Starting Chillies Indoors: When and How to Sow Chillies Inside
Chillies take a long time to bear their first pods. If you only sow them outdoors in May, time runs short before autumn. That's why you start them indoors in winter. Here you'll learn when the right time is, how to sow successfully and how small seedlings turn into strong plants.
When can you start chillies?
The timing depends on the variety. The hotter the chilli, the longer it usually needs.
- Very hot varieties like Habanero or Carolina Reaper go in as early as January or early February.
- Medium-hot and mild varieties like Cayenne, Jalapeño or sweet peppers are sown from February to early March.
- Fully indoors, you can sow chillies all year round, as long as they get enough light.
What you need
- Seeds. Fresh seeds germinate better. Seeds saved from shop-bought pods often germinate poorly or produce different plants.
- Seed compost. It's low in nutrients and loose, so the roots can spread out well.
- Small pots or a seed tray with a lid.
- A warm spot. Chillies germinate best at 24 to 28 °C.
- Light. After germinating, the seedlings need lots of it. In winter, a window is rarely enough.
Sowing step by step
- 1. Soak. Put the seeds in lukewarm water overnight. This softens the hard seed coat.
- 2. Sow. Press the seeds about half a centimetre deep into moist seed compost and cover them lightly.
- 3. Keep moist and warm. A lid or cling film holds in the moisture. Air briefly once a day so no mould forms.
- 4. Be patient. Mild varieties germinate after 7 to 14 days. Very hot varieties often take three to four weeks.
- 5. Into the light. As soon as the first seedlings appear, take off the lid and move them somewhere bright.
Light: the most important point
In January and February the days are short. On the windowsill, seedlings stretch towards the light and grow long and thin. Gardeners call them leggy. Such plants flop over easily and fruit less later on.
- 12 to 16 hours of light a day keep the plants compact.
- A grow light at a fixed distance and on a timer makes this easy. More on this in our guide Grow light for herbs.
- A little cooler after germinating. 20 to 22 °C is enough now. Too much warmth with too little light makes the plants leggy.
Pricking out and potting on
After the round seed leaves, the first true, pointed chilli leaves appear. Now it's time to prick out. Put each plant in its own pot about 9 cm across. You can set it a little deeper than before; this makes the stem sturdier. When the roots fill the pot, move the plant into a larger pot with normal potting soil. From now on, feed lightly every two weeks.
Outside or indoors?
Once the last frosts have passed in mid-May, your chillies can move to the balcony or the garden bed. Harden them off to sun and wind over a week: first a few hours in the shade, then longer and sunnier. In autumn you can bring them back in. You can read how in Overwintering chillies.
Chillies in the GreenBox
In the GreenBox, chillies germinate and grow indoors, with light on a schedule and without seed compost. You put the seeds into PlantPlugs. The GreenBox takes care of light and schedule, and the app reminds you to top up the water. Compact varieties like Chili Mild, Chili Spicy or Chili Dirty Devil can stay there until harvest. Larger varieties like the Peperoni de Cayenne get their start in the GreenBox and move outside in May. To get started, there's the Cherry Tomato & Chilli Mix.
In a nutshell
- Sow hot varieties in January, mild ones from February to early March.
- Soak seeds overnight, sow them half a centimetre deep and keep them moist at 24 to 28 °C.
- After germinating, give them light: 12 to 16 hours a day at 20 to 22 °C.
- Prick out as soon as the first true leaves appear.
- Move them outside after the last frosts in mid-May, or grow compact varieties fully indoors.
Happy sowing!
Your BERLIN GREEN team
