Hello Kevin! I´m Joaquin from Peru and here its so difficult to get your hands on most of the varieties you can easily find in the States. Year after year I saw how you and Jacques grew delicious varieties (especially shishitos!) so this year I finally said to myself I would do whatever it takes to get some shishito seeds. After browsing all the local suppliers and farmer forums to no avail I found a web that hooks you up with U.S travelers bringing products in their luggage. Luckily one traveller agreed to bring me some shishito seeds, which arrived yesterday. I just finished seeding them only to find that you posted a video about peppers, so Im going to take that as a sign that the pepper gods are giving me their blessing! Hopefully this year I will try out Jacques shishito recipe!
I have my peppers in walmart reusable cloth bags , I over winter them every yr.. every yr I tend to plant more..lol.. so now I have over 10 .. I have 1 Jalapeno that is 4yrs old, was topped by a deer when it was still young and it produces so many peppers each yr .. I love my pepper plants there is nothing like fresh peppers ..🌶🫑
My first pepper plant I paid $3 for, and when I harvested my jalapenos I figured what I got off of it I would have possibly paid 20x that for in the store. I also realized I'd never had a good jalapeno before. It's hard to say no to that. Peppers are amazingly productive plants and with so much variety. Love em
Kevin, I gotta say as a grower from SC, that there are a lot of similarities between (not California and S. Carolina as a whole) the way YOU do things and the way that I grow now. In my 7 short years of growing, that you’ve been instrumental in my approach to growing food. You seem to be ever positive and realistic. While avoiding the ever growing drama that we’re seeing from so many UA-camrs. You’re one I’m happy to share to others. Thank all of y’all who share on this channel.
I live in Canada a short season for peppers so it takes some practice to get it right. I always take the early flowers off to promote more veg growth and this has helped me get lots of peppers. If I do not they give me a few peppers early and kind of fizzle out. The other things that has helped me is starting at the right time since my climate is so cold and season so short. You would think early is better however peppers like heat and get stunted when given the wrong growing environment. I am trying a later seeding directly planted in the garden which did great last year just need another year to confirm the results.
I'll have to try this next year! I'm in SE Michigan, so my season is fairly short as well. Last year I got a lot of peppers because it was quite hot for a long time, but this year I barely have any!
I recommend fertilizing with Jacks 20-20-20 combined with Alaskan fish emulsion from May through July. In August I recommend switching to the bloom booster jacks and still use the fish emulsion. Results are insane.
Zone 5 here. My peppers are topped 2 - 3 weeks before going outside. Usually, they are outside by the 2nd week of May. By the end of summer, they are huge, and I am dehydrating hot peppers daily.
same here! zone 5 gardener who has successfully topped all kinds of peppers - we end up having so many that we almost need to start begging anyone to take some off our hands. 😂
@anishinaabae They changed our grow zone to 6a this year. Bell peppers get diced and frozen for winter use. Any extra we don't use regardless of the vegetable are donated to the food donation box at the library.
They're so beautiful. There are folk here who have nothing but a small piece of dirt on the sides of their front steps and they utilize that. They grow peppers or tomatos, zucchini etc. It's wonderful to walk down the city block and see peppers sprouting, etc. I hate to call it "dirt" but as long as there is a piece of Earth you can grow something‼️ I hung some Basil on a hook in the brick wall outside the kitchen window. It smells so good. I dry it and put it in jars 😁
Hey Kevin. Just wanted to add a scenario where topping peppers is useful: The only time that I would top my peppers is if I'm growing under poorly lit conditions (inside in winter without grow light). Under those conditions the plant is gonna get very tall and lanky (reaching for that sun), in which case topping would help the plant to grow sturdier and bush out. It's probably not gonna give a bigger harvest but it will definitely help the plant to build strong before going outside. Thanks for the vids and always interesting content! /R
Happy to hear you not recommending topping peppers. Years ago everyone was posting videos about how you should top your peppers. I tried it and all it did was shock the peppers more, which stunted their growth and attracted more pests. My peppers have done great with just letting them go. I also plant my peppers close. Pretty much like the square foot method. The Florida weave is my favorite way to hold up peppers. I use a stake every 3-4 peppers and it even held up during hurricane strength winds late last summer.
If you think about it, in nature they would likely be growing together in tight clusters because of the amount of seeds. I feel like growing in tight little bushes helps them hold each other up similar to a steak or cage.
With peppers, you almost have to be using a heat mat and humidity dome to have reliable germination. Even then, it still can take a few weeks for germination. A heat mat is a life changer for peppers, tomatoes, and eggplants.
Same here. You absolutely need a heat source, like a heat mat, warm appliance, or pilot light. I recommend germinating them on top of a wet paper towel (not wrapped inside or underneath, just placed on top) inside a container to hold in humidity. I got the seeds to germinate in 2-7 days. Keeping them alive after that though...
I'm in north Florida and left my datil pepper outside in the raised bed and it was just fine through the winter. Granted it is in a sheltered location close to the house. It slowed down but still continues to produce peppers even now. Easiest pepper I ever grew and the little things are habanero hot but with a little citrusy sweetness. I made jelly with them.
I'm going to try utilizing a flower farmer trick for my pepper patch next year. I'm going to use a support net stretched across the bed about 12 inches off of the ground. The plants grow up through it and are supported. My peppers are 12" apart in a block of 7x20 or so. Lots of peppers!
Your timing is perfect! I've got jalapeno peppers, first time. I really don't eat anything hot, but will give these to the neighbors. Mine are about 2-3 inches long, and I've been wondering about when to harvest. Thank you!
