Growing Chillies - Growing Chillies

Growing Pettie Belle Chillies

Pettie Belle chillies, as it is called in Africa or Bell Pepper in various other parts of the world, is a necessary addition to various types of cuisine is across the world. It is a great addition to any kind of sauces, main courses as well as salads.

There are various types of new varieties that can be found from the various types of seeds and nurseries, which can include mini-bells and colored bells that you might be hard pressed to find in your grocery store. Even the farmers market would not help you to find such wonderful bell peppers.

However, you can easily grow such papers in your backyard, particularly in very little space. For example, you could grow them in your small container, and start harvesting them in order to create the best Pepper for your meals.

Pettie Belle Chili Cultivation

In case you would like to grow bell pepper of an exotic variety like the Pettie Belle, you have to secure the seed from nurseries of your choice. If it is late winter, then start the seeds indoors. You should choose an area that contains plenty of light and warmth, or you could set up halogen lights and add a heat mat under the seeding tray so as to create a small greenhouse.

You can then choose a large pea pot, or large coir which can be planted directly into the ground. The peppers can then be transplanted from the pots made out of plastic to that secure location without having the roots disturbed.

After that, fill up your pot with good and lose potting soil. Plant your seeds according to the depth recommended in the Internet or given in the plastic packet containing the seeds. Always keep the soil moist, but not filled with water.

After the seedlings emerge, always make sure that you can turn them regularly, do not allow the plant to get bent; keep changing the direction of the light.

When the time comes for you to plant the pepper outdoors, always make sure that you take them outside for an hour or so in order to harden them. After a few days, keep increasing the time of keeping the plant outside in the sun, until you feel that the plant has been acclimatized, and there is no chance of any sunburn happening to the plant.

Make sure that the place is watered uniformly, do not allow the soil to dry out, and make sure that there is no sitting water. If the soil is excessively dry, particularly in the hot and windy days, then there would be no fruits, and the flowers will not bloom.

After the first batch of flower blooms, release some fertilizer. This will help you to get the best possible outcome from the Pettie Belle plant.

Anatomy of a Chili Pepper

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Chili is derived from the term chil given by the Arawak Indians who were the ones that first cultivated it. When Columbus first discovered the chili, he brought it back to Spain where they add the ‘e’ to it. Chili is the oldest spice in the world with archaeological specimens being found that dated to as far back to 7,000 B.C. in New Mexico.

Today, there are many variety of chili peppers including color, degree of spiciness, and shapes. Chili not only add spiciness to the food but it is also rich in antioxidant and rich in vitamin A and C. The anatomy of a chili pepper is comprises of many parts including peduncle, calyx, capsaicin glands, placenta, exocarp, mesocarp, endocarp, seed and apex.

Peduncle is the short branch on top of the pepper that remains when you harvest it from the plant.

Calyx is the green crown on top of the fruit where the penduncle is attach to. It is the remnant of the flower that has already transformed into the fruit. Preserving the calyx can keep the fruit fresher for a longer time.

Capsaicin glands is the central seed stem inside of the pepper that is joined to the placenta near the top. It is located in between the placenta and endocarp. Many people wrongly presumed that the seeds are responsible for producing the capsaicin glands.

Placenta is the round part on top where the seeds are attached to.

Exocarp is the outermost layer of the pepper which comprises the skin.

Mesocarp is the fleshy part under the skin of the pepper which is also called exocarp.

Endocarp is the inner membrane layer that surrounds the seeds.

The seed inside the pepper has low level of moisture but a high level of lecithin. Chili pepper seeds are edible. However, most people will prefer to discard the seeds as they are hard to chew and do not add any spicy flavor to the cooking.

The seeds are hot but they are not the hottest part. The white pith or rib that hold the seeds and the part that connect to the shoulder are believed to be the hottest part. The white pith is about 100 times hotter that the pepper flesh.

Apex is the bottom tip of the pepper fruit. The apex and peduncle are two areas that have the least capsaicin so biting these areas first will be less hotter.

