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- Peppers | Key Growing Information
- Corno di Toro and Cornito Sweet Peppers Bred by Johnny's
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- Video: Growing Peppers in Containers with Niki Jabbour & Johnny's
- Pepper Picks: Bells & Jalapeños | Johnny's Webinar Series
- Video: How to Grow Peppers • From Seed to Harvest
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- Field-Grown Pepper Production Guide | Tech Sheet (PDF)
- Greenhouse Bell Pepper Production Guide | Tech Sheet (PDF)
- Greenhouse Peppers | Key Growing Information
- Video: Hand-Pollinating Peppers at Our Research Farm | Classical Plant Breeding at Johnny's Selected Seeds
- Late-Summer Recipe Preview with Farmer-Chef Frank Giglio | Three Lily Farm, Thorndike, Maine
- Johnny's Corno di Toro Peppers Rule | Press Release
- Peppers: Mostly Sweet with a Touch of Heat | Johnny's Educational Webinar Resources
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- 'Paisan' Organic Pepperoncini Bred by Johnny's
- Johnny’s OP Stewardship Project: Restoration of ‘Hungarian Hot Wax’ Pepper
Video: How to Grow Peppers • From Seed to Harvest
Today I'm going to sow 'Ace' peppers. This is a bell pepper that's extra early, very productive, and perfect for short-season gardens like mine.
Sowing Peppers
When sowing peppers indoors, timing is important. Start them about 8 weeks before your last expected spring frost, and plant the seeds just ¼-inch deep in a soilless potting mix.
The key to great pepper germination is heat. So place your pots or flats in a room that's 80–90 degrees Fahrenheit (or 26–32 degrees Celsius). Or, place them on top of a heating mat. Once the seeds have germinated, average room temperature is fine.
Transplanting Peppers
Once the last frost date has passed, harden off and move your pepper plants to the garden. I plant them 12–18 inches apart, and I use a tomato cage to support their growth.
Growing Peppers
I've got a lot of peppers planted, in my poly tunnel, on my sunny back deck, and in my raised bed vegetable garden. I'm growing sweet peppers like 'Ace' and hot peppers like 'Red Ember' and 'Jedi'.
While peppers are generally trouble-free plants, they can be bothered by pests like aphids or flea beetles. For aphids, I just knock them off the plants with a jet of water from my hose. And for flea beetles, I use row covers early in the season, to help prevent damage.
When my pepper seedlings are young, I do pinch them back so they'll branch out and give me plenty of peppers to harvest.
Don't over-fertilize your pepper plants. Too much fertilizer, especially high in nitrogen, can encourage plenty of beautiful leaves but very few flowers and fruit. If you do fertilize, make sure you choose a fertilizer for fruiting vegetable plants.
When the weather is really challenging, very hot or cold, very wet or dry, pepper plants can drop their blossoms. Growing a variety that's tolerant of blossom drop, like 'Ace' pepper, is a great way to ensure you get a good harvest.
Harvesting Peppers
Sweet peppers can be harvested when immature or when they've ripened to their beautiful mature color.
This is 'Ace,' and it matures to a red. Some peppers are yellow, some are orange, some are even purple. There's quite a few different types of bell peppers out there, so read your seed packet carefully so you know what the mature color will be. But again, you can also harvest them when still green.
Jalapeños like 'Jedi' are super easy to grow and really productive. Most of these fruits are harvested when they're green, like this. But if you leave the jalapeño fruits on the plant they'll ripen to a bright red, and at that point, they're both spicier and sweeter.
When harvesting peppers, don't just tug or yank the fruits from the plant, as you can break the stems or an entire branch. Instead, with this 'Ace' pepper, I clipped it here with garden shears, as you can see, and the same with my 'Jedi' jalapeño. It's much easier on the plant.
Peppers like 'Red Ember' should be harvested when their fruits have reached that nice red mature color. And you can enjoy them fresh, or you can dry them to add spice to your winter meals.
Happy Gardening!
Learn more about 'Ace' sweet bell pepper…
Learn more about 'Jedi' jalapeño pepper…
Learn more about 'Red Ember' cayenne pepper…
Browse our Easy Choice Pepper Varieties…