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How To Care for Sweet Pepper Plants in

OTHER SWEET PEPPER PAGES
 

This page follows on from our page on how to sow sweet pepper seeds.

GENERAL CARE OF SWEET PEPPERS GROWN OUTSIDE

The first requirement for sweet peppers is a regular supply of water, sufficient to keep the compost moist but not waterlogged.

During summer the plants can dry out very quickly and if left to their own devices they may well require daily watering. If you mulch the surface of the compost in the containers with 3cm / 1in of grit or wood chip it will reduce water loss from the container considerably.

Placing the container in a shallow (5cm / 2in) container of water will also reduce the need for frequently watering.

From the third week of May in average areas of the UK feed the plants with a liquid, general purpose fertiliser once a week. This type of feed will be relatively high in nitrogen which will encourage the foliage of the plants to grow.

General purpose liquid fertiliser

The best position for sweet peppers throughout their life is a position which is sunny and protected from strong winds. Sweet pepper plants produce the best crops when grown against a south facing wall or fence although this is not essential.

POTTING INTO FINAL SIZED CONTAINER

The plants should be potted up into their final container in the first week of July in average areas of the UK. A suitable size of pot is 30cm / 1ft wide although slightly larger will be fine.

Place the plants into the new container at the same depth as they were in the previous container. Leave a gap of about 5cm / 2in above the top of the of compost to the top of the new container.

A week or so after potting them into their final sized container, begin to feed the plants with liquid tomato fertiliser each week instead of the general purpose fertiliser used previously. Tomato fertiliser is high in potassium which will encourage production of the peppers.

Liquid Tomato Fertiliser

SUPPORTS AND PINCHING OUT GROWING TIPS

Some of the more compact sweet pepper plants will require no support at all, whilst taller varieties will need to be supported by stakes. Read the instructions on the seed packet. As a general rule, varieties which reach a maximum height of 45cm can support themselves, anything taller may well need the support of one or more bamboo canes.

Pinching out the growing tips of sweet peppers is not a practice which I indulge in. If you do, it has a couple of effects. Firstly, it will delay the production of the peppers by a couple of weeks at least. It will encourage the plant to produce a larger number of peppers but they will be smaller.

HARVESTING SWEET PEPPERS

Sweet peppers grown outside in containers can normally be harvested from the second weewk of August in average areas of the UK however this is highly dependent on weather conditions throughout the growing season.

All varieties start off with small green sweet peppers which change colour as they ripen. The peppers also become sweeter as they ripen. Some peppers ripen to a deep red colour, others ripen to a yellow or orange colour. In reality only experience will tell you when the have reached maximum sweetness.

However, slightly under ripe sweet peppers are still very tasty and in most cases are more crunchy in texture compared to fully ripened sweet peppers. Consuming slightly under ripe sweet peppers extends the harvest period and by harvesting under ripe peppers you will encourage the remaining ones to ripen fully more quickly.

Don't be tempted to pull off the peppers from the plant, the stalks are very tough at all stages of growth. It's far better to use a pair of scissors to cut the stalks.

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