Chili Pepper Tips?

[Tim207]

Anybody have experience growing chili? It was pointed out to me by another poster that this could be a good steady cash crop. Any other ideas are also welcome. I am looking for things that would provide regular income with good economics as opposed to crops with anual or bianual harvest. Makua is on my list and I will probably try some peppers. As the potential of both of these surprised me I am wondering if anyone is growing something else that hasn't been talked about much.

[Jamie]

What would be your market? Something like local restaurants or farmers market, or something much larger scale?

[Tim207]

What would be your market? Something like local restaurants or farmers market, or something much larger scale?

Umm, the market would be Thai people.

Small scale would be local shops, markets, and restaraunts. If I ramp up production on a crop it would go to wholesalers.

[Jamie]

I grow peppers on a smaller scale and usually stick with those that are on the hotter side. Any of your smaller peppers are usually pretty prolific. Of course you have your thai peppers, but tabasco and cayenne are also good.

Some of my favorite for heat and flavor are Chiltepin, Tepin, Peri-Peri, any number of the habanero peppers and scotch bonnets.

Rocotillo is related to the habanero but has less heat and a really good flavor.

[chownah]

I grew a double 30 metre row of prik noom plants last year. I used cow manure as the fertilizer and used quite alot since the dirt was not in particularly good condition. I did trench watering when the irrigation canal had water and I hand watered (with a hose) when the irrigation canal was dry. I had no major problems....had about 10% mortality rate but didn't bother to replant. We purchased the seedlings but growing the seedlings is easy...just use standard procedures for germinating and growing vegetable seedlings and you'll have no problem. I didn't keep records of the harvest but my wife says thats she got about 5 kilo at a picking and picked maybe twice per week....her memory isn't always so good with this sort of thing but it is probably about right. It seems like they produced heavily for a couple of months and then tapered off....I'm not sure if it was from the age of the plants or if it was from the weather or if I should have given them a booster application of manure.

If you are interested in developing different crops for the future you might want to start out by growing a typical small scale garden plot with a variety of vegetables in it....this way you'll have lots of fresh vegetables to eat and get a bit of experience with alot of different vegetables....you can maybe also see what vegetables get the locals excited although my experience is that some vegetables that aren't exciting to the locals (like lettuce) can have good market potential....but its nice if people are a bit excited about what you're doing since it creates interest and interest creates sales.

Chownah

[bannork]

My wife planted over a rai's worth of chillis in October( as seeds or small plants from a nursery) and they're starting to produce chillis now. She seems to have done everything correct,ie loosening the soil when they're very young, watering them considerably at first, I'm concerned she's watering them too much now. There's very good handbooks in Thai in bookshops.

We used cow manure and chemical plus insecticides.

I'm concerned to hear Chownah's story of production tapering off.

The market price is good so I'll keep you posted how they're going and try to include a few photos.

[Somtham]

Anybody have experience growing chili? It was pointed out to me by another poster that this could be a good steady cash crop. Any other ideas are also welcome. I am looking for things that would provide regular income with good economics as opposed to crops with anual or bianual harvest. Makua is on my list and I will probably try some peppers. As the potential of both of these surprised me I am wondering if anyone is growing something else that hasn't been talked about much.

Tim we planted "prik chee fa" about the same time as Bannork (late October). These are the dried red ones about 2-3" long that you see in the markets. I started collecting daily output and sales data along with the makua as of Jan 1 and will post at the end of the month. I pick them daily at sunrise and am now getting between 600-700 grams a day. MIL and the wife have also gone out and picked green ones for sale as the restaurant we sell to can't get enough. The lady says the color is good and they are SPICY!! Apparently some of the Thai growers add a dye to improve the color!

In 2 weeks the price has gone from B50 to B80/kg for the green ones and B170 to B200/kg for the dried ones with stem removed. So far, so good. I think whe we're done planting the 1 rai it will be 50/50 chiles and makuas.

rgds

[bina]

how do u know which ones are what??

which ones are the ones that become blackish purple?

if u cut the plant back does it produce again? or better to seed new plants? (we have a jerusalem winter so all the peppers this past month got ruined, no more until spring time) and we cant get enough, husband doesnt want to buy in market. ours are from thai seeds but not sure which is which? are thai varieties seeds sold outside of thailand (or similar types?)...

bina

[Jamie]

bina,

It is possible to take cuttings. Take some with a few leaves, dip the cut in some rooting hormone and place in a moist soiless potting mix. It can be hit or miss though.

