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

Not recommended for growing in New Zealand - cool/mountain regions

  • 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

30 Dec 09, Annalisa (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
Tamara: Thanks! Perennial, yay! I DID keep those plants from last year in the ground, and they have 2 fruit each, looking great! My new plants are starting much slower. Maybe next year they'll do better. So excited :) Clare - 25cm is about fully grown. My capsicum love the sun here in Brisbane. I have about 10 plants (2 planted last year, 8 sown early this spring) and so far about 10 fruit. I would see if you can gradually introduce your plants to more and more sun, or in a partial sun/shade spot to prevent wilting. Number one capsicum tip: Be patient and you will be pleasantly surprised :) I used seeds from a store-bought capsicum, but it was from a fruit/veg stand, not a supermarket... I made sure I took seed from an extra delicious, perfectly formed capsicum. I don't mess with checking my dirt's PH levels, but I have really great dirt, happy plants, and feed with liquid seaweed fertiliser 1-2/month just for fun. Good luck!
09 May 17, Ty Buchanan (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
I got no germination at all from capsicum in packets bought from Bunnings. Then I decided to buy a fresh capsicum and planted the seeds with the flesh, sliced like you would a tomato. I had hundreds of seedlings shoot up in the tray. Planted them in the garden and we are away! Ty
10 Dec 09, Clare (Australia - temperate climate)
I was wondering if anyone could help me-I have two small plants in a medium sized pot and they started off growing so well and fast inside during the end of Winter but now they seem to have stopped growing. They are about 25cm high and when I put them outside they wilt but inside they seem to not grow at all. Any advice? Thank you!
13 Nov 09, Michelle (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
Hi, first time growing caps. I planted seedlings about 6 weeks ago. While they are growing, it seems to be quite slow. How fast and how big do the plants get?
31 Oct 09, mark (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
Hello All. Can anyone tell me whats the best way to plant capsicum in the ground. I am new to this and want to learn the proper way to do it. Any advice will be most welcome. thank you.
26 Oct 09, Andy James (Australia - temperate climate)
You can use the seeds from commercial capsicums but these varieties have been developed to be grown under very specific conditions and require low pH and lots of fertiliser etc. I get much better results from bought seed (heirloom varieties) here in Perth, as they seem to be more suited to the general vegie bed conditions. Unless you have a specific spot for them and can be bothered messing about with the pH...
18 Oct 09, the Sear family (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
We are first time veg growers and we need some advise! We have had some success with our other vegies but the no such luck with our capsicum seedlings. Can you use the seeds out of the supermarket brought capsicum.
01 Oct 09, Tamara (Australia - temperate climate)
For Annalisa: Capsicums are actually perennials, able to grow for years, but most people treat them as annuals as they're badly effected by frosts. You can always cheat a little if you live in a cold climate. Pot them up and bringing them indoors during winter, and transplant them back out in spring.
12 Sep 09, (Australia - temperate climate)
I have a young capsicum plant approx 17cm. It got really damaged in high winds and rain and all the leaves are wilted. The stalk is still strong and green. Is it likely to come back to life or should I just start again?
16 Aug 09, Rod Cullen (Australia - tropical climate)
Hello I tried growing capsicum, the leaves get eating by insects & they die. Can you tell me a good repellent please. Cheers Rod
Showing 451 - 460 of 522 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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