How to Grow Chillies in Containers

Chillies at South Devon Chilli Farm

Chillies grow very well in containers - but they do have some specific needs. To discover the 'tricks of the trade', I met up with (and filmed) professional chilli grower, Steve Waters. Few other plants can match chillies for 'flavour for space' ratio. One plant will often give you a hundred chillies or more. So all but the most dedicated chilli eater can usually be self sufficient in chillies with just a few plants - something very achievable, even in a tiny growing space. Any surplus chillies can easily be dried or frozen, keeping you in supply all year. A huge benefit of growing your own is the vast array of delicious varieties now available - you'll discover a whole new world of flavour when compared to the ubiquitous, one dimensional 'red' and 'green' chillies sold by most supermarkets. Whether you are looking for amazing taste (try Aji Lemon, Fatali or Cherry Bomb), or fiery heat (try Bhut Jolokia) or something beautiful to brighten your balcony (try Twilight - pictured above - or Purple Princess), you will be spoilt for choice. You do need a warm, sheltered spot - inside or outside - with at least six hours sun to grow chillies with any reliable success (they will be reluctant to fruit without). But with the right conditions, chillies can do brilliantly in containers. Most chilli varieties are not difficult to grow - but they do have slightly different needs from most other edible crops. For example, the seeds need more warmth to germinate, and the plants benefit from drying out more between waterings. If you're starting out, it's also useful to know that some chilli varieties are a lot harder to grow than others. Some of the easiest and most reliable are recommended below. Steve Waters (thank you Steve!), who runs the  South Devon Chilli Farm, grows over 170 varieties of chilli, and harvests hundreds of kilos every day in season.  He shares his tips and experience for you in the videos below:

Can you recommend four chillies for containers?

Steve recommends some reliable and tasty chillies for containers.

Steve's top chillies for reliability and flavour in containers:

  • Thai Hot or Demon Red, Twilight, Apache - small plants, ideal for a 1 litre pot on the window sill.
  • Cherry bomb - produces heavy crop of large red chillies, great flavour, not too hot, one of the first to ripen.
  • Ring of fire - productive, tasty chilli, great for cooking.
  • Hungarian Hotwax - milder chilli but with excellent flavour, ideal for stuffing.

How to sow and germinate chillies

It's not difficult to grow chillies from seed, but they do need warmth and good light. Steve offers his tips in this video:

 

Steve's top sowing tips

  • Sow your seeds in fine vermiculite or seed compost in three inch pots or use coir jiffy pellets.
  • Chillies need warmth to germinate and good light to grow into healthy seedlings. Steve starts his chillies in mid January - but if you don't have a heated propagator or a bright window sill (or LED grow lamp), it's easier to start them at the end of March (small varieties like Thai Hot can be started even later).
  • Water the growing medium well before sowing - then try to water as little as possible until germination. Excessive watering can wash the goodness out of the seed before it germinates.
  • Some very hot chillies, like Bhut Jolokia, can benefit from soaking in water for 24  hours before sowing.
  • A thermostatically controlled propagator (set at 25 - 30 0C  / 77 - 860F) or a simple heated propagator makes germinating chillies easier and faster (but is not essential).  If you don't have a propagator , try to find a place with a warm, consistent temperature. Chilli seeds need warmth! (A "propagator" is the gardening term for a container with a transparent lid, designed for raising seeds).
  • Place your propagator where it will not heat up too much in the sun - consistency of temperature is also important.
  • Once germinated, chillies can be replanted at any level. So if you have tall, spindly seedlings, replant them with some of the stem under the soil. (This is a very handy tip).
  • Chilli seedlings need good light to grow healthily. Many urban homes do not have bright light inside (neighbouring buildings and trees casting shade), particularly early in the season (February / March) when light levels are low. If you're seedlings are struggling, you can either buy an LED grow light or simply wait and buy a plant later in the year (often a good option with chillies as you only need a few plants).

Where can you buy seeds and plants? Online is a good place to look first: a specialist chilli producer, like South Devon Chilli Farm, will often offer the best choice and the most expert advice.  Or look for a chilli festival happening near you (more and more are springing up) where you'll also be able to taste the different chillies. 

How to water chillies in pots; what growing media to use?

How you water chillies will make a big difference to your growing success - and the right soil mix will help with this. Steve explains how in this video.

