Chilli Advice

The key to growing successful chillies is to find a sunny, sheltered spot and keep them regularly watered and fed.

The great thing about chillies (and sweet peppers) is that there are so many varieties to choose from. You can find a variety that is perfectly matched to your growing space and location.

Small varieties such as ‘Apache’ are perfectly at home on the windowsill but if you have the space in your greenhouse there is a vast array of flavour sensations to tantalise your taste buds.

Here are some of our favourite varieties of chillies

Mild

Fresno Supreme – excellent for stir fries etc., thick, mild flesh.

Pasilla Bajio – Part of the Mexican Holy Trinity, zesty fruit are dark and brown.

Padron – Spanish tapas pepper is mild when small and green, and hot if left to mature.

Hungarian Black – Short, brown/black fruit with good flavour.

Medium

To grow successfully from seed, chillies require an optimum temperature of 18° to 22° with plenty of bright light.  The seeds need to be germinated indoors to protect them from the cold.

If you have a heated greenhouse or propagator, seeds can be sown as early as February but for unheated greenhouses, sowing is best left to late March or early April.

Sow seeds thinly in trays of moist seed compost and place in our heated Vitopod Propagator. Take care not to over-water as the compost needs to be moist but not soggy. Once the seeds have germinated and grown two true leaves, pot on into 75mm pots or rockwool cubes and grow on in a warm, light space.

Once the plants have established a healthy root system, at approximately 25-35cm high, plant out into final position.

What do I need to get sowing?

1. Seeds - From a Garden Centre or choosee from our range of starter seed packs

learn more

2. compost

3. Seed trays or small pots - For sowing your seeds until ready to re-plant at 25- 35cm tall.

Traditionally chilli plants are transferred to larger pots. Chillies hate irregular watering as they are very thirsty - underwatering or sporadic watering can easily stop with the growth of your chilli plants however overwatering can be just as damaging as your chillies need good access to oxygen by the roots - little and often is the rule here.

Unless you are growing in one of our Grow kits with our plant nutrients , feed your chillies with a general liquid fertiliser until they are established.  Following that use a high potash fertiliser to encourage your chillies to flower and fruit. Keep them weed-free and keep an eye out for the common pests.

For easy maintenance and superior yields (more to feast upon), a Grow Kit can make all the difference. Grow Kits ensure your plants will get just the right amount of nutrients and will never be over-watered or under-watered - helping to keep you stocked up with lots of lovely chillies.

A large growing container or pot, or one of our clever Self watering Pots.

Standard pots are fine, but our best selling set of 4 or 8 chilli pots lets you go on holiday whilst even the thirstiest of chillies are kept watered at all times thanks to the 35litre reservoir, so you don't have to worry about holiday-watering.

The optional lids will protect your young plants from any late frosts and we even have a frame available to keep your plants supported as they get bigger.

In 2009 we harvested 7.9kg of fruit from one Quadgrow.
Click here to view our results.

Learn More

When your chillies reach about 20cm tall give them some support by staking with a small stake and secure with garden twine. As they are getting taller swap the small stakes for a larger cane.

To help pollinate your flowers, using a moist watercolour paint brush gently 'paint' the inside of each flower.

If growing in a pot you can usually plant out at the end of May in their final container, but if growing in one of our Grow kits your chillies can into their final planting position much upto 3 weeks earlier.

One of the most important aspects of growing chillies is getting the watering right, they are very thirsty plants. During hot periods, especially if grown inside a greenhouse, you will need to water regularly, usually twice a day. As dry compost will lead to a check in their growth.

The first flowers will appear when the plants are still quite small. When this happens you will need to start feeding with a liquid fertiliser high in potash, any tomato fertiliser will be fine.

Need more advice?

Our Gardening Angels are always on hand to help you with any 'caring for' questions you may have.

Simply pop us an email at info@greenhousesensation.co.uk or give us a call on 0845 602 3774. We will have your questions answered in less than 2 working hours.

Slugs and Snails

Slugs and snails are the biggest problem for the Chilli grower, usual signs of a slug or snail attack are the usual slime trails, the young branches near the base of the plant have been stripped away overnight or often the centre of the leaves have been munched away.

These prefer dark damp places to live so basic housekeeping such as keep your plants free from any fallen leaves and manually remove any slugs or snails you find. Alternative methods to deter slug and snails include copper tape or rings, or sprinkling egg shells or used coffee grounds round the base of the plant.

You generally harvest from July to September using sissors or a sharp knife. You can pick chillies green or red, however there are some varieties of chilli that will not go red in this climate, and will remain green. However for most chillies they do turn red, and a general rule is the redder they go the hotter they will be. You can pick them green and they will turn red but they do wrinkle and dry out, we much prefer to leave them on the plant until they need to be picked.

To get started you will need ...

1. Seeds

From a garden centre or choose from our range of new starter seed packs.

Each starter pack includes 4 packets of seeds for £5.80.

2. Compost

3. Seed trays or small pots

for sowing your seeds until ready to re-plant at 12 - 15cm tall.

If you would like more information on growing chillies or simply have a question you would love answering, our Gardening Angels can help.

Give us a call on 0845 602 3774 or drop us an email at info@greenhousesensation.co.uk.