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

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05 May 20, Anon (New Zealand - sub-tropical climate)
The advice here covers all chillies. Look at the notes here it tells you when to plant. When seedlings are about 75-125mm high transplant.
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11 May 20, Gavin (New Zealand - temperate climate)
I bought a chilli plant, very small, and it grew into a lovely plant, heaps and heaps of chilis. My question, will it flower again each year and produce new fruit each year? Or do I throw it away, and plant a new one?
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12 May 20, Anonymous (New Zealand - sub-tropical climate)
Best to google it and read up. Can be annual or perennial.
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22 Oct 20, villybang (New Zealand - temperate climate)
i have a jelopeno plant that is 5 years old (in a large pot ) It still produces chillies ..loads of them Its a small tree if you google it. produces mostly smaller fruit but . it does yield a few large ones ( probably more then a younger plant will ) pruning it back, sometimes pulling off the new buds, will transfer the energy back into the plant. of course using the right fertilizer, minerals and Nutrients will also help the plant survive overwintering looks like its dead. But it is survivable if done right
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07 Nov 20, carol (New Zealand - temperate climate)
I try to take my chillie plants through the winter by protecting from frost and the ones that survive do really well, better than new plants, so I would try to keepit going
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20 Jul 20, Jyoti (New Zealand - temperate climate)
Best is to plant a new chillie plant.i had a plant which survived winter but did not gave as much fruit as it did before.
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04 Jul 21, Prakash Chandra (New Zealand - sub-tropical climate)
To get many fruit from chili plant you need to plant a new plant every year. Last years plant have excessive leaves and very less good sized fruit. In tropical climate chili plant produce fruits up to three or four years.
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05 Aug 22, Anthony (New Zealand - sub-tropical climate)
I agree .best to plant a new one each year, fruit is bigger. Ive done lots of growing experiments with chillies in Auckland i had a jalapeno plant kept for 4 years in a pot which was babied the whole of its life .. only occasionally did it produce several good size fruit the smaller fruit i used in making sauce`s or cooking Another factor i found is dont grow different varieties close to one another as they can cross pollinate, If you are collecting seeds from the fruit for the next season. You may get smaller fruit
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Showing 31 - 38 of 38 comments
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Hi. I have my own chilli breeding program going on, and am planning to use a combination of Thai chilli, birdseye chilli, Chilli Diablo, some stock chilli (generic, little spice, huge fruit, and Habanero. All these plants are growing in a full-sun position in neutral soil with some compost and old manure mixed in, making it slightly more acidic, but they seem to love it. I have noticed growth of up to an inch a week if Worm Castings and seasol are mixed with some water and sprayed onto the leaves of the stock chilli and diablo. As the leaves of these two are very large, foliar feeding goes down a treat. The birdseye and thai chillies have smaller leaves, so I just add it into the irrigation water, with equal results. The habanero I have left alone, as a bit of an experiment to see how maintenance-free this part of the veg garden is. All the plants (apart from the diablo) were started from seed in the middle of winter, indoors, and the Thai chilli and Birdseye chillies have been topped as half the crop from them will go into our special family chilli sauce. All plants have abundant flowers, some of which are ready to open, and average about 60cm tall. I hope this helps and inspires some peopleto get into chillies.

- Mick

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