How to Grow Peppers - Growing Peppers (2024)

FAQs

How to Grow Peppers - Growing Peppers? ›

Quick Guide to Growing Peppers

Pepper plants like evenly-moist soil. Try to avoid the soil becoming overly moist or completely dry. Check the first 2-3″ of soil and only water when it is dry. To avoid over-watering, allow potted plants to drain and make sure your garden beds drain well.

Materials to Grow New Pepper Plants

You will only need a few supplies for this project and my guess is you already have them, or at least something that will work. Bell Pepper (or your variety of choice)- One pepper ought to do the trick. There are usually a ton of seeds inside of a pepper, as you'll see in a moment.

Grab a takeaway box, fill it with samp compost and add your seeds. Lightly cover the seeds with a more compost and close the lid to make a mini green house. Leave them in a warm sunny location and in a few weeks they'll be ready to move into a bigger pot and they'll be producing peppers in no time.

Provide support for growing peppers and mulch well. Pepper plants are brittle and need support as they grow; a wire cage or trellis works well for this purpose. Pepper plants require well-draining soil, but also plenty of water, especially in the hottest times of the year.

Space in-ground holes 18 inches apart for most peppers; some of the larger bells may need 24 inches. Step 2: Gently remove the plant from its pot. Step 3: Set the plant in the hole so that the top of the root-ball is level with the ground surface. Do not plant deeply like tomatoes, or the plants may rot.

These tropical natives like hot temperatures and fertile soil. Plant in a location with well-drained soil that gets full, direct sun at least six to eight hours each day. You'll be rewarded with healthy plants and abundant fruit. Peppers are very sensitive to cold; rush them outside in spring and you'll regret it.

Expect 5-10 large bell peppers per well-grown plant, and 20-50 hot peppers per plant. Storage: Peppers don't stay fresh and crunchy for more than a few days, even in the refrigerator, so use them while they are in season. Small chiles can be dried if laid on cookie sheets in an airy place.

Sometimes it forms a perfectly symmetrical miniature pepper, but in other cases, like yours, the pepper is misshapen and not as easy to recognize. The small pepper is, however, perfectly edible. And no, you can't use it to produce another pepper.

Interestingly, all bell peppers start out as white flowers before a little green pepper emerges. They stay green for most of their lives, ripening into their final color at the very end of their lifecycle.

What not to plant next to peppers? ›

Brassicas: Almanacs and home gardeners recommend avoiding planting brassicas (cabbage, broccoli, kale, collards, cauliflower) near peppers because they require different soil acidity levels and can deter pepper plant growth.

We recommend feeding your pepper plant with Miracle-Gro® Water Soluble All Purpose Plant Food once every 7 to 14 days.

Before planting, fill the holes with water and let it soak in. Into each planting hole, put two or three wooden matchsticks (for sulfur) and 1 teaspoon of low-nitrogen, high-phosphorus fertilizer (too much nitrogen will reduce fruit set).

While in starter cups, and soon after transplanting, gently pinch off flower buds to help the plant generate more growth before flowering. Pick peppers soon after they ripen. Regularly harvesting the plant's peppers encourages it to produce more. If fertilizing, reduce nitrogen level once plant begins to flower.

Pepper plants require full sun — a minimum of six hours of direct sunlight daily — and well-drained soil with a pH between 5.5 and 7.0.

Once your pepper plants are ready for the outdoors, make sure you choose a location with the most sunlight possible. If your garden space is shaded, do your best to avoid unnecessary shade throughout the day. Peppers will grow faster during sunny days.