Hot or Chili Peppers
Capsicum annuum. SOLANACEAE.
Planting, Growing, and Harvesting
Hot or Chili Peppers
You’ll find everything you need to know to plant and grow hot or chili peppers in the accompanying table’s tabs:
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- How many hot or chili peppers to plant
- Growing conditions for hot or chili peppers
- When to plant hot or chili peppers
- How to plant hot or chili peppers
- Watering, fertilizing, and pruning hot or chili peppers
- Companion plantings for hot or chili peppers
- How to harvest, store, and use hot or chili peppers
Growing Hot or Chili Peppers
Hot peppers are warm-season vegetables. Bushy, upright plants, to 3 ft. (90 cm) tall, bear oval leaves and gold, green, red, yellow peppers, 1–7 in. (25–178 mm) long, ranging from mild to fiery hot depending on their capsaicin content.
The heat of hot peppers varies according to their care, even those picked from the same plant or from hour to hour.
Grow mild pepper varieties rather than hot peppers for use for salads and toppings [see: Sweet Peppers].
Hot Peppers Plant and Care Guide
How Much to Plant
Plants per household member depend on pepper cultivar. Read care tag or seed package data carefully when estimating yield.
How to Plant
Seed germinates in 10–12 days. Average Climates: Sow seed indoors, 5–8 in. (13–20 cm) apart in a planting tray 4–6 in. (10–15 cm) deep filled with loose potting soil, 6–8 weeks before soil is expected to warm to 65–90°F (18–32°C) and harden seedlings 5–7 days before transplanting. Mild-Winter Climates: Sow seed in full sun in spring. Sow 2 seeds, 1/2-in. (12-mm) deep, 18–24 in. (45–60 cm) apart, thinning to 1 plant per drill, in rows 28–36 in. (70–90 cm) apart. Plant successions every 3–4 weeks.
Best Conditions for Growth
70–95°F (21–35°C). Flowers may fail to set fruit at temperatures over 105°F (41°C); shade plants in full sunlight.
Peppers are perennials, ground hardy in U.S.D.A. hardiness zones 9–11, and may be overwintered indoors in cooler climate areas once semi-dormant.
Soil Type and Fertility
Moist, well-drained, sandy loam. Fertility: Rich. 5.5–6.8 pH. Prepare soil at least 30 in. (75 cm) deep. Avoid planting in sites previously used to grow eggplants, peppers, or tomatoes to prevent accumulation of disease organisms in soil.
Proper Care
Moderate. Keep evenly moist; allow soil surface to dry between waterings. Fertilize monthly with 5–10–10 formula. Mulch. Cultivate. Aphid, cutworm, pepper weevil, and whitefly susceptible.
Pairing Recommendations
Beets, garlic, onions, and parsnips.
Maturity, Picking and Gathering
60–95 days. Pick when full colored and desired size; chill after harvesting. Harvest frequently to extend development of new flowers and fruit. Water deeply 4–8 hours before harvest for mildest peppers; withhold watering 1–2 days to enhance piquant flavor.
How to Store and Preserve
Fresh in vegetable keeper of refrigerator for 1 week; roasted, peeled, and frozen, 6 months; dried, 1 year; processed as pickled peppers and canned, 2 years. Dry peppers by laying them out loosely in flats in the sun, using a vegetable dehydrator, or weaving and hanging as decorative strands. Pepper seeds can be ground into powder in a food mill for use as seasoning.
Warning: Pods and seed of hot peppers contain capsaicin, a powerful eye and skin irritant. Always wear gloves when caring for or harvesting hot or chili pepper varieties.
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