Getting Started

Here we are preparing the seedling pots with quality potting mix. Having a worm farm is a real asset to enriching the soil. My son Joe is a great help in getting these seedling pots ready.

Depending on where you live, you might need to trick your chilli seeds into germinating. If your climate is entering a cool period, ie approaching winter, you might need to keep the seedlings inside and give them some light and warmth. In tropical climates you might need to put the seeds (dried) wrapped in tissue and into the warmest (least cold) part of the fridge so that when you plant the seeds, there is a noticeable increase in temperature.

Plant them about a quarter of an inch or half a centimetre into the soil. I normally just place two seeds in a seedling pot and sprinkle a covering of potting mix over them.

Nurturing Seedlings

There are a few things to pay attention to when your seedlings begin to emerge.

Water, sun, protection and nutrients are the key

Water

Plants like water, but make sure the soil is well drained so that when you water the pants, the water should have drained through the holes in the bottom of the pot in a matter of seconds, certainly less than 30 seconds even for a 4 - 8 inch (10 - 20cm wide pot)

Just on pots, if you keep your chillies in pots, you will need to repot two or three times. You should not need to go beyond a 20cm pot for a single large plant.

Sun

In the tropics where I am from I tend to keep the plants in dappled light, not in full sun. It is a bit of trial and error getting the right spot and some of that coincides with the next item of consideration.

Protection

Protection from sun, wind and hard rain or even frost is one part of protection. The other protection is from pests. There are pests that attack the plant and leaves like the spiraling whitefly shown in the video below.

Fruit flies just love laying their eggs into chillies and the fruit fly maggots then burrow into the soil once the rotten fruit falls from the bush... so make sure if you see any black puncture dots on your fruit, or fruit falling from your bush, bin it immediately.

The worst pest is the combination of ants and aphids they farm for their nectar. Left alone, the only loser out of this relationship is the chilli bush.

Stop the ants and you stop the aphids. I must admit I do use ant power to keep the pesky things away.

Nutrients

I mentioned worm farm products earlier and they are probably the cheapest effective way to enrich your soil. You can pop down to you local hardware store and pick up some fertiliser and it will mention NPK in different amounts.

To me NPK = LRF (Leaves, Roots and Fruit)

Nitrogen helps the plant grow and get healthy big green leaves. Phosphorous helps the root system and builds the plant's ability to defend itself against disease. Potassium helps fruit get bigger. There is more to it than that, but there it is in a nutshell.

Ongoing care

Making sure the roots of the plants are covered and not exposed to the elements (generally through over watering).

Checking for pests.

If possible checking the Ph of the soil which should sit around 5.5 - 7 with 5.5 supposedly being optimum for chillies although other factors like water and sun are probably more important.

You are rewarded with wonderful fruit that can be eaten raw or converted into a sauce. Here we have some Yellow Habaneros just waiting to be harvested.

...and this is the famous Bhut Jolokia (Ghost Pepper) just turning red. These chillies are really quite warm, but the flavour is exceptional.

Once you have made your sauce and bottled it - the next step is to design a logo and give your sauce a name.

Thanks for going through this story on chillies. I do grow them as a hobby in real life and do make sauces to be enjoyed by friends and family.