When preparing chili pepper, you may want to wear a pair of glove to prevent the capsaicin oil from coming in contact to your skin. The capsaicin oil in the pepper can burn your skin and cause blistering.

If your skin get burned, you can apply some white vinegar to sooth it. Skin burn can occur especially when you are preparing a pepper with high Scoville scale such as Habanero.

How to Grow Serrano Chili Pepper

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The Serrano Chili Pepper, also known as Capsicum annuum longum, was originally grown in the mountains of Mexico. The name serrano, is derived from the term sierras which refers to the mountains in that region.

Serrano chili pepper is several times hotter than the Japapeno pepper, scoring a Scoville Scale rating in between 10,000 – 25,000.

Because of the spicy taste it gives, it is often used in hot dishes like Pico de Gallo. The serrano pepper size is about 1-2 inches and they come in dark green and red colours.

Planting the Serrano Chili Pepper

The first step is to let the serrano chili pepper seeds sprout and it is done by sowing the seeds ¼ inch deep in a seedling tray. It needs some warmth and sunshine in order to germinate properly.

Since you have to put it indoor, you can place a heat mat under the tray and put the tray near a window with lots of sun exposure. Artificial lighting is a good substitute if not enough sun is entering through the window and growing chilies indoors is possible.

After 2 – 3 weeks, you can transplant the young plant into the garden. There should be a distance of about 12 – 48 inches apart each young plant. Each row should be at least 24 – 36 inches apart.

Peppers like warm temperature so you should plant them in places that get lots of sun. The area of the garden where you plant the peppers should have a fertile soil with a PH between 6.2 – 7. The soil must be well drained otherwise it will cause disease like leaf spot.

If you want it to yield heavy fruit, your soil must be rich in potassium, calcium, and phosphorus. In addition, you must regularly water the plant and make sure the soil is moist all the time. If your soil don’t have enough nutrients, you can put 3 – 5 inches of compost above the soil. Organic fertilizer is best used to fertilize the plant.

When growing them early in spring, you can use a row cover to keep them warm and protect them from the cold. If a surprise spring frost is in the forecast, it is advised that you use a frost blanket to cover and protect the young plants. The plant tend to do poorly and the leaves may turn yellowish when the temperature falls below 55º F or 12º C.

Harvesting the Serrano Chili Pepper

The chili is ready for harvesting in 2.5 months starting from the day you transplant them. It will yield a lot of small waxy green fruits in 60 days. After 80 – 100 days, the green peppers will be big and ripe in red, yellow or orange color.

When harvesting, you simply use a pruning shear or sharp knife to nip off the chili pepper. The fruit can last longer if you keep the stem attached. After harvesting the peppers, you can keep them in a air tight plastic bag or plastic container in the refrigerator.

Growing Chillies Indoors: Easiest Chillies to Grow Indoors

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Three Easy to Grow Chillies

Daemon Red chili or Thai Chili is very suitable for growing indoors. These peppers are quite small, approximately five to six centimeters long. They are usually red and thin. You can grow them at your home, greenhouse or anywhere else inside. The time of maturity is four to five months. After that, they can be served together with a meal. Daemon Red peppers are very hot but delicious chilies. Consumers have an interesting and pleasant experience while eating them.

The Bhut Jolokia is an extremely hot pepper that grows very well indoors. This chili is great for those who love dangerous pepper varieties. It is definitely one of the hottest chilis in the world, so the consumers should be highly careful while eating it. The Bhut Jolokia originates from Assam in Northeast India and can be found in different shapes, sizes, and colors. Furthermore, this pepper is even used by the Indian army, and it is an interesting fact worth mentioning. The Indian Ministry of Defense replaced controversial pellet bullets with pepper grenades. And the Bhut Jolokia is the main component.

The Inferno chili is a moderately hot pepper, and it is not as dangerous as these chilies above. Its country of origin is Hungary, and because of that the Inferno is also called “Hungarian Hot Wax.” The pods can be yellow, light green, orange and red. Home breeding is an ideal condition for the variety, however, it should be totally exposed to Sun. The Inferno has a quite usual look with a normal shape and an average size.

