Planting, growing and caring for hot peppers in open ground

Growing hot peppers outdoors is not an easy task. The heat-loving plant requires a delicate approach and reacts painfully to any changes in climatic conditions. In addition, the juicy and sweet shoots of hot peppers are a favorite treat for various insects.

How to grow strong and beautiful shoots, and then harvest a decent harvest from them. Let's figure out what you need to know and how to properly care for hot peppers.

How to choose a variety

The process of selecting seeds for planting should be taken seriously. The main criteria for selection are the following.

1. The ripening period is the most important parameter.The vegetative period of most varieties is 4-5 months, and the duration of summer may not be enough for the development of the crop. You need to first obtain data on the duration of the summer period with a favorable average temperature for pepper in your region. Then compare it with the duration of ripening of a particular variety. Most likely, you will need to purchase an early ripening variety and plant it as seedlings.
2. Resistance to viruses, low light and temperature changes is an important characteristic of the variety. The fact is that pepper does not tolerate sudden changes in temperature and may die. In addition, pests also love to feast on chili peppers, in particular, aphids love it. Plants with weak resistance will be weakened by constant attacks of parasites and will not be able to produce crops in the garden on time.
3. The degree of fruit bitterness and yield are consumer properties of the crop. The Scoville heat rating should be used to avoid acute poisoning. According to this parameter, the fruits vary from mildly hot to hot due to the presence of the substance capsaicin in them, which is responsible for the pungency of taste. Yield allows you to plan the expected volume of product from the sown area.

If you correctly take into account the above parameters, you can choose the optimal variety for growing in the country.

Important! The growing season for most pepper varieties is 4-5 months.

Suitable varieties

Despite the fact that there are many varieties of hot pepper, the following varieties are the most popular among gardeners.

1. One of the most popular hybrids is Astrakhan 147. This variety is resistant to diseases and weather vagaries. Focused on the southern regions, the growing season is 4 months.Medium sized bushes, above average yield. The peppers have an attractive elongated shape and moderate heat.
2. Yellow Hungarian is one of the most sought after species in the world. The variety ripens in 4 months and is disease resistant. A special feature is resistance to blossom end rot. The bushes are compact in size and look good both in garden beds and flower beds. The fruits have a characteristic yellow color and elongated shape. The taste is juicy with a medium degree of spiciness.
3. Danube hot pepper is grown in open ground and is widely known for its high yield. Resilience allows it to fight both diseases and climate changes and drought. The growing season is 3.5 months, which allows you to get a harvest even in a temperate climate. A special feature of hot pepper when grown is the height of the bushes, which is more than 1 meter. The fruits are large, elongated, red or green in color.
4. The Impala variety is a hybrid specially created for difficult climatic conditions. It is distinguished by an extremely short ripening period, just over 2 months. Planting and caring for the variety is easier due to its high resistance to various diseases, including the tobacco mosaic virus. It is also distinguished by a balanced spicy taste and an elongated, graceful shape of the fruit.
5. Ukrainian chili pepper is extremely popular among summer residents. It is highly resistant to most known diseases and viruses. The growing season is 4 months. Productivity reaches 1.5 kg per 1 square meter of crops. Loves the sun, does not grow in the shade. Planted seedlings can withstand sudden changes in temperature.

The purchasing choice should not be limited to the varieties listed. Knowing the criteria, you can independently select good plants for your plot.

How to plant correctly

Since chili peppers love heat, in temperate climates they often do not have enough time to produce a harvest. Therefore, it should be planted in open ground using seedlings. The following steps are performed.

