How to grow chilli peppers
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Growing
chillies at home is easy, and there’s a huge variety of different types to
choose from. Whether you want flavour, heat or colour, there’s a chilli pepper seed for
every occasion.
Homegrown
chillies can be delicately mild or fiercely hot. Incredibly versatile, you can
grow them on sunny windowsills, in a greenhouse, or directly in the ground.
They’re also perfect for containers and their brightly-coloured fruits are a
great way to brighten up conservatories or patios. Here's how to grow your own
bumper crop of chillies from seeds or plants.
How to choose the best chilli
pepper
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Chillies
contain a chemical called capsaicin that stimulates the nerve endings in your
mucous membranes; that's what makes them feel hot when you bite into one. The
amount of heat depends on the variety, the maturity of the plant and the
growing conditions.
The heat of each chilli is measured by the Scoville Scale. In 2017, Welsh fruit
grower Mike Smith accidentally grew the world's hottest specimen. Registering
2.48 million on the Scoville scale, experts say that just one of his ‘Dragon's
Breath’ chillies is enough to trigger anaphylactic shock!
Whether
you like your chillies delicate and mild or sizzling hot, there’s plenty of
choices. Try planting a few different varieties to find the one that suits you.
Some of our favourites include:
- Big Bomb’ F1 - medium heat and a round shape ideal for stuffing and baking.
- Jalapeno - medium heat, ideal for salsas and pizza toppings.
- Padron’ - pick small and green for medium heat or allow to mature to a much hotter red. This tapas pepper is great in stir-fries.
- Heatwave’ - hot and beautifully ornamental.
- Demon Red’ - very hot, an attractive dwarf variety bred for
windowsills and containers.
- Tropical Heat’ - extremely hot mix of red and orange Caribbean
'Habenero', plus yellow and red 'Scotch Bonnets'.
How to grow chillies from seed
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January
and February are the perfect months to start sowing your chilli pepper seeds
indoors. Although you can still sow the seeds right up until the end of March,
early sowing gives your chillies plenty of time to ripen before the end of
summer.
The
hottest varieties need the longest growing period. If you didn’t give yourself
enough time to grow from seed this year, don’t worry, you can buy chilli plants too.
Here’s how to grow your own chillies from seed:
- Start
your seeds off indoors - they need plenty of warmth to germinate.
- Fill a seed tray or some 10cm pots with moist seed compost and flatten down.
- Sow a few seeds on top and cover with a fine sprinkling of vermiculite or compost.
- Place in a propagator at a temperature of 18-25C
(64-77F). If you don't have a propagator, use polythene to cover your seed trays and pop them on a sunny windowsill or in a warm airing cupboard.
- Germination usually takes 7-10 days, after which you can move your seedlings to a warm, sunny windowsill (or heated greenhouse).
- Keep the compost evenly moist but take care not to let it get soaking wet.
How to transplant chilli pepper plants
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When
your chilli seedlings are big enough to handle without breaking, gently
transplant them from seed trays into individual pots of compost and grow them
on until all risk of frost has passed. When they’re large enough, you can
transplant them to their final position, which is usually about May.
You
can grow chillies individually, by transplanting them into 2-litre containers,
or plant them in grow bags, allowing three plants per bag. Place the pots or grow bags undercover in a warm greenhouse, conservatory, or polytunnel.
Alternatively,
plant your chillies outside in a sunny, sheltered spot. Gradually acclimatise
your plants to outdoor conditions over a period of 7 to 10 days before
transplanting them into well-prepared beds of fertile, moist, well-drained
soil. Space your chilli pepper plants 50cm (20") apart in the
ground.
How to grow on chilli pepper plants
Water
your chilli plants regularly throughout the growing season, and once the first
fruits have set, feed them weekly with a high potash tomato fertiliser. Also
remember to:
- Pinch
out the growing tip of the first flowering shoots to promote more
branching and a better harvest.
- Water regularly but sparingly. It's best to keep your soil a little on the dry side because slightly stressing your chilli plants helps to produce hotter peppers. Taller varieties of chilli pepper may require staking.
- Add a thick mulch of organic matter around the base of the plants to help conserve moisture and suppress weed growth.
Growing
chillies indoors? Do remember to open windows and doors to provide insects
access to the flowers to ensure good pollination. Alternatively, hand pollinate
the chillies by moving from flower to flower, tickling the centre of each with
a fine artist's paintbrush.
When to harvest chillies
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Chillies
require warmth and long sunny days to ripen properly. From early sowing,
this shouldn't be a problem, but later sowings in the UK may leave your peppers
feeling the cold as summer days begin to shorten.
Chillies
are usually ready to start harvesting in about July. The more you pick, the
more chillies your plant will grow. Towards the end of the season, you might
like to leave chillies on the plant a little longer, allowing them to mature
until they achieve a deep red colour and intense flavour. This will let the
plant know to produce less fruit, so wait until you’re ready to slow down.
If
the weather starts to cool before your crop has fully ripened, bring your
plants indoors and let them ripen on a warm sunny windowsill. 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.
How do you store chillies?
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To
preserve your chillies to enjoy over the winter, you can dry them or freeze
them:
- How
to dry chilli peppers: Take
a needle, and thread the stems of the chilli peppers together on some
twine so that they form a "daisy chain". Hang them in a warm,
well-ventilated spot and let them air dry over a period of 4 to 5 weeks.
- How to freeze chilli peppers: Freeze chillies in freezer bags straight after
picking, without any further preparation. After you defrost your chillies,
you'll find the flesh slightly softened, but don't worry, they'll taste
just as good as they did when you picked them.
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