Even though the 2012 growing season is only just coming to a close for most of us, now is the time to be looking to source seeds for next years “grow”. Some of the more organised people will already have their seeds for next year, but if you are new to trying to source seeds, we thought it might be useful to compile a list of chilli seed suppliers in one place.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
This list is not exhaustive, nor do we recommend one site over another.
You can of course buy chilli seed from one of the large national vegetable gardening catalogues but you will be very limited in choice.
One important thing to point out especially to the “newbie” chilli grower, is that you may find yourself on places like Ebay searching for seeds, now although there are a few reputable seed sellers, there are also a lot of people who will try and cash in on the prices that some of the hottest chilli seeds command.
You might think you have a bargain for 10 Butch T seeds, but its a long time to wait to find that the Butch T seed you planted in January turns out to be a very common Jalapeno! You have been warned!
So here are some of the more well known Chilli Seed Specialists.
UK:
Matt Simpson runs the company, and sells other types of seed but does specialise in Chillies. He is very well known in the UK Chilli business and others have reported great germination rates.
Joy and Michael Michaud run Sea Spring in Dorset, they also sell other vegetable seed but Chillies are at the heart of their business, they develop new Chilli varieties and created the Dorset Naga.
The Chilli Pepper Company or Chileseeds.co.uk
Gerald Fowler runs the company, his business is split between hot sauce products and the seed side of the business, he developed the Naga Viper
Miranda and Rose sell seeds from the main website, and at events, the website selection is expanding, feel free to contact them if there is a particular variety you are after.
Quite a wide selection of Chilli seeds available here, and also other vegetable seeds.
The home of franchi seeds, the oldest family run seed company in the world, 7 generations still in the same family since 1783. They have Vegetable seeds including Chill seeds.
Steve Alexander runs this site which sells seed but also other chilli products.
Outside the UK:
Bountiful Seeds (France)
Ivor Davies heads up the company, selling 100′s of varieties shipping worldwide.
Capsicums (France)
Matthieu Le Gal runs this site, selling seeds but also various other spicy goodies.
The Hippy Seed Company (Australia)
Neil Smith, YouTube video reviewer runs this site with the help of his new wife and Luke, extremely quick service from these guys.
Refining Fire Chiles (USA)
Jim Duffy, owner of RFC selling Chilli and other seeds, some rarer varieties can be found here
Pepper Lover (USA)
Judy runs the company, very friendly and quick service, she has various rare and wild varieties plus the usual but also sells collections of a particular variety.
Jungle Rain (Australia)
Grant Hustler is the main man here, a great place if you are looking for some rare and new hybrids to experiment with.
Chili – Pepper (Switzerland)
Based in Switzerland, the site is in German so if your German is not up to scratch, google can translate for you. Various rare varieties/hybrids.
The Pucker Butt Pepper Company (USA)
Ed Currie runs this company and is most famous for the home of the HP22B or Carolina Reaper Pepper, he sells the seed plus quite a few other varieties. This is only one of two places you can buy Carolina Reaper seeds.
Pepper Joe (USA)
Pepper Joe has been in the business for over 20 years, and the only other place to buy the Carolina Reaper seeds.
Old Barn Nursery (USA)
Mid West Chiliheads (USA)
Hopefully this will give you a hand trying to find a particular seed. The other way of obtaining seed is by joining some of the many facebook groups dedicated to chilli growing and the huge number of forums all of which have a “trading/swapping” section.