Growing Chilli Peppers Guide
Germinating Chilli Seeds
Chillies can be germinated much as any other seed. In order to give the seeds a bit of a helping hand to germinate you can place the seeds in between two sheets of damp kitchen roll and put into a either a sealed freezer bag or plastic container.
Place the bag somewhere warm such as in an airing cupboard. This method will help keep the heat and the moisture around the seeds, speeding u the germination process. An important thing to do at this stage is to label the seeds so you know what is what when it is time to plant them!
After 2-5 days days you will probably notice some of the seeds will have swelled up and may be even be starting to sprout. Now is the time to plant the seeds. Ideally you need a propagator but in reality they can be planted in any kind of container.
Of course you can take the easier approach and simply plant your chilli pepper seeds straight into the compost as described below. Remember that different varieties take different times to germinate. If you are growing habanero peppers for example you can expect them to take up to 3 or 4 weeks to germinate, where as annum varieties such as cayenne will sprout much quicker.
When planting chilli seeds aim to space them about 5cms apart in normal multi purpose compost, ideal mixed with some vermiculite. Then lightly cover the seeds with about 0.5cm of compost and spray the tray lightly with water. Check them every day and spray with a little water if they look a bit dry. The aim is to prevent the compost from drying out rather than keeping it wet.
The two main requirements that the seed has at this stage are heat and moisture. The optimum temperature for germination varies from species to species but roughly speaking can be said to be in the region of 70 degrees.
Probably the best advice is to try and keep the temperature of the seeds constant. This can be achieved a number of ways such as by using a heated propagator or old electric blanket under your seed trays. In my case I simply place the trays either on a window sill above a radiator or on top of the refrigerator which will keep them slightly warmer than room temperature. Here is my favourite way of speeding up germination.
The time taken for germination varies greatly between varieties. More common varieties such as Apache or jalapeno usually germinate in anything between 1-3 weeks. Other more fickle varieties such as Habenero may take up to 6 weeks or longer. The key is to be patient!
Post Germination
Once your seedlings have poked their heads out of the soil they suddenly have a new requirement to fulfill , light. This can be where growing in a northern climate such as the UK can present more of a challenge. Depending on where you are and which way your windows face etc the windowsill or conservatory may well be adequate and provide your seedlings with enough light to flourish. One problem with growing plants this way is that as they reach up to towards their light source (the sun) they can grow tall and spindly.
One way often employed by growers to avoid leggy plants is by introducing artificial lighting, otherwise known as grow lights. There are many complicated (and often expensive) options with many different terms such as HID, Envirolights, EPS, Grow Lights etc etc. For now I will only discuss the use of the simplest and by far the cheapest option, simple fluorescent tube lights bought from any DIY store.
I have had much success in the past using a simple lighting set up that cost under £20 in total. All you need is to head to your local DIY store and pick up a couple (depending on the number of seeds) of fluorescent strip light fixings. Here’s some more detail on this simple grow light set up.
The one downside with fluorescent lighting is that they tend to give off lots of heat which can scold or even kill the seedlings. This problem can be eradicated by using bulbs that are called cool white. From experience most light fixings will come with normal bulbs so be sure to spend an extra couple of pounds on cool white bulbs.
Next all you need to do is to rig the lights up above your chilli seedlings. This can be done many different ways and again much will depend on the resources and space available. One thing to bear in mind is that ideally whatever you mount your lights to should be adjustable as you will need to move them higher as you little seedlings grow into big strong chilli plants!
Ideally the lights should be positioned between 5-25cm from the top of your plants. I tend to use a simple timer switch so that the plants receive 18 hours per day under the lights. Alternatively you can put them by a window during the day then move them under the lights during the night.
Potting On Your Chili Plants/ Out
Once the seedlings have developed their second set of leaves it is time to re-pot them. I usually opt for pots about 10cm in diameter. Be very careful not to damage the seedlings during the potting on process. One good tip is to avoid toughing them altogether by re-potting the area of compost around the seedlings roots. By doing this hopefully you will avoid damaging the roots of the plant.
What type of pot you use is pretty unimportant. You can save money and use old yogurt pots or recycled plastic drinking cups while the plants are still small. Of more importance at this stage is to decide what potting medium to use.
Again depending on the time of year, your location and amount of light available you can keep the plants on you windowsill, in the greenhouse or under artificial lighting. Pepper plants love light, so the more they get the faster and stronger they will grow. If space is an issue inside then I can highly recommend one of the many mini greenhouses available. You can pick these up for only a few pounds and while they may not last forever they will certainly protect you chilli plants in early spring.
Depending on the variety you will most likely need to re-pot the chillies on again in a few weeks time. It is a good idea to avoid potting on to early as there are many theories that potting on too early into too big a pot focuses the plants growth on growing the roots rather than stems, leaves, flowers and ultimately chillies. A general rule of thumb is to only do this when roots are appearing through the drainage holes at the bottom of the pots.
Once the risk of frost passes you can put the plants outside. Initially you might want to harden them off by placing outside for just a few hours a day. This will get the plants used to the direct sunlight and wind that they may not have experienced so far during their indoor life.
During these early stages of growth your plants can be particularly susceptible to pests like aphids. Take a look at our pests and diseases article for ways to keep your young plants healthy.
What to feed chilli plants
One of the most asked questions is how often to feed them and what with? In the early stages and while the weather is quite mild I just give them a bit of tap water every 2-3 day or whenever the soil is looking dry on top. As the summer temperatures increase I will increase this to once a day.
Update: Since moving my chilli plants are housed in a conservatory so now during summer I am watering twice a day!
Once the flowers start to flower I introduce a few drops of liquid tomato food into their water during every other watering. I use half the dilution strength recommended for tomato plants. Doing so gives the plants the extra energy required to keep producing fruit over the summer months.
Chilli Plant Flowers and Fruit
As your pepper plants begin to mature you will start to notice flowers appearing on your plants. This is the sign you have been waiting for as it means that your first chillies are not that far off. All that stands between you and fresh chilli pods is pollination.
Be aware that as was the case with germination if you are growing cayenne peppers the plants will flower and fruit much earlier than varieties such as habanero, scotch bonnet or naga. These slower varieties require much more heat and light and our best kept in a conservatory or greenhouse to ensure they fruit as soon as possible.
Pollination will be taken care of naturally by bees and other insects if you plants are kept outside. If grown inside your plants may suffer from flower drop in which case you may want to consider hand pollination. Don’t worry, this is not as sordid as it may sound. All you need to do is wait until you have a few flowers on your plants then lightly rub your little finger inside the flower heads on your plants. Alternatively use a small artists paint brush or a cotton bud. This will do the bees job of moving pollen around from flower to flower.
Eventually you will see that some of the flowers will go brown and drop off. This is usually no need for alarm as the cause will be a chilli pushing its way through the flower. All you need to do now is to keep up the water/food and wait for your chillies to ripen.
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Quick help if possible,
After getting a new 7 bay propagator for Christmas I planted my seeds on the 1st January. By 7th January, I have shoots of Dorset Naga, Morouga Scorpion and Scotch Bonnets – all my own seeds from previous fruit and also bought seeds of Chocolate Habenero and Purple Gusto have started shooting today.
I have no option of using lamps and my Greenhouse is full of overwintering chillis (which are also growing lots of leaves madly, it is heated! ) Some of the shoots are getting a bit leggy but all have 2 leaves on some growing a third, Shall i just leave them in the propagetor bays as they seem to like the moisture and heat? Should I use fertiliser now or wait. They are on an East facing light Kitchen Window. I am panicing a little as I didnt think they would do anything till atleast Late Feb or early March and so space is a problem. They do seem happy so far – I have also opened the lids vents to keep it from getting too hot
Regards
Andy C – Could you get them under a regular CFL bulb/lamp? Your main priority is to get them as much heat and light as possible. Maybe bring them away from the window at night to keep them a bit warmer. Maybe a tin foil reflector might help maximize any sunlight there is…God Luck!
I was told by a chiili grower in Mexico that to obtain more heat in the chilli, you should stress the plant every now and then, by withholding water for 2 or 3 days. I don’t know whether it’s an old wives tale, but I tried it, and the chillies were fiery hot when I harvested them
Hi Chilli King
Out of the 20 plants I kept for myself, have had mixed results. Had bad problems with mould on 7 of them so put them outside to fend for themselves, not succesfully I may add. There are lots of green pods but nothing seems to be ripening off ( put this down to the awful summer weather we have had ). Not a problem for the delicious Padrons which are best when cooked green, salted and consumed with a cold beer. Cayenne, Aji Limon and Summer of Fire are as I said above are still green and was wondering if they are still fit for use if they don’t ripen off ? Bought a couple of the Quadrgrow self watering systems and will try yet again next year. At least I know they will be receiving the correct amount of water and nutrients. Will also try overwintering again. When I trim them down, is it best to take them out of the 9 inch pots and repot them into smaller 4 inch pots? All advice gratefully received.
Regards……P.Milo……
Hi Chilli King
Sent an email to you a couple of days ago and was told it was awaiting moderation. Now when I look for it there is no sign of it anywhere and I was wondering why this is as I have been sending emails to you for a while without a problem???
Regards…..P.Milo……
Very very helpful.
Hi
I been really successful growing 4 large fresno chilli plants on my window sill in ‘sunny’ Ireland for the first time. I have lots of large (6″) green chilli’s but when do I harvest them? No sign of any turning red they just keep growing!
Thanks
Amy – You can eat them when green (its safe) but they’ll taste better when they ripen to red. Be patient…once your back is turned they suddenly all go red!
Dear Mr. Chilli King,
Our chillis are looking great and have already started to produce fruits this year from your great overwintering advice you gave us just a few months back!
As well as chillis we are also growing sweet bell peppers which are also currently in bloom and producing fruit.
We were just wondering if these can be cross polinated and affect our original chilli plants and the types of fruit that they produce? We don’t want to lose the integrity of our hot chillis or lose any of their heat from cross pollination!
If they did cross pollinate would the fruits of the original plants change or would the change only occur if we were to pot up new seeds that had been part of the cross polination process?
Thank you,
Hi Do The Chilli Tango
What type of chilliis are you growing?
Glad to hear of your successful overwintering. Just wondering whereabouts in the UK that you live for your plants to start producing fruit already as my seedlings have not even started to produce flowers yet, Can’t you just smell the envy
Carry on the good work….P. Milo…….
Never saw this until now! We have about 14 chilli plants, started from just a few seeds in some chillis we brought back from a trip to Greece (nabbed them front a front garden where they were sky-high). Potted them and the first ones grew out of ash- very hardy! We grow them on a shelf under our skylight in the kitchen as we have no garden- turns out, perfect for chilli growing (but very top heavy plants)! We are in Bristol, but it’s the warmth that does it. I think they are something like Thai peppers? Gets very large cops and very hot for it’s size. What do you grow, and almost a year on, how are they doing on their overwintering expedition if so? x
ps. most good luck with your growing
Hi Chilli Tango
Grew some Scotch Bonnets, Summer of Fire,Aji Limon and Cayenne. By far the most successful was Cayenne with poor to fair results for the others. No luck with overwintering except for one Cayenne. Put this down to the horrendous weather we have had here ( Manchester area ) plus we live on the snow line so it’s doubly cold, but not being one who admits defeat will be trying again this year. Will probably grow Cayenne and a couple of other hardy types. Bought a couple of the Quadrow pots advertised and will be starting them off on the Coir pellets in a unheated proporgator on a reptile heat mat. Had great success with the heat mat last year. Anyway will be starting it all off in the next couple of days.
Happy Chilli ing….P.Milo……
Chilli King, When should i cut my seedlings down to one plant per pod currently have approx. three plants per pod all still have one set of leaves on them? Thank You, Scott
Scott – I tend to pot on as soon as their second set of leaves appears.
Hi Chilli King
Only me again. Planted 20 Padron, 15 Cayenne, 15 Aji Limon and 10 Summer of Fire and placed them onto a 30 watt reptile mat as per your suggestion ( temp hovers between 68 and 72 degrees ) and am happy to announce the arrival of approx 20 seedlings so far, the tallest being about 1 inch in height. Am just wondering, should I now put them into my homemade light box or leave them until some more of the little rascals pop their heads up. They are sat on a North facing window sill, not the best I know but nothing else available.. Of all the seeds planted the slowest ones to germinate have been the Summer of Fire ( only 2 just starting to show now ) Would appreciate your all knowing advice on this matter. Once again thanks for all the past and hopefully future help on the wonderful world of chillis.
Kind Regards……..P. Milo….
P.S …. One suggestion that may be helpful to other planters would be is to make sure the seedtray compartments are not to small as the compost tends to dry out to quickly leading to the detriment of germination.
P. Milo – This is always a tricky decision…when to move seedlings from the propagator to the light box. I usually do it when about two thirds have germinated and if those that have start looking like they are suffering. Besides, I find in my light box the temperature remain nice and warm so those that haven’t, still have time to germinate.
Hi Chilli King
Thanks for the prompt reply. Will act on your font of knowledge and keep you updated. ( 29 of the blighters now surfaced ).
Regards ……P. Milo……..
Hi Chilli King
Just a quick update to let you know that I now have 40 seedlings approx and will be putting them into my makeshift lightbox which is nowhere near as sophisticated as yours, basically its just a blanket hanging over a homemade cane framework with the flourescent lighting sat inside. Have tested it overnight and it keeps a healthy 75 degrees. If I had any idea how to download pictures I would send you some. Suppose I will have to get some 6 year old to show me how.
Regards…….P. Milo……..
Hi Chiili King
Just a quick update. Took my chilli plants from under the flourescent light set up and put them in the greenhouse about a week ago. They seem to be coming on ok, but not as quick I expected. At what stage of growth do the flowers tend to appear as there are none showing yet? Plus they are not very big yet , the largest ones ( Cayenne and Padron ) being about 4 inches in height down to a couple of inches for the others ( Aji Limon and Summer of Fire )..Unfortunately none of the 6 chilli plants I tried to over winter in the greenhouse survived but will try again this year that is if the little rascals get a move on and start producing.
Cheers……..P. Milo……..
hi there again, can you help me on this problem ,i have growing all my chilli plants in seed trays with clear lids , they do well under the lids ,but when i take them off to harden my plants a bit the ends of there leaves curl up ? thanks so much if you could help ……..mart
martin – try taking the lids off during the day and replacing them at night. sometimes it’s easy to forget how cold windowsills can get at night. I suspect they are a bit chilli!
thanks chilli king !