The best place for growth is definitely somewhere near a window because they need a daylight and Sun rays. You can even make a small plant on the balcony, and the peppers will grow during summer.

To start, you will need the seeds. Fortunately, you can buy seeds easily and the price is pretty affordable. After that, you should also prepare potting soil, water, and a seed tray. If you do not have them, both can be bought online or in a specialized shop.

Their prices vary, so pay attention while buying. When you have all this, the seeds are ready to be planted. Firstly, put potting soil into the seed tray, and then place the seeds an inch down into the soil.

Now, they are ready to be watered, so you should do that. Pay attention to your chili plants, watch them every day, and repeat watering when the soil becomes dry.

Growing Pepper – Habanero Chili

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The Habanero chili is one of the worlds hottest peppers!!! The chili’s name derived from the name of the Cuban city of La Habana, which is known as Havana in English. Although it is not the place of origin, it was frequently traded there. Mexico is the largest consumer of this spicy ingredient but its flavor and aroma have become increasingly popular all over the world.

The Habanero chili most likely originated in the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico and even to this day the crop is most widely cultivated there. In fact about 1,500 tons of Habaneros are harvested each year in Mexico. Panama, Costa Rice and several states in the USA also grow and produce the chilly. It is often mistakenly referred to as the hottest pepper in the world and once upon a time it was until the mighty Bhut Jolokia came along! Habanero chili peppers are rated 200,000–350,000 on the Scoville scale.

A ripe habanero is 2–6 centimetres (0.8–2.4 in) long, 3-5cm (1 to 2 inches) in diameter and they are lantern-shaped, round or oblong. Habanero’s are green until maturity when they then turn to colours such as orange, red, white, brown, and pink.

Habaneros are similar to most other chilies and thrive in hot weather. Morning sun is ideal with slightly moist soil. In tropical regions the Habanero is one growing chilli that can produce all year round. Colder climates the plant will die off in the winter.

The Habanero’s heat, its fruity citrus-like flavor, and its floral aroma have made it a popular ingredient in hot sauces and spicy foods. In some cases, particularly in Mexico, Habaneros are placed in tequila bottles for a period ranging from several days, to several weeks, to make a spiced version of the drink.

Check out our great range of chili seeds!!

How to Grow Chillies from Seeds

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One of the best ways to Grow Chilli is by starting from seeds. Seeds can be obtained from the chillies that you used in your kitchen (this is how our Bird’s eye chili plant got started) or you can buy seeds from local store, plant specialist, department store or right here on the internet. It is recommended you purchase chili seeds from a store as you can then select the type that suits you best.

Each packet might suggest different things for how to germinate the seeds but here is a method we have been using to grow chillies from seeds ourselves with great success.

Prepare a container that will be the seeds home for the next few weeks. Germination times vary between each chili from 2 weeks onwards. The container can be something like a ice cream container or Chinese container.

Something 2-3cm deep and big enough to hold one to two dozen seeds. The container should have light well mulched soil so that the young plants can grow easily in. Soil should be able to drain water well.

Preparing the chili seeds is a vital part. For best results we have been soaking our chili seeds in some water for a few hours before planting them. This helps to soften the seeds and lets the small plant break out of the seed quicker.

After the seeds are soaked the next step to growing chillies is to place the seeds in some paper toweling and sit them on a shallow plate. Water well and sit in a warm place. After a few days the seeds will have small shoots coming out of them. This is the beginning of the plants life.

Carefully remove all seeds from the paper toweling and place them into the soil filled container. We like to place them about 1cm into the soil. Make the hole with your finger and lightly cover the hole back up with soil.

Ensure that the small plants are put into sunlight as they will need it to grow. Watering daily is essential to keep the soil moist. After a week or so you should notice the chillies emerging from the soil and sprouting. Continue watering daily until chillies are 4-5cm tall.

The next step is to re-pot the young plants. Come back and visit the Growing Chillies website for more tips, tricks and information about how to grow chilli.

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Growing Chillies In Pots: Everything You Need To Know When You’re Starting Out

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Are you thinking about growing chillies in pots? Yay!

