Hot Pepper Seeds

Hot Pepper Seeds (Capsicum annuum) grow into compact, productive plants that hang with slender, glossy chilies prized for their bright bite and warming heat. The fruit can be picked young and green for a crisp, sharp flavour, or left on the plant to ripen and deepen in colour, which develops a noticeably hotter kick. Versatile in the kitchen, these chilies shine fresh in salsas and stews, dried and ground into chili powder and flakes, or pickled whole, while the upright, fruit-laden plants also make a striking ornamental display on a sunny patio.

Planting

Hot and chili peppers love a long, warm season, so start the seeds indoors 8 to 10 weeks before the last expected frost (some of the hottest types appreciate up to 12 weeks of a head start). Sow about 0.6 cm deep in a sterile, soilless germination mix. The seeds germinate in roughly 10 days at an ideal soil temperature of 21 C, and a heat mat holding 27 to 32 C speeds up and improves emergence. Once seedlings appear, grow them on at 16 to 18 C in bright light, and thin or prick them out so they stand 5 to 8 cm apart, potting each one on while still small. Move plants outdoors only after nighttime lows stay above 10 C and the soil has warmed to at least about 18 C. Space transplants 30 to 60 cm apart in rows about 75 to 90 cm apart; in the open garden 38 to 45 cm between plants works well (30 cm for dwarf types), or grow one plant per 22 cm container. Choose the warmest, sunniest spot you have, giving at least 6 hours of direct light a day, with 8 to 10 hours preferred.

Fertilizing

Before transplanting, work a balanced fertilizer such as 10-10-10 or 13-13-13 into the soil at roughly 1 kg per 9 square metres, adjusting phosphorus and potassium according to a soil test, and keep the soil pH between 6.0 and 6.5. Once the first fruits have set, side-dress with nitrogen to support continued growth and fruiting. Go easy on nitrogen overall, since an excess produces bushy, leafy plants that are slow to bear. For peppers in containers or a greenhouse, feed weekly with a high-potassium liquid fertiliser, such as a tomato feed, as soon as flowering starts to favour fruit over leafy growth.

Care

Give the plants steady moisture: if they do not receive about 2.5 cm of rain a week, soak the soil thoroughly at least once weekly and keep that moisture uniform, using drip irrigation or soaker hoses rather than overhead watering to reduce disease. Watch for common pests including cutworms, aphids, tomato hornworms, stink bugs and, in the field, corn borer, earworm and armyworm. Diseases to look out for are bacterial leaf spot, bacterial wilt and viruses, along with physiological troubles such as blossom-end rot and sunscald. Peppers are usually ready 70 to 85 days after transplanting, with habanero types taking about 90 to 120 days. Pick the first fruits promptly at full size to encourage further fruit set; you can harvest chilies green or leave them to ripen and change colour for a hotter flavour, though bear in mind that letting them fully colour on the plant suppresses new flowers and can cut total harvest by a quarter or more, so picking green maximises overall yield.

Growing in Egypt

Hot chili pepper is a warm-season, frost-sensitive crop, so the main planting is a spring crop. Start seeds indoors or under protection from late December to February, then transplant outdoors once the cold spells have passed. In the Nile Delta and Lower Egypt, where soil warms a little later, transplant from late February into March for a harvest from May into summer; in warmer Upper Egypt, where the soil warms earlier, you can transplant a few weeks sooner, from mid-February. Because Egyptian summers regularly climb above 30 C and suppress flowering, aim to have plants flowering and setting fruit before the peak heat, with the heaviest harvest in late spring to early summer. A second autumn crop is also possible: sow in summer under shade in July or August and transplant in late August or September for a cooler-weather harvest into November and December, since Egypt's mild winters rarely bring killing frost in the Delta or Upper Egypt. Keep young transplants protected during any January cold snaps, especially in the Delta, and give full sun, even moisture through drip irrigation, and high-potassium feeding once flowering begins.