How to Fertilize Pepper Plants

hot pepper plants in the garden

Wondering how to fertilize pepper plants? You’re not alone. If you are serious about the quality of your garden’s produce, you know that fertilizing properly is paramount to your success. It isn’t difficult, as long as you understand some basic principles. Like the fact that your pepper plants will respond well to a little extra attention at the beginning of their growth stages. And like most other garden vegetables, they will do a happy dance with some high quality organic compost mixed into the soil.

How to Fertilize Pepper Plants – 3 Easy Steps

Pepper plants are a pretty easy going group. But fertilize properly and you’ll notice a bigger harvest right away.

Here’s how:

  1. Before transplanting into the garden, soak the root ball in fish emulsion.
  2. Then once a week for the first three weeks, fertilize with only fish emulsion.
  3. After four weeks, apply ¾ cup of Hyr-BRIX Tomato & Pepper Fertilizer in a two foot radius around each pepper plant. Do this again when the plant has been in the garden for 8 weeks.

More Growing Tips

Don’t set young plants out until the last chance of frost has passed (you can find your average last frost date here.) All types of peppers like hot weather, so keep them indoors or in a cold frame until the time is right. Also, make sure to provide a full-sun location for pepper, no matter which variety you’re growing.

If you have grass clippings from an untreated lawn, these not only make a good mulch around the plants but the slow breakdown of the clippings will provide extra nutrients to the soil. This is also a wonderful way to maintain control over pesky weeds and to keep moisture in the soil around your plants.

Pepper plants are popular in home gardens because you get a lot of bang for your buck. The plants have a compact and neat upright growth habit, and they take up very little space for the amount of fruits they bear. Peppers are available in nearly every color and size, and from super sweet to fiery HOT! There is even a scale, called the Scoville Scale, to classify the heat intensity of different varieties of hot peppers.

How to Use Your Garden Peppers (in everything)!

Peppers are versatile in the kitchen. They can be served on raw veggie trays, sliced in fresh salads, stir-fried, or cooked into nearly every imaginable dish. Sauteed along with onions, bell peppers are requisite ingredients in fajitas, Western omelettes, and sloppy Joes. Pico de gallo and salsa verde would be nothing without jalapeno peppers. But the best part? Pepper are one of the easiest plants to grow in a patio container or directly in the ground.

Stuffed bell peppers are great with ground beef, cheese, or chopped mixed vegetables combined with bread crumbs. Marinated peppers in vinegar, salt, sugar and water are a delicious wintertime appetizer. And, roasted peppers fresh off the grill are among summer’s best offerings.

Happy growing!

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5 Comments

  • Reply
    walter
    March 18, 2011 at 8:23 am

    i have found that #1 teaspoon of ebonson salts every other week will help to green up the plants with a teaspoon of mild fertilizer one week later, will help give you a bumper crop of peppers–tomatoes–egg plants, which are all in the [night shade family]

  • Reply
    mike
    May 15, 2013 at 4:54 pm

    Hello, what is the best liquid or powder fertilizer for my hot pepper plants.

    • Reply
      jstutzman
      May 15, 2013 at 5:24 pm

      Mike, we have found Neptune’s Harvest Fish and Seaweed to be the best for hot peppers.

  • Reply
    Joseph
    January 18, 2021 at 12:17 pm

    found Happy frog 5-7-3. DRearth 4-7-3 others are way higher. are these ok

    • Reply
      GrowJoy
      January 21, 2021 at 2:36 pm

      Joseph, these will work fine. Let us know how it goes!

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