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

08 Oct 10, Tassy Michele (Australia - cool/mountain climate)
Hiya Sacha & Nicole, Try picking the fruit when there is a darkish/brown patch (5 cent size) on bottom of fruit. This is when the fruit has started to ripen. I have purchased the green fruit at the supermarket like this and stored in the fruit bowl until it has ripened. Often green is cheaper than red at the supermarket. When you have too much to use fresh, slice/dice and freeze in small lots to use later --- great flavour to quiches, stirfry, rissotto etc. Cheers
19 Mar 10, (Australia - temperate climate)
I have 4 capsicums growing in pots which are just flowering apart from the constant attack of green caterpillars that I pick off regularly the plants seem to be doing reasonably well until. But recently some of the leaves, top one mainly, are curling. Can you advise what can be done to help guard against the caterpillars, and the leaf curl. Thank you.
10 Feb 13, jennifer2075 (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
I too are growing capsicums in pot and found watering every day caused the plant to stress and now it has leaf curl. I have cut back on watering (even though temps 38 - 39) and pruned large leaves and find the plant is coming back. Whether the fruiting has been affected we shall wait and see.
16 Feb 10, Karen (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
Help, I am after info on capsicum and Zucchini. 1. Capsicum, I grew my capsicum and it came up fairly well, I then put it into the garden, a fairly sheltered spot there I was told they do not like too much sun, 2 of the plants, did not well at all, droopy leaves and the fruit has brown hard bits on it. Can someone please tell me what I am doing wrong. 2. Zucchini No luck what so ever with them. they get a lot of green foliage, but mostly male flowers, no matter if in pot or ground. Whats happening? We use our compost, rich in all things, horse manure and no chemicals, any help would be greatly appreciated.
07 Feb 10, Phil (Australia - temperate climate)
Lloyd i have some as well they are light green and the shape of a chilli they bare Jalapeno capsicums taste great as well
02 Feb 10, Lloyd (Australia - cool/mountain climate)
have a great plant but the fruit is a long light green a bit like a chilly but has mild taste does anyone know what type it is as i would like to keep seeds and replant
27 Jan 10, michelle (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
hi,I have great capsicum plants with lots of vege, just wondering how long it takes them to go from green to yellow, then red? Should i add something to the soil? thanx
09 Jan 10, karen (Australia - temperate climate)
help, my capsicum are bearing good quantity but rot before they are ready to pick, what am i doing wrong
22 Mar 11, marcy (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
it is most probably fruit fly when ytou open the rotting fruit you will most probably see little worms inside you can try home made fruit fly bites ,
30 Dec 09, Annalisa (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
Tamara: Thanks! Perennial, yay! I DID keep those plants from last year in the ground, and they have 2 fruit each, looking great! My new plants are starting much slower. Maybe next year they'll do better. So excited :) Clare - 25cm is about fully grown. My capsicum love the sun here in Brisbane. I have about 10 plants (2 planted last year, 8 sown early this spring) and so far about 10 fruit. I would see if you can gradually introduce your plants to more and more sun, or in a partial sun/shade spot to prevent wilting. Number one capsicum tip: Be patient and you will be pleasantly surprised :) I used seeds from a store-bought capsicum, but it was from a fruit/veg stand, not a supermarket... I made sure I took seed from an extra delicious, perfectly formed capsicum. I don't mess with checking my dirt's PH levels, but I have really great dirt, happy plants, and feed with liquid seaweed fertiliser 1-2/month just for fun. Good luck!
Showing 441 - 450 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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