@@erikahuxley I love growing peppers... & just plants it is so amazing to put a seed in some dirt and give it water and sunlight and in a short time a tiny plant pops out the dirt... So beautiful
I haven't had luck with peppers. This is my second year, trying to grow bell peppers. Doing everything you mentioned in the video. I have four plants, but until today, only 5 flowers. I had started those in March, to give them a better start. The only pepper I had successfully grown, was a storebought variety, which I started in December. I like your videos; you inspire me to grow some food on my balcony by raising beds. I am in my fourth year growing food. Greetings from Switzerland.
Bell pepper plants don't produce heavily and get quite large so they take a long time when they do produce. I quite like bell peppers, but if you want a plant that's going to produce a bountiful and satisfying harvest then look toward something more like a sweet banana pepper. The fruits aren't as large but you can get so many of them over a growing season, and I like to think the overall productivity leads to more chances of success(pollination and fruiting). Growing peppers is most fun when you grow peppers that aren't so big and I think it's part of what attracts people to keep growing them, but personal preference matters of course and so does availability of seeds. Best of luck with your peppers
My peppers get morning sun till about 1 pm. Then they are shaded for 5 or so hours then late in the afternoon to early evening for about an hour or 2 they get some sun. They are doing very well.
I witnessed this this year with pruning a tomato plant. 😢 It only produced 2 tomatoes, and just starting to recover. All of my other tomato plants are on their second wave of flowers.
This year, I have my peppers in grow bags. I have 2 kiddie pools that I sort of do compost tea in.. it's rain water with me throwing yard waste in when passing by. When the plants get dry.. I put them in those pools for a couple hours and just let them drink the "tea" Pests are my biggest challenge.. just today I got several big green worms off them.. same ones I found and eradicated from my tomatoes a while back
hey, im wondering if it would help to outline the kiddie pools with chalk made from diatomaceous earth? its instant not life for a lot of pests ❤ idk if it affects plants tho so pls research before implementing (from what i know diatomaceous earth is fossilized things that happens to really mess up bugs like roaches)
@@ten-hx2xi DE has been a go to with my family for decades.. dad had a pool installation company for a while. It's fantastic on crunchy bugs.. cuts into the waxy shells and they dehydrate.. it doesn't work on the soft bodied ones.. won't hurt the plants and even goes on the pets for fleas.
I grew peppers for the 1st time last year and experimented with 1/2 my plants toping off and the other half leaving them alone and this is what I learned. My zone is between 6 and 7. I would only top off on small to medium size peppers like 3 inches or smaller and 4 inches and bigger i would not top off and these were bell shaped peppers. Skinny peppers seemed to be about even with top off or leave alone. My best tasting peppers were the ones i did nothing to i felt like the season wasn't long enough with the ones I topped off for zone 6 and 7.
I just grew tomato’s this year for the first time and now I might go to peppers next spring. This video will be very helpful. I live in Texas so it gets very hot here and I don’t think the tomato’s liked the afternoon 106 degree heat so hopefully peppers will do better (as long as they get some shade). I love this channel so much, can’t wait for the Epic Gardening book to come out and RIP Gucci.
I always plant my peppers so that the tomatoes or okra or something give them afternoon shade. They really don't like the long days of intense summer Texas sun. Eggplant though can take it.
Re: topping I moved from CA (Zone 9b) to Utah (Zone 4). Out of habit, I continue to top my peppers. I will stop doing that on your advice. I have a very short growing season!!! Thank you! I'm growing in Birdies; the soil is terrible here - very, very rocky!
I topped my shishito and thai chili plants and they took forever to recover. I really thought I'd murdered them. Thankfully they bounced back and are finally bushing out and setting fruits.
This year im using one of my metal garden beads for nothing but pepper and one for tomatoes and so one and so on quick tip in Florida grow these all year long but its better in the winter less bugs ❤❤❤❤
I have to agree about topping.. I have had deer top my plants for me sometimes they don't recover well sometimes they do but not worth the risk I'm zone 7
The deer "topped" my peppers and I agree. I picked the peppers left on the plant as soon as I could and it did produce loads of flowers and small peppers. Gotta hope we have a warm Sept. to get a decent amount.
I am growing a lot mini-Mexican coloured bell peppers. About 20 plants. I have about 6 jalapenos, & 1 Fresno. I started way more seeds for the jalapeno & the Fresnos also, but the chickens got in garden and ate the SEEDs and the seedlings, I have restated the hot peppers many times this yr. I usually have lots of hot peppers. Not this yr. I planted out tomato clones yesterday, with a few more mini bells & some peas. Hopefully I can keep the chickens from digging it all up... Still working on trying to Get some summer squash. I do not too my peppers, but I do lunch off some the bigger leaves, till the plants starts blooming. I use sticks for my stakes, bc its what I have on hand.
Good tips and I agree here in Indiana. We no longer top our peppers due to the shorter growing season. Only grow banana style for sweet peppers due to the long time to harvest bell peppers.
Zone 5 here. I radically topped my hot lemon F1 pepper in may, it had some bad freezes because i gambled and put it out before the last frost day. Almost gave up on it .. Turned out as one of my most yielding and beautiful plants.
Wow didn’t know that about chipotle / Jalapeño‘s! So far we’re having lots of success with our peppers, other than the fact that a mouse has nibbled on every single one in our polytunnel 🙈
Thank you so much for the knowledge you are spreading for free :) I heard that you needed to top the peppers but I guess it is one of the most widespread misconceptions about peppers. You only need to prune the lower leaves and if you live in lower growing zones you should almost never do it.
