I’ve grown fond of growing chilis, but, like many hobbies that have a large male following, people on the internet tend to make things very difficult. Here’s my tips for growing chili recreationally without having to be a complete nerd. Most of what I’m saying here applies to other fruits/plants as well.

Growing plants isn’t an exact science. Sometimes you can do everything right and your plants may still die.

You don’t need special soil

Just use regular plant soil.

Don’t buy overpriced lights

There might be a slight difference of course that is tuned to look like the sun or whatever, but it doesn’t justify the hefty price. We bought these silly expensive ones, but a cheap bright LED strip will do just fine.

Chili plants need a lot of light, so if you live in Sweden, you will want to have SOME artificial lights if you start planting early.

You don’t HAVE to start early

This year I started in mid-January, and while this will make the chili fruit season longer, it also had the effect of me having lots of large plants that I had to keep indoors because the outdoor temperature was too low.

Give your plants water and nourishment

Like all growing things, chilis need water. Water the plant when it looks and feels dry in the pot. Give extra nourishment once the plant has been in a large enough pot for a few weeks. The bottle/packaging will have instructions on how to use it.

You don’t HAVE to re-plant a lot

Last year, we moved our plats into larger pots twice I think. There are claims that doing this gradually is better for the plant etc, but judging from the amount of chili fruits we got last year I say it matters less than one would think.

Bugs and pests

Chilis are prone to get various bugs and pests. It’s probably not something you’ll be able to prevent. Google is your friend when it comes to battling these annoying creatures. Sticky strips and soapy water is surprisingly efficient though.

Tobias’ chilis

Just thought I finish off with a list of the chilis I’m growing this year.

All of these we grew last year as well, and they were all fun and tasty

  • Boldog Hungarian Spice
  • Bulgarian Carrot
  • Carbonero
  • Coral
  • Hot Lemon

And this year we added some new kinds, incidentally all these are alphabetically later than the ones from last year!

  • Lombardo
  • Monkey Face
  • Padrones
  • Razzamatazz
  • Snack pepper