Thai Peppers – Are They Hot – Know This Before – How To Grow – Using Thai Peppers – Planting Seedlings – How Long Do They Live – FAQ
Growing a pepper plant at home might be the next step for a lot of hobby gardeners after starting out with basil and other herbs for example. The pepper plant is both easy to grow and care for and will yield a lot of harvests too.
Below we will take a closer look at some of the things you will need to care about when growing a thai pepper plant.
What Is Thai Pepper
There are a lot of different pepper plant varieties out there but none are really as yielding as the thai pepper. You can expect a lot of harvest from this relatively small plant.
This is perhaps one of the spiciest pepper plants you will be able to grow, not including the likes of ghost pepper or carolina reaper. If you are a fan of spice then this pepper will be great for you. It’s easy to care for and will be able to grow in a lot of different climates and environments. Just make sure it has plenty of sunlight and a healthy soil will often do the trick.
Are Thai Peppers Hot
Thai peppers are very spicy. They are probably among the strongest poppers you can grow at home. If you are accustomed to eating jalapenos or serrano then the thai pepper will blow those out of the water. This variety is in fact even stronger.
On the scoville meter it can have a number between 50,000 and 100,000. Making this one of the strongest pepper plants we have available. The thai pepper contains something called capsaicin which is what causes the almost numbing spiciness on the tongue.
Know This Before Planting
The thai pepper plant can grow in a lot of climates and thrive. To be honest, the entire pepper plant family is known to be able to provide harvests without too much effort.
Just make sure you have a space where the plant can get a lot of sun and the temperature remains quite stable throughout the whole year. That means you could grow this one indoors without any issues. But keeping it outside is also possible of course. The soil needs to be healthy too. It often helps to use some fertilizers before planting the thai pepper plant.
How To Grow Thai Peppers
Now for the fun part, growing the thai pepper. It all starts with planting the first seed. After you have bought your thai pepper seeds you can begin to prepare small containers where you will grow one seed in each. This will help remove any competition between the plants and also makes it easier transplanting the plants afterwards.
Make sure the containers have some small holes in the bottom to lead away excess water. Place the seeds on the containers and lightly tap them down. Place a thin layer of soil over and water a bit.
Place them in a sunny window and don’t let the soil dry out too much. After a few weeks you should be able to see some progress. It will take up to a few months until you might be able to transplant them into larger pots or containers. If the temperatures are high enough you could even move the plant outdoors, or keep it in a sunny window sill.
Until the plant is ready for harvest you need to make sure the soil is never left to dry out too much and using some fertilizers every month or so will greatly help the plant too.
What To Use Thai Peppers For
There are a number of different things you could use your Thai peppers for. One of our favorites would be to make chili oil. This is done by chopping the thai peppers and then pouring hot oil on them to extract the flavor. It’s quite effective at taking a small amount of chilis and getting something really flavourful.
But you could also use them thinly sliced in a stir fry to kick up the heat a bit. Mixed with some filling in dumplings they also make a great addition. Basically anywhere where you have a bit more spiciness they work great.
Planting Thai Pepper Seedlings
If you read the part about growing a thai pepper then you would have learned about taking the first step and planting the seeds. It will take a few months until you have your Thai pepper seedlings.
Once they have grown about 7 – 8 inches tall they are ready to be transplanted. Prepare a large pot with some healthy soil that has also been watered through. Make a small hole where the seedling will be placed. Once you place it in the hole push in the success soil so secure the seedling and keep it from falling over. Lightly water the surface around the plant and leave it in a sunny spot.
How Long Do Thai Peppers Live
Thai pepper plants are an annual plant so they will be around for a full year before wilting down again. We like to plant ours in the early months of the year to be able to have them ready for harvest around July and August.
Once the entire plant has been harvested and isn’t producing anymore we dig it up and place it in our compost to get some more use of the plant.
FAQ
How Long Do Thai Peppers Take To Grow
Thai pepper plants are quite fast at growing. It will take around 5 months before you are able to get the first harvest. Just keep the plant well watered and in a sunny spot and you will have no problems.
Are Thai Peppers Edible
Thai peppers are definitely edible, although if you aren’t a fan of spicy food then you might wonder how anyone could ever eat something like this.
Are Thai Pepper Plants Perennial
Thai pepper plants are not a perennial plant and will eventually start wilting down after they have grown all their chilis.