My peppers ( bells and Escamillos) have withstood hail and 60-70mphh winds this yr. I have simple bamboo stakes and plant tape holding them up. I am going to have about 30 bells and maybe 20 Escamillo (6 bell plants, 3 Escamillo plants). This is the first time I have ever grown peppers, calling it a win!
Peppers are one of my favourite to grow. This year im experimenting with grow dwarf varieties on my windowsill as well as having them in my front and back gardens
thank you man, cool hat 😁ps indoors all year around rooms we tend to top our biggest tallest super hots at the end of 2nd month but small ones yes we just leave alone, good harvests to you too)
I don't know why it cracks me up that Veg gardeners call pinching (flower gardeners term) topping. But it makes me giggle. And I am a very big fan of topping pepper plants. Usually inside a few weeks before I plant them out. I just think it makes stronger and healthier plants to have 2 leaders.
Thank you! I always wondered why my bell peppers and poblanos didn't have as many peppers on them as jalapeños. I didn't know the plant just made less.
Hi, just wanted to pass along some success I had last year. I topped my green peppers and had my best crop ever. I’m in northern Illinois. I’m gonna try to do that again!
I learned a valuable lesson on pepper seeds: buy quality. (Which is why I'm buying from BI next round.) But I bought one of those cheap $1 jalapeño seed packets from WalMart and I've gotten like 3 different varieties of peppers out of that 1 pack, only 1 of which is a jalapeño. The other two are like some weird kind of banana pepper and some dark green... thing. So lesson learned! I'm planning my fall garden soon and I'm shopping with Botanical Interest for the first time! 🤟
I love it! I am trying to grow Carolina Reapers in NW Washington, so the growing season tends to be pretty darn short. Not feeling the need to prune will be very helpful 👊🏻🌻👊🏻
To best utilize topping peppers, do it in the seedling stage. You're only removing about an inch of top growth thereby allowing plenty of time for regrowth in any growing zone.
Have my first little beak peppers going into fruit due to yours and your buddies channel / video on crops you'd never give up. Doing a bunch of Ed Currie's superhots on the side but that will end up largely indoor, those superhots don't like to germinate fast for some reason.
My first year growing peppers I mixed hot and mild peppers and they all came out mild. No heat whatsoever in my jalapeños. The next year I put them on opposite ends of my garden and had hot jalapeños!
Hi epic gardening, this video was very useful thank you I appreciate you approaching different viewpoints of pruning and the part where you talk about the hot and sweet next to each other. I will definitely stake up my pepper plant this week. I have a question though I am on my balcony and I have pots with green beans in them peppers in zucchini. What do I do with the plants at the end of the year if I want to practice no dig? I heard get rid of the top of the green bean and leave the roots, but can you plant back in a pot that has a lot of roots already?
I love how he talks about wind in this. I live in the high planes of southern USA and we get winds that blow 60 mph constantly every other day due to the flat nature of the landscape💨
Hopefully I can boost my yields next season! I’m in Georgia and have always had slow growing peppers. For the past 2 seasons, I’ve only ever gotten fall peppers from plants started for spring 😅
Hi Kevin, thanks for the video tips! I have a bit of an off-topic question: I see you’re using straw mulch on your peppers. Is the straw you purchase labeled “organic” or do you have some other assurance that it’s not been sprayed with herbicides prior to harvest? There are several feed stores in our area that carry straw bales, but none of them label theirs in this way. I’ve been leery of using it as mulch in our veggie garden because I don’t want to take the chance of contaminating the soil with herbicide residues.
For anyone concerned about cross pollination between peppers, look up the species of each variety, and keep members of the same species at least 50 ft / 15 m apart. A few examples: Capsicum annum includes bell peppers and pretty much all sweet peppers, as well as jalapeño and Aleppo peppers. Capsicum chinense includes your superhots like your Carolina reapers and ghost peppers. It also includes the pimenta diomar, a high yield variety. Capsicum baccatum includes all aji varieties, like the aji sugar rush and aji lemon drop.
Excellent informative video thanks Kevin. I envy your pepper crops. I live high in the Adelaide hills, South Australia, and only like the red bell peppers. We have a short growing season, so I’m constantly disappointed in my crop. Last year I got hit badly by wasp infestation and didn’t pick one red. Does anyone know how to prevent those white wasps please?
I top and prune my canna plant with some low stress training, she gets big. Suppose those methods can be used for most plants, tempted t grow my own fruit n veg aswell ✌️❤️
Instead of using twine to tie peppers, tomatoes etc use nylon hosiery pieces. The footie stockings you get in shoe depts & such are perfect. Or old stockings of course. They will not hurt tender stems.
One thing I've learned gardening is very low leaves can wick moisture and they are climbed by insects which because of their mobility can cause plant diseases or fungus through plant to plant contact. Most of the time bugs don't bother me that much though.
I’m growing chocolate Carolina reapers and chocolate peppers this year,I watered my chocolate habaneros every other day with a bottle of water per few peppers in one pot and they did well
Question along the same topic: I have two tomato plants in my raised bed, next to them about 2 feet away I have 2 peppers. At mid-July in south Orange County (CA) they get 1/2 drip irrigation every early morning for about 7 minutes. But for some reason after setting so fruit the Early Girl tomato plant leaves pretty much all yellowed. The yellow pear tomato plant, as well as the fresno and shishito peppers look great. When I use a water probe the soil is “moist”, so right in the middle. So…What went wrong with the Early Girl?
yellowing leaves can be due to lots of reason, lack of certain nutrients or fungal disease are common reasons, hard to say with little information and without photo
@@erikahuxley It’s baffling because this is a very common and reliable variety of tomato plant. Basically the leaves started yellowing from the bottom up. There are several tomatoes towards the bottom. The plant was put in around June 1. I pruned the bottom leaves at the start so they would not be laying on the soil (but the soil is topped with straw to prevent disease, etc. And as I said, the other plants are doing great.
