Home garden peppers in Georgia

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Today, I am going to share information on growing peppers in the home garden. In theory, peppers should not be very difficult to grow as long as you keep basic steps in mind. I will be using researchbased information from a UGA publication by Bob Westerfield and Malgorzata Florkowska, UGA Horticulturist.

I think the first decision in growing peppers is choosing the varieties you want to grow. For most folks, that decision will come down to if the peppers are mild or hot. The more technical term is whether a pepper variety is sweet or hot. Some folks can handle some peppers with a little kick while others pepper growers stick with sweet peppers. For review, the pungency of a pepper is actually found in the seed, in fact, there is a heat index for peppers called the Scoville Heat Index. Your sweet peppers such as sweet bell peppers and banana peppers are at the bottom of the index. Pepper varieties such as red cayenne and serrano are in the middle of the scale. Most of you can pick peppers that would be at the top of the heat index with examples such as habanero and chili peppers.

For starters, it is still too early to plant pepper transplants in the garden. Soil temperatures need to reach 70 degrees Fahrenheit and night temperatures staying close to 50 degrees Fahrenheit before planting. Pepper plants are selfpollinating and like full sun environments. Again, stay away from planting them too early. Peppers do not like damp and cold soils, plus they cannot handle cold snaps that can give frost. Wait until the weather is more ideal to plant. Early planting can cause stunted plants and plants you may have to protect when late frost happens in early April.

If you want to grow your own transplants you can, but that process needs to start 6- 8 weeks indoors prior to being ready for transplanting in the garden. You may be pushing that deadline. I will tell you that most garden shops will have lots of transplants this spring for purchase.

Garden areas need to be well draining of excess moisture for most of our garden items including peppers. If you are picking a garden spot, make sure the area gives 8- 10 hours of sunlight per day. The soil pH needs to be 6.0- 6.5 ideally. If you have never taken a soil sample for analysis, that would be a starting spot to make sure you are liming and fertilizing according to garden needs.

If you choose to not do a soil test, I will give you a general fertilizing plan for peppers. You can apply 10- 10- 10 or 13- 13- 13 fertilizer at a rate of 2 pounds per 100 square feet of garden and lime at a rate of 20- 25 pounds per every 1000 square feet of garden space. You need to also spade or till the soil to a depth of at least 6- 8 inches and then level the ground with a rake according to Westerfield and Florkowska.

When you are actually planting, you need to plant pepper plants 12- 24 inches apart in rows, and the rows need to be approximately 3 feet apart. Mulching the plants is always good. Mulching can help save soil moisture and cut down on weeds. Note that you need to keep the mulch off the plant stems.

The best way to irrigate is with soaker hoses or with drip irrigation. This can put the water right at the soil. You will keep the foliage dry and will lose less to evaporation as compared to a sprinkler. You want to keep the root zone moist. A consistent watering plan will help with pepper development.

You can develop problems with your peppers. One issue we see is blossomend rot which is a calcium deficiency and is assisted by poor irrigation habits. At times, you can see problems with insects such as corn earworms and corn borers for example. Disease can be a problem, too, with bacterial wilt and bacterial leaf spot. To help on disease, try to use disease free appearing transplants.

If growing from seed, use only certified disease free seed. Crop rotation can help. Do not plant peppers or other related plants in the same family in the same garden spot more than once every two years. Also remove plant debris at the end of the growing season to reduce insect or disease issues for the next growing season. For more information, contact UGA ExtensionGordon County at 706- 629- 8685 or email gbowman@uga.edu.