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.

West coast: Kerala, Goa, Konkan, coastal Karnataka, south Gujarat

Our team has checked this guide against the sources at the end of the page.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

At a glance

Chilli in the West coast

  • Season

    Rainfed crop before the south-west monsoon, or an irrigated crop after it6

  • Sowing to last picking

    About five to six months from transplanting to the last picking.

    No published guide covers this for the West coast, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

  • Plant out

    May to June6

  • First harvest

    60 to 75 days after sowing

    No published guide covers this for the West coast, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

Across India

When to sow it

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

Too late this season

The window here was September to October. The next one opens in May.

Sowing now in:Sub-tropical foothillsNorth-west plainsCentral plateauDeccan plateau
  • Sow
  • Nursery
  • Transplant
  • Under cover
  • Today
  • Not suited here
West coastKerala, Goa, KonkanSouth interiorBengaluru, Mysuru, interior Tamil NaduEast coastcoastal Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, coastal Andhra
Compare all 12 regions
Temperate HimalayaKashmir valley, Shimla, KulluCold desertLadakh, Lahaul and SpitiNot suited hereSub-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 NaduEast coastcoastal Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, coastal Andhra
Today
See the dates as a table
RegionSowNurseryTransplantHarvest
West coastMay to JuneSeptember to October
Temperate HimalayaMarch to MayAprilApril to JuneApril to May
Cold desertNot suited here
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
East coastJanuary to FebruaryJune to JulySeptember to October

From seed to harvest

One season, day by day

Days from sowing

  1. Before sowing

    Well rotted farmyard manure or compost6

    20 to 25 t per hectare · Mix it well into the soil. · Land preparation

  2. Day 0

    Sow

  3. Day 7 to 14

    Seeds come up1,2Part of this comes from the sources cited. The rest is an AI suggestion.

  4. Day 28 to 42

    Transplant3,6,4

  5. Day 60 to 75

    First pickingNo published guide covers this for the West coast, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

    Every 7 to 10 days.

  6. Day 150 to 180

    Last pickingNo published guide covers this for the West coast, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

Water every three to four days in summer.6

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 West coast, 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 West coast aren't in the library yet.

Water and feeding

Watering6

Water every three to four days in summer.

Weeding6

Weed and earth up one and two months after transplanting.

WhenWhatHow muchHow
Land preparationWell rotted farmyard manure or compost20 to 25 t per hectareMix it well into the soil.

Sources6

Varieties and yield

Typical rangeNo published guide covers this for the West coast, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

80 to 120 quintals a hectare

Yields vary with the plot, the seed and the season.

Varieties grown here6

  • Jwalasakhi

  • Jwalamukhi

  • Jwala

  • Pant C-1

  • K-2

  • Vellayani Athulya

    Tolerates shade; for southern Kerala.

  • Vellayani Samrudhi

    Tolerates shade; for southern Kerala.

  • Ujwala

    Resistant to bacterial wilt.

  • Anugraha

    Resistant to bacterial wilt.

Good neighbours5

Keep it away from

Pests and diseases6

Organic and cultural controls only.

  • Pest

    Chilli mite (Polyphagotarsonemus latus)

    Signs

    Leaves curl downwards and turn brittle and tube like; it attacks the crop at every stage.

    What to do

    • Spray neem oil 5%, or a neem oil and garlic emulsion 2%.

  • Disease

    Damping off

    Signs

    Seedlings rot and fall over in the nursery.

    Prevention

    • Sow thinly on raised beds in the open during the summer months.

  • Disease

    Bacterial wilt

    Signs

    Plants wilt and die.

    What to do

    • Uproot and destroy affected plants.

    Prevention

    • Grow the resistant varieties Ujwala or Anugraha where wilt is common.

  • Disease

    Mosaic

    Signs

    Mottled, distorted leaves.

    What to do

    • Uproot and destroy affected plants.

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 pickingNo published guide covers this for the West coast, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

Uproot the plants after the last picking and follow with a crop outside the tomato family, which helps keep bacterial wilt down.

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. 6Package of Practices Recommendations: Crops 2011, Vegetables (Chilli)Kerala Agricultural UniversityRead the source
  4. 7Horticulture: Vegetables: Chilli (soil, season, seed rate, seed treatment; varieties)TNAU Agritech Portal, Tamil Nadu Agricultural UniversityRead the source

AI Farm Manager · In development

Plan this crop on your land

AI Farm Manager will turn guides like this one into a plan for your own plot. It doesn't make plans yet.

See how it will work