I'm in the 5b-7a zone(Pennsylvania) and did the topping experiment last year and it's busted. Actually the topped plants produced less because they were so far behind. I also didn't see a big change in bushiness compared to those that just grew.
The irony is that I want to grow a lot of different kinds of peppers, but I have healthy issues that prevent me from eating peppers. In addition to that, I don't like pepper so much any way. I just like their collors, and I think having a pepper tree bearing a lot of peppers is a beautiful plant to keep. 😂
I am in zone 9a-b, and try to grow peppers (mostly super hot) a lot. However, I rarely have success due to the extreme heat and direct sunlight. The soil here is terrible; mostly loamy sand. Even when I augment with compost and good, dark organic soil, the plants just don't do well. I water, fertilize,, and use pure neem oil spray for bugs. Growing in large containers rarely works either. What can I do to be successful?
My pepper plants are all hot peppers. They are all about 4-6 inches tall and already flowering. I have no idea why, but they are grown in a greenhouse tent thing because I don’t have room and cause it’s only 65 degrees here still.
Overwintering has been amazing, one of mine on it's 3rd season produced a good dozen. Not always successful but worth he effort. If I try and fail, no loss in my mind either way.
So glad this video was here I know nothing and went and got a habanero plant and a mammoth jalapeño plant and I want these plant to succeed one of then had a leaf miner practically kill a leaf so I took off the leaf in the hope that the plant wouldn't spend energy trying to save that leaf 😅
Every year I plant pepper plants. I fertilize, tried different watering schedules but ultimately still end up with small, thin walled skin to my peppers. I live in vegas (zone 9a) and that side of my garden gets a decent amount of sun and later afternoon shade. What could I do to improve my harvest?
I just bought 8 different kinds of Peppers from Amazon, all between 5-10 inches tall... Do you have any thoughts on how long it will take for them to produce fruit? I'm in Zone 9 in the SF Bay Area Ca, I'll be growing then in my 8X12 Pop Up Greenhouse! Thank you for the Helpful and Awesome Content!!! : )
Great tips. I remember having the leaf- heavy pepper problem. Also good you ‘mentioned about pruning. I live in Zone 5 and have found especially some years, the season May not be long enough - so it’s good to be aware of how much you can expect from each plant.
Hello Kevin! I´m Joaquin from Peru and here its so difficult to get your hands on most of the varieties you can easily find in the States. Year after year I saw how you and Jacques grew delicious varieties (especially shishitos!) so this year I finally said to myself I would do whatever it takes to get some shishito seeds. After browsing all the local suppliers and farmer forums to no avail I found a web that hooks you up with U.S travelers bringing products in their luggage. Luckily one traveller agreed to bring me some shishito seeds, which arrived yesterday. I just finished seeding them only to find that you posted a video about peppers, so Im going to take that as a sign that the pepper gods are giving me their blessing! Hopefully this year I will try out Jacques shishito recipe!
Love this! Best of luck with your shishito peppers - I hope it was worth the wait! 🌱✨
What is the name of that website? Thanks!
What a great story, sending good vibes your way and hope you get the best yield 🙏🏼
Very cool story! You will not be disappointed with shishito peppers, they are so good roasted.
May your harvest be full & plenty 😊
I have my peppers in walmart reusable cloth bags , I over winter them every yr.. every yr I tend to plant more..lol.. so now I have over 10 .. I have 1 Jalapeno that is 4yrs old, was topped by a deer when it was still young and it produces so many peppers each yr .. I love my pepper plants there is nothing like fresh peppers ..🌶🫑
My first pepper plant I paid $3 for, and when I harvested my jalapenos I figured what I got off of it I would have possibly paid 20x that for in the store. I also realized I'd never had a good jalapeno before. It's hard to say no to that. Peppers are amazingly productive plants and with so much variety. Love em
1lb of jalapeños is 75c in Aldi - that must have been a bumper harvest!!
You can also harvest the red Jalapeños and ferment to make your own Sriracha sauce.
Agree on topping, for the most part we've put that technique behind us. The plants figure it out on their own!
Kevin, I gotta say as a grower from SC, that there are a lot of similarities between (not California and S. Carolina as a whole) the way YOU do things and the way that I grow now. In my 7 short years of growing, that you’ve been instrumental in my approach to growing food. You seem to be ever positive and realistic. While avoiding the ever growing drama that we’re seeing from so many UA-camrs. You’re one I’m happy to share to others. Thank all of y’all who share on this channel.
I live in Canada a short season for peppers so it takes some practice to get it right. I always take the early flowers off to promote more veg growth and this has helped me get lots of peppers. If I do not they give me a few peppers early and kind of fizzle out. The other things that has helped me is starting at the right time since my climate is so cold and season so short. You would think early is better however peppers like heat and get stunted when given the wrong growing environment. I am trying a later seeding directly planted in the garden which did great last year just need another year to confirm the results.
I'll have to try this next year! I'm in SE Michigan, so my season is fairly short as well. Last year I got a lot of peppers because it was quite hot for a long time, but this year I barely have any!
