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Bell peppers growing conditions


How Do I Grow Peppers At Home

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Peppers

By: Caroline Bloomfield

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Like most gardeners, when you’re planning your vegetable garden, you’ll probably want to include bell peppers. Peppers are excellent in all sorts of dishes, raw and cooked. They can be frozen at season’s end and enjoyed in dishes throughout the winter.

Brush up on some bell pepper info to learn all about growing these delicious and nutritious vegetables. A little knowledge about pepper plant care will go a long way.

What Growing Peppers Need to Get Started

Growing bell peppers isn’t difficult, but temperature is an important factor. While they’re fairly easy to grow, pepper plant care in these early stages is critical.

Always start pepper plant seedlings indoors. The seeds need the warmth of your house to germinate. Fill a seed tray with seed starting soil or well-draining potting soil, placing one to three seeds in each container. Place the tray in a warm location or use a warming mat to keep them between 70 to 90 degrees F. (21-32 C.) – the warmer the better.

If you find it helpful, you can cover the tray with plastic wrap. Water droplets will form on the underside of the plastic to let you know the baby seeds have enough water. If the drops stop forming, it’s time to give them a drink. You should begin to see signs of plants popping up within a couple weeks.

When your little plants get to be a few inches tall, gently pot them separately in small pots. As the weather begins to warm, you can get the small plants used to the outdoors by hardening the seedlings off – putting them out during the day for a bit. This, along with a little fertilizer now and then, will strengthen them in preparation for the garden.

When the weather has warmed up and your young plants have grown to about 8 inches tall (20 cm.), they can be transferred to the garden. They’ll thrive in soil with a pH of 6.5 or 7. 

How Do I Grow Peppers in the Garden?

Since bell peppers thrive in the warm seasons, wait for the nighttime temperatures in your region rise to 50 degrees F. (10 C.) or higher before transplanting them to the garden. Before you plant peppers outdoors, it’s important to be absolutely certain that the chance of frost is long gone. A frost will either kill the plants altogether or inhibit pepper growth, leaving you with bare plants.

Pepper plants should be placed in the soil 18 to 24 inches (46-60 cm.) apart. They’ll enjoy being planted near your tomato plants. The soil should be well drained and amended before you put them into the ground. Healthy pepper plants should produce peppers throughout late summer.

Harvesting Peppers

It’s easy to determine when your peppers are ready to harvest. Begin to pick the peppers once they are 3 to 4 inches (7.6 to 10 cm.) long and the fruit is firm and green. If they feel somewhat thin, the peppers aren’t ripe. If they feel soggy, it means they’ve been left on the plant too long. After you harvest the first crop of peppers, feel free to fertilize the plants to give them the energy they need to form another crop.

Some gardeners prefer red, yellow or orange bell peppers. These varieties just need to stay on the vine longer to mature. They’ll start out green, but you’ll notice they have a thinner feel. Once they begin to take on color, the peppers will thicken and become ripe enough to harvest. Enjoy!

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Beginner’s Guide on How to Grow a Bell Pepper Plant

If you’ve just started planning the perfect layout for your veggie garden, you might be looking for some ideas on what to grow. As temperatures slowly start to rise in the spring, you may be dreaming about vibrant tomato vines, mouth-watering cucumbers, or the perfect bell pepper plant.

While bell peppers might not be the easiest fruit to grow — yes, just like tomatoes, bell peppers are technically a fruit — they are certainly well worth the challenge. These warm-weather species make a great addition to refreshing salads or as a healthy afternoon snack. They’re also great eaten raw or cooked. 

With that in mind, it’s time to learn the fundamentals of growing a bountiful bell pepper plant. We’ll show you the different types of peppers to consider and the basic elements needed to cultivate these delicious, versatile, and crisp veggies (er, fruit).

Peppers 101: Pepper Varieties

Before we get into the technicalities of growing bell peppers, it’s important to understand a few basic things. 

The bell pepper plant (Capsicum annum) belongs to the nightshade family, which spans more than 2,300 species, including eggplants, potatoes, and tomatoes. One of the greatest attributes of peppers is that they come in a variety of colors, shapes, and sizes, making them one of the most versatile foods used in many different cuisines worldwide.

Unlike their spicier cousins — like jalapeños and serrano peppers — bell peppers do not contain capsaicin, the compound responsible for pungency and heat in hot peppers.

