How to Grow Peppers (Organically)

Growing peppers organically is the name of this video's game (that has to be the worst opening line I've ever written for these but I'm keeping it). Anyway, yes, how to grow peppers. It's my favorite crop to grow and eat, so I hope it's helpful.

Covered in this video: how to grow peppers from seed, buying pepper plants, how far apart to space peppers, how deep to space peppers, best flavor, tastiest peppers, how to trellis peppers, and more!

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[a_l_e_k_sandra]

Making your own ajvar from home grown peppers is something to live for.

[blackviking]

This channel is a treasure. So many interesting and valuable topics about gardening.

[thedirtygardener]

I grow my peppers by planting past the cotyledons. In fact, I start in 3/4” soil blocks, pot up to 18oz cups (adding soil as the plant grows) and then plant into the ground. I start in December and by the time they go in the ground (9a - late March) they have an extensive root system at least 18” high. If something happens and they don’t have that 18” root system then I will plant them deeper so that they will get the 18” under ground. Peppers are like tomatoes in that they’ll grow more roots along the stem which is why you can plant them deeper. I do this because our summers are brutally hot and humid (gulf coast) and the deeper root system helps keep the plant happy. For whatever that’s worth. LOL

[IfYouGiveAGirlAnAcre]

My toddler’s new insult is “you’re not a word” 😂 love your videos!

[billsnyder]

Yours are the only garden videos I do not have to fast forward. Bravo!

[JK-jfxq]

For heavier feeding plants, I sometimes dig beneath the planting level and add some food scraps, crushed egg, etc and/or something that will hold water for the roots like paper or well rotted wood. I do this weeks before seeding/transplanting.

[nineallday]

If you did this for every single crop eventually with time, it would be an amazing resource!

[thegoodoldways]

I am slowly being mesmerized by peppers! All the different kinds. They have completely captured me. Thanks for all the great info that teaches us. Grateful for your channel.

[MistressOP]

Peppers in cali is such a fun grow. We hot baby! Plus, the whole plant can be feed off, goats, chicken, ducks, geese. You can use it in asian soups. Wonderful video. Hot pepper are so much fun becuase you can make a higher value sauce out of it. People who are into sauces try out almost every single sauce they run across. Good at the farmers market. (Bull Horn pepper Toro pepper)

Agree about hot sauce, but I kinda think every single farmer who grows pepper should have at least 3 house hot sauces to sell at the farmers market. Even if you have to hire someone to come up with a recipe for you.

Dryland farmers, don't forget about the compost enrich with biochar as part of your system.

Wonderful video! YAY.

[artinspiredgifts]

Love your videos. You keep us inspired to do better. My favorites sweet peppers are bull horn Carmen, and my favorite hot peppers are Fresno Flaming Flare and Santa Fe Grande for flavor and production. I can vegetable soup, salsa, freeze and dehydrate peppers. Blend dried peppers to make flakes and powder to use everyday. I am not a farmer, just a homesteader growing organic no-till produce with a goal of 1+ years worth of fruits and veggies to stock up each year. I hope many small OG no-till farmers are following your advice so we can buy what we need locally at the farmers markets and stands. Thank you!

[Beavercountyrancher]

Can you do more in dept video about starting seedlings? Like how to use the soil blocker and how you make the soil balls? Never seen anything like that before

[MynewTennesseeHome]

I have pretty much settled on red marconi, jalepeno, and chilis. They cover the flavor profiles I like and are prolific.

[YourUncleDan]

I grew some Carmen peppers last year. Just got some seedlings from a local community farm, and put them in a container next to some thyme and rosemary. They were SO productive, and so good grilled or charred, and now I'm obsessed with growing more peppers.

[mylaughinghog]

I plan on paying more attention to pepper variety plant size this year. The Aji Rico grew over 6 feet tall with about 700 peppers per plant. I had to frequently trim the Aji Rico so they would not shade out the numex jalapenos.

[CS-bnun]

Always learning from your channel and appreciate your direct comments which are peppered (truly, no pun was intended but it fits!) with quick-witted humor! I came to this video as we are going to try Anaheim's this year in addition to others, as we buy so many canned chili peppers for cooking certain recipes...and I was like DUH...need to grow them as buy so many!! Our peppers did not do well in zone 8 until our summer cooled down a bit...and the jalapenos took off when potted and moved into our greenhouse for the winter. I was making pepper jelly in the winter with fresh peppers! Our teeny and reliably hot "birds eye" pepper (don't know bot name as seeds for our plants are from my husband's family, ..and just always called "birds eye") jammed in the ground until unusual-for-us deep cold snap towards the end of the year.

[lisamcdonald]

I love the MCHammwr reference, the touches like that you add to your videos is what makes you so awesome. Keep up the great work thanks for another great video. Canada 4b 2 rows 30” bed 18” apart worked well for us

[hhwippedcream]

Homegrown paprika kills it on a freshness and flavor scale. For the home grower it is a must. Almost an entirely different spice than that bought at the store. Could not agree with you more on red shishitos. We've had excellent luck with a yellow cayenne type called Ho Chi Minh. Just a touch hotter than cayenne with a bit of southeast Asian flavor.

[KansasGardenGuy]

You are killin it on content ! A little dad joke funnies with serious key points . 👍

[zoonotes]

I buried my peppers like tomatoes (I'd grow them indoors to 4-5 leaf pairs, then snip off all but the top two leaves and bury the rest of the stem). That was in a backyard garden, fairly heavy clay and very dry 9a central California. It seemed to help a lot with root growth and cut way down on how much I had to water. Your crop looks lovely! Best of luck!

[farmer-red]

Hello from eastern Ontario Canada 🇨🇦
My first successful pepper (both hot a sweet varieties) was in twenty twenty. I scoured the net for tips and tricks, to my pleasant surprise "topping" them was a winner for me. My ground was tilled ots second time, in nineteen it had been all potatoes.. when I planted my peppers, all I did was make a slurry of goat poop(straight from the barn with straw mixed in) and chicken litter clean out from the coop. Let that percolate (a five gallon pail with one quarter goat/ one quarter chicken, topped with water and left outside for three days.. took a scoop of that slurry approx a sour cream containers worth of it, , added it to each hole dug to transplant the seedlings. Once the plants grew to rhe flowering stage, I use a banana peel slurry and water for two days keeping an eye on the weather that there was no rain during said time... that season, out of twelve plants of standard green peppers, I was able to can twenty-four jars of salsa, 12 jars of tomato juice, sauces, and 60 cups divided into 2cups per bag into the freezer.
I've applied said method since on both the peppers and the tomato plants with phenomenal success! Many thanks to all you have shared and contribute to all who have a love for growing!