Steve's top watering tips

  • Drainage is important (chilli roots must have air). If you are prone to over water or if you're using an automatic watering system, you can improve drainage by adding perlite (10 - 30%) or grit.
  • Use a soil based compost - like 'John Innes No.2' if you can get it.
  • When you have planted a chilli in a new pot, feel the weight of the pot before watering it. Try to remember this weight - and avoid watering again until the pot has come back down to just above the unwatered weight again.
  • Chillies seem to do best with dry and wet cycles - so its best not to water them every day if possible.
  • As chillies grow bigger, they like to be moved into progressively slightly larger pots. For example, move a seedling from a three inch pot into a half litre, then one litre, then three litre - rather than from a three inch pot to a three litre one.

How to Feed Chillies

Chillies are less hungry than tomatoes but will still need regular feeding once they have used the food in their compost (usually after about six weeks). Large, heavily fruiting chillies, like Cherry Bomb, need substantially more feeding than smaller varieties that produce small chillies.

Steve's top feeding tips

  • A high potassium or potash (K) feed is good for fruiting chillies (The potassium will help them fruit). You can make your own feed from comfrey leaves or use a tomato feed. If using tomato feed, use at slightly lower concentrations than suggested for tomatoes.
  • After heavily harvesting, a balanced liquid feed (one with equal N, P and K - see the side of the bottle) can help it to recover, and put on new growth.

Many thanks to Steve form South Devon Chilli Farm for sharing his knowledge and experience - I hope they will help guide you to chilli growing success. 

Your turn

Please share any other chilli growing tips in the comments. 

69 comments

Kaye
 

I always seem to get whitefly on my chillies that I grow on the kitchen windowsill. What am I doing wrong and how do the whitefly return every year when I don't grow any other plants in the area, and very carefully clean the pots over winter?
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John
 

Last year, on my allotment, I grew Naga chillies successfully by growing them under the mini greenhouse type cloches from Poundstretchers. These are ideal for bushy plants as they are about 2-3 feet tall and only cost GBP1.50 each. They gave just the right amount of heat to support the plants without burning them and didn't dry the soil too quickly. On one plant I got a crop of about a kilo and a half over the fruiting period of about 2 months!
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Anne Brandscheid
 

I had my first attempt at growing jalapeno chillies this summer in Australia. They grew beautifully with masses of fruit but, disappointingly they had no heat and ended up like mini capsicums. Would you know the reason for this? I have grown other species of chillies before with great success.
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Christina Rex
 

Great article! I an a patented vertical garden container designer in the US and have grown chilies successfully for years. I have shared your article via FB at www.facebook.com/livingledge Thanks again
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Jaime
 

Chili de Arbol is pretty and prolific, and they dry really well. I also loved growing Cumari - cute little yellow raisin-shaped chilies that pack a punch. This year, I'm excited to try the Chinese Five Colour chili. The pictures of it look gorgeous! I starting seeding indoors a few weeks ago. We don't have a long growing season in Canada.
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Jaya
 

Anne, I had the same problem with jalapenos. I was so ecciged I stuffed them with fetta, baked them and they came out with less flavour than a capsicum. I was thinking maybe they need to be pickled to bring out the flavour. -Perth, Aus
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Jeanne Kays
 

I grow Thai dragon chiles and serrano chiles every year. If I am careful to protect the plants from heavy frost, I can keep the plants growing for two seasons (I live in Northern California).
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andy
 

The secret to growing awesome chillis anywhere from Tallinn to Devon and Boscombe to Bangkok would be Root Better Mycorrhizal fungi and K+AMINO imo. If i could post you a picture, you can find one on our Facebook pages @BetterOrganix, I would show you 1.5lbs of harvested green chillis, taken from a single 14 inch tall, re vegged Thai plant, mid December in the UK.
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John1st
 

Lovely article Mark thank you Im growing , Bangalore torpedo, Habanero and Anaheim this year. They all seem to have germinated well and am about to re-pot Thanks again for all great emails John1st
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Mark Ridsdill Smith
 

Many thanks for your kind comments, John. Love the names of the chillies you are growing, particularly the Bangalore Torpedo. Would be very interested to learn how you find them if you get the chance.
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Mark Ridsdill Smith
 

Thanks for sharing your experience Jeanne.
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Mark Ridsdill Smith
 

