Growing Chili plants

Beginners and experienced gardeners alike will get their money’s worth: From choosing the right seeds to advice about how best to encourage your seeds to germinate, planting out, the growth phase all the way to the harvest, throughout countless articles, we give you hints and tricks for successfully growing your own chillies.

Planting and growing the chilies

From December to February (depending on the type of chili) you can begin to grow your little chillies on your window sill or even better in a small indoor greenhouse (with heating pad is possible). Chillies love plenty of warmth and need a germinating temperature between 22°C and 30°C. You should use a high quality potting soil, plant the seeds about 0.5-1cm deep and keep them constantly moist.

Chili seedlings

As a general rule, the first seedling appear after 7 to 14 days. Following germination, it is important that the seedlings get lots of light, otherwise they will grow too tall and the stalks will become too weak. When the first proper leaves appear after the seed leaf, it is time to replant the individual seedlings and put them in small pots about 8cm in size. Once daytime temperatures are over 12°C, you should put them outside during the day in a sheltered, sunny place to make sure that the plants get lots of light and that they grow strongly.

Planting in your garden or on your balcony

The chilies can be planted permanently outside after the last night-time frost. We advise that you plant chillies with a longer maturation period in a large pot, so that you can bring them back inside when autumn comes and allow the fruits enough time to ripen fully. Many varieties are well-suited to being kept over winter in a plant pot. You can also plant some fast-ripening varieties in the garden.

Gardening tips:

The chili plants need lots of warmth and sunlight. They grow best in a sunny place, sheltered from the wind.

Use high quality soil and use fertiliser regularly, roughly every 1 - 2 weeks.

Chilies do not tolerate standing water, they should be watered regularly, but never too much. To avoid the build up of standing water, you can place a layer of pellets or gravel at the bottom of your plant pot.

You can also add a layer of mulch to keep evaporation low and prevent weeds from taking root.

You can increase the chili’s spicy heat by exposing the plants to water stress (drought) during the final weeks of maturation; however, be careful to keep a close eye on the plants.

In order to increase the harvest, you can also prune the tips off any branches over 30cm tall. This makes the plant grow in a more bushy shape and allows more energy to be sent to the fruits.