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 S S  
                  T T  

(Best months for growing Capsicum in Australia - temperate regions)

  • S = Plant undercover in seed trays
  • T = Plant out (transplant) seedlings

August: Sow in pots

  • 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

28 Feb 11, jane callen (Australia - temperate climate)
I grew capsicums for the first time but none have turned red. How long does this take?
09 Mar 11, jade (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
think it depends on the temperature - mine turn red over a couple of days, first see a patch of red and next day mostly all red. But still smallish 10cm.... guess that red means ready though
21 Jan 11, stephen (Australia - temperate climate)
For high germination % of capsicum,is it a must you heat treat the seeds before planting in the nursery?.
04 Jul 11, Selina (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
I planted some chilli and capsicum seed out 3 weeks ago and nothing has happened despite it saying 1-2 weeks germination time. They are in seedling trays in a small 4 tier plastic green house on my deck which gets good light. All the other veggies have germinated. Should I wait and see if they appear? Maybe the temp is still too low for them to germinate? Any tips anyone?????????
02 Jan 11, Sharon (Australia - temperate climate)
I have tried growing capsicums for the last 2 years, from seedlings. There has been plenty of growth with many flowers which progress to small fruit. The problem is that the fruit falls off when very small. The largest was about 5cm but most are much smaller. I notice that the junctions near the stem often go black. Any suggestions what might be wrong? Thanks
20 Feb 18, Nel Ward (Australia - temperate climate)
I have a problem with my capsicums, the plants look healthy and the capsicums look fine untill they are about the average size when they start to rot. Rotting starts at the stalk end, not the blossom end. I can not detect any fruit fly either. Not sure what is wrong here, use my own compost, water plants well etc. does anyone have antpy idea what the cause might be? Also have trouble growing tomatoes the last few years. All is well when early December they seem to succumb to some sort of wilting disease, very frustrating, and i think it happens with windy weather. I use crop rotation and make sure both capsicums and tomatoes are not grown in same bed as previous years.
03 Apr 11, Jayce (Australia - temperate climate)
Hi, I had the same problem this yr with my capsicum. Found out almost too late they like a good feed of potash which encourages flowers and in turn fruit. Since giving the caps and my bush tomatoes potash they have gone quite mad with flowers and fruit. My fingers are now crossed that there will be enough warmish weather here n Melbourne that they ripen, same situation with the bush tomatoes. If the latter do not ripen I have a great recipe for green tomato chutney and I'm sure I will find a recipe to suit the caps even if they are tiny. Good luck with your capsicums, if not this year then next yr for sure!
14 Dec 10, Bill (Australia - tropical climate)
where do I buy bell pepper seeds or seedlings.
14 Nov 10, Sri (Australia - temperate climate)
Capsicum are biannual with the exception of sweet peppers they tend to be annuals. The trick with capsicum is to sacrifice (cut off) the fruit is produces until the plant is about 50cm tall its painfull because they are prolific while young but the problem with letting them produce straight away is the plant doesnt get any bigger then approx 30cm tall because its putting all its energy into the fruit rather than the plant. Once you get it to 50cm stake it and keep the food up to it (liquid food) and you should get 1 year to 18mths out of it.
03 Nov 10, WarrenMickleson (Australia - temperate climate)
Are Capsicum plants 'Perennial', 'Biennial' or 'Annual' in (Perth) Australia? Or is it a case of "they do continue to grow, however the harvest is poor"?
Showing 331 - 340 of 430 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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