Learning how to grow chilis at home is a simple and enjoyable way to test out your green thumb and spice up your home cooking.
Growing chilis is relatively easy, with enough varieties to satisfy every palette. There’s a chili pepper seed for every occasion whether you want heat, flavor, or attractive colors to brighten your space.
Chili plants don’t take up much room and can grow in windowsill containers as easily as in the ground. Chilli peppers are the fruits of the plant and they look great before harvesting. Fortunately, most folks can enjoy a bumper harvest following the growing tips below.
So put on your gardening gloves—to protect your skin when touching fiery chili peppers—and follow this grow guide to chili glory, from seed to plate.
How to Grow Chilis: An Introduction
Chilis are tender plants that usually reach two feet tall (60cm) and a foot wide (30cm). Their fruits form the backbone of many kitchen cultures, from the fiery chilis of Thai curries to the salsas and chili verdes of Mexico.
There are subtler, sweeter flavors between the hot chilis, many unique, some with fruity tones, others carrying a more citric tang. Sizes, shapes, and colors vary, with heat going from mild to extremely hot.
Top tip: Growing your own chilis requires similar growing conditions to tomatoes. They are tender plants that need heat, sun, and moisture.
But before you start, you need to know which peppers will bring joy to your kitchen rather than have you reaching for ice-cold water. In fact, scrap the water. It’s better to drink a glass of milk or eat a spoon of sugar if you eat a chili that’s too hot for your taste buds!
What Are the Different Heats of Chili Peppers?
First things first: Know how hot you want your own chilis to be by researching the Scoville scale.
All chilis have their heat rated on the Scoville scale, with a 3,000 rating considered the starting point for hot chili peppers. Our tongues feel the heat from chilis thanks to the chemical capsaicin.
Here’s a sliding scale in Scoville heat units with examples of different varieties of chilis:
- Anaheim peppers: 500-2,500, a mild, slightly sweet pepper also known as the Magdalena or California chili
- Poblano peppers: 1,000-1,500, giving off very little, if any, heat
- Jalapeño peppers: 2,500-8,000, great for salsas and pizza toppings
- Serrano peppers: 10,000-25,000, a versatile pepper suited to salsas, sauces, marinades, and salads
- Cayenne peppers: 30,000-50,000, perfect for hot and spicy flavorings
- Habanero peppers: 100,000-350,000, ideal for salsas and those who love heat
- Ghost peppers: 850,000-1m+, these peppers give a unique flavor for practiced heat-eaters, but the heat often needs toning down in dishes
- Carolina Reaper: 1.4m-2.2m, eating these chilis can cause adverse reactions
- Dragon’s Breath: 2.48m, although this is yet to be officially confirmed and is thought to be capable of inducing anaphylactic shock — we recommend staying away from this one
Keep in mind that chili variety, maturity, and growing conditions all affect heat levels.
What Are Different Types of Chili Peppers?
There are just five species of chili peppers. They all come from the capsicum family. Note that bell peppers are a no-heat chili, but they are indeed a chili.
- Capsicum annuum: Paprika and sweet peppers come from this family
- Capsicum baccatum: This species includes the Peruvian hot pepper, also known as aji
- Capsicum chinense: Several hot chili varieties are chinense, including the scotch bonnet and habanero
- Capsicum fruitescens: If you like Tabasco and Thai chilis, you’ll be interested to learn this is their classification
- Capsicum pubescens: Its name means “hairy” because the fruits and stems sprout hairs
Be aware of which chili variety you use most in your cooking so you can enjoy the fruits of your labor.
How to Grow Chili Peppers: The Basics
You’ll need a few basic materials when learning how to grow chilis.
First are the chili seeds. Purchase these at a garden store or from an online chili seed expert where there’s more variety. You’ll need some paper towels or napkins, seed pot trays and plant pots, containers if planting outside, and potting soil. We recommend using gardening gloves whenever handling chili fruits; their heat can transfer from your fingers to wherever you touch!
Some people also buy chili plants at garden centers during the spring season. However, starting with chili seeds will give you the choice of many different varieties of chilis.
Top tip: Everyday items like yogurt pots, egg cartons, and paper coffee cups make excellent seed pot trays. Chilis love growing in pots!
