Growing Capsicum, also Bell peppers, Sweet peppers

Capsicum annuum : Solanaceae / the nightshade family

Jan F M A M J J A S O N Dec
  S S                  
      T T              
      P P              

(Best months for growing Capsicum in USA - Zone 5a regions)

  • S = Plant undercover in seed trays
  • T = Plant out (transplant) seedlings
  • P = Sow seed
  • Grow in seed trays, and plant out in 4-6 weeks. Sow seed at a depth approximately three times the diameter of the seed. Best planted at soil temperatures between 64°F and 95°F. (Show °C/cm)
  • Space plants: 8 - 20 inches apart
  • Harvest in 10-12 weeks. Cut fruit off with sharp knife.
  • Compatible with (can grow beside): Egg plant (Aubergine), Nasturtiums, Basil, Parsley, Amaranth

Your comments and tips

10 Jan 13, Ferran (Australia - temperate climate)
i think that this is a disease that i have noted on some plants at some garden shops my chilli have it but are still fruiting with more chilli than can be eaten. with out seeing your plants ii couldn't tell if that is what it was. look up capsicum diseases on images and you may be able to find something to do about them.
06 Dec 12, lucy (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
i am sorry, look for poo, bit hard now, round balls its catapillers grubs, plants will not regrow.
05 Dec 12, Maree (Australia - temperate climate)
I'm growing Capsicum by seeds,they are growing quite good,until now.Where something has been stripping them,but leaving the leaves on the ground,some i been totally bit off,but haven't been eaten.What would do that ?I have bird nets over my veggie gardens.So understand what you mean there Stan.
03 Dec 12, Stan (Australia - temperate climate)
i planted our capsicum seedlings 4 weeks ago and they were travelling quite well. then overnight something has come along and stripped every leaf off all plants and just left the stalk. What is the likely think that did this? also will they recover?
19 Jan 13, Emily (Australia - temperate climate)
the same thing has happened to me overnight! I once had a healthy, about 40cm plant, and now all I have is stalk. I hope that it can recover... I am not sure who did this to it either! Also had by Chilli plant attacked, where all the chillis were taken off and half eaten - they havnt touched the leaves.
19 Nov 12, Nat (Australia - temperate climate)
My capsicums are tiny, haven't grown much at all, but the leaves are all turning inward/curling up.... HELP!!!
23 Nov 12, (Australia - temperate climate)
try appling wuxal you can buy it at all good nerserys
16 Nov 12, sandra (Australia - temperate climate)
I have capsicums in my garden, they are very healthy looking, but the fruit is small - maybe 4-5cm and start to ripen. the skin is very thin and full of seeds. what am I doing wrong?
20 Oct 12, (Australia - temperate climate)
can u grow marigold around them?
15 Oct 12, Angie (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
Might be suffering from lack of water if you are east coast. Suggest regular deep watering and see if that helps
Showing 331 - 340 of 521 comments

Hi Jen, This is a bit late because you are maybe 2 months into your work but I planted a similar garden in raised beds at the start of Sep/16, my first time with most of these plants. Put the strawberries in their own patch because they have different requirements to everything else and will try to invade the surroundings via their runners (stolons). Try to keep stolon production to a minimum unless you want baby plants, in which case let the runners root in separate peat cups and then cut+transplant when they look big and healthy, but not too big because they will punch through the peat and start rooting in the bed where they sit (you can use plastic instead of peat, but the peat ones go straight into the ground when you transplant). I had mediocre fruit production when the strawbs were planted last year but mega crops this year (27 plants). Don't keep them too wet, be on regular lookout for slugs, tear away old leaves which promote rotting and fruit turning, fortnightly seaweed with a splash of fertiliser for the leaves. Rosemary becomes a full-grown bush - put it where you would want a hedge and cut it back twice a year, esp after flowering, to encourage a nice full shape (it will shoot rather vertically otherwise). Rosemary doesn't need much water or fertiliser, I use some slow-release and let rain do the rest except for prolonged dry spells. Zuccs and cukes get quite large, so make sure you allow at least a foot between plants because they come on really quickly from seedling. I got fruit in about 2 months and they are still going now, don't let the fruit sit too long or they can get quite huge quite quickly, tending towards being woody. Zuccs I find can start to yellow when the flower falls off, so keep an eye on that. Also give the cukes some support to climb, otherwise they will just spread like a kind of moppy mess over the garden bed. Basil I did from seeds, they are annuals so just get a packet and put some down about a foot in front of your tomatoes, they do well as companions. The basil can get to about 1-2 feet high if really happy. Capsicums I managed 6 in two rows of 1.2 m, they are quite slender plants and don't need heaps of space like tomatoes or zuccs. These are nearby the tomatoes as they have similar requirements. I also chucked in two chilis that look very happy, consider this as you get capsicum + basil + chili + tomato in one go = a meal waiting. Lastly toms - IMO the most difficult to keep happy. They need more water and fertiliser than the other guys and get wilty more quickly in hot weather. My main tips in my second year with cherry toms is to limit the number of branches you allow, because they will get tall and thick really quickly. I planted mine 1 ft apart but they are a little too close, I'd try 2 ft next time around. You need staking or cages obviously, but in 3 months my toms have gone from 20 cm to about 4 ft, so be prepared for them to outstrip your initial heigh expectations if they are happy. If they are intermediates, they will try to off-shoot at every junction (you can see the baby shoots at the V-intersection between two existing main shoots), so pluck those away everywhere except at the top. You'll also want to thin the tom leaves out because they will get thick and happy and green, but at the expense of fruit. Also remove the lower tom leaves as they can get a bit soggy and disease prone. Buy yourself some garden twine because you'll be at it every week or two to keep the toms supported. I find the toms are quite temperamental, they are prone to yellowing and disease. Keep an eye out for caterpillars, around spring they can come without warning and start putting holes all through your leaves and fruit. I was out daily for about a week in October crushing hundreds of tiny little green caterpillars before they could decimate the plants. Also after excessive water some toms can split, so take those off the vine and refrigerate - eat quickly before they spoil. Any green toms that fall off you can put them next to bananas in the fruit bowl and they'll ripen up nicely. I find my collected unsplit toms last 1-2 weeks in the fruit bowl. Taste is beyond anything in the supermarket! That's my experience, hope it helps. Oh last thing - use good soil to start up, I was filling raised beds so I bought new soil. Next year I will rake in my first year of compost when re-doing the used beds. If you have good soil and it drains, you don't need to do anything else like sand. I used raised beds because I am sitting on clay-type soils with lots of shale under the surface = no good for veggies.

- Tom

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