I recommend fertilizing with Jacks 20-20-20 combined with Alaskan fish emulsion from May through July. In August I recommend switching to the bloom booster jacks and still use the fish emulsion. Results are insane.
Zone 5 here. My peppers are topped 2 - 3 weeks before going outside. Usually, they are outside by the 2nd week of May. By the end of summer, they are huge, and I am dehydrating hot peppers daily.
I'm in zone 6. I've never topped them, but I'm gonna test it this year on part of my pepper crop.
same here! zone 5 gardener who has successfully topped all kinds of peppers - we end up having so many that we almost need to start begging anyone to take some off our hands. 😂
@anishinaabae They changed our grow zone to 6a this year.
Bell peppers get diced and frozen for winter use.
Any extra we don't use regardless of the vegetable are donated to the food donation box at the library.
They're so beautiful. There are folk here who have nothing but a small piece of dirt on the sides of their front steps and they utilize that. They grow peppers or tomatos, zucchini etc. It's wonderful to walk down the city block and see peppers sprouting, etc. I hate to call it "dirt" but as long as there is a piece of Earth you can grow something‼️ I hung some Basil on a hook in the brick wall outside the kitchen window. It smells so good. I dry it and put it in jars 😁
Hey Kevin.
Just wanted to add a scenario where topping peppers is useful: The only time that I would top my peppers is if I'm growing under poorly lit conditions (inside in winter without grow light). Under those conditions the plant is gonna get very tall and lanky (reaching for that sun), in which case topping would help the plant to grow sturdier and bush out. It's probably not gonna give a bigger harvest but it will definitely help the plant to build strong before going outside.
Thanks for the vids and always interesting content!
/R
Happy to hear you not recommending topping peppers. Years ago everyone was posting videos about how you should top your peppers. I tried it and all it did was shock the peppers more, which stunted their growth and attracted more pests. My peppers have done great with just letting them go. I also plant my peppers close. Pretty much like the square foot method. The Florida weave is my favorite way to hold up peppers. I use a stake every 3-4 peppers and it even held up during hurricane strength winds late last summer.
I have limited sun and I topped my peppers the first year 🤦♀️
After realizing that tomato cages are pretty much useless for tomatoes, I put them into a Florida weave and use the cages for my pepper plants.
If you think about it, in nature they would likely be growing together in tight clusters because of the amount of seeds. I feel like growing in tight little bushes helps them hold each other up similar to a steak or cage.
I NEEDED this video 🥹 none of my pepper seeds did well, so I just ran out & bought a ton of small pepper plants at Home Depot yesterday 😅
I feel your pain 😭
I'm with you but I got to the flea market or my fruit market. I only pay 1.25 per plant in Florida
Peppers are drama queens with seed starting. You gotta keep them VERY warm and wet but not too wet
Even so they take 2-3 weeks to start
With peppers, you almost have to be using a heat mat and humidity dome to have reliable germination. Even then, it still can take a few weeks for germination.
A heat mat is a life changer for peppers, tomatoes, and eggplants.
Same here. You absolutely need a heat source, like a heat mat, warm appliance, or pilot light. I recommend germinating them on top of a wet paper towel (not wrapped inside or underneath, just placed on top) inside a container to hold in humidity. I got the seeds to germinate in 2-7 days. Keeping them alive after that though...
At 2:54 you show the pepper cage......wow I need that NOW today....I love it
I used tomato cages on mine last year. It worked well.
I like to grow Poblanos here in central Florida. They aren’t hot, but delicious stuffed with cream cheese and herbs and cooked on the grill. 😋
I love poblano peppers, I think I’ll grow some next year.
I use poblano peppers for all my stuffed peppers. So flavorful!
I'm in north Florida and left my datil pepper outside in the raised bed and it was just fine through the winter. Granted it is in a sheltered location close to the house. It slowed down but still continues to produce peppers even now. Easiest pepper I ever grew and the little things are habanero hot but with a little citrusy sweetness. I made jelly with them.
I'm going to try utilizing a flower farmer trick for my pepper patch next year. I'm going to use a support net stretched across the bed about 12 inches off of the ground. The plants grow up through it and are supported. My peppers are 12" apart in a block of 7x20 or so. Lots of peppers!
Your timing is perfect! I've got jalapeno peppers, first time. I really don't eat anything hot, but will give these to the neighbors. Mine are about 2-3 inches long, and I've been wondering about when to harvest. Thank you!
Try pickling them, that reduces the heat.
@@erikahuxley
I love growing peppers... & just plants it is so amazing to put a seed in some dirt and give it water and sunlight and in a short time a tiny plant pops out the dirt... So beautiful
I haven't had luck with peppers. This is my second year, trying to grow bell peppers. Doing everything you mentioned in the video. I have four plants, but until today, only 5 flowers. I had started those in March, to give them a better start. The only pepper I had successfully grown, was a storebought variety, which I started in December.
I like your videos; you inspire me to grow some food on my balcony by raising beds. I am in my fourth year growing food. Greetings from Switzerland.
Bell pepper plants don't produce heavily and get quite large so they take a long time when they do produce. I quite like bell peppers, but if you want a plant that's going to produce a bountiful and satisfying harvest then look toward something more like a sweet banana pepper. The fruits aren't as large but you can get so many of them over a growing season, and I like to think the overall productivity leads to more chances of success(pollination and fruiting). Growing peppers is most fun when you grow peppers that aren't so big and I think it's part of what attracts people to keep growing them, but personal preference matters of course and so does availability of seeds. Best of luck with your peppers
4:36 the seeds are also most hot of a pepper, you can get hot seeds in a (sweet) bell pepper 😋
My peppers get morning sun till about 1 pm. Then they are shaded for 5 or so hours then late in the afternoon to early evening for about an hour or 2 they get some sun. They are doing very well.
