Peppers

Pepper Primer

Peppers are a poplar plant in gardening circles now.  There are hundreds of cultivars on the market and there’s an ongoing contest to produce the hottest pepper for some reason. I think many people plant peppers as a hobby rather than a food crop.  There are some beautiful ornamental peppers out there that look good in flower beds and containers also.

When I talk about peppers here I am not talking about the pepper common in shakers on tables everywhere, the pepper in “salt and pepper”, often referred to as black pepper.  That pepper is from the plant Piper nigrum, which is not related to the peppers we eat the flesh of. The dried berries of Piper nigrum are ground into a coarse powder to form the spice pepper.

This article will be about growing peppers whose fleshy fruit we consume, the peppers we refer to as green peppers, sweet pepper, Chile peppers, cayenne peppers., Jalapeno peppers and so on. These are varieties of Capiscum annuum and other Capiscum species such as Capsicum baccatum, Capsicum chinense, Capsicum frutescens, and Capsicum pubescens.

Peppers are native to Central and South America and southern Asia.  Many countries have a favorite type of pepper that is featured in local cuisine.

Description

Pepper plants generally form a bush shape from 2 to 4 feet high. When allowed to grow more than more year the stems of pepper can become woody.  Pepper leaves are generally oblong and usually shiny green although there are peppers with variegated foliage grown as ornamentals.

Pepper flowers are either white, or in a few species lavender or purple.  They have 6 petals.  Pepper fruits, (the part we eat), start out green, sometimes with purplish streaks and mature to a wide variety of colors.  The fruits also come in a variety of shapes from the blocky bell pepper shape to tiny berry shapes to long slender shapes.

One thing that must be mentioned here is that pepper fruits are neither male or female and the lobes on a bell pepper do not tell its sex, or whether it’s sweeter because there are 3 or 4 lobes.  There is a widely circulated picture on social media that proclaims this amazing “fact”.  It’s absolutely false.  Fruits do not have sexes. The lobes on a bell pepper are different in different varieties and growing conditions may also affect whether a pepper fruit has 3 or 4 lobes.

Pepper fruits generally have white or tan flat seeds attached to a white membrane.  In some species the seeds are dark colored. The seeds can pass through the digestive systems of animals and still sprout, which is a way wild plants are able to distribute their offspring.

Pepper heat

The heat or pungency of a pepper depends on the species and how it has been selected in different cultivars.  The heat comes from a phytonutrient called capsaicin. There is some heat in the flesh of a pepper but the part of the pepper that is the most pungent is the white membrane inside the pepper that the seeds are attached to. Originally nature probably perfected the the heat in a pepper fruit to discourage animals from consuming them.  Most peppers get more pungent when they are fully ripe.  Dried peppers are hotter than fresh.

Pepper heat is no joke.  The amount of capsaicin in a pepper determines how hot it is.  A lot of capsaicin sends a message to the brain that something toxic has been eaten and many people respond to really hot peppers with vomiting.  The digestive fluid in the vomit with the chewed peppers may cause chemical burns to the mouth and digestive tract. The body responds to capsaicin with an inflammatory response that can damage the gastrointestinal system. 

Eating extremely hot peppers causes you to sweat, the nose to run and sometimes causes breathing difficulties with the throat swelling or an asthma attack.  After eating extremely hot peppers having a bowel movement can also become painful.  I don’t understand why people put themselves through the pain.  A little spice is nice but feeling like your mouth is on fire is not.

If you are foolish enough to bite on these extremely hot peppers your mouth will feel if as if it’s on fire.  (One note- use milk, not water to try and remove the burning sensation.) If these very hot pepper’s juice gets on the skin it will first feel like it’s burning, then the area will go numb.  Blisters can actually form on skin from the body’s response to the nerve damage. These very hot peppers should not be handled without gloves and care must be taken not to get juice from them near the eyes.  The pain usually lasts about 20 minutes but can last a lot longer.

Pepper heat is measured by the Scoville scale, with higher numbers being hotter. The hottest pepper now officially known is the Carolina Reaper with 1.5 million Scoville units.  However, a Scottish man claims he has developed a hotter pepper, the "Dragon’s Breath" chili. This new pepper supposedly has a Scoville scale rating of 2.4 million heat units.  A bell pepper has a 0 Scoville rating. 

People for some reason, keep selecting peppers to be hotter and hotter, even though we are pretty much at the limit to what people can tolerate.  While tolerance builds up over time to the heat because you damage your taste buds, medical professionals frown on consumption of the really hot peppers, especially in contests where as many are eaten as possible and as quickly as possible. 

There are reports that people eating the very hot peppers sometimes have seizures and heart attack like symptoms.  People can die from an extreme inflammatory/immune system reaction and there is concern among medical professionals that contests involving the extremely hot peppers may result in death.  There is a child’s death attributed to ingesting too much chili powder.  I would never leave these extremely hot peppers where children or pets could get them.

