Growing Guides How to grow chillies

Date Published:

15/10/2007

Sowing

As chilli plants have tropical origins, they won't survive outdoors through the rigours of the British winter.

However, because of our relatively warm summers, they can be started off indoors and taken outside later in the year, where they will be most likely to produce a decent crop. Just remember they are frost-tender and require a minimum temperature of 10oC (50oF) and bright light to grow well.

Fill small pots or seed trays with a seed and cutting compost, available from any garden centre. Water them using a watering can with a fine sprinkler head, and wait about 10-15 minutes for the moisture to drain through before sowing your seeds.

When you do, space them about 2.5cm (1in) apart, then cover the containers loosely with polythene to help retain moisture.

The pots should ideally be placed in a warm, light position (such as a windowsill) from late winter to early spring.

Once the seedlings are large enough to handle, transplant each one into an individual 8cm (3in) pot filled with standard potting compost. Move the plants into larger-sized pots as they grow to maintain good, healthy growth.

Planting

As long as you manage to keep the temperature warm enough, you'll find chillies are quite fast-growing once they're established. They can become heavy feeders as a result.

For this reason, you should avoid using general or multipurpose composts that you might see in garden centres and opt for a more powerful potting mix. For a truly bumper crop, you should also feed the young plants with a half-strength solution of liquid houseplant fertiliser each week.

When the plants are 12–15cm (4½–6in) in height, they are ready to be moved into their final containers. A 30cm (1ft) pot should easily support three of them.

Plant them so that their roots are just below the surface and firm down the compost gently by watering it with a fine sprinkler head fixed to a watering can.

If the compost settles, top up each pot until the surface is level and sits about 1cm (½in) below the rim. 'Pinch out' the top tips of the plants by cutting them just above a leaf, to encourage further shoots to form and create a better overall shape.

You will need to train them up canes using loops of string if the fruits are going to be plentiful or large and heavy (check the seed packet).