Chile peppers are easy to grow in any climate, although the seeds of these tropical plants cannot be planted directly into the soil of gardens in a temperate climate, they can be in tropical regions, or areas with a very long growing season. In temperate climates it is necessary to buy plants from a well stock nursery, or start seeds indoors months before the outdoor planting date.

Plants from a nursery are a great option; they are often a good size, healthy and reasonably priced. The drawback of buying pepper plants from nurseries is their selections are generally limited to popular varieties such as bell peppers, Jalapeno, Banana, Wax, Hungarian, Poblano, Serrano, Habanero and some ornamental varieties. This limited selection may suit the needs of many growers, but a huge variety of pepper seeds are available not only in stores but from mail order suppliers.

The selection of chili pepper seeds from even a general gardening mail order seed catalog can be huge, including bell pepper that very in color from purple to brown, a few varieties of jalapenos to choose, heirloom varieties grown for generations and many unique kinds of peppers to numerous to mention. For those dedicated chile pepper lovers and gardener who find it worth while to start pepper plants from seeds will find the process long, uncertain and rewarding!

 I start pepper plants indoors four months before they can be placed outdoors for the summer growing season, generally a few weeks after the projected last frost. The seed must be kept warm, moist, and some people report better success when the seeds are planted close to the surface and exposed to light. Even when these conditions are kept close to optimal germination can take up to 30 days! A long and sometimes frustrating wait while the plant-less pots are still requiring constant care.

Pepper plants are tropical so warm temperatures for germination are critical as well as moisture. But too much moisture can deprive the delicate sproutlings of the critical oxygen necessary for the root buds to grow. This causes a common problem with young sprouts, root rot and then quickly death. One way to avoid this dampening off is to start the pepper seeds in a soil that is light and easily drains. Try using soils with vermiculite, perlite or peat moss to make a lighter, airier soil that will also dry out faster and require more frequent watering.

 

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As the pepper seedlings grow into robust little plants they may require additional lighting. Dark green leaves at the top of the plant near the light source and light green or yellowing leaves towards the bottom indicates the pepper plant may benefit from additional light.

Once the tender seedlings emerge they will need to be kept in a warm place with plenty of light and not over watered. A south facing window sill with a few hours of supplemental light at night will work well. To start, a small 15 watt fluorescent bulb placed a inch or two above the tops of the seeding will give them more than adequate light and help to keep them warm. I think it is important to discuss supplemental light sources for a moment.

Many of us are substituting at least some of our older incandescent light bulbs for the more efficient fluorescents whether they are the traditional long straight bulbs or the newer compact variety. This change is essential when the light emitted from them is meant to nourish plants. Incandescent bulbs just do not produce the right spectrums of light for healthy plant growth, it is towards the redder end of the spectrum with little blue light which causes plants to produce tall, spindly, and unhealthy growth.

Fluorescents especially those label "cool", or "cool white" produce light higher in the blue spectrum with less red and helps plants produce more compact healthy growth. Straight or compact bulbs make no difference to plants and the choice to the grower depends on what is more convenient and readily available. Now of course, light bulbs are not limited to these two most common varieties and some of the others at least deserve mentioning.

Professional green house often use supplemental lights in their nurseries to give seedling a head start and give the young plants a nice health appearance on the store shelves. These pros use more energy efficient lights such as metal halides (MH) and high pressure sodium (HPS) lights which produce a good spectrum of light at minimal cost per lumen of light. HPS lights use a little less energy for the amount of light they produce, but while the spectrum of light they create is well suited for plant grow it is still slightly higher in the red spectrum and more closely emulates the natural light that occurs during the fall season. The bottom line is that both are well suited for plant growth but the high cost of both kinds of lights might be prohibitive for most home gardeners.

Another option that might be found at your local hardware store is fluorescent lights that are labeled "full spectrum" or "grow lights". These kinds of plant lights do emit a spectrum of light that more closely matches natural sunlight, but in my opinion the much higher cost of these bulbs is not worth the benefits if any exist.

 

To much of any chemical fertilizer can "burn" a plants leaves and this damage is much more likely to occur in a potted plant because the chemicals the fertilizer is composed of can't of be defused into sounding soil. Fertilizer may also be concentrated in a drip tray and reabsorbed when the pots are over watered. To avoid this, follow the direction on the fertilizer for indoor plants, or about half the dose of what is called for outdoor plants.

Plants need adequate space for root growth so transplanting seedling and small pepper plants into larger pots as they grow is absolutely essential. The soil in pots contain lesser nutrients, called micro nutrients, required by plants for healthy growth not to mention the soil holds all the water the plant has available to it. To transplant a young pepper with the least amount of damage and trauma to the plant, lightly water it several hours before the transplanting so that the soil is slightly moist but not wet. Place a finger on either side of the main stem, invert the pot and gently tap the bottom until the plant falls clear. Place the plant in a larger pot and fill in the sides in with soil.

