Growing chilli plants
The methods used to grow chilli plants are no different to those used to grow capsicums, or as our American friends call them, 'Bell Peppers'. The chilli and capsicum plant differ by one single gene and it is this gene that causes the chilli fruit to produce its 'heat' through a chemical called capsaicin.
What do I need to do to successfully grow chillis? This is a question Mad Mick answers regularly so keep reading.
Generally speaking chilli plants do not like the cold and are frost sensitive, nor do they tolerate high temperatures, temperatures above 30c will cause problems with flowering and the setting of fruit.
Cultivate the soil to a level of about 40cm and ensure a pH of between 6 and 7.
Chilli plants prefer a well drained soil and will not tolerate a boggy or constantly wet soil. Irrigate plants in the morning. When it comes time to fruiting the more irrigation and the 'healthier' the plant looks the higher the yield, but lower the levels of heat in the chilli. Mad Mick reckons a compromise between the two and when it comes to the setting of fruit he prefers to let the soil completely dry out before irrigating again. You will find the same principles apply to tomatoes and if you have been lucky enough to taste the Australian bush tomato growing wild, the fruit is incredibly sweet, quite different to the tomatoes bought in the supermarket, which are fairly tasteless.
Over irrigating your chilli plants is also responsible for flower drop, so experiment with your plants. If you are seeing flower drop, cut back on the irrigating.
Fertilise as adult plants with a weak solution of tomato fertiliser. Yates make a great product called 'Thrive Concentrate Tomato Food' (No they don't sponsor this site). It is a concentrate, as the name suggests, so mix with water at a rate of about 2ml/L and apply weekly. This product has an N:P:K (Nitrogen:Phosphorous:Potassium) ratio of 8:3:10. Don't use any fertiliser with a high nitrogen content, you'll end up with a chilli plant with a lot of great looking foliage and not much else.
The chilli plant itself is, generally speaking, not very strong and can be easily broken by strong winds. Staking plants is recommended as are the use of wind breaks if you are growing chillis in an area subject to strong wind.
Chillis are suceptible to several pest and disease attacks, including fruit fly, potato virus (spread by aphids), bacterial spot, powdery mildew and sudden wilt. If you've got problems with any of these pests and/or diseases try using some eco-friendly solutions to get rid of them, rather than going for the hard-core chemical based ones (that you end up ingesting when you eat your chillis, not good).
In regards to chemical insecticides and herbicides, Mad Mick refuses to use them and won't apply anything to his chillis that isn't natural. He reckons he's mad enough without eating a chilli/chemical cocktail.
One of Mad Mick's best natural insecticides is a mix of 1L of water, 1 tablespoon vegetable oil, 1 clove (peeled) garlic and 4 hot chillis. Put all the ingredients into a blender, blend until smooth, sieve through a fine sieve (to get rid of any lumps) and put the liquid into a spray bottle. Use this mix to spray onto your plants to get rid of pests.
If you are trying to grow chilli in areas susceptible to fruit fly you are going to have to follow a few tips to keep these little buggers under control:
~ Keep a clean garden, remove immediately any old fruit that has fallen to the ground.
~ Use fruit fly traps to monitor fruit fly numbers. These traps typically attract and kill the male fly.
~ If you do get an infestation of fruit fly, deal with it quickly. A new product called eco-naturalure is a certified organic product (Certified by Biological Farmers of Australia) and is both a bait and natural insecticide and is extremely effective for controlling fruit fly, when applied according to the instructions.
