Peppers-Growing Guide
Sweet n' spicy peppers are both easy, and rewarding to grow without as many disease problems as tomatoes. Pepper plants are a low maintenance, high-yielding plants that should be a staple in every kind of garden because of their compact growth. Reading this guide will prepare you for a prolific garden harvest.(Hopefully without many problems!)
- Hardiness Zones 5-12 (Hardiness zones 7 and under should start seeds indoors earlier in order to get a larger harvest).
- Longer maturing varieties such as the Carolina Reaper should also be started indoors(more info below) to get a longer harvest.
- Peppers like soil that is slightly acidic to neutral, and do best when planted in soil that is rich in compost, well-rotten manure, leaf mold, and other organic nutrients that deliver nutrients over the whole growing cycle.
- Peppers generally don't need staking, their stems are stronger than tomato stems and don't grow as tall.(Although caging is recommended in areas of high wind).
- Pepper plants can grow up to 3 or 4 feet tall.
- Full sunlight required (6+ hours daily).
- Intensive spacing should be at least one foot between each plant, but if pepper plant diseases exist or have existed in the proximity, the ideal spacing would be about 24 inches apart (two feet). To learn more about intensive spacing, read Mel Bartholomew's Square Foot Gardening.
Choose Your Seeds
There are different types of peppers.
- Sweet bell peppers can be in hues of green, red, or yellow, and are blocky and mildly sweet. These bell peppers are susceptible to blossom end rot and cracks. Standard "supermarket produce aisle type." Buy seeds from a trusted seed company like the Tomato Growers Supply Company (not sponsored in any way) or save seeds from store bought peppers. Fruit are succeptible to blossom end rot. Generally less disease resistant than more spicy varieties. I like to plant "California Wonder" or "King of the North"
- Other types of sweet peppers can be in many shapes and sizes. They can be long, short, pointy, spicy-looking, red, green, purple, anything. These can vary in anything. Generally less disease resistant than more spicy varieties. Good varieties include "Shishito" or "Jimmy Nardello".*Referral links used at no extra cost to you.
- Spicy varieties are the ones you can buy in the supermarket. These grow like regular sweet peppers, but can be more disease resistant generally. Good varieties include "Big Jim" or "Jalapeno early".* Referral links used at no extra cost to you.
- Super spicy varieties generally take longer, as the capsicum takes longer to develop in spicier peppers. These peppers can take upwards of 100 days but are generally more disease resistant. Examples include "Bhut Jolokia," "Habanero," "Scotch Bonnet," or "Carolina Reaper" (WORLD'S HOTTEST PEPPER)
Hybrid or Open Pollinated?
A hybrid is created by intentionally cross pollinating (by human intervention) two different varieties of a plant, to try to get the best traits of each parent, resulting in offspring that has blended traits from both parents. Heirlooms, on the other hand, are handed down generation by generation (seeds) because the original grower (or discoverer) of the variety likes the original traits of the original plant, so they don't cross pollinate the plants, so that the original traits stay with the seeds generation by generation (until it is cross pollinated by another plant). Heirlooms are open pollinated, which means that their genetics are stable. Traits of heirloom varieties often stay with the seed, so gardeners can save the seeds knowing that when they plant the new seeds, the same traits from the parent plant will be inherited. Saving hybrid seeds, however, will not result in seeds that inherit the parent's traits, but rather, random combined traits from the grandparents of that seed. (For example, hybrid plant A's seeds will have random traits in them, not close to plant A's trait).
- As a beginner, choosing a hybrid variety might be a good choice because most hybrid varieties offer certain disease resistance and other positive traits. Hybrid varieties include "Big Bertha Hybrid," "Chocolate Beauty Hybrid," and "Emerald Fire X3R Hybrid."
- On the other hand, choosing heirloom or open pollinated varieties means that you can save seeds that have similar traits to the parent plant, and most heirloom varieties offer better taste. Open pollinated varieties include "California Wonder," "Ozark Giant," and "Bhut Jolokia."
Starting Seeds
Potting SoilPlain coco coir (pronounced kwoher) should be used as the ideal potting soil medium for pepper plants(and frankly, almost every other plant too).
Some people might recommend peat moss and perlite, but peat moss retains water too well, which encourages mold growth and damping off disease. It is also hard to tell when to water the soil as peat moss develops a thick crust on the surface. Peat moss is also not sustainable because it is mined from peat bogs
|
that take hundreds of years to grow. I don't use perlite because it floats to the surface when I water, rendering it useless. So why coco coir? (I'm not sponsored by some coco coir brand or anything)
- Coco coir is a byproduct of the coconut industry, so it is sustainable.
- Coco coir is naturally anti-fungal (Unless planning to inoculate with something, coir is good in preventing mold).
- Coco coir strands have just the right length to prevent becoming dense and forming a crust, which also means more air flow, which means no mold or fungus, eliminating the need for perlite or vermiculite.
- Coco coir is also PH neutral.
- Because coco coir allows so much air flow, it encourages air pruning.
- Coco coir is sold in compressed blocks, so you'll need to soak them in water for them to expand. Coco coir blocks can be found on Amazon.com or other gardening or hydroponic stores.