0:59 Topping causes any plant more stress than benefit. Particularly in a plant's formative early stage, causes long-term stunted growth.
I witnessed this this year with pruning a tomato plant. 😢 It only produced 2 tomatoes, and just starting to recover. All of my other tomato plants are on their second wave of flowers.
@@PatienceLove I feel for you. Never buy into the plant topping hype.
This year, I have my peppers in grow bags.
I have 2 kiddie pools that I sort of do compost tea in.. it's rain water with me throwing yard waste in when passing by. When the plants get dry.. I put them in those pools for a couple hours and just let them drink the "tea"
Pests are my biggest challenge.. just today I got several big green worms off them.. same ones I found and eradicated from my tomatoes a while back
Yeah! I found 3 hornworms today, 2 on tomatoes, 1 on my Serranos. 😢
hey, im wondering if it would help to outline the kiddie pools with chalk made from diatomaceous earth? its instant not life for a lot of pests ❤ idk if it affects plants tho so pls research before implementing (from what i know diatomaceous earth is fossilized things that happens to really mess up bugs like roaches)
@@ten-hx2xi DE has been a go to with my family for decades.. dad had a pool installation company for a while. It's fantastic on crunchy bugs.. cuts into the waxy shells and they dehydrate.. it doesn't work on the soft bodied ones.. won't hurt the plants and even goes on the pets for fleas.
I grew peppers for the 1st time last year and experimented with 1/2 my plants toping off and the other half leaving them alone and this is what I learned. My zone is between 6 and 7.
I would only top off on small to medium size peppers like 3 inches or smaller and 4 inches and bigger i would not top off and these were bell shaped peppers. Skinny peppers seemed to be about even with top off or leave alone. My best tasting peppers were the ones i did nothing to i felt like the season wasn't long enough with the ones I topped off for zone 6 and 7.
I just grew tomato’s this year for the first time and now I might go to peppers next spring. This video will be very helpful. I live in Texas so it gets very hot here and I don’t think the tomato’s liked the afternoon 106 degree heat so hopefully peppers will do better (as long as they get some shade). I love this channel so much, can’t wait for the Epic Gardening book to come out and RIP Gucci.
I always plant my peppers so that the tomatoes or okra or something give them afternoon shade. They really don't like the long days of intense summer Texas sun. Eggplant though can take it.
we love growing peppers here in Florida. They grow quite well :)
Yup, I have created my own pepper varieties on accident. Just this year i have 4 unknown, really cool looking peppers. I even gave them names!!!
please tell me you called at least one of them rainbow warrior
Re: topping
I moved from CA (Zone 9b) to Utah (Zone 4). Out of habit, I continue to top my peppers. I will stop doing that on your advice. I have a very short growing season!!! Thank you! I'm growing in Birdies; the soil is terrible here - very, very rocky!
Great video. I grow more peppers each year. I use a moisture meter on all of my beds, mostly containers. I also mulch.
I topped my shishito and thai chili plants and they took forever to recover. I really thought I'd murdered them. Thankfully they bounced back and are finally bushing out and setting fruits.
This year im using one of my metal garden beads for nothing but pepper and one for tomatoes and so one and so on quick tip in Florida grow these all year long but its better in the winter less bugs ❤❤❤❤
Wonderful pepper gardening harvesting ❤
I have to agree about topping..
I have had deer top my plants for me sometimes they don't recover well sometimes they do but not worth the risk I'm zone 7
The deer "topped" my peppers and I agree. I picked the peppers left on the plant as soon as I could and it did produce loads of flowers and small peppers. Gotta hope we have a warm Sept. to get a decent amount.
Love these guides. Wish you played this one in April/May when we're planting peppers....
My peppers are flourishing right now. I hope all of you have a good harvest
was it a great harvest?.. I hope you bottled them and didn't let them to rot.
@@fancyIOP no rot my friend. Such huge harvests going on for my forest right now.
I am growing a lot mini-Mexican coloured bell peppers. About 20 plants. I have about 6 jalapenos, & 1 Fresno. I started way more seeds for the jalapeno & the Fresnos also, but the chickens got in garden and ate the SEEDs and the seedlings, I have restated the hot peppers many times this yr. I usually have lots of hot peppers. Not this yr. I planted out tomato clones yesterday, with a few more mini bells & some peas. Hopefully I can keep the chickens from digging it all up... Still working on trying to Get some summer squash. I do not too my peppers, but I do lunch off some the bigger leaves, till the plants starts blooming. I use sticks for my stakes, bc its what I have on hand.
Good tips and I agree here in Indiana. We no longer top our peppers due to the shorter growing season. Only grow banana style for sweet peppers due to the long time to harvest bell peppers.
Zone 5 here. I radically topped my hot lemon F1 pepper in may, it had some bad freezes because i gambled and put it out before the last frost day. Almost gave up on it .. Turned out as one of my most yielding and beautiful plants.
My Lanta! I appreciate you and your channel. Cheering you on from Southern, BC, Canada
Wow didn’t know that about chipotle / Jalapeño‘s! So far we’re having lots of success with our peppers, other than the fact that a mouse has nibbled on every single one in our polytunnel 🙈
Dear Epic Gardening, as always thanks for sharing :) Best wishes
Thank you so much for the knowledge you are spreading for free :)
I heard that you needed to top the peppers but I guess it is one of the most widespread misconceptions about peppers. You only need to prune the lower leaves and if you live in lower growing zones you should almost never do it.
