Last edited on January 27, 2021. View history
Bird's Eye Chili
A variety of chili pepper
How to sow Bird's Eye Chili: Direct seed indoors, transplant seedlings outside after hardening off
Sun requirement for Bird's Eye Chili: Plant in Full Sun
The chilli pepper (from Nahuatl chīlli) is the fruit of plants from the genus Capsicum which are members of the nightshade family, Solanaceae. Chilli peppers are widely used in many cuisines as a spice to add heat to dishes. The substances that give chilli peppers their intensity when ingested or applied topically are capsaicin and related compounds known as capsaicinoids.
Chilli peppers originated in Mexico. After the Columbian Exchange, many cultivars of chilli pepper spread across the world, used for both food and traditional medicine.
- 7
- plantings
- 1
- harvest
- 1
- seed packet
Bird's eye chili facts
Lifespan
Grown for
fruit harvested 1 timeCrop cycle
Max altitude
Optimal light
What are growing degree days?
A plant grows with warmth, not with days. A growing degree day is one day's worth of useful warmth: how many degrees the day's average temperature is above the lowest temperature the crop grows at. Add them up from planting and you know how far along the crop is, whatever the calendar says.
Say that lowest temperature is 10°C. A day averaging 17°C gives 7 growing degree days. A day averaging 8°C gives none, as it is too cold for the crop to grow. That is why the same lettuce takes about 50 days in a summer and 90 in an autumn: it needs the same total warmth either way.
For Bird's Eye Chili, the FAO EcoCrop database gives a lowest growing temperature of 8°C and a shortest growing cycle of 60 days at its best temperature, about 930 growing degree days to a first harvest.
Where you've told us where your garden is, we use this and the weather there to predict when your Bird's Eye Chili will be ready to harvest. We don't use it for how long a plant lives or when it finishes: we go by what members have logged for that.
Growing Bird's Eye Chilis
- Sow seeds indoors somewhere warm 10 weeks before planting out
- Pot on the seedlings 6 weeks before planting out
- Harden off the seedlings 1 week before planting out
- Set or refill beer traps for slugs and snails at planting out every week
- Stake the plants 2 weeks after planting out
- Water regularly at planting out every week
- Check for aphids 2 weeks after planting out every 2 weeks
- Feed with tomato fertiliser 6 weeks after planting out every 2 weeks
- Pick chillies regularly at first harvest every week
- Bring pots in before the first frost 3 months after first harvest
How members grow Bird's Eye Chilis
Sunniness
Planted from
Harvested for
Plant Bird's Eye Chilis with
ginger
Photos
Photos
Bird's eye chili plantings
Video
Where Bird's Eye Chilis grow
Only plantings by members who have set their locations are shown.
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Who's planted Bird's Eye Chilis
- shiny Aro Valley · Wellington, NZ
- CloCkWeRX A & B - Raised Containers · Rosewater, South...
- LeighS Garden · Melbourne Victoria...
- neilmccartney10 Garden · WN3 6XN
- juzham Sweet planter box. · Brunswick East,...
shiny
Bird's eye chili harvests
-
mmmel harvested 30.
over 11 years ago
mmmel harvested 30.
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Time to harvest
If sown now, expect a first harvest in about 60 to 180 days.
From the growing cycle in the FAO EcoCrop database, which is the same wherever it is grown.
Ecological requirements
Data from the FAO EcoCrop database for Capsicum annuum L.
| Family / Taxonomy | Magnoliopsida Asteridae Solanales Solanaceae |
|---|---|
| Life form | herb |
| Life span | annual |
| Habit | erect |
| Optimal soil depth | medium (50-150 cm) |
| Optimal soil texture | medium, organic |
| Optimal soil fertility | moderate |
| Optimal soil drainage | well (dry spells) |
| Optimal soil salinity | low (<4 dS/m) |
| Photoperiod | short day (<12 hours), neutral day (12-14 hours) |
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