This is an exciting time. What’s not to love about the humble chilli?

Even better, you’re going to get all the satisfaction, mindfulness and self-sufficient gains of growing your own produce.

The only catch is the growing part, but don’t worry, we’ve totally got you covered with these best beginner tips for growing chillies in pots:

First Things First…Why Grow Your Own Chillies In Pots?

Growing any produce takes a little bit of work, so before we give you some great beginner tips for growing chillies, checkout some of the benefits of growing your own little chilli cuties yourself:

Chillies Pack A Healthy Punch

Studies show that chillis contain something called capsaicin, which is thought to decrease inflammation levels and reduce your risk of heart disease. It could even boost your chances of losing weight.

Chillies Work With All Kinds Of Food & Drink

As well as the health benefits of chillies, they also taste delicious, adding a spicy, warming flavour profile to chilli’s, stews, pasta dishes, soups and more.

We particularly love adding warming chilli to a creamy dark hot chocolate when it’s particularly cold. Once you have grown and dried some of your chillies, this spiced hot chocolate recipe is sure to put your tasty produce to good use come winter.

The Environment Benefits From Your Chilli Growing

When you grow your own chillies you actually help the planet. You skip pesticides, shipping and plastic use involved in getting store-bought produce consumer-ready.

Pot Grown Chillies Take Up No Space At All

When you grow chillies in pots and chilli soil you only use up a small amount of space, and can even grow them in your kitchen! So whether you live in a flat, a cottage, cabin or just a dorm room, you can grow your own spicy chilli produce with the space you have.

Gardening Is Great For You

Gardening is proven to be great for your physical and mental health in many different ways, which you can read about in this scientific paper. You don’t have to grow a full veggie garden to get these benefits either. By growing just one chilli plant in a pot you are nurturing both the plant, and your own health.

Beginner Tips For Growing Chillies In Pots

Now you’re super excited for growing chillies in pots, the below tips will help you get the best possible chance of growing healthy, bushy plants that make you plenty of delicious, spicy produce:

Start Early

By sowing your seeds nice and early from the end of winter and as late as the middle of spring, you can enjoy getting chillies sooner, and for longer.

Don’t Grow From Seed If You Lack Time & A Hot Spot

When you start growing chillies in pots, growing chilli from seed is a great idea if you have a nice, sunny, hot growing space that gets maximum sunlight in your home/ greenhouse or polytunnel. If you live in a very hot climate, you can also grow chillies outside.

If you do not have a bright, hot space for growing your chillies from seed, they could end up stunted or weak as seedlings. Rather than struggle with weak chilli plants, skip this part of the growing process and purchase some young, strong chilli plants from a local grower or garden centre in spring.

Give Your Plants All Of The Nutrition

One of the best ways to create strong, fantastic chilli plants when growing chillies in pots is to use the right chilli soil for growing. You’re looking for nice loose soil that supports the plant without compacting or clumping, especially after watering.

At the beginning of the growing process you actually want to use nutrient-poor soil because those nutrients can hinder the growing process. Once you have an active plant, you can then use a more nutrient-rich soil with the following components to support your plants:

75% tomato soil
10% vermiculite
10% perlite
5% sand or fine gravel

You can also purchase chilli soil yourself ready made if that is easier for you when you prepare for growing chillies in pots.

You can then fertilise your plants with a chilli plant fertiliser or diluted fish, seaweed or diluted Epsom salts (once they are established) throughout the growing process.

Always follow the instructions of the fertiliser manufacturer for the best results.

Top & FIM (Fudge I Missed) Your Chilli Plants

When your plants get to around 8 to 10 leaves in size it is time to get your pinch on. By pinching the tips of any new shoot tips that come through you encourage extra branches, which makes a bushy plant that produces lots of yummy chillies.

Experts recommend cutting across (the FIM method) and also cutting the top off the plants. You can checkout how to do both of these methods to your plants in this handy video.

Work With Your Local Climate

Some people grow chillies indoors, some people grow them indoors then move them outdoors, some people have polytunnels and some people can grow chillies outdoors from scratch.

