How to Grow Peppers: Peppers can be seeded in the garden or transplanted out 2 to 3 weeks after the last frost in spring after the soil temperature has risen to at least 65°F.
Sweet peppers and hot peppers are most easily grown in the garden from transplants started indoors.
Start seed indoors 7 to 10 weeks before the date you intend to set peppers into the garden.
Don’t rush to put peppers in the garden. Wait at least 2 to 3 weeks after the last frost in spring and after the soil temperature has risen to at least 65°F.
Peppers mature in 60 to 95 days depending on the variety.
About Peppers. Peppers are tender perennials that are grown as annuals. Peppers grow on compact erect bushes 1½ to 2 feet tall. The fruit follows a single flower growing in the angle between a leaf and a stem.
Sweet peppers vary in shape and color and include the slender banana pepper; the short, round cherry pepper; the small bright-red, heart-shaped pimiento; the multi-colored Italian frying pepper; and the blocky green to yellow to orange to red bell pepper. Sweet peppers can be eaten raw, cooked, or pickled. Not all sweet pepper varieties are mild flavored; some can be spicy and hot.
Hot peppers–also called chili peppers–vary in shape and color and include the bell-shaped pepper, the heart-shaped pimiento, the short and long podded yellow wax, the conical-shaped jalapeño, and the cayenne. Peppers easily cross-pollinate there are thousands of different hot peppers.
Pepper Yield. Plant 2 to 3 sweet pepper plants per household member. Plant 1 hot pepper plant per household member.
Site. Grow peppers in full sun in soil that is rich in organic matter, moisture retentive but well draining. Peppers prefer a soil pH of 5.5 to 6.8. Work aged garden compost into beds prior to planting. The optimal soil temperature for peppers is 65°F or warmer.
Pepper Planting Time. Sweet and hot peppers grow best in air temperatures 65° to 80°F. Peppers are most easily grown from transplants. Start seed indoors 7 to 10 weeks before the date you intend to set peppers into the garden. Peppers can be seeded in the garden or transplanted out 2 to 3 weeks after the last frost in spring after the soil temperature has risen to at least 65°F. In temperatures greater than 85°F, peppers may drop their blossoms although set fruit will ripen. The ideal temperature for sweet peppers is a daytime temperature around 75°F and a nighttime temperature around 62°F.
More tips on growing peppers from seed: Pepper Seed Starting Tips.
Planting and spacing. Sow pepper seeds ¼ to ½ inch deep, 18 to 24 inches apart. Space rows 24 to 36 inches apart. Sow three seeds to each spot and thin to the two most successful seedlings. Peppers can be transplanted into the garden when they are 4 to 6 inches tall.
Water and Feeding Peppers. Keep peppers evenly moist but not wet particularly when blossoms appear and fruit begin to form. Soil that goes too dry can result in flower drop. Add aged compost to planting beds before planting and again at midseason.
Companion plants. Beets, garlic, onions, parsnips, radishes.
Green bell pepper
Pepper Care. Keep planting beds well weeded to avoid competition. Peppers are shallow-rooted, so cultivate around peppers with care. Mulch to keep soil temperature and moisture even.
Avoid high nitrogen fertilizers which will create large leafy plants with few or no fruits. High temperatures and wind can cause flowers to drop and plants not to set fruit.
Plastic mulch can improve pepper yields. Organic compost mulches will reduce weeding and watering, but not fruit yields.
More tips: Pepper Planting: Easy Steps to a Bumper Crop.
Container Growing Peppers. Peppers can be grown in a large container. An 8-inch pot will accommodate a single plant. In larger containers, set plants on 12 inch centers. Peppers can be grown indoors. Peppers started indoors before the last frost in spring will get a head start on the season. Extend the season in the fall by moving plants indoors if frost threatens or if temperatures warm to greater than 90°F. Bring outdoor started peppers inside for a few hours a day at first until they get used to the lower light available indoors.
Pepper Pests. Peppers can be attacked by aphids, cutworms, flea beetles, and hornworms. Discourage cutworms by placing a collar around each transplant at the time of planting; hand pick hornworms off of plants. Flea beetles and aphids can be partially controlled by hosing them off the plants and pinching out infested foliage.
Pepper Diseases. Peppers are susceptible to rot, blossom end rot, anthracnose, tobacco mosaic virus, bacterial spot, and mildew. Plant disease-resistant varieties. Keep the garden clean and free of weeds where pests and diseases can shelter. Remove infected plants before disease can spread. If you smoke, wash your hands before working with the plants to avoid spreading tobacco mosaic virus.
More to pepper pests and diseases: Pepper Growing Problems: Troubleshooting.
Pepper Harvest. Sweet peppers are ready for harvest in 60 to 95 days after sowing. Sweet peppers mature from green to red as the seeds inside mature. For sweet red peppers leave green peppers on the vine until they ripen and turn red. The color change does not alter the taste. Cut the peppers off the vine. Pulling a pepper away from the plant may cause the plant to come out of the soil.
More harvest tips: How to Harvest and Store Peppers.
Sweet Pepper Varieties:
- Blocky sweet pepper include: Ace (55 days); Bell Boy (75 days); Bell Captain (72 days); Big Bertha (72 days); Bull Nose (55-70 days); California Wonder (73 days); Camelot (74 days); Elisa (72 days); Emerald Giant (74 days); Jupiter Elite (66 days); King Arthur (72 days); Little Dipper (66 days); Midway (70 days); North Star (66 days); Secret (60 days); Yankee Bell (60 days); Yolo Wonder (73 days).
- Red Sweet Bells: Cardinal (70 days); Rampage (66 days); Redwing (72 days); Summer Sweet (76 days).