What’s the Optimal Climate for Growing Chilis?
Please consider your region’s seasonal weather variations when planning your planting and harvesting.
In general, chilis are like tomatoes and love warm, sunny spots. Greenhouses, windowsills, and south-facing patios are ideal. Outside, choose sheltered places with full sun. Remember that chilis have a relatively long growing season to reach maturity.
The best time to sow seeds is between February and April. Next, plant out into larger pots between May and June. Finally, harvest your chilis between July and October, depending on your area’s climate.
Top tip: Chili plant fruits gain more spice and heat the longer they’re left to mature on the plant and the more sun they receive.
How Do I Prepare Chili Pepper Seeds for Optimal Germination?
Months to sow seeds: February to April. An earlier start gives earlier and potentially longer harvests.
Fill a small pot with moist, seed or multi-purpose compost, and pat it down to firmness. Sow seeds on top, sowing a few more than you think if you need. Cover with a fine layer of vermiculite and gently water.
People in warm climates can keep seeds on a warm windowsill, keeping plants at 60–64°F (16–18°C). You can cover the pots with clear plastic bags to increase humidity if you wish. Use a heated propagator (21°C or 70°F) and a growing light for colder climes. This stops the seeds from growing tall and leggy.
Once the seedlings appear, you can remove the plastic bags or the plants from the heated propagator. Keep them in sunny and brightly lit areas and water regularly, every other day, keeping the soil moist.
How to Grow Chilis: From Seedling to Plant
It’s time to pot your chilis once your chili seedlings reach an inch (2.5cm) tall. Transfer each seedling to an individual small pot with drainage holes filled with multi-purpose compost.
Keep the soil moist by watering little and often, every second or third day and keep them in warm, sunny areas.
Move the plants to larger, individual pots or containers when the plants reach 9 inches in height (22cm). Use supportive canes to keep them upright. Chilis grow best in greenhouses, conservatories, polytunnels, or windowsills.
Only move them outside when night temperatures exceed (10°C or 50°F), and any danger of frost has passed.
Where Do Chilis Grow Best Outside?
Chilis growing in colder climes may need to harden off for two to three weeks before planting outside. Acclimatize your chili plants to outside conditions by:
- Putting them outside during the day and bringing them in at night
- Leave plants in warm, sunny spots, ideally next to a south-facing wall or sunny patio
- Use a cold glasshouse or cold frame if available and open the cold frame during the day and close it at night
- Use fleece or cloches (fleecy growing tunnels) to protect against wind and sun
Slowly expose the plants to more outside conditions over the two to three weeks before planting out. When planting out, chilis do well in large containers on sunny patios or next to south-facing walls.
If planting in garden beds, plant in well-drained, moisture-retaining soils. Warm the soil before planting by covering it with cloches when starting the hardening-off process. Always choose the sunniest spots and space them around 15–18 inches apart (38–45cm) or a foot (30cm) for dwarf varieties.
How to Grow Chilis: Best Care for Your Plants
Once outside, chilis require relatively little attention. Water them every two to three days, keeping the soil moist. Adding a top layer of mulch can help keep the soil moist. Be aware that containers dry out much more quickly than a garden.
Encourage bushy growth by pinching out the growing tips. Once flowers appear, feed them once a week with a liquid fertilizer like tomato feed with a high potash (potassium) content. Use canes to support plants properly.
Chilis love humid atmospheres but temperatures that exceed 86°F/30°C can hinder fruiting. Shelter and ventilate any growing areas during hot spells.
When Will My Chili Plants Be Ready to Harvest?
Chilis usually produce mature fruits around mid-summer. Some varieties grown in greenhouses may still provide chilis as late as autumn.
Encourage greater yields by picking a few fruits when they are green. Leave these extra fruits on the vine to change color and they will develop more heat. Letting chilis ripen on the plant can reduce harvests but may give more of the heat and punch you’re seeking from hot chilis.
If you aim for a late harvest, bring back the fleeces or transport the chilis indoors to help stimulate the final fruits.
How Can I Protect My Chili Pepper Plants from Common Pests and Diseases?
Erratic watering or overwatering can rot roots and cause blossom-end rot, where the bottom of the chili fruits rot. Watch for slugs and snails, which love to devour young chili plants.
