Red pepper

[pon521]

Hello friends!
A few months ago I decided to experiment a bit and I potted up red pepper seeds. I thought that in home conditions they won't sprout, but now they are about 20 cm high. However, I totally do not know how to take care of them and if they will fruit indoor. What do you think? I water them every 1-2 days, soil is natural mixed with expanded clay pellets.

 

[catjac1975]

Hello friends!
A few months ago I decided to experiment a bit and I potted up red pepper seeds. I thought that in home conditions they won't sprout, but now they are about 20 cm high. However, I totally do not know how to take care of them and if they will fruit indoor. What do you think? I water them every 1-2 days, soil is natural mixed with expanded clay pellets.

I have seen those little hot peppers grown in pots as a decorative plant. Peppers need a lot of warmth and fertile soil. Pot them up in a fairly large pot. They take a long time to produce fruit outdoors in my climate so I think you need to be patient. I put a plant or 2 in large pots to keep in my hoop house and keep them in it all summer. I do this for an earlier crop than the garden produces and also to keep them going a bit longer after frost. Seems like you may have some luck. That seems like a lot of watering. Don't let them be soggy.

 

[Ridgerunner]

What variety? I think you are more likely to have success with hot peppers rather than sweet, but you may be able to pull it off anyway. Peppers are a warm weather crop. Your house should be warm enough so it's mainly a matter of light, moisture, and nutrients.

Peppers have perfect flowers. That means they have both male and female parts and usually self-pollinate. You do not need pollinators to carry pollen from one flower to another. The way I understand it the female parts of the flowers are recessed enough that pollinators usually don't transfer pollen anyway. That's why you usually do not get crosses when you save pepper seeds. Tomatoes are the same.

However the pollen does need to move. I know of two ways to do that. You might shake the flowers like a good breeze or maybe a bumblebee crawling around on the flower. That might be the easiest way but be careful, pepper plants can be pretty brittle.

Another more tedious way would be to remove a flower and rub it into another one to spread the pollen. I've never done that with peppers or much else, I don't know if there is a special technique you need to follow but just shaking it like that should be enough to cause it to self-pollinate. Or maybe take a Q-tip and gently twist in around inside the different blooms.

Good luck with it, it sounds like a fun experiment.

 

[digitS']

Peppers are perennials - altho I believe that they are considered "short-lived."

They need lots of sunlight, or that is my suspicion.

There are several things working against peppers in my garden but placing them anywhere that they do not have full sun through the growing season will guarantee failure.

Steve

 

[Zeedman]

Hello friends!
A few months ago I decided to experiment a bit and I potted up red pepper seeds. I thought that in home conditions they won't sprout, but now they are about 20 cm high. However, I totally do not know how to take care of them and if they will fruit indoor. What do you think? I water them every 1-2 days, soil is natural mixed with expanded clay pellets.

A lot of people over-winter hot peppers indoors, including some on this site. IMO, varieties in the C. annuum species need the most light... and since they tend to have short DTM's anyway, growing them indoors is usually unnecessary. Jalapeno, ancho, cayenne, Serrano, nearly all sweet peppers, and most ornamental peppers are C. annuum... about 90% of the peppers sold in markets.

In my observations, the other pepper species seem to be better adapted to growing in lower-light conditions. Tobasco, habanero, and the super-hot peppers (such as Ghost Pepper) are the most common. Those tend to have long DTM's, and benefit from being potted & moved indoors. A less common species (C. pubescens) can only be grown indoors in temperate climates. Those peppers can be identified by their black seeds; Manzano is the most common, I've seen them sold by Hispanic vendors in a local farmers market.

Unless you have an area where the peppers will receive full sun, some form of supplemental light will probably be required, or the plants will quickly become leggy. When growing any plant indoors, lighting can be the "make or break" issue; I heartily recommend browsing indoor growing forums, or pepper forums, for good advice & recommendations.

When flowers appear, regardless of the species, some method of stimulating self-pollination will be required. This can be as simple as (gently) shaking the plant once a day, or flicking the flowers with your finger tip.

Good luck! Keep us posted as to your results.

 

[catjac1975]

Peppers are perennials - altho I believe that they are considered "short-lived."

They need lots of sunlight, or that is my suspicion.

There are several things working against peppers in my garden but placing them anywhere that they do not have full sun through the growing season will guarantee failure.

Steve

Perennials?

 

[seedcorn]

You read correctly-perennials. We treat them like annuals.

 

[Zeedman]

Perennials?

Perennials grown as annuals, which become short bushes if not killed by frost. When I lived in SoCal, I over-wintered peppers & eggplant.

 

[catjac1975]

Perennials grown as annuals, which become short bushes if not killed by frost. When I lived in SoCal, I over-wintered peppers & eggplant.

I am jealous....

 

[ninnymary]

You read correctly-perennials. We treat them like annuals.

My Rocoto pepper (peruvian) was loaded with peppers all of last year and the plant stayed as big (3'x3') and healthy all through the winter. Didn't even lose on leaf.

This year again got loaded with peppers and because it was taking so much space I moved it to a large pot. That darn plant didn't even skip a beat and is still producing like crazy. I'm hoping it will stay smaller in the pot and not give me as many peppers.

Mary