               

Choosing varieties

There are some broad categories in peppers other than their ranking on the Scoville scale. Varieties developed from Capsicum annuum include many common garden peppers such as: bell peppers, sweet/Italian peppers, serrano, cayenne, paprika and jalapeños. 

Varieties developed from Capsicum chinense includes all of the Habaneros, Scotch Bonnets, Trinidad Scorpions, the Bhut Jolokia (ghost pepper) and the Carolina Reaper.

Capsicum baccatum, is the species that produces aji peppers, and a few other varieties and Capsicum frutescens, is a sometimes debated species which produces the tabascos.  (Some botanists believe this is not a separate species but a variety of Capsicum annuum).  And many ornamental peppers are derived from Capsicum pubescens, which has purple flowers.

When you look in a good garden catalog you’ll see dozens if not hundreds of pepper varieties.  First decide what heat value you are interested in.  Then look for disease resistance, and the suitability to your climate.  If you are interested in bell peppers you may want to see what color the “green” pepper ripens into.  A variety of colors makes salads and other dishes interesting. Peppers both sweet and hot come in a variety of shapes and sizes.

If you are not interested in saving seeds don’t worry about mixing hot and sweet peppers in the garden.  While some may cross pollinate it won’t affect the flavor or heat of this year’s crop. A sweet pepper stays sweet even if it’s pollinated by a hot pepper nearby.  If you saved seed and plant it next year you may get some peppers with the traits of both parents.  If you want to save seed plant different varieties 15-20 feet apart.

Here’s a link to a guide to crossing peppers to get new varieties.

http://www.thechileman.org/guide_crossing_peppers.php

Starting peppers from seed

Peppers require warm soil to germinate well.  Soil temperature of 80 degrees or slightly higher is ideal and will probably require the use of a heating pad under the seedling tray.  Use a sterile seed starting mix for starting seeds. Start seeds indoors about 8 weeks before your expected last frost date in spring. It’s not recommended to start seeds directly in the garden.  At 80 degrees soil temperature seeds should germinate in 7-10 days.  If the soil is cooler it will take longer.

You could start peppers in flats but since that will require early transplanting into separate pots I prefer to start 2-3 seeds in a 2 inch pot, cutting off all but one plant after germination.  Otherwise transplant seedlings into a 2-4 inch pot, one to a pot, when the first true leaves appear. 

Keep the seedlings in full sunlight or position grow lights a few inches above the tops of seedlings. They need at least 14 hours of light.  Day temperatures should be 70 degrees and nights around 60 degrees. 

After the plants have their third set of leaves some people like to lower the night temperature to around 55 degrees for a month.  This is thought to encourage earlier and more flowering.  However, you want to keep pepper plants from setting flowers before transplanting.  Peppers transplanted with flowers seem to suffer more from transplanting shock.

If the soilless mix you started the peppers in did not contain fertilizer, begin fertilizing seedlings once they have 3 sets of leaves. Use a water-soluble fertilizer lower in nitrogen but containing phosphorus and calcium.  A tomato fertilizer works well.  Follow label directions for seedlings or transplants.

Let the soil surface dry slightly between watering.  Try to water from the bottom while seedlings are small. 

Transplanting peppers into the garden

Harden off seedlings before transplanting them outside.  This means moving them outside for a few hours every day in a lightly shaded spot protected from the wind. Do not expose them to full sun for several days. Make the outside time longer every day.  Make sure they don’t dry out.  A week of hardening off will make transplanting much easier on the plants.

To do well peppers need warm soil.  You may want to wait a week or so later than transplanting tomatoes when you plant peppers.  Pull back any mulch in the planting area a few days before planting to let soil warm up.  Plants should be about 2 feet apart in rows 2 feet apart.

If the day temperatures are less than 70 consider a little extra protection for the plants.  I generally use a tomato cage around each pepper plant for support during the growing season. I put it in around the plant when I transplant them.  If it’s cool I wrap the cage with row cover, trapping a little extra heat.  Burlap could be used.  Leave the top open.  You could also use stakes around the plant to hold a screen.  Remove these “screens” when day temps are above 80 degrees.

Try to transplant on a cloudy day. If plants haven’t been hardened off before transplanting, you’ll need to shade them for a few days.  Keep plants watered well as they adjust to outside.

General culture

Peppers prefer slightly acidic organic rich soil.  They are heavy feeders, that is they like to be fertilized for good production.  A high nitrogen fertilizer will produce bushy plants but few fruits. A fertilizer for tomatoes is usually good for peppers.  It will have phosphorus and calcium which peppers appreciate.  Fertilize according to label directions, about once a month.

