CropNeeds attention
Hot pepper
Capsicum frutescens L.
Temperature
18°C to 30°C
Rainfall
545mm to 1667mm per season
Conditions
What it needs
Soil
Well-drained loam with organic matter. Raised beds where drainage is doubtful.
Water
Steady water, little and often. Swings between dry and soaked split the fruit and bring on blossom-end rot.
What you will need
Tick what you already have; Grow carries the rest into the cost working.
Grow holds no supplier listings and no local prices, so it cannot tell you where to buy these or what they cost near you. Ask at your nearest agrodealer or extension office, then put those figures into the planner.
Through the season
Stages
- 01
Nursery
30 days- Sow into a clean nursery bed
- Water and shade
- 02
Land preparation
7 days- Make beds
- Work in compost
- 03
Transplanting
3 days- Transplant in the evening
- Water in
- 04
Vegetative growth
35 days- Weed
- Mulch
- Stake
- 05
Flowering and fruiting
45 days- Water evenly
- Watch for wilt
- 06
Harvest
45 days- Pick regularly
- Dry or sell fresh
Watch for
Common problems
Bacterial wilt
- What you will see
- Whole plants wilting while still green, with a milky ooze from a cut stem in water.
- What to do
- No cure. Pull and burn affected plants, avoid replanting peppers, tomatoes or garden eggs in that ground, and plant on raised beds.
Aphids and whitefly
- What you will see
- Sticky leaves, sooty mould, curling tips, and viruses that follow them.
- What to do
- Keep the nursery clean, remove weeds around the plot, and ask an extension officer before spraying.
Fruit fly
- What you will see
- Soft patches and maggots in ripening fruit.
- What to do
- Pick up and bury fallen fruit daily, harvest promptly, and use traps.
Follow the label for doses, and ask an extension officer or vet before using a chemical you have not used before.