These sound like really interesting varieties, Jaime, thanks for sharing - and glad to hear you are successfully growing them in your short growing season.
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Mark Ridsdill Smith
 

So glad you liked it Christina
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Jessica
 

I also have the same problem with whiteflies and aphids. The plant generally do really well in the summer and fall months, but as soon as the winter comes it gets a lots of whiteflies. We have tried using organic pesticides which will ward off the bugs for a couple weeks, but they will come back. It seems the plants just gets weak when there's a lack of sun, and they never made it through the winter months. I put them outside in the summer and take them indoor as it gets cold. Any tips? Have lots two great chili plants already...
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Machell
 

Does anyone have experience growing poblanos from seed in containers?
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Catarina Martins
 

Are all types of chilly edible, like TWILIGHT for example? Or is it just to have a beautiful plant? Thank you
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Mark Ridsdill Smith
 

Twilight is certainly edible, Catarina. The chillies of Twilight don't have the same complexity of flavour of say an Aji Lemon, but they still taste good and will add a nice chilli heat to your dishes. As far as i know all chillies are edible - but I'd always recommend you double check before trying any one you're not sure about.
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Catarina Martins
 

Thank you Mark. Propably I will try the Twilight ones. Did you saw my peppers? I've sent you by email
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Margaret Morris
 

I have had great success with Ring of fire in pots. I even managed to overwinter a plant one year and it performed well the next year. I saved seed which is now germinating on the bathroom window ledge.
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Mark Ridsdill Smith
 

Nice to hear another endorsement for Ring of Fire, Margaret - I had a lot of success with that in pots when I lived in London, too. Thanks for sharing.
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Mark Ridsdill Smith
 

Hi Anne and Jaya, I just asked Steve of South Devon Chilli farmer and he has kindly responded - he says "Jalapenos: There are many varieties from very mild to very hot. When you buy seeds, check the information from the supplier specifies the variety and the expected heat rating." I hope that answers the question!
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Mark Ridsdill Smith
 

Hi Jessica, Steve from South Devon Chilli Farm says, in answer to your question: "White Fly (rather than aphids): These pests can over-winter as eggs or ‘crawlers’. They can be discourage by put the plants outside during the day (provided the temperature is not too low). If possible, grow chillies from seed each year and keep away from other plants that may be over-wintering pests."
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Mark Ridsdill Smith
 

Hi Kaye, in answer to your question, Steve at South Devon Chilli Farm says: “White Fly (rather than aphids): These pests can over-winter as eggs or ‘crawlers’. They can be discourage by put the plants outside during the day (provided the temperature is not too low). If possible, grow chillies from seed each year and keep away from other plants that may be over-wintering pests.”
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Stephan Popp
 

Thanks for the watering tips! This will help me much this year. The sorts that I get here in Vienna from the Arche Noah (Noah's ark) seed bank are different from those you mentioned. They're mostly from Hungary, Serbia, and Turkey, but they also have jalapenos etc., and they guarantee that they don't have F1 hybrids. On our hot and windy south-facing balcony, we grow Feuerwerk ('fireworks'), a small hot variety from Germany, as a spice, and 'Nepalese bell pepper', a medium hot variety, which we add to salad. I keep trying other varieties. The small round 'Pretty in Purple' chilli also grew well, and we had chillies until October with a small paintbrush as a pollinator. Our chillies are mostly pollinated by bumblebees, which are already hibernating by 1st September - but a small paintbrush does the trick too. I use an ordinary garden soil with a very generous helping (ca. 1/10th) of worm compost. After I had harvested the first fruits, I used tomato fertiliser, too.
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Giuseppe Monteleone
 

Dear Mark, A few years ago I found out two strains of Frutescens, Kanthari Mulaku and Kochchi (or Kochi), even if I suspect they are the same variety. Kanthari Mulaku is cultivated in Kerala, a region located in South India. The capital city of Kerala is Kochi, the name Nepalese people gave to this strain. It's similar to Tabasco and it's very hot. In Kerala it grows wild and unsown on the street as well.
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Sarah Benson
 

Oops, I read this after having bought some chilli seeds! I'm growing Nepal Snakebite, I have no idea what it's like. Does anyone have experience of it? My seeds are in a propagator at around 25-30deg so I expect them to germinate in the next week or so. Just for info, I have four propagators, each one I obtained from Freecycle or Freegle, so I didn't pay for one of them. They're out there, just do 'wanted' ads! I have a grow light too, but at a 200W bulb that adds up - used to extend daylight to bring plants on early.
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claud shadrick
 

can I buy some seed. thank you
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claud shadrick
 

