How to Grow Chillis from start to finish

As well as spending most of my time designing and working on other peoples gardens, I also love to grow plants from seeds and cuttings and my particular favourite is chilli peppers, mainly because I love them in cooking.
I have been growing chillis from seed for a few years now and each year I learn more and more. One thing I found was lacking however, in my search for knowledge was a site online that actually told you everything; a start to finish guide. There was always something missing which I found frustrating, so my intention with this blog is to take you through the whole process of growing chillis, with me, step by step. It won't help everyone because I am basing this on people who have a greenhouse, a greenhouse with electricity so temperature can be controlled. I will give some tips for growing if you haven't got electricity in your greenhouse, but it will mean you having to use space in your home.

Vitopod heated propagator

Vitopod Thermostat for propagator

Things you need to sow your seeds for germination

The first things you to do before you sow any chilli or sweet pepper seeds is to have everything you need in place. Below is a list of things that are essential:

1. Chilli seeds - do your homework, buy seeds you actually want to use and don't over seed, you can use the remaining seeds next year or the year after if stored correctly

2. 9cm pots - there is a cry for biodegradable pots for the environment which I totally agree with so if you have a lot of plastic 9cm pots hanging around, don't throw them away and replace with fibre pots for example, re-use them until they can't be used any more, then throw them away and in the meantime bring in some biodegradable pots and see how they get on. I have got some 9cm fibre pots to try alongside my plastic ones and will compare as the season goes on.

3. The correct compost. You need a free draining compost with few nutrients so don't scrimp use the proper stuff. John Innes No 1 is what you need to use when you sow your seeds and then, when they are ready to transfer into pots on their own you will need John Innes No 2 which I will mix with some John Innes No 1.

​4. Vermiculite - I use this to mix in with the John Innes No 1 and with the chillis. I cover the seeds with a light covering of Vermiculite.

5.  Greenhouse - Pretty essential for plants like Chilli's, Tomatoes, Aubergines etc., A 8' x 6' greenhouse is big enough and if you can get electric into it, even better.

6.  Heated Propagator with a thermostat control that will give you a soil temperature of at least 25 degrees celsius. I use the Vitopod heated propagator with thermostat from Greenhouse Sensation and it really is a great bit of kit. They do different sizes, I use the smallest 56cm which is more than enough to germinate a lot of chilli and sweet pepper seeds and then Tomato seeds as well as other flower seeds that need a good start. If you haven't got a greenhouse with power this can be done inside your house. You need light once the seedlings show.

7. A clean area to mix your compost & Vermiculite and where you can sow your seeds.

8. Capillary matting - This is essential to use with the heated propagator. Best to find a good roll of it online as this will be much cheaper and you can cut it to size, plus you will be using it aplenty during the season for other growing tasks and the plants like to be watered from below.

9.  Greenhouse heater - Again, if you have a greenhouse with an electric supply, although you can use gas or paraffin. I have a 10' x 8' greenhouse and use the Bio Green Palma heater with a thermostat and it really is excellent. At 2Kw it is economical too and with the thermostat it will only turn on when the temperature needs topping up to keep it at the required heat.

My Chillis Progress 2019

I chose the chilli peppers and sweet peppers I wanted to grow this year and against my own advice I have ended up planting more than I could possibly need!! I want to allow some for any that fail to germinate and I am able to sell mine to clients or people locally, so I will easily get back any outgoings I have had.

The chillis and sweet peppers I have chosen are:
Hot Chilli Peppers:
Padron 
Poblano
Ancho Grande 
Jalapeno 
Habanero Moruga red 
Trinidad Scorpion Peach 
Trinidad Scorpion Caramel
Scorpion F1 
Habanero Chocolate
Habanero  Mustard 
Bhut Jolokia Chocolate 
Naga Jolokia 
Scotch Bonnet Red 
Scotch Bonnet Orange 
Lemon Drop 
Bangalore Torpedo 
Pepperdew 
Naga Viper

Sweet Peppers:
New Ace F1 
Dulce De Espana 
Sweet Chocolate 
Doux D’Espagne
Asti Red
Seeds were purchased from Premier Seeds Direct and Simpsons and the Pepperdew's were sent from the USA. Even though I didn't need to, I still bought several packets this year so I have a mixture of this years, last years and the year before that. I keep all my seeds in a sealed plastic container in the fridge at 5 degrees celcius and the dates on the packets are good for 2 to 3 years. 

