Keen on chilli? Sow quickly now!
Have you had enough freezing and coughing and fancy a burning hot throat? Here's a selection of chillies you can sow in the near future.
I have to admit: I've had absolutely no success with sowing so far. My indoor herbs died miserably some time ago:
New year, new luck: by 2025, my living room will have served its purpose as an experimental laboratory. This time, I want to give hot peppers a chance on my new balcony. It's going to be my chilli year. Maybe yours too? I have summarised the most important sowing tips for you here:
When to sow
Now is the time! Between the end of February and the beginning of March is according to guides the best time.
Which soil?
Special sowing soil is available for seeds. As you will be eating the chillies afterwards, make sure it is organic quality. And preferably use soil without peat. As I brought numerous fungus gnats into my house when I tried using this product, I would try the following soil:
Which container?
To ensure that your chilli seeds germinate optimally, special growing pots and trays are suitable, which retain the evaporating moisture. An alternative is to stretch film with rubber bands over the small pots and make air holes in them.
How deep to plant
Before sowing, you should pre-germinate chilli seeds in warm water for around 24 hours according to recommendations. Do not plant more than two to three seeds per pot half a centimetre to one centimetre deep in the soil. Sowing too deep could make germination more difficult, while sowing too shallow will cause the seeds to dry out.
When and how often to water
Drying out: a good keyword. In the first few weeks, you should water the chilli seeds daily or every other day (preferably in the morning or evening). Or even better, spray it so that the soil remains moist but not too wet. As soon as the first small plants appear, you can reduce the watering.
Which location?
To germinate, chilli seeds prefer warm locations, for example over a heater.
When to repot?
After around two weeks, when the chillies have developed their first pairs of leaves, it is time to move them to larger pots. Place these in a bright place with a temperature of around 20°C. You can also pot up biodegradable growing pots directly. They rot in the soil.
When to go outside
From mid-May, the plants are usually strong enough to thrive outdoors or on the balcony. Chillies particularly love bright and full sun locations.
Fertilising
While they are growing, you can feed the chillies with liquid fertiliser every three weeks or water them with nettle slurry.
Which varieties?
Are your mouth watering and your eyes watering with Schärfe joy? Then I have a selection of different chilli seeds for you here, from classic to hot to unusual:
Classic
Extra spicy
Offbeat
By the way: planting seeds from supermarket chillies is only recommended to a limited extent. They are intended for consumption and not for propagation. There is no guarantee that the seeds will actually germinate. In addition, they are often crosses of different varieties, which is why you cannot predict exactly what the new plants will look like.
Have you ever planted chillies? Tell us about your experiences in a comment.
Header image: Sabbir Digital/Shutterstock
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Darina Schweizer
Senior Editor
Darina.Schweizer@digitecgalaxus.chI like anything that has four legs or roots. The books I enjoy let me peer into the abyss of the human psyche. Unlike those wretched mountains that are forever blocking the view – especially of the sea. Lighthouses are a great place for getting some fresh air too, you know?