Great video. I find planting them even closer than 10-12 really helps the plants support each other. Still need staking sometimes but less so
Thank you Kevin! Can't wait to harvest my pepers soon.
My peppers ( bells and Escamillos) have withstood hail and 60-70mphh winds this yr. I have simple bamboo stakes and plant tape holding them up. I am going to have about 30 bells and maybe 20 Escamillo
(6 bell plants, 3 Escamillo plants). This is the first time I have ever grown peppers, calling it a win!
Hi Kevin, would love to see a video on yours and Jacques favourite peppers to grow and why!
Thank you Kevin. I live in Murrieta and it certainly has been a different season in Zone 9b.
Really good video. Cleared up many things for me with my first attempt at growing peppers. Thanks!
My grandpa has a pepper garden. He just loves spicy peppers. I saw his pepper garden yesterday when I was at his house for his 83rd birthday.
Peppers are one of my favourite to grow. This year im experimenting with grow dwarf varieties on my windowsill as well as having them in my front and back gardens
Where did you find dwarf pepper plants? I wanted some for my towers here in zone 5
thank you man, cool hat 😁ps indoors all year around rooms we tend to top our biggest tallest super hots at the end of 2nd month but small ones yes we just leave alone, good harvests to you too)
I have been over winter my pepper plants for so many years 🌱 ..I just love peppers 🫑 🌶️
I have smoked red jalapeños into chipotles! I then let them dry and grind them into a powder for seasoning .
I don't know why it cracks me up that Veg gardeners call pinching (flower gardeners term) topping. But it makes me giggle. And I am a very big fan of topping pepper plants. Usually inside a few weeks before I plant them out. I just think it makes stronger and healthier plants to have 2 leaders.
Thank you! I always wondered why my bell peppers and poblanos didn't have as many peppers on them as jalapeños. I didn't know the plant just made less.
My dad and I just set up a drip irrigation system in our front bed last night! It is a super simple
system we made with old materials.
My jalapeños are amazing this year but I've never been successful in the past and so I'm here for the info on harvesting! Thank you!
Hi, just wanted to pass along some success I had last year. I topped my green peppers and had my best crop ever. I’m in northern Illinois. I’m gonna try to do that again!
I learned a valuable lesson on pepper seeds: buy quality. (Which is why I'm buying from BI next round.) But I bought one of those cheap $1 jalapeño seed packets from WalMart and I've gotten like 3 different varieties of peppers out of that 1 pack, only 1 of which is a jalapeño. The other two are like some weird kind of banana pepper and some dark green... thing. So lesson learned! I'm planning my fall garden soon and I'm shopping with Botanical Interest for the first time! 🤟
Here in NZ it's quite hard to find organic ammendments without tons of nitrogen. Thanks for the tips though this is a very helpful video
I love it! I am trying to grow Carolina Reapers in NW Washington, so the growing season tends to be pretty darn short. Not feeling the need to prune will be very helpful 👊🏻🌻👊🏻
It turned out pretty darn well! Next year I will start them earlier.
Hey there, Kevin! I just discovered you and am glad I did. Nice video! Sharing this is a playlist. Wishing you another 2.5m subscribers!
To best utilize topping peppers, do it in the seedling stage. You're only removing about an inch of top growth thereby allowing plenty of time for regrowth in any growing zone.
Good tips guys, appreciate these kinds of videos.
Have my first little beak peppers going into fruit due to yours and your buddies channel / video on crops you'd never give up.
Doing a bunch of Ed Currie's superhots on the side but that will end up largely indoor, those superhots don't like to germinate fast for some reason.
My first year growing peppers I mixed hot and mild peppers and they all came out mild. No heat whatsoever in my jalapeños. The next year I put them on opposite ends of my garden and had hot jalapeños!
Hi epic gardening, this video was very useful thank you I appreciate you approaching different viewpoints of pruning and the part where you talk about the hot and sweet next to each other. I will definitely stake up my pepper plant this week. I have a question though I am on my balcony and I have pots with green beans in them peppers in zucchini. What do I do with the plants at the end of the year if I want to practice no dig? I heard get rid of the top of the green bean and leave the roots, but can you plant back in a pot that has a lot of roots already?
I love how he talks about wind in this. I live in the high planes of southern USA and we get winds that blow 60 mph constantly every other day due to the flat nature of the landscape💨
Much needed information. Thank you
3:12 🤔that looks a lot like a topped pepper 🫑
Hopefully I can boost my yields next season! I’m in Georgia and have always had slow growing peppers. For the past 2 seasons, I’ve only ever gotten fall peppers from plants started for spring 😅
Hi Kevin, thanks for the video tips! I have a bit of an off-topic question: I see you’re using straw mulch on your peppers. Is the straw you purchase labeled “organic” or do you have some other assurance that it’s not been sprayed with herbicides prior to harvest? There are several feed stores in our area that carry straw bales, but none of them label theirs in this way. I’ve been leery of using it as mulch in our veggie garden because I don’t want to take the chance of contaminating the soil with herbicide residues.
For anyone concerned about cross pollination between peppers, look up the species of each variety, and keep members of the same species at least 50 ft / 15 m apart. A few examples:
Capsicum annum includes bell peppers and pretty much all sweet peppers, as well as jalapeño and Aleppo peppers.
