| If you're an aficionado of hot sauce and salsa, | | | | keep them far apart (at least 900 feet apart) or put |
| chances are you've thought of growing your own | | | | in a buffer plant. If you plant sweet and hot peppers |
| chile peppers. You're not alone. More backyard | | | | too close together, your bell peppers may end up |
| farmers are growing peppers. According to Colorado | | | | being hotter than you want and your hot peppers |
| State University (CSU), cultivating peppers is second | | | | may be more like lukewarm peppers. If you are using |
| only to growing tomatoes in terms of popularity. CSU | | | | seeds that are older than a year, sow more plants to |
| cites two reasons for the surge in chile pepper | | | | ensure a good crop and then thin if |
| cultivation: the hundred of varieties available and the | | | | necessary.Controlling pests. Ohio State University |
| fact that peppers are prolific producers.If you've | | | | recommends controlling weeds by hand-pulling or |
| successfully grown tomatoes, you can grow hot | | | | shallow cultivation to avoid injury to the plant roots. |
| peppers. They require similar care and conditions. | | | | To avoid your plants becoming diseased, properly |
| Here are some tips on how to grow the chile | | | | space plants and water sufficiently and early in the |
| peppers that you love.Warmer is better both for hot | | | | day so leaves dry quickly. Growers also have to be |
| sauces and for growing conditions. Hot peppers crave | | | | on the look out for aphids which may carry viral |
| warmth. Ideally they need temperatures between 60 | | | | diseases that can infect pepper plants. European Corn |
| degrees Fahrenheit (at night) and around 80 degrees | | | | Borers are a special threat since they can drill small |
| Fahrenheit (during the day.) They don't do well when | | | | holes near the pepper's steam and cause internal fruit |
| the temperature dips below 60 degrees Fahrenheit. | | | | rot.When to pick a pepper? Start picking hot peppers |
| They germinate at soil temperatures of 75 to 90 | | | | when they're still green if you want a milder flavor or |
| degrees Fahrenheit. Temperatures of more than 90 | | | | for use in salads, relishes or stuffing. For full-throttle |
| degrees Fahrenheit during flowering can result in the | | | | heat and flavor wait until they've turned their final |
| plant's blossoms falling off and affecting yields. (A | | | | color. Be careful when picking peppers as their |
| shortage of water can also diminish your crop.) In | | | | branches are usually brittle. Hand clippers or pruners |
| areas where warmth is a problem, consider growing | | | | can be a good choice in order to avoid excessive |
| them indoors and then transplanting outdoors once | | | | branch breakage. Once you've picked a pepper, it will |
| the threat of frost is past. When starting plants, also | | | | only last one to two weeks. Keep picked peppers in |
| consider using a heating pad to keep the soil warm. | | | | the fridge under cool, moist conditions to increase |
| Keeping a plastic cover over your soil until your seeds | | | | shelf life.Follow these tips and you'll have your pick of |
| sprout is another good idea. If you live in the | | | | peppers from your own garden.The Care and |
| northern latitudes of the United States like Cosmic | | | | Storage of SeedsThe good news is that pepper |
| Chile, which is based in chilly Bozeman, Montana, | | | | seeds are the "geezers" of the plant world. They are |
| consider keeping your pepper plants indoors, growing | | | | known for their longevity and can be fertile for five |
| them in a cold frame or cultivating them indoors in | | | | years or more. That said, the better you care for |
| either a sun room or in a greenhouse. Remember to | | | | them, the longer they will live and be fertile.When it |
| cover your plants if the temperature dips below 60 | | | | comes to seeds, first bought should be used first. |
| degrees Fahrenheit.Picking planting time. The Chile | | | | Try to plant seeds within a year of purchase. Don't |
| Pepper Institute of New Mexico State University | | | | hoard different varieties. Instead plant and then |
| recommends starting seeds indoors about eight to 10 | | | | harvest seeds at the end of the growing season to |
| weeks before the last expected frost in your area. | | | | use the following year. If you buy plants from a |
| Generally that will mean starting plants in mid-May to | | | | supplier, check the date on the packet. The package |
| late June.Matching your climate to the right pepper. | | | | directions should indicate when the seeds were |
| According to eHow.com, if you live North of United | | | | packed and should also give a deadline for when they |
| States Department of Agriculture Zone 4, you'll get | | | | should be used.Store seeds in a dry and cool place. |
