Hot chili peppers are one of the most fun plants to grow in your garden whether you’re a spicy food fan or not. Their unique fruits are beautiful (and sometimes crazy!) to look at and your harvests can be abundant. But for some people, growing hot chili peppers can be a real challenge. To get the best out of them, you need to provide them with the best conditions for their growth.
If you have a curiosity about growing hot peppers in your garden but don’t know where to start, then this step-by-step beginner’s guide to growing hot chili peppers will help make growing them a whole lot easier and enjoyable.
In this article, we will tell you the step-by-step procedure to grow pepper plants in your garden and the necessary tips to take care of them. Also, we will answer some most commonly asked questions about hot pepper plants.
So without any further ado, let’s begin!
How Long Does It Take For A Chili Pepper Plant To Grow?
Planting hot pepper plants for the first time? Don’t know how long to wait to see your plants bear the peppers? Well, it might not be too long. The pepper plants have a long growing season of approximately 60 to 150 days.
The sweet peppers grow early, but the hot ones take a bit longer.
Step-By-Step Guide
You can grow hot pepper plants using hot pepper seeds by following these steps:
- First, sow the seeds indoors and later place them at an outdoor location.
- Sow seeds in pots or flats 8 to 10 weeks before the expected outdoor planting date.
- Make sure the seeds are one-quarter inches deep.
- Use a heat mat or heating cables to provide heat to them.
- Maintain room temperature and use grow lights to provide them lightly for 16 hours daily.
- When the soil dries, add little water to it. Excessive water should be avoided.
- Make sure to add diluted liquid organic fertilizer to the water once every week.
- After 8 to 10 weeks, look for a fertile and well-drained soil patch in your garden and transfer the plants there.
- Place the plants 12 to 18 inches apart and use a tomato cage as support.
- Keep watering them at regular intervals but make sure that the water is added to the soil and not sprinkled on plants.
- Keep doing these practices for 2 to 3 months or the duration mentioned on the seed packet.
- Now, your hot peppers are all ready to be harvested from the plants. Use gloves to pick them up as a precaution.
What Do You need To Care About A Hot Pepper Plant?
If you’re growing how chili pepper plants in your garden, you need to take good care of them. They don’t require as much attention as say, a newborn child, but still, you need to be cautious about your hot pepper plants.
Below are the things you need to care about:
- Pinch out the tips to encourage the bushy growth of your plant.
- Your plant might need staking if it’s of a tall variety.
- Water your plants regularly.
- Do not expose plants to a cold…