Prairie Fire Chilli

Your chilli plant will be happiest on a sunny windowsill, in a greenhouse or conservatory. In summer, you can also put your chilli outside on a sheltered patio but as soon as the autumn frosts arrive, they need to be under cover. A sunny window sill in the house will be fine.

Whilst chilli plants are in small pots, they will need regular watering. Remove the plant from its basket or pail and water from the top and let the excess drain away. Allow the top of the soil to dry out completely before watering again, particularly during the colder months.

Chilli plants are usually treated as annuals, in their native climate and allowed to die back after fruiting. However, we have found from experience that it is possible to coax them into a second year by overwintering indoors. You will probably find that on a sunny window sill they will continue to fruit right into the autumn but once they stop putting on any new growth and the fruits start to shrivel it’s best to give them a hard prune. You’ll need to remove any remaining chillies and cut your plant back to just a couple of strong branches. Don’t be tempted to water unless the soil is really very dry and cracking and eventually with a little patience, new growth will eventually reappear in the Spring.

These peppers are quite hot and are delicious in curries, stir-fries stews and Mexican dishes. Store in a sealed container in the fridge if you can’t use them straight away.

Problem solving

Any problems are usually associated with overwatering. If your plant becomes waterlogged, its roots need to be allowed to dry out and then a normal watering pattern re-established. If the leaves start to droop and the flowers start to curl you know it is thirsty, so water straight away. Yellow or brown edges to leaves is normally the result of low light levels in the winter but very yellow leaves are a sign that your plant is lacking nutrients so give it a good feed with any general houseplant or tomato feed and remove any discoloured leaves. Your plant will also benefit from being re-potted in mid-Summer – choose a good general-purpose potting compost and a pot that is only slightly larger.

Our plants are grown at our Sussex nursery in a pesticide free environment. In the unlikely event that you find any pests (such as aphids or caterpillars) on your plant use a soft soap to wash off the offending creatures and pick off any damaged leaves to keep the plant tidy.