I finally have flowers on this year’s chilli plants! I pollinate my chilli flowers by using cotton swabs. I simply put it into the flower, shake it a bit, and then move on to the next flower. The reason I use a cotton swab is that I have several varieties on the go, and I don’t want to mix and cross-pollinate different chilli varieties with each other. I use one cotton swab per plant. My lazy way would be to just use one of my fingers, but I don’t want to run to the kitchen to wash my hands between pollinating each variety, so I’ll stick to the cotton swabs for the full season.
It’s these two varieties that have flowers so far — either Hungarian Hot Wax or Jalapeño.
A few days after pollination, the flowers start withering, and then turn into beautiful chilli fruits.
