A kilogram of green chillies now costs Tk 400, yet hardly any curry can be cooked without them. With little effort you can grow chillies in pots in an attic room, on the roof, on a balcony or in the yard. The cost is low, and with a little care the plants grow quickly.

Pick a place in the house with light and air. Chillies also do well in shade, but they need to be put in the sun now and then or kept near a window. Clay or plastic pots can be used, as can polybags, tins or plastic containers. A medium-sized pot is enough, and one medium pot can hold four chilli plants.

Loam soil suits chillies, and slightly alkaline soil can also be used. Mix organic fertiliser well into loam and fill the pot. Water the soil enough to keep it moist and do not let it dry out completely; keep the pot in a humid place for this. Seeds must be soaked in water for 24 hours before sowing. The usual sowing time for chillies is May to June, but seed can also be sown in October at the start of winter, and sowing then gives a good yield.

Scatter the dry seeds over the soil in the pot. After some days a number of seedlings will come up; keep the strongest ones and pull out the rest. You can also use the seeds from inside dried chillies. For quicker results, buy chilli seedlings from a nursery; some come with chillies already hanging on them, so you can start picking sooner.

If you use a plastic container, first make a few small holes in it so that excess water can drain away. Water the base of the plant at least once a day, always in the right amount. If a plant leans after watering, tie it to a stick. Do not wet the leaves when watering, and make sure excess water can drain from the pot.

Once the seedlings grow, it is important to keep the soil moist. The plants need enough light, air and water to grow. They can be kept in a sunny spot, but not in very strong sun. Tend the plants in the morning or afternoon. Ants and small birds come to eat the tips of young seedlings, so you can draw a line of insecticide chalk around the pot or use a powder insecticide. Use strong netting to keep birds away, and spray the plants with water mixed with a few drops of liquid soap.

Flowers will drop two or three days after they appear, and the chillies will then slowly grow. After some time you can start picking. Cut the chillies with scissors rather than pulling them off. A plant gives roughly two flushes of chillies: at least 50 to 75 in each flush, or 100 to 150 chillies over the two.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.