How to Grow Chili Peppers? The Latest Cultivation Techniques and Methods Tutorial

The chili pepper is an annual or limited-perennial herbaceous plant of the genus Capsicum in the Solanaceae family. Its fruit is usually conical or oblong, green when unripe, and turns bright red, green or purple when ripe, with red being the most common. The fruit of the chili pepper is spicy because the fruit skin contains capsaicin, which can stimulate the appetite. It is one of the most common vegetables or seasonings in daily life. Below, the editor will introduce chili pepper cultivation techniques to everyone!

Growth Habits of Chili Peppers

The growth of the chili pepper begins with the germination stage. After sprouting and sowing, seedlings generally emerge in about 5-8 days, the first true leaf appears in about 15 days, and the seedling stage lasts until the flower buds become visible. From the first flower cluster to the setting of the first pepper is the flowering stage. From fruit set to uprooting is the fruiting stage. The suitable temperature for chili peppers is between 15-34 degrees. The suitable temperature for seed germination is 25-30 degrees, germination takes 5-7 days, and seeds do not germinate below 15 degrees or above 35 degrees.

Chili peppers require a relatively high temperature during the seedling stage, with 25-30 degrees during the day and 15-18 degrees at night being best. Seedlings are not tolerant of low temperatures, so attention must be paid to cold protection. If chili peppers are exposed to 35 degrees, it will cause flower and fruit drop.

Chili peppers have strict requirements for water conditions; they are neither drought-tolerant nor waterlogging-tolerant. They prefer relatively dry air conditions.

Chili Pepper Cultivation Techniques

1. Cultivation Conditions

The temperature requirements of chili peppers fall between those of yarrow and eggplant. The suitable temperature for seed germination is 23-30°C; below 15°C, germination cannot occur. Chili pepper seedlings require relatively high temperatures; when the temperature is low, growth is slow. In the early stage of flowering and fruiting, the suitable daytime temperature is 20-25°C and nighttime is 15-20°C. During the fruiting stage, if the soil temperature is too high, especially with strong direct sunlight on the ground, it is unfavorable for root growth and can easily cause virus disease and sunscald.

2. Land Preparation and Base Fertilizer

Chili peppers should not be continuously cropped, nor should they be continuously cropped with plants of the same family such as eggplant, tomato, potato, or tobacco. The plot for cultivating chili peppers should have good drainage, convenient irrigation and drainage, and require deep plowing. It is best to carry out winter plowing and leave the land fallow to freeze, so as to improve the soil and eliminate overwintering pests and pathogen spores.

Before transplanting, prepare the land again. The topsoil should still maintain relatively large clods to allow for air permeability and good water drainage, which has a good effect on preventing flower drop, fruit drop and leaf drop. Changsha vegetable farmers' requirements for chili pepper planting land are “deep ditches, high beds, breaking the old bottom, level soil with large clods, and smooth water flow.” The bed width is generally 1.3-1.7 m (including ditches), with 2-3 rows planted. There are also wide beds of 2.3-2.7 m with transverse planting on the bed. While making the beds, apply 50-80 loads of decomposed barnyard manure, 15 kg of superphosphate, and 25 kg of plant ash per mu as base fertilizer.

3. Sowing and Raising Seedlings

① Seedbed selection: The seedbed should be chosen facing south with its back to the north, high and dry with good drainage, convenient water source, and a plot where Solanaceae crops have not been planted.

② Seedbed preparation: The seedbed is best deeply dug and the soil heated in the dog days of summer, with a layer of human and livestock manure splashed on top. After drying, cover with plastic film to prevent loss of nutrients when it rains.

