You’ll never see such big peppers in your life as those you grow yourself! You know the feeling… You plant them, you look after them, and whether they are bell or jalapeno varieties, they turn out small… Ok, you won’t get them as oversized as those you buy in grocery stores, because those are pumped with chemicals (and despite their size, they are poor in nutrients). Still, you can get a bumper crop of large, nutritious, and colorful peppers for your kitchen table. And the secret? It’s all in the way you fertilize them!
Let’s go through a step-by-step guide on how to fertilize your peppers to get an insane harvest then…
Let’s Start from the Beginning – How to Fertilize Pepper Seedlings
You can easily grow peppers from seed, and, unless you buy them, the first secret is to leave the biggest fruit in your veggie garden to ripen, and then collect the seeds. This way, you are selecting the plant with the DNA to give you the biggest harvest.
If you sow them in good, well drained, compost based soil, they will be fine till you need to transplant the seedlings. But if you see that they are a bit weak, or “behind” or if you want to boost them at this stage, you can use an organicfast release liquid fertilizer with NPK 10-10-10 or 14-14-14.
However, do not overfeed the seedlings, or they may actually “burn”; the leaves turn blackish, and you lose the little plants. So, only give them 1/4th of the indicated dosage at this stage.
At this stage, young pepper plants like “a balanced diet”. But what about later on?
Next stage…
How to Fertilize Your Pepper Seedlings When You Transplant Them into Your Veggie Garden
So, the time has come to move your pepper seedlings to their “permanent home”. What can you feed them with? At this stage, what they need is a fertilizer with two qualities:
- It is slow release
- It is balanced
Your best option is by all means compost; alternatively, a granular and organic fertilizer with 14-14-14 NPK will do at this stage.
This time, give them the full dose, or about two cups of compost per plant. Most gardeners like to make a little mound around each seedling with compost, and then…
Mulch the bed (it will help retain nutrients and moisture) and water…
Talking about which…
Drink and Food for Peppers… “The Wine List”
Peppers don’t like cold drinks! They really take badly to sudden changes of temperature, so, when you irrigate them, use room temperature water.
And now the wines are ordered, let’s move on to food again… So far, we have seen that young peppers like a balanced diet, but this is soon to change!
How to Fertilize Adult Pepper Plants – A Change of Diet!
First of all, what’s an adult pepper plant? Well, let’s say that by the time they flower, they are in their reproductive phase, so, they must be grown ups by then… But how long does it take your seedlings to produce the first blossoms? Between 70 and 80 days from planting… They grow slowly, compared with other vegetables, like cucumbers, for example.
If you have fertilized your pepper seedlings well, they will be fine for about one month, but then? I suggest you move in two steps:
- Give your peppers another “meal” of a balanced fertilizer, compost or granular with 14-.14-NPK.
- This time though, add some Epsom salts, a tablespoon will suffice; this will speed up and boost their flowering.
- Alternatively, or as an extra boost, add a spoonful of bone meal; this will feed your peppers with phosphorus for a long time!
And you will be fine for another month…
How to Fertilize Flowering and Fruiting Pepper Plants
However, as “adolescence” sets in, about two weeks before they flower, you need to change your pepper plants’ diet altogether… You need to switch from big but balanced meals on a monthly basis, to light and more frequent fertilizing that are low in nitrogen and rich in phosphorus.
So, use a fast release liquid fertilizer with NPK 2-6-6 (or similar) and give it to your pepper plants every one or two weeks till the end of the season.
At this stage, you don’t want much nitrogen, because it promotes leaf growth, instead, you want a lot of phosphorus, because it encourages flowers and fruits.
But if you want to go the home-made route, and you don’t want to buy an off-the-shelf organic fertilizer, here’s an ideal recipe for you!
A Simple Recipe for Your Adult Peppers – Fish Emulsion Fertilizer
Fish emulsion fertilizer is halfway between a fully home-made recipe and an off-the shelf one. It is made from the remains of the fish food processing industry, and it comes as a soluble powder. However, make sure you get one with a high potassium NPK, as some have the wrong ratio (like 5-1-1), so a 2-4-1 would be fine.