- Peat moss and coco coir are generally around the same price. Although some peat moss mixes are cheaper, most of them are bad quality mixes made by Miracle-Gro or other brands (No-offense Miracle-Gro but your potting mixes suck!)
Pots
There are a variety of seed starting containers out there, but, if you don't want to spend a lot of money, just use recycled yogurt containers with holes drilled out in the bottom. I use biodegradable Cowpots*, which are made sustainably from composed cow manure. The reasons I don't use peat pots are similar to the reasons I don't use peat moss as a potting soil. Peat pots:
Many people suggest starting seeds first in small containers, then transplant into larger containers, then into the ground, but, this method doesn't have many benefits, and present extra risk, so the better option would be to just plant in the larger pots(4 inch tall pots). The 4 inch pots have enough space to let tomato and pepper roots explore for 8 weeks. I also like to use upcycled plastic containers with holes drilled in them.
*Not sponsored.
- Encourages mold and fungal growth.
- Don't allow enough air flow
- Roots sometimes have hard times penetrating the walls of the pots.
- Decompose fairly slowly.(Check out some of my pictures on how much a piece of peat decomposed in a year).
- Peat pots are often cheaper than the Cowpots, making them the better choice for economic gardening methods.
- Some people are fine with peat pots.
- Made using a no-waste method on their farms and factory.
- Decompose much much faster than peat pots because manure contains a lot of nitrogen that feeds decomposing bacteria.
- Haven't had any mold growth yet.(Although it is possible).
- Provide some nutrients to plants.
- Roots poke through freely(also encourages air-pruning of roots).
Many people suggest starting seeds first in small containers, then transplant into larger containers, then into the ground, but, this method doesn't have many benefits, and present extra risk, so the better option would be to just plant in the larger pots(4 inch tall pots). The 4 inch pots have enough space to let tomato and pepper roots explore for 8 weeks. I also like to use upcycled plastic containers with holes drilled in them.
*Not sponsored.
Steps from Seed to Transplant
- Prepare the pots-Add coco coir to the top, then push the coir down to half of the height of the pot. Then add some more to the top. This is to ensure that the potting soil is stable, but not dense.
- Add about 2-3 seeds per instructions on the seed packet.
- Cover the seeds, and firm them down with your fingers.
- Water them fully. (Once you see water seeping out the bottom, stop.)
- Keep the unsprouted seeds warm, moist, but not soaking, in a place where there is a lot of airflow. If starting in a cold area, use plant heating mats, or a heat generating grow light. (If you have experience with white fuzz growing on your starts, don't cover with a humidity dome)
- When the first "cotyledons" (first-not true leaves) appear, put the seedlings under a grow light.
- After about 2 weeks, fertilize the plants with a water soluble fertilizer, at 1/2 strength of the recommended dilution.
- Keep a steady watering schedule. (When the surface and pot looks and feels dry or when seedlings are wilting, water).
- 3 weeks before transplanting, prune off the growing tip by cutting off the top set of leaves, this promotes bushy growth and pepper suckers expanding horizontally, which means more yields for a pepper plant.
- *VERY IMPORTANT* When the weather is warm enough for the pepper plants (75 degrees and up), start breaking in the tomato plants to the outside world. First put the young tomato plants outside for 10 minutes in a SHADED AREA. Then gradually increase this time in the shaded area in 2 day increments. (2 days for 10 minutes, 2 days for 30 minutes, 2 days for 1 hour, 2 days for 3 hours, 2 days for 5 hours...) Then after the plants are acclimated to staying in the shade for 10 hours, start the cycle again for sunny spots. Remember to keep using the grow light during this period, but use it for less time, and watering steadily (Preferably with a kelp or seaweed fertilizer to help the stressed plants).
- After breaking in, the pepper plants are ready to transplant into the garden.
- Dig a hole about twice as deep as the pot
- Fill the bottom 1/2 with solid fertilizer, rotted manure, or compost.
- Place the biodegradable pot with the plant into the hole. (Make sure no part of the pot is sticking out of the soil, this will wick water into the air, thus wasting water).
- Fill with soil.
- Water deeply with a liquid kelp or seaweed fertilizer diluted in water.
General Care (After transplant)
- The first 2 weeks after transplanting, fertilize with a high nitrogen fertilizer to boost stem strength, and leaf production.
- After those 2 weeks, fertilize monthly with a fertilizer or amendment rich in phosphorus and potassium. (But don't completely forget nitrogen!)
- Develop a steady watering schedule, this will help prevent blossom end rot.
- Always water under the leaves, directly to the roots. Although leaves can absorb some nutrients, leaf watering isn't a good habit.
- Mulch the soil around the plant. (Use non-glossy newspaper for sheet mulching, which prevents infected fungal spores from jumping up from the surface of the soil and hitting leaves when raining and completely suppresses weeds).
- Although pepper plants don't grow as tall as indeterminate tomatoes, caging or staking is recommended in case of high winds.
- Pepper plants do not require extensive pruning used on indeterminate tomato plants.
- Make sure plants have a lot of sunlight and space.
- Reap the harvests!
Diseases and Pests:
Don't know what is plaguing your plants? Ask me!