grow your own
If you’re a hot sauce and salsa aficionado, chances are you’ve thought about growing your own chili peppers. You’re not alone. More backyard farmers are growing peppers. According to Colorado State University (CSU), growing peppers is second only to growing tomatoes in terms of popularity. CSU cites two reasons for the increase in chile cultivation: the hundreds of varieties available and the fact that chiles are prolific growers.
If you have successfully grown tomatoes, you can grow hot peppers. They require similar care and conditions. Here are some tips on how to grow the chiles you love.
Warmer is better for both hot sauces and growing conditions. Hot peppers crave heat. Ideally, they need temperatures between 60 degrees Fahrenheit (at night) and around 80 degrees Fahrenheit (during the day). They do not do well when the temperature drops below 60 degrees Fahrenheit. They germinate at soil temperatures of 75 to 90 degrees Fahrenheit. Temperatures above 90 degrees Fahrenheit during bloom can cause the plant’s flowers to drop and affect yields. (Water scarcity can also decrease your harvest.) In areas where heat is a problem, consider growing them indoors and then transplanting them outdoors once the threat of frost has passed. When starting the plants, also consider using a heating pad to keep the soil warm. Another good idea is to keep a plastic cover over the soil until the seeds sprout. If you live in the northern latitudes of the United States, such as Cosmic Chile, which is headquartered in frigid Bozeman, Montana, consider keeping your pepper plants indoors, growing them in a cold frame, or growing them indoors, either in a solarium or in a greenhouse. . Remember to cover your plants if the temperature drops below 60 degrees Fahrenheit.
Harvest planting time. The Chile Pepper Institute at New Mexico State University recommends starting seeds indoors eight to 10 weeks before the last expected frost in your area. In general, that will mean starting the plants in mid-May through the end of June.
Adapting your climate to the correct pepper. According to eHow.com, if you live north of USDA Zone 4, you’ll do best with short-season varieties like Long Slim, Hungarian Wax, and Gypsy. The Ohio State University Department of Horticulture and Crop Science also recommends Long Red Cayenne and Large Red Cherry for cooler climates. If you’re lucky enough to have a warm climate, consider planting peppers with “TAM” or “NuMex” in their names, says eHow.com. “They have been bred to produce well in very high temperatures,” the website notes. Regardless of the variety you choose, look for plants that are free of disease and insects.
What happen with the water? While chile plants don’t need a lot of water and don’t like soggy, water-soaked soil, they do need moist soil to thrive. The lack of water at the time of flowering can cause the flowers to drop or the impossibility of “setting” the fruit.
ground wars. Chili peppers prefer well-drained, sandy or silt loam soils. The soil should be moist, not wet, when planting. Before planting your chiles, enrich the soil with manure or compost. Most peppers prefer soils with a pH range between 6.0 and 8.5. Also consider dusting your planting surface with a thin layer of Epsom salts and place it in the ground. According to eHow.com, Epsom salts will provide magnesium “which peppers need for good development.”
No hits to the system. If you start planting plants indoors, adjust them to outdoor temperatures slowly. Do not drop them on the ground outdoors. Instead, let them sit outside in their containers for increasingly longer periods of time so they can acclimate to the outdoors and its cooler temperatures. Begin the acclimatization process about two weeks before planting in the garden. Try to avoid root damage when transplanting from containers into the ground. The soil should be at least 60 degrees Fahrenheit before you transfer the plants outdoors.
A place for hot chilies. Choose a garden site that receives full sun and has well-drained soil. Raised beds are a good idea as chili papers need warm soil and air to thrive. Plant your peppers 18 inches apart with rows three feet apart, according to CSU.
perfect planting. Provide support for varieties that grow over a foot tall. Also keep different varieties separate. Not that they fight, but the peppers interbreed easily, so if you’re growing a hot variety, as well as some peppers, keep them away (at least 900 feet away) or place them in a shelter plant. If you plant sweet and hot peppers too close together, your peppers may end up being hotter than you like and your hot peppers may look more like warm peppers. If you are using seeds that are more than a year old, plant more plants to ensure a good harvest, then thin out if necessary.
Pest control. The Ohio State University recommends controlling weeds by hand pulling or cultivating shallowly to avoid damaging plant roots. To prevent your plants from getting sick, space the plants properly and water sufficiently and early in the day so that the leaves dry quickly. Growers should also be on the lookout for aphids that can carry viral diseases that can infect pepper plants. European corn borers are a particular threat as they can bore small holes near the pepper mist and cause internal rot of the fruit.
When to choose a pepper? Start picking hot peppers while they are still green for a milder flavor or to use in salads, relishes or stuffing. For full throttle heat and flavor, wait until they have changed their final color. Take care when picking peppers, as their branches are often brittle. Pruners or hand pruners can be a good option to prevent excessive branch breakage. Once you’ve picked a pepper, it will only last one to two weeks. Keep picked peppers in the refrigerator in cool, moist conditions to increase shelf life.
Follow these tips and you’ll have your pick of peppers from your very own garden.
Seed care and storage
The good news is that pepper seeds are the “oldies” of the plant world. They are known for their longevity and can be fertile for five years or more. That being said, the better you take care of them, the longer they will live and be fertile.
When it comes to seeds, the first ones bought should be used first. Try to plant seeds within a year of purchase. Do not accumulate different varieties. Instead, plant and then harvest the seeds at the end of the growing season for use the following year. If you buy plants from a supplier, check the date on the package. The package directions should state when the seeds were packaged and should also give a by date for when they should be used.
Store the seeds in a cool, dry place. For example, put them in an airtight container, and then store that container in your refrigerator. You can also try putting silica gel packets, powdered milk, or even dry rice in with them to keep humidity levels down. When you are ready to use your seeds, allow them to warm up inside the storage container before opening. (This will minimize condensation on the inside of the container or on the seeds themselves.)
Where to buy seeds and supplies
The web is well populated with suppliers of hot chili seeds. Here are some sites to help you start your quest to grow yours. Most of these provide interesting background on peppers, where they are suitable to grow, and perhaps most importantly, most list how hot they are:
PlanetNatural.com. Your online garden supply store offering organic fertilizers, natural pest control, hydroponics and more. Everything you’ll need to grow chili peppers… indoors or out!
Burpee.com. The mother of all seed sites, Burpee’s offers reliability, a well-recognized name, and a decent selection (about 22 varieties) of hot peppers, including the Hot Pepper Biker Billy Hybrid, which Burpee advertises as “An incredibly hot jalapeno, the spiciest we’ve ever had.” tried”.
ChocolateHabanero.com. Name the chili and you’ll likely find it on this site, including its namesake, the Chocolate Habanero, which is known as “very” hot even for a habanero. In addition to a full line of habanero peppers, this site also stocks the Naga Jolokia pepper which hails from India and is also known by its Indian military designation of PC-1 and the rare Yatsufusa pepper, a Japanese variety.
Pepper Joe’s at pepperjoe.com. This website proudly displays congratulations from newspaper sites like the Los Angeles Daily News, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and The Arizona Daily Star. It features drawings rather than actual images of bell peppers, but has an interesting variety, including the Bulgarian carrot, called so because it looks a lot like a carrot, as well as the Tazmanian habanero and the yellow jelly bean. The site designates “organic” peppers.
