry. Peppers yellow out very quickly when being over watered and will not grow at all.

Bioaquafarm is correct about higher temperatures making the peppers hotter. I grow a number of varieties, and all of them turn out hotter during the hottest part of the summer here in Texas. Peppers seem to thrive in the texas heat.

I have hydroponic Jalapenos that produce approximately 30-40 1.5-3" Hot Jalapenos per plant. I have Jal plants which usually flower at the same time, resulting in anywhere between 90-120 Jals in total per flower cycle. The Variety is Ferry Morse Organic Early Jalapeno. 6.3-6.8 PH and 800-900PPM in my hydroponic system.

Anyone know if Chilidude is still around? He'd probably have some information to add about growing peppers.

My peppers all seem to grow well in flood and drain, though, if it doesn't drain properly the leaves start to sag and feel rubber like.

I have one jalapeno plant growing in my CF bathtub bed and it's loving life, even though I keep cutting it back to keep it under control. It's had 20-30 peppers on it at any one time for the last 2 months and I'm probably picking 10-12 each week. I have a bell pepper plant that's doing well but it's just starting to produce fruit. Same for a couple of pepperoncini plants.

This bed is constant flood and the water level is about 1" below the top of the gravel. I do have an air line from the extra port on my air pump stuck down into the bottom of the bed. Maybe that's helping.

Photo from 4NOV2013, jalapeno in the center, bell on the far right, pepperoncini hidden behind the joy choy, datil in the lower front (growing in a bucket with soil).

Thanks Guys, Hi gn83tm your jalepeno does look very good,compare that to what i have just removed,this pic was i couple of weeks ago and it looked worse when i pulled it,it produced fruit,nice and hot red chillies,but not that many.

Are you adding any magnesium? yellowing of lower leaves it's a common sign of Mg deficiency.
A lack of flower set is determined by the shortage of potassium during flowering phase, next time you see the flowers appearing try add little more KOH.
Pics; The dark green are sweet pointed peppers (15cm), the pale green it's Hungarian wax chillies (10cm)

Hi bioaquafarm,fellow west country boy, my home town was Bristol,now i live in the north of Thailand.
Anyway very impressive chillies and peppers,as for my system,apart from a slight iron deffiency showing,i stopped using eddha as i got fed up with red fish tanks,nothing else is showing any signs,just the chillies,hence the question about F/D or constant flow. What surprised me was the amount of flowers for such a weedy plant with half its leaves dropped,still i could see all was not well so i pulled them.
Ph is fixed at 7 so i have yet to add Potasium or calcium yet,apart from adding some banana skins to the beds,not sure if that works but i tried it.
Your advice on adding mg please would be appreciated,to a fellow west country boy

Thats utter bull about water level and wet feet. These are all grown in my CF system, Dasboot.

Yowser.... Love those little orange ones, what are they? I imagine they are hot?

ooh gee your stretching my memory there EB, I think from memory they were a bulgarian carrot heirloom. Dam hot thats for sure.

Right, like the orange habs I grew, beautiful to look at, dangerous to touch..

I remember reading through your thread and seeing your pepper crop so if its not wet feet what am i lucking for,Toms are fantastic,as is near enough everything else,just the chillies. I posted before about deficiency and someone replied it could be a fungal disease,if you look at the pic there is a leaf going yellow with a grey spot,i was recommended potassium bicarbonate to spray on the chillies.I have ten starters ready to go in would love to get these right..