Green chillies are an inseparable part of Indian Kitchen & is one of the biggest reasons why Indian food is known all over the world.
Growing it in your Kitchen Garden is quite easy & will provide you with a fresh supply of them.
How to grow Green Chillies at Home?
To grow Green Chillies at home, you need a seedling/flat tray filled with rich potting soil for germination, sow the seeds in it and keep it in medium indirect sunlight until the saplings develop 3-5 leaves, now you can transplant it in its final container & move in in direct sunlight.
In this guide you are going to learn everything step by step about growing green chillies in pots.
Without wasting any more time. Let’s dive into the action.
How To Grow Green Chillies At Home – Growing Green Chilli plant at home in India
Best Time To Grow Green Chillies / Green Chilli Growing Season
The best time to grow green chillies is from Late March – April.
During this period, the weather starts to transition from Winter to Spring season and the mercury starts to rise, which is favored by chilli plant.
One thing which you need to be careful before growing green chillies is that there is no chance of frost in your area for the next 2-3 months from the time of sowing seeds.
How to grow Green Chillies at Home (Step by Step)
Sowing of Seeds – (Step 1)
The first step in sowing seeds is to prepare the seedling tray.
For this, fill the seedling tray with a mixture of good quality vermicompost and coco peat in the following ratio.
Vermicompost – 60% ( get it from here)
Coco Peat – 40% ( best in the market)
Now, gently place the seeds over this mixture at some gap and then lightly cover them with the same potting mix.
After this water them gently with water sprayer to make the soil moist.
Placing the Seedling Tray
During the germination period, put the seedling tray in a location that receives medium – bright indirect sunlight.
As direct sunlight will be too much for this tender age.
Windowsill that receives sunlight are perfect for this.
Keep watering it whenever the soil feels dry, but never overwater.
Germination Time of Chilli Seeds
Chilly seeds takes about 1-2 weeks (7- 12 days) for germination if everything goes well.
Repotting Saplings into Small Individual Pots – (Step 2)
Once the seeds have germinated and grown their first true leaves (size 3-4 cm) now is the time to move each of them into an individual container.
This step is necessary because it allows them to grow freely.
For this simply take the seedlings very carefully out of soil and put in inside a 4 inch pot.
Now keep this pot in bright indirect sunlight.
After a few weeks, it will grow big enough (12-15 cm) to be planted into final container.
Transplanting Them to Final Container – (Step 3)
This is the final step of growing green chillies at home.
For this you need to fill a 10 inch size pot with potting soil (I recommend this one).
Now take out the saplings from their individual pot and plant 1-2 saplings per pot (10 inch).
Once you are done, water it thoroughly and place it in a location that receives good amount of sunlight as chilly plant requires at least 6 hours of direct sunlight every day.
Learn to – Grow Methi at Home
Things Required to Grow Green Chilli Plant in India
Good Quality Seeds
You can either buy good quality seeds (from here) or get them from already available overripen green chilli plant at home.
For later, you just have to slit open it into two parts and collect it seeds.
Seedling Tray For Germination
Seedling trays are specially designed trays for germination of seeds which makes the process very smooth.
You can get this good quality tray for growing green chillies or you can use a wide container for the same.
Potting Soil
Potting soil for green chillies mostly consists of good amount of compost, coco peat and loamy soil.
I will recommend you to use this ready made potting soil to grow it as it is comes with good quality fertilizer.
Garden Sprayer
In order to water the seeds, you will need a good quality garden sprayer (like this one). Please don’t use any other thing for watering the seeds, as its force can displace them from their place and all your efforts will go in vain.
How To Grow Chilli Plants Faster
To grow chilli plants faster you can: speed up the germination process, keep it in a green house environment, provide it with lots of direct sunlight or feed it potassium rich fertilizer.
Let’s look at each of them one by one:
Speeding Up The Germination Process
The first thing you can do to grow chilli plant faster is to speed up the germination process:
Usually, the germination period for chilli seeds is around 9 – 14 days.
But before sowing the seeds, if you soak them in warm water overnight the hard outer covering of the chilli seeds gets softer and germinates faster than usual.
Keep it in Green House Environment
After sowing seeds, you simply need to cover the seedling tray or any other container that you are using for the germination with a plastic cover.
Make some holes in the cover for air circulation, this will help in trapping heat inside the seedling tray and chill plants will grow faster.
Provide Lots of Direct Sunlight
Chilli plant is one of the most sun loving plant, so if you can provide it more of direct sun than what you are providing it right now it will grow comparatively faster.
Feed it With Potassium Rich Fertilizer
By providing it with lots of compost. Keep adding Potassium rich compost in it time to time it helps in producing more fruits as well as protect it from colder nights.
Green Chilli Plant Care
How to Water Green Chili Plant
As it loves to stand under sunlight, the water evaporates very quickly so you may need to water it at regular intervals.
Before watering it, just make sure to check that the soil isn’t wet, if its wet then you shouldn’t water it as it will cause the soil to get saggy and may cause root rot.
Chilly plant can withstand dry conditions effectively so only water it when the top few inches feel dry.
Fertilizing Green Chilli Plant
Once the plant starts flowering, now is the time when it requires the most amount of nutrients. As, it is ready to produce chillies.
Feed it with a good quality vermicompost or home made compost every 20-25 days. (check this guide to make compost from kitchen waste at home)
Frequently Asked Question
How long does it take for Chili plant to bear Fruits?
Depending on the varieties and other factors like weather, watering and fertilization it takes around 2-4 months for chilli plant to start producing fruits.
Once it starts flowering it takes around 3-7 days to start bearing chilly fruits.
Wrapping Up
I hope this guide will help you grow your own chilli plant at home successfully and enjoy tasty home grown chillies.
If you still face any problem do make sure to comment it down below and I will try to help you as soon as possible.