The best way for you to start growing chillies in pots depends on your local climate, and perhaps the outdoor space you have.

Where your chillies will do best in their pots depends on your local climate and by speaking to local growers and gardening clubs, you can best tailor a growing plan for your chillies that works best.

Don’t Be Put Off By Pests & Disease

As a beginner grower it is so easy to feel defeated by all the diseases and pests that seem so desperate to destroy your plans for growing chillies in pots.

Although it can be really difficult to continually find a new pest or problem with your plants, the great news is that there are all kinds of methods, products and practices to combat the attacks.

As a general rule, checking your plants daily (ideally with a loupe or a magnifying glass) will help you catch any problems nice and early, before they overwhelm the plant.

“To nurture a garden is to feed not just the body, but the soul.” – Alfred Austin

Growing your own chilli plants has so many benefits, it has to be worth a try!

Using our tips above, you can get the very best out of your chilli plant growing endeavours, growing chillies in pots that are strong, healthy and delicious this year, and hopefully for many more growing seasons to come.

How To Grow Chillies From Seeds The Eco-Friendly Way

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Do you want to know how to grow chillies from seeds whilst also keeping the planet in mind?

That’s great news! You’ve come to the right place, because we have all the tips on growing these spicy, yummy veggies whilst keeping things as green as possible:

Why Grow Chillies From Seeds?

When you learn how to grow chillies from seed you are creating your very own produce, which has a ton of benefits that go far beyond creating many a yummy dish with the fruits of your labour.

For you, learning how to grow chillies from seed is beneficial for your health in multiple ways.

As well as the physical demand of growing any plant giving you a healthy boost, the mental health benefits are quite far-reaching.

Gardening is thought to reduce stress, boost confidence, and it can even help people who are recovering from illness and accidents.

Let’s not also forget that chillies themselves are super-nutritious and contain many vitamins and minerals, including capsanthin, which some studies have suggested could be powerful enough to help fight cancer!

When it comes to the planet, learning how to grow chillies from seeds is actually pretty great before you even adjust how you grow them to be more eco-friendly.

There might be a third of our global population cutting down on meat to help the environment, but it is important to stay mindful that vegetables and fruits can be impactful too, when it comes to the planet.

For every chilli you buy at the store there is an environmental cost for the water, plastic, pesticide, land cultivation and human labour used to grow it, not to mention the air miles it took to get it to your local store.

By understanding how to grow chillies from seeds rather than buying chillies from the store, you reduce the environmental impact of your chilli consumption hugely.

Lastly, there are some practical benefits to getting to grips with how to grow chillies from seeds. Those who live in flats, small homes or apartments can grow chillies from seed in a small space.

As long as you have a bright, warm, sunny spot, you’re good to go. By starting to learn how to grow chillies from seed, you can also create many chilli plants cheaply, giving you a few to sell or give away in the local community.

How To Grow Chillies From Seeds

Once you have the basics of how to grow chillies from seed down, you can make the right adjustments to keep it as eco-friendly as possible. Here is an easy overview of how to grow your chillies from seeds:

Step One – Choose The Chilli

To learn how to grow chilli from seeds, you have to have some chilli seeds, but which type will you grow?

You can grow chillies from seeds creating plants that come in many different colours, shapes, sizes and heat levels on the Scoville Scale. The most fun thing to do is choose a mixture of types you like to eat, and types that look fun to grow.

This video has some really great tips on chilli types and the growing conditions they need.

Step Two – Prepare Your Trays

You will want to plant your seeds in seed trays indoors with some seeding soil. Leave enough room for watering, and place the trays in a warm, bright spot indoors.

Step Three – Sow Your Seeds

When chilli planting season has started (usually January or February) sprinkle your seeds on top of the soil and cover with a thin layer of soil before watering gently to moisten the soil.

Step Four – Propagate the seeds if you can or want to, or cover the trays in plastic wrap until they germinate.
Step Five – When the seeds have germinated remove any plastic covering.
Step Six – Continue to keep the compost moist without soaking it.

