Gadenin日本語Get the appThe turning points of the year
Everything about growing the fiercest chillies follows from one fact: they take about twice as long as a sweet pepper to give you a ripe pod. There are five moments in the year where a decision made well saves weeks, and a decision made late cannot be recovered.
Read the table below as a whole before you plan. If a stage on your site falls later than shown, every stage after it moves too, and the crop is what gets squeezed at the end.
| Turning point | Trigger | What it decides |
|---|---|---|
| Sowing | 16 to 20 weeks before your last frost | Whether pods color at all |
| Potting up | Roots at the drainage holes | Whether the plant stalls indoors |
| Planting out | Nights above 55F (13C), soil 65F (18C) | How fast it establishes |
| Switching the feed | First flowers open | Fruit rather than leaf |
| Stripping late flowers | Six weeks before first frost | How much of the crop reaches color |
| Cut back or clear | First frost warning | Whether you have a plant next spring |
The whole calendar is anchored to your first autumn frost, not the last spring one. Find that date for your site first and work backwards from it.
Deep winter to early spring: sowing and the light problem
This is the stretch that feels wrong and is right. Seed goes in when nothing else is being sown, on bottom heat at 82 to 88F (28 to 31C), and comes up in eight to twelve days. The seedlings then need more light than the season provides, so a grow light on for 14 to 16 hours is not optional in a northern garden.
| Job | When | How to judge it |
|---|---|---|
| Sow on bottom heat | 16 to 20 weeks before last frost | Compost at 82F (28C), probe in a cell |
| Move off the heat mat | As the stems straighten | Shoots up, seed leaves flat |
| Under lights | Immediately after emergence | Two to four inches (5 to 10 cm) above the leaves |
| First pot on | First true leaves expanded | Into a 3 inch (8 cm) pot |
| Start weak feeding | Two weeks after potting up | Quarter strength balanced feed |
Spring: growing on and getting outside
By mid spring you should have a stocky plant six to ten inches (15 to 25 cm) tall in a 5 inch (13 cm) pot, forking near the top. Resist the urge to plant it out on the first warm afternoon; these are tropical plants and a cold week outdoors checks them so hard that they sulk for a month, which a slow type cannot afford.
Harden off over a full fortnight, and if the weather is marginal, plant into large containers you can move rather than into open ground you cannot.
| Job | Trigger | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Second pot on | Roots showing at the holes | Into a 5 inch (13 cm) pot |
| Pinch the first flower | Plant under a foot (30 cm) tall | Take the bud in the first fork |
| Harden off | Two weeks before planting out | Shade first, then increasing sun, no windy days |
| Warm the bed | Three weeks before planting | Black plastic or cloches over the soil |
| Plant out | Nights above 55F (13C) | 18 to 24 inches (45 to 60 cm) apart, staked |
If nights are still marginal when the plant is ready, keep it in its pot under cover for another week. A week of waiting costs less than a fortnight of cold-checked growth.
Early to high summer: flowering and pod fill
This is the stretch where the crop is decided. The plant builds forks and sets pods, and your job is to switch the feed off nitrogen at the first flowers, keep the water steady but lean, and stake the branches before they are loaded rather than after they snap.
Expect a pause in setting during any spell above 90F (32C) by day or above 75F (24C) at night. Flowers will fall unopened and then setting resumes on its own once the weather breaks. Do not respond to that by feeding.
| Job | Trigger | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Switch to high potassium | First flowers open | Weekly, stop the nitrogen |
| Mulch | Soil thoroughly warm | Two inches (5 cm), kept off the stem |
| Stake and tie | Plant knee high | Cane or three-stake corral before fruit loads it |
| Water lean | Newest leaves dull in late afternoon | Then soak thoroughly |
| Shade in a heatwave | Days above 95F (35C) | Light fabric over the plants for the spell |
Late summer to autumn: forcing the finish
The whole difference between a good year and a frustrating one is made here. Six weeks before your first frost, strip every flower and every pod under fingernail size, cut the feed entirely and reduce the water. The plant stops making new fruit and pours everything into coloring what it already carries.
Then protect the tail end. Row cover over the plants on the first few cold nights, or containers moved under cover, routinely buys another fortnight and turns green pods red.
| Job | Trigger | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Strip late flowers | Six weeks before first frost | Every flower and every tiny pod |
| Stop feeding | Same week | No feed at all from here |
| Reduce water | Same week | Enough to prevent wilting only |
| Pick fully colored pods | Weekly | Gloves on; leaving them invites rot |
| Cover on cold nights | Forecast below 45F (7C) | Row cover over, off again in the morning |
| Final pick | First frost warning | Take everything, green pods included |
Green pods picked at the last minute will color off the plant if kept in a warm room beside a ripe one, though they end up milder than pods that colored outdoors.
Winter: keep the plant or start again
With a type that needs seven months, carrying a plant through the winter is the most effective single thing you can do for next year's crop. Cut it back hard to a short framework, root prune it into a smaller pot, and keep it bright at 50 to 60F (10 to 15C), barely watered and unfed. It will drop its leaves and look dead, and it is not.
Keep a log of the dates through this year: sown, emerged, potted up, planted out, first flower, first set, first color, last pick. Those eight dates are the calendar for your own garden, and they beat any general schedule because they already account for your light, your soil and your season.