Some pepper varieties may need staking or a cage, especially when loaded with fruit.  Water if it’s dry and hot, plants need about an inch of water a week.  Try to keep water off foliage and water well before sundown so plants dry off before dark.

In some pepper varieties, like bell peppers, the fruit is picked before it’s ripe, in others the fruit is allowed to ripen.  Fruits usually start out green and change to various colors such as red, orange, yellow, purple, or black. Even bell peppers commonly referred to as green peppers will change color if allowed to ripen.  Ripe peppers are either sweeter or hotter than the green stage, depending on variety. Keep ripe peppers picked if you want the plant to keep producing. 

To avoid disease problems, rotate the spot where you plant peppers every year.  Do not plant them where tomatoes and eggplants, which they are related to and share disease with, grew the year before.  Peppers can be grown in large containers.

Insects rarely bother peppers. Aphids and stinkbugs can be a problem and plants should be treated for them as they spread other diseases.  Use a registered pesticide for food plants. Occasionally tomato hornworms will also attack peppers.  These can be picked off by hand.  

Bacterial spot is a bacterial disease of peppers that can cause problems.  Look for resistant varieties and seed companies which test and certify their seed as the disease can be carried on seeds. It causes black or brown spots on leaves, stems and fruit.  The spots may be raised and look like a scab. Leaves may yellow and fall off. Production is greatly decreased.  Home gardeners have no good treatments for the disease.

Anthracnose is a fungal disease of peppers that affects all stages of pepper fruit, leaving black or gray moldy looking, rotting areas on them.  It can be prevented by using a fungicide on the plants as fruit begins to form.

Cucumber mosaic virus affects more than cucumber and, in the Northeast, often causes problems.  It causes yellow and pale green blotches on leaves. Leaves may curl. Plants will grow slowly and don’t produce well. It’s spread by aphids and many common weeds harbor the disease.  There’s no cure and plants must be destroyed to keep it from spreading.  Keeping peppers weed free and treating for aphids helps prevent the disease.

Other disease sometimes occurs, and different areas of the country may have different diseases flare up.  For help diagnosing plant diseases contact your county Extension office.

Peppers are perennial in warm climates.  They can be over-wintered or grown in heated greenhouses in pots.  To get fruit in winter there also needs to be 10 or more hours of good strong light.  I have seen people bring in the smaller ornamental peppers for winter growing as houseplants with various degrees of success.

Culinary uses of peppers

Peppers are consumed in a variety of ways around the world and a major flavor component of many styles of cuisine.  Peppers are eaten fresh in salads and cooked into a huge array of dishes.  They are grilled and baked.  Some cuisine calls for specific types of peppers and they do have different tastes and levels of heat.  Some peppers have a fruity undertone. Peppers are now being put into beverages.

Peppers can be fermented, canned, dried, pickled, or frozen for storage. 

Other uses of peppers

Many cultures developed medicinal uses for peppers.  Some medicinal uses call for specific varieties of peppers but if a pepper has capsicum, which is one of the medicinal component of a pepper it can probably be substituted. Other helpful compounds in peppers include, carotinoids, flavonoids, and steroid saponins.

Cayenne pepper is often cited as a treatment for upset stomach, toothache, fever, menstrual problems, hay fever, lowering blood sugar and heart disease prevention.  For this use dried powdered pepper is generally used and made into a tea.  You can also buy it in capsules.  Medical studies are inconclusive for most of these uses.  There are promising medical studies using capsicum for migraine and cluster headaches.

If you are taking pepper orally in amounts used medicinally and also use prescription medications, you should consult with a pharmacist.  Oral pepper medications combined with some prescription drugs can cause blood thinning and excessive bleeding.

One of the most common uses for capsicum is in a topical cream applied to the skin for pain relief for arthritis, neuralgia, neuropathy, sprains, muscle spasms and back pain.  Some people will get a rash from applying capsicum cream to the skin.  A cough may also develop from it’s use if the person is taking ACE inhibitor medications. Medical studies have proven capsicum can help some people with these conditions.

You can make a type of capsicum salve by finely processing moderately hot peppers like jalapenos and mixing them with oils like jojoba or olive oil and beeswax and heating them to infuse the pepper into the oil.  But it’s simpler to buy a capsicum cream at the drugstore. 

Always start slowly with any capsicum remedies, using them in small amounts until you see how they affect you.

Capsicum is also used as a weapon, in pepper spray and in military grade chemical weapons. It’s sometimes recommended as a deterrent to animals and other pests in the garden, but this use is rarely effective. Many birds actually like hot peppers for instance. Many animals ignore it.  It is easily blown or washed away and relatively expensive to use this way.

Every food producing gardener needs a pepper plant or two.  They can even be mixed into a flower garden as many varieties are quite ornamental, especially as they fill with colorful fruit.  So plant a pretty pepper plant so you can pick a peck of peppers.