Gadenin日本語Get the appWater steadily, but keep the plant slightly lean
A chilli in growth wants the soil evenly moist, not wet and not dried to the point of wilting. Swinging between the two is what splits ripening pods and drops flowers, and both faults show up a fortnight after the mistake rather than the same day.
In open ground a thorough soak once or twice a week beats a daily sprinkle, because it draws the roots down where the soil stays cool. In a pot in high summer expect to water every day, and check by lifting the pot rather than by looking at the surface.
Water at the base in the morning. Wet foliage overnight in warm weather is how the fungal leaf spots get started, and chillies are slow to grow out of them.
Feed for fruit, not for leaves
Too much nitrogen gives you a magnificent dark green bush with almost nothing on it. Once the first flowers open, switch to a feed higher in potassium, the sort sold for tomatoes, and the plant puts its effort where you want it.
| Stage | What to feed | How often |
|---|---|---|
| Planting to first flower | Balanced feed at half strength | Every ten days |
| First flower to first set | High potassium feed | Every week |
| Main crop | High potassium feed, full strength | Every week |
| Ripening down | Half strength, then stop | Every fortnight |
Dark, downward curling leaves with no flowers means too much nitrogen. Stop feeding entirely for two to three weeks and water normally, and it will set.
What makes pods hotter or milder
Heat is mostly set by the type you are growing, but the same plant can vary by a wide margin from one season to the next, and you have some control over which way it goes. Mild stress raises capsaicin; comfort lowers it.
The single biggest lever is water. A plant kept a little dry from first set onwards produces noticeably hotter pods, at the cost of somewhat smaller ones. If you want mild fruit for stuffing or drying whole, do the opposite and keep it well watered and well fed.
| Factor | Hotter pods | Milder pods |
|---|---|---|
| Watering | Kept slightly dry after first set | Steady and generous all season |
| Nitrogen | Sparing | Free |
| Sun and heat | Full sun, warm nights | Part shade, cool nights |
| Ripening | Left to color fully on the plant | Picked green |
| Position on the plant | Later pods, made under stress | The first flush |
Do not chase heat with drought once the pods are coloring. Real water stress at that stage causes sunken pale patches on the sunny side of the fruit, and those pods rot before they ripen.
Sun, shade and flower drop
Chillies want full sun, but flowers abort when the day is above about 90F (32C) or the night stays above 75F (24C), and also when nights fall below 55F (13C). In a hot spell you will get a fortnight with no set at all, and then it resumes on its own.
The fix is not more water or more feed. Light afternoon shade over the hottest weeks, and mulch to keep the root zone cool, is what actually holds the flowers, and it costs nothing to put up a piece of shade fabric for two weeks.
Pinching, thinning and tidying
Chillies need far less pruning than tomatoes, but a few small jobs pay for themselves.
- Remove the first flower On a plant planted small, pick off the very first flower at the main fork. The plant builds a bigger frame first and gives you more pods overall.
- Strip the lowest leaves Take off leaves touching the soil once the plant is established. It stops soil splashing onto the foliage and lets air through the base.
- Thin a congested center If you cannot see daylight through the middle, take out two or three of the weakest inward branches. Pods in shade color slowly and go soft.
- Take off damaged pods Anything split, marked or rotting comes off at once. A rotting pod left on the plant infects the ones beside it within days.
Overwintering a plant you want to keep
Chillies are perennial. A plant carried through the winter starts the next season already large and crops weeks earlier, which is worth a great deal in a short summer. Two year old plants are usually the most productive you will have.
Choose a healthy plant, not a struggling one, and check it hard for aphids and mites before it comes indoors. Bringing pests into a warm room in winter is the usual way this goes wrong.
- Before the first frost Pick every pod, then cut the plant back to a framework of main branches about eight to twelve inches (20 to 30 cm) tall. Leave a few leaves on if you can.
- Root prune and repot Lift it, shake off half the soil, trim the outer roots and pot it into a smaller pot of fresh compost. A large pot of wet compost in winter kills more plants than cold does.
- Keep it cool and dry A bright spot at 50 to 60F (10 to 15C). Water only when the compost has almost dried out, perhaps every two or three weeks, and do not feed at all.
- Wake it up As the light returns in late winter, move it somewhere warmer, water a little more and give a weak balanced feed. New shoots come from the old wood within a fortnight.
Losing every leaf over winter is normal and not a sign of death. Scratch the bark with a thumbnail: green underneath means the plant is alive and will shoot in spring.