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How We Plant Peppers

Planting Peppers Into The Garden Peppers love hot weather, so they normally are best started as seeds indoors and then transplanted outside when the ground is warm and there is no danger of frost. Don’t make the mistake of planting peppers too early, as they hate cold weather and a late spring frost can injure them. Wait an extra week or so if the weather is cold before putting them outdoors – don’t be in a hurry with these plants, early June normally being a safe period. To be sure, take a garden thermometer and stick it 4” in the ground where you are going to plant the pepper and notice the temperature at 8:00 AM in the morning. It should read 65 degrees F or higher before you plant the pepper.

Growing peppers under black plastic is probably the best way in Wisconsin to grow them. The hybrid types of peppers tend to produce a larger crop in a shorter period of time. If the size of the peppers on your plants becomes smaller as the season progresses, it normally means that there is not enough nitrogen in the soil to get them through the season. Use a liquid fish emulsion, mixed with water, to add more nitrogen in this case.

Some books mention that you should not plant peppers next to tomatoes, eggplants or potatoes (close cousins), because all three are members of the nightshade family, and are subject to similar diseases. However, we have never had any problems along these lines and plant them side by side. In a small garden like ours, you sometimes don’t have a lot of choice here.

To plant, cut a hole in the plastic, dig out a good size chunk of dirt, add some fertilizer (see next paragraph) to the hole and mix with surrounding dirt, trim top of peat pot and place peat pot into hole. Cover with soil and water good. Peppers can be planted close together, as little as 12”, but we plant ours at 18” intervals.


Cut hole in plastic	Dig hole Mix fertilizer in hole	Trim lip off of peat pot Place plant in hole Cover with soil Water

Since peppers like a soil with a lower pH level, a trick that old timers use is to place several matchsticks in the hole when they plant the pepper, the reason being that it adds sulfur and lowers pH. Another idea is to add 1 teaspoon (no more) of ammonium sulfate fertilizer, as this will not only add the sulfur the plant needs, but the nitrogen as well.

When the plants begin to produce flowers, place a tablespoon of Epsom salts (magnesium sulfate) in an empty 1 gallon sprayer, add lukewarm water, shake well and then spray on the pepper leaves. The leaves will turn dark green and the plants will produce more peppers.

It has been said that when the first peppers are about the size of a marble, that you should remove these small peppers from every other plant. The peppers will grow back with renewed vigor and give you a bumper crop later in the season. Removing these peppers stimulates their growth and results in greater pepper yields.

When August arrives, mix 1 Tablespoon of fish emulsion in a gallon of water and apply to base of plants. This will give a second nitrogen feeding midway thru the season. If leaves start to yellow, spray leaves with fish emulsion immediately.

When September arrives, do not allow any new peppers to form, removing them from the plant as soon as they appear. The reason for doing this is to concentrate the plants resources into ripening the remaining fruit, not in creating new fruit (which won’t ripen before the first frost). To get red peppers, which are very rich in vitamin C, simply allow the green ones to remain on the vine until they turn red, which will result in a sweeter flavor for most bell types.

We have planted Excel California wonder and Jalapeno peppers during the first week of June. They always do well and produced an excellent crop. We freeze and can the peppers and enjoy them in such things as stewed tomatoes, salsa and many other dishes.

How We Plant Peppers

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