by Jennifer Poindexter
Peppers are one of the most common vegetables grown in many gardens. Yet, many gardeners still struggle to get their plants to grow like they want. We all want large peppers that are colorful and tasty. If you find that you’re struggling with raising pepper plants, you’re in the right place.
I’m going to walk you through some of the common mistakes and issues people run into when growing peppers. I’ll also share their solutions. Here’s what you should know if you’re troubleshooting your pepper plants.
1. Planting Too Early
It’s normal to get the “planting itch.” The weather warms up, you’ve been cooped up all winter, and you’re ready to begin placing plants in the ground.
Don’t let the rush to begin gardening, ruin your pepper harvest before it even begins. By waiting until the right time to plant, it could make all the difference in your garden.
How to Avoid this Mistake:
Pepper plants love heat. Therefore, you must be intentional about when you plant them. They aren’t the kind of plant that you throw in the ground because you have an itch for planting at the first sign of spring.
Instead, they must be planted when the night temperatures are no lower than 55-degrees Fahrenheit. If the temperatures dip below this point, it’s too soon to plant peppers. However, you can start them indoors eight weeks prior to the last frost. They can also be grown indoors year-round.
Learn more: How to Find Your USDA Garden Zone
2. Too Crowded
Another issue gardeners run into is planting their peppers too closely. These plants grow to be larger. To avoid disease, they must be given adequate room to grow and have enough airflow around them.
There are different protocols for different gardening methods. However, I’ll share the general rules of thumb with you to help avoid overcrowding your grow space.
How to Avoid this Mistake:
Plant your pepper plants with a minimum of two feet between each plant. You should also leave two feet between each row of peppers as well.
This will ensure the plants have enough room to breathe. If you’re raising peppers in a container garden, you should only plant one pepper plant per container.
3. Overfertilizing
Gardeners tend to go one way or the other with fertilizer. Either they don’t feed their plants enough, or they overfeed them.
It’s important to understand the needs of each plant that you grow. When it comes to peppers, understand the proper amount of fertilizer, and timing, for it to be applied.
How to Avoid this Mistake:
With peppers, gardeners tend to apply too much fertilizer. Pepper plants should only be fertilized twice. The soil should be amended prior to planting to give the plants the proper nutrients to start.
They shouldn’t be fertilized again until the plants are forming peppers. This will provide the necessary boost of nutrients they need during this phase of their life cycle.
Learn more. Fertilizing options.
4. Inadequate Watering
Watering is another area where gardeners either overdo it or don’t do it enough. How you water can make quite the difference in your harvest.
Again, I’m going to walk you through the amount of water pepper plants need, but I’ll also share how you should apply it.
How to Avoid this Mistake:
Peppers should be watered deeply to avoid over or underwatering. Deep watering is when you water the plants for longer periods, fewer days of the week.
Utilize the finger test before adding more water. Insert your finger into the dirt next to your plant. If the soil is dry to your first knuckle, add more water. If not, wait a day or two before testing again. This will allow the pepper plants to establish deeper root systems while maintaining good health.
Learn more. Watering Tips
5. Inadequate Soil
Soil is a huge part of providing an adequate grow space for any plant. Pepper plants are no exception.
Be sure you understand what your pepper plants need, in a growing space, prior to planting. This will help you avoid many mishaps while raising them.
How to Avoid this Mistake:
Pepper plants should have amended soil that’s aerated. This will ensure the necessary nutrients are in the grow space prior to planting.
It should also help with ensuring the soil is well-draining. Pepper plants need soil that can receive moisture but also allow it to flow away from the plant quickly. This will avoid soggy roots and potential disease issues.
Learn More. Healthy Soil
6. Ignoring Pests and Diseases
It’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day of gardening and miss what’s happening to your plants on a microscopic level. Pests and diseases can move on your plants faster than you may realize. If you don’t pay attention, they can seriously harm your crop.
Therefore, be alert to common threats of pepper plants. Paying attention to your plants can make the difference in their survival or demise.
How to Avoid this Mistake:
Insects which commonly harm pepper plants are aphids, whiteflies, leafhoppers, and hornworms. They can be treated with insecticides in most cases.
