Q: Can I train my chilli plants like tomatoes? A: If you wanted to train the plants into a more vertical shape, then pruning out the side shoots would be necessary.
This is a technique used by large greenhouse pepper growers to maximize the area under glass. Q: I would like to keep my chilli plant over winter, what should I do? A: Chilli plants tend to stop growing and flowering during the winter months in the UK.
Most chilli plants can be treated as perennial house plants, placed on a sunny windowsill and watered with a little tepid water when dry, depending on the room temperature central heating can dry out the plants.
If a large plant is coming in from a greenhouse or patio, you may need to prune it to fit the available space. You can lightly prune to re-shape the plant or heavily prune on the main stem. If the plant grew to an ideal size, then a hard pruning will allow it to re-grow with the same fruit cover and size the following season. Keep the compost just off dry while the plant is dormant and keep it somewhere light, but not with extremes of temperature. In the UK, overwintered plants usually start to become active in March or April, depending on where they are being kept.
Fresh compost in the Spring will help to get them going. A: Drying chillies is more about air circulation than heat, so place them in a well-aired basket and put them somewhere warm — such as over a radiator. Spread the chillies in a thin layer and leave the stalk attached. They should dry out in a few days. Chillies with thick flesh like Jalapenos are not a good choice for drying. A thin-fleshed chilli, like Ring-of-Fire, is an easy chilli to dry.
Once dry, store in an airtight glass jar or tin, and keep out of direct sunlight to preserve the colour and flavour.
A: Yes, they freeze very well. To save space in your freezer, chop chillies by hand or in a food processor before freezing and store in thin slabs or ice-cube trays. Q: I would like to collect and save chilli seed for next season, do you have any tips?
A: The ideal time to pick a chilli to be used for seed stock is just as it reaches its ripe colour. Cut the fruit open and with a blunt instrument, scrape the seeds out onto paper. Place the seeds in a warm spot out of direct sunlight until they dry a little — this will prevent them developing mould.
Store wrapped in foil and place the foil wrapper in a tin or glass jar with a lid. The fridge is good if you want to keep the seed for several years, but they should be fine for a couple of years if they are dried a little before storing.
To receive occasional updates on growing chillies, subscribe to our newsletter. A: Most of the heat in a chilli is held in the spongy material that the seeds are connected to. To compare the heat of one hot chilli to another, we usually liquidize a whole fruit in a set amount of water say, 1 litre and then taste a teaspoon of the water to gauge the heat. If you would like a more scientific test result, we can recommend the services of the Scoville Heat Laboratory.
Chilli Hotline Trade Become a Stockist Brochure. Orders Wish list Track my order s. Track my order s. Sign in Register. View basket. Login Register. My Account. Become a Stockist Brochure. Growing Chilli Plants Learn how to grow chilli plants from seeds from the experts. Germination and pricking-out We tend to sow seeds about 5mm deep and in small pots, with a number of seeds of the same variety in each pot. Hot and Very hot chillies for cooking? Plants for the patio? We recommend a plant with smaller fruits or pliable stems to prevent too much damage from rough weather.
Twilight, Aji Limon and Firecracker are good choices. You can grow other varieties, but they may need some support from canes. What chilli plants are best for hanging baskets? Q: How late in the Spring can I sow chilli seeds? Chilli plants that want to be big like Padron peppers will need better light than small plants like Prairie Fire , so if you only have a small area with good light, use that area for your larger plants Q: When using your plugs, how should I sow them and pot them on?
Q: What compost should I use? Q: Can I use an automatic watering system? Q: How often should I water my plants? Q: Should I water from the top or the base? Use black pots — they help to keep the compost warm. Use rain guards around the plant base to deflect heavy rain. Consider bringing the pots indoors during bad weather. Use soil-based compost heavy, so less likely to blow over John Innes No. Harvest chillies one at a time by cutting them from the plant with secateurs.
Chilli peppers grown outdoors must be harvested before the first frost. Do you love growing chillies? Let us know on our Facebook page - and if you have pictures of your crop, please share! Plants and gardens have always been a big part of my life. I can remember helping my Dad to prick out seedlings, even before I could see over the top of the potting bench.