 

Pepper Plants can be put in the garden 1-2 weeks after your area's frost free date. Young Plants which have been raised indoors may need some extra care when moving them outdoors for the first time. The light they have been receiving through your windows and from supplemental light sources can be relative gentle compared to a full day of the sun's direct rays. The pepper plants leaves can literally get a sun burn killing tissue, but leave the suntan lotion in the cabinet and instead introduce the suns full strength to the pepper plants slowly. This can be done by putting them in a area with partial shade or slowly increasing the amount of time the plants are left outside for about a week. If you see brown spots on the leaves the process of acclimating the peppers to full sunshine needs to be slowed down. Professional grows often put tender seedling under a lattice frame to approximate 50% light until the plants are adjusted. Another consideration is the strength of the plants in wind.

If Pepper plants have been raised indoors they have never been exposed to wind and may be susceptible to being blown over and damaged. Fans set to low can be used once the pepper seedlings are a few inches tall to strengthen stems and branches, but staking and tomatoes cages work just as well and will help to support a large crop of those delicious peppers later. The plants will need to be placed in a sunny position, about 18'' apart, and in rows going from east to west if possible. When the pepper are ready to be planted directly into the garden, slightly moisten the soil in the pot before attempting to remove the pepper plant from its pot to minimize damage to the roots.

 

As the pepper seedlings grow into robust little plants they may require additional fertilizer. If the whole plant appears light green the young plants will benefit from some fertilizer. Since these pepper plants will later be planted outside in the garden I don't think the kind of fertilizer particular matters as long as it is well balanced and high in nitrogen. All plants convert the suns light into sugars with a photochemical called chlorophyll. Chlorophyll gives plants their green color and it cannot be made by plants without the essential element nitrogen and pepper plants love nitrogen. That said too much of a good thing can be a bad thing.

Some chili pepper plant growers claim that well fertilized plants will set less fruit later in the season than plants which stop receiving fertilizer as they reach maturity. I have not noticed this myself, but as a general rule I stop applying chemical fertilizers to plants in my vegetable garden not long after they set fruit. I do like to add plenty of organic fertilizers such as compost and grass clipping from a lawn that has not been treated with chemicals. Besides being potential harmful to you, chemicals residues on grass clippings like herbicides may kill plants in your garden. But grass clippings slowly break down releasing nutrients into the soil and also act as mulch that easily allows water to penetrate while slowing evaporation and reducing the need to water.

I believe the best way to ensure a large crop of chili peppers from each plant is to make sure the plants are able to reach a mature size before they set fruit, this ensures the plants are big enough to continue growth while they support the growth of the chili peppers. I achieve this by pinching off the first few sets of flowers the pepper plants produce.

Chili pepper plants, like all plants, require 16 essential elements to survive. These are: carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, sulfur, manganese, magnesium, iron, copper, zinc, boron, chlorine, and molybdenum. The first three of these elements plants obtain through the air or water and do not need to be considered by chili pepper growers. The next three, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium are macronutrients, meaning they make up a large percentage of the plants tissues and these elements are the main ingredients in most chemical fertilizers.

Nitrogen (N) Is essential for plants to make the pigment chlorophyll which gives them their green color and allows plants to turn the sun’s energy into the sugars used for growth. Plants lacking nitrogen start to turn light green especially the older leaves as the plant moves chlorophyll to the newer leaves.

Phosphorus (P) helps plant cells divide and thus helps them grow bigger. Deficient plants are stunted and can take on a purplish hue as sugars build up in the plant tissues.

Potassium  (K) help plants in all aspects of growth along with providing protection from drought and cold. Plants lacking potassium have weak stems and leaves that wither and die.

The next two, calcium and sulfur are macronutrients but mostly do to pollution sulfur is abundant in most soils and generally not added to fertilizers. Calcium is present in some fertilizers such as those intended specifically for tomato plants.

Calcium (Ca) makes plant cell walls sturdy and without it leaves become weak and stringy.

The remainder are micronutrients which are found in adequate amounts in most soils, the only time they are generally a problem is when the pH of local soil is to low. These acidic soils, common in the western U.S., lock up micronutrients in insoluble forms which cannot be absorbed and utilized by your pepper plants. If you know you have acidic soil in your area adding lime to your garden will raise the pH and prevent any problems. Home soil test kits are available to test your gardens soil for major nutrients and pH, and some state and county agriculture extension programs will test samples for a small fee.

Magnesium (Mg) combines with other elements such as nitrogen to make the chlorophyll. Plants lacking enough magnesium turn yellow due to lack of chlorophyll and slow or stop growing.

 

Hydroponic chile peppers

 

The basic idea of hydroponics is to grow plants in a soilless medium with a well oxygenated nutrient solution providing all of the plants  nutritional needs. Although pepper seedling are susceptible to damping off they can be grown hydroponically. Seeds should be started in lightly watered rockwool cubs or perlite. Once the young plants have a well developed root system they can placed in a hydroponic system. These kinds of growing systems can speed growth and increase yields but the higher costs of of equipment and nutrient solution makes this method of growing chile peppers mostly a novelty.

The pepper plants botanical classification

The pepper plant family

The Scoville scale measures the capsaicin content in peppers