Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
13.
Troubleshooting
Can I plant hot peppers alongside sweet peppers?
You can safely plant hot and sweet peppers side-by-side without the taste or flavor
of either being affected. While pepper plants may cross pollinate, you may end up with a
situation where the seeds produced from that crop having some characteristics of the neigh-
boring variety. Therefore if these seeds are saved and then grown you may see some cross-
ing of attributes. To minimize the risk of cross-fertilization plant the different varieties at
least 18-24 inches (45-60 cm) apart.
My pepper seeds won't germinate
Pepper seeds are very particular about germinating, requiring correct temperatures
(particularly so for hot chile varieties). To promote germination, have the soil temperature
at approximately 80
o
F/26
o
C - if the soil temperature is below 55
o
F/12
o
C, the seeds will
not germinate. This soil temperature can be achieved by placing your seed tray or pots in a
warm place e.g. south-facing windowsill or conservatory. Be careful however not to put in
a location which may cool down dramatically during the night.
An additional cause of poorly germinating seeds is their source. If you collected
seeds from a store-bought pepper and saved the seeds, chances are the seeds were not
simply mature enough to germinate. To collect seeds for later use, you must collect from
fully ripened peppers, that you would leave on the plant for a week or so longer than if you
were to harvest it.
What's making my plant lose blooms?
The most common cause of plant losing blooms is hot weather. Peppers are sensit-
ive to high temperatures. If daytime temperatures rise above 95
o
F/35
o
C or nighttime tem-
peratures don't drop below 80
o
F/26
o
F, then you pepper plant may start to drop its flowers.
Once temperatures drop down a little your plants if healthy will continue to flourish again.
Alternatively, should spring temperatures be cool for an extended period of time, you may
also see some blossom dropping.
My plant isn't developing fruits, but is large and healthy looking
This is typically caused by the weather, with extreme cold weather at the start of the
season or hot days and warm nights later in the season, preventing fruit from being set. An