Martin
Try them on a reptile heat mat, has worked well for me.
Good luck…..P. Milo
thanks p.milo for your help too.
Hey,
I’ve really enjoyed reading over your site and found lots of useful info so thanks for all you’ve done, but I’m having some problems with my seedlings and a cfl grow light I have bought, I have had 9 seedlings under the light for 10 hours the last 2 days and they are shrivelling up they are still awaiting their 1st true leaves, I was wondering whether they are too hot? I have them under a 125w cfl and reflector and they were about 10cm below the light is this too close?? Any ideas?
Thanks
Wes
Wesley – Maybe too hot. Always start lights off about 1 foot away from seedlings and gradually move them closer each day. Back off if the plants start to shrivel.
First off, I would like to say a big thanks to the chilli king and all the people who have given advice on this site. I followed the advice last year (my first year growing chillies) and as a result had a great crop of Bird eye devils and Pasilla bajios. This year I am growing Ghosts, Butch T and Cayenes.
Just a quick note on the Ghosts; Allot of people are saying that it’s very hard to get Ghosts to germinate, so I started early to give myself enough time to try again if I got nowhere with them first time. (Sewed January 7th) All I did was put four seeds in a regular non-heated propagator, left them in the airing cupboard and gave them allot of water (pretty much saturated) and after two weeks three of the four have germinated and are good strong seedlings. My point is that in my experience it wasn’t necessary to pre-soak the seeds or give them any special consideration, I started them off the same as every other chilli and they were fine.
I hope this helps others who may be considering growing Ghosts and are put off by all the articles stating the long list of things that you need to do to grow them.
Glenn – Good news re the ghosts – where did you get the seeds from? I’ve never tried growing them to date. Let us know how they do!
Below is a link to where I got the Ghost seeds. I’m not sure that he will post outside Europe but it might be worth asking.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/330652145583?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649
Hi Chilli King, Thanks for all the infor on Chillies. I have recently started growing chillies in pots. I will comment / ask questions and and when my plants grow. Right now, they have just started (1 week ago)
Cheers
Shakun
GOOD LUCK EVERY ONE WITH YOUR CHILLIES IV BEEN GROWING FOR 5 YEARS NOW AND ITS ALL TRIEL AND ERROR REALY START OF WITH THE EASY ONES TO GROW IF U HAVE THE SPACE ONE OF THOSE CHEAP PLASTIC GREEN HOUSES R GREAT THERE ONLY £20 IF U GET 2 YEARS OUT OF THEM THATS OK . I NOW GERMINATE MY CHILLIES IN NOVEMBER SUCH AS GHOST ,TRINIDAD SCORPIANDS, NAGRA IN THE AIRING CUPBOARD IN A PROPERGATOR IN KITCHEN PAPER THIS WORKS REALY WELL KEEP THEM DAMP AND B PATIENT NAGRA TAKE 4 TO 6 WEEKS I GROW AROUND 15 DIFF SORTS AND NOW HAVE UP TO 75 PLANTS EACH YEAR MY HOUSE LOOKS LIKE A JUNGLE IN THE WINTER AS I BRING PLANTS IN SOME OF WHICH IV HAD FOR 3 YEARS ITS EASY TO OVER WINTER THEM TAKE THEM OUT OF YOUR 10 INCH POT SHAKE THE SOIL OFF THE ROOTS AND GIVE THE ROOTS A BLADE ONE REPOT AND TRIM THE PLANT TAKING ALL OF THE PLANT AWAY B BRAVE U WILL NOTICE FRESH GROWTH IN COUPLE OF WEEKS I JUST LEAVE IN A V SHAPE GOOD LUCK EVERY ONE
I planted my naga and scotch bonnets in March and the only chillis i’ve had have either dropped off or are the size of small peas and have gone brown on one side. I have been spraying the leaves/chillies with water, is that recommened? Am i doing something wrong? Shaun UK
shaun – if they are going brown it’s usually a sign they are ripening. be patient…!
Does anyone know how big the apache chillis grow to? I am aware it is a dwarf variety, it is fruiting well, however many of the chillis are red in colour but all are only about 10-15mm in length.
Have their growth reduced as a result of my plants still being outside and the temp in Cheshire has dropped recently?
Tom
hi, most of my chillies are growing fine but one looks almost stunted and something is eating it’s leaves… any ideas?
David – Have a close looks – it could be aphids. If it is only one plant that is affected and you have plenty of others i would consider destroying this plant to prevent others getting affected in the future. You should at least isolate the affected plant until you can id the issue and treat the plant.
Hi Dave, i had the same problem, on closer inspection “very close” i spotted 2 little green caterpillars identical in colour to the plant. SQUISH
Harvesting advice required!
Mate. As above, Got some loverly big fat chillies growing but still green. Do i cut the little buggers now and ripen later or try to give them more light and wait….
Not sure on the varieties as donated by a mate but, one is growing straight up, one looks like a scotch bonnet and the other is a scrawny looking thing with loads fruit all over the place!!
captinyzf – be patient! you can eat a few unripe if desperate but best (if you can) to hold off and let the plant do its thing. to help it feed it once per week with half strength liquid tomato feed.
Hi CK
My Doerset nagas are all growing well, but they seem to be dropping their leaves. Any ideas?
Dave
Hi Chilli King, I e-mailed you on the 13th of April ( no reply). I planted 21 firecracker chilli’s in the last week of March, 19 of which have grown to between 6″ – 8″ most of them have buds but are all in 4″ pots. Should I repot them into larger pots or leave well alone. I started them on tomato feed to-day. They all look extremely healthy, much different than the cayennes last year which needed support. How high do these firecrackers grow. Obviously the taller the plant the higher the yield? Any advice would be much appreciateld.
Hi Again Chilli King,
I’ve got a good selection of chilli plants all doing very well – 2 of each of scotch bonnet, apache, fuego, aji limon, ring of fire, cayenne and praire fire – but am having major problems with losing flowers. The plants are flowering well but over 50% of my flowers proceded to fall off rather than begin to turn to chillis (the flower hear and its stalk seem to wither then come off at the meeting of the stalk and main plant).
All the plant are still indoors on large window sills and I wondered if this was perhaps a problem with pollination as the flat is pretty insect free? I feed them with chilli focus once a week and think the conditions are just about perfect for them with temperature in the mid 20s consistently. So, I’m pretty stumped as to why I lose so many flowers. Any ideas?
Thanks in advance.
As a beginner where growing anything from seed is concerned, I enjoyed reading this item. I’ve just planted some unusual varieties sent me from the USA and look forward to seeing what happens (they are growing on a sixth floor west facing balcony). We’ve had a nice spring and the balcony gets good sun from about 1pm for the rest of the day. My carnivorous plants who are very light hungry are enjoying this new habitat (moved here 3 months ago). Wish me luck !
Hay king, now have 90 plus chilli plants growing in green house some about 3 ft high and have pinched the tops and aiming to get them all the same, am i rite in pinching them now?.. After alot of scarching i am 90% sure they are African Devils. some flowers are starting to show already, sure because of the mild weather. is it quite safe to leave them outside now or should i keep them in the green house till later on in the year? Thanks col.
Very glad to have found somebody to give some advice! My husband planted his 3 varietes of chillies from seed in 10cm pots and they have grown very well with lots of leaves on them (approx. 6/7 cms tall). Somebody told us that they wont survive if we dont put them all into individual pots but we live in a flat and dont have room – what is the best way forward from this point?
Caz – They can be grown together. It all depend which varieties you have and the size of pots. You may be best to thin the plants out as if you have too many in a small space they will produce far less fruit than if they were one to a pot. Good luck!
Hi,
Love the website. One question.. I have some chilli plants that I grew from seed last year.. they only ever produce one or two flowers, but no chillis! They look healthy and have lots of green leaves and they get sun and water – but no chillis ;o( Any suggestions as to what I am doing wrong?
Richard – If you’re growing indoor try self pollinating them.
Chilli King.
This is my first year of having a successful crop of chilli plants. I believe I have around 20 in total.However very recently 5 of my plants have begun to show rather concerning symptoms and I have seperated them from the rest of the crop. The under sides of the leaves are covered with what look like white blisters and the leaves are curling and in some cases dropping off. any ideas?
second question. can you repot chilli plants whilst they are flowering?
Angry Jim – Have the conditions the plants are in changed?
I did move house.
But only several came out in blisters. the others seem to be fine flowering and fruiting.
Hi Chilli King, a new season begins. I planted 21 firecracker seeds 3 weeks ago and 19 have germinated. This is my first time for firecrackers so what time scale am I looking at to fruaition. I got about 300 fruit from my first attempt at cayennes last year. That was from about 35 plants, but they weren’t hot at all. I hope I have more heat this time round. Cheers Emmet
Hi Chilli king, i have germinated all my chilli seeds in a heated propagator and they have all sprouted and are growing fine, do i still need to keep the heated propagator on at this stage or should i turn it off?
Don – Aim to keep the seedlings above 15 degrees. Depending on how warm your house is you may want to leave them in the propagator but take the lid off. A min max thermometer is a good investment so you can see how cold they get at night time.
Hello there,
I have a big problem and I can’t seem to find any answers anywhere as to why it’s happening so I really hope you can help. I recently bought a Bhut Jolokia at a local market and at this stage it didn’t have any sign of fruit growing on it. Since getting it home, repotting, watering and feeding it… about 10 small buds started forming and I was really excited, thinking I was gonna have heaps of chillies. The first one is quite big now with the flower all nicely formed etc… but it seems all the others just want to die for some reason. They look like someone has pinched the base of them, they dry up and turn brown so I’ve been snapping them off as they are obviously gone…this is stillall when they’re in bud form and haven’t yet opened up as flowers. so still only got 1 flower going strong, which is slightly depressing… but got more little flower buds coming through… so, you got any ideas what I can do to keep these ones alive and any that may come in the future??? really hope you can help… Cheers
Tommy – any sign of aphids?
There were a few aphids a little while back, but I found a good spray and that soon got rid of them all. But it seems the problem is still persisting… maybe they got to the buds early, and I hadn’t realised? Will see if the latest ones coming through die off…. but If it isn’t a lasting effect of the aphid problem I had, could it be too much sunlight or heat where I have the plant maybe? cheers again for your input
ok, since posting my last one… that one big flower I did have has pretty much keeled over now… looks like a bigger version of all my dying buds… looks like right at the base of it’s stem it has just called it quits and from there to the flower is all changing colour and looks seperate now from the rest of the healthy plant… weird. I dunno what to do now… I’m pretty sure it’s not too moist, or too dry… hmmmmmm :-S.. any ideas?
CK
I have planted my chilli seeds in February (dorset nagas, orange habanero, cherry bombs), and they are all starting to germinate. Is there any compost you would recommend for planting the seedlings on? Peat free or not?
Dave
i live in the costa blanca and have had an execellent harvest from my chillie plants but now we have had a couple of frosts and the plants seem to be dying off should i cut them back or just leave them
phil – i’d cut them back if i was you, and move them inside away from the frosts.
Hi, I’m having a go at growing habaneros, prairie fire, aji and ring of fire this year. My seeds have all arrived. Would it be too hot to place them in the airing cupboard to aid germination?
Catherine – No, just may sure you keep them damp. Put a plastic bag over them and keep checking them to ensure they don’t dry out.
Hey, Ive just order various chillies and sweet peppers, they should arrive some time next week. This will take me to the first week of feb, is this too early to start or not?
Tom
Tom – Never to early to start. Watch out you give the plants enough light though.
I’ve bought a range of chillis to try growing this year – red scotch bonnet, long cayenne, prairie fire (birds eye?), and a few others that I’ve forgotten the names of until the delivery arrives. I’ve also bought a heated propogator to give them a headstart.
I can’t however find space for (or afford) a lighting system. How long do you reckon I need to wait before starting the seeds off given I’m relying on natural light coming through a large double glazed window?
Paul James – I’d wait until late feb/early march if i were you.
hey every one im trying to grow some ghost chillys i hear there a lil tuff to grow but my problem is i dont know how much light to give them 12 hrs of light? or wat? any help guys? lol or 24hr light? lol
jose – i usually opt for 16 hours of light per day if using artificial lighting.
Hi Chillie King,
I live in the tropics (Indonesia) where chillies have just increased in price 5 fold! How deep a pot would I need to keep the same plants going for years? are we talking bucket size or bin size?
Appreciate your view
Best regards
Mike
Mike – It depends on the plant. I usually use 7-10inch pots.
Hay king, just found your site and its helped alot. Borrowed some chillis from a large bush in portugal, dropped them in my bag and forgot about them. Anyway approx six weeks ago found them dried out and thought what the hell lets have ago, planted 8 or 10 in a couple of pots early november, put them on the windowsill and now have 20 of the Devils in pots every where in the house. Not sure the type as the warm cider somewhat took control. The weather was of corse very warm and the bush was large and will stay out all year, would that work here or am i better off just potting them in a green house in the winter?
Colin Byrne – I would advice using the greenhouse until summer arrives.
please see mail below thanks.
Hi,
When is the earliest i can start to sow my chillis, i have birdseye, starburst and cheyennes???
Thanks
lee
Lee – If you want to plant now you’ll need to use grow lights to keep the plant going until spring time.
Hey Chilliking…..just an update! My cheyennes (orange chillis) produced loads of fruit-nice bushy plant -not too big but of all my chillis it grew more ‘chillis per branch’ (!) than the others…I do admit however that this was a shop bought plug plant from wilco (!)-I have saved some seeds & will deffo re-plant-will be ideal as an indoor variety…!My cayennes (again plug plant at wilco!) THRIVED once bought indoors in September (my plastic greenhouse was too cool/kept collapsing!)…in fact most of the growth & chilli production was mid September-end October!!! My ‘from seed’ jalapenos did fairly well-a bit ‘leggy’ but tall-1 1/2 metres! Got a fair few fat chillis from it!
My proudest achievement (!)-habernos of some sort (raw seed from fresh cillis purchased on the local caribbean market)-prodeced a good few handfulls of very hot chillis (!)-planted late-they didn’t show shoots until mid april-fruit ripened late September….
Am overwintering the habernos (2 plants in 2 big pots)-on a windowsill in living room-north facing but gets the light-room is minimum 13 degrees (very 1st thing if cold) but usually 18-21 degrees. The cayenne was so healthy I’m overwintering that in upstairs bedroom-same light/temp as living room. On both I’ve cust back as per your pictures-a touch of water weekly & when strong growth starts (if it does!) I’ll fertalise it with 1/2 strength tomato feed…….the cayennye is already showing signs of new growth from the side!!!!!!!!!!!!
