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 S S
T T               T T T

(Best months for growing Capsicum in Australia - sub-tropical regions)

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

16 Aug 13, J. Cosham (Australia - temperate climate)
Do Capicums like mostly shade, or should they be planted in full sun?
15 Sep 13, ej (Australia - temperate climate)
Minimum of 6 hours of full sun per day.
13 Jun 13, Frank Mc Elroy (Australia - temperate climate)
My capsicum prodused banana in the first instance, now have both on the same bushes, is there any reason for this.
07 Apr 13, sean james (Australia - temperate climate)
there is a great deal of bull Large ants on & around my capsicum plant & the leaves are falling off, why. pls.
26 Mar 13, JamieG (Australia - temperate climate)
Space plants: 100 - 150 cm apart ! Surely that is a mistake. 50cm would be more than adequate. Plant them 1.5m apart and they would get downright lonely.
17 Apr 13, CelesteL (Australia - temperate climate)
Agree space seems excessive. My thrive about 50 to 70cm apart
08 Mar 13, Lee Pilgrim (Australia - temperate climate)
Are capsicums annual? ie do they just keep growing or will they die off? If the latter should I pull them up and plant seeds next Spring? The ones I have are taking over/overshadowing my other herbs/veg.
17 May 13, Alison McGregor (Australia - temperate climate)
Hi Lee, I strongly believe they last a few good years, having better fruit production in the second year after building up strong stem and branch material in the first year. As they get older the fruit seems to get smaller, but more of it. If they do this and the fruit are too small for your needs plant some seeds from those fruit and start again. My current cap plants are three years old and are producing loads of fruit, somewhat smaller than last year but much more of it. I find they almost go dormant during the colder months and then have a massive growth spurt when it warms up. Alison
16 Jan 13, Shani (Australia - tropical climate)
I have had this same issue Stan. I thought it might have been a rat, because I found a best of baby rats in my compost around Christmas 2011 and had seen an adult rat. The rats have since been eliminated. But it is still an ongoing issue. I have found a small burrow in my yard, and believe I have a small resident marsupial living here. I have wrapped alfoil around the base of my capsicum bush (its about 1mt in height), and my resident friend hasnt touched it since. Hope this helps!
10 Jan 13, Ferran (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
I have 5 capsicum plants in a 1 meter row i grew them from seed and after a month in seed mix they still only had their first set of leaves i planted them out thinking lack of nutrients may have been the cause. they all survived however have been growing rather slowly they are now 15-20 cm high they get at least 6h sun each day. i don't water them every day but i do keep the soil moist and they are mulched. the zucchini they were planted with have just come to the end of its life and it is in veggie soil mixed with compost from a trusted garden shop that has never had things grown in that bed before.i live between Sydney and Newcastle on the coast and have had a few 35c+ days recently. Am i just being impatient for caps? or is there such a thing as them being in the sun for too long?
Showing 251 - 260 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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