- Long Sweet Peppers: Banana Supreme (65 days); Hungarian Yellow Wax (65 days).
- Space Savers: Baby Bell (55 days); Jingle Bells (55 days); Park’s Pot (45 days).
- Yellow-Orange Sweet Bells: Canary (72 days); Gold Finch (72 days); Klondike Bell (72 days); Orobelle (70 days); Peppourri Orange (75 days); Summer Sweet (86 days).
- Heart Shaped Sweet Peppers: Pimento (65-80 days).
- Other Sweet Peppers: Blue Jay (73 days); Chocolate Beauty (58-86 days); Cubanelle (62 days); Purple Beauty (70 days).
Peppers to plant: Pepper Varieties: Best Bets and Easy-To-Grow.
Hot Pepper Varieties:
Hot peppers are rated by their heat–called Scoville heat units (SHU). The greater the number of units on the Scoville scale the hotter the pepper. Here are several hot pepper varieties starting with the hottest (all of these will cause most people discomfort when eaten):
- Bhut Jolokia (also called Ghost Pepper): 1,001,304 SHU (100days)
- Scotch Bonnet: 100,000-580,000 SHU (120 days)
- Habanero: 100,000-500,000 SHU (90-100 days)
- Jamaican Hot: 100,000-200,000 SHU (95 days)
- Chiltepin: 100,000 SHU (95 days)
- Thai: 50,000-100,000 SHU (90 days)
- Cayenne: 30,000-50,000 SHU (72 days)
- Aji: 30,000-50,000 SHU (85-90 days)
- Tabasco: 30,000-50,000 SHU (80 days)
- Serrano: 8,000-23,000 SHU (75-80 days)
- Mirasol: 5,000 SHU (100 days)
- Jalapeño: 2,500-9,000 SHU (75 days)
More on hot peppers: How to Choose a Chili Pepper.
Pepper Storing and Preserving. Sweet peppers will keep in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 weeks or for two or three weeks in a cool, moist place. Blanched peppers can be stored in the freezer for 4 to 6 months. Sweet peppers can be dried, pickled whole or in pieces.
Common name. Pepper, bell pepper, sweet pepper.
Botanical name. Capsicum annuum (sweet and hot peppers)
Origin. New World Tropics
More tips: Growing Peppers for Flavor.
I think it’s safe to say that when the pepper ripens (turns red) it becomes much, much sweeter. The green pepper is simply an unripe pepper, and is much sharper in taste than the red, orange or yellow.
How many seedlings of planting sweet pepper per hole?
You can sow three or four seeds per hole; once the seedlings are up cut away all but the strongest plant within a few weeks. If you are transplanting seedlings into the garden, plant just one seedling per hole. Choose a seedlings 8 to 10 weeks old that is not spindly and is deep green colored.
can over riped fruits be used as mulch?
Fruit can be composted and then used as a mulch–however, ripe fruit will contain a lot of seed, so be aware that all of that seed could lead to new seedlings next spring. As well over ripe fruit can attract insect and animal pests to your garden. If possible compost your ripe fruit for several months before adding to the garden.
what are the fertilizer requiment of sweet peper
The best fertilizer for sweet peppers would be the addition of aged compost to your planting beds. Compost is rich–but not too rich–in the major and minor nutrients. Generally avoid a high nitrogen fertilizer which will produce green growth but inhibit fruit production. A fertilizer higher in phosphorus would be best — such as 5-10-10.
thanks for the information
I would like to know weather the sweet pepper has the market.
Sweet peppers are often available during the summer months at farmers’ markets. Visit a farmers’ market to see what sweet pepper varieties are growing in your region.
Are pepper perennial plants? or do you have to plant new one each year?
Peppers are a perennial plant in tropical regions where they originated. If you have no frost where you live then your pepper plant may grow for 6 or 7 years before it dies a natural death. If you live where winters get cold, then you will need to replant each year or grow your peppers in a greenhouse where temperatures stay warm.
Today is October 23 and the weather in my region of Canada has dropped to overnight lows of 3 Celsius…how cold hardy are bell peppers and what will cold temperatures do to the fruit on the vine?
Cold temps much below the mid 40sF will burn bell pepper flesh. If you do not want to harvest the peppers, you should protect them under clear plastic tunnels or sheeting. Cold will wick the moisture out of pepper skins leaving them shriveled. If temperatures go to freezing, moisture in the plant cells will freeze and burst the cells.
hi, can yellow pepper seeds germinate if i replant? (i mean if i take seeds from a yellow pepper fruit and plant them , will they germinate, if not , how do i propagate yellow pepper seeds?)
You can save seeds from open-pollinated peppers and replant them next season and they will grow true to the parent. If the variety of of pepper you are harvesting this season is a hybrid, it will likely not grow true–meaning you will not get the same pepper next year but a fruit that has reverted to one of the parents of the hybrid. Seed packets and and plant labels usually tell you if the plant is a hybrid or open-pollinated (OP). If you know the name of the pepper, you can also check online.
Problem with growing my Poblano Peppers, 3 years ago we planted Pablanos. Plants grew beautiful and huge. lots of peppers, but with tiny bumps all over the skin. The second year they grew fine, no bumps…This year I have a few fruits on plants and can already see tiny bumps on the skins…the bumps are not discolored and are not insect bite marks. Do you have any idea what this is and how to fix it?
Peppers can have bumpy, scarred skin when infected with the Cucumber Mosaic Virus. This virus is commonly spread by aphids. Placing aluminum foil under plants will reflect light and confuse the aphids and other pest insects. The virus is not curable; the only defense is prevention.