Material on this page is summarized from
The Bountiful Container by McGee & Stuckey
unless otherwise noted.
Interesting Facts:
- red peppers are not a separate variety, just green peppers left to mature naturally on the plant
- peppers belong to the nightshade family
- also in the nightshade family are potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant, and tobacco
- sweet peppers and hot peppers are the same species
Advice on Planting and Growing:
Care
- peppers like to be kept warm, but it is possible for peppers to get too warm.
- when temperatures are in the 90s, move plants that have fruit into shade
- Harvest by cutting fruit, leaving some stem, with scissors or clippers. “Early in the season, harvest green peppers when they reach a good size…The more you pick from the plants, the more production you will get. Then, later in the summer, let the peppers stay on the plant until they are fully ripe–that is, until they reach their mature color…”
- Nutrients for peppers
- phosphorus: add superphosphate, bonemeal, or bulb food to soil at planting time
- calcium: add dried crushed eggshellls to the bottom of the planting hole (prevents blossom end rot)
- magnesium: add Epsom salts to water and spray on plants when blossoms appear (promotes production of fruits from flowers)
- sulfur: add a matchbook stripped of its cover in the bottom of the planting hole, cover with ~1 inch more soil, then add plant. also found in Epsom salts (promotes plant protein, enriches nutritional content of fruit)
- Note: do not give plants extra nitrogen, which encourages foliage prodduction without fruit production.
Common Diseases and Problems
- Tomato or Tobacco mosaic virus (TMV): some varieties are bred to be TMV resistant; don’t let smokers handle plants
- Aphids: suck the juices out of plants. Spray hard with hose or rub them off with (gloved) hand; if this doesn’t work, use insecticidal soap. If infestation does not cease, remove and dispose of plant to prevent contamination of other plants.
- Flea beetles: tiny, black, jumping beetles that eat holes in leaves of plants. Raising containers several feet from the ground can prevent these beetles from leaping onto plants.