Ever wondered if green bell peppers and red peppers come from different plants? Well, they’re actually the same pepper that are simply at different maturity stages. They start green, but if you leave them to mature on the plant long enough, they’ll eventually achieve their full color: a bright and deep crimson red. 

Fun fact: The longer you allow your bell peppers to mature, the higher their vitamin C content. Red bell peppers that are allowed to mature fully also have a sweeter flavor!

While peppers are quite resilient to garden pests, you may want to opt for resistant varieties to ensure your pepper-growing experience goes smoothly. Some of the best species include:

No matter if you decide to grow just one type of bell pepper plant or you want to put your gardening skills to the test with a pepper bundle, you’ll need to learn the basics of how to grow thriving and healthy plants.  

How to Grow a Bell Pepper Plant: The Basics

The first thing you should know about bell pepper plants is that they’re quite sensitive to cold temperatures, so it’s a good idea to start them indoors before their growing season begins (spring/summer). 

Keep in mind that sweet bell peppers have a long growing season — they take between 60 to 90 days from sowing to harvesting — so the sooner you get started, the better. It’s recommended to sow your bell pepper seeds 8 to 10 weeks before your last spring frost date. You can use the Back to the Roots grow calendar to find out when that is.

Germination occurs within 10 days, and once the first set of true leaves appears, you can begin transplanting them outside if that’s your goal. (Bonus: Bell pepper plants can also be grown indoors.)

But before you move your bell pepper plant out into the open, make sure to check that the nighttime temperatures do not go below 70°F, as this may shock your young plants and contribute to their premature demise. The best way to support these plants is to wait for the last frost danger to pass. 

Get Enough Sun

As a true warm-weather crop, bell peppers love direct sunlight and full sun, so place them in a location where nothing is blocking the light. If you live in a climate with extreme high heat and intense sunlight, your peppers may be susceptible to sunscald, especially the younger leaves and more tender fruits. While they may look aesthetically unappealing, sunscalded bell peppers are still edible and equally tasty.

Bear in mind that to produce large and healthy fruit, pepper plants need plenty of full sun, at least 6 to 8 hours every day. 

Don’t Water Too Much

Finding the right watering balance is the key factor to a thriving bell pepper plant. Since sweet bell peppers cannot tolerate extremely high temperatures, it’s essential to water them appropriately to prevent diseases. If you live in a desert climate or experience a very dry summer season, it may be necessary to hydrate your plants daily — especially in the early morning or evening to prevent water evaporation.

To avoid diseases and pests, such as anthracnose or blossom end rot, avoid overhead watering and make sure you water deeply and evenly at the base of the plant. By doing so, you encourage the development of a strong and healthy root system, which in turn will make your plant more resilient to overcome any bumps in the road. 

Select the Perfect Soil

Bell pepper plants prefer sandy to loamy soil, which is enriched with organic matter. You can either buy a potting mix with these characteristics or purchase all the elements individually and create your own. If you’re not sure what the best option is, don’t be shy — ask one of the staff members at your local Home Depot Garden Center for an opinion. 

Note: Fertilizing is an important step in vegetable gardening. But don’t go crazy and over-fertilize as it usually encourages your plant to grow more foliage and produce less fruit, which is obviously not the goal.  

Since water is vital for growing bell peppers, choosing the proper soil is undoubtedly the best way to ensure optimal moisture levels. These plants don’t like wet feet, so opting for sandy, loamy soil will ensure good drainage and help the soil temperature rise quicker, a key factor in the cultivation of bell peppers.

Equally important is the soil pH. Veteran gardeners claim that a slightly more acidic soil (between 6.0 and 6.8) is the optimal environment for your bell pepper plant to yield a bountiful harvest. Mixing some coffee grounds into the potting mix is a natural, eco-friendly way to balance the pH levels of the soil and support your plant’s growth.

Pro tip: To prevent blossom end rot — which is primarily a calcium nutrient deficiency — crush some eggshells and add them to the soil. It’s an easy, organic way to provide your plants with an extra nutritional boost.

To speed up the warming of the soil and help retain some moisture during hotter days, consider covering it with a dark mulch.

Choose Your Container

If you live in a small apartment with a tiny balcony and think you don’t have enough space to grow bell pepper plants, think again! 