Couple of questions….
1)-When is the earliest i can start sowing seeds (I fancy some jolokias & realsie they take up to 6 weeks to come up) indoors…
2)-Apart from the chillis I’ve mentioned above can you reccomend a couple of types that are good to grow inside? Must say I fancy trying some unusual varieties..!
Thanks for all your help!
Hi there,
i’m living in a flat in Gran Canaria and have some window ledges that I want to fill with herbs, salad and CHILLIES:) Firstly, is there a variety that doesn’t grow too high and too bushy? Secondly, will the climate here be adequate to keep chillies outdoors all year? I’m just not sure how warm is warm… Because the temperature here is pretty constant can I start planting at any time of year? Also, we do get alot of sun, but the flat is north facing, is this a problem? Many thanks!!
Katy – I’m not that familiar with the weather there but i’d say they’ll probably grow all year. If i were you i’d try some seeds now and see how they get on. Plan to plant some more too in about February time too in case the first batch fail. North facing window should be ok as I guess you’ll have nice warm temperatures. Good luck!
Hi I wondered if you can give me a bit of advice, I bought some chilli plants early spring, they have done great through summer and now i need to protect them from the winter. They are in a huge pot to big to bring indoors what the best way to sheild them from the harsh cold??
s bobs – you may struggle to get them through the winter. i’d either try to repot them into smaller individual pots you can bring indoors or try and erect a cloche type shelter over the big pot. good luck!
Cheers for the tips. I was told that in the autumn you can dry the plants then re-pot them early next year, is this wise?
Iain Dixon – Take a look at our article on over wintering
I want to try and grow some chiilies in a pot in the office, I have wide windowsills, lots of natural light, a daytime temperature of between 21 – 23 C and a nightime temp of around 18c. Do you think they will grow?
Brian – They should do. However assuming you are in the UK i would wait until just after the New Year to plant them. Lack of strong day light will be the main problem you’ll face.
Anyone got any news on how their chillis are growing?? Looking for some updates…
We were novice chilli growers this year but have grown two potted plants in the conservatory that have given us a bountifull supply. We have not helped the flowers pollinate but have still had a good yield nonetheless. The plants are now about just over two feet high. Do we have to prune them back or do we leave them alone?
Alistair Robertson – IF you want to over winter them you’ll need to severely cut them back sometime in the next few weeks. CHeck out our article on overwinter chillies on the ‘growing’ menu up above.
I enjoyed the article and found it helpful. Am growing two Bhut Jolokia (ghost peppers) and it answered some important questions for me! I just wanted to comment about the fluorescent lights. I used to grow my plants in my room in my mother’s basement. I used 4-foot fluorescents, with one warm and one cool light in each fixture. I kept them close enough that the plants often twisted around the bulbs inside the shop-light fixture. The bulbs were never too hot. “Warm” refers to light that’s in the red range, while “cool” refers to light in the blue range. Plants do best with both warm and cool light. My Bachelor’s degree was in Biology and my Master’s work was done in Plant Pathology and Structure of Seed Plants (while I lived in the basement), so I do have some idea what I’m talking about. Just a small point, anyway, but if you’re growing plants for years in a basement with no sunlight at all, you really do learn what lighting works best! Thanks again for the helpful tips!
ginny day – thanks for the info – i’ll update the article!
@ginny_day Hey Ginny, how’d your Ghosties go ? Im thinking October 2010, so now by March 2011, you should have had some and tested some…. how’d they go ?
Were they as good as expected ?
I planted something like 10-20 scotch bonnet seeds the other week and left them on a high shelf (I sprayed water on the soil daily for about four days.) I went away for a few days and the next time I looked I had about 15 seedlings (they all have two leaves and look very healthy!)
I live in the U.K. and I’m wondering if they will survive through the winter on a windowsill.
Any tips?
I’m pretty new to growing chillies. I’ve just got the one plant (birds eye) that’s in its second year (I had about 120 fruit this year.)
John – I’m almost certain you’ll need some sort of artificial lights to get them through the winter.
Mine has been through most of the winter and has changed colour all throughout so you don’t need a light but just make it so it has light most of the time.
I’ve always grown chillies on a windowsill all year round in England – never had to rig up a lamp even for seedlings. So long as they’re not right in a draft they’ll be fine.
I have just been given a ‘hanging basket’ of different chilli plants, each with a good crop on. I am going to hang it indoors in my conservatory. What is the life expectancy of the plants, will they last through the winter and if looked after, fruit next year again or will they die off and need replacing.
Cap n Bob – Your best bet will be to cut the plants back in another month or two to allow the plants to conserve energy and shut down over the winter. so long as they stay indoors they should come back stronger and earlier next spring! check out our article on overwintering…
Hi Chilli King,
I have just harvested the rest of my chillies grown in my office and using your instructions. Just to say thanks for all your tips. they helped this novice produce a great crop indoors.
Best regards
Mark UK – Glad to be of service!
I have been growing habenero and jalapeno chillis and they both varieties have started to turn red. As I’ve never seen a red jalapeno before, I was wondering if this is normal, or have I left them too long to harvest?
Thanks.
Poggle, I think that they should both be fine but if you want to harvest now it’s ok cos they’ll continue to ripen off the plant.
My second crop of the year is still very green, not sure they will have time ot go red this autumn as its getting cold and the days are alreads shortening. If I want to overwinter the plant (it’s a Serrano – about 4ft tall) should I be thinking of pruning it back or do I leave it as it is?
Hi there,
I am growing two varieties of chillies, scotch bonnets and apache chillies. I am watering and feeding them with tomoto feed every other watering once every couple of days. They are in a conservatory in good light. The scotch bonnets look very healthy and I am waiting for them to ripen but the apache chillies are struggling and seem to be drying out even though they are still attached to the plant.
Can anyone give me any advice?
Many thanks
Dominic – Maybe you are over feeding them. I tend to only feed mine once per week. Also now the weather is getting colder and there is less light the plants my be suffering a little. SOme of mine are. I’ll be thinking about over wintering them in a few weeks.
Hi there – I got a set of grow your own chillis which came with small cork pots and a little coir disc whic swelled up when watered and filled the pots. I then, as instructed placed the seeds on top and many weeks later all 5 varieties have germinated some slower than others. Anyhow, problem is they have gone very weak looking in the last few days and are getting paler – any advice? So, far all I have done is water them and they live inside on the kitchen windowsill. Thanks!!!
Diane – You have not started them at the right time of year. I’m afraid unless you are very lucky you’ll need to get the plants under some grow lights to get them through the winter. Failing that get them on the sunniest/warmest window sill you have and keep your fingers crossed. Good luck!
Hi,
I am currently starting to grow Scotch Bonnets (Seeds straight from Plant) and they have been planted day before yesterday. as it is winter now, I have put them in a dark cupboard for germination, and I possibly can use my friend’s greenhouse. Any tips on growth?
Thanks
Max – you are planting very early. I trust you’re planning to use artificial lights to get them through the winter?
I have grown chilli’s for the first time. I have Cheyenne chilli’s which are green with a couple turning orange/yellow. Chenzo which are green/black but not red and Cayenne which are green. It’s getting colder now and I am unsure if I should pick them or wait til they all ripen ? Can you dry Green cayenne and black Chenzo chilli’s
Rite – I’ve not actually tried drying them green but you can certainly use them fresh! There is still time for them to ripen yet so i’d say eat some fresh and leave the others on to ripen!
I managed to find some Bhut Jolokia seeds on eBay back in may and decided to have a go growing them. I read a lot of growing forums and most suggested it is impossible to grow them in the UK. It’s now been 4 months and I have successfully grown 10 of these on my kitchen window (the wife is going mad as it looks like a rain forest). Some of the fruit are around 5cm long now and are quite green. Not sure how long it takes for them to turn red. Does any one know?
ian – they can take quite a few weeks. be patient. when they do start to turn it’ll all happen rather quickly! sounds like you have quite a crop!
CK-good news!!!
my plants started flowering!!
ive got some chillies comming out.ive done some research and i think my chilli plants are a variety called CALCUTTA from india. do u hav any idea how long will it grow????
sherry – i’ve not heard of that variety before. where did you get the seeds?
CK- i found the name on http://www.chillisgalore.co.uk. i got the seeds from dried chillies i got from the super market
Help!!!!
My chillie plants 30cm high currently have tiny yellow bugs with a black stripe all over the leaves stem and chillies and keep brushing them off with my fingers the cretins keep coming back how do I prevent them ?
lucy – are you sure these aren’t ladybird larvae? if so leave them on as ladybirds will not harm the plants and will eat lots of other damaging bugs like aphids.
My chilli plants are growing and growing, but still no fruit.
I was given some Dally Dally Chilli pepper seeds when I went to Kalimpong in West Bengal, India. They are apparently the hottest ones that my friend knew of there. However I can’t find any such variety on the internet so that I can get more info. I planted them as seeds and four plants grew. Since then, they have been repotted and are growing amazingly well. One has just passed the 5 foot mark! They live in my conservatory. However, the end of the summer is just about here, and I’ve yet to see even the smallest hint of flowering and thus chillis.
Any ideas on what I should do? Should I just be patient? Will they come next year?
Cheers
Stu
It seems that I’ve tracked down a little more info on the variety. It’s actually the Dalley Khorsani (round chilli) from Darjeeling.
See http://aydiv.wordpress.com/2008/09/12/the-baap-of-all-chilli/
Still no idea when they should fruit though.
Hey CHILLIKING! (you’ve advised me before!).
Have 2 bucket sized pots with 2 x habero chilli plants in them (grown from fresh seed from a chilli on our local caribbean market!)…chillis germinated 1st week April…now have an abundence of flowers & a few (say 6-8) chillis swelling & starting to look like scotch bonnets!!
Temp in room (downstairs n.facing big window) is 17-19 degrees constant…plants watered twice weekly (never overwatered)- once a weelk with 1/2 strength tomato feed…
The leaves on all plants on the lowest stems are turning yellowish & falling off-mid/upper leaves are green & healthy. Is this normal? Or is the plant going into ‘winter mode’ already…whatever happens will try & overwinter as seeds sown late in March! Would love some chillis off it this year-is this possible or do you think plant is a gonner??
I have much much taller jalapenos & 2 cayenne chillis also on n.facing wondowsills & no drop..
Any ideas?
Will try & post pictures if you think it may help!
Yo Chris, I’d cut back on the feeding if I were you. Some of my plants had this problem and trawling the t’internet the most likely cause is over feeding. I’d feed every 7-10 days with 1/4 strength food and see how you get on.
I have the same problem with the bottom leafs. i just pick the yellow ones off and the plant is fine.
I have 4 orange Hab plants and most have fruit now but its getting colder and i am wondering what to do with my plants. They all have loads of little buds but not yet flowering. The weather is set to be wet for the next 2 weeks and i cannot see them developing any further. should i remove the buds or let them try to produce fruit???
Novice Chilli Boy,
Best thing i could suggest would be to try and get the plany ready to overwinter.
Check out the link below for all information on how to do this.
Hab’s overwinter really well as they need a long growing and ripening season.
http://www.thechilliking.com/growing/over-wintering/
Shadowchilli.
I have looked at overwintering but i am planning to keep the plants indoors near a sunny window. I cannot see the temp dropping so that they will die. I will trim a couple down and leave the other as they are. With some luck i can get all the buds to fruit!
Dave,
I have just come across this, thought it might help:
“Why are my chile plants turning yellow?
Courtesy of Byron
Spider Mites – Usually pin point yellowing Insects Nematodes Root Rot Diseasses Viral Disease Overwatering Nutrient deficiencies – lack of nitrogen or magnesium Soil Chemistry Excessive salt, pH Old Age.
Remedies: Check for insects.
This part by Dwalls
If there is no insect damage, give a small quantity of nitrogen – low N value fertilizer. You can also give epsom salt for magnesium. 1-2 tbsp. per gallon of water or sprinkle epsom salt on ground around base of plant.
This part by Byron
Yellowing of leaves could also be caused by excessive nitrogen. Bottom leaves turn light yellow, veins are dark green/brown.
Odds are the leaf tip and or margins will turn brown and become very brittle.
Fix is to over water for several occassions. If the roots are not salt burned (brown areas), the plants have a chance to recover. ”
http://faq.gardenweb.com/faq/lists/pepper/2002070857016653.html
i need some help.
i have grown chillies for the first time. my chilli plant is about 2 months old and now suddenly there are many leaves growing at the top of the plant like a small bush.
does this mean that ill start getting chillies soon. if not when will it start flowering. and what should u feed the plant at this stage? im looking forward to eating my own grown chillies.
PLEASE HELP
Sherry
sherry – it should start flowering very soon hopefully!
Hi CK
My Dorset naga’s are in the greenhouse, all fruiting well, but some of the plants leaves have all turned yellow, and have started dropping off. This isn’t happening to all the plants, just some of them.
Any suggestions?
Dave
Dave,
How often do you feed and water your plants?? If you feed them regularly, what do you feed them with?
Shadowchilli.
HI CK
I feed them every 7-10 days with tomerite, and water them every day.
Thanks
Dave
Dave,
When feeding your chillis, make sure you use only a weak solution of tomerite, i usually use about 1/2 strength when i am feeding. Is the soil drying out in between watering everyday? Maybe overwatering them a little…
hi chilli king.
my jalapeno are growing well,but they are going black,
can you please help.
michael
ive got a chilli plant about a month old now.suddenly there is a bunch of leaves which are somewhat growing like a bush. does this mean that ill be looking at some flowers finally? if not when will the flowers start growing? also the leaves of the plant
are some times turning upside down. till when will this keep happening?
plant type- unknown(seeds got from chillies bought from supermarket)
help is appreciated
hi
ive been growing chillis and peppers since about febuary this year and im not sure wen they are ripe properly can you advise me please i have jalepeno,banana chills,hungarian hot wax(not got open flowers yet),habenaro,birds eye chillis and normal bell peppers im eager to eat my first one but not sure if its ready yet any help would be much appreciated thanks daniel .
daniel coope – it all depend on the specific varieties you are growing. for ones like habaneros they can ripen to orange, red, brown even depending on the variety. jalapenos can be harvested either green or when they are red and a little sweeter. birds eye when green usually. you can eat all of these when not ripe to just give them a try!
thanks chilli king its my first time growing chillis help much appreciated had my first hungarian hot wax yesterday and it blew my head off they are warm ,thanks again .
