Growing Chillies From Seed
When starting out it is important to begin as you mean to go on so organisation is key. Begin by gathering together the vital ingredients:
- Your seeds.
- A bag of potting compost (I recommend B&Q seedling and cutting or for organic growers Bio Bizz gold mix)
- A seed tray, the best ones are the multi celled ones (as shown on the below)
- Some form of propagator (or a Tupperware tub covered in cling film works for those on a budget)
- A light source (at this stage a desk side lamp with an energy saving bulb will suffice)
- A permanent marker
- Label sticks
- Patience
So now you have everything you need to begin your growing mission it’s almost time to get started. First of all though you need to have a quick think about where you are growing them. If you intend to grow them outdoors then you should aim to start your seeds in February or March to make the best of the growing season available. If you are growing them indoors, starting them any earlier than that will require a small amount of supplementary lighting to get them going, but a desk lamp with an energy saving light bulb will be sufficient for only a few plants if placed within a 10cm (4”) of the tops of your seedlings.
Anyway so you’ve decided when you are going to do it and you have all your ingredients now comes the boring part of growing chillies….the germination.
- Fill however many cells of your seedling tray you intend to use ¾ full with soil
- Place your seeds one per cell on top of the, soil labelling each as you go to avoid confusion
- Place a thin layer of soil on top of each seed.
- Water with warm water until all the soil is damp but not soaking. (It s best to pour the water a day before and leave it in the airing cupboard to keep warmth as this allows the chlorine in it to evaporate)
- Now place the seedling tray in your propagator and, if it is unheated, place it somewhere warm. The optimum temperature being between 24-26ºC.
- No comes the waiting game, some strains can take up to 6 weeks to germinate, so leave them somewhere warm and open the tray once a day to give a quick spray with water to keep the soil moist.
- When your seedling finally pops up cut his cell from your seedling tray and move under a light as soon as possible to avoid the seedling stretching too much and becoming too weak to hold itself up. Until it gains mature leaves the seedling requires high levels of humidity so place it in another propagator under your light source which should be set to 18 hours of light and 6 of dark for the best levels of growth.
Now you have your seedling (see above) treat it well and you will be done with the difficult part of growing chilli plants. Once you see new sets of leaves form you know you are ready to pot the plant into a bigger pot and place it in a well lit window. Now that’s as far as I’m going with this guide but here’s a few final tips for keeping your seedlings healthy.
- Don’t feed the plants with a standard NPK fertiliser. If you do want to speed up growth slightly try a weak solution of “Formulex” misted onto the leaves using a spray bottle
- To encourage root growth in the soil try infusing your soil with “Advanced Nutrients Piranha”, a mixture of helpful bacteria which break up the soil helping root growth.
- Also available is Rhizotonic which also helps to stimulate new root growth and if possible I would employ both although I use Rhixotonic as a foliar spray.
- Have a small oscillating fan blowing over them for 15 minutes a day: this will help develop thicker stems allowing the plant to support more fruit.
- Remember sometimes seeds just won’t germinate it’s the nature of nature…so don’t give up and plant a few more than you need at the start and if you end up with too many then you can give them to your friends.
Good luck and hopefully you can soon be enjoying food so hot that nobody but you can eat it…….any questions you can grab me at.
Elretardo87@gmail.com
