The Organic
Revival
Vegetables · Fruiting

Growing chilli

Capsicum annuum · also called Mirch, Marchwangun (Kashmiri)A warm season fruit vegetable and spice, raised in a nursery and transplanted. It needs sun and warmth, and frost kills it.

Cold desert: Ladakh, Lahaul and Spiti

Our team has checked this guide against the sources at the end of the page.The open season in Ladakh and Lahaul is short and cold, with frost in late spring and early autumn. Chilli is killed by frost and needs warm nights to set fruit.Includes AI suggestions where no published guide covers a detail
Chilli plant bearing red and green chillies among its leaves
Photo: Vyacheslav Argenberg · CC BY 4.0
Not suited here

Not a crop for this region

The open season in Ladakh and Lahaul is short and cold, with frost in late spring and early autumn. Chilli is killed by frost and needs warm nights to set fruit.

Where it grows nearest

Across India

When to sow it

Twelve growing regions, January to December. Your region comes first.

Not suited here

Sowing now in:Sub-tropical foothillsNorth-west plainsCentral plateauDeccan plateau
  • Sow
  • Nursery
  • Transplant
  • Under cover
  • Today
  • Not suited here
Cold desertLadakh, Lahaul and SpitiNot suited hereTemperate HimalayaKashmir valley, Shimla, KulluSub-tropical foothillsJammu, Kangra, Dehradun
Compare all 12 regions
Temperate HimalayaKashmir valley, Shimla, KulluSub-tropical foothillsJammu, Kangra, DehradunNorth-west plainsPunjab, Haryana, DelhiGangetic plainseastern Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal plainsNorth-east hills and valleysAssam, Meghalaya, SikkimArid westRajasthan, Kutch, north GujaratCentral plateauMadhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, VidarbhaDeccan plateauinterior Maharashtra, Telangana, north KarnatakaSouth interiorBengaluru, Mysuru, interior Tamil NaduWest coastKerala, Goa, KonkanEast coastcoastal Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, coastal Andhra
Today
See the dates as a table
RegionSowNurseryTransplantHarvest
Cold desertNot suited here
Temperate HimalayaMarch to MayAprilApril to JuneApril to May
Sub-tropical foothillsNovemberFebruary to MarchMay to JuneMarch to AprilApril to MayJanuaryMarch to AprilJune to JulyApril to MayMay to June
North-west plainsEnd of October to mid-NovemberUnder cover: Third week of NovemberUnder cover: First week of FebruaryFebruary to MarchMid-FebruaryEnd of April
Gangetic plainsDecemberMay to JuneFebruaryJune to July
North-east hills and valleysDecember to January
Arid westDecemberMay to JuneFebruaryJune to July
Central plateauJune to JulyOctober to NovemberJanuary to February
Deccan plateauEnd of JuneOctober to NovemberJanuary to February
South interiorJanuary to FebruaryJune to JulySeptember to October
West coastMay to JuneSeptember to October
East coastJanuary to FebruaryJune to JulySeptember to October

What it needs

Soil, sun and warmth

  • Soil pH1

    6.5 to 7.5

    Almost any well drained soil, from sandy loam to heavy clay rich in organic matter. It tolerates some salinity but not waterlogging.

  • SunlightNo published guide covers this for the Cold desert, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

    At least 6 hours a day

    Full sun.

  • Temperature2,1

    Grows best at 20 to 33 °C

    Frost: none tolerated.

    Monthly temperatures for the Cold desert aren't in the library yet.

Good neighbours5

Keep it away from

Seed and the season's end

Saving seed1,4

Chilli often crosses: keep at least 400 m between two varieties, including sweet pepper.

When the seed is ready

Remove off types before flowering, at full bloom and just before picking. Keep only true to type plants and pick their red ripe fruits.

Cleaning the seed

Dry the red fruits in the sun and take the seed out by hand.

After the last picking1,5

Clear and destroy the residues of a crop that had mealybugs.

Rotation

Rotate with a cereal, a cucurbit or a cabbage family crop; where wilt is common, keep tomato family crops off the field.

Sources

Where this comes from

Our team has checked this guide against the sources at the end of the page.Reviewed by our team on 13 November 2026.

These published guides are the sources. Where none of them covers a detail for this region, the page shows an AI suggestion and labels it.

  1. 3Production Technology of Vegetables and Flowers (VSF-231), Part I: Vegetable production (Chilli and bell pepper)CSK Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishvavidyalaya, Palampur (Department of Vegetable Science and Floriculture)Read the source
  2. 5AESA based IPM package No. 24: Chillies and capsicumNational Institute of Plant Health Management and Directorate of Plant Protection, Quarantine and Storage, Government of IndiaRead the source
  3. 7Horticulture: Vegetables: Chilli (soil, season, seed rate, seed treatment; varieties)TNAU Agritech Portal, Tamil Nadu Agricultural UniversityRead the source

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