~ Monster Chilli ~

[Boots]

What are the chances of relocating a Chilli, chilli monster?

I have a ripper by my front door, but am not happy with the spot at all, as it just keeps drying out (doesn't everything ?) and I can't build it up properly where it is. Tried logs and bricks but the soil just keeps slowly washing through and it needs topping up everytime I turn around.

It was originally planted in a small raised bed on top of very hard clay, but the roots keep exposing, and I am uncertain if they have actually made it through the clay or not. There is an obvious twisted root ball that begins to show fairly often. Do chilli's have a big tap root? Or is mainly just the root ball I need to worry about?

I can't remember its name, but it produces the big red long chillis about an inch and a half across, that some folks also eat green (apparently?)

It is at least 6 foot and lives on tap water, because if rain should happen to grace us with its presence, it seems to miss this spot. Would i be dicing with it too much if I tried relocating it into a tyre?

[Wombat]

6 foot!!!!!!!!! Bloody hell that is one serious chilli!

I have moved smaller ones into pots at the end of summer Boots and they don't have any tap root that I could find. A plant that big would have a massive root ball though.

Winter before last I moved the mandarine tree about 20 metres by pruning the living daylights out of it, digging around the drip line, rocking it onto a tarp and dragging it to it's new home. It isn't fruiting a huge amount but it is send out plent of growth and seems much happier than where it was. You could use the same approach (it was about 10-12 foot tall and had been there 20 years).

Nev

[The Chili Monster]

No tap root that I've ever noticed, but as Wombat pointed out, it'll have an enormous rootball. So long as the roots and stem (which I imagine will be quite thick) are not damaged it will survive a move.
I don't see why you couldn't try growing in in a tyre ... it works for potatoes (a cousin of the chili) plus a tyre could help keep its roots cosy. I'd wait until evening, move the plant ( there's an article on this site on moving trees into a container for ideas), drench the rootball with either Epsom Salts or a good general purpose fertiliser to minimise stress to your plant (I do this whenever I pot up and haven't lost a plant yet) and build up with soil or compost with sand up to the first set of leaves. The plant should then develop extra roots quite quickly. If you're using an identical soil to the one the plant's already in, then it sounds as if it's draining too quickly and then mixing in loam (preferably) or clay will help.
From your description of the fruit and the size of the tree, I'd say it was either an Ancho Poblano (mild heat, ideal for stuffing and actually the most widely eaten chili in the US) or an Anaheim.
(I should point out to those in colder climates that neither the Anaheim or the Ancho are suitable for overwintering, they are naturally large plants).

[Wombat]

Well said CM,

If you want to stay organic Boots, you could use seaweed water instead of epsom salts

Just a thought

Nev

[alcina]

I thought epsom salts were officially organic?

Alcina

[Wombat]

eh! It's a chemical and artificial, what's the difference between it and superphosphate?

Nev

[alcina]

It originates from Epsom in England and was obtained by boiling the local water and using the residue. Though today it is obtained from other sources. What I meant was, isn't Epsom Salts on the (if there is such a thing!) official list of "approved" organic substances? I see the use of Epsom Salts recommended on a whole host of different Organic sites. No-one implies that its use would make you un-organic, quite the contrary.

Alcina

[Boots]

Thanks all, will give the relocation a go, when it picks up a bit. Went out today and found it really shrivelled. Not good. If there is no improvement after todays soaking I will just go for broke.

No idea about Epsom Salts... though I doubt it is something I would use. Australia has a major salinity problem as a result of mass tree clearing, so I would not even opt for using table salt in a garden. A biologist once told me salt was more damaging to the earth than Roundup, so I just avoid it now. The days of the good old salt soaks are over...

I have a heap of fish emulsion here, Nev. Figure that'll do, yeah?

[The Chili Monster]

That'll do, Boots.

Fish bones contain phosphates, phosphates promote root growth.

[Wombat]

Epsom salts is (are?) magnesium sulphate - a plant fertiliser as opposed to sodium chloride (table salt).

I can't see the difference with epsom salts myself (if it was called magnesium sulphate would it still be organic?). The issue with artificials is that they feed the plant by providing soluble (and leachable) nutrients but not feeding the soil. So does epsom salts, but if better people than myself call them organic, who am I to quibble!

Nev