Hi CK,
I have two large serrano chilli plants in the window of my flat which have done quite well giving a decent crop of fruits despite almost dying twice whilst I was away. I’ve been picking and drying the red chillis and over the last week a new set of flowers has started coming through.
What are the prospects for these flowers? One has already started to grow a chilli but the weather here (southern England) is already getting cooler and I was wondering whether the fruits will continue to grow into autumn?
Paul Jones – Hopefully the weather will warm up again in September allowing more fruit to form. That’s what i am hoping anyway!!
Paul James,
[quote]The Chilli King – Pick the fruit when ripe. The more you do this the more the plants will produce more fruit.[/quote]
Going by this, i would assume that so long as the plant is not wasting to much energy on fruit that is already ripe, the flowers stand a good chance at producing some nice healthy fruit.
Is where you have the plants the warmest and sunniest place in your flat? If so, then there should be no problems…
Chilli-King I need help.
I have just started growing chillies for the first time. I have raised the little darlings from seed but I am now having problems. There are a white specks that have appeared on the underside of the leaf and I do not have a clue what it is and how to treat it. I have reached the stage where flowers are just begining to appear ( 7 weeks after germination) Can I spray them with anything or will they wither and dye before I taste the hot hot fruits of my labour.
Please help!!
Andy G
Andy G,
Without seeing any pictures of your plants, i cant be exact but…
There is two things that my research has bought up.
First would be Powdery Mildews, and the second would be Spider Mites. Do some reasearch on either of them, and you will easialy find some easy cures for them.
Is it possible for you to upload some photos the the Chilliking Flicker group so we can all see the problem?
-Shadowchilli.
Good morning!
A quick one – is it advisable to thin the fruits? I’ve got about a dozen per plant and would rather have six decent sized ones than more but smaller.
Tony – Pick the fruit when ripe. The more you do this the more the plants will produce more fruit.
Hail to the King!!
Your highness,
It’s the first year I’m growing chilies and so far I am quite proud of how far me and me two plants have gone. I have been proudly displaying them on the windowsill where they get plenty of light and a few green flies.
One is from a grow your own £2 pound pot from wilkos, allegedly Cayenne, the other is from seeds of mozzies chillies with no particular name provided.
My concern is about the first one. It was sold as Cayenne but the fruits don’t look anything like it. They are 2 to 3cm long and pale green pods. A lot of them seem to have reach their adult size for a few weeks now but still aren’t turning red!!
How long does it usually take for chilies to go red? or how do you know if they’re ripe?
Thank you for all the helpful information on your website.
Erwan
Erwan – My Cayenne’s finally started to turn red a few days ago. Be patient and it’ll hapeen. If you can keep them inside (the weather isn’t great at the moment) that’ll help speed up the ripening process.
I ve just accidentally broken a side stem of my chilli plant, which is currently flowering, would taping back the ends help with cellotape …. I really want to cry.
Elysian – you could try but i guess it depends on how ‘broken’ it is. if there are flowers elsewhere on the plant mybe just take of the broken stem so the plants energy concentrates on producing more flowers elsewhere rather than trying to repair itself.
If it’s snapped off completely then is curtains for that branch. However if it’s snapped less than half the thickness then it may be repairable with a bit of TLC and luck. Howvever as The Dude says you may be better just cutting it off.
Guess what, I connected the ends back together with some tape and it’s still growing. So so so happy.
Hi CK, I’m uploading some photos of my plants, as you can see they haven’t turned red yet. They were planted the same time as yours but of course we didn’t get the sunshine you lot got. I tried one 2 weeks back but no taste. The weather forecast is not great for the next couple of weeks, so I hope at least the hotness improves in the chillies. Emmet
Mastermind- My Naga planys do exactly the same thing. A couple of the leaves will turn sideways or even upside down. I’ve no idea why this is but they soon go back to normal.
Novice Chilli Boy- Try getting a type called Explosive Ember, they have deep purple leaves and the chilli’s range from deep purple to red. I have a few of these plants and they look really stunning. Or you could try Numex Twilight. Also I have a couple of Apaches in my greenhouse and what I’ve found is that when you start harvesting you get more flowers growing. I have about 30 chilli’s off them now with about another 50 growing so I’d harvest about once a week once thet get to full size ( about 3-4cm) and make a ristra (details on how to make are on this site) as they will continue to ripen off the plant.
Gordzilla- Thnx.
Do you know when the plant will start flowering? Do i have to protect it from wind ?
I’d keep them out of the wind if possible cos that will make the temperature drop when it blows. Have you got any buds on it yet? also is it an Apache we are talking about? They are usually quite quick to flower and fruit, normally about a week between flower and fruiting but i’d leave them on til they are 3-4cm long.
Gordzilla- Thanx for the advice
I need some help. I have a chilli plant whose stem is 21cm its nice and sturdy but some leaves are about 11 cm and other leaves are growing larger. is it normal? the plant is about a month old. when will it start flowering?
any help is appreciated
Thnx
Mastermind – hopefully it will flower soon! when did you plant the seeds?
About June or july. and oh and i forgot to mention that those big leaves sometimes tilt sideways for a while then they come back to their natural position. Is it supposed to happen?
Hi chilli king, it’s my first time trying to grow a chilli plant that my daughter bought home from a summer fare. It has grown as it should and apart from the first chilli growing nicely it seems that everytime the petals drop off and the chilli starts growing, the small stems that they are growing on turn yellow and fall off. Please can you give me some advice as it is getting really frustrated. Thanks
ronny – have you tried hand pollination the plant?
Hi, thanks for the reply Chilli king, yes i have been doing it with a cotton bud from flower to flower
it has now actually started to grow another chilli (slowly) put it has raised my hopes anyway. how do you know when a chilli is ready for picking?
After many, many weeks of care and doing all sorts to encourage growth i have got my first little Orange haberanos!! I have always had flowers but they just died untill i got a apache plant on offer for 99p. since then they have all been pollinating adn growing.It the size of a cotton bud but i have loads more flowers and i am keeping my 5 chilli plants together. so i should get more in the coming weeks. will post a pic if they look good! By the way what chilli plant is puruple and where could i get seeds/plants from? I know the Apche is a hyrid but if i winter it will it grow again next year? You thought about doing a seed swap thing on here or giving some of yours away????
When does the season for chillis begin and end? I’ve grown some for the first time and they’re just beginning to flower now. Will I have time to get a decent number of chillis from my plant do you think? Also, could you let me know what the best way to look after them in the winter is? I don’t have access to a greenhouse or anything like that unfortunately.
FMDC – Ripening times will be dependent on the variety you are growing. You should get some fruit of your plants, especially if the warm weather picks up again. To get them trough the winter you’ll need to bring them indoors onto a windowsill. Check out our article on over wintering chillies.
Myra, it depends on the type of chilli you’re growing. Some turn red (thai, Savina etc) where others will turn different colours like orange habenero’s will turn orange, some types will tun purple, some types will turn yellow. It depends on the type of plant. You can pick them when they get to a decent size and they will ripen off the plant if placed on a window sill or you could thread turn and hang them in the window. There they will ripen and also dry out after a couple of weeks.
all my chilli plants are doing well in the greenhouse. Loads on each plant. Not picked any yet as waiting for them to turn red, from green, – will they turn red on plant and when?
Could someone help please? I have a prolific chilli plant which has suddenly developed problems. All the new leaf growth at the axils have turned black, dried out and died off. There is NO new leaf growth anywhere. The leaf axils are all covered with round black scars where the leaf shoots have all died off. Also, the leaves have gotten smaller and smaller over time (this is the plant’s second year). I try not to overwater, and put in quarter-strength feed in all its water, so that it has small amounts of food constantly. Its last harvest was about 30 chillies, but with an unusually high number of stunted and ‘unwaxed’-looking chillies. Up till the last harvest it was doing marvelously. I’m desperate!
pat – try reducing the amount of feed. I only use feed once per week, plain water the rest of the time on my plants. maybe this will help?!
Yo dude, how’s it going? How’s your crop doing? Further to my last post my plants in the green house have exploded big time. All of them are budding including the extrememly hot varities (orange habs, red sav’s etc) so I should get a fairly good harvest. My Naga’s have shot up to about 3 feet and have come out in masses of buds some of which are starting to flower. I’m now watering everyday and feeding every other but I’ll probably have to feed every day once I start getting fruit (little but often).
The plants in my light box with the LED grow lights are doing fine but are not growing as well as the greenhouse plants, which I think is because the LED lights are red/blue only so I think I might have to introduce some white light as well. The LED’s I think don’t help the plant to grow tall quickly but are very good at producing small stocky plants with with a great set of leaves so they may help keep your plants healthy during the winter months. I’ll put in a small white light as well for a couple of weeks and monitor what happens. I’ll keep you posted.
Hi ,We wanted to grow some verry hot scotch bonnet chilis So we purchased a packet of assorted Chilli seeds, as this was the only seeds I could find that said they contained scotch bonnet as well as a mix of hot habenero, there was 20 seeds in the packet and we had a 90% success. We have at least 4 different types of plants most of which are fruiting and look like chilli plants, however we have 4 plants each has about half a dozen long thin hairy stems with a single broad leaf (similar in shape to rhubarb although smaller) There is no sign of flowers or fruiting stock and it looks nothing like the other plants. Do you know what type of chilli it is.
Kate – Sounds strange. Can you maybe post a pic of the mystery chilli over in our flickr group (http://www.flickr.com/groups/thechilliking/)?
I’ve uploaded photos of the mysterious chilli plant
Hello,
I have just moved and now have a nice big garden which gets plenty of sun in the afternoons. I would love to start growing chilli plants and other fruit and veg. I am going to start by buying the plant from a garden centre rather than seeds. Would it be ok to replant in the ground or are they best kept in pots?
Thanks
alxandra – you can grow in the ground however i prefer pots so that at the end of the summer i can move the plants inside to extend the growing/ripening season.
Ok thanks : )
Hi. I have grown my chillis from seed directly outdoors in a plastic germination unit and potted them on when they were large enough to handle. They haven’t flowered yet and look as if they need more space. I was going to move them to the ground. Is this a good idea or shall i just move them to a larger pot?
sheryl brown – it sounds like your plants are quite young still. i’d put them in pots so you can easily move them inside to keep them growing at the end of summer if required.
Hey Chilli King.
I’m growing jalapeno and serrano plants (but got a late start due to a move) and a few of them have started flowering. One of them is particularly prolific, but I noticed yesterday that there were a lot of flowers that had dropped off the plant. I know the variety of reasons for that to happen, but what was strange was that when I tried to do a little hand pollination, I noticed that the flowers weren’t making any pollen. They have stamens, but none of them was making any pollen at all. What could be a reason for that?
Thanks.
Jay – That is strange. Have you had problems with aphids this year?
Thanks for the reply. It seems like everyone’s stumped.
No aphids. And I’ve never had this problem before. There aren’t any unwanted insects around that I have seen. The only thing I can think of is that it’s been really hot this summer and I started late. Of my 24 plants, only four or five of them have become big enough to flower, but none has any pollen. I guess I’ll just wait and see. If you (or anyone) has any input, I’d love to hear it.
Thanks.
I planted two plants in pots. One of them, the healthier one started sprouting lots of flowers but no fruits and the flowers dropped off. The skinnier one was a late starter and had two flowers and I noticed one of them seem different. Later a chilli fruit grew out of it. I did some reading up and noticed that the skinnier plant’s flowers showed pollen but the fatter one did not so can any help me out????
This is my first attempt at growing chillies and I have about a dozen or so chillies on each of two plants, almost all red. When is it best to harvest? Is it best to take one or two at a time, as and when required, or is it best to take them all off and, if so, will there be a second crop?
Thank you.
M
Martin – The more you pick from the plants the more they will produce. If you pick them all at once and have too many to use be sure to check our article on preserving chillies.
I have grown about 10 lovely plants and now they are producing dozens of lovely Shaped Chillies nice and green etc BUT, they have no taste!! i am so disappointed i saved the seeds from chillies i bought from my local asian grocers. do you save your own seeds or buy them Could the chillies i saved have been a Hybrid or some commercial seed only to be used once ??
Many Thanks Richard
Richard Perry – If the original chilli was an F1 variety (quite likely for commercially grown chillies) then the 2nd generation plants (the ones you have grown from seed) can be very unreliable. I suspect this is your problem. Next year try to buy seed from a garden centre or online to be sure of more consistent fruit.
I have 9 cayenne chilli plants growing very well. They are all potted together in the same pot. The are producing about 12 chillis each and more flowers still to drop. Some of the chillis on the lower of the stem are about 6-7 inches long others are hard to tell because they are curling.
Is the curling bad?
Will these chillis turn red?
they should turn red but you can harvest them once they get to a good size, they will continue to ripen off the plant, try making a ristra and hang it in a sunny window.
My flowers are showing well then the whole stalk the flowers are on dis colours and falls off losing the fruit
HELP! I was given some chilli seeds which have very successfully grown and are producing lovely chillies. However, I didn’t know about re-potting. There are 5 plants in one pot and I am worried about breaking them up to re-pot at this stage. What shall I do? I am worried that I might be stiffling them by not re-potting but I’m also worried that, if I do, I will harm them in some way.
Any advice greatfully received!
Sally-Anne
Sally-Anne – It sounds like you plants are already producing fruit. If this is the case I would just leave them as is. Trying to repot them now may lead to damage or could put them into shock which may cause them to stop fruiting.
Hi, I have been growing chillies from seeds inside my house, and now they are about 60 cm or taller with nice green leaves, but the leaves seem to be just growing more and more. I wonder when can I see the first flower? It has been more than a month.
I only find new leaves everyday… no flower!!!
Please tell me how long does it usually take to find ?
Vegetable Lover – The flowers will come. Be patient.
Hi Chilli King, follow-up to my previous message. We managed to get all the plants outside, I was worried they would fall over in even the slightest breeze as they’re quite tall now, but have no weight to them. But we put them, in their individual pots, in a large plastic container and anchored them with wood bark, works perfect. Anyway, since we put them outside the chilli growth has gone mad!! Obviously being well pollinated now, and I’m so looking forward to harvesting. Thing is, I’m trying to wait for them ripen to red, but how long might it take? The first one grew a couple of months ago and is still green, but stopped growing. Desperate to try them!
