How do you increase your harvest on pepper plants? Let’s face it. Peppers aren’t the easiest plants to grow in our gardens. They often fail to germinate, they can germinate but then not grow, or when they do grow, they will give you a measly 4 or 5 peppers.
I’ve heard stories from friends where predictably, their pepper plants, no matter what kind they’ve planted, will only produce a couple peppers in any given year.
Increase the Harvest on Pepper Plants
Here at MonteGatta, we have lots of sun. Our peppers do quite well. We grow serranos, habaneros, jalapenos, shishitos, poblanos, California Wonder, scotch bonnets Bhut Jolokias, and a bunch more. Carolina Reapers, I have found, can be the most finicky of all when it comes to generating flowers and fruit. Until you find the right spot in your garden.
Sometimes pepper plants just refuse to produce peppers. Here are some quick tips to Increasing your Harvest on Pepper Plants.
Sunlight
Your pepper plants need at least 6 hours a day to bloom. Or preferably 8 if possible. This will increase the light and heat, and the likelihood your peppers will not only bloom, but be found by pollinators.
Also make sure that the sunlight your peppers receive is full sun, and unobstructed. If there is shade from trees or even light, dappled sun for part of the 8 hours, that reduces the available sunlight. This then reduces the likelihood of blooming.
Even when you think there’s full sun, spend a full day watching the pepper bed. You could be surprised how the shade comes and goes.
Planting time
One often under-emphasized but very important thing to Increase the Harvest on Pepper Plants is that they should never be planted out early. This is not because of frost. Even after all threat of frost has passed, peppers can still be planted out too early. Peppers are native to central and south Americas, growing zones 11 and 12. Even in parts of California, Florida and Texas, peppers are usually grown as annuals, except when in greenhouses.
When peppers are planted outside when weather is cooler than 60 degrees, young pepper plants can become stunted. Once this happens, often, the plant will not recover. In some instances, no amount of water, sun, or fertilizer will help.
Some gardeners overwater the pepper thinking that this will help a young, stunted plant to grow. In fact, too much water or fertilizer will exacerbate the problem. The roots have failed to develop and the plant cannot generate enough energy to recover.
Always wait until daytime temperatures are well into the 70’s in your area to put your peppers into the ground.
Soil, Compost and Fertilizer
First of all, your soil should be rich, and light and fluffy. What I mean by light and fluffy soil is when it is well aerated. Plant roots need both water and air to survive; so the soil should be well aerated. As soil breaks down over the years, it becomes finer and finer. Therefore it is critical to consistently add compost or mulch into the soil to avoid it from being too fine and therefore dense, which traps water, prevents it from draining, and restricts air.
Your best bet is to amend your soil with 40-60% compost. An excellent option for both aeration and fertilization is rabbit poop. This is especially great for peppers, as they don’t need too much rich compost, but they require very light, well drained soil. The chunky rabbit pellets help out here a lot.
Be sure not to use a high nitrogen fertilizer. This will only give you leaves. Use only a super-phosphorus, or Bold Blooms / SuperBloom formula. This will ensure you have more flowers rather than leaves. Use in moderation, as peppers don’t need as much fertilization as tomatoes do.
Temperatures
Just like with tomatoes, temperatures which are either too hot or too cold will prevent your peppers from flowering. Below 60 or above 90 degrees and the plant could shut down. You may just have to wait out any heat wave or cold spell.
Water to Increase the Harvest on Pepper Plants
Peppers do need a bit more water when they are very young, but once they are bigger than about 4 inches tall, prefer to dry out a little in between waterings. Also, too much water will reduce the heat in chilis. This is another reason why well-draining and aerated soil is so important for peppers.
The best and easiest way to gauge whether your pepper needs more water is to stick your finger into the soil. If the top is dry but about an inch down is still moist, you do not need to water. The top 1-2 inches should be dry before you water again.
Pollination
If you do have lots of flowers on your pepper plants, but they are falling off of the plant instead of producing peppers, that means the flowers aren’t getting pollinated. Peppers are self-fertile, like tomatoes, which means that each flower has both the male and female organs. So technically a pollinator is not needed.
Peppers are often pollinated by wind, gently moving the branches of the plant and getting the pollen to drop within the flower to pollinate. Don’t use row covers over peppers, as this could restrict the air movement. They can also be pollinated by insects and animals which both help to shake the plant and move the pollen around.
If you don’t have many bees, you may want to think about ways to increase your local pollinator population, not only for peppers, but for squash and tomatoes too. In the meantime, you’ll need to hand-pollinate your peppers.
So, if you plant your pepper out at the correct time for your region, provide enough light and heat, feed it properly, don’t overwater it and make sure each flower that does show up is pollinated, then with luck, you should Increase the Harvest on Pepper Plants and get a bumper crop!
