Growing Capsicum, also Bell peppers, Sweet peppers

Capsicum annuum : Solanaceae / the nightshade family

Jan F M A M J J A S O N Dec
  S S                  
      T T              
      P P              

(Best months for growing Capsicum in USA - Zone 5a regions)

  • S = Plant undercover in seed trays
  • T = Plant out (transplant) seedlings
  • P = Sow seed
  • Grow in seed trays, and plant out in 4-6 weeks. Sow seed at a depth approximately three times the diameter of the seed. Best planted at soil temperatures between 64°F and 95°F. (Show °C/cm)
  • Space plants: 8 - 20 inches apart
  • Harvest in 10-12 weeks. Cut fruit off with sharp knife.
  • Compatible with (can grow beside): Egg plant (Aubergine), Nasturtiums, Basil, Parsley, Amaranth

Your comments and tips

05 May 16, Helen (Australia - temperate climate)
Hi all. I was given a capsicum plant that had one large fruit. It ripened on the vine and was delicious. Now (6/5/16) the is producing more buds and flowers. Do I encourage the plant to produce more fruit or should I remove the bubs? Grateful for any tips. I am in the Hills district of Sydney nsw. Thanks.
21 Apr 16, Jessica (Australia - temperate climate)
Hi I've been growing this capsicum plant for ages and the first season the fruit was big, it grew even bigger then it got way too big for the pot it was in so we carefully transplanted it to a bigger one. Since the massive growth spurt it hasn't put on any big fruit, the biggest was maybe slightly bigger then one of those little bouncy balls. It gets food and stuff but still nothing, i encourage new fruit by constantly harvesting it which usually just gets thrown away as they're far too small to cut up (the entire thing is just seeds inside). Please help I don't know what else to do and I miss the fresh capsicum lol
03 Apr 16, Phil (Australia - temperate climate)
Will Capsicum fruit go on ripening when picked as tomatoes do?
30 Mar 16, Alex Clifton (Australia - temperate climate)
Hi, I am having trouble with a crop of capsicum. Despite fertilizing with Nitram several times as my crop gets older their leaves and stems are becoming floppy. Can anyone help me?
31 Mar 16, Lorna (Australia - temperate climate)
Hi Alex and in the same climate zone as you. As your capsicums plants get bigger we stake them up by putting a stake at each end of the row and run string between them, run a small loop around the plant near the top and tie to the string ties, as the capsicums tend to weigh down the stems. If you are experiencing a lot of heat as we are with 30oc plus heats they may need more water too. We fertilize with Seasol once a fortnight and give them a side dressing of AG lime at the same time. Capsicums are a huge lover of calcium so their vegetables grow with lovely thick walls or alternatively put some washed crushed egg shells around the base will work too. Hope they perk up for you.
18 Mar 16, Doug adams (Australia - temperate climate)
Why are my capsicum falling off when small
31 Mar 16, Lorna (Australia - temperate climate)
Hi Doug and you will find it is usually high temperatures that cause it and they simply fall off, don't worry you will get more on the plant. We plant ours in an area that are protected from the midday sun to stop the vegetable drop and have found that helps. We fertilise with Seasol once a fortnight and give them a side dressing of AG lime. Capsicums love calcium and this makes the walls of the vegetables thick and healthy. Alternatively you can crush up washed and dried egg shells and place them around the base of the plant & dig in. Happy gardening
15 Feb 16, Ruby (Australia - temperate climate)
Hi, was just wondering if anyone could offer me some advice on my capsicums. My plant is healthy and producing plenty of fruit but just as fruit starts to turn red the fruit starts getting eaten by something causing it to rot making the fruit inedible. Any tips?
14 Apr 16, Michelle (Australia - temperate climate)
Hi , mine had same problem I opened up and mine had Clog Moths a clear whitish fleshy Grub looking thing so I had to spray , but take the crop off start again wait till next lot spray but my leafs went limp but still producing good capsicums I'm in WA we had a very hot Sumer too hope that helps
06 Mar 16, Alan (Australia - temperate climate)
Hi Ruby, This late in the season eat the remaining capsicums on your plants green, leave the plants in the ground until next season & you will find they set fruit early. With a stronger root system & larger plant you will reap a bumper crop around early January. Sorry about the timing I'm new to the site.
Showing 181 - 190 of 521 comments