Thanks, Karen
Hi ck. my plants are thriving well after my last post and I have moved house too and they are now in a sunnier but shaded spot. some of my green finger chilli plants have over 40 good sized chillies on them and more are producing. My razamataz chillis are growing quite and fruiting well but the fruit is still scorching and not in the sun directly. sum of the lower ones are turning red tho which is gd. Is there a sight where we can post pics of our plants? I’m sure we’d all like to see the progress of other peoples plants.
All the best.
Hi ive been growing chillis in my green house, They seemed to be doing quite well producing half a dozen chillis each plant. but suddenly last week the leafs turned yellow and started dropping off is is this normal, any advise greatfully recieved.
Warren Blackwell – Hi Warren. There can be many causes but the most likely are either over/under watering or under/over feeding.
HI Thx for that, might be under feeding by the sounds of it, what would you do from here is there any chance of them Ripening, or am i beter off cropping whats on the plants now? thx again.
Warren Blackwell
from my own experience it sounds like you’re over feeding. I did the same to my plants with the same problems you getting:- leaves turning yellow and dropping off. I’d try not feeding for a week or so and see how you get on. It might also be worth overwatering to flush the roots clean and then hopefully your plants will pick up.
sure there not gooseberries lol
Hi Craig
I’ve 20 large healthy plants with plenty of flowers. The problem is that after the flowers finished I have small green balls (like tiny tomatoes) forming instead of long thin chillies. They are about 5mm diameter and wont get any bigger. They are not spicy or hot and taste a little bitter. I am growing them in an area what used to be a caravan storage porch and has a transparent plastic roof and is open to the weather at the front. I did not keep the packet I got the seeds from and cannot remember the variety.
cheers
chris sale
hello m8,
im growing sum scotch bonnet plants but have started too l8 to bear fruit this year. my m8 (who is from the west indies and grew up livin on scotch bonnets) swears blind they u can keep them year on year and they will bear fruit (which he also says will get hotter each year). is this, as i suspect, bollox, or is he right???
chris – he is right! check out our article on over wintering chilli plants (link in the main menu at the top of this page)!!!
I have had fantastic success with Chillis on my windowsill. I have jalapeno, habenero and hungarian hot wax, all fruiting nicely. however, when I have picked some of the jalapeno and the hungarian hot wax, they have had virtually no heat in them at all. I know that these two are relatively mild chillis, but even so they seem to be taking forever. I guess they need to ripen, but they have already been sitting there for at least a month. How long do I need to leave them, and how do I know when they are ready to pick? The hungarian hot wax are staying stubbornly yellow – they just will not ripen to red. My habanero has little chillis on it now. I know they are very hot – if I pick them early will they be milder? How long should those fruit be left on the plant?
thanks!
Kath
Not at all sure. The kit was a gift – it came from the Lakeland Company
How can I tell when my chillis are ready to be picked? This is my first attempt at growing them.
Anita – What variety are you growing?
Not sure of the name. They kit was a gift. Anita
Hi Chilli King,
I have four serrano chilli plants which were planted from seed. Planted in early April and kept in my conservatory. They are now very tall but not any branches on them. They 12 inches to 16 inches tall and quite thin. Will i get flowers and when ? Should I keep them well watered or let them dry out somewhat ?
Not sure I am gonna get anything from these plants this year. Any hope now or next year ?
Thanks for any help.
Craig – It sounds like your plants are a bit ‘leggy’ (tall and thin) which will be due to lack of light. Is there somewhere where you can put them where they can get more light such as a south facing windowsill or even outside now the weather is warm? Increase the hours of light they get each day and i’m sure they’ll flower!
Thanks CK,
Strange that they are suffering from lack of light given that they are in a conservatory. I might try them outdoors although they won’t get as much heat.
Hopefully I will get some flowers soon
Cheers
Craig
Hello there! Loving the website..very useful and got loads of good tips from here! I am still slightly confused though!
You see i have what i believe is a cheyenne chilli plant…..loads of these i have seen on the internet bear orange fruits but mine are green!? Might be a stupid question but do you get differnt coloured fruits or are my chillis just not ripe yet!? They look about the right size and have stopped growing!
Also when it comes to picking the fruits off…does it matter where i break the stem (leading from the fruit to the plant)?…..i didnt know whether to break it nearer to the fruit or the actual plant and if this made any differnce!?
Thank you!
Yasmin x
Yasmin – Sounds like they are not ripe yet. Be patient and they’ll orange up soon! When picking just snip them off with scissors to avoid damaging the plant!
i have 6inch chilli plants in the green house and i was wondering if the plants are annual if i live in the uk, so do i have to plant them again?
Prajit - Take a look at our overwintering guide.
Hi, I wonder if you can offer any advice. Last year I grew loads of Jalapeno chillies but they were all quite tasteless and none was even slightly spicy. This year I am growing Hungarian Hot Wax and am having the same trouble – lots of fruit (3″ – 4″ long, pale green / yellow) but, so far, I have tried a few and they don’t taste of anything and there is not even a hint of hotness. Are there any factors you know if that affect the spiciness and flavour of chillies?
They are grown in a greenhouse (in Scotland – hardly the hottest place…) and I tend to keep them pretty moist, watering nearly every day.
Trevor – Maybe you are over watering. I try to only water when the soil looks very dry. Maybe less water would help your plants’ flavor intensify.
Hi ck
I am growing Dorset Naga from seed. They are in a really sunny windowsill, and are now over three feet tall. They have started flowering, but no sign of fruit yet. Is there anything i should be doing?
Thanks
Dave
Dave – maybe try hand pollinating it. check out the link above in this article.
Hi there,
I got a chilli growing kit as a gift and planted the seeds following the instructions in late March. Nothing seemed to be happening at all (and there are 5 different varieties). I was out of the country for the whole of June and my neighbour minded them. When I got back, all the pots had little shoots peeking out (1″-2″)! They are on an east-facing window sill and I expect that they may have done well as it was so hot in June. However, nothing much more seems to be happening so I’m wondering what I should do next. Do you think they are too cold? Should I pot each seedling out into its own pot? Is it too late in the year to expect chillis to grow from them?
Thanks!
ChilliNewbie – It sounds like your plants are not getting enough light. Try to get them onto a south facing window will if possible. Also you could try to cover some cardboard in kitchen foil and stand it round the plant to reflect some light back onto the plants. Also try and maintain the nighttime temperature if possible – windowsills can get very chilly at night time!
Yo mat, try using just your finger instead of a cotton bud. I’ve tried both methods and the only one that really worked was the finger. Also it doesn’t matter if you’re pollinating the same plant or an other one as long as they are the same varitiey–you don’t want some freaky genetice hybrid supermutant monster chilli terrorising the neighbourhood!
Hi,
My chilli plant has many flowers and is growing new leaves, however the flowers will turn brown and drop off. Have tried hand pollination but still, there’s no sign of any fruits. In fact, its starting to grow even more new buds and leaves.
Hmm… what should I do? Help~~
Hi
I have started growing a jalepno plant at work. It is growing very quickly and has started to flower. I tried pollunating the flowers using a cotton bud, and 3 days later the flower and the stem have fallen off the plant, they didn’t even turn brown. Would this be to do with the fact that I tried to pollunate with 2 flowers from the same plant, or is this expected?
Any information is greatly appreciated.
mat – you are doing the right thing by pollinating all the flowers on the same plant. just keep doing it and hopefully you’ll get some fruit in the next week or two. even when hand pollinating you can expect some flower drop to occur.
Wow, that is awesome with a side dish of fantastic-ness. I’m definately going to try it. I may use a naga or habenero so I grow it inside.
Cheers for that dude.
hi CK ive got two plants 1 jalepeno which is jus starting the get flowers, and the owther im not sure what type of chilli but this one is already starting to flower, but these flowers are jus withering within the the first few days of blooming is this natural. and also what is the recommended amount if times to water a chilli plant in a day or a week?? get backk
scott – are you growing indoors out outside? as a general rule i only water when the soil at the top of the pot looks dry. this maybe twice a day or once per week depending on the weather and if i am growing indoors or out.
cheers mate, one more thing is it a definate requirement to use chilli feed in the growing process and is there any alternatives to chilli food??
oh and im growing indoors
just for fun, do you think’s it’s possoblt to bonsai chilli plants?
Gordzilla – It looks like it is possible if you check this article out! Looks like fun I may try and give this a go!
Hi, great site, great advice here! I also am new to this GYO thing, always appealed to me, but never really been very green fingered. But, I decided to have a go at some cayenne seeds (from a packet) and been unusually successful! Yay!!
Anyway, just really to confirm I’m doing the right thing, and to check if I could do anything better, I’ve got eleven growing in small pots on the window ledge, not the sunniest of spots, we’ve just moved and the previous spot was better, which has definitely given them a good start. They’re all flowering but only two so far have fruited, I’m going to give the self pollination thing a go. The main thing is that they have all got really tall, and I’m not sure if this is normal. If they keep going the way they do, they’ll be bigger than the trees in the back garden!! Do they have to be cut back at the end of the fruiting season (which is when by the way?) Also (silly question time…) the fruits are a reasonable size now but don’t seem to be getting any bigger, they’re green but I’m not sure what colour they should be. How do I know when to pick them? I’m getting impatient, I want to try them!!
Oh and interestingly, one of the plants broke when we moved, but we tied the stake closer to the break hoping, well, don’t really know, but didn’t want to just throw it out, and it is not only flowering but fruiting too. Do they repair themselves?
Karen – Sounds like you are doing well, the fruit should ripen to red after a while but they can be eaten green if you are desperate for some spice! Cayenne plants do tend to grow quite tall – some of mine are getting on for 1 meter tall! I’d avoid chopping them if you can as this can shock the plants, especially if they are fruiting. If you want to take your plants through the winter you’ll need to chop them back in early autumn/late summer. Have a read of our overwintering guide.
Hi – grew packet of chilli seeds for the first time without reading properly, lost the packet – experiment along with loads of tomatoes (which are fantastic) inside a sunny/hot but diffused plastic greenhouse. Ventilated and watered, lightly sprayed as needed to keep humid. Chillies sprouted and I potted the biggest one on when it was a 3″ baby but – reading your site – think I put it into a too large pot (10″) way too early, as plant is now over 2 feet high, though strongish stems way too spindly and floppy, can’t support it properly even with little canes. – I think I see tiny flower buds at the end of loads of branches but so small, my gut feeling is this plant is not going to produce strong fruits as not compact. It would never support the weight of fruits as it is at the moment. Nothing like the shop chilli plant I bought last year which already had large fruits but was about 10 inches tall! What do you think I should do? It is so big/spindly it feels like it almost needs a small trellis in the pot…… Should I do the pollenation thing as well? ‘Flowers’ if thats what they are, are many but on skinny stalks. thanks, great site.
Marina – All varieties are different. My Cayennes I am growing this year are very tall and thin while my scotch bonnets are very compact and bushy. Without knowing the variety you are growing it is hard to advise you. I use small bamboo canes to support my cayenne chilli plants. There should be no need to pollinate if your plants are outside. It sounds like the flowers have not fully come out yet so maybe wait another couple of weeks to see how it looks then.
Great site – fantastic information.
I am not green fingered at all and was wondering if I need to cut my chilli plants. I live in a block of flats and my chilli plants are huge (getting on for 3 feet tall – still no flowers though). Would pruning them back be advisable as they are reaching the top of my window sill or would this damage them? I’m growing jalapeno and tabasco chilli’s.
Thank you.
Poggle – It sounds like your plants are not getting enough light, hence they are growing tall, reaching for the sun. Instead of pruning them i would suggest building a light reflector from some aluminum foil and cardboard and place it behind the plants so that light that comes in the window is reflected back onto the plants.
it depends on the varitiety. The hotter the chilli the longer it can take, Naga’s and Habs can take ages but things like Jalepeno’s will take much less time. As long as they are kept warm and plenty of light the only thing you can really do is wait.
How long does it take for a chilli to turn from green to orange then red? in warm & sunny conditions.
Hi I have about a dozen chilli plants all grown from seed and all now outside hardened off but they are growing really slowly and no sign of any flowers yet? I thought after the recent hot weather something might have happened but they look healthy with lots of leaves but no sign of any flowers yet? What am I doing wrong?
Dawn – Just make sure they are getting lots of light and you should get some fruit soon!
Yeah, I’ve given away about 40-50 plants so far and still have about another 50-60 left. Some i’ll grow outside, some inside, some in the light box and some in the greenhouse. So hopefully next year if I have to plant seeds (which I will anyway!) I’ll know which is the best way to grow but I’m hoping to overwinter a lot in the light box and kitchen. I’m also going to try hydroponics for next year as well.
With regard to fertilizer I’d now use only liquid fertilizer and not slow release granules as it’s difficult to know how much to add, the makers of them only state ” add a handful to compost”. I must have really big hands then as it was way too much, but once they were repotted it was only a couple of days til they perked up.
What are hydroponics?
jane – this guide to growing chillies using hydroponics should explain everything.
As a novice, but so far, fairly successful veg grower this spring/summer I was delighted when my chili plant started flowering and then alarmed when they all started dropping without any sign of a chili growing! After reading your info about how to sort this problem out I spent time with a soft watercolour brush hand fertilizing my chili flowers – I now have a plant with upward of 25 flowers either in bud, in full flower or just dying but with a nice newborn chili beneath its petals. How exciting!! Thanks.
jane – excellent news! glad the info here was of use!
Yo Dude, finally found out what was causing my leaves to go yellow and drop off….when I re-potted I added some slow release fertilizer in to the compost. It took a couple of weeks until the plants realized that they didn’t like the fertilizer. This caused them to stop growing and the yellow leaves was a sign of root burn. I’ve since re-re-potted them all and they appear to have recovered. I also gave a lot of plants away and now have only 2 of each variety of the the worlds top 10 hottest plus a couple more varieties. They are all about 6 inches in height but quite bushy and my 2 Apache’s have a good crop of fruit on just waiting to ripen.These are all in my green house ( which is getting pretty full!)
I’ve bought and installed some LED grow lights in my light box which seen to work well, however since the fluorescent tube has been removed I think it’s not as warm as the plants have slowed in their growth so I may need a heat mat just to warm it up a little. Apart from that all is good
Gordzilla – Thanks for the update. Interesting to hear the fertilizer had that effect. A lesson learned for next year1! It sounds like you have quite a crop coming on!
I started my chillies from seed last year and go plenty of them..
I then moved them inside for the winter and there were a few came out but most were actually black..