[phibunmike]

bina,

It is possible to take cuttings. Take some with a few leaves, dip the cut in some rooting hormone and place in a moist soiless potting mix. It can be hit or miss though.

I have a few bushes of prik kee noo around the garden just for home consumption - but the plants seem to die after one year. Are they indeed annuals, or am I doing something wrong (as I don't do anything, probably more accurate to ask if I should be doing something ). They do get water because I have sprinklers there.

Thanks,

Mike

[Jamie]

Mike,

Chile peppers are indeed perennial. It's difficult to say what your problems are. My advice is to cut back on water and fertilizer when you see very few chile pods being produced. Don't stop watering though. You may actually see the leaves begin to fall off. It does not mean the plant is dead though. I have seen plants that look like a dead tree branch sticking in the soil, only to put out new growth and leaves a few months later when the plant starts going through a new growth cycle.

I've grown some indoors under lights. By late November the leaves are gone. By March, I will get new "branch" growth and leaf growth.

[bina]

yep, thats what ours did. they were like dead sticks and then suddenly they were budding.... but can they do this for a third year?

[Jamie]

bina,

They should be able to continue to do this. In the "wild" chile plants will get as large as some small to medium sized shrubs. As they get older though, there is a chance they may begin to lose some vigor so cutting back some growth might be a good idea.

[pnustedt]

We have about three rai laid to chillies this year. The first batch are now being harvested and the crop is quite heavy. Current price is about Bt9/kilo near Sisaket.

We plant in raised beds with plenty of cattle manure. Water daily (very important), we are installing a sprinkler system. When the plants are small it is possible to grow and harvest tomatoes between rows. We put rice straw down before harvest and plough in after harvest. It is a very popular crop here and people come round trying to buy the crop straight from the picked fields but we can get a better price after we clean up the chillies and take them to town.

[Somtham]

We have about three rai laid to chillies this year. The first batch are now being harvested and the crop is quite heavy. Current price is about Bt9/kilo near Sisaket.

We plant in raised beds with plenty of cattle manure. Water daily (very important), we are installing a sprinkler system. When the plants are small it is possible to grow and harvest tomatoes between rows. We put rice straw down before harvest and plough in after harvest. It is a very popular crop here and people come round trying to buy the crop straight from the picked fields but we can get a better price after we clean up the chillies and take them to town.

What kind of chiles are they? We have been selling green ones for B80/kg and dried red ones for B200/kg. That's a huge difference compared to B9!!

How old are your plants and do you know if they will produce year round or must they go through a dormant stage?

rgds

[pnustedt]

What kind of chiles are they? We have been selling green ones for B80/kg and dried red ones for B200/kg. That's a huge difference compared to B9!!

How old are your plants and do you know if they will produce year round or must they go through a dormant stage?

rgds

I am told the variety of Chillie is called "Sorndang" and are the small ones commonly grown around Sisaket. I've got the price wrong - it was Bt90 NOT 9 (just after new year), prices are coming down now to about Bt65 as they are being harvested.

New plants are grown each year.

[Somtham]

I am told the variety of Chillie is called "Sorndang" and are the small ones commonly grown around Sisaket. I've got the price wrong - it was Bt90 NOT 9 (just after new year), prices are coming down now to about Bt65 as they are being harvested.

New plants are grown each year.

For your sake glad to hear it's B90. At B9 I was ready to drive to Srisikit tomorrow to load up the truck to bring back to KPP and sell :-)

rgds

[Vegemite]

Google " the great chilly farm " not Thailand but a lot of info and well worth a look.

[Somtham]

Google " the great chilly farm " not Thailand but a lot of info and well worth a look.

Thanks. Is this the site? http://www.chillifarm.com/

[Tim207]

Hey Somtam,

How are your peppers doing? I am also curious what kind of yields you are getting. I looked around for average yields but there are so many different varieties it is hard to get any useful data.

Tim207

[Somtham]

Hey Somtam,

How are your peppers doing? I am also curious what kind of yields you are getting. I looked around for average yields but there are so many different varieties it is hard to get any useful data.