Hi Jen, This is a bit late because you are maybe 2 months into your work but I planted a similar garden in raised beds at the start of Sep/16, my first time with most of these plants. Put the strawberries in their own patch because they have different requirements to everything else and will try to invade the surroundings via their runners (stolons). Try to keep stolon production to a minimum unless you want baby plants, in which case let the runners root in separate peat cups and then cut+transplant when they look big and healthy, but not too big because they will punch through the peat and start rooting in the bed where they sit (you can use plastic instead of peat, but the peat ones go straight into the ground when you transplant). I had mediocre fruit production when the strawbs were planted last year but mega crops this year (27 plants). Don't keep them too wet, be on regular lookout for slugs, tear away old leaves which promote rotting and fruit turning, fortnightly seaweed with a splash of fertiliser for the leaves. Rosemary becomes a full-grown bush - put it where you would want a hedge and cut it back twice a year, esp after flowering, to encourage a nice full shape (it will shoot rather vertically otherwise). Rosemary doesn't need much water or fertiliser, I use some slow-release and let rain do the rest except for prolonged dry spells. Zuccs and cukes get quite large, so make sure you allow at least a foot between plants because they come on really quickly from seedling. I got fruit in about 2 months and they are still going now, don't let the fruit sit too long or they can get quite huge quite quickly, tending towards being woody. Zuccs I find can start to yellow when the flower falls off, so keep an eye on that. Also give the cukes some support to climb, otherwise they will just spread like a kind of moppy mess over the garden bed. Basil I did from seeds, they are annuals so just get a packet and put some down about a foot in front of your tomatoes, they do well as companions. The basil can get to about 1-2 feet high if really happy. Capsicums I managed 6 in two rows of 1.2 m, they are quite slender plants and don't need heaps of space like tomatoes or zuccs. These are nearby the tomatoes as they have similar requirements. I also chucked in two chilis that look very happy, consider this as you get capsicum + basil + chili + tomato in one go = a meal waiting. Lastly toms - IMO the most difficult to keep happy. They need more water and fertiliser than the other guys and get wilty more quickly in hot weather. My main tips in my second year with cherry toms is to limit the number of branches you allow, because they will get tall and thick really quickly. I planted mine 1 ft apart but they are a little too close, I'd try 2 ft next time around. You need staking or cages obviously, but in 3 months my toms have gone from 20 cm to about 4 ft, so be prepared for them to outstrip your initial heigh expectations if they are happy. If they are intermediates, they will try to off-shoot at every junction (you can see the baby shoots at the V-intersection between two existing main shoots), so pluck those away everywhere except at the top. You'll also want to thin the tom leaves out because they will get thick and happy and green, but at the expense of fruit. Also remove the lower tom leaves as they can get a bit soggy and disease prone. Buy yourself some garden twine because you'll be at it every week or two to keep the toms supported. I find the toms are quite temperamental, they are prone to yellowing and disease. Keep an eye out for caterpillars, around spring they can come without warning and start putting holes all through your leaves and fruit. I was out daily for about a week in October crushing hundreds of tiny little green caterpillars before they could decimate the plants. Also after excessive water some toms can split, so take those off the vine and refrigerate - eat quickly before they spoil. Any green toms that fall off you can put them next to bananas in the fruit bowl and they'll ripen up nicely. I find my collected unsplit toms last 1-2 weeks in the fruit bowl. Taste is beyond anything in the supermarket! That's my experience, hope it helps. Oh last thing - use good soil to start up, I was filling raised beds so I bought new soil. Next year I will rake in my first year of compost when re-doing the used beds. If you have good soil and it drains, you don't need to do anything else like sand. I used raised beds because I am sitting on clay-type soils with lots of shale under the surface = no good for veggies.

- Tom

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