When To Start |
|
Peppers need warm temperatures. Start indoors 5-8 weeks before the last frost (we start early March on the Coast). Transplant when weather warms in early June.
|
| |
Preparing the Soil |
|
Soil should have abundant phosphorous and calcium, so add lime and compost to the soil. Mix 1/4-/2 cup of complete organic fertilizer under each transplant. Though peppers will tolerate dry soil, they'll only make good growth if the soil is kept moist.
|
| |
Diseases |
|
To prevent rot and wilt, plant in well-drained soils and follow a 4-year rotation.
|
| |
Insects |
|
If cutworms are a problem, use paper collars at the plant base. Tobacco mosaic virus (TMV): young growth is malformed and leaves are mottled with yellow. To prevent it: wash hands after handling tobacco, before touching peppers. Control aphids which spread the disease.
|
| |
Growing Tips |
|
Seed indoors 1cm (1/2") deep. Keep soil as warm as possible, 27°C (80°F) is best, until germination. Seeds sprout in 8-18 days depending on soil temperature. Try to keep seedlings at 18-24ºC (64-75ºF) in the day and 16-18ºC (61-64ºF) at night. Avoid night temperatures below 12ºC (55ºF). Feed seedlings with Metanatural Balanced Formula fertilizer weekly. Before they get root-bound, transplant them into 7cm (3") pots. For greatest possible flower set try to keep them 4 weeks in a cool room at night, about 12ºC (55ºF). Then transplant them into 15cm (6") pots, bringing them into a warm room at night, about 21ºC (70ºF).
|
| |
Harvest |
|
When fruit is firm it is ready to pick. But if you wait the fruit will ripen further turning red, yellow, brown or purple. The sweetness and vitamin C content go up dramatically when the fruit changes colour. If you pick green the total numbers of peppers harvested will increase. Fruit that sets after late August will not usually develop or ripen. Pull out the entire bush just before the first frost and hang it upside down in a warm, dry place to ripen hot peppers. Expect 5-10 large bell peppers per well-grown plant, 20-50 hot peppers per plant.
|
| |
Latin |
|
Capsicum annuum
|
| |
|
|