Tim207

The chiles are doing fine. The wife is picking around 3-4kg per day from ~500 plants. Her and mil also planted about 600 more plants in the last couple of weeks. I'm told they are "prik chinda". There are lots of blossoms on the plants and we've been watering with the fish pond water so no fertilizer has been used since they were planted. The fish poop seems to be working well. It's been raining off and on the last week so it may be necessary to use some fertilizer during the rainy season.

Our biggest problem is weeds and grass. Can't keep them down and am spending way too much time with the weed whacker. We've tried covering small sections with pa keow, burnt rice gap, gap daeng, and just leaving the cut weeds on the ground. Asked the workers if putting a good layer of rice faang down would help but they advised against it as the termites will move in and start eating it. I'm now considering laying down some black plastic but would really like to find a better (green) alternative.

rgds

[btate]

Somtam

How is it that no matter how hard we try, we still continue to grow the best d.a.m.n. crop of weeds?

I never have problems with leaf miners, aphids, leaf hoppers, beetles nor any other pests on my weed crops.

Seriously though, are you using buckets or in-ground planting?

Rgds

Bt

Edited April 15, 2007 by btate

[Tim207]

The chiles are doing fine. The wife is picking around 3-4kg per day from ~500 plants.

Wow, that is great. From my understanding of plant spacing that is about 8kg/per rai. If you are still getting 80 baht per kg then peppers are turning out to be as good as you thought.

Our biggest problem is weeds and grass. Can't keep them down and am spending way too much time with the weed whacker.

I'm now considering laying down some black plastic but would really like to find a better (green) alternative.

I don't see any reason you couldn't use the bucket method with peppers, just like makhua. It is a fairly significant investment with over 1000 plants per rai but buying in that volume there has to be a lower cost source than what has been mentioned in other threads. My father in law thought he could get terracotta pots for about the same or less than plastic buckets and in large volume you should be able to get a pretty good deal since they are locally produced. I plan to look into this when I get back. I would much prefer looking at a sea of terracotta pots than plastic buckets.

Tim207

[wolfmanjack]

Hey Somtam,

How are your peppers doing? I am also curious what kind of yields you are getting. I looked around for average yields but there are so many different varieties it is hard to get any useful data.

Tim207

The chiles are doing fine. The wife is picking around 3-4kg per day from ~500 plants. Her and mil also planted about 600 more plants in the last couple of weeks. I'm told they are "prik chinda". There are lots of blossoms on the plants and we've been watering with the fish pond water so no fertilizer has been used since they were planted. The fish poop seems to be working well. It's been raining off and on the last week so it may be necessary to use some fertilizer during the rainy season.

Our biggest problem is weeds and grass. Can't keep them down and am spending way too much time with the weed whacker. We've tried covering small sections with pa keow, burnt rice gap, gap daeng, and just leaving the cut weeds on the ground. Asked the workers if putting a good layer of rice faang down would help but they advised against it as the termites will move in and start eating it. I'm now considering laying down some black plastic but would really like to find a better (green) alternative.

rgds

Try newspapers. If you lay them down and then wet them they will stay in place. Obviously they will get torn when walked upon but you can reapply them on a regular basis.

I have also used saw dust but it depletes the nitrogen from the soil. It worked great for growing watermelons though.

[Pond Life]

I seem to remember someone suggested hessian sacks (gunny sacks ?) for weed suppression.

Havnt tried it yet but sounded like a good idea.

Tough enough towalk on but will eventualy rot away.

[Gary A]

The retail market price here around Loei varies a lot. My wife says they go from 50 to 120 baht per kilo. That's for the red ones that are about an inch or more long. The strange thing is that it doesn't seem to be a seasonal price difference. The price is high right now.

[chownah]

I have had lots of piles of rice straw around my place and this year have used it alot for mulch and have never found any termites associated with it although we do have termites in the soil pretty much everywhere. If you leave a piece of wood on the ground it will eventually get eaten by termites...but I've never seen them around or under rice straw. Perhaps your workers are mistaken or perhaps things are different where you are or perhaps there are termites eating straw here and I've simply not seen them....I'll keep an eye out for them. You might do a test patch of rice straw mulch....maybe not even in the garden but somewhere outside it just to see if you do indeed get termites from it....my experience suggests that you will not.

