Is it too late to sow chilli seeds in NZ?

No, if it's still winter or early spring, you're not too late. For most chilli varieties in New Zealand, late winter through to early spring is exactly the right window to sow indoors. Superhots are the one exception where timing gets tight, and even those are still worth a go if you get moving now.

Here's the honest version.

It depends on three things

Whether you've left it too late comes down to your last frost date, the variety you're growing, and whether you're starting indoors or waiting to sow straight outside.

Chillies are frost-tender, so they can't go out in the garden until the risk of frost has passed in your area. That's the date everything counts back from. You sow indoors weeks ahead of it, grow the seedlings on somewhere warm, then transplant once the soil and air have warmed up.

Fast varieties versus slow superhots

Not all chillies run on the same clock.

Jalapeños, cayennes, serranos and most everyday cooking chillies are relatively quick. Sow them now, get them up on a warm windowsill or heat mat, and they'll be ready to transplant in good time for a summer crop.

Superhots are the slow ones. Reapers, scorpions, ghost chillies and the like need a long, warm season to ripen properly, which is why keen growers start them in the middle of winter. If you're sowing superhots in early spring, you can still get there, but you'll want a heat mat, a warm spot, and no more delays. The later you leave them, the more you're relying on a long, warm autumn to finish the pods off.

What to do right now

If you've been putting it off, this is the nudge. Get your seeds into warm, moist seed-raising mix, keep the soil temperature up around 25 degrees, and give them a bright spot out of the cold. Chillies germinate on soil warmth, not air warmth, so bottom heat makes the difference between seeds up in a week and seeds sitting there for a month.

Sow the quick varieties and you've got plenty of runway. Sow the superhots today rather than next month and you've given yourself the best shot at ripe pods before the weather turns.

Get in early, the growing season really does start now.