How to grow chillis all year?

[brookslai]

How to grow chilli's all year. What to use and temperatures 

[MitchellMc]

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @brookslai. It's wonderful to have you join us, and many thanks for your question about growing chillies.

Check out this terrific ongoing discussion on Growing and caring for chilli plants. There's also some great input from our members in this Best Advice article on How do you grow chilli plants?

In most areas of Australia, you won't see fruit being produced on the plant all year round; it's just too cold in winter. The big challenge is keeping the chilli plant alive through the colder months, which requires you to heavily prune the plant back. If you don't prune it back quite hard, you'll find the branches die off anyway. By giving the plant a hard prune, moving it to a warm location and helping it over-winter, you'll have a more established plant the next season, which will be ready to go. In saying that, chilli plants grow really fast, so if you start with an established seedling at the beginning of spring, you're guaranteed a bountiful crop for the majority of summer. Excess can be dried and stored for use in the cooler months.

In answer to your question, you could attempt to grow chillies that produce fruit through the colder months in a hot house or a temperature-controlled indoor environment. Generally, you'd need to keep them constantly above 15 degrees Celsius to produce fruit.

Let me mention some of our chilli aficionados, @bergs, @Brad and @robchin, to see if they have any advice.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mitchell

[Brad]

I have to try growing Birds Eye’s indoors as the new place lacks a private yard. 

I may have to put them outside for a while to pollinate spring time in the common area. 

No chance for having excess to dry while the other half can eat them on their own. She does have a sauce recipe and a business in Thailand selling sauces. 

[robchin]

Hi @brookslai 

Chillies can be grown all-year round in Australia in the warmer (read Tropical) parts of Australia outside all-year round., If you are in the Southern parts , like where I live in Melbourne - not possible without a greenhouse. Like most fruiting plants - they need at least 8 hours of direct sunlight a day to ensure flowering and therefore fruiting. Have a greenhouse - that will help. 

[bergs]

Hi @brookslai, 

There are chillies that I grow called Manzano which are a rocoto variety which comes from Sth. America in the foothills of the Andes. 

I'm in Geelong and have a plant that has been producing fruit since 2017.

Once they fruit the seed has acclimatised to its environment and should grow well.

My Manzanos would be in the coldest and most windy part of the garden and they still survive.

All other chillies, Nellie Kelly, Thai, Cayenne and Carolina Reapers are all moved to the warmest part of the garden.

Some survive and others don't.  

I generally prune them back after winter when signs of new growth appears.

The reason for this if you prune before the the new shoots will be burnt by the cold.

A hot house or something like that would work well.

It all depends where you are and your climate. 

Cheers @bergs 

[Akanksha]

Hello @brookslai,

Great to see you've received advice from our members on growing chillies. Trust you've found their suggestions helpful. I also wanted to recommend these two excellent guides shared by the Bunnings team which you may find useful: 

• Growing Chilli: Plant Care Guide
• Spice Up Your Next Dish With Chillies

Do let us know if you have any additional questions about chilli plants and we'll be happy to assist. We look forward to seeing updates and photos of your harvest.

Akanksha