Also, do termites cause problems in the garden? I've seen some in my garden but they don't seem to cause a problem. The local people say that they are good because they make little tunnels in the soil making it easier for water to soak in quickly.

Rice hulls work but they must be applied very thick so it might not be practical for a large area....I've been trying rice hulls and rice straw combined.

Also, black plastic can be used as a mulch.

Edited April 15, 2007 by chownah

[ozzydom]

Hey Somtam,

How are your peppers doing? I am also curious what kind of yields you are getting. I looked around for average yields but there are so many different varieties it is hard to get any useful data.

Tim207

The chiles are doing fine. The wife is picking around 3-4kg per day from ~500 plants. Her and mil also planted about 600 more plants in the last couple of weeks. I'm told they are "prik chinda". There are lots of blossoms on the plants and we've been watering with the fish pond water so no fertilizer has been used since they were planted. The fish poop seems to be working well. It's been raining off and on the last week so it may be necessary to use some fertilizer during the rainy season.

Our biggest problem is weeds and grass. Can't keep them down and am spending way too much time with the weed whacker. We've tried covering small sections with pa keow, burnt rice gap, gap daeng, and just leaving the cut weeds on the ground. Asked the workers if putting a good layer of rice faang down would help but they advised against it as the termites will move in and start eating it. I'm now considering laying down some black plastic but would really like to find a better (green) alternative.

rgds

Why not use a contact herbicide like Roundup or one of the other Glyphosphate based ones, if its spray drift on to your plants thats the worry,there is a solution I have used for years.

You take a round 1 gall icecream container (eat the icecream first) then make a hole in the centre of the base to fit the thread on your backpack or carry sprayers spray nozzle ,remove the nozzle and lock nut and fit the container on (top facing down of course)replace the lock nut and nozzle,adjust your nozzle to a wide spray and start spraying ,keeping the open end of the plastic container right down on the weeds. I spray right up to the plants and never get overspray. Will post a photo of mine when T/W gets home with my digital

[ozzydom]

Hey Somtam,

How are your peppers doing? I am also curious what kind of yields you are getting. I looked around for average yields but there are so many different varieties it is hard to get any useful data.

Tim207

The chiles are doing fine. The wife is picking around 3-4kg per day from ~500 plants. Her and mil also planted about 600 more plants in the last couple of weeks. I'm told they are "prik chinda". There are lots of blossoms on the plants and we've been watering with the fish pond water so no fertilizer has been used since they were planted. The fish poop seems to be working well. It's been raining off and on the last week so it may be necessary to use some fertilizer during the rainy season.

Our biggest problem is weeds and grass. Can't keep them down and am spending way too much time with the weed whacker. We've tried covering small sections with pa keow, burnt rice gap, gap daeng, and just leaving the cut weeds on the ground. Asked the workers if putting a good layer of rice faang down would help but they advised against it as the termites will move in and start eating it. I'm now considering laying down some black plastic but would really like to find a better (green) alternative.

rgds

Why not use a contact herbicide like Roundup or one of the other Glyphosphate based ones, if its spray drift on to your plants thats the worry,there is a solution I have used for years.

You take a round 1 gall icecream container (eat the icecream first) then make a hole in the centre of the base to fit the thread on your backpack or carry sprayers spray nozzle ,remove the nozzle and lock nut and fit the container on (top facing down of course)replace the lock nut and nozzle,adjust your nozzle to a wide spray and start spraying ,keeping the open end of the plastic container right down on the weeds. I spray right up to the plants and never get overspray. Will post a photo of mine when T/W gets home with my digital

[Somtham]

Tim - the wife is selling dried at B140/kg now, fresh price around here is B40/kg.

Btate - I bet we have some of the best cared for weeds and wild grasses in all of Thailand. We planted the chiles and makuas directly in the ground and water with a sprinkler system.

Folks - thanks for the other ideas. I will try an area using newspapers, another with the rice fang, and another with the roundup. Ozzy - do they sell roundup here under that name or is it called something else? I looked at gunny sacks but I thought they were too expensive at B15 each but I do have a few laying around so will throw them down also.

rgds