How You Can Grow Your Own Bell Peppers in Pots

bell peppers in pots

It is really nice if you can harvest your own bell peppers in the backyard.bell peppers in pots

Peppers are not cheap and being able to grow your own means you can cut down your grocery expenses.

If you don’t have spaces, you can choose to grow the peppers in containers.

It will still thrive and produce an abundant of crop as long as you meet the right growing condition.

 

Germination

The seeds of the bell pepper should be planted 6 – 10 weeks before the last spring frost.

You will want to use a premium seed mix instead of the soil from your garden as it can drain more thoroughly.

Quality potting mix can hold moisture and provide proper aeration for the plant. Organic seed mix contains all the necessary nutrients that are required for the plant.

The seeds are to be sown about 1/2 inch depth in the soil. You can sow the seeds in seedling tray with two seeds in each cup.

The peppers will take 2 – 3 weeks to germinate. After 2 – 3 weeks, you can move them to small pots with each seedling occupying one pot. The seedling that has been sprouted should be moved to bigger size pots with the final pot being 10 – 12 inches in size.

The pots you use need to have well draining quality.

 

Transplanting the Pepper

It is time to move the pepper outdoor when you see at least 1 – 2 true leaves. The ideal temperature for growing pepper plant is 65 – 80 degrees Fahrenheit in the daytime.

The blossoms will drop if the temperature is higher than 85 degrees Fahrenheit. This condition called blossom end rot can be fixed by adding calcium granules to the soil.

The young plant is to be transplanted to a container that is filled with well draining potting and have a pH between 5.5 – 6.8. You can add 5 – 10 grams of neem cake to protect your pepper plant from blight disease.

The container where you plant the young bell pepper plant should be placed in an area that gets ample sunlight and sheltered from the strong winds.

Pepper plant can be quite big when it is mature so you will want to prepare a big pot that is at least 12 inches in diameter. It should get at least 6 hours of full sun in the day time.

Plastic or metal pot is preferred because it grows in consistently moist soil. At first, the young pepper plant will look small when transplanted to the large plant. However, it will eventually fill the large container as it mature to an adult plant.

Watering the Plant

It is important to regularly water the pepper plant to keep the soil moist. The frequency of watering will depend on the weather. Tipping the pot slightly allows you to know whether it needs more watering.

Light pot means that the soil has dried out and need watering. To prevent fungal infection, you should water at the foot of the plant and not over the plant.

 

When to Add Fertilizer

Imbalanced soil can cause the plants to be weak. This is why you need to improve the soil by adding different types of fertilizers. Nitrogen rich fertilizer can encourage the growth of foliage.

Tomato fertilizer, compost, and mature tea can also be used. Adding Epsom salt can help to improve the yield of your pepper plant. It is recommended that you add new fertilizer every 2 weeks or so.

 

Controlling the Pests

Aphids is the number one pest of bell pepper plants. Plants that have been attacked by aphids will appear stringy and weak. If you see aphids, you can use a water hose to spray them off.

You will need to continue this for a few days until the aphids don’t come back to the plant.

Another way to control aphid is to use ladybug. Ladybug can lay eggs which will hatch into larvae that devour the aphids. You can get ladybug eggs from your local nursery.

Organic pesticide can also be used to kill caterpillars that are spoiling your pepper plant.

 

Harvesting Bell Peppers

During harvesting, you can use a knife to cut off the fruit from the stem. There should be a bit of stem attach to the pepper plant after you cut the fruit.

When unripe, picking the pepper fruit by hand may cause the whole branch to be torn off. Unripe peppers are green color. From green color, it can change to red color and then to orange color and finally to yellow color.

You can pick the green peppers as they are safe to eat. Purple bell peppers varieties can change color to dark purple and finally to muddy black color when fully ripened.

When the pepper is fully ripened, it is easy to pluck with the hand in a gentle twist.

