Your comments and tips

19 Jun 17, Mike (Australia - temperate climate)

You have (probably) planted a kind of capsicum the grows long and thin - mixed sweet caps. You have not planted the normal caps - round caps. Google how to grow caps or peppers and read about the different varieties. The guide on this website will tell you how long they should take until ready to pick and eat - something like 10-12 weeks.

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11 Jun 17, Darren (Australia - temperate climate)

Hi Lyndal, It's probably too late for your capsicums now. The only thing I would suggest is pick one or two that feel like they are almost ready, and leave them in a window sill to ripen. I did that with the last few capsicums from our crop this year, before pulling them up.

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22 May 17, Maureen (Australia - temperate climate)

I have been harvesting my capsicum since early summer. They still have fruit and flowers. Should I pull up when I have picked the capsicums that are nearly ready. I want to start my winter garden and am not sure whether they just keep on being generous in their supply.

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22 May 17, Giovanni (Australia - temperate climate)

As the winter sets in capsicum yield will diminish and a good frost will kill the plants. Capsicums are a short-lived perennial but you would be best to harvest what you can and then pull the plants out giving you room to plant your winter garden. Fresh plants in a new spot next spring would be best.

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17 May 17, Lynny (Australia - temperate climate)

My capsicum bush is loaded but the fruit is very bitter. How can I sweeten them up?

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17 May 17, Ken (Australia - temperate climate)

Adding Epsom Salts at the rate of 1 tbs - 2 litres of water will improve the flavour and sweetness of tomatoes so you could give that a try. They are both in the Solanacea family. All the best.

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15 May 17, maurie (Australia - sub-tropical climate)

do I need to stake a capsicum plant whilst it is growing?

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15 May 17, Darren (Australia - temperate climate)

Hi Maurie, capsicums grow fine without staking, however I found that once they start to bear fruit, they lean down to the ground. Staking might help keep your capsicums off the ground.

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15 May 17, Sean (Australia - temperate climate)

Normally capsicums make a sturdy, self supporting bush. If they are getting tall or leggy a stake would certainly help and would avoid the disappointment of a plant being blown over when it was laden with fruit.

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17 May 17, Mike (Australia - sub-tropical climate)

Yes they do fall over sometimes. I have put up a little trellis this year. I had a 4" diameter split pine rail post 7 feet long - cut it in half - put them about 15" into the soil, 5' apart - I have 4 plants in. Drilled some 1/2" holes approx. every 9" and ran some twine (Bunnings 500m $12) between the posts around the outside of the posts. The plants are now just starting to come through the bottom lot of twine. I have done the same with tomatoes - posts are 7' out of the ground - I have a 6' steel post in the middle. If I have to, when the plants come through the twine I will pull the twine together and tie to the steel post. All a bit of an experiment this year to see how it goes. Did a lot of reading about growing indeterminate tomatoes and found I couldn't buy suitable wire netting to make cages. Very expensive also. I had the split rail posts from a shade structure I had pulled down, so it worked out very cheap. Use the twine around my snow peas also.

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