Simply add a spoonful of the fish emulsion powder for each plant and a liter of water, mix well, and then irrigate and feed your peppers at the same time.
A Super Powerful Home-Made Liquid Fertilizer for Your Peppers
Now, if you like to make your own “concoctions”, you can follow this recipe, which is a bit more complex, but fun to make. First of all though, I need to tell you a secret: we are going to tap into the power of bone meal, but there is a problem…
Bone meal is super rich in phosphorus, up to 15%. But there’s a problem: it is not water soluble, and that’s why it is slow release, it needs bacterial activity to become available to your pepper plants. But… It dissolves in acids, and bacteria can release its phosphorus content!
So, first of all, prepare a macerate.
- Fill 2/3 of a bucket with organic matter, be it chicken or horse manure (not cow, not pig), or kitchen waste, or cut leaves and grass. Nettle or comfrey are perfect.
- Fill the bucket with water.
- Add some molasses, they will help the process and feed bacteria.
Allow this macerate to rest for about 2 days. By then, the bacteria will have multiplied, and you will be able to smell their work, as it will literally start to stink, and now it is time…
- Add about 1 tablespoon of bone meal per gallon (4 liters) of water.
- Stir well.
- Let it sit for another week.
Now you can use it to fertilize your peppers weekly or every fortnight throughout the season, and the phosphorus from the bone meal will be readily available, but how?
- Scoop the macerate from the top (filter it if you wish, or if you are using hoses and pipes).
- Mix 1 part of macerate to 10 or 20 parts of water.
- Irrigate your peppers.
- Top up the macerate with water; it will keep producing throughout the season; you only need to produce it once!
And that’s it!
How to Feed OLD Pepper Plants
Do you uproot your peppers at the end of the season? Well, most of us do, but did you know that they are not annuals? They are perennials, and in USDA zones 9 and above, you can keep them for a second year too – lucky you!
And if you think that old peppers get tired, think again! Studies show that their fruits are bigger in their second year, and the overall yield higher!
As we were talking about big peppers…
But how should you feed old peppers? Similarly, but they may start fruiting earlier (they are adults already…), so…
- Give them a balanced slow-release fertilizer (compost or NPK 10-10-10 or 14-14-14) early in spring, then again every month till you see they are ready to blossom.
- Add Epsom salts and bone meal as soon as you see the first flower buds appear under the leaves (two teaspoons per plant).
- Then switch to the same weekly or fortnightly regime with the fast release liquid fertilizer of your choice.
And you’ll enjoy a bumper crop of peppers again, without having to plant them!
No More Secrets for You! Now You Can Enjoy a Bumper Crop of Big Peppers!
Here we go; now you know how to feed your peppers correctly for big fruits and a bumper crop, but there’s a final secret I want to share with you. These plants are drought tolerant, so we tend to water them too little, and they will forgive us. Or will they? They won’t die, but the fruits will be smaller!
Yes, one of the reasons why the peppers you buy are huge is that they are “on steroids” with chemicals; the other is that they are pumped with water. Don’t get them thirsty, and be generous.
On the other hand, don’t overdo it. Have you noticed that the peppers you buy go off pretty fast? Guess why? They are full of water, and they rot away. So, keep a balance. In any case, you wanted peppers on your table, not water…
Written By
Amber Noyes
Amber Noyes was born and raised in a suburban California town, San Mateo. She holds a master’s degree in horticulture from the University of California as well as a BS in Biology from the University of San Francisco. With experience working on an organic farm, water conservation research, farmers’ markets, and plant nursery, she understands what makes plants thrive and how we can better understand the connection between microclimate and plant health. When she’s not on the land, Amber loves informing people of new ideas/things related to gardening, especially organic gardening, houseplants, and growing plants in a small space.