How to Grow Chilies Indoors with LED Grow Lights

Grow Chilies Indoors

Many people like to have some organic chilies to add to their cooking.Grow Chilies Indoors

However, lets face it, you can’t keep spending money on organic chilies as they are expensive.

Growing chilies yourself means you will be able to save a lot of money. The problem is that there is the lack of sunlight in North America and parts of Europe and chillies require a lot of sunlight to grow healthily.

The good news is that you can overcome the problem and grow chilies indoors under LED grow lights.

 

Temperature

Chili needs a hot temperature around 80F – 90F plus in day time and  at least 70F at night. It has to get at least 6 hours of sun to grow healthily.

The 6 hours of sunlight is equal to 16 hours of LED lights. So, if you have limited space, LED grow light is the best option. You can put it near to the plant without burning the leaves. It is cooler because it releases lesser infrared radiation and uses lesser watts.

LED grow light is a long lasting investment as it can last for up to 50,000 hours which is equivalent to 10 years of use. It offers longer lifespan compared to HID lights which can last in between 10,000 – 18,000 hours.

With LED grow lights, you can expect to save up to 50%-60% of energy. Best of all, it is safe to use and environmentally friendly. It does not contain any mercury, lead or gas.

It doesn’t have any fragile glass bulb and will not shatter like glass.

 

Varieties

The most common chili varieties that are grown indoor are chiltepins, habaneros and other small varieties.

Small chili varieties have long growing season. This means they take longer time to flower and bear crops. The plant will grow up to a height of 6 – 12 inches. In harvest time, you can easily notice the chili crops from among the leaves.

Chili plant can also make a nice decorative ornament for the house apart from tasting spicy in the mouth.

 

How Many LED Lights to Install

The amount of LED lights you use depends on your chili grow space. Ideally, you should install 32 watts LED lights for per square foot.

So, if you have 6 square foot of grow space, you should install around 200 watts of LED lights. You can buy a LED light block designated for a specific amount of grow space for convenience.

Because chili comes from places with long hours of sunlight, you will need to let the grow light turn on for many hours at least 12 – 16 hours per day. You can get programmable LED grow lights to help you achieve this.

Programmable lights allows you to schedule the light to turn on and off at a specific time. If it doesn’t have any schedule control, you will have to remember to manually turn on the light every day to ensure you reap a heavy harvest of chili crop.

 

What Colors of LED Lights to Choose

LED lighting is usually installed in small blocks in the indoor growing spaces.

They come in a variety of colors including red, blue, white, green, indigo, and yellow. Red and blue LED lights are the most important lights. Red light which imitate the heat of the sun enhances stem growth, flowering and fruit.

Blue light is necessary for artificial photosynthesis, and development of strong roots. Green light is not that important and you can exclude it in your LED lighting installment if you want.

You have the option of buying a full cycle LED light or only install a specific color of LED light for enhancing the development of certain aspects.

Many chili growers recommend the use of LSR 865 with a light color of 6500 Kelvin.


 

How to Set Up an Indoor Growing Area

Firstly, you will need to look for a vacant space where you can use as a growing area. It can be a shelf that you are not using, or the basement or garage.

First, you germinate the seeds in a pot on the window sill. When the seeds sprouts, you can move them to the grow light area. As the chili plan grow bigger, you will have to transplant them to bigger pots. Usually, you only need a pot that is 10 – 12 inches in size for transplantation.

Bigger varieties may need pots that are 16 – 18 inches in size.

You will have to keep watering the chilies plants. Lesser watering is needed as the plants grow bigger.

It takes about 60 – 150 days for the peppers to mature before they start to produce crops. On the seed packet, you can find information on how long the chili plant take to mature.

This refer to the time it takes the plant to mature after it has been transplanted to a pot. It takes about 8 – 10 weeks for a seedling to grow into a plant that is suitable for transplanting.

You can harvest the chili green, orange or red as you like.

There you have it, now get out there and grow chilies indoors.