Your comments and tips

15 Nov 08, mick (Australia - cool/mountain climate)

Red Chilli fruits are spicy as they are mature, while green ones are not. Chillies will grow most anywhere, but a little extra TLC goes a long way.

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09 Nov 08, Darren (Australia - cool/mountain climate)

Ha Ha Ha, i just grew the chilli in my backyard, without seedling trays, without potting mix, without bug repelents and my chillis are growing everywhere, and the red ones are really really hot.

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03 Nov 08, mick (Australia - cool/mountain climate)

I can't say for sure what you are doing wrong, but I always plant the seeds is some loamy, sandy soil so that the root can penetrate quickly, and keep alot of water up to them, then let it go dry-ish for a day or two, then soak, and soak and soak the soil. After a week or so, I have lovely little Chilli seedlings looking up to the sun.

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02 Nov 08, Murray (Australia - sub-tropical climate)

After picking up some seeds at the garden show, I have added chilli to my seed trays in order to liven up the dinner plate this summer! Unfortunately, the chilli seeds are not striking. I must be doing things half right, as my lettuce, spinach, etc, are all shooting well. I have noticed my chilli packets are all Italian in variety..... Why wont they strike? What am I doing wrong?

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27 Oct 08, Mick (Australia - cool/mountain climate)

Hi. I have my own chilli breeding program going on, and am planning to use a combination of Thai chilli, birdseye chilli, Chilli Diablo, some stock chilli (generic, little spice, huge fruit, and Habanero. All these plants are growing in a full-sun position in neutral soil with some compost and old manure mixed in, making it slightly more acidic, but they seem to love it. I have noticed growth of up to an inch a week if Worm Castings and seasol are mixed with some water and sprayed onto the leaves of the stock chilli and diablo. As the leaves of these two are very large, foliar feeding goes down a treat. The birdseye and thai chillies have smaller leaves, so I just add it into the irrigation water, with equal results. The habanero I have left alone, as a bit of an experiment to see how maintenance-free this part of the veg garden is. All the plants (apart from the diablo) were started from seed in the middle of winter, indoors, and the Thai chilli and Birdseye chillies have been topped as half the crop from them will go into our special family chilli sauce. All plants have abundant flowers, some of which are ready to open, and average about 60cm tall. I hope this helps and inspires some peopleto get into chillies.

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22 Oct 08, Julie (Australia - temperate climate)

My chilli plant was prolific with aprox 3cm sized fruit for the last few years. Now it has flowered again abundantly but the fruit are maturing tiny (0.5cm) and round. What is it lacking?

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13 Oct 08, Joel (Australia - temperate climate)

Megan, I have had the same problem with growing jalapenos, the plants make a lot of fruit, but they all stay very small and not spicy. I have found some other chili varieties grow better, birdseye chilli's especially. Someone suggested that the pH in my soil might be too high, I havent checked it though.

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01 Sep 08, julie (Australia - tropical climate)

Do chilli's need full sun to grow or just morning? I am just getting ready to put in a vege patch.

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22 Aug 08, gareth (Australia - sub-tropical climate)

do u plant chillis from punnets or straight into the beds =) =(

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09 Aug 08, Megan Darling (Australia - cool/mountain climate)

I was just wondering, my chili's are very small and not very hot. Is there a way to encourage them to grow bigger? It's only 10 months old. Thanks

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