Too hot, too spicy…
Home grown chilli peppers have excellent colour, texture and most importantly, flavour. Chilli plants are extremely varied; some have a mild taste, while others are so fiery that they’ll blow your head off. Chillies can be grown in the ground, but are perfect for small pots or Botanium systems.
What makes chilli growing so rewarding is that even a small amount of chilli lasts a long time – in contrast to strawberries for instance, which you can easily eat faster than they grow. The active substance in chilli is called capsaicin and tricks the tastebuds, mucous membranes and skin to believe it is hot.
Sowing your seeds
Put 3 seeds one centimeter (1/2” inch) below the surface of the growing media in your Botanium. The seeds usually germinate in 1-2 weeks, sometimes even within 5 days. Place your Botanium in a bright place with plenty of natural light. If you have a cold windowsill, you can speed up the germination by putting the Botanium at a warmer spot until it sprouts and requires more light.
Nutrients
For the first month, use 3 pipettes of Botanium nutrient for one full water tank. When flowering, use 4 or 5 pipettes instead to give your plant all the vital trace elements they require. Should you run out of nutrient you can buy more Botanium nutrients here.
Choose the healthiest
Usually 2 or 3 of the seeds will germinate. Keep your tallest and healthiest seedling, making sure you carefully pull out the other ones without causing damage to the root zone. When growing chillies, you don’t want more than one plant per Botanium as they will compete for water and light.
Flowering
In a few months you will have plenty of flowers on your plant. Since it is growing indoors, there are no bugs or bees to pollinate your plant for you. If you choose to help nature take its cause, simply touch each flower with a brush or small blunt object to spread the pollen. You can also shake the plant, but it is not as reliable and may damage the roots and leaves. However, it is common for the first flowers to drop, so don’t worry if that happens.
Harvesting
Most chillies turn red when they are ready to be picked, but there also varieties that are ripe when they are yellow, brown, orange, white and purple. That is why it is good to know how the chilli you grow should look when it’s ripe. You can also feel the fruits carefully – when ripe, they turn softer.
Light
Chilli peppers love the sun! This is why we recommend the Skyline Grower E27 LED Grow Light in a table lamp so you can grow your chilli plants all year round, even in the grimmest of winters!