As you can see, it doesn’t take a lot to grow chillies from seeds successfully.

If you want some tips on the next stage of growing after chilli planting season has begun, this video has some handy tips on what to do with your newly germinated seedlings to create strong, healthy chilli plants.

Growing Chillies From Seed The Eco-Friendly Way

77% of people want to know how to live more sustainably, which is pretty awesome. If all of us do a little bit, the world will be a lot better off. Today, your eco-friendly efforts are focused on how to grow chillies from seeds.

There are some easy adjustments you can make to reduce your environmental impact, and grow your chillies from seeds as ethically and greenly as possible, here’s how:

Buy Organic Seeds

If you buy your chilli seeds, buy them organic. This means they were grown without harsh pesticides or other chemicals. They are also bred well to create strong, healthy plants that boost the ecosystem.

If you are going to take seeds from chilli peppers when you learn how to grow chillies from seeds, buy organic chilli peppers to harvest the seeds from.

Avoid Peat Compost

Compost, unless it has a peat-free label, contains up to 100% peat. Peat is not an eco-friendly ingredient because the bogs that it comes from contain all kinds of plants and animals unique to that environment.

Harvesting the peat for compost destroys that environment. Luckily, there is a lot of peat-free compost around to use instead when you start to grow chillies from seeds.

Reuse Your Plant Pots

Usually plant pots are made from plastic, especially seed trays and other smaller pots used for growing. Reusing those pots year on year and giving them away/ selling them when you’re done (or recycling them if possible) is much better for the environment than throwing them away, like 91% of all plastic that our society consumes.

You could also reduce more of your single use plastic like water bottles and yogurt pots by cutting them to size and using them as plant pots, rather than throwing them away.

To help you when you grow chillies from seeds, this handy video shows you how to make a completely self enclosed propagation pot using a water bottle.

Catch Rainwater

Rather than using tap water to water your chilli plants, you can save water by catching rain water in a water butt, bucket or tub. Not only will doing this save water, but it will probably boost your plants health as it is more pure than tap water.

Think Carefully About Pest Control

When you grow chillies from seed, they become vulnerable to pests and disease as soon as they germinate. There are lots of different sprays and products you can use to deal with those problems but many of them could be harmful to the environment.

Whilst they may be labelled as safe to use on plants grown for food, certain chemical pesticides and products contaminate the air, ground and water either immediately or eventually.

Some organic, natural pest products have also been called into question, so they can’t always be relied on. Neem oil, for example, is commonly used to kill pests on plants.

It is, however, considered by many studies as toxic to all insects, including bees and other pollinators, which is bad news for the environment.

The best thing to do to grow your chillies from seeds in a way that is eco-friendly is to do your best to avoid any pests and diseases by:

Keep soil moist, but not wet
Remove dead leaves and detritus from the plant and soil
Always disinfect plant pots and tools between uses
Rinse your plants down regularly to remove any pests by water pressure

If you have an issue with pests, you might want to look into biological pest control. Alternatively, do your research on sprays and options you have and use the least harmful product available to you.

Are You Ready For Chilli Planting Season?

Now you know how to grow chilli plants in a way that helps you and the planet, it’s time to use our tips and prepare for chilli planting season!

Soon enough you’ll master how to grow chillies from seeds for crop upon crop of tasty, spicy chillies this season.

A Beginners Guide On How To Grow Banana Peppers

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It’s fun to grow any kind of chilli pepper, but we have a soft spot in our heart for banana peppers. They are known to have various health benefits, they are totally delicious and yep, you’ve guessed it, they’re also really easy to grow.

So if you’re thinking of growing any chilli pepper, banana peppers are the way to go.

Ready to get started? Let’s take a look at how to grow these delicious, spicy yellow fruits:

Banana Peppers – Appearance & Varieties

Banana peppers are a yellow pepper with waxy skin and they come from the chili pepper family. It is named a banana pepper not because of a banana flavour, but because of its color and shape which looks like the tropical fruit from a banana tree.

Most of the time, the fruit banana peppers yield are a deep yellow color when fully mature, but they can also be red or orange in color sometimes.