Now I transfered them back outside and have lots of flowers and some green ones coming out.. but now they are turning black… what does this mean.. They are the Thai small hot green and red chillies…why are my new ones turning black… very black as a matter of fact..
Hi-what a FAB web-site! This is my 1st year growing chillis & wanted a bit of advice & also wanted to let others know of how my chillis are progressing! Growing jalapenos from seed (one of those 89p propogation kits from b&M bargains!)…scotch bonnet/haberno from FRESH seed (took out seeds from market bought chillis!)…plug plants for CHEYENNE (goes orange apparently) & also CAYENNE( from wilco!)..+ some ‘bell boy’ red pepper plant plug plants (B&Q!). Seeds planted in mid march indoors..plug plants bought 1st week-mid April.
I have to report that the cheyenne plants (re-potted all chillis to plastic ‘flower’ bucket size!) ARE HUGE-kept inside until last week may-& are in my plastic greenhouse (with all the others!) & have a good dozen or so green chillis on them & loads of flowers! About 2 foot high I’d say…..bell pepers are 2 1/2 foot high & doing great-loads of flowers & a few small green peppers…cayenne are thinner plants-flowering (started a week ago)-about 1 1/2 foot high-not as bushy. The cheyenne definately seem to be easy to grow! Now my jalapenos are all inside (due to lack of space) on windowsill-all look healthy (flower buds starting to form)& are 1 1/4 -1 1/2 foot high-tall rather than bushy. My scotch bonnets are much shorter say 9 inches high-but have the biggest leaves & are bushywider-they’re on a windowsill-no sign of flowers yet…fertalising flowering chillis with tomato food once a week.
My questions….most are in plastic greenhouse on floor (to heavy for shelves)-with tomato plants & an aubergine plant. They SEEM happy enough but was worried to crowded together…(no room at all on greenhouse floor)-do you think they’ll be ok? I ventilate greenhouse daily & because the compost has those water retaining gel crystals in it I only water twice a week.
Overwintering…which varieties do you think will be best? Can’t keep em all as lack of space & want to try new seeds next year…also when to bring em in from greenhouse? I live 500ft up in the west yorkshire pennines…
Scotch bonnets-do you think they’ll flower/fruit this year?
What is the earliest I can sow seeds indoors for long fruiting crops next year?
lastly….any variety that WILL cope outdoors (from say end of may onwards) with the wind…etc?
Thanks so much for a great web-site!
Chris – Sounds like you’ve got a great crop coming on. So long as your plants in the greenhouse are getting lots of light and ventilation then you shouldn’t worry. Try to make sure the smaller plants (scotch bonnets) aren’t getting shaded out by the others.
When overwintering I always aim to keep the harder/slower to grow varieties like habanero and scotch bonnet. By over wintering them they’ll have a longer season next year, maximizing the fruiting time you’ll get. I tend to bring them in in about Sept/Oct or whenever they start to stop fruiting and look a bit messy. Be sure to check our overwintering guide for tips.
The last couple of years I have been slow planting my seeds. Usually however I aim to plant them in December and use lights to get them through until Spring arrives. Again (just like overwintering) this means when Spring arrives I already have quite mature plants, hopefully ready to flower/fruit.
I have most of my plants outside now. They get a bit battered in the wind but i use small canes to give them support and try to prop their pots up with bricks!
Good luck!
Hi CK, my plants are at the same stage as yours and like you when I got up this morning I noticed little green dots around the new shoots. Your right they only seem to attack the new growth. About 10 of the 35 plants have buds on them but they haven’t opened yet. 3 of the plants had aphids on them. I rubbed them off each bud and then read your piece about washing up liquid and sprayed all the plants. Fingers crossed it will work. I must look out for a few ladybirds. There has been no sunshine here for a few days so I think that has slowed things up a bit. As for your trial on different size pots, when I planted on my plants I used different size pots. I used 8″ pots on 10 plants which have grown up to 24″ and 5 10″ pots and those plants stopped growing the rest of the plants went into whatever I had lying around I think maybe 8″ pots are the best size. But thats just my oppinion. I cant wait till my buds bloom. Thanks. Emmet
Emmet – Good luck with the aphids – you may have to respray every few days to solve the problem. I found leaving them outside helped no end. I now have chillies forming on most of my plants.
Planted 9 seeds a few months back. As they bushed out i moved them outside in to full sun. They have grown so fast. Lots of flowers. but i’m worried that a couple of the flowers have dropped. I have fed them and watered them and tried hand pollenation. i really hope they grow some fruit year.
Hi Chillie King
I have 4 great chillie plants, all growing well on my window sill. I have lost the packet so unsure what they are but I grew them from seed. I didn’t realise until reading here that I needed to self pollinate them so did that today. There are lots of flowers but they are going brown, withering and dropping off but the stalk is also dropping off. Please can you offer any advice.
Thanks, Michelle.
Michelle – If you’ve started and pollination you should hopefully have already solved your problem! Hopefully you’l see some chillies develop in the next couple of weeks.
Hi There,
I’m new to all this, i’v grown my own seeds this year for the 1st time. They’re in a greenhouse growing really well and they look healthy. There are no signs of any flowers despite being fed and watered. Is there anything else I should be doing ?
thanks Jo
Hi
I have a chilli plant that I only got one chilli from. It now appears to have stopped growing, the leaves have gone yellow and are drooping.
Is it the end of its growing season, and can I do anything with it in order to get chillis next year?
Thanks
Caz
Caz – Assuming you are in the UK this is just when the growing season gets going. We usually plant seeds in Feb/March and by now the plants are beginning to flower and fruit. Did you grow it from seed? Was it planted this year? Is it growing indoors or outside? Are you feeding it? A little more info may help the diagnosis!
Hi Chilli King,
Sorry to sound scatty but i am lol. This is my 1st time GYO and i have some cheyenne, chenzo and cayenne 2 of each. ranging in heights from 8 to 15″ in 15cm pots they taller ones have white flowers on and the others look like they have about 10+ little ball things that i think are going to be flowers. The pairs all look similar but i have 2 young daughters who have managed to throw the little instructons away so i dont know which are which and what to do. they are outside and the garden gets sun from 12 with very little wind. Watered reg and feed 2 weeks with tomato food. Is this right? do they last year after year?? what do i do? does all sound ok apart from me being nuts.
Please help x
ness – It sounds like you are doing all of the right things so far. With a little patience and some more good weather you should have some chillies soon! Check out our overwintering chillies article to learn how to get them through the winter.
hi ck,
thanks will do, do all the different chillies need the same care in summer?
ness x
I have a scotch bonnett chilli plant that appeared to be doing really well as it grew plenty of leaves and flower buds that flowered but the flowers have started dropping off completely so stalk of flower and all. It is kept indoors and outdoors, and i water when topsoil is dry. Whats going on?
i have been hand pollinating my plant and the flowers are all brown and the stem of the flowers are going a light green looking like they will drop off any second.
the stems are turning black aswell. is this just from over watering? what should i do? just not water them for a while?
Hi CK,got 10 varities of chillies this year.Growing nicely at moment.Bishops Crown 2ft 6ins whilst several more range about 15-18ins.Foliage very good and healthy.As the fruit starts to develop would you suggest i trim off some of the bottom leaves to get more water to the fruit???I also keep my pots in black gravel trays which i keep partially filled with water which acts as a reservoir for the plants which seems to bring them on quicker.Do you think this is ok or might it cause problems???Thanks
Alan Thacker – Sounds like your crop is doing well! I wouldn’t trim the plants back, just add a little tomato food every few days once the plants have started to fruit. This should give them the boost they need when chillies start to form.
Most people seem to think chillies don’t like being watered from the bottom as you are doing. However it seems like your plants are thriving so i’d be inclined to not change anything. You could always try top watering a few plants and see which ones do best??
Hi Chilli King, I’m getting married in early Sept, and we’re going to give little plants as wedding favours… marguerites for the women, and was thinking of chilli peppers for the men! Reading your article though it looks as though the timings may not be quite right… If I plant the chillies now to have a small plant by Sept, will the lucky recipient be able to keep them alive over the following winter months to have a chilli-growing plant this time next year? Thanks, Luke.
Luke – Congratulations!
If you want to grow your own you should do it now as it is very late. Over wintering shouldn’t be a problem – check out our overwintering chillies guide. Be sure to pick an easy to grow variety like apache. You may struggle to get fruiting plants at the right time unless you’re growing in a greenhouse or using lights.
Where are you based? If in/near London you could always buy the plants from somewhere like New Covent Garden Market. If not i’m sure there are other large scale wholesale plant markets elsewhere. They usually have fruiting chilli plants that are grown on the continent under lights (the kind you see in gift shops). I bought a large quantity from there in Sept time a couple of years ago (had to order the week before though so be sure to check it out ahead of time). Maybe this could be a back up plan incase your home grown plants don’t make it in time!
Hi CK,
I am a bit new to this ‘GYO’ malarkey – I read that when you get a flower, you should gently pull it off and the chilli grows where the flower was – I have been doing this and have a few green chillis, but reading your site, I should have been rubbing the flowers . . . will the chillis be ok?? I am growing on a windowsill btw. Many thanks!
Katy B – Don’t pull the flowers off!! The way it works is that bees transfer the pollen from one flower to another, pollinating them in the process then after a couple of weeks a chilli will form behind and then grow through the flower. This usually happens perfectly naturally. You only need to rub the flowers (hand pollination) if you experience flowers going brown and dropping off and no fruit forming (this is only usually a problem when growing indoors where there are no insects to pollinate the flowers).
It sounds like your flowers had pollinated themselves before you pulled them off! It sounds like you have no need to hand pollinate so i’d just let the plants get on with it by themselves!
OOOOOOOPS! Thanks for the advice CK, I will leave them to it then!!!!
Fab website btw
Thanks ck, was told by another chilli grower that removing flowers at first sight will change the cycle of the plant from fruiting to growing again. I will stop doing this now and see how it goes. I will also remove them from the window ledge for a while and give them a break.
Thanks again and keep up the good advise. Great site.
i got a cayenne plant and a bell pepper plant from my local shop they where £1.50 each i thought it was a bargain so snatched them straight up i have put them on a sunny window inside. do i have to do hand pollination? the first two flowers bloomed today how long does it take from the flower till the chilli start growing?
Kieran – The plants may pollinate ok on their own but if you are careful you can cause no harm by pollinating them yourself. Much will depend on the conditions & weather etc but you should hopefully see signs of chillies pushing through the flowers a couple of weeks after pollination.
I’m being stupid and confused by the ‘fingertip pollenation’. what does this exactly entail?? my plants are appox 12inches tall, and quite a few brown flowers have dropped off. is the fingertip method.. hehehe, sorry, actually a necessity???? and also, if roots have popped though the the holes in pot, 10cm dia pot, do they need re-potting?? ie, do plants only grow to the constraint size of pots. Sorry am new to green finger stuff
Dave – To hand pollinate (usually only needed if growing indoors) just gently rub your little finger inside each flower on each plant. This transfer the pollen between flowers, pollinates them which is how the fruit are set. Outside this is usually done by bees. I would be reluctant to re-pot your chilli plants if they are flowering already. Your could try to repot half of the plants and see if re-potting helps or hinders them. Check out my potting on experiment here.
Hey I’ve been growing Cayenne chillis for the first time this year. They’re growing like triffids and the first flower opened up this morning!
The garden centre said that I wouldn’t need to pollinate them though… Does that sound right?
Natalie – You shouldn’t need to. If the plant starts dropping it’s flowers that might be a sign you need to pollinate yourself.
For your information, “Cool White” in lamps indicates the light temperature and thus a 20-watt cool white lamp is not any cooler to touch than a 20-watt warm red lamp.
Hi Ck, I’m growin 18 chilli plants of different variaties. Green finger, Apache & Razamataz. I’ve started using Chilli focus plant food a week ago on all of them and I’m waiting for the results. The razamataz plants are thriving and one of them has 8 chilli’s on it. (I’ve removed some small chilli’s and flowers off a few plants to stop the fruiting stage and encourage growing) .2 of the other razamataz plants seemed to have stopped growing in height and bushyness. Is there a reason for this? they are all getting planty of sun on my window ledge if not a bit too much as a couple of chillies are getting sun scorch and going dark. The rest of the plants are around 1-2ft high. They are fed well every 3 days.
Hope you can help.
Mark M – If some of the plants are getting scorched try to give them some protection from the sun as it may be this shock that has stunted their growth. Also I would be wary about removing fruit and flowers in an attempt to promote foliage growth. The plant may think it’s work is done if all of the fruit and flower are removed which again may cause stagnation of growth.
HI great website,
I have a chilli plant called a Cheyenne, dunno if you have heard of it but apprrently its a hybrid of the Cayenne.I have 4 green chillies about 2 inhces long and 1 inch thick.They have been this size and colour for about 4 weeks now.Does that mean there done? aprrently there supposed to turn orange.How long will it take?
btw, there in a poly-greenhouse
Regards
Jack – You could eat them while green but it would be best to wait until they turn orange. Different varieties take different lengths of time to ripen. If they’re in a tunnel i suspect you won’t have to wait too much longer for them to turn, much will depend on the weather…
Hi CK, why do you think the base of each leaf has turned black on my cayennes. I have been leaving 20 of them outside for the past few days and today was a bit windy so they look like they are having a bad hair day. They are still growing tall and putting on more leaves since a week ago. Hopefully flowers will appear before the end of this month. Thanks
Emmet – Hey, sounds like your Cayennes are at the same stage as mine. The only thing i can thing of regarding the black stems is over watering. Do you think this might be an issue? If the plants lok healthy and continue to grow though I wouldn’t worry too much about it.
CK,
Good news is all my plants survived my long weekend away. Gave them a good water a bit of food and crossed fingers. Well, I came back to chillis!! I was panicing over nothing. One of my plants (Cherry Bombs) now has at least 8 fruits. Two are large (ish) and I read that even though they are green it’s good to take the first few fruits off each plant to allow more to grow? What do you think? Leave them on and wait til they go red, or snip them off now and wait for the others?
Matt
Matt White – Good news! I’d leave them on until ripe then pick them (unless of course you need a chilli hit before then!).