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Save to My scrapbook. Jobs to do now. Grow While plants are still growing indoors, move them into larger 13cm 5in pots when roots begin to show through the drainage holes in the base. When they reach about 20cm 8in tall, or if they start to lean, stake with a thin cane. Watering and feeding Water little and often to keep the soil evenly moist, avoiding waterlogging and drought. For a bumper crop, feed plants with a high-potassium liquid fertiliser weekly, once flowering starts.
Pruning and supporting Chillies naturally branch into two or more stems with a flower bud at the joint. Makes a good pot grown compact greenhouse grown plant 18 to 24 inches high, Hot fiery flavour, 80, units on Scoville scale. More cold tolerant than most. Green to red when ripe. Gets hotter as it matures.
Green , mild, then yellow, meduim heat, then red, hot. Height of plant 60 cm's. Ranges from 5, to 15, SHU's. Fruit green to lilac to purple to orange to red, all on plant at same time so very colourfull. Heavy cropper, of oval upright fruit held above foliage. Visit a local nursery to find out what variety will thrive in your local environment. Certain chilies are used in different areas of the world for special recipes; for example, Serrano chilies are used primarily in Mexican dishes, habanero peppers are common throughout Mexico and Latin America, and the Calcutta pepper is used in Asian curries.
Find the best location for planting. Chilies are heat-loving plants, and are the most successfully grown in areas that have plenty of sun. Choose a plot in your garden that gets full sun or at least mostly sun for the majority of the day.
If you live in a desert area, you may need a location with a bit of shade so that the chilies do not get sunburnt. If you live in an area that gets lots of rain, try to find a location in full sun with good drainage; too much water will drown out the chilies and cause them to grow less fruit.
Although you can certainly just plant your seeds directly into the ground, you might not have as high of chances of them sprouting than if you start them indoors and transplant them as seedlings.
Starting seedlings is easy; just plan it out at least 6 weeks prior to transplanting the chilies outdoors. Chilies can be transplanted outdoors after your area's last frost date. Amend your soil. The soil in your garden may need to be altered slightly in order to produce the biggest, healthiest, and heartiest crop of chilies.
Chilies prefer soil that has good drainage and that has plenty of nutrients. Therefore, mix a bit of sand into your soil to help it to drain better, and incorporate in compost a few weeks or months prior to planting. If your soil has poor or average drainage, you can enhance it by mixing in a bit of sand. Always test your soil first.
If your soil is low in potassium, then visit a local nursery to choose a fertilizer that has lots of potassium and little nitrogen like a blend. The further in advance you can prepare your soil, the better your chilies will grow. Part 2. Prepare the seeds. To help make the coating of the seed easier for the new growth to penetrate, you can use a damp paper towel and plastic bag to soften them up.
Place a folded damp paper towel in a plastic bag and then place the seeds inside of the towel. Put the bag in a dry, warm place, such as a cupboard in your kitchen and leave them there for two to five days. The seeds should start to sprout within this time frame and then you can plant them. Plant the seeds in small containers. You can purchase seed trays for your seedlings, or you can simply use individual planting pots for each seed.
Fill each small tray or container with your soil already amended with fertilizer and compost. Water the seeds. Seeds will need to be watered on a daily basis, so that the soil is kept moist at all times. Give seeds the biggest amount of water after first planting, and then continue adding about a teaspoon of water daily after that. Place them in a location with heat and sunlight. If not, place your seeds in a location that gets plenty of sunlight, like a south facing window, and lots of heat, like near a radiator.
Just be careful the seeds are neither too hot nor too cold, as both will result in little to no growth. Watch for the seeds to sprout.
It will take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks for the seeds to first sprout. You can continue waiting for them to grow and for the heat outdoors to rise, or you can plant them as is when their true leaves come in. Harden off your seedlings. Harden them off by placing their pots or trays outdoors for a few hours every day. Start at only 2 hours a day for about a week, and then add one hour to each additional day they are placed outdoors until they can stand being outside for a full 24 hours.
At this point, they can handle being planted outside without fear of shock. Part 3. Plant at the right time.
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