Hot peppers, mild peppers, sweet peppers, even ornamental peppers! After the tomato, they might be one of the more popular vegetables to grow in our gardens. They perform well even in small spaces on a patio or balcony garden, and are a key ingredient in many recipes. Growing your own big, sweet peppers is one of the better ways to save a few bucks gardening, as large red and yellow bell peppers often sell for two dollars a piece or more at the store. 

But peppers also can be problematic. Slow growth, stunted plants, and disappointing yields are common issues with peppers. One year can see you drowning in fruits, and nearly none the next. Pepper yield fluctuations are commonly caused by overnight temperature problems, something gardeners cannot reliably control without a greenhouse. But, we can set them up for success in every other way to help them along. 

Here are a few pepper transplanting tips, as well as some growing information to help you give your peppers the best chance at a bumper crop. 

Plant Care After Arrival

Live pepper plant seedlings, either from Seeds ‘n Such, or purchased from a garden center, should be inspected when they arrive. Look for healthy, robust plants free from insects. It is normal for a plant that arrives in the mail to look a bit disheveled, but they should perk up in a couple of days. Remove any broken branches, damaged leaves, and ensure the roots are healthy and white or cream colored. 

The live pepper plants we sell are grown from seed by Pepper Joe’s. Check out their guide on What to Do When Your Live Pepper Plants Arrive for detailed early care prior to planting.

If you need to keep pepper plants on standby for a few days or longer after receiving them, it’s important to give them TLC. These plants have been grown under near-perfect conditions in a greenhouse. Plopping them on the counter without any sunlight will not help them recover from the shock of being shipped to your home. 

• Provide the sunniest spot you can. If you have a grow light, stick the pepper plants under it. 

• Keep their roots evenly moist, and if you need to hold on to them for more than a week, apply a diluted liquid fertilizer.

• Pot them up into small temporary containers if they’ll be waiting more than a couple of days. 

How to Plant Young Pepper Plants

A week before you’re ready to transplant them outdoors, harden off pepper plants by gradually exposing them to longer and longer periods of time outside. See our Ultimate Guide to Transplanting Seedlings for more information on how to harden off young plants. Young pepper plants are a bit fragile, so you’ll need to use care when handling them. It’s easy to let them tip over and break a stem once they get a bit top heavy in their small containers.  

Water young pepper plants thoroughly an hour or two before you are ready to transplant them. Not only will they get a drink before the shock of being transplanted, but it also helps them slip free of their old pot more easily.

When growing peppers in containers, normally one pepper plant per pot is the rule . For in ground beds, space pepper plants about 12-24 inches apart, depending on the mature size of the variety. 

After planting, whether in the ground or in a container, water the peppers deeply. For peppers planted in the ground, lay down a carpet of mulch 2-3 inches thick. Leave a small air gap around the stem of the pepper; you don’t want a mound of mulch up against the plant.

Soil Needs for Peppers 

When growing peppers in large pots and containers, choose a high-quality potting soil that drains well. Many potting soils benefit from adding a few handfuls of perlite to increase drainage. 

Look at the ingredients on the bag when choosing a potting soil. While some contain slow-release fertilizer, many don’t. It’s fine either way, as you’ll be fertilizing throughout the summer, but if you choose a potting soil product with no fertilizer, you’ll need to start applying supplemental fertilizer right after planting instead of waiting a few weeks.

Peppers planted directly in garden beds will do best with a loose, loamy soil that has plenty of compost. The compost provides for better drainage, is a source of fertility, and encourages soil microbial life. Work some compost into the site prior to planting. 

Sun, Moisture, and Heat for Peppers

Peppers are tropical plants, and they need pretty much all the sunshine you can give them. This is where they can trick you. A pepper plant grown in good soil, kept fertilized, and well watered may grow to be a large, dark green plant. But if it’s in only partial sun, the plant may not set many, if any flowers. If you’ve had otherwise healthy pepper plants that seemed to produce poorly or not at all, inadequate light may have been the problem. Provide full sunshine, at least 6 hours but ideally 8 or more hours per day, for best yields. If you have to choose, the afternoon sun is more powerful than early morning sun.