Any idea how long they take to ripen? Days? Weeks? I’m feeling the need to try them….
hi how big will my chillie plants grow i have them in window boxes about 5 to a box and i am worried that they should be seperated into larger pots at the moment they are about 10inches tall and growing?
do you have any advice
thanks
daddycool4 - Hi, what variety are they?
jalapeno
Hi Chili King, my cayenne are about 12″ tall and have about 16 to 18 leaves each but still no flowers, I planted around end of March, how long does it take for chilies to appear. I have 35 left from an initial 40. They are indoors all the time. Thanks
Emmet – Stick with it, I have some Cayenne’s about the same size and am awaiting my first flowers. Once we get a couple of weeks of sustained good weather i’m sure we’ll both have flowers and fruit a plenty!
Thanks CK, the weather wont be the only thing to be hot in a couple of weeks, I hope. These are my first anything to grow so I am waiting with bated breath. I have been looking after them like children, whatever the outcome I will have learn’t a lot for next year’s crop. Thank’s again
i got a cayenne plant from my local supermarket just to try it and i have a few flowers on it but had no idea about the pollination part ,one of the flowers has browned but there has been no bees near it i will do the little finger thing today and see how i get on thanks for your help.
also dont know if any one can help but i got a money maker tomato plant and it seemed to grow very quick then flowered and 1 tomato is now growing but the others are still just flowers will i need to give them a “rub” too?
John – Yeah you could try the same thing with your toms. Just be sure to use a different finger to the one you use on your Cayenne! Good luck.
yeah will do thanks ill let you know how it goes.
great site by the way
Dear, I’ve some problem with my chilly plants. It gives me a lot of flowers and buds, however, after flowers are dried to blown and drops off, i can see very small fruit but next 1 or 2 days it drops off from the stem. What is happening? I can see the bugs in the pot. I didn’t do anything to them yet because i don’t know whether they are good or not. These bugs are brown and flat with lot of legs. when I touch them, they are bending like a very tiny ball. Could you kindly suggest me what I should do? I’m just a beginner. Please help me.
Nandar – Regarding the problem with the flowers take a look at this article on flower drop.
Regarding the bugs it sounds like they may be centipedes which are known to feed on the roots of plants. This can be a sign of over regular watering. To initially get rid of them try watering severely to flood them out. Don’t try this too regularly though as your chilli plants won’t like it much.
Hi Chilli King, I germenated some seeds in early march from an indian spice mix i bought online (there were far to many seeds in the mix) i have around 2 dozen plants now, havent got a clue what they are, they are potted in various sized pots, around 10cm, but seem to be very slow growing, the biggest is about 40cm, they seem to be healthy enuf, but not sure if i should repot them now, some are starting to flower, any advice would be appreciated.
Stoneyboi
Stoneyboi – 10cm pots are a bit small however I am always reluctant to re-pot when plants are flowering. You could maybe hedge your bets and re-pot any that aren’t flowering yet and leave those that are….
Chilli King HELP!!!
I have an Apache, 4 Jalapenos and loads of Scotch Bonnet and Habaneros. Got home from work yesterday and the leaves on the Apache and the Jalapenos have purple speckles on them. Went into my greenhouse tonight and the speckles seem to have got worse. Also i noticed some small transparent wriggly things in the soil of the Apache which i removed. I’m worried that the plants have some disease. I have googled the problem but can’t get any results. Have you any ideas what the problem is and can you suggest a cure if needed. I think the wriggly things are probably newly hatched moth caterpillars.
Hi all,
I have some newly planted and pretty young Chilli plants: Elephant’s Trunk, Friar’s Hat, Habanero, Cayenne, Hungarian Black and Fetti?
Any advice or suggestions that I should know?
hi, my chilli stems keep breaking off when i flick the stem to pollinate the flower,is it lacking feed?
many thanks
darren – try avoiding flicking the stem. instead pollinate using a fine paint brush. take a look at this article on flower drop.
Chilli King HELP!!!
I have an Apache, 4 Jalapenos and loads of Scotch Bonnet and Habaneros. Got home from work yesterday and the leaves on the Apache and the Jalapenos have purple speckles on them. Went into my greenhouse tonight and the speckles seem to have got worse. Also i noticed some small transparent wriggly things in the soil of the Apache which i removed. I’m worried that the plants have some disease. I have googled the problem but can’t get any results. Have you any ideas what the problem is and can you suggest a cure if needed. I think the wriggly things are probably newly hatched moth caterpillars.
Hi
I am growing some Twilights, Centennial, Long Purple, Pointed peppers, I started them off the end of Jan and are all about 15cm – 20cm Tall. They seem to be taking ages to grow, I started them off inside and around march I put them in a mini greenhouse and 2 weeks ago I took them out as I had no room in there anymore. Are these the right size for the time taken to grow ???
Andy – Yes, the size seems about right. If we have a period of sustained good weather you should see a burst of growth. If at all possible try to keep the plants either in a greenhouse or on a south facing window until summer finally sets in. Night time temps are still a bit on the cool side to leave plants out over night in my opinion.
Hi CK – The chilli plants that I had managed to schotched are truly dead. Luckily I had 4 remaining plants that were unharm. They are Demon Red and although they are only about 6″ tall, there are flower buds forming and also they are quite spindly. I had been taking off all the flower buds in order to encourage the plants to bush out and grow taller. How do I get them to grow taller and busher? Do I put them into the ground? They are currently in 6″ pot and my husband thinks that that will be sufficient for the plant. Do you think that the plants might benefit from some tomato feed?
can i transplant the plants with flowers starting to develop
les – Yes you can however you may find the shock causes the plant to stop flowering or may cause flower drop. If you do go ahead try to minimize handling the roots as much as possible. Try to get the root ball out of the existing pot in one piece if at all possible.
Hi Chilli King
I purchased one of the windowsill pots with propagator fromTescos about a month ago. I put all of the seeds into the ready made mix and all of them sprouted. The problem is that they are all now growing very close together due to the size of the pot. When I came to pot them out I could not seperate the plants without damaging the roots so I left them together. Will this be a problem?? I have supported them with canes and they are sat on my patio outside (weather is now fairly warm up in Manchester)
Dave – It is not ideal. I guess you could try snipping the stems of the weaker looking seedlings, leaving more room for the healthy ones?
CK: I guess we do here. I had failed to mention that this was my first attempt to grow any kind of chili. I hope last year wasn’t an example of beginner’s luck
.
Although you folks there in the UK are faced with some challenges placed on you in light of a cooler climate (especially that part about starting the plants in doors), I’m glad to see that you can see successes in growing. I’m really not much of a gardener actually. I just have a few pots with squash, cantaloupe, parsley, a few herbs and of course the peppers.
Tom in FL
Last spring (early May, if I recall correctly), I was cleaning out my fridge and found a couple of store bought Jalepeno peppers I’d forgotten about. Poor things were soft and soggy and certainly not fit to eat so on a whim, I stuck them both in a 20 gallon pot with standard potting mix (about 2 inches deep and about a foot apart). About a week later, several seedlings popped out of the ground. In a month, the strongest ones – exactly two of them – were all that were left of the 6 or 7 which had sprouted. In another month, I was picking about a dozen beautiful (and HOT) peppers off the plants every week. The two plants continued to produce until about late September when they begin to shut down in response to the oncoming autumn season. The only “special” treatment these two plants got was a weekly feeding with a standard strength mix of Miracle gro plant food and watering as needed (when the plants showed signs of wilting due to dry soil. I live in NW Florida so summers are very long, very humid and very hot. The plants seemed to love the climate and I had no problems with diseases or pests. This year, I have Pablano and Serrano peppers in pots and I expect a similar yield.
Bent Ears – It sounds like you’ve got a great climate for quick growth over there in Florida. A bit warmer than here in the UK! I hope you have as much success this year!
Hey CK,
The wife and I bought a kit containing half a dozen varieties at Christmas. We duly sowed them and waited with baited breath for seedlings to appear. It said on the packet two weeks before anything showed, five weeks later the first shoots came through. We now have 4″ Hungarian Hot, 1″ Demon Red, 3″ Tabasco and 6″ Jalepeno. We have them in 4″ pots and they flit between the workshop and the garden depending on the weather. They all seem to be a bit spindly so we’re treating them a bit like tomatoes and supporting them. First time for chillies so we’ll post again in a couple of weeks with progress, in sunny Sussex. Cheers CK.
Pete – Spindly plants is usually a sign they are not getting enough lights. Are you able to get them somewhere sunnier/warmer? A conservatory or greenhouse is ideal or if it is a windowsill then south facing is best.
Hi King
I have 4 Jalapenos all about 4 or 5 inches tall and looking quite healthy outdoors.
However, they have all started producing a lot of side shoots in the base of the leaves and seem to be putting all their energy into this rather than height.
Should I remove some of these side shoots to encourage height or just let them bush?
WoW so much to think about…aclimatising chilli plants to heat, sun, cold and wind. I have one plant each of Jalapeno, Cherry bomb, purple beauty, F1 patio and Super hot F1′s, at the mo they range from 4″ to 6″ in height and are on a South facing window sill ALL day (bedroom window, wife hates them
They look health and are growing well, I will eventually move mine outside but will have to get round to building a wee hot house first or they will need thermal underwear (rarely gets over 70F this far north).
Anyhow what I want to know is, do I need to pinch the centres out to get them to bush and produce better crop? If so is NOW the right time to do this while plants are still 6″?
Have you tried to pollinate them by hand? Use a very small paint brush and just run it around the inside of the flower. You need to move the pollen from the stamen to the other bit ( I can’t recall what it’s called) but it’s all in the flower. Or you could just run your finger round the inside of the flower. Hopefully this should cause the flower to die back and a bud appear which grows into a chilli
Hey chilli king, I’m growing a mixture of scotch bonets and habernaros and I’m having an issue. There are plenty of flowers on all of the plants, but the flower and the stem they are on just goes brown and nothing grows back. I am watering them once a day at the moment as its quite hot. They get tomato feed once a week but I’m a little unsure of how much to give them. I fill a 500 ml coke bottle with water and add a tea spoon of feed, this waters 6 plants. Any ideas would be appreciated!
James Pace – Take a look at this post i did a while ago on flower drop.
CK what do you think. My chillies have never really seen the sun as they have been in my bedroom which is noth facing. Do you think they wilted with such strong sunlight on them. Do you think I should put them back in the bedroom and see will they come back. I appreciate your advice.
Emmet – Yup, reckon they fried, just as my sole Naga did yesterday (doh!). My advice would be to move them back to the bedroom and cross your fingers. I guess hardening off chillies should be as much about getting them used to the heat and sun as well as the cold and wind!
Thanks CK, I’ve moved them out of my bedroom into the living room which is west facing and took off the plastic of the 4 tier greenhouse but they wilted almost immediately. I have put the plastic back on and hopefully they will recover. I should have read your piece on Hardening off your chillies before I did anything. There is a white substance at the base of the stem, it looks like the root is coming up through the soil, is that it or is it a fungus. The weather here in Ireland is glorious but there is no breeze not a great day to get them aclimatised.
Thanks Emmet
Help – I had managed to scotch my chilli plants, the whole lot!! With the recent hot weather, I had tranferred all the plants outside to encourage them to grow but unfortunately it looks like the sun had scotched the plants. They all looks literally cooked and all the leaves are burnt. Do you think they will recover? Is it too late now to try and grow another lot from seeds?
Jallen – Oh no! Cooking your chilli plants in this hot weather is easily done. Not sure if they’ll recover but keep them out of direct sun for a couple of days, keep them well watered and cross your fingers.
It is probably too late to sow this year if you are growing a slow variety like habanero. If growing Jalapenos or Cayene you can probably still plant seeds and get some fruit later in the summer. A better bet might be to pick up some plants from the garden center. Even places like B&Q/Homebase tend to sell a few varieties of chillies these days.
Hi – brought them inside and am trying to water them and am crossing my fingers and toes. Felt like a complete idiot. The chilli seeds were given to me by my daughters for Christmas as they know that I can’t eat anything without a plate of cut chilli on my side. So am devasted that I had managed to ruin the whole lot. Had managed to buy some chilli plants direct via the internet, so hopefully I don’t kill them this time. When is it the best time to move them outside? Also would it be best to plant them straight into the grown to encourage them to bush out? The last lot was growing tall but are quite lanky.
Hi CK, this is my first time to grow anything and I now have 40 chillies (cayenne) in 4″ pots 1 per pot. They all have roughly 10 leaves each, should I plant on and if so what size pot. They are indoors in a Kingfisher 4 tier greenhouse, should I take them out of the greenhouse. Also what height do they grow to, some of these are 10″ tall. Love your website. Emmet
Emmet – Cayennes typically grow to about 40-50cm or more, depending on the conditions they are grown in. I re-potted mine at the weekend into 18cm pots, i may well re-pot into bigger pots still in a few weeks time. Assuming you are in the UK i would take them out of the greenhouse during the day (to avoid scorching them) and put them back in at night. Once the warm weather looks like staying they should be ok outside 24/7. Good luck!
My plants are all indoors (in a bay window) as I live in a flat and have no outside space. I put them on the windowsill now and again to try and harden them up in the wind but they have to live indoors most of the time. Will give them a water and see what happens. I guess it doesn’t get too hot in this country so they should be hopefully be okay.
I’ve also got some bell peppers which I tried as an experiment (pulled a few seeds out of one we bought in sainsburys) and these are now huge. Do you know how tall they may grow?
Matt White – Yup, maybe just move them away from the window slightly to reduce the risk of drying out. Let us know if they make it!
Bell peppers usually grow between 2-3 feet tall however as I mention in this article they can grow up to 5 feet tall depending on variety and conditions!
CK – Chilli plants have suddenly over the course of a weekend all developed buds and now I’m super excited about them flowering and becoming fruits. Only issue is that in a fortnight I’ve got 3 nights away from home and concerned the lack of water may be a problem, especially at the flowering stage. Do you think a good water and feed friday morning will them through to monday evening or should I call someone in? My girlfriend is worried i prefer them to her at the moment!!!!
Matt White – Good to hear the plants are doing well! Much will depend on the weather. If it is super hot they may struggle over a long weekend, other wise they should be fine. What you could do is bring them in and place them near a not so sunny windowsill, helping them to avoid getting fried or drying out.
Re girlfriend – yes, i have the same problem. the line was crossed when the plants & gro light were brought into the bedroom!
Hi from Australia. I’m growing two types ( jalapeno & habanero ) in hydroponics, I have three questions. 1. What ph level is best? 2. What is the best nutrient concentration (ppm or cf)? & 3. how often and how long do you reccomend I run the pumps? any info would be great. The plants were purchased as seedlings from a local supplier and were originally plant in the ground. After pests started eating them, I’ve decided to transfer them into a flood and drain system with a timer. I have had great success in the past with this type of system growing other plants. Thankyou for any info.
