Growing Chilli peppers, also Hot peppers

Capsicum sp. : Solanaceae / the nightshade family

Jan F M A M J J A S O N Dec
                S S    
                    T T

(Best months for growing Chilli peppers in New Zealand - cool/mountain regions)

  • S = Plant undercover in seed trays
  • T = Plant out (transplant) seedlings

September: After risk of frosts

  • Grow in seed trays, and plant out in 4-6 weeks. Sow seed at a depth approximately three times the diameter of the seed. Best planted at soil temperatures between 64°F and 95°F. (Show °C/cm)
  • Space plants: 16 - 20 inches apart
  • Harvest in 9-11 weeks. Wear gloves to pick 'hot' chillies.
  • Compatible with (can grow beside): Best grown in a separate bed as chillies need plenty of light and air circulation.

Your comments and tips

14 Jan 09, Quinny (Australia - temperate climate)
Hello, I have a range of chillis in, - jalapenos, banana, birdseye. Some of the larger chillis have started getting brown spots, that spread, until the whole chilli goes brown and hard. It's not affecting all the chillis on the plant. I thought it could be blosssom end rot, but it is not actually starting on the blossom end, but rather somewhere around the middle or lower end. Any thoughts?
18 Apr 12, Eliza (Australia - temperate climate)
Hi, I'm growing Birdseye and jalapeƱos at the moment. The Birdseye is doing well but the leaves on the jalapeƱo are turning yellow. The fruit continue to look healthy! I live in coastal south eastern Australia, but it hasn't been too cold yet. Any ideas?
17 Jan 09, Elliot (Australia - temperate climate)
Jamie - 2 things it could be.Lack of water when the chillies are ripening, or a grub that gets layed in the young chillie and eats the inside of the chillie causing it to rot
24 Jan 09, cy (Australia - temperate climate)
yah im growing chilis for the first time...how deep shoudl you plant them.
18 Feb 09, John (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
Jaime. Open up one of the chili's, if is crawling with Grubs it is more than likely fruit fly. Make sure you put the spoiled fruit in a bucket of wate to kill the grubs. Then into the bin. Do not put int the compost, or the mulch at the botom of your plants. I'm still looking for a way to prevent the fly in the first place.
25 Feb 09, Ty (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
I have a few small worms/grubs eating my chillies from the inside. Any advice on how to send them packing? - Sydney
27 Feb 09, Athrael (Australia - temperate climate)
Hi Lucy, All my chilli plants are grown in pots which makes it easier to bring them inside during winter. So yours should be alright by the sounds of it. Only problem is you would need to repot them once the plants get too big :)
05 Mar 09, Buddy (Australia - temperate climate)
Hi My birds eye chilies grow very well but they dont fruit , only a few chilies, then nothing till they die off ...any ideas that may help ???
08 Mar 09, Mick (Australia - cool/mountain climate)
You may need to give them an extra helping hand in pollination. use a dry toothpick or similar, and gently brush it around in all the flowers, and see if that helps. I have African Birdseye x Thai chillies that did the same for a month or so. After that (mid-summer) they fruited just fine. If that doesn't work, then try adding in a little extra fertiliser, but don't go overboard. Also, water kills pollen, so try not to spray the plants with a shower from the hose, so much as a slow soak from the ground.
14 Mar 09, Daniel (Australia - temperate climate)
I have a few Naga Jolokia plants growing, they are flowering, but not producing any fruit, any ideas how I can get them to produce fruit? Also how do I go about collecting seed to grow more at a later date?
Showing 21 - 30 of 427 comments

Tammi - could be mice or rats, they can do this also. Its happened to me in Perth. Megan - Chillies will only grow vigourously during the warmer months, depending on where you are, they will either slow down, go dormant, or die altogether, depening on how cold it gets, a severe frowst will kill them. Wait until summer, they will flower all over, and give you lots of fruit. If you want a hotter chilli, water them less, let them dry out a little (but not all the way). A stressed plant will give hotter fruit. If you want hotter fruit still, get a different variety. Look for a chinense variety. Gareth - Most people raise chillies in punnets/starter pots, then into medium pots (10-15 cm across at the top), then onto final larger pots or garden beds when they have outgrown the medium one. You can tell when they are ready to be moved as they will have roots coming out the bottom. Julie - feed them with tomato food, probably in liquid form, is pretty good for flowering chillies, also, mulch and compost the soil if you can. Murray - depending on the variety, chillies can take up to 6 weeks to germinate, and they also need warm humid conditions to do so. Chillies are originally grown in warmer humid places, so they better you can recreate this, the happier they are. Keep them moist, (but not wet or soggy), perhaps put half a coke bottle over them to keep the humidity up, put them somewhere warm, they dont need sunlight to germinate, so the top of the fridge will do. When they do germinate, move them to a sunny windowsill or similar until they are ready to be hardened off to go outside. Michael - an NPK ratio of 10-5-10 for when they are growing works well, then 5-10-10 for flowering, if using bought fertilizers. Otherwise, a well composted mix of garden waste should work well, with some animal manure thrown in. Dont forget to mulch the soil to stop evaporation.

- Simon

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