1. First, the seeds must be germinated at a temperature of at least 25 degrees. To do this, they are wrapped in wet gauze and kept warm for 7 days. This must be done no later than the beginning of March.
2. Next, you need to prepare boxes with soil filler, in which the seedlings will then be grown. At the bottom there is a drainage mass consisting of fragments of brick, expanded clay or foam. The components are mixed. The next layer is a layer of turf with compost and the addition of sand. Before planting, it is better to disinfect the soil. The surface needs to be leveled and compacted a little, and fertilizer must be applied. Then make holes in it for planting seeds about 1 cm. At what distance to plant is determined individually, but the distance is more than 5 cm.
3. Germinated seeds are placed in the ground and irrigated with water. The containers need to be covered with a transparent film and placed in a warm place so that the crop can form the first shoots. When sprouts begin to appear on the surface, the containers should be moved to a well-lit place and the film should be removed from the surface.
4. When leaves appear on the stems of the plants, the shoots dive. To do this, you need to carefully pull out the stems with a knife blade, trying to damage the root as little as possible. Then they are planted in peat pots. Watering plants can be done with settled, heated water.
5. Peppers are transplanted into open ground after 2 months of cultivation in peat pots.First you need to check whether the pepper is ready for the street; to do this, you need to place a couple of bushes on the windowsill and see how they react to the temperature. Then we plant the contents of the pots in the ground.

In order for the formation of hot pepper to be successful, it needs to be constantly looked after. The culture requires frequent watering. It is also important to regularly loosen the soil at the roots and remove weeds. Before planting hot peppers, it is necessary to fertilize the soil with fertilizers.

When planting sweet and bitter pepper varieties close to each other, cross-pollination can occur and the taste of the fruit changes.

Caring for peppers in open ground

Proper care of hot peppers is the key to a good harvest. The following guidelines should be followed.

1. Monitor soil moisture. It is optimal for it to be moderately moist. Caring for hot peppers includes careful watering. It is not recommended to overdry, but it is also not recommended to overfill. Lack of moisture leads to degeneration of fruit size and shape. The stems lose flexibility and become brittle in the place where they were planted. It is advisable to water with warm water.
2. Provide good lighting for crops. It is better to plant vegetables on the south side of the site. It is important to ensure that the plants are well lit throughout the day and do not fall into the shadows. When there is insufficient light, the stems stretch. The plant weakens and begins to lose side shoots.
3. Temperature controlled care. It is important to understand that the development of pepper crops stops at 13 degrees, and when the temperature drops to 0 degrees, the plant dies. In climatic zones where temperature changes amount to tens of degrees in a short time, the death of ovaries and buds often occurs. Heat is also dangerous for crops. Care in open ground at temperatures above 25 degrees involves shading the crops. To preserve the crop in unfavorable temperature conditions, crops must be covered with film or special tunnels must be used.
4. As the chili pepper grows, it becomes elongated. To reduce the load on the trunk, garters are used. To do this, a stick is stuck into the soil at the height of the plant, to which the stem is tied with a rope.
5. Cupping allows you to ensure the correct proportions of the plant and increase productivity when growing hot peppers in open ground. Pinch the stem if it grows above 25 centimeters. The side shoots are also removed, leaving only the 5 strongest ones. In addition, you should cut off the first flower so that the plant spends energy on forming a bush, not a fruit.

Properly growing and caring for peppers is quite a labor-intensive task. But without this, you won’t be able to get beautiful and juicy fruits that you can not only enjoy yourself, but also treat your friends.

Useful tips

1. You can grow hot peppers if you listen to the recommendations of experienced gardeners. It is advisable to follow these steps to ensure good growth and yield.
2. It is important to feed the crop with the right fertilizers. Before flowering, nitrogen-containing preparations are added to the soil. After the flowers appear, they are fed with phosphorus and potassium supplements.
3. A feature of simultaneous planting of sweet and bitter peppers in one area is cross-pollination.So, if you plant two crops side by side, the fruits of sweet peppers will taste bitter. To avoid this, crops are planted farther away. Additionally, other plants are planted between the beds. You can also plant sweet and bitter peppers on different sides of the house.
4. Cultivation rules dictate that hardened peppers should be harvested, not soft ones. The soft-textured fruits are unripe and are harvested for growing hot peppers, not for consumption.
5. Chili peppers should be picked together with the stalk. Then they need to be stored in a dry place at a temperature of about 20 degrees. Then the pepper will ripen and its taste will improve significantly.

If you follow the above tips, you can both grow hot peppers for yourself and for sale, because the rules will allow you to avoid annoying mistakes that lead to loss of harvest.