Growing chili peppers at home can provide many rewards, it can be a very nice hobby and it also provides delicious fruits for cooking. Growing chili peppers is really easy and anyone should be able to grow those without problems.

You need

• Seeds

• Pot with drainage hole

• Potting mix

• Watering can and a spray bottle

• Paper towels

• Airtight container

• Fluorescent growing light (optional)

 

1. Selecting seeds, you should first select what kind of chili peppers you want. There are no specific restrictions, but generally it's easier to start with something relatively small.
2. Germinating, place a few seeds in between of sheets of wet paper towels. Make sure that the seeds are on flat surface and evenly distributed. Now put the whole thing into a container, seal it and place it into a warm place. After few days check if the seeds have swelled up, if they are they are ready to plant.
3. Planting, after your seeds have germinated you have to plant those. Take a pot and fill it with a potting mix. Plant your seeds into the pot. The seeds should be placed about 2 inches apart from one another. Loosely put some compost on top of your seeds 0.2-0.3 inch thick layer should be good.
4. Watering, spray some water over the seeds so that the soil is always moist. It is very crucial to water chili peppers especially in the early stages of growing.
5. Ready, it should take about one week to bit over month for first sprouts to appear above soil.

Maintaining

Put your seedlings to the sunniest place you can. Chili peppers love sun light and warmth, they should get about 15 hours of light each day. If you can’t provide a lot of sun light to your chili peppers  it’s advised to get a fluorescent grow light.

Chili peppers need loads water, you should always keep the soil moist. If the soil feels almost dry, give it more water.

Harvesting

Chili peppers are ready to be harvested usually in about 90 days after germination. Harvest the fruits one at a time. Use scissors and cut right above the fruit.

Tips

• Don’t touch your eyes after you have handled fruits, it will hurt a lot and you can even lose your eyesight with some very hot chili peppers.
• If you don’t want to start from seed you can go ahead and buy ready seedlings and plant those into a larger pot.
• You can plant seeds to the soil without germinating them first. This method is little bit simpler, but it will take longer to get your first fruits.
• Some varieties have a lot of fruits and weak branches, so it might be good idea to support the branches with something.
• If you get a lot of excess fruits you can dry those and use them later.