There are many varieties of banana peppers including mild and hot varieties. Mild banana pepper varieties can be harvested faster than the hot banana pepper varieties, although there’s not too much in it in regards to cultivation time.

Banana Peppers – Culinary Uses

Banana peppers are extremely mild and only sit at 0-500 on the Scoville Scale, so if you only like very mild spice and maximum flavour, you’ll get that with these fruits.

Because banana peppers are so mild you can include them in a huge range of dishes. You can pickle them, chop them and have them in salad, include them in salsa, put them on pizza, fry them off and have them in pasta dishes – the list is endless.

We love stuffing banana peppers with homemade chilli, topping them with cheese and roasting them for a warming family meal.

How To Grow Banana Peppers

Growing banana peppers is really easy if you follow these steps:

Step One – Germination

You can germinate banana pepper plants indoors during the spring or summer when the temperature is warm. The young plant is ready for transplant when it has outgrown the seedling tray. It should be spaced about 18cm – 24 cm apart and each row should be about 24 cm apart.

It is important at this stage of growth that you do not waterlog the seedlings and only water them when the top layer of soil is dry. It is also important to use potting soil as compost is too nutrient rich and can inhibit growth.

Step Two – Transplanting

The temperature should be above 60 degree Fahrenheit outdoors when you transplant the seedlings. They should be transplanted to an area of your garden that is not exposed to too much wind and that receives full sun. In order for them to grow healthily, they need a minimum of 6 hours of sunshine daily and should have around 20 inches of space between each plant.

If you do not have the ideal growing conditions outdoors banana peppers grow really well indoors in a sunny spot. Just make sure that each plant has a whole pot to itself.

Within 60-80 days of good care you should find that you have lots of delicious banana peppers to harvest and enjoy.

Extra tips

To help you get the very best banana peppers from your growing efforts, here are some extra tips to help you:

Fertilizing

If your soil is not fertile, you can mix in compost to increase the nutrients. Nitrogen fertilizer should not be used as it only causes more leaves to grow without increasing the fruit yield. If you do need to add fertiliser to the soil at any point you can use a chilli pepper fertiliser, seaweed and fish emulsion or horse manure.

Watering

The banana pepper plant will become thirsty quickly so you must regularly water it. When watering, just water enough to keep the soil slightly moist. Lack of watering can cause the fruit to taste bitter. Heavy watering can cause the soil to become waterlogged which can eventually destroy the roots.

In addition, adding ingredients like gravel or perlite to your soil mix will encourage better drainage, which can prevent water logging or root rot of your banana peppers.

Support

If the plant grows too tall and becomes lanky, you can set up a trellis or wooden sticks to provide support for it.

Heat

Peppers do best when the temperature is around 60 degrees Fahrenheit. If the temperature reaches beyond 90 degree Fahrenheit, the blossoms of banana peppers can wither away. To protect your plant from the scorching sun, you can set up a shelter to provide some shade.

Pruning

Pruning and topping chilli pepper plants is good practise if you want bushy plants with good ventilation and lots of fruit. You can watch this Youtube video to see a demonstration of how to prune and top your banana peppers to nurture them into the healthiest plants.

Harvesting

You can harvest the banana peppers when they reach full size and the skin is thick and firm. As soon as they become yellow in color you can harvest them or you can wait for them to turn red or orange in color depending on your preference.

When harvesting, use a pair of scissors to nip it off rather than pulling it off the plant by hand.

When Will You Start Growing Your Own Banana Peppers?

It’s so much fun to grow any chilli peppers but banana peppers are so delicious, healthy and easy to grow they really do top the list of growing favourites!

Now you have our tips above and all the information you need to get growing yourself, soon enough you’ll be enjoying multiple banana peppers from your very own plants – how exciting!

How To: Everything You Need To Know About Growing Peter Peppers

Belle Pepper Growing Chillies June 1, 2022growing chillies, how to grow chillies 0 Comment

Peter Peppers are a cutely named pepper that have a phallic shape, so they can be appreciated for both novelty value and flavour. Whether you want to grow these cool looking fruits, try them, or you’re just interested in knowing more, we’ve put everything together so you can get the complete lowdown on Peter Peppers.