⟦NL>③ Sowing: Before sowing, water the seedbed soil thoroughly and break it up finely and level it. The seedbed width is generally preferably 1.5-1.7 m. Generally, seeds are not soaked for sprouting. Early-maturing varieties are generally sown in January, and late-maturing varieties are generally sown in February to March. Planting one mu requires sowing 75-120 g. After sowing, cover the seeds with fine soil mixed with old chaff ash or coal ash, about 2 cm thick, just enough to cover the seeds. Then water, and after the water is absorbed, cover with plastic film. Finally, use thin bamboo poles or bamboo strips to form a small arched frame, about 0.5 m high, cover with plastic film on top, and press the north side of the film firmly with soil to help prevent wind. It is best to press both sides with bricks so that the film can be uncovered at any time for ventilation.

④ Seedbed management: After sowing and before emergence, generally no management is needed. Once emergence begins, immediately remove the plastic film, otherwise tall, spindly seedlings will form. After emergence, uncover the film at 9 a.m. on sunny days and cover it again at 4 p.m. Ventilation should also be carried out as much as possible on cloudy and rainy days. If the seedbed soil turns white and the seedlings wilt, watering is needed. Watering must be done between 9 a.m. and 1-2 p.m. Two hours after watering, check again. If some areas are still dry, replenish water so that the seedlings grow uniformly. Do not water on cloudy, rainy, or freezing days; otherwise, due to excessive humidity and lowered bed temperature, diseases are likely to occur. On snowy days, straw curtains can be added, and a layer of plastic film can be placed over the straw curtains. Electric lights can also be installed in the bed to help protect against cold and preserve the seedlings.

⑤ Seedling transplanting: To make the seedlings sturdy with a well-developed root system, when the seedlings have two true leaves, they need to be temporarily transplanted once, with a plant spacing of 6-10 cm and a row spacing of 12-15 cm. Water while transplanting to prevent the seedlings from wilting. The preparation, requirements and management of the transplanting bed are similar to those of the sowing bed.

4. Transplanting Method

Transplanting chili peppers is best done when the soil temperature is above 15°C. Transplanting too early, due to low soil temperature, results in slow growth and flower drop, failing to achieve the goal of early maturity. For transplanting distance, early-maturing varieties have a row spacing of 40-50 cm, plant spacing of 26-33 cm, with 1-2 plants per hole; late-maturing varieties have a row spacing of 66-73 cm, plant spacing of 50-60 cm, with 1 plant per hole. Choose a sunny afternoon for transplanting. On the morning of the same day, the seedbed needs to be watered to facilitate pulling up the seedlings.

5. Field Management

① Cultivation and weeding: After transplanting and survival, carry out a shallow cultivation in time. When the plants begin to grow, carry out a focused cultivation. Before the plants close the rows, carry out another cultivation. Cultivation should be combined with weeding and hilling.

② Fertilizer and water management: After transplanting, seize sunny days to apply a seedling-promoting fertilizer. Each application should not be too large or too concentrated, otherwise it easily causes excessive vegetative growth and delays flowering and fruiting. After the first and second layers of fruit are set, apply more fertilizer to promote fruit growth. After the fruit begins to be harvested, the soil is even more required to have sufficient fertilizer and water so that the plants can grow and bear fruit normally. If heavy rain follows before the soil dries after watering, leaf drop and plant death will be quite common, especially during the period from the beginning of summer to the beginning of autumn. Therefore, when irrigating, the irrigation time must be determined according to the weather forecast. The irrigation depth should preferably not exceed three-quarters of the furrow, and it should be carried out at night or early in the morning, with rapid irrigation and rapid drainage.

③ Harvesting and seed saving: For fresh eating, most are harvested as green fruit, and red fruit can also be harvested. For dried chili peppers, red ripe fruit must be harvested. Harvesting should be timely, otherwise it affects plant growth and fruiting.

For seed saving, use the method of combining plant selection with fruit selection, that is, in the field, select standard plants according to variety characteristics and tag them as seed-saving plants. Harvest the first layer of fruit early for market, and leave 2-4 layers of fruit as seed fruit. When harvesting the seed fruit after it is red and ripe, further select fruit with the characteristics of this variety. Spread the harvested seed fruit in a cool place to after-ripen for 5-7 days, then cut open to take out the seeds, dry them and store them.