Master Gardener gives tips on raising peppers

Peppers are such a versatile vegetable; they come in a fantastic array of colors, and flavors, but fall into two categories: mild and hot. The difficulty comes in deciding from among the abundance of choices. Fortunately, most peppers have the same requirements: full-sun, warm weather, an inch of water a week, well-drained soil and phosphorus. 

Timing and temperature are important if you want to start your crop from seed as I do. I plan to transplant my seedlings the week after the last frost. That means I need to start to sow my seeds indoors soon. The plants will be ready to transplant in eight to ten weeks. I choose to start my seeds in peat pellets because of ease of handling and transplanting when they outgrow the pellet and must be transplanted into a larger container like a 3 inch peat pot. Sow the seeds 1/4 inch deep and then water. Place in a sunny location that has a temperature of at least 70 degrees. Peppers won’t germinate if the temperature falls below 55 degrees. 

Plants should be watered regularly. Once the seedling has leaves and a nice set of roots, the meshing around the pellet is removed and the plant is placed into sterilized 3 inch peat pots with potting soil. Around the 20th of April, the plants will be placed 12 to 24 inches apart slightly deeper in the soil than they were in the container as the stem will sprout roots. Peppers need to be staked. It is not wise to raise a crop of peppers in the same spot more than once every four years. I’ve got a small garden with crops that share some of the same susceptibility to the same diseases such as tomatoes. To reduce the spread of disease water and mulch the plants. Mulch reduces the competition that weeds create and reduces the opportunity for diseases to spread. I hand pick off aphids which can be another avenue for disease to travel. Peppers are small, usually one foot by three feet so that hand removing pests is not that time consuming. I especially look for eggs which are laid on the underside of leaves and look like tiny orange balls. 

The small size of peppers make them great candidates for container gardening. Place one plant in a two gallon container. Each plant will produce several pounds of fruit and will continue to Harvest peppers using hand shears. Hot peppers like jalapeños are harvested when green. Mild peppers are sweetest when allowed to ripen to red. Peppers can be stored for 3-4 weeks in a cool, moist location. They can also be frozen, pickled or dried for spices. One medium bell pepper is 24 calories. It contains no fat or cholesterol. It does contain 4 mg of sodium, 208 mg of potassium, 6 grams of carbs, 2 grams of fiber and 2.9 grams of sugar and 1 gram of protein as well as vitamin A, C, B-6 and trace amounts of calcium, iron and magnesium. 

Virginia Master Gardeners are volunteer educators who work within their communities to encourage and promote environmentally sound horticulture practices through sustainable landscape management education and training. Virginia Master Gardeners bring the resources of Virginia’s land-universities, Virginia Tech and Virginia State University to the people of the Commonwealth.