Greenhouses need good ventilation to prevent gray mold. Mist plants regularly to dispel red spider mites.
Check shoots and leaves for aphids; wash them off or squish them before colonies establish themselves. Whitefly, often more of an indoor problem, can be offset by spraying the plants with an organic soapy spray.
How Can I Grow Hotter Chilis?
Here are several tips to help grow hotter chilis:
- Make sure you choose a hot variety in the first place
- Start growing early so the fruits have more time to mature
- Extra heat while growing means extra heat in the fruit
- Pinch out stems when fruits appear to reduce harvest but increase the capsaicin levels in those that remain
- Some growers say not using fertilizer improves the heat so don’t be afraid to experiment
- Reduce watering, resulting in smaller plants and harvests but hotter chilis
What’s the Best Way to Store Chilis?
Some people dry chili, stringing them on a line and keeping them in a cool, dry, dark space. Dried chilis should be kept in an airtight container in the same conditions.
Alternatively, pickle them in vinegar, make them into a paste, or chop dried chilis into chili flakes. Remove the seeds if they are too spicy. Use them in your cooking, from stir fries to Mexican or Tex-Mex food.
Top tip: Don’t touch your face, eyes, or any other body part while handling chilis—the heat will transfer to that zone! Use gloves for extra safety.
How to Grow Chili Peppers: FAQs Answered
Just in case you have more questions about how to grow chilis, here are a few more FAQs answered so you get the best crop possible.
What’s the Best Soil for Growing Chilis?
Growing chili peppers is easier with compatible soil. Chili plants like well-drained and slightly acidic soil. For mature plants, it helps to feed them with a high potash fertilizer once a week and add mulch.
How Much Sunlight Do Chilis Need?
Chilis love the sunlight. Most varieties require at least six hours of sunshine a day. Remember to harden off seedlings to full sunshine when planting out.
How Often Should I Water My Chili Plants?
Most chili plants appreciate watering every two to three days to keep the soil moist. Overwatering may rot the roots, especially for younger plants and seedlings.
How Often Should I Feed My Chili Plants?
Chili plants are ready for feeding as soon as they start flowering. Add a high-potassium liquid fertilizer once a week.
Where Should I Buy Chili Seeds?
You can buy chili seeds from garden centers, supermarkets, and online seed suppliers. Specialist chili retailers will stock many more different varieties than most stores.
Garden centers may also sell seedlings ready to plant, usually in spring or early summer. These plants are a good option for people living in areas with cool or mild growing conditions.
Some people use the seeds from their first year’s harvest for the following season. Be aware that the second year’s crop may be more bountiful than the first. The extra fruits mean the chilis lose some heat as the capsaicin spreads through more chilis.
What Are the Best Chilis to Grow in Windowsills?
The Hot Thai variety is compact and offers high heat levels, while the Malawi Birdseye is medium hot, whose chilis turn from red to green when maturing.
Try the Demon Red for its attractive fruits and high heat levels. The dwarf Apache chilis pack plenty of punch and also do well outside. You may also want to try Pretty Purple: the fruits start purple, then ripen to yellow, then orange, before settling on a mature red.
What Are the Best Chilis to Grow on Patios or Balconies?
Outdoor chilis are a little hardier but still need care. Only plant out once it’s warm enough—see the grow guide below for more.
Mild chilis: Poblano or Cascabel
Medium hot: Joe’s Long Cayenne or Hungarian Hot Wax
Very hot: Ring of Fire or Trinidad Scorpion
Growing Chilis at Home: Your New Favorite Pastime
From the smallest seeds grows mighty heat … or something along those lines. Knowing how to grow chilis means opening a whole world of hot and spicy food coupled with the satisfaction of having raised the ingredients yourself.
You can impress your guests with delicious salsa picante with chilis from your garden or slather it on homemade tortillas with just a few materials and a little care. You need some sunshine, patience, and basic gardening skills.
Chili sauces and pickled chilis also make great gifts to those who love spicy food. What says “I care” more than a present born from months of love and attention? Spicy chilis are a surefire way to warm anyone’s heart.
Brought to you by amigoenergy
All images licensed from Adobe Stock.