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Growing peppers

Why peppers need more warmth and patience than tomatoes, plus spacing, sowing dates, feeding and yields.

Quick facts

Spacing between plants
18 in (46 cm)
Spacing between rows
30 in (76 cm)
Plants per square foot
1 per 3 squares1 per square, square foot gardening method
Sun
8+ hours a day
Water
1 in a week (25 mm)
Soil pH
6 to 6.8
Days to maturity
60 to 90 days
Yield per plant
2 to 5 lb (0.91 kg to 2.3 kg)
Start seeds indoors
8 weeks before last frost
Transplant out
2 weeks after last frost
Direct sow
Not usually direct sown — it germinates slowly and needs the indoor head start.

Also wait for the temperature

Wait until night temperatures stay reliably above 50°F (10°C). A cold night checks a pepper for weeks.

Square foot gardening figures come from Mel Bartholomew’s method and assume an intensive bed of amended soil. Spacing-derived figures assume conventional rows.

Scientific name: Capsicum annuum. Spacing and planting dates checked against University of Minnesota Extension. Yields, days to maturity and companion lists were never systematically checked — see how this data is checked.

Work it out for your garden

How many pepper plants fit in your bed?

5 plants — 1 row of 5, at 18 in apart with 30 in between rows.

Rows need 30 in, so 1 fits across a 4 ft width, leaving 18 in spare. Narrowing the row spacing to 24 in would fit 2 rows of 5. Try staggered rows

Sowing dates for pepper

Enter your frost date for pepper sowing dates, or use the full planting date calculator for a whole season.

What will you harvest?

12–30 lb over the season, from 2–5 lb per plant. Add other crops

This page has the numbers for peppers: 18 inches between plants with 30 inches between rows, seed started eight weeks before your last frost and set out two weeks after it, an inch of water a week, soil at pH 6.0 to 6.8, and 2 to 5 pounds of fruit per plant over a 60 to 90 day season.

Two of those numbers are where peppers go wrong. Eight weeks indoors is two more than a tomato, because pepper seed germinates slowly and the seedlings grow slowly. And two weeks after the last frost is two weeks later than a tomato, because a pepper set into cold soil sits unchanged for a month while a later planting overtakes it.

Starting them off

Sow indoors eight weeks before your last frost date — two weeks earlier than tomatoes, because peppers germinate slowly and grow slowly at the seedling stage. They also want real warmth to germinate; a propagator or a warm spot makes a visible difference, and seed sown in a cool room may take three weeks or simply rot.

Once up, they need bright light and steady warmth. Peppers do not stretch as dramatically as tomatoes when short of light, but they stall, and a stalled seedling is slow to catch up.

Planting out

Wait two weeks after your last frost, and until night temperatures are consistently above 55F. This is not caution for its own sake: a pepper set out into cold soil can sit unchanged for a month while a plant put out later races past it.

Space them 18 inches apart, 30 inches between rows. Unlike tomatoes, a little closeness is acceptable and even helpful — neighbouring plants shade each other's fruit and reduce sunscald, one of the more common pepper problems.

Plant at the same depth they grew in the pot. Peppers do not root from buried stem the way tomatoes do, so there is nothing to gain from planting deep and a risk of stem rot.

Water and food

An inch of water a week, consistently. Peppers are less thirsty than tomatoes but equally unhappy with swings between dry and soaked, which cause flower drop and misshapen fruit. Mulch once the soil is warm.

On feeding, the rule is restraint until fruit sets. Compost worked in before planting is enough to start with. Feed with nitrogen while the plant is small and you get a fine bush with no peppers on it. Once the first fruits have formed, a light feed every few weeks keeps production going, favouring potassium over nitrogen.

Heat, sweetness and patience

Two things develop slowly in a pepper and both reward waiting. Sweet varieties gain sugar markedly as they turn from green to their final colour, which is why a red bell tastes nothing like a green one. Hot varieties concentrate capsaicin as they ripen, and a plant grown slightly dry will generally produce hotter fruit than one kept lush.

There is a trade-off. Every fruit left to ripen fully slows the setting of new ones. Picking the first two or three peppers while still green gets the plant into its stride; after that, let them colour.

Common trouble

Flea beetles will pepper young leaves with small holes early in the season. Established plants shrug it off; seedlings can be set back badly, so a cover over the first few weeks is worth considering.

Aphids gather on new growth and under leaves. A strong jet of water knocks them off, and ladybirds will find them if you leave things alone long enough.

Peppers are also good candidates for containers — a 10 to 12 inch pot suits a compact variety, and a warm patio wall gives them exactly the reflected heat they want.

Growing alongside pepper

Good neighbours

Basil, Onion, Carrot, Spinach

Keep apart from

Fennel, Kohlrabi

Watch out for

  • Blossom drop in heat
  • Sunscald
  • Aphids
  • Bacterial leaf spot

Companion planting pairings are traditional garden practice rather than settled science. Spacing, sun and water do far more for a crop than its neighbours do.

Pepper questions

Why are my pepper plants not producing fruit?
Usually temperature or nitrogen. Peppers drop their flowers when nights are cold or days are very hot, and a nitrogen-rich feed gives you a large leafy plant that flowers reluctantly. A plant that looks magnificent and sets nothing has almost always been fed too well. Be patient through a heat wave and ease off the nitrogen.
When should I pick peppers?
Whenever you like, but flavour and heat both develop as they colour up. A green bell pepper is an unripe red, yellow or orange one, and sweeter varieties gain noticeably in sugar as they finish. Picking green encourages the plant to set more; leaving fruit to colour slows it down. Pick the first few fruits early to get the plant established.
Do peppers need staking?
Often yes, which surprises people. A well-grown plant carrying a dozen fruit is top-heavy and brittle, and a summer storm can snap it at the base. A single stake or a short cage put in at planting is enough.
Why do my peppers have soft sunken patches?
Sunscald, where exposed fruit takes direct afternoon sun after the foliage that shaded it has been lost or pruned away. It looks like a pale, papery burn that later goes soft. Keep the plant's own leaf cover intact rather than tidying it, and avoid heavy pruning in midsummer.
How many peppers will one plant give me?
Two to five pounds over a season for a bell pepper in good conditions, which is roughly six to fifteen fruit. Smaller hot varieties produce many more fruit at much less weight. The yield estimator above will scale it for however many plants you are planning.
Can hot and sweet peppers cross in my garden?
They can cross-pollinate, but it does not affect this year's fruit — the peppers you pick will taste as their variety should. Crossing only shows up in the seed, so it matters if you save seed and not otherwise. Save seed from isolated plants if you want it to come true.

Other crop guides

Calculators for this crop

Last updated

Written by Muzamil Ali. The figures in the quick-facts table are typical published ranges that have not yet been checked against a primary source, so treat them as a starting point and defer to your local extension service. See the disclaimer and how these pages are made.