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| Home > Spice Farming > Chillies
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| | Chillies Spice Farming
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 Crop Management
Chilli grow best in warm and humid climate and it requires dry weather during the maturation of fruits. It grows in wide range of altitudes ranging from sea level upto nearly 2100 m above MSL. Though it is a cold weather crop but it can be grown throughout the year under proper irrigation. Black soils which retain moisture for long periods are suitable for rainfed crop whereas well drained chalka soils and sandy loams are good under irrigated condition.
Seedling are grown in raised beds for transplanted crop, and 40-45 days old seedlings are used for transplantation. Transplanting is done during the first fortnight of September. Seedlings are transplanted at a spacing of 56 X 56 cm or 60 X 60 cm or 90 x 60 cm depending upon the soil fertility.
Chilli is grown by sowing seeds. Direct sowing is recommended for rainfed crop under retentive black soils. Seeds are drilled by the end of July of first week of August for direct sown crop.
Post Harvest Improvement Practices
 When the pods are well ripened and partially withered in the plant itself harvesting is done. The harvested pods have to be kept in heaps either indoor or in shade away from direct sun light for 2 or 3 days so as to develop uniform red colour. Then the pods are dried in the sun spreading them on clean dry polythene sheets, cemented / concrete drying yards etc. Pods have to be spread out in thin layers for uniform drying with frequent stirring which is essential for preventing mold growth and discolouration. The material has to be heaped and covered by clean gunny bags / polythene sheets. The moisture content of dry pods is to be kept at 8- 10 %. Improved drying system could be used to ensure cleanliness and uniform colour of the product.
Well dried pods after removing the extraneous matters like plant parts, etc should be packed in clean, dry gunny bags and stored ensuring protection from dampness.
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