Red Peppers

I'm going to give red peppers a go next spring, just the basic ones, are there any particular do's and don'ts please.

 

Hiya Sheal.

I don't profess to know much about peppers. As far as I know, they require quite a long growing season to do well. I assume you will grow them in the greenhouse? I've seen it said that they can be grown in a sheltered spot outdoors, but given the summers we've had lately, I would have my doubts that it's worth the effort of trying this. I stand to be corrected on this because I've never tried it.

Assuming you're growing them in the greenhouse, I would guess that given the long season requirements, some additional heat may well be needed. Again, I stand to be corrected. I would think that if you treat them as you would early sown tomatoes, you wont go far wrong. Be careful though not to over-water. Hopefully, someone more knowledgeable can assist you further.

Cheers...Freddy

 

Thanks Freddy, I was beginning to think this thread was going to die a lonely death!

Well, it doesn't look like I've picked the easiest of things to have a go at and the instructions on the pack suggest that to. Oh well, nothing ventured, nothing gained!
I will be growing them in the greenhouse but if they don't look happy I'll fetch them indoors. I'll be starting them off inside anyway, whilst waiting for the temperatures to pick up outside.

 

Hiya Sheal.

I don't think they're difficult to grow, but they do need to be kept at a reasonable temperature. I would suggest a minimum of 10c. I grew some this year in the greenhouse, in large pots. I only got a few, but I left it too late at the sowing stage. I forget now when I sowed them, but next year I'm looking at sowing them in late February

 

Thanks again Freddy, we'll have to compare notes when they're under way.

 

Sheal when I grow Chilli peppers I start the seed late Jan, early Feb to give the longest possible growing season . I germinate the seed in a heated propagator or the airing cupboard and they take about 12 days to show . Now Red Peppers or Sweet Peppers are of the same family so possibly an early start is best . Although T and M say sow in March. I am sure we have sweet pepper growers on here who can advise

 

Sowed sweet peppers (seeds from a Tesco pepper) in heat on 14th March this year. Planted out in polytunnel. Normally this would be early enough, but the lousy summer resulted in them producing less than usual. Picked the last ones mid October.

 

A few years ago wife and I had a pepper growing competition. Wife won hands down.

She kept hers indoors, on the windowsill. It was a north facing window, warm but not much sun. I put mine outside as soon as I was sure there was no danger of frost, in the south facing back garden which was a bit of a heat trap (at the last house).

Neither of us got a worthwhile crop, but I put that down to our inexperience at the time. The plants were kept in pots that I now know were too small, and they were never fed even once. But wife's did best, suggesting they need to be kept nice and warm. They also took forever to ripen.

 

Thanks all,
Well in for a penny or a pound, I'll start them off late February indoors I think and should they develop okay, move them to the greenhouse when the weather warms up (if it warms up) and I just hope we get more sunshine than this year.

 

I have had a couple of years at growing these, thought i'd share my experiences.

In the first year, i bought a pepper plant that was about 2-3 inches from B&Q and re-potted into a plant pot that you would normally use for tomatoes. I placed in my plastic greenhouse, which is at the back corner of my north facing garden as this spot gets the most sun. Its inbetween two walls too which adds heat. I ended up with about 20-30 little peppers. As the season went on these got bigger but nothing like what you see in the shops. They finished at about 2 inches big each way but did turn red.

The 2nd year, i did the exact same as above. This time however i thinned out the plant. I removed at least half of the peppers. This seemed to make the remaining peppers a lot bigger! I had one or two that were more like what you see in the shops, however, because of the lousy summer we had, they didnt really ripen and stayed green ish. I did use tomato feed this time by the way, i think this may have helped with the size of the peppers too.

If anyone has any tips on these i'd be really be interested

EDIT: I bought the plants at the beginning of April

 

My attempts at pepper have been very slow with not much produced at the end - a few smallish peppers. I tend to get bored and can't be bothered to eat them by that time. Like Clueless, I tend to neglect essential tasks like feeding, however.

 

I found this interesting.....

Has anyone else done this?

 

Hello?

 

Not me Freddy, as you know this will be my first year of growing them. My question is, how big do we want the peppers to grow? I assume they will be of similar size to the ones in the supermarket, I don't think I'll need them any bigger than that. On the other hand if they are considerably smaller then what Craig suggests is worth a go.

 

Hiya Sheal.

I'll be growing mine (2) in the greenhouse border. Unless someone suggests otherwise I'll prune one and leave one, to compare