Chilli

A nursery gives even, protected germination, lets you cull weak seedlings, and — critically — lets you raise the crop under an insect-proof net so it starts free of the thrips and viruses behind leaf curl. Direct-sown chilli germinates unevenly, is far harder to protect, and gives a weak, gappy stand. Seedlings are transplanted 35–45 days after nursery sowing, once they have 4–5 true leaves.

For the main kharif crop, sow the nursery in June–July and transplant in July–August; a summer crop can be raised under irrigation where water allows. Transplanting follows about 35–45 days after nursery sowing.

About 1.5–2 kg/ha of open-pollinated seed raised in a nursery (much less, often 200–400 g/ha, for a costly hybrid) gives enough seedlings for roughly 40,000–55,000 plants per hectare at typical spacing.

Murda (also called bokka) is the leaf-curl complex — a combination of sap-sucking thrips and mites, some of them virus vectors, that curls and cups the leaves and can stall a young crop entirely. It is the single most damaging problem in Indian chilli. There is no cure for the viral part, so management is aimed at the vectors: raise the nursery under net, transplant clean seedlings, monitor with sticky traps, act early, and rotate insecticide groups.

Thrips typically curl leaves upward with a silvery or bronzed underside; mites curl the youngest leaves downward, narrowing them into a shiny, leathery, bronzed look. The distinction matters because most thrips insecticides do not control mites and vice versa — treating the wrong one wastes a spray while the real pest keeps curling the crop.

No — chilli has no Minimum Support Price. India is the world's largest producer and exporter, so the price swings with export demand, the carry-over of dried stock held in cold stores, and the colour and pungency grade — a high-colour Byadgi-type chilli fetches an oleoresin and export premium a hotter but duller chilli does not. The live mandi price is the most useful real-time signal for deciding when to sell.

The agronomy is the same crop, but a green-chilli grower picks pods full-size but still green over several rounds and finishes earlier, while a dry-chilli grower leaves pods to turn fully red on the plant, tapers irrigation so they dry down, and then dries the harvest to about 10% moisture. Dry chilli is graded and priced on colour and pungency; green chilli is sold fresh and perishable.

Much of India's dry chilli goes into the oleoresin, spice-powder and export trade, where extractable colour (measured in ASTA units) is a graded, paid-for quality — which is why a mild but intensely red variety like Byadgi commands a premium over a hotter but duller pod. Clean, even drying protects that colour; drying on damp ground or re-wetting dulls it and downgrades the lot.

That is anthracnose (fruit rot and die-back), caused by Colletotrichum fungus in warm, humid weather, especially where overhead irrigation wets the pods. Spray a recommended fungicide at first appearance and repeat through a humid spell, remove rotted pods, use clean treated seed, and switch to drip so the fruit stays dry.

Moderate, even soil moisture through the season, with the flowering-and-fruit-set stage the most sensitive — both drought and waterlogging there drop flowers and young fruit. Drip on ridges is ideal because it keeps the root zone out of the waterlogged state chilli cannot tolerate. For a dry-chilli crop, taper irrigation as the last red pods mature so they dry cleanly on the plant.

Match the variety to your market, not just to yield: Byadgi types for high colour value (oleoresin and export), Guntur Sannam (LCA-334) for mainstream hot dry chilli, Teja for high pungency, Pusa Jwala for a seed-saveable open-pollinated green-and-dry variety, and private hybrids for high green-chilli yield. Check each against your local thrips and wilt pressure.

15–25 quintals per hectare of dry chilli for a well-managed irrigated crop, or 80–120 q/ha of fresh green chilli where the whole crop is sold green. High-colour Byadgi-type varieties yield less by weight but sell at a premium, so their per-hectare return can still be strong.

Thrips in the major chilli belts have been exposed to the same insecticide groups repeatedly for years and have built serious resistance, so a product that once worked can now fail. The only durable answer is to rotate between different chemical groups, lean on the nursery net and sticky traps, and avoid blanket early spraying that also kills the natural predators.

Dry the red pods down to about 10% moisture on a clean floor, platform or tarpaulin — kept off bare, dew-damp ground — turning them for even drying and protecting them from rain and re-wetting. Store the dried chilli cool and dry in clean bags, graded by colour and pungency. Uneven drying or re-wetting causes mould and a dull, blotchy colour that downgrades the whole lot.

Only from an open-pollinated variety such as Pusa Jwala, and only if it was kept isolated from other chilli varieties during flowering. Seed saved from a hybrid does not breed true and gives a poor, uneven crop the next season — buy fresh hybrid seed each time.

It is best not to. Chilli, tomato, brinjal and potato are all solanaceous crops that share bacterial wilt and root-knot nematode, which build up in the soil and hit the following crop. Rotate to a non-host such as a cereal or legume for at least two seasons on any field with a wilt or nematode history.

Chilli is covered under PMFBY (Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana) in states and districts where it is notified — as a commercial/horticultural crop the farmer's premium is capped at 5% of the sum insured — and chilli-growing farm households are eligible for PM-KISAN like any other. Enrolment is seasonal, so check your district's notified crop list and cut-off dates.