Capsicum chinense includes your superhots like your Carolina reapers and ghost peppers. It also includes the pimenta diomar, a high yield variety.
Capsicum baccatum includes all aji varieties, like the aji sugar rush and aji lemon drop.
Excellent informative video thanks Kevin. I envy your pepper crops. I live high in the Adelaide hills, South Australia, and only like the red bell peppers. We have a short growing season, so I’m constantly disappointed in my crop. Last year I got hit badly by wasp infestation and didn’t pick one red. Does anyone know how to prevent those white wasps please?
I top and prune my canna plant with some low stress training, she gets big. Suppose those methods can be used for most plants, tempted t grow my own fruit n veg aswell ✌️❤️
Instead of using twine to tie peppers, tomatoes etc use nylon hosiery pieces. The footie stockings you get in shoe depts & such are perfect. Or old stockings of course. They will not hurt tender stems.
One thing I've learned gardening is very low leaves can wick moisture and they are climbed by insects which because of their mobility can cause plant diseases or fungus through plant to plant contact. Most of the time bugs don't bother me that much though.
I haven’t topped my peppers and I also planted them in a part shade spot under some trees- I have TONS of peppers and they must be 4 feet tall!
I’m growing chocolate Carolina reapers and chocolate peppers this year,I watered my chocolate habaneros every other day with a bottle of water per few peppers in one pot and they did well
Excellent info! Thanks!
FINALLY A PEPPER VIDEO!! ❤️ Love the content dude
Question along the same topic: I have two tomato plants in my raised bed, next to them about 2 feet away I have 2 peppers. At mid-July in south Orange County (CA) they get 1/2 drip irrigation every early morning for about 7 minutes. But for some reason after setting so fruit the Early Girl tomato plant leaves pretty much all yellowed. The yellow pear tomato plant, as well as the fresno and shishito peppers look great. When I use a water probe the soil is “moist”, so right in the middle.
So…What went wrong with the Early Girl?
yellowing leaves can be due to lots of reason, lack of certain nutrients or fungal disease are common reasons, hard to say with little information and without photo
@@erikahuxley It’s baffling because this is a very common and reliable variety of tomato plant. Basically the leaves started yellowing from the bottom up. There are several tomatoes towards the bottom. The plant was put in around June 1. I pruned the bottom leaves at the start so they would not be laying on the soil (but the soil is topped with straw to prevent disease, etc. And as I said, the other plants are doing great.
Hi if you clone a bunch off the plant over winter top it and clone the cut offs it's a good process because peppers take so long to start
Love the way you break it down, nuff love fam
I'm in the 5b-7a zone(Pennsylvania) and did the topping experiment last year and it's busted. Actually the topped plants produced less because they were so far behind. I also didn't see a big change in bushiness compared to those that just grew.
I use a shade over the pepper plant just on top and it tends to grow bulk amounts out every sidenlooking for more sun. No need to top it.
I had cross pollination last year between cayenne and sweet pepes and this year my hot cayenne peppers had no spiciness at all.
Wow, that’s interesting.
The irony is that I want to grow a lot of different kinds of peppers, but I have healthy issues that prevent me from eating peppers. In addition to that, I don't like pepper so much any way. I just like their collors, and I think having a pepper tree bearing a lot of peppers is a beautiful plant to keep. 😂
I am in zone 9a-b, and try to grow peppers (mostly super hot) a lot. However, I rarely have success due to the extreme heat and direct sunlight. The soil here is terrible; mostly loamy sand. Even when I augment with compost and good, dark organic soil, the plants just don't do well. I water, fertilize,, and use pure neem oil spray for bugs. Growing in large containers rarely works either. What can I do to be successful?
My pepper plants are all hot peppers. They are all about 4-6 inches tall and already flowering. I have no idea why, but they are grown in a greenhouse tent thing because I don’t have room and cause it’s only 65 degrees here still.
Overwintering has been amazing, one of mine on it's 3rd season produced a good dozen. Not always successful but worth he effort. If I try and fail, no loss in my mind either way.
So glad this video was here I know nothing and went and got a habanero plant and a mammoth jalapeño plant and I want these plant to succeed one of then had a leaf miner practically kill a leaf so I took off the leaf in the hope that the plant wouldn't spend energy trying to save that leaf 😅
Every year I plant pepper plants. I fertilize, tried different watering schedules but ultimately still end up with small, thin walled skin to my peppers. I live in vegas (zone 9a) and that side of my garden gets a decent amount of sun and later afternoon shade. What could I do to improve my harvest?
Pepper 🌶️ is a great fruit for the body. Capsaicin a chemical substance found in pepper has many health benefits.
Hi, relatively new gardener. How would I look up what crops grow in my zone(zone 9)? And when to seed and when to plant them?
Your best bet is your local cooperative extension.
I just bought 8 different kinds of Peppers from Amazon, all between 5-10 inches tall... Do you have any thoughts on how long it will take for them to produce fruit? I'm in Zone 9 in the SF Bay Area Ca, I'll be growing then in my 8X12 Pop Up Greenhouse! Thank you for the Helpful and Awesome Content!!! : )
HELP ME!! Can somebody tell me what is the name of the accessory at 3:15 and where can I buy it? PLEASE! I need it very very much. Thank you!
have you ever tried growing New Mexico Chimayo Peppers? Any tips? Having a challenging time with them. Thanks
Great tips. I remember having the leaf- heavy pepper problem. Also good you ‘mentioned about pruning. I live in Zone 5 and have found especially some years, the season May not be long enough - so it’s good to be aware of how much you can expect from each plant.