Chilli & Pepper Plants

Organic chilli and sweet pepper plants - quick guide

If you’d like some basic information on growing organic chilli and sweet pepper plants, here’s a quick guide to help you get started. From preparing your soil to nurturing your chilli plants, here are the essential steps to make sure you get an excellent harvest of delicious organic peppers.

How to grow organic chilli and sweet pepper plants

If you can grow tomato plants, you can also grow chillies. Just like tomatoes, chillis need plenty of sun, warmth and shelter, which is why your greenhouse, balcony, or patio sun trap makes an excellent place to grow them. They love plenty of water but don’t like waterlogging – a nice, evenly moist soil is what you’re looking for. Like tomatoes, chillies need good soil, which is free-draining and incorporates plenty of organic matter. A good multipurpose compost will do the job, or alternatively, opt for a loam-based compost. When moving plants from inside to outside, make sure you acclimate them first, and for best results, follow the growing instructions supplied with the plant.

How to care for organic pepper plants

For best results, keep the temperature in your greenhouse between 15 C and 30 C. On really hot days, it might be necessary to put up some heat shielding – if it gets too hot, your plants will suffer. Likewise, if you’re growing your plants in pots, it’s best to move them inside on cold nights if possible. Keep on top of watering, and remember that chillies do like humidity and will benefit from pouring a can of water onto your greenhouse floor or patio on hot days; just remember to air your greenhouse to prevent fungal infection. To help your plants produce the best possible harvest, once flowers appear, apply a regular weekly feed of organic fertiliser.

Are chilli plants perennial?

While most gardeners grow chillies as annuals, they are, in fact, a perennial plant and under the right conditions, will last several years. To overwinter a chilli plant in the UK, begin by moving it indoors where the frost won’t kill it. Low light levels will stress the plant, and it may well drop all its leaves. If this happens, harvest any remaining fruit and reduce watering to ensure the soil doesn’t get waterlogged. If the plant has grown unruly during the summer, now is a good time to give it a light prune, leaving plenty of stem on it. When the weather warms in the spring, repot the plant into fresh compost and move to a sunny spot to trigger new growth.