| better results with short-season varieties such as | | | | For example, put them in an airtight container and |
| Long Slim, Hungarian Wax and Gypsy. The Ohio State | | | | then keep that container in your refrigerator. You can |
| University Horticulture and Crop Science department | | | | also try putting silica gel packets, powdered milk or |
| also recommends Long Red Cayenne and Large Red | | | | even dry rice in with them to keep humidity levels |
| Cherry for cooler climates. If you're blessed with hot | | | | low. When you're ready to use your seeds, let them |
| weather, consider planting peppers with a "TAM" or | | | | warm up inside the storage container before opening. |
| "NuMex" in their names, says. "They've been bred to | | | | (This will minimize condensation on the inside of the |
| produce well in very high temperatures," the web site | | | | container or on the seeds themselves.)Where to Buy |
| notes. Regardless of what variety you choose, look | | | | Seeds and SuppliesThe web is well populated with |
| for disease and insect free plants.What about water? | | | | hot chile pepper seed purveyors. Here are some sites |
| While chile pepper plants don't need a lot of water | | | | to get you started on your quest to grow your own. |
| and dislike soggy water-logged soil, they do need | | | | Most of these give some interesting background on |
| moist soil to thrive. A shortage of water at bloom | | | | the peppers, where they are suitable to be grown |
| time can result in blossom drop or a failure to "set" | | | | and, perhaps most important, most list how hot they |
| fruit.Soil wars. Chile peppers prefer well-drained, sandy | | | | Your online garden supply store offering organic |
| or silt-loam soil. Soil should be moist, not wet, when | | | | fertilizers, natural pest control, hydroponics and more. |
| planting. Before planting your chile peppers, enrich the | | | | Everything you'll ever need to grow chile |
| soil with manure or compost. Most peppers prefer | | | | peppers...indoors or The mother of all seed sites, |
| soils with a pH range of between 6.0 to 8.5. Also | | | | Burpee offers reliability, a well-recognized name and a |
| consider dusting your planting surface with a fine | | | | decent selection (around 22 varieties) of hot peppers |
| layer of Epsom salts and work it into the soil. | | | | including the Hot Pepper Biker Billy Hybrid which |
| According to eHow.com, the Epsom salts will provide | | | | Burpee bills as "A blazingly hot jalapeno - the hottest |
| magnesium "which peppers need for good | | | | we have ever Name the chile pepper and you'll |
| development."No shocks to the system. If you start | | | | probably find it on this site, including its namesake the |
| plants indoors, get them adjusted to outdoor | | | | Chocolate Habanero which is known as being "very" |
| temperatures slowly. Don't just plunk them in soil | | | | hot even for a habanero. In addition to a full line of |
| outdoors. Instead, let them sit outside in their | | | | habanero peppers, this site also stocks the Naga |
| containers for ever longer lengths of time so they | | | | Jolokia Pepper which comes from India and is also |
| can acclimate to the great outdoors and its cooler | | | | known by its Indian military designation of PC-1 and |
| temperatures. Start the acclimation process about | | | | the rare Yatsufusa Pepper, a Japanese |
| two weeks prior to planting in the garden. Try to | | | | variety.Pepper Joe's at This web site proudly displays |
| avoid root damage when transplanting from | | | | kudos from newspaper sites such as the Los Angeles |
| containers to soil. Soil should be at least 60 degrees | | | | Daily News, The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Arizona |
| Fahrenheit before transferring plants outdoors.A site | | | | Daily Star. It features drawings rather than actual |
| for hot chiles. Choose a garden site that gets full sun | | | | pictures of peppers, but it has an interesting |
| and has well-drained soil. Raised beds are a good idea | | | | assortment, which includes the Bulgarian Carrot - so |
| since chile papers need warm soil and air to thrive. | | | | named because it looks remarkably like a carrot - as |
| Plant your peppers 18 inches apart with rows three | | | | well as the Tazmanian Habanero and the Yellow |
| feet apart, according to CSU.Perfect planting. Provide | | | | Jellybean. The site designates "organic" peppers.This |
| support for varieties that grow to more than a foot | | | | article was written by Eric Vinje of Cosmic Chile. |
| tall. Also keep different varieties apart. Not that they'll | | | | |
| squabble, but peppers crossbreed easily so if you're | | | | Shop online for hot sauce, salsas, spicy BBQ sauces |
| growing a hot variety as well as some bell peppers | | | | and more. If it's fiery foods you're after...we've got it! |