I have some hot peppers that I got from texas that grows in the wild if you want some let me know very good to eat
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Mark Ridsdill Smith
 

I don't sell seed Claud, but if you check out South Devon Chilli Farm (https://www.southdevonchillifarm.co.uk/) they'll be able to help you.
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Clare Morris
 

Hello Mark, these were useful videos and great information, thank you. I live in Switzerland and have just purchased 4 nice chilli plants; 1) Christmas Tree 100,000-350,000 on the Scoville Scale 2) Big Jim Orange 50,000-100,000 3) Black Horn 30,000-50,000 4) Cayenna 30,000-50,000 Are you familiar with any of these? I want to put them in some nice ceramic pots for our balcony, but need advice as to what sized containers they will require for healthy growth as I don't know how big they get. If you can advise that would be great, if not then no problem. Thanks Clare
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Mark Ridsdill Smith
 

Hi Clare, sorry for slow reply. I don't know these particular varieties. 10 litres is normally big enough for most chillies. One option would be start them off in this size and move them to 15 or 20 litres if needed - they don't usually mind being moved. Do let us know how they go - they sound very interesting varieties
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Angela
 

Hi there I would like some
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Tom
 

I would greatly appreciate any surplus green chili seeds any one would care to donate
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Ken from NJ
 

Trying the up-planting approach this year with my super hots. Started with purchased small plants early May (using grow lights in a sunny room) and had to wait 6 weeks for the right weather to move outside into pots. Grow light seemed to do the trick! Planted them outside one week ago and they're doing well. Will check back in at harvest time! Growing Naga Morich (my favorite super hot), red savina habs and 2 local varieties (Devils tongue and Chicken Hearts).
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Ken from NJ
 

My guess is that your "snake bite" chilis are either the same as or at least related to my #1 favorite, Naga Morich. "Naga" means snake in many south Asian languages, and believe me, they BITE....but great flavor. I always blend them with sweet onions and fruit to mellow out the bite and add flavor. Very late bloomers.
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RD
 

I was just experimenting with seeds taken out from a bird-eye chilli (bought from sainsburys) and planted them in multipurpose compost with John Innes. Soon they grew and now they are about 30cm tall in a 10 cm pot indoors. Their growth seems to have somewhat plateaued so i am wondering what to do next... They sit on my kitchen window (south facing) and I did notice they take an awful lot of watering. What should i do next? Should i plant them in bigger pots? If yes what soil / compost should I use? If i put them outside then will they survive the cooler autumn and winter months (i dont have a greenhouse)? Or should i keep them indoors? Do i need to put any feed?
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peter
 

it's my first year of growing chillies, so many experts are giving advise that contradict and i am getting confused. I grew hot chillies ,Bhut Jolokia red, California Reaper, California Reaper Chocolate and Trinidad Scorpion Butch Taylor Yellow, all are successful on average 8-12 chillies per plant, i have only used universal pot ground and a bio tomato feed to do this, when i look on the net it tells me about topping the plants, lots of calcium not nitrogen , add worm cast in the soil, or kelp, or rock dust and the temperatures vary by up to 5 degrees . i grow them on my window sill , just with sunlight. next season i am hoping to grow Dragon's Breath , the latest chilli, Can you give me any advise on the said above , thanks if you can .
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shona
 

Yes i would like some of the seed from the chllies that grow wild in texas.if u still have some. Very interesting. I hadnt heard of wild chillies in that part of the world b4. Thanks
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Ken from NJ
 

Final report on first attempt at large volume grow. Red Savina Habanero, Orange Habanero, Devil's Tonge and Naga Morich. Each plant produced several dozen pods or more, I really can't estimate it was beyond my imagination! I'll summarize what I did: - uplanted purchased plants 5 weeks > moving outdoor 6/10 (60+ degree weather) in 6" containers of premo potting soil. Used LED grow lights. Soaked each with fish emulsion when planting & top dress granular organic fert - minimal water after planting - move to 7 gallon planting bags. Fish emulsion soak & top dress again. Soak then water infrequently (I watered 5-6 times all summer). Refert at 6 wks (3 total applications including initial top dress ends around early Aug). - KEY: cut back plant once around 12-16 inches tall around mid-point. Trust me its worth it later. Also pinch off flowers for 1st 6 weeks after planting. - bugs: Neem oil in water w/a few drops insecticide soap. Apply as directed, after 2-3 times bugs stay away for good - cover the top of soil in bags with large wood chips to retain moisture BUY A BIGGER HOUSE - THE CHILIES WILL TAKE OVER
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Ken from NJ
 