Bell peppers are a perfect match for container gardening and raised beds, so you can easily squeeze them into even the smallest spaces. Since these veggies (OK, fruits) require good drainage, a raised fabric bed — like this one from Back to the Roots — is a fantastic and affordable home for your bell pepper plant.

The Back to the Roots Fabric Raised Beds are made with durable felt and are double stitched, so you can easily move them around without worries. They also come with internal grow walls to prevent root tangling between different plants, which means you can plant all sorts of different veggies, herbs, and houseplants simultaneously. 

Keep in mind that, like tomatoes, bell peppers benefit from some type of staking or structural support. Tomato cages are a great alternative, and they’re easy to set up. Just make sure you put them in place when the plants are still young, as it can be tricky to position them around fully mature plants. 

Growing Bell Pepper Plants Is Rewarding and Fun

The coolest thing about peppers is that they come in all sizes and shapes, and you can find a variety that caters to your taste. From sweet to spicy, they offer a great range of flavors that will take your cooking to the next level. 

While growing and maintaining a bell pepper plant does come with its challenges, you’ll feel incredibly proud when that first tiny pepper makes its debut in the world. To learn more tips and tricks for cultivating these crunchy and delicious edibles, check out our comprehensive guide on how to grow peppers from seed to harvest.

Bell pepper cultivation and care in the open field and greenhouse, photo

Contents:

Seed preparation
Growing seedlings of bell pepper
Bell pepper: cultivation and care in the open field
Sweet pepper: cultivation and care in the greenhouse

Bulgarian pepper cultivation and care

Growing pepper requires care and attention. But if you prepare strong and healthy seedlings, properly care for them, then the result will be an ideal harvest of large and juicy vegetables.

Seed preparation

According to the lunar calendar, it is recommended to sow pepper for seedlings during the days of the growing moon. To grow seedlings of pepper, the seeds are sown as early as February, because by the time they are transplanted into the greenhouse - in early May, or into open ground, the seedlings must reach the age of three months.

Preparation of pepper seeds before sowing

Staged seedbed preparation

  1. Disinfect seed material in 1% iodine solution for half an hour, then rinse.
  2. Immerse them for 5 hours in warm water (temperature - up to 50 °C).
  3. For final germination, leave the seeds in a warm room for a couple of days, covered with a damp cloth.

If sowing for seedlings, prepare the soil by mixing earth with sand (one to one), add the same amount of humus to get a ratio of 1:1:2. For every kilogram of soil, add a tablespoon of ash.

Agrotechnics for sowing bell pepper seeds for seedlings

Sowing bell pepper seeds for seedlings

The presence of light does not matter at the moment. But after seed germination, additional lighting is required from 7 am to 9evenings.

Cultivation of bell pepper seedlings

When the first shoots appear, after 4-7 days, the shelter will need to be removed.

Special care for pepper seedlings

Watering is necessary for seedlings once a day, it is desirable to carry out the procedure in the morning or in the evening. Use warm water, preferably melted water, infused to room temperature (up to + 30 ° C). Before watering, loosen the soil to a depth of 5-6 cm.

Watering pepper seedlings

High soil moisture can lead to black leg disease, but the soil should not dry out completely. To avoid diseases and the appearance of pests, the air must be constantly moistened by daily spraying, and the room must be ventilated.

Feeding pepper seedlings

Seedlings are fertilized twice during cultivation.

Nettle infusion is also an effective top dressing.

Bulgarian pepper: cultivation and care in the open field

Proper outdoor pepper care involves careful preparation. You will need tools and tools for watering, weeding, fertilizing and warming from frost.

Planting pepper seedlings outdoors

Timing of planting peppers in open ground

For planting, it is necessary to wait for warm weather so that the soil warms up.

Hardening seedlings before planting

For outdoor pepper cultivation to be successful, seedlings must be hardened off 14 days before planting.

Hardening seedlings in boxes on the veranda

Site selection and soil preparation for growing peppers

Select the plot where you plan to grow peppers. It should be protected from strong drafts and well lit. The bed must be pre-treated:

Advice

If you use different varieties, it is better to grow peppers outdoors at a distance from each other, as the crop tends to cross-pollinate. You can distinguish varieties by planting tall plants - corn, tomatoes or sunflowers.

Procedure for planting pepper seedlings outdoors

Pepper does not tolerate cold soil, so it is better to raise the height of the beds by 20-50 cm.

