Chilli peppers are one of the most exciting crops you can grow. There is a huge variety in appearance and flavour. They are ideally suited to growing indoors, in containers or in greenhouses and polytunnels. They are a crop that loves sun and heat so bear this in mind when starting your seeds.
They need a long growing season so it’s good to start them early in the year if you are relying on sunlight rather than grow lights.
For this example, we are going to assume you are growing on your windowsill.
- Sow chilli seeds in module trays or small pots in late February/March.
- Use fertile soil. Ideally a peat free growing medium with added fertiliser. (check out our peat free compost kit.)
- Seeds need a temperature of 20 - 25 degrees Celcius to germinate effectively. Using a propagator will set you up for success by giving a nice and warm consistent temperature.
- When plants are about 15cm tall, transplant them into a larger pot to grow on. You can also plant them into a grow bag or self watering pot at this stage.
- Tip: Chilis will only grow as large as the size of the pot allows them to. If you want to keep your plants small, keep them in smaller pots. This will result in a smaller harvest however.
- Watering will depend on the size of the pot you have used. Water when the top few cm of soil are dry.
- It is good to use a fertiliser suitable for chilis for each watering.
- Depending on the size of your plants you may need to stake them to support them also.
- For plants grown on windowsills, it is recommended to regularly rotate them so all sides of the plant are receiving sunlight.
- When you begin to see flowers forming, it’s a good idea to gently “tickle” them. This helps the pollen in the stamen (male part) fall and pollinate the stigma (female part) of the flower.
- The petals will begin to fall off and you should begin to see fruits forming.
- Chilis will generally ripen from green through to their final colour.
- You can eat peppers at all stages of ripeness.
- Harvest pepper by snipping them off at the stalk.