Increasing yield from my perspective: I don't think there is a special way to fertilize to get more pods, many approaches mentioned on this site will suffice for PLANT growth, which should be the focus for the first 50% of the season. The two keys I found for max pod development are (1) cutting back the plants early on to generate bushier growth, and (2) pinching off the blossoms for the first 6+ weeks so the plant responds by increasing bloom production. Once we are within the last 8 weeks of the season, cut back and then eliminate fertilization completely - it stresses the plant and that also causes it to produce a lot more pods as a means of survival. JMO of course but based on outstanding results in my garden.
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Abdiel Moreno
 

I like asking question sorry :D 1) Is it ok to plant your plants in February times? (Texas) 2) Can you plant a few seeds in one 3 in pot (or initiating pot) 3) Where can I get all the soil equipment (locally)
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Lizzie
 

Would love it if you have any to spare or sale, Or if anyone else has any.
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Helena Stephenson
 

Is it necessary to ‘stop’ the plant to encourage side growth?
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Mark Ridsdill Smith
 

Yes, pinching out the top growing tip is effective at encouraging a bushier plant. It’s a particularly useful technique for indoor chillies as these are prone to get tall and a bit lanky.
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Shyam krishnan
 

What are the feeding fertilizer for bird eye chilly cultivating in grow bag
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Anwar
 

Wow, it must be very spicy
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M zubair zaheer
 

Good Informative ..What is max Temperture In which fruit not abort.and how much intensity of Sun required?Thanks
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chanmax
 

I grew Naga chillies successfully by growing them under the mini greenhouse type cloches from Poundstretchers
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nic
 

I am currently growing some chillies and didn't think all the seeds would germinate. I now have about 47 of them in separate 7" pots. I was hoping this pot size would do. At the bottom there are drainage holes and I have a layer of stones. The trouble I have is some of them the roots have got past the stones and are now coming out the bottom. They have drip trays and don't know if I have to replant or do I cut the roots and replant with more stones. Any advice
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Mark Ridsdill Smith
 

You can either leave them as they are or repot into larger pots - a few roots coming out the bottom won't matter.
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Carol
 

This summer I have had a successful, continuous crop of F1Thai Dragon from an outside pot on my patio. The chillis have finished now. Should I bring my pot inside or could I leave it outside to weather the winter? I don’t have a greenhouse.
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Mark Ridsdill Smith
 

It will be killed by the frost outside Carol. You can either bring it in and look after it on windowsill for the winter. Or many people simply start again the next year.
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Carol
 

Thank you for your reply. What if I put a protective cover over it for outside?
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Mark Ridsdill Smith
 

Assuming you are in the UK it is unlikely that a chilli will survive outside even with a protective cover - although no doubt people will have examples when they have. This is because they are unable to tolerate temperatures below freezing and will be killed.
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Carol
 

Ok, thank you. I live in North Wales so will bring it inside when the weather gets really cold. Hopefully it will survive for next year.
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L
 

I have 3 different species of chillies I have grown from seed for the first time. Naga jolikia, capsicum chinese and habanero. They're all doing very well. The naga one is huge! Do I need to give it a stick support for the middle stalk as leaves are massive n seem to be very heavy. None have started to flower yet
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Jens Kirkebjerg
 

I'm trying to grow chili for the first time - do I pinch side leaves like on tomato, or leave them, and only pinch the top ? (do I pinch the top, even if it has started with small flowers ?
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Mark Ridsdill Smith
 

Most varieties don't need pinching out, but some people pinch the top out to encourage a bushier plant (particularly if grown indoors when they can get a bit tall and lanky).
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Dave M
 