Let’s take a closer look at these phallic fruits:

What Is A Peter Pepper Chilli?

A Peter Pepper Chilli is also known by its Latin name – Capsicum Annuum Var. Annuum, or as the penis pepper or willy pepper. It is a Capsicum Annuum chilli type, although it hasn’t been given that official status as of yet as a cultivar of the Capsicum Annuum family.

You can find the pepper growing in Texas and Mexico commonly, as well as some parts of Asia. You can also grow your own Peter Peppers if you want to either in your garden (if you live in a hot climate), in a greenhouse or indoors in a sunny spot.

Peter Pepper Appearance

The Peter Pepper is most known for its appearance, rather than its flavour. It looks like a penis, which gives it a really interesting, and novel look. It is so detailed, in its penile features that it has won an award for being the ‘Most Pornographic Pepper’.

For that reason, the Peter Pepper is often recommended as a plant for display rather than for culinary uses, although you can pickle the fruits.

Pickling Peter Peppers

Pickling peter peppers sounds more like a nursery rhyme than an activity, but it really is possible if you want to make the most of these phallic fruits. You can find easy directions on pickling your chilli peppers in this Youtube video. You can also enjoy Peter Peppers in multiple cooking applications like hot sauce or marinades.

It sits at about 6 times hotter than the average jalapeño, somewhere around the 5-30,000 mark on the Scoville Scale depending on the type. It is similar to the Serrano in that respect but is less meaty and dense in texture making it a great choice for drying, as well as using it freshly prepared.

How To Grow Peter Peppers

You can grow your own peter peppers for fun or for use in cooking. As it is so rare, you may wish to grow this type of pepper if you have prior experience with growing peppers, or if you have the seeds or starter plants at a good price.

Otherwise, cheaper plants or easier-to-come by chilli peppers like jalapeños or serrano chillies could be a better choice.

If you are growing your own peter peppers there are some easy steps to follow to get a great fruit yield:

Around two months before the last frost in your area, plant seeds in potting soil that has been moistened, and keep temperatures above 75 degrees but no higher than around 95 degrees. It is best to keep your seed starts indoors at this point.
Water the soil whenever the surface seems dry and ensure good circulation around your containers particularly when the seeds have germinated.
Once around four leaves have grown you can transplant your starts into larger containers. You’ll want to expose plants going outside to filtered sunlight for a couple of weeks before they go completely out. If growing in pots indoors, plants can be placed in their ‘forever home’ right away.
Create enough space outdoors to plant the chilli pepper plants around 50 centimetres apart. Alternatively they can be placed in individual pots as single plants.

Extra Growing Tips

To grow your peter peppers effectively it is important to grow it in the best soil for chilli peppers. The soil has to be loose, because hot peppers have shallow root systems.

Plenty of perlite (about 10%) in the mixture will help with this, although it is important not to add too much otherwise the water will drain too quickly through the soil and the plant won’t get the nutrients it needs. Vermiculite (about 10%) can help with this issue as it helps to retain nutrients in soil.

If you mix compost into the soil you grow your chillies in they should have plenty of nutrients to help you grow lots of delicious peter peppers. However, if you cannot add compost there is always fertiliser to do the same job.

Magnesium surface and bone meal are a great option to add to the soil when you plant the peppers out from their germination pots. You could also add these nutrients again when the plants show signs of fruiting. Otherwise, you shouldn’t need to add fertiliser more regularly than this.

Lastly, you’ll want to master pruning your peter pepper bushes to make sure they grow as bushy and fruitful as possible. We recommend checking out this pruning video so that you can follow step by step instructions to get your plants in great shape for the growing season.

Will You Be Growing Your Own Peter Peppers This Growing Season?

Now you know everything there is to know about these wonderful willy shaped peppers.

Whether you want to eat them or just marvel at their novelty appearance, peter peppers sure are unique as a table piece, gift or growing project.