Growing Green Chillies using Simplified Hydroponics

Growing Green Chillies using Simplified Hydroponics by Pritham 'MetalFarmer' D'Souza

• Green Chillies (Capsicum annuum) is one of the select few crops to be grown in almost all states of India and is largely exported worldwide.
• A green chilli is referred to as ' Hot' due to the presence of 'capsiacin' which is extracted and used in pepper sprays as a non lethal but effect irritant.
• excellent source of Vitamin A and also Iron, Potassium and Magnesium

• since the seeds are small, i sowed them in a plastic tub and watered using the Hydroponic Nutrient 'grow' which quickened the germination.
• as you can see the pics above, i managed to achieve 99 percent germination, which is not even possible in the field (just around 70 percent)

• for this post, i chose 1 plant and transplanted the same to a black colored pot which was made for hydroponics.
• i continued to give it "GROW" nutrient till flowering stage.
• the lush green look is due to the nutrients present in 'GROW'.

Flowering

• once flower buds were seen, i stopped giving it 'GROW' nutrient and switched over to "BLOOM" nutrient.
• BLOOM helps in fruit formation and prevents immature fruit drop and flower shedding.

• chillies take up to 60 days to flower , from the first day of transplanting and take another 30 to 40 days to produce yield in the field.
• here flowering was observed in less than 50 days and the first chillies were produced 3 weeks later.

• to prevent the incidence of pests, i regularly sprayed the plant using neem sprays.
• every morning, one must check the leaves for insect droppings and eggs and if seen must be removed immediately. fortunately i never encountered such problems after switching over to Simplified Hydroponics.

• now i get a regular supply of fresh, pesticide free tasty green chillies every alternate day. since my parents dont like spicy food, i just pluck one or two green chillies whenever required and add while cooking.
• this has stopped us from buying green chillies from the market, and storing them in the fridge for several days before using them. refrigeration dehydrates vegetables (makes them all wrinkled) and now thanks to SH we have a continuous supply of green chillies everyday.