Pepper planting outdoors

Tip

Build a shelter for the peppers from the cold with the available materials at hand, building a tent from roofing felt, boards or cardboard. From above it can be covered with burlap or agrofibre.

Pepper pinching outdoors

For the proper formation of the bush and good development of the fruit, pinching is carried out every 10 days. When the plant reaches a height of 25 cm, cut off its top. As a result, the stem will give a lot of shoots, they must be partially removed, leaving 5-6 top ones. They will serve to form the crop. Pasynkovanie carried out in hot, but not dry weather.

How to properly pinch peppers

Tip

To attract insects to your yard that will pollinate peppers during flowering, spray them with a special sugar syrup. It is prepared as follows: in a liter of hot water dissolve half a glass of sugar and 2 grams. boric acid.

Pepper watering outdoors

Outdoor cultivation of bell pepper does not require abundant watering. The first time it is watered during planting, the second - after 5 days, then - once a week. For watering one plant, 1-1.5 liters is enough. But as you grow older, the rate can be doubled.

When the pepper begins to bloom, water it only with warm water (20-22 degrees Celsius). Watering is stopped 2 weeks before the vegetables are completely harvested. After each watering or rain, the soil must be loosened.

To reduce the number of waterings and better retain moisture at plant roots, mulch peppers with 10 cm of overripe straw.

Top dressing of peppers in the open field

Pepper care after planting in the ground necessarily includes three dressings per season.

Top dressing of peppers in high beds

  1. The first is carried out two weeks later. Nitrogen fertilizers are necessary for good growth. To do this, dilute a tablespoon of superphosphate and urea in a bucket of water. You can mix urea (1 teaspoon) in the same volume of water. Pour 1 liter of this composition under each plant.
  2. The next top dressing is done during flowering. Since potassium is needed to set fruits, use wood ash. Feed again with urea, as in the first feeding.
  3. The last time pepper is fed with the appearance of the first fruits. To do this, dilute potassium salt and superphosphate (2 teaspoons each) in 10 liters of water.

Watch the growth of the pepper, it may need additional feeding. It can be foliar, since the plant can receive the necessary substances not only through the roots, but also through the leaves.

Pepper growing problems and solutions

Foliar top dressing is carried out exclusively in the morning or evening, otherwise the leaves may burn out in the scorching sun. In this case, the weather should be calm. Fertilization with yeast has a good effect on the development of peppers.

Pepper yeast recipe

For preparation you will need 100 grams of fresh yeast. They are soaked in 0.5 liters of water for a day. Before use, add 5 liters of water to the solution.

Dry Yeast Pepper Fertilizer Recipe

Dissolve one bag of dry yeast in a bucket of water, add 2 tablespoons of sugar, leave for 2 hours to activate the fermentation process. Dilute the infusion with water at the rate of 0.5 liters per 10 liters of water.

Apply this dressing only when the soil is warm enough. It can be applied no more than twice per season. After fertilizing with yeast, be sure to add wood ash.

Protection of pepper against diseases and pests in the open field

Harvest dates for outdoor peppers

Advice

Choose a few large fruits to prepare seeds for next year. Do not remove them until the end of the summer, allowing them to fully mature. Cut and wrap in paper until dry. Cut and collect the seeds. Their varietal characteristics can persist for three years if cross-pollination does not occur.

Sweet pepper: cultivation and care in a greenhouse

Since pepper is a very heat-loving crop, its cultivation in the open field most often begins with seedlings. When sowing pepper seeds into the ground, they are carefully processed and well hardened. That is why many gardeners prefer growing bell peppers in a greenhouse, where ideal growing conditions can be created for the plant.

Growing bell peppers in a greenhouse

For planting seedlings or sowing seeds, use glass, film greenhouses or hotbeds. It is also now widely practiced to grow peppers in a polycarbonate greenhouse.

Technology for planting bell pepper in a greenhouse

Peppers are planted in the greenhouse at the beginning of April. It can be sown from seeds, but for better yields, use 2-month-old seedlings 20-25 cm high, which already have 6 to 10 leaves.

Planting bell peppers in a greenhouse

Growing and caring for peppers in a greenhouse

The main care for peppers in a greenhouse is to maintain the optimum temperature, water, feed regularly, weed and loosen.

Automatic drip irrigation of pepper in a greenhouse

Caring for peppers in a polycarbonate greenhouse is the same as caring for a regular greenhouse.

