Hi pal,

I grew twilights myself last year. They do tend to be a smaller variety. Mine ended up around 30cm tall but they did fruit heavily. Keep in mind that we haven't had a lot of Sun recently, I think a lot of us are experiencing slow growth rates as a result.
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I hear that Colin!
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Good looking plants there mate, nice and bushy!

The bad weather seems to have halted the growth of mine for the moment.
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Definitely aphid eggs Colin. Good job you noticed them before they hatched as a full blown infestation is very difficult to deal with. The usual way to prevent aphids is to spray your plants with a weak washing up liquid and water solution every now and again. I do this myself at the first sign of aphids and it seems to work.

If you've got a lot of plants you might try and attract ladybirds to eat the little blighters. You can buy ladybird houses and even liveadybirds themselves!
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I'll take that bet Stuie, even though it sounds like you have some inside information there.

As for sending you some chillies I'll be happy to oblige, if I get any this year!
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I live at the top of the hill in Crystal Palace and it was blowing a gale last night. Was worried that my plants were going to get their heads blown off.

June 20th you say? I'll hold you to that!
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Fingers crossed for you Stuie. Hope you win the battle against whatever it is that had a go last time.
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What a shame mate!

The rest still look fighting fit though Stuie, the bad weather doesn't seem to have done them any harm. I reckon that copper wire should keep the rest of the buggers out.
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Hi guys,

I just wanted to hear from those of you who grow your plants outdoors. How are your chillies doing in this vile weather? Has anyone decided to bring them in for a spell?

Mine are still out there and seem perfectly happy to cool off for a bit!
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Wilko pots for me too Colin!
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Can't give you any first hand advice on this Colin. What I will say is that there was a lot of discussion in the forum on this very topic last season so it's probably worth trawling through some old threads.
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I was having a look at ladybird homes today mate. The annoying thing is that the house was full of ladybirds earlier in the year but now they've buggered off!
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How young were the plants exactly? It sounds like this could be the problem. I would advise against spraying seedlings or immature plants with anything at all. Your best bet is to continue removing them by hand. If the problem gets out of hand later on, and you do need to spray, maybe try a small area of the plant first to see how it reacts. I've also heard that you should rinse the soap solution off after a couple of days. I've never bothered to do this myself however, and never noticed any adverse effects.
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Cheers for the assistance guys!


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I'm not sure here Guy. It is possible that you used too strong a solution of soap and water but not that likely unless it was almost pure detergent.

If you can provide some more information it might help better diagnose the problem. It sounds to me like the plant went into shock caused by a sudden change in conditions. Had it recently been repotted or moved outside. Also what time of year was this, maybe it experienced a sudden drop in temperature.

I would say go ahead and spray the new plant with a WEAK fairy liquid solution. Two drops in a spray bottle is usually enough.

Good luck!

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Get a bottle big enough to hold all your chillies then pack them in tightly. Top the bottle up with good quality olive oil and cover tightly. You are not exactly marinating the chillies, the oil is there to preserve them. I would be sure to add some seasoning and maybe some dried oregano to add to the flavour.

Another possibility is to halves the chillies, sprinkle them with sea salt and then roast them in a very low oven before bottling them.
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Don't worry too much mate. It still looks as though you have plenty of very healthy seedlings. You should get a serious crop this season!
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Sorry can't seem to upload more recent pics. The only one that worked shows some of the plants a few weeks ago when I started hardening them off. As soon as I get a chance I will take some new photos.
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