Sweet Peppers
Capsicum annuum. SOLANACEAE.
Planting, Growing, and Harvesting
Sweet Peppers
You’ll find everything you need to know to plant and grow sweet peppers in the accompanying table’s tabs:
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- How many sweet peppers to plant
- Growing conditions for sweet peppers
- When to plant sweet peppers
- How to plant sweet peppers
- Watering, fertilizing, and caring for sweet peppers
- Companion plantings for sweet peppers
- How to harvest, store, and use sweet peppers
Growing Sweet and Mild Peppers
Sweet peppers are warm-season tender perennial vegetables typically grown as annual plants. Bushy, compact plants, 18–24 in. (45–60 cm) tall, bear oval leaves and gold, green, orange, purple, red, yellow peppers.
Popular varieties of sweet and mild peppers include banana, bell, oval, round, and tear shaped. These peppers have many forms and varied degrees of heat. Some sweet pepper cultivars are nearly as spicy as their near relatives, the hot peppers, and require special care at harvest to manage their flavor.
Grow hot and chili pepper varieties rather than sweet peppers for use in spicy recipes [see: Hot or Chili Peppers].
Sweet Pepper Plant and Care Guide
How Much to Plant
Allow 2–3 plants of each type per household member.
How to Plant
Seed germinates in 10–12 days. Average Climates: Sow seed indoors 6–8 weeks before soil is expected to warm to 65°F (18°C) and harden seedlings 5–7 days before transplanting. Mild-Winter Climates: Sow seed in full sun in late spring when soil warms to 65–90°F (18–32°C). Sow 3 seeds 1/4–1/2-in. (6–12 mm) deep, 18–24 in. (45–60 cm) apart, thinning to 1 plant per drill, in rows 30–36 in. (75–90 cm) apart. Plant successions every 3 weeks.
Best Conditions for Growth
65–80°F (18–27°C). Flowers may drop 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 soil 8–12 in. (20–30 cm) from the plants to avoid cutting shallow, widespread roots. Aphid, cutworm, pepper weevil, and whitefly susceptible.
Pairing Recommendations
Beets, garlic, onions, parsnips, radishes.
Maturity, Picking and Gathering
60–95 days. Pick when full colored and desired size; chill after harvesting. Best for pickling if harvested before seed matures. Water 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 2–3 weeks; blanched and frozen, 4–6 months; dried, 1 year; processed as pickled peppers and canned, 2 years. Dry peppers by laying them out in loose flats in the sun, using a vegetable dehydrator, or weaving and hanging as decorative strands. Sweet peppers can be eaten raw, roasted, sautéed, or chopped for cooking in stir-fried dishes and casseroles; or pickled whole or in relishes. Sweet peppers are a principal ingredient of Mexican chile rellenos—roasted, peeled and seeded, stuffed with cheese, dipped into beaten egg whites and fried.