Hi I've been growing chillis at home for 3 years now (from seed). Most of them live on south facing window sills, a few in the greenhouse. I've grown Hungarian Hot wax, Banana chillis, Carolina Reapers, Anaheim's and Poblenos. My question is how many chillis would you expect to be growing on a plant at any one time? I read that people can sometimes get yields of hundreds of chillis from a single plant for some varieties but my plants only ever have one or two chillis growing at a time. Very rarely I get 3 on a plant. They do produce more than one crop once picked. My plants have grown tall and leafy and seem healthy but so far I've harvested around 50 to 70 chillis per year in total from around 30 plants. Any suggestions?
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David Cook
 

Hi this is probably due to them not having access to natural pollinating insects, being on windowsills and in a greenhouse. Use a small artists paint bush and rub the inside of each flower a couple of times each day while they are flowering and you’ll get much better yields
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Mark Ridsdill Smith
 

There are a few possibilities. The number of chillies per plant does depend a lot on the variety (some produce far more than others), also on the time of year you sow them (they need starting early, ideally under grow lights if possible), and on how much warmth and sun they get - Chillies I grow indoors tend to have a much lower yield than those in my polytunnel (due to the lack of light indoors - even a south facing window usually has significantly less light than a polytunnel). Also the size of the pot and the quality of the growing media makes a difference as does the water regime (they won't yield well if overwatered). Sorry, this is rather a lot of possibilities, but hopefully you can rule some of these out. I'd definitely try to start with a variety that is renowned for producing high yields in containers and perhaps experiment with a few different growing mediums. Chillies are self pollinating (they do not need bees), so that is rarely a problem - although sometimes giving them a shake can help the pollen move on to the stamen.
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Darron Roper
 

I have a yellow ghost chilli growing in my pot indoors in London It’s south facing and highly insulated. This chilli has been growing consistently for 3 years constantly fruiting thru out. I have only cut side branches off and this 2ft max beast is over 3m tall. It hits my ceiling and has run off. I love it but it’s taking far too much space. Any tips in controlling this beast pls. Ps this has never had white fly even though 6 other plants out of 15 constantly have white fly despite using multiple control methods.
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Mark Ridsdill Smith
 

thanks Roy, good information.
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Roy
 

At the moment I live in the south of England. I have found fertilizing the myriad of flowers of Scotch Bonnets with a cotton bud maximizes fruit production by at least 10 fold, rather than relying on self-pollination. I have also found that over wintering Scotch Bonnets (Habaneros) gives the plant a head start for the season. They are grown in pots and are put outside around the start of May, and brought back inside about the start of October and for the main part, ripen indoors, around late November. I also employ the same strategy for Birds Eye chillies. BTW, I do not have a greenhouse.
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Mirjam
 

I successfully managed to overwinter one out of two cayenne peppers this year by cutting all leaves off in the beginning of winter and keeping it indoors. It has such a head start compared to my sown ones it's amazing! I did try with 3 "pretty in purple" plants as well and all died. I Wonder it you have any tips for how best to over -winter them? To increase my succeess rate. Or do you know of any good free resources? Thanks for an excellent blog post!
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Jing
 

I planted Habanero Chocolate and Yellow Reaper (from Mountain Valley Seeds). Just as they grew their first 4 real leaves (not the cotyledon), the leaves started to curl. I use 1/2 Liter Pot with Soil mix of 1 part Cocopeat, 1 part Vermicast, 1 part Carbonized Rice Hull. I only water them when the top part is dusty and if the soil meter is on the "dry" part. By the way I live in the Philippines, south of Luzon. I don't use fertilizer yet. I just give them enough moisture if dried already. I keep them away from other plants and they are in full sunlight at my rooftop.
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Mirjam
 

Hi Mark, On the south devon wesite it says "don't let them dry out; that should help prevent blossom-drop". Does this not contradict the watering advice above in your opinion?
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Mark Ridsdill Smith
 

Yes, it does a bit! Professional growers monitor watering very carefully and I'm sure that, if done well, allowing some drying between waterings is probably good, but my guess it is probably hard to get right. I do not let mine dry out, I just water them as all my other plants - but I do make sure that I use a potting mix that drains well (most good brands will drain well without amendments, but adding perlite or grit is always an option if not).
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Mark Ridsdill Smith
 

I've stopped overwintering my chillies so I don't really have any tips on this. I know that overwintering can be a good technique for getting an early harvest but, when I tried it, I had a lot of problems with the plants harbouring aphids which then became a big issue in the spring. This is quite a common issue, as I understand it, and one reason why many professional growers do not overwinter chillies.
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