Pepper Plant General Care
Watering
Small plant in big pot
These will require watering from the top for the first few months, try not to get the base of the plant wet though, water to the sides. Once fully developed you should be able to follow the bottom watering technique for large plants.
They don't require a huge amount of water at this point.
Large plant in big pot
Water from the bottom where possible, dependent on temperatures they require between about 1/2 inch and 2 inches a week, less so if indoors.
If outdoors, it can be helpful to provide the plant a layer of mulch to the top of the soil to help prevent waterloss.
Plugs/Small pot plants
Again, these don't need a huge amount of water, once the top layer is dry give them a small amount of water but from the bottom.
You will need to be prepared to up pot the plant at some point, a list of minimum recommended pot sizes are below;
- Bell/Superhot, we will only sell these in small pots as the final size can be quite large, so you will require a final container of at least 7-8 gallons (35-40cm)
- Bell Pepper
- Cayenne
- Jalepeno
- Naga
- Habernero
- Dwarf plants, 20cm as a minimum for pots or baskets, if we've sold you one in a large pot it should be fine. These plants generally only reach around 25cm in height.
- Hot Pot
- Basket of Fire
Topping Off
There is little evidence as to the benefits of topping off your plant whether beneficial or a hinderance, however if you want to keep your plant shorter and encourage bushier growth then wait until the plant is around 6-12 inches tall dependent on variety/height requirements.
The plants will naturally divide into two or three main branches somewhere between the sixth and twelfth nodes in a process known as Bifurcation. To the right are some of my peppers and the natural node split points.
Pinching off First Buds/Flowers
In the highly opinionated internet world, there is a split along the lines of topping off, in my opinion, I leave the plant to do its thing, all I need to do is make sure it is fed and watered for a bountiful harvest.
Over Wintering
In colder climates such as the UK, the pepper plants can be brought in and left on a sunny windowsill/greenhouse, or even trimmed back and left in a dormant state in a garage that stays above about 5 degrees C.
In previous years, I have left the plant with foliage on until around Christmas when the lack of light leads to natural leaf loss. At this point I may cut back some of the growth to stop the plant from struggling to grow, and remove any unripe fruits.