How to properly feed peppers in a greenhouse

Growing peppers in a greenhouse is not possible without sufficient nutrients. For top dressing, urea is used in a similar proportion. But it is better to use a solution of bird droppings in water in a ratio of 1 to 15. They are watered with 1 liter of each sprout. Before top dressing, pepper care includes sprinkling with wood ash.

Fertilized pepper beds in greenhouse

The composition of fertilizers can be the same for each of the procedures, if the plant does not show signs of a lack of any trace elements.

Total

Bulgarian pepper, the cultivation and care of which we examined, will please you with an excellent harvest, subject to agrotechnical rules. Follow the recommendations, carry out timely watering and fertilization and you will not have any problems with this crop.

planting, care, types and varieties, photo.

Details

Cultivation of bell pepper

Bulgarian pepper is a source of beneficial vitamins that help restore strength and strengthen the body.

"Bulgarian" pepper got its name from a Bulgarian breeder, and its true homeland is America.

Yellow, red, orange and green, cone-shaped and oval - they are all so different, but there are so many necessary and useful things in these peppers. Sweet pepper among vegetables occupies a leading position in terms of vitamin C content. Bell pepper fruits also contain vitamin P, vitamin A, B, carotene, folic acid, as well as calcium, potassium, iron, phosphorus, copper, iodine, magnesium, sodium and zinc .

Antioxidants, which are part of the bell pepper, rejuvenate cells, thin the blood, and also clear cholesterol. Pepper increases hemoglobin in our blood. The fruits of red pepper contain lycopene, which prevents cancer. Peppers are recommended for beriberi, to increase appetite. Pepper juice is also useful, especially when mixed with carrot juice.

Regular use of pepper improves skin condition, improves visual acuity, enhances hair growth. Scientists strongly recommend fighting depression, insomnia with the help of bell pepper. To do this, just eat red bell pepper.

Bell pepper varieties

Thanks to plant breeders, today vegetable growers have a huge selection of modern pepper varieties. When choosing a variety of sweet pepper, you need to take into account the climate conditions in which the bell pepper will grow. In the south of our country, the choice is very large - there are suitable conditions for growing sweet peppers, even late-ripening varieties. However, in the north of Russia, where a cool and short summer, only early ripening varieties are suitable. As well as pepper hybrids. Dobrynya , Rush barrel , Health , Orange miracle F1 , anniversary 9036 .

It is best to choose several varieties of bell peppers with different ripening periods. Then the whole season you can provide yourself with a fresh harvest.

Bell pepper seedlings

When growing pepper seedlings, the question immediately arises - when to plant the seeds? You can make a calculation. The age of bell pepper seedlings when planted in open ground should be 75 days. Pepper planting usually begins in May.

Bulgarian pepper seeds

Sweet pepper seeds before planting, you can not warm up, just hold them in potassium permanganate. Take a teaspoon of potassium permanganate in a glass of water, dip the seeds in this solution for 20 minutes, then rinse with water. Pour the prepared seeds with water with a stimulant (Epin) for 10 hours, then drain the water and, without washing, place in a warm place to swell the seeds for 10 hours. When the seeds swell, the nutrient reserves pass into the active phase, and the substances that prevent germination go into the water.

To plant bell pepper seeds, you can use ready-made purchased nutrient soil. The soil should be permeable, loose, porous. The finished mixture must be poured with a solution of potassium permanganate and calcined.

Bell pepper seeds are planted in already watered furrows to a depth of 1 cm, at a distance of about 2 cm.

Boxes with crops are placed on a warm windowsill. Seedlings will appear within a week. Water as needed, once a week. Mostly spraying with potassium permanganate, water or growth stimulants is used.

Bell pepper seedlings in the two-leaf phase must be dived. You can dive pepper into peat pots or plastic cups, filling them with nutrient soil.

The next care for pepper seedlings is watering, top dressing.

Planting bell peppers

Peppers love sunny, sheltered areas from strong winds. Best of all, sweet pepper will grow on the soil where the predecessors were beans, peas, carrots, cucumbers. It is not recommended to plant bell peppers where potatoes, eggplants, and tomatoes were previously planted.

Before planting bell pepper, the bed is filled with ash and compost: per 1 sq. m of land half a bucket of compost and a glass of ash.

Bell pepper seedlings are planted in the evening at a distance of 40 cm from each other, between rows 55 cm.

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