key growing information

Growing Peppers: How to Sow, Transplant & Harvest

How to grow peppers: soil and nutrients, plastic mulch and row covers, starting seed warm, potting up, cold treatment for more fruit, transplant spacing, pests, diseases and disorders, harvest and storage.

By Hensley’s Seed Co. September 3, 2026

Peppers - Key Growing Information

Bell peppers growing on black mulch and trellised to keep the plants and developing fruits up off the ground.

SCIENTIFIC NAME:

Capsicum spp.

CULTURE:

Peppers do best in fertile, well-drained soil with a pH around 6.5, and need plenty of phosphorus and calcium. Black plastic mulch softens cold snaps and speeds the crop along, especially with lightweight fabric row covers held up on wire hoops. Take the covers off in sunny weather over 85°F (29°C) to avoid blossom drop and heat damage.

DAYS TO MATURITY:

Roughly the number of days from planting out to the first full-size fruit.

TRANSPLANTING:

Start seed in 20-row or shallow flats, ¼" deep at 4 seeds per inch, in late March or about 8 weeks before planting out. Keep the soil at 80–90°F (27–32°C) if you can, since pepper seed is very slow to sprout in cooler soil. When the first true leaves show, move seedlings into 2" cells or 4" pots and grow them at about 70°F (21°C) by day and 60°F (16°C) at night. Plant out after frost, once the soil is warm and the weather settled; the best transplants have buds but no open flowers. Space plants 12–18" apart in rows 24–36" apart, or set 2 rows 18" apart in the row on plastic or paper mulch. Water transplants in with a high-phosphorus solution.

COLD TREATMENT:

A controlled cold treatment for seedlings can raise flower and fruit numbers. Once the third true leaf appears, keep plants at night temperatures no lower than 53–55°F (12–13°C) for 4 weeks, in full sun, then return them to 70°F (21°C) day and night. If you use this method, sow 1–2 weeks earlier than normal.

INSECT PESTS:

Stop climbing cutworms with Bacillus thuringiensis or paper collars around the stems. Use pyrethrin for tarnished plant bugs, aphids and flea beetles.

DISEASES AND PROBLEMS:

To prevent bacterial spot and Phytophthora, water by drip only, plant in well-drained soil, avoid compacting it, and rotate on a 4-year cycle. Sunscald happens when there isn't enough leaf cover over the fruit. Blossom end rot is prevented by adequate soil calcium and steady moisture. Large, bushy plants with few peppers can result from too much nitrogen, heat or cold during flowering, tarnished plant bug damage, or late varieties poorly suited to your area.

BACTERIAL SPOT NOTICE:

Bacterial spot can be carried on seed. Keep in mind that a clean test result doesn't guarantee a disease-free seed lot; it only means the target pathogen wasn't found in the sample tested.

HARVEST:

Pick the first peppers as soon as they reach full size so the plants keep setting fruit. STORAGE: Wash, then store at 45°F (7°C) and 95% relative humidity.

TRANSPLANTS:

On average, a packet gives about 19 transplants and 1,000 seeds about 750. For an acre at 12" spacing in 36" rows (about 14,520 plants), plan on roughly 19,360 seeds.SEEDS/OZ. (AVG.): 4,300.

PACKET:

25 seeds per packet unless noted.