Growing chili is not as difficult as you think. However, assuming that no need much time or effort to care for the tree is still very wrong. Many families take advantage of a small garden corner, even just a small foam box to plant chili.
1. Prepare before planting chili
Choose chili varieties
Like other fruits, chili also has many different types such as Buffalo Horns, Only Thien, Rare, Chili. In the Central region, there are many other types of chili such as Voi Voi or BoBo. You can rely on your family’s interests and goals to choose the right chili.
After choosing the same chili type, you can go to the supermarket or market to buy chili seeds.
If you want to create your own chili seeds, after being taken directly from the fruit, should be soaked with chamomile tea or hydrogen peroxide to keep the seeds healthy.
The right time to grow chili
All home crops can be grown year-round. But the time when the tree grows well, the least pests are sowing from August to September and planting in September. After about 1 to 2 months of planting, that means from December to January, the harvest begins. The harvest may last until April of next year.
Prepare the soil
Different from aloe vera or cucumber, soil for growing chili is different types such as sandy soils, clayey soils or alluvial soils along the river. Maybe even arable land for rice. Because chili can adapt to many different conditions, just loose soil, airy and many nutrients are okay.
When you first get the soil back, you should not use it to grow trees but should remove the grass, add water to the soil moisture, easy to exchange oxygen. Not only that, to enrich the nutrients of the soil and eliminate bacteria, but you should also apply another layer of lime and NPK fertilizer too!
2. How to grow chili plants at home effectively
Soak the seeds
If you want to sprout chili seeds then you need to soak them in water for 50 degrees for 2 to 8 hours to promote them to sprout quickly. To get warm water at 50 degrees, you mix hot and cold water in the ratio of 2: 3 is okay.
Sow chili seeds
For simple sowing you don’t need to invest in a professional sowing tray, just an ice cube tray, punch a few holes below and then sow the seeds.
After sowing the seeds in the tray, place the seeds in a warm place. Or you can use incandescent light bulbs to provide heat for them. This will prompt the seed to quickly germinate.
When you see chili seeds showing signs of germination, you need to pay attention to them until you create a seedling. Until the seedlings are 10 to 15cm tall, choose healthy plants, beat them out of the tray and plant them in each prepared pot.
Planting seedlings
If you do not want to spend time sowing seeds, you absolutely can plant with seedlings. Every day, take them to the sun for a few hours. The number of hours increases gradually until they are fully adapted to the natural environment.
If you want the tree to grow well, you can apply additional NPK fertilizer to the plant 2 more times. One is when the plant is potted for 20 to 25 days. Two is when the tree begins to bear fruit.
Do not forget to prune, prune the tree, especially at the bottom of the tree. This will help the tree to be “light”, airy, and grow well
3. Care guide for a fruitful chili
Watering
You should water once a day if the soil is well-drained or it is dry. As for moist soil, 2 days you should water once. Above all, you need to regularly monitor the tree to understand the situation. From there can increase or decrease the amount of water accordingly.
To keep the soil moist and free of nutrients, add straw or hay at the base of the tree. You should also regularly weed, catch worms, turn the soil around the base to loose soil and fertilize once a month on average.
Pruning chili branches
When the chili tree is large enough (about 20cm), you proceed to prune. Should trim the branches below the branching points to make the tree clear. At the same time, keep the force for the tree. Then continue watering and checking the moisture for the plants.
A small note for you is that if planted in a round pot should only grow 2 or 3 plants. If growing in a long pot, make sure the distance from 20 to 30cm a tree. Those numbers will give the tree room to grow.
4. Collect and preserve chili
Harvest chili
You should harvest the fruit when it starts to change color, that is before it ripens. The harvest of old fruits with red streaks will stimulate the plant to continue flowering, ensuring the quantity and quality for the next round.
When harvesting, you should cut the stalks to avoid breaking branches. Spicy peppers will usually harvest 35 to 40 days after flowering. If at the most chilliest time, harvest once a day. Normal 2 days harvest 1 time.
Usually, every 35 to 40 days after the fruit can be harvested. If you take good care, you can harvest many times.
How to preserve chili for a long time
Although chili seeds are an important factor in making peppers spicier. But it is also the culprit that chili is quickly broken. Therefore, when the harvest is completed you should remove the chili seeds from the fruit. Then put in a plastic bag and store in the refrigerator for a long time to use.
Or you can also cut off the stem of the chili, rinse the fruit and put it into a plastic bag stored in the refrigerator. When you need to use it, you can directly take out.
Another way is to cut the stem off, soak the peppers in sugar and vinegar water. This will help preserve the chili for longer. Not only that, it also increases the spicy and crunchy of the chili.