Hi, Great guide, it’s been very helpful to me over the past few months. I just have one question that I cant seem to find an answer to.
My plants are about 12″-18″ high now and at the top of the plants there are loads of flower buds forming. A few of them on the biggest plants look like they’re about to flower. I’ve read that you’re supposed to pick these flower buds off to encourage more foliage to grow. Is there any truth to this?
I’m just scared of picking all the flower buds off and then ending up with no chillies as a result
.
Thanks,
Mark
Mark – It sounds from their size that your plants may be nearly fully grown (depending on variety). Much like tomato plants you can pinch out chilli plants to encourage the plants energy into fruit. I wouldn’t usually pinch off flowers though, just fresh growth.
Hi chilli king,
I seeded 40 chillis in february keeping then in my concervitory till about a week ago when I moved them all outside. There are 4 different types. I also seeded a habanero chilli. This is the first time I have tried habanero chillies so i only seeded one. What can you tell me about this type of chilli in relation to growing them. It did take a while to germinate and now growing seems to be very slow. Is this normal?
Joi – Habaneros do take much longer to germinate and are slower growing than many other varieties. Try to get as much heat and light to the plant as possible to help it. They are however well worth the wait – y the flavour of habaneros are amazing.
thanks king will do!!
Thanks very much for the info. Its much appreciated.
The pods are about 7 inches deep, about half an inch of stone at the bottom for drainage and about 4 inches of soil. I have to admit, the watering regime has not been consitent as I had no idea how they should be watered. I tended to water them only when the top layer of soil looked dry, as I can see through the pod and there was moisture in there ok even when the top layer was dry.
I guess I might have to just cut the plastic pod apart and then try to get them seperated. I had hoped they would survive until we get into the proper summer.
For say a hab, is there an average amount of weeks before you would expect it to flower, or does that totally depend on the conditions? I have been moving this pod about the hosue for the last 6 weeks or more, so it has constantly been in direct sunlight (well, as much as you can expect in the UK).
Thanks again,
Ciaran.
Hi king,
I currently am deciding on wether to pot my plants on as I currently have them in 9cm pots and they are about 5 inches at the biggest, is it worth getting big pots and putting a couple of plants in or just getting say 15cm pots for each one? Hopefully this will be my last change of pot so any help is well appreciated. Thanks
Jason – Greetings! I would definitely go for 1 plant per pot to avoid over crowding and poor air circulation!
Cheers Kingy, I think it may be slight overwatering as the soil is quite wet and a change in feeding. So they are out of the box for a day or 2 until the soil dries out a bit. I’ll water less frequent and see how I get on
Hi folks. My wife bought me a chilli seed pod from Play (http://www.play.com/Gadgets/Gadgets/4-/7954921/Seed-Pod-Kits-Chillies/Product.html) at Christmas. I germinated 6 various chilli seeds around March and they have grown into plants.
Problem is the plants are only about 6 inches in height and have been like that for about 3 weeks now – the leaves of some dont even come out over the top of the pod.
Some of the leaves are turning yellow and dropping off. Judging from some of the comments above this might be expected but my worry is that the plastic container they come in is not deep enough to allow them to grow to their full potential. Trying to repot these would be a disaster unless I can just cut away the plastic and do it that way. Otherwise it would mean actually pulling them out.
Any advice on what I should do or has anyone successfully grown a plant using one of these pods?
What should I expect before a chilli actually appears – eg would all the leaves fall off?
Any help welcome as this is my first attempt.
Thanks,
Ciaran.
Ciaran – How much of the pod is soil/compost? How big are the pods? I’ve not seen these before – i just stick to seed and regular pots.
If the leaves are not coming out of the pod as you mention then I suspect they are not getting enough light, causing them to drop off.
In order to get a chilli you need the plant to flower. Once the flowers pollinate a little chilli will start to grow our of the flower, which will drop off. The leaves dropping off means that there is something wrong.
It sounds to me like you need to find a way to get them out of the pods and into a regular pot.
Just a small question, O mighty King of the Chilli! A couple of my seedlings have got slightly yellowing leafs since I’ve put them in my new light box. Should I supplement the light box light with natural sun by taking them out of the box during daytime? Or is it lack of ventilation. Any advice would be helpful.
Gordzilla - strange, i usually associate yellow leaves with over watering or too much food (fertilizer). have you changes their watering/feed regime?
how big are the seedlings? once chilli plants reach a certain size they need a different range of light than flourescents can provide. at some stage they’ll need either sunlight or a ‘proper’ gro light to keep them growing and to get them to fruit.
I was bought some chilli seeds from John Lewis of all places. They came in a brown paper bag lined with plastic that the seeds were meant to germinate in. I didn’t like the look of the bag so started to grow them in a plant pot instead (150mm width)
Right now, I have nine small chilli sprouts growing in this one pot. They look great covering the whole of the top of the plant pot but my question is, can I leave them all in there to grow together or do I have to split them up and grow them individually in order for them to all survive?
Thanks Chilli King!
steve – Hi, i think you are going to have to split them up am afraid. what variety are they? You could leave them together but the lack of space would almost certainly prevent future growth and ultimately the yield of chillies!
Generally you only want one plant per pot, you can get away with a couple of you are using particularly big containers or are growing a bushy variety such as numex twilight. when you do split them, give them a water before hand to help you separate them. aim to tease them apart very gently, avoiding damaging or tearing the roots as much as possible.
Good luck and let us know how they get on!
Most of my plants end up in 10″ pots (25cm) when fully grown
I’ve just finished potting my seedlings, they are now in my light box for while but what I did do was to mix all the compost from the propagators together, popped a clear lid on and bunged it in the greenhouse. With us now having decent weather I thought maybe a getting a little oxygen to the remaining seeds might give them a little kick and germinate. I’ll report back on results…
I now have 100+ plants.
Thks for the advice. I’ve also fitted a timer which is set for 19 hours with 5 hours off. What about temp? it’s about 20 during the day and 15 at night. Also is humidity a concern? it’s about 45-50% so will i need some ventilation holes?
Gordzilla – I used to run mine down in my cellar where it was fairly cool. I’ve just moved so mine are in a nice warm conservatory instead now!
If about 20 degrees during the day they should be ok – just be sure to keep an eye on them in case they dry out to much.
I am not too sure regarding humidity levels. I used to leave the lid ajar and had holes at either end to aid air circulation which will help prevent mold & other nasties. One thing i thought of doing (but never got round to doing this year) was to use an old fan from a computer to help with airflow. This would also help your chilli seedlings grow nice strong stems.
I just made a light box using some spare MDF from in my shed and 1 3ft cool white strip light. What I need to know is for how long do I leave the light on? Do I have it on all the time or for only so many hours per day? Any advice please?
Gordzilla – When using my light box & fluorescent lights I tended to have the lights on for about 18hours with the help of a simple timer switch. I did a bit of reading and it seems like the general consensus is that it is beneficial for the plants to have some break from the light. In reality anything between 12hr – 20hr should be fine, 18hours has worked fine for me in the last couple of years..
i use a 250w hps light and run it 18 hours on
chilli’s love high pressure sodium lighting.
i have 12 dorset naga on the go i have them on south facing window sills sandwiched between the window and a piece of card covered with tin foil. they are the best plants i have ever done the foil doubles the available light for free give it a try.
rod manning – Glad to hear you’re having success with the foil method. I think i’ll try this on a couple of my plants and see the difference it makes!
No information on spacing between plants and rows when planting out. ! I have 50 plants, different varieties but you give no info on spacing. Come on, C.K. Good advice on those varieties that should be kept in greenhouse/conservatory in temperate climes
Lewis – I guess much depends on the variety and size of the mature plants (which can vary, even in the same variety). As a general rule i’d aim for about 2 feet (60cm) between plants if space allows. This will give the plants plenty of room to grow and help keep air circulation good, helping you to avoid fungus/mold and other diseases.
If you have the room I would keep as many of your plants in the greenhouse/conservatory as possible. The higher temperatures will aid growth. Assuming you have limited space (not enough for 50 plants) in the greenhouse then try to keep the slower maturing plants such as habanero, scotch bonnet, naga, bhut jolokia inside. Easier/quicker growing varieties such as Jalpeno or Cayene will do well outside.
A great method in incourage foilage growth is to pot the plants up gradually. Dont go into to large a pot, try and aim for a pot a thumbs width bigger than the last. Has anyone grewn Blacp Pearl before, Im wondering whether to place in pots or greenhouse when they are larger?
one other easy method of repotting is to use the cardboard type seed pots. With these you just put the whole thing into the new pot and cover with soil, the pots are designed to disintegrate over time so there’s no need to disturb the root ball. The new roots push through the pots.
Sound advice – thanks so much. I have a mixture of habanero, scotch bonnet and jalapenos on the go. Is it normal for chillis to seem to stop growing after re-potting. Mine don’t seem to have grown at all for for about ten days now. However the tomatoes i have growing alongside the chillis seem to be taking off again. Is this normal behaviour. Once again top advice. Larvo.
Larvo – I have experienced this lack of growth in my chilli plants after potting them on. My understanding is that this is due to most of the plants growth being focused in the roots (opposed to foliage) after re-potting. Once the roots have filled out a bit in their new [big] pots they should start growing above ground again.
Another point to consider is that most plants don’t like their roots disturbed. When re-potting always aim to handle/disturb the roots as little as possible. If you water the plant 10 minutes before re-potting you should find it easier to get the whole root ball out of the pot in one piece – keeping the roots undisturbed.
yeah i was thinking of shading mine as the temperaure peaked at 45 degrees celcius with 39% humidity. that’s way too hot- like a idiot I was out for the day and I didn’t open the doors or vents.
As for germination I found that a shallow propagator (about 1 inch deep) with a lid works fine. Just sow your seeds, cover lightly with compost, pop the lid on and place on top of your central heating/water boiler. Check every couple of days for growth. This method meant that 90% of my seeds germinated inlcuding my naga’s and habs–they were up in about 1 and half weeks. So far I’ve got: Naga morich, Red Savina, Orange Hab, Chocolate Hab, African Devil, Scoth Bonnet, Chiltepin, Fatalii, Rocoto Rojo and Jamaican Hot peppers. Will keep you posted!
one small tips chaps–if you are growing in a greenhouse be very careful on sunny days that your seedlings get too much heat, they will fry and die. I’ve just lost 7 plants from just one sunny day. But I’ve still got 93 plants left, ranging from fatalii’s, chocolate habs, up to naga morich.
Gordzilla – Sounds like you have quite a crop on the way!
Good point regarding the heat in greenhouses. A good friend has some automatic vent openers on his greenhouse that automatically open when it starts to heat up and close in the cool evening.
I’ve seen quite a lot of people whitewash their greenhouses with watered down [water based] emulsion paint to reduce the amount of light getting through the glass. The idea is that you thin it down enough so that over the summer/autumn it washes off (with the rain) and is clean glass again in time for next year.
If you are a bit wary of using paint on your greenhouse, you can use old net curtains or fine netting on the greenhouse roof to help provide a bit of shade in the height of summer.
This is helpful thanks. It’s my first time growing Chillis and have three varieties plus a couple of red peppers as a bit of fun too. Do you have any views on “pinching out” the top leaves or is it best just to let the plant get on with being a plant?
Matt – Glad you enjoyed the article.
I have pinched out my plants in the past. Generally I would only tend to pinch them out if they are looking a bit leggy (tall and thin) to encourage sideways growth. However from experience if you give your plants plenty of light then there shouldn’t be any need to pinch them out.
Good luck with your crop!
Excellent tips, This is my second year growing chillies and i have up my game to over 15 varieties. I purchased a heated propagator last season and found it to be very helpful for the process. To tackle the light problem I enclosed the plants with foil covered card. This has made a great difference with my early plants growing straight and strong, a very cheap alternative.
Craig – Great tip regarding the foil covered card. I’ve used this before to maximize the light from grow lights but I guess it would work equally well to get the most of the rather on sided light a window sill produces!
After reading your very helpful explanation on chillies I have realised the plant I was growing, under the assumption that it was a chilli plant, was in fact, a banana plant! Which is odd seeing as I planted the seeds from a chilli… However, your helpful tips and information has clarified my plant. Much love, Dierdre Smith.
Dierdre – Glad the article helped. I’ve never heard of getting a banana plant from a chilli seed! Maybe you have a banana pepper plant?!
All sorts, i have 12 diferent varieties almost 10 seeds each to grow. I will try half of it with seed growing pods (without germination) and i will do the rest with germination.
Chad
chad – 10 x 12 = 120 plants! I hope you have lots of space to grow them in!
You shouldn’t have too many issues with lack of warm weather in Turkey that we do here in the UK. Good luck and let us know how you get on!
Recentley i moved to Turkey an missing decent hot chilies over here. So, i have order some chilli seeds from uk and i just started my germination process today. Thanks for the tips and the know how. Fingers cross for red hot chillies.
Chad
very detailed advice got over 30 seedling grown from seed now looking forward to some hot dishes i hope
andy – thanks for the feeback. good luck with the seedlings – what varieties are you growing?
Thank you, really amazing detail and very helpfull tips. This has encouraged me a lot and this year I will definitely try!
Ben – Thanks for the kind words. Good luck growing this year and be sure to let us know how you get on!
Chillie Update, since my post above (why no repy??) the plants have continued to flourish and the flowers opened up to be about the same size and looking very much like a garden lawn Daisy, I started brushing the various flowers and Chillies can be seen forming with dozens of flowers still waiting to open, I notice that when I go near the plants there are 2 or 3 small (fruite?) flys buzzing around and because of the rate at which the fruit is apearing leads me to wonder if in fact they are polinating the plants as well?
Anyway to get to my questain this time, I left the plants in pots which Im sure are too small, should I try now to re-pot them while there are still lots of immature flowers buds waiting to open or should I leave it untill the fruit s have all formed?
BTW the plants themselves all seem to be small like the parent and Im hopefull that I have grown a whole new crop of minature plants.
Steve.
steve – glad the plants are doing well. i wouldn’t advise repotting now as that would divert the plants energy into root growth not ripening chillies! maybe repottif on if/when you decide to over winter the plant.
My habs are flowering and i have some fruit but i also have loads of little pods waits to flower. i was tinking of potting them into SMALLER for the winter. shold i do it now while there is some sun left??? all the pots have roots coming trough the drainage holes. I dont mind losing a few hab and having a better harvest next year. your thoughts please????