Growing Chillis Part 3: Potting on/Transplanting

Hi Guys, Time for part 3 of the Chilli Up North Chilli Growing Guide.

Once you have successfully germinated your chillis, it won’t be long before you need to transplant them into a bigger pot, this is also called potting on.

i usually like to pot my seedlings on once the 2nd set of leaves has appeared on the seedling.

All you need for this stage is some bigger pots and some compost, i like to use cheap plastic cups for this stage as they are a nice size.

firstly you need to put a hole in the bottom of the cups to allow excess water to drain away.

The gentyly prick out your seedling from the seed tray and put it into the cup, i like to plant the seedlings quite deep to stop them going leggy and i also find it produces a stronger plant.

fill the cup around the seedlings and press down gently so the seedling is secure.

give the seedlings a good water and then put them in a light place, you may find they start to droop, dont worry its just the change in conditions, they will soon perk up butyou may also like to prop your seedling up with some cocktail sticks.

Once they have grown a bit bigger (say to 10cm) they will need moving on to their final pot.

Chilli plants are quite adaptive and will grow well in most size pots, i’ve tried everything from bonsai pots to huge 50litre pots. It’s totally up to you what you use but i like to use the flower buckets you can get from the supermarkets.

I also like to mix the compost that i am filling the pots with, with a little bit of topsoil as you will find that most compost dries out very quickly when it gets hot

Getting your chilli seedlings from their little pot to their final pot is just the same as before, just make sure you don’t snap or damage the plant.