Sowing the seeds

I like to get my chilli seeds in fairly early, specially as I have the greenhouse, this gives them a chance to become nice, healthy, strong plants earlier in the summer.

So on the 18th January I got myself comfortable in my greenhouse, a very cold, wet day outside, a day off for me from my client's gardens. Heater on 10 degrees and Radio 6 playing, perfect. My seeds arranged ready to sow and the propagator on to heat up, set to 25 degrees celsius.

First things first I am using used plastic 9cm pots for the chillis that have been washed out. I have mixed up my John Innes No 1 with a few handfuls of vermiculite and mixed it in to the soil. I then take the pots and fill them all with the mix, 17 pots for 17 varieties of chilli and I do the same with 6 new 9cm Fibre pots for the sweet peppers. All 23 pots are then placed in trays of hot water for 20 minutes to soak up the warm water so the compost is moist, ready for the seeds.

As they are doing their thing I go off to make a mug of coffee and soak my capillary matting, again in hot water as chillis need warmth and the seeds would not appreciate freezing cold water, the soil temperature needs to be between 21 and 28 degrees for ideal conditions.

Once all is ready I sow each plastic pot with 3 or 4 seeds, one pot for each variety, popped on top of the compost and then lightly cover the seeds with vermiculite and pop into the heated propagator. I then take the fibre pots and just put one sweet pepper seed into the centre of each pot and cover with vermiculite. This is the first time I have used these pots and I want the pepper plants to stay in these until they are ready to transfer to a 3 litre pot as the fibre pots should not need removal so the root growth won't be disturbed..... lets see how it goes!

31st January, 13 days after sowing

So, I put the temperature probe from the thermostat into the soil of one of the pots, it's soil temperature that is important for germination of chillis. Temperature set for 25 degrees and then lid on and no openings at this stage, as much heat as possible needs to be inside the propagator. The Greenhouse heater will be set for 10 degrees so the propagator's heater doesn't have to be fighting too hard.

Lets see how the seeds get on then, how long to germination, if they germinate at all!

Germination

It's now the 31st January, how have the seeds got on?

I have to say I am really happy, out of the 23 pots containing around 70 seeds 17 pots have germinated seeds so far and they have started quite early. As you can see from the picture above some nice looking seedlings, some have already got their first set of true leaves so will soon be ready to prick out and put into their own 9cm pot.

I have been checking daily since 18th January and below are the days they started to show:
Naga Jolokia (25/01/2019)
Scotch Bonnet Orange (27/01/2019)
Jalapeno (27/01/2019)
Bangalore Torpedo (27/01/2019)
Trinidad Scorpion Peach (28/01/2019)
Scorpion F1 (28/01/2019)
Pepperdew (28/01/2019)
Padron (28/01/2019)
Habanero  Mustard (29/01/2019)
Sweet Chocolate (29/01/2019)
Habanero Moruga red (30/01/2019)
Bhut Jolokia Chocolate (30/01/2019)
Lemon Drop (30/01/2019)
New Ace F1 (30/01/2019)
Ancho Grande (31/01/2019)
Scotch Bonnet Red (31/01/2019)
Dulce De Espana (31/01/2019)

Chillis and Sweet Peppers still to germinate:
Trinidad Scorpion Caramel
Habanero Chocolate
Naga Viper
Poblano
Doux D’Espagne
Asti Red

​All in all a great success so far and the first chillis to germinate were only 7 days after sowing.

I will report back to update on the last 6 and then give more detailed advice for removing the small plants and putting them into individual 9cm pots. See you soon!