How to Grow Peppers

The wild species that gives rise to both sweet and hot peppers is found in Central and South America. Gardeners typically encounter two of the five domesticated pepper species that exist today: Capsicum annuum and Capsicum chinense. As long as they get enough sun, heat, and moisture, all species thrive in the United States.
When and How to Start Indoors Peppers do best when soil temperatures are above 75 degrees Fahrenheit. In most of the country, peppers should be started indoors and then transplanted outdoors when the weather gets warmer. Six to eight weeks prior to transplanting, sow peppers indoors. Make sure the soil stays warm while the seeds germinate by planting them at a depth of 14 inch.
The pepper seedlings should be transplanted outdoors four to six weeks after the last frost to ensure that they have hardened off (or that they have been gradually exposed to direct sunlight, dry air, and cold nights).
Requirements for Spacing: In the garden, space seedlings 12 to 24 inches apart in rows.
Special Takeaways The majority of sweet peppers mature in 60 to 90 days; It can take 150 days to grow hot peppers.
Pests and diseases that peppers are susceptible to include the pepper mild mottle virus, bacterial spot, anthracnose, blossom end rot, and sunscald. Disease can be avoided by rotating crops frequently and not overcrowding them.
When and How to Collect

Peppers are quite possibly of the most adaptable culinary harvest filled in the home nursery. They can be eaten new, seared, simmered, stewed, sautéed, salted, as well as puréed into soups, plunges, and pestos. Peppers, particularly those with thin flesh, can be braided into a decorative ristra, air-dried, and then crushed to make chili powder, paprika, or pepper flakes.
Storing Peppers have a shelf life of one to two weeks when stored at room temperature. Pickled or stored in oil, peppers can be preserved for many months. Dried peppers can be stored nearly indefinitely.
How to Save Pepper Seeds When preserving pepper seeds, keep in mind that different species occasionally cross-pollinate, so isolate varieties in accordance with recommendations.