Guest Blog: Hot Dunstable 🌶️🌶️🌶️

We’ve just received another guest blog from one of our customers, and this one is a great one from a local chilli grower, Michael, who grows chillis in his polytunnel to make his own Chilli Sauce.

Don’t forget to check out his Instagram Hot Dunstable to see everything he’s got going on.

Over to you Michael…

Hi there, I’m Michael, Hot Dunstable and I grow chilli peppers.

I got into growing chillies by accident when my sister germinated a tray of cayenne peppers and left them as she lost interest. I took over the seedlings and potted them on, and I’ve been into growing chillies ever since.

My grow area consists of a 6 x 3m polytunnel which is located at my allotment. I’ve also built a dedicated grow room in my shed for starting off seedlings.

I start off my seedlings around February time using jiffy pellets in a temperature-controlled propagator via a heat mat. Once established they are then potted on in 1-litre pots using TA coco coir and kept under a florescent T5 light. They are then fed TA Dual part coco hydroponic nutrients via an old feed and expansion tank from a heating system. This is connected to a waterproof grow bed via an Auto Pot Aqua Valve.

I probably make growing chillies way more complicated than it needs to be but I love to tinker and experiment with different growing techniques. I started off in raised beds then pots and soil. I also experimented with deep-water culture but I now use coco coir which has been somewhat of a learning curve but has many benefits.

All of the water that I use for my plants is first filtered through a reverse osmosis filter and stored in a water butt. I monitor EC via a Bluelab Truncheon and ph via an Apera PH meter. I also use an aircomfort temperature and humidity sensor to monitor the conditions in the polytunnel as chillies don’t like the cold.

I generally use TA/GHE nutrients for the price, performance and simplicity.

I use TA Pro Roots to stimulate root growth in the early stages and TA Fulvic Acid throughout the growing season to promote fine root hairs. I also use Grow genius 40% mono – silicic acid which hardens stems and leaves among other things. A little goes a long way with this product.

I grow 45 plants in 15 litre pots and over 20 different varieties of chillies. Anything from a jalapeno to the world’s hottest, the Carolina reaper. I preserve them by pickling, fermenting and freezing.

I make my own sauces for friends and family but hope to bring out my own lineup for sale in the very near future as for now I’m enjoying experimenting with different ingredients and a variety of flavours.

The greenhouse effect has kindly let me write a follow up in this year’s grow season once the plants are in full bloom. I will be trying out a different grow system this year by Alien hydroponics. They have been kind enough to sponsor this year’s season by sending me out their EasyFeed – automatic watering system. I’m really excited to try out this system and see how it performs.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

Michael, Hot Dunstable 

 

 

Check out Hot Dunstable on Instagram…

https://www.instagram.com/hot_dunstable/

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