Peppers need moisture, and can be quick to wilt on a hot, dry day if grown in containers. In many garden soils, an inch of rain per week is sufficient, especially with a mulch layer under the peppers to protect the soil from the sun’s drying effect. However, in sandy soils and raised beds, peppers may need more water. Check with your finger, sticking it an inch down into the soil under the leaves. If it feels dry, provide a good, long drink. Weekly or twice weekly deep waterings are better than daily shallow watering for peppers.

Peppers love warm temperatures, and may drop their blossoms if nighttime lows fall below 55℉, or when daytime highs exceed the low 90s. A week or two of unseasonable temperatures at flowering time is often the reason for the feast or famine pepper harvests that gardeners experience. If you grow your peppers in containers and see cold weather in the forecast at blossom time, you may wish to bring them inside overnight.

Staking Peppers

Pepper plants seemingly come in two varieties, stout and bushy, or tall and slightly fragile. The stout, bushy plants are usually fine without staking. For those big, tall pepper plants, some extra support can prevent them from breaking branches under the weight of their fruits, or from snapping off during a summer storm. Tomato cages, bamboo poles and string, or a homemade support all work well.

Caring for Pepper Plants as they Grow

Peppers growing in containers will likely need potting up as they grow. What starts as a little plant with a few leaves will become a 2-4 foot tall bush, hopefully covered in peppers, so it makes sense to increase the size of the pot as the plant grows. 

Begin with a pot 2-3 inches wider than the original root ball. Usually a 4-6 inch diameter pot will work well. As the pepper grows, you’ll notice white roots poking out of the drainage holes. That’s the cue to pot up the pepper again. A pepper plant in a container may need to be repotted two or three times over the spring and early summer before being ready for its final container. Most mature pepper plants do well in a 12 inch diameter pot.

Peppers need fertile soil, and can quickly exhaust the nutrients potting soil. For best results, provide diluted weekly or biweekly fertilizer for container-grown peppers, following the directions on the label. When the plants are young, a balanced product like a 5-5-5 NPK is sufficient. After flowering begins, a fertilizer designed for tomatoes works well. 

Peppers grown in a garden bed can be side-dressed with a granular fertilizer product or given a watering of diluted liquid fertilizer. Follow the package instructions, and for granular products, water it in and ensure none remains on the leaves.

Pepper Pests

As your plants grow, give them a good inspection every few days, checking the underside of the leaves as well as the stems. 

• Aphids are a common issue with pepper plants, and are often given away by the sticky honeydew substance they leave behind. If you find aphids, pinch them off, or knock them off the plants with a hose (don’t break the plants with a too vigorous stream). 

• Root rot can be an issue when pepper plants are kept too wet. Several kinds of fungi cause root rot, and continuously wet soil can bring about the problem. Plants suffering from root rot often appear to wilt even when soil moisture is adequate, and may show yellowing leaves and stunted growth due to poor nutrient uptake from the damaged roots. Once root rots get established, they are difficult to control. Minimize the likelihood of a problem developing with proper watering, as described in our article How to Water Your Garden the Right Way.

When are Peppers Ready to Harvest?

If all goes well, your plants will be literally covered in peppers, but how do you know when to pick them? That depends on how ripe you like them. Peppers often have two maturity dates, one for when the green fruit is ready, and another to estimate how long until the red, yellow, orange, or purple fruit is ripe. 

For peppers that start green and then change color, they can be harvested at any color stage once they’ve reached full size. Hot peppers generally continue to develop more flavor, and heat, as they change color. If it’s the hottest peppers you want, leave them on until they have turned color. 

Sweet peppers, like the name implies, get sweeter as they change color. A bell pepper begins green, and is slightly bitter (still tasty!) and more firm. As they hang longer on the plant, they change color to red, orange, yellow, or even purple. Once the entire fruit has changed to the desired shade, it is time to pick it. 

Peppers left too long on the plant can get mushy so don’t wait too long. Keep up with harvesting peppers and the plant will continue to produce more fruits all summer.