How to Grow Chili Peppers on a Balcony? Detailed Planting Methods and Timing
Just place a flower pot in a small corner of your balcony, and you can harvest branches laden with small chili peppers!
Many beginners often ask, "What fertilizer should peppers be given?"
"Why do the flowers drop as soon as mine bloom?"
"How did it grow into this shape, does it need pruning?"
"Do branches need pruning in winter?"
Today let's have a good talk about how to grow small chili peppers on the balcony, so you can easily achieve chili freedom
Preparation
Container: a flower pot with drainage holes is enough! A diameter of 20-30cm and a depth of 25-35cm/ceramic pots are both fine, leaving enough growing space for the roots.
Soil: small chili peppers love "airy, fertile soil"! Just copy the recipe: garden soil+leaf mold+river sand=3:3:1/sheep manure organic fertilizer.
Sowing
Seed-soaking tip: soak the seeds in 50-55℃ warm water for 15-20 minutes (stir to prevent scalding), then once the water temperature drops to 30℃ continue soaking for 12-24 hours; seeds sprout best when they have drunk their fill of water.
Sowing steps: fill the pot with soil to seven or eight parts full, water thoroughly, then scatter the seeds and cover with 1cm of thin soil! If the temperature is below 20℃
Care
Watering mantra: after sowing, keep the soil slightly moist and mist with water every 2-3 days; after sprouting, go by ""dry-wet cycle", water again when the soil surface turns white, once every 3-5 days, and the roots grow stronger and stronger.
Temperature: 20-30℃ is the most comfortable, and in winter do not put it somewhere cold wind blows directly.
Key point on light: 6-8 hours of sunlight every day! Put it on a south-facing balcony to get plenty of sun, and do not worry about it wilting from the sun. When the small seedlings grow to 5-6 true leaves, they can gradually be put in the sun; first give them the weak morning light, then slowly adapt to strong light.
Management
Fertilizing schedule:
Seedling stage (small leaf stage): 1-2 applications of dilute nitrogen fertilizer (urea water) to spur crazy growth of branches and leaves.
Bud stage (small flower buds forming): switch to spraying monopotassium phosphate, once every 10-15 days, to promote flowering and fruiting, so the plant hangs full of chili peppers!
Pinching turns it into a "high-yield type": when it grows to 30-40cm tall, pinch off the terminal bud to force out side branches, making the plant fuller and produce more fruit.
Do not fear pests and diseases: spray imidacloprid for aphids and red spider mites; for anthracnose, ventilate early, keep rain off, and promptly cut off diseased leaves.
Harvest
From sowing to picking the fruit takes only 3-4 months. Pick the fully red small chili peppers and eat them right away; whatever you cannot finish, dry in the sun to make chili oil or chili sauce, so fragrant it makes your mouth water!