Most diseases which impact pepper plants are fungal related. Be sure to remove any impacted parts of the plant and treat with a fungicide. You should also ensure the plants aren’t being overwatered and have adequate spacing to ensure proper airflow around them.
7. Harvesting on Time
If you find yourself eager to harvest fresh peppers, you aren’t alone. Every gardener feels it because we all want to taste the fruits of our labors, literally!
However, there is a correct time to harvest peppers. By waiting until the optimal time, it can improve the quality of your harvest. It’s important to understand the delicate window of time to ensure you don’t harvest early or late.
How to Avoid this Mistake:
When it comes to harvesting pepper plants, make sure you wait until the peppers have become vibrant in their assigned colors. As the peppers begin to fade into another color, you know you’ve missed your ideal harvest time.
For instance, green bell peppers will turn red when they’re past harvest. Also, be sure to cut the peppers from the plant instead of plucking them. This is to avoid any damage to the plants by creating a clean cut. This can also deter disease from setting in.
8. Lack of Patience
One of the biggest issues I’ve run into with peppers, is really more of an issue with myself. I lack patience.
Gardening is definitely a marathon. If you’re looking for a “sprint plant,” you should consider crops which produce faster. With peppers, it does require more waiting on your part.
How to Avoid this Mistake:
Peppers are slow. There’s no way around it. The rest of your garden will thrive while your pepper plants are growing but failing to do much else.
When the temperatures become scorching hot, suddenly, your pepper plants will begin to boom! Be patient with yourself and your plants. Know that when the time is right, they’ll start producing.
9. No Fruit but Healthy Plants
You have bushy, healthy plants. The only issue is there’s no fruit on the plants. What has happened? In most cases, you’ve used an unbalanced fertilizer.
When plants are bushy without fruit, it means they’ve received a great deal of nitrogen and not enough phosphorus.
How to Avoid this Mistake:
If your plants look healthy but aren’t producing fruit, you should cut back on the nitrogen and add phosphorus to their diet.
Phosphorus is great for helping the roots of plants and in producing the fruit they were intended to. By applying a more balanced fertilizer, it should help correct the issue.
10. Stunted Plants
The final issue you may come across when raising peppers is that your plants are stunted. They’ll produce fruit, but they aren’t the size of typical pepper plants. What has happened in this scenario?
In most cases, the plant bloomed early. You’ll be glad to know this problem has an easy solution.
How to Avoid this Mistake:
You can deter plants from blooming early by removing the blooms of the plant until it reaches the desired height. At this point, allow the plant to bloom and produce.
You now have ten common mistakes that most gardeners make when raising peppers. If you’ve made them along the way, hopefully these tips will explain to you what happened and how to correct it.
If you’re new to gardening, hopefully this will provide insight and help you avoid these common mishaps. Peppers are a wonderful plant to have in your garden. Pay attention to their needs and hopefully you’ll receive a bountiful return on your hard work.
More About Raising Peppers
https://agrilifeextension.tamu.edu/library/gardening/peppers/
https://extension.umn.edu/vegetables/growing-peppers-home-gardens
https://www.canr.msu.edu/uploads/resources/pdfs/peppers.pdf
Can you grow bell peppers in a pot with miracle grow potting mix?
Barb, I use Jiffy organic seed starter mix in a pot for my veggies including my orange bell pepper. It works great and they grow thick and healthy. Good luck with yours!
I am not getting the answers I need. I have 6 tropical pimento pepper plants which I started from seeds. They were beautiful with green leaves. I put 4 pots out in the summer but when the night got a little cold I brought them in. They are still struggling but dropping their leaves. The other two I did not put out they have lovely green leaves indoors but the green leaves are also falling off. The plastic pots are 8″. At this stage is it okay to re-pot them in 10-12″ plastic pots using happy frog?
I should have had fruits from them this year, since I gave two away to a friend in Florida and they are bearing fruits.
Not an expert on pepper plants. I have no problems with other house plants.
R
Taking a plant inside and outside will throw them into shock. Stop it. Leave them inside until the night temperature is a desired temperature and then put them outside for the summer. Back and forth is like throwing ice water in someone’s face. You are putting them into shock. About replanting them, pull them out gently and if the roots are cluttered then plant them in bigger pots. Hope this helps. Good luck.