Guide to Growing Chilli Peppers

In short: Start chilli seeds indoors 8–10 weeks before the last expected frost, at a soil temperature of 25–30 °C. Most varieties germinate in 7–14 days, while super-hots can take up to 4 weeks. Plant outdoors once frost has passed and night temperatures stay above 10 °C.

Guide to Growing Chilli Peppers - How to Grow Hot Peppers

Chilli peppers are plants associated with cultivation in the relatively warm regions of South America and Asia. However, this doesn't prevent us from successfully growing them in our conditions. To achieve a good harvest in our latitudes, it's advisable to pre-grow the peppers at home. This pre-cultivation can take place, for example, in a growing kit, home greenhouse, or simply on a windowsill.

The ideal time to start growing them is at the beginning of the year - January, February, March. The germinated seedlings can then be planted outside when they're larger. The peppers will have more time for quality ripening there, ensuring a quality yield.

Chilli peppers should be pre-cultivated! The plants will be stronger, and you'll ensure better yields.

Germinating Chilli Peppers

It's advisable to provide chilli pepper seeds with sufficiently suitable conditions for germination. There are several ways to achieve optimal conditions - chilli pepper seeds can be placed in:

• germinating peat pellets
• cotton wool
• between two pieces of moistened kitchen paper

The seeds prepared this way should be placed in a ziplock bag, which will maintain moisture throughout the germination period. You can also use a closed plastic container. The bag with seeds or closed plastic container should then be placed in a warm location. Check the seeds regularly. This method ensures that the seeds have enough moisture and warmth, thus accelerating the germination process.

TIP: Attach a label to the bag or plastic container with the plant name and the start date of germination.

Within 3-10 days, the chilli pepper seeds should start to germinate. After germination, transplant the seedlings - either into substrate in a pot or outside into a bed if temperature conditions permit. Sowing outdoors after 15th May is recommended.

Of course, you can use a simpler procedure for growing chilli peppers, which is to sow the seeds directly into compost in a bed. However, it's important to realize that in our conditions, this procedure is suitable for peppers from standardized seeds and common varieties of peppers grown here. Peppers have varying levels of germination capacity, and you can't expect exotic chilli varieties to have the same germination rate as long-cultivated varieties for commercial growers. For example, habanero peppers germinate in 3 to 4 weeks. In this case, the more exotic the pepper variety you want to grow, the better conditions you must provide.

When growing chillies, it's important to provide the peppers with sufficient space for growth. When planting small seedlings, leave at least five centimeters of space between plants and check them regularly. If the soil – substrate in which you've planted the peppers looks dry, it's advisable to moisten it using a spray bottle. The goal is to keep the substrate constantly moist – but not waterlogged. The aim is rather to prevent the substrate from drying out than to keep it wet – less water is therefore better than more water.

Propagators can control both humidity and temperature. If you don't have a propagator, it's advisable to place the seeds in a location with constant temperature – such a place could be, for example, a windowsill above a heat source or on top of a refrigerator – places where the temperature is usually higher than in other parts of your home.

The germination time of different chilli pepper varieties varies greatly. Varieties such as Apache or Jalapeno germinate mostly within 1-3 weeks. Habanero peppers need much longer to germinate – this period can be up to around 6 weeks. Wait for your home-grown peppers, it's worth it!

Caring for Peppers After Germination

Care doesn't end with successful germination of chilli pepper seeds. They need to be provided with suitable conditions for growth. The most important factor is light. Meeting this requirement can be problematic in some northern areas of Europe and during winter months. Dedicated growers solve this problem by purchasing grow boxes. Light is an important factor for our plants to grow nicely. The majority of growers solve this problem by placing the grow box on a windowsill on the side of their home that receives the most sunlight. With insufficient light, pepper plants become elongated and have weak stems.

Chilli peppers have enough light for growth during our summer months. If you want to be a "connoisseur" and perfect the cultivation of chilli peppers, the lack of light can be solved through the use of artificial lighting specially designed for growing. Fluorescent light suitable for growing is, however, a topic in itself :-) However, the lamps shouldn't be too warm so they don't burn our seedlings. Sodium lamps are ideally suited for this purpose. If you don't want to purchase a grow set and try to create a grow room yourself, it's advisable to position the light so it can be adjusted depending on the growth of your chilli plants. Excessive heat from these lights doesn't benefit the plants – it dries them out and burns them. In combination with moist substrate, it can also lead to mold formation.

Lighting should be positioned between 5 – 25 centimeters from the top of your chilli pepper plants. The light should be connected to a simple timer switch, where you can set the lighting duration. This time should be between 16-18 hours per day. You can also simply provide supplementary lighting during the night and keep the plants on a windowsill in natural daylight during the day.

Depending on the type of chilli pepper and its growth rate, transplant the seedlings into larger pots or place them in an outdoor location. You'll know when it's time to transplant the seedlings when the roots start growing out through the drainage holes in the pots. It's important to provide the seedlings with enough space for quality growth.

Transplanting Chilli Seedlings – Planting Outdoors

• suitable containers - once the seedlings develop their second set of leaves - it's time to transplant them into larger containers – pots. These pots can be, for example, around 10 centimeters in diameter. It's very important not to damage our pepper seedlings during transplanting. The seedlings must therefore be removed very carefully for transplanting to avoid damaging their root system. What type of pots you use for transplanting isn't entirely important. It depends on your budget, aesthetic sense, or convenience. If you want to save money, you can use, for example, yogurt cups or other similar containers you have on hand. However, it's important to water the seedlings carefully so we don't damage them unnecessarily.

• adaptation to outdoor environment - depending on the season and temperature conditions, we place the plants back under artificial lighting or on a windowsill, or if temperature conditions permit, outside in the garden. Chilli peppers really love light. The rule here is that the more light they get, the better they'll grow and the stronger they'll be. If you're suffering from lack of space indoors, we recommend investing in a small greenhouse. A greenhouse will last you several seasons and reliably protect your plants from adverse weather conditions and spring frosts.

Once the danger of spring frosts has passed, you can plant the chilli peppers outside. It's recommended to gradually harden off the plants so they get used to the new environment and temperature differences – for example, only for a few hours daily. Chilli seedlings thus have time to adapt to direct sunlight and wind, which they weren't exposed to while growing indoors.

During these initial growth phases, seedlings can be particularly susceptible to harmful insects such as aphids. Check out some of our articles about plant diseases and pests.

Watering and Fertilizing Chilli Peppers

One of the most common questions chilli pepper growers have is: "How often should I water pepper plants?" In the initial stages of cultivation, when peppers are not yet so resilient, it's advisable to water them every 2-3 days or whenever the soil looks dry. As temperatures rise during summer and the soil begins to dry out faster, you can water peppers daily. On hot summer days, and if the plants are in greenhouses, some growers water peppers even twice a day.

Once peppers start flowering, it's good to fertilize them slightly with a fertilizer specifically designed for peppers. It's advisable to always follow the fertilizer manufacturer's recommendations, which usually suggest both concentration and optimal fertilizer dosage. Soluble fertilizer can be prepared – a few drops in each watering.

Pepper Fruits and Chilli Peppers

Over time, as our chilli pepper plants mature, the flowers will gradually turn into fruits. This is the period every grower waits for. It means you'll soon enjoy your own pepper harvest. However, there's one very important intermediate step between flower and fruit. This step is pollination.

It's good to realize that different varieties of peppers and chillies grow at different rates – so if you're growing cayenne peppers – cayenne pepper – these flower and fruit much faster than habanero, scotch bonnet, or naga varieties. These latter peppers require much more light and heat to start fruiting. These peppers are therefore better grown in a greenhouse – by a window – or pre-grown indoors so you can utilize the entire possible growing season.

Pollination usually occurs naturally if your chilli peppers are growing outdoors – by insects, especially bees. If you're growing peppers indoors and the plant suffers from flower drop, it's worth considering hand pollination. It's not complicated at all – gently insert a brush or little finger inside the flower, twist it lightly, and pollination will occur. You can try to mimic a bee's movement and fly the brush from flower to flower.

Some flowers will drop naturally – there's no need to take any major steps because of this. Once pollination occurs, small embryos of future chilli peppers begin to form. Nothing else is needed except to continue providing sufficient nutrients and water. One to two weeks before harvest, it's advisable to stop fertilizing peppers and water with only water – so the plant is essentially flushed of potential harmful substances.

We wish you new culinary experiences with your home-grown chilli peppers. They'll find use in your kitchen - when pickling vegetables, when preparing spicy dishes. You can string chilli peppers on a thread and dry them. They'll come in handy even in winter months.

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