how to grow big peppers

[Itoero]

What kind of fertilisation and pruning sshould I do to grow big peppers?
Is there something I can do that really helps?

I would also be interested in an answer to this. I never have the harvest that the packages claim.

[Cole_Robbie]

Everyone's soil and climate are different, but in my clay soil, manure is what makes the biggest difference. With a lot of horse manure, they thrive, but without it peppers will hardly grow at all.

From the perspective of a market grower, where yield is money, expensive hybrid seed is typically worthwhile. But some of the prices get ridiculous. $80 per thousand is normal, but with the newest varieties, they often make you order a 1k minimum. The greenhouse bell hybrids are even more expensive; I have seen some priced at $50+ per hundred seeds.

[tuk50]

http://www.ecoseeds.com/Pepper.growing.tips.html
This is a web site that has very good suggestions and information on peppers from seed gathering to harvest. I've done well with peppers every year using composted horse manure and soft rock phosphate in abundance. I put the compost about 6 inches thick with a couple of pounds of soft rock phosphate on a 30 foot row in late fall then plant sets in spring using a hand full of fish bone meal worked into each hole with my hands. Production, size and overall health is excellent. hope this helps some.

[lemurian]

I don't have a lot of experience growing regular bell peppers, so can't advise you in regards to those, but I HAVE grown Marconi peppers, and without any special attention or fuss on my part they become HUGE and JUICY all on their own. So I would suppose you'd try to start with peppers than are naturally prone to being large and go from there! Otherwise, for my frying peppers and so forth I find that lots of watering and a kelp solution makes them thicker and juicier, although they aren't necessarily tastier..

[Fred Hempel]

Originally Posted by Cole_Robbie

Everyone's soil and climate are different, but in my clay soil, manure is what makes the biggest difference. With a lot of horse manure, they thrive, but without it peppers will hardly grow at all.

From the perspective of a market grower, where yield is money, expensive hybrid seed is typically worthwhile. But some of the prices get ridiculous. $80 per thousand is normal, but with the newest varieties, they often make you order a 1k minimum. The greenhouse bell hybrids are even more expensive; I have seen some priced at $50+ per hundred seeds.

I agree with the "manure" statement.

Additionally, my experience is that the roots of pepper plants are not hardy, and need to be babied. They need good soil texture with lots of air spaces, and watering needs to be done frequently and thoroughly.

Water your peppers like tomatoes, and disappointment will ensue.

[Itoero]

I found fertilizer with npk 0-10-10
Wouldn't that be a good fertilizer when the peppers start growing?
only for the bigger peppers

[greenthumbomaha]

Can you fool DTM by starting a pepper early and potting up several times under lights? My harvest is always so late when I follow the rules!

- Lisa

[Cole_Robbie]

I have found that my indoor spring plants have to be hardened off very carefully to sunlight, otherwise all of my indoor growth will burn off in a few days.

Timing with the weather seems to be the biggest factor for me. As soon as summer arrives and the ground warms, they will grow quickly. But before then, they won't grow at all. In the past few years, the arrival of summer seems to be coming at a different time each year.

[Dutch]

Originally Posted by greenthumbomaha

Can you fool DTM by starting a pepper early and potting up several times under lights? My harvest is always so late when I follow the rules!- Lisa

Lisa,
I just want to add that because you are somewhat north like me, don't plant your pepper too deep! Peppers do not like wet or cold feet. Instead plant them shallow and hill up around them then mulch. Try it on at least a couple of them and you will be surprised on how big and early they will be.
Dutch

[ChilliJez]

Originally Posted by greenthumbomaha

Can you fool DTM by starting a pepper early and potting up several times under lights? My harvest is always so late when I follow the rules!

- Lisa

Lisa, certainly you can, and it's the best way to grow in a cooler climate. There's a pepper forum where you are (The Hot Pepper) and here in the UK (Chillis Galore) with loads of info.

In the UK we won't get ripe pods without starting early under lights. There are specific grow lights for this but you would get some benefit just using small compact fluorescent lights. (CFL)

Capsicums are relatively tolerant of what wavelength light. Relatively cheap domestic lights, not of specific wavelength for growing will work for you.

I'd think of starting chinenses and frutescens, baccatums now. Annuums at the end of February. That's with a view to planting into the greenhouse inlate april/mid may depending on conditions.

[Itoero]

Additionally, my experience is that the roots of pepper plants are not hardy, and need to be babied. They need good soil texture with lots of air spaces, and watering needs to be done frequently and thoroughly.

So a big container with good potting soil could be better then open ground....?
I have a loamy soil.
If I mix it with compost, it's I think perfect for planting, but that's only the top 20cm of course.


As for growing big peppers, I'm going to use BioBizz Bio-Bloom. and chili focus.

[Cole_Robbie]

Originally Posted by ChilliJez

In the UK we won't get ripe pods without starting early under lights.

Do you pinch off the first blooms?

[brokenbar]

I agree with horse manure...I grew my peppers on a bed that had 10 year old composted horse manure and in Mexico, it old donkey manure. Peppers like the ground loose. I had one corner of my pepper bed in Wyoming where the soil had been very compacted. It was previously a stallions pen and he stood in that corner all the time (best view of potential females...) No matter what I did the pepper plants in that corner were never as large and the peppers sucked...I finally just quit putting any there.

I started all my peppers in Wyoming in February. Some varieties take much longer to germinate so you loose days that way.

Peppers need the most careful application of "hardening off". Too much sun or wind the first week and the leaves just disappear (I had green sticks one year after a 30 mph wind...they just never recovered.) I always pinched blossom upon transplant because you want the root system to take hold..time for fruit later.

Chose varieties that are suitable to your area...I have wasted more time and effort planting tempermental or totally different zone varieties than I care to admit. Without A LOT of effort, 120 day maturing hot peppers that came from Trinidad were not going to thrive in Wyoming's average 90 day growing season and bizarro weather without constant fussing and cossetting. I finally decided it was not worth it. It's all about maximizing your time, financial investment, space and effort and... swear to the heavens that is really the truth of it. Pride stubbornness are a couple (among several) of my most egregious faults.

Typically, large "non bell" peppers (like giant Marconi or several of the other Marconis) are much easier to grow and ripen than typical Bell Peppers. For Bells, hybrids are probably the safest bet. I grew 68 kinds of peppers this last season in Mexico and I had a terrific year. (I was trialing some...and I am a maniac...) I grew very few "typical" bell peppers.

[b54red]

I did something this past season that seemed to work pretty good. I planted my bell peppers in the bed I had grown sweet potatoes in the previous year. I mulched them heavily with cypress mulch but the sweet potato vines kept coming up so I finally just let them grow and would clip them off if they got too aggressive growing up the pepper plants. I fertilized them with liquid ferts every 7 to 10 days and applied some diluted vinegar to the soil to free up more phosphate a couple of times. They did fantastic. Much better than when I kept the ground clear under them. There seemed to be a symbiotic relationship between the peppers and the sweet potatoes. After the first freeze I pulled the pepper plants up and dug the sweet potatoes and actually made more and larger sweet potatoes